In Singapore, shopping is a sport. The government has poured huge funds for developing areas where people can have fun spending their money. Millions of tourists that visit Singapore flock to the country’s shops and stores. Many have found their way to the ethnic enclaves where bargaining for prices is the rule of thumb. The island has more than ten major shopping districts and over 250 shopping malls.

Gigantic one-stop shopping centers are the places to go when you have to buy several things at one shopping location. Megamalls in Singapore have hundreds of retail shops under one roof, and selling practically everything. For some of these giant shopping establishments, it will take you more than a day to visit all the shops.  In Singapore, the shopper is god.

Singapore has one of the highest living standards in the world. Fortune Magazine has rated it as the second best city in the world in terms of quality living. Its favorable location in Southeast Asia makes it a major crossover point between the eastern and western hemispheres. Singapore is also home to half a million foreigners, mostly professionals and their families, comprising a large international community that gives the city-state a distinct cosmopolitan character.

Singapore reeks of the here and now, a truly global city. That is why it is an amazing anachronism that a miniature village, rural in nature, still exists on the island. It is such a wonder how this rural hamlet has survived and evaded ultra-modernization in such a small city-state. The village called Kampong Buangkok is the last reminder of Singapore’s traditional past. This village will soon be obliterated, though. The government of Singapore has ordered its demolition to give way to modernization that resembles the rest of Singapore. When that happens, Singapore shall probably be the only place on earth that has managed to completely alter itself.

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Via International Herald Tribune