P-mates

Series : "My Hometown" (Vol.6) - Singapore
The financial centre for Southeast Asia


	The Republic of Singapore is situated just north of the equator, at the foot of the Malaysia peninsula. It is a booming city-state, comprising Singapore Island and 63 smaller islands within its territory. With a total area of 682 square kilometers, the main island resides a population of 3.87 million. Lying close to the southern part of Malaysia, the two countries are linked by 2 causeways. Singapore is a thriving business and financial centre for Southeast Asia. It has the world's busiest port with over 600 shipping lines sending super tankers, container ships and passenger liners to share the busy waters with coastal fishing vessels and wooden lighters. Its award-winning airport serves more than 60 major airlines, including our own international carrier, Singapore Airlines. This is a bustling city-state with excellent communications and transport, including a hi-tech Mass Rapid Transit system and plenty of inexpensive taxis. It also has over 70 world-class hotels, 18 lush golf courses and a host of tourist attractions.


	The Central Business District is made up of high-tech office blocks, modern hotels and shopping complexes. These are in contrast with the older, more traditional (but still bustling) streets of Chinatown and Little India. Singapore is hot all year round, with temperatures ranging from 23-32 degrees °C. Although it is wettest from November to January, there is not much seasonal variation at all.		A real cosmopolitan society, the Chinese form the majority of the population, but there are also large Malay and Indian communities, with a large number of Western expatriates and business people as well as. There are four official languages in Singapore: English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. English is the language of business and administration and is widely spoken and understood. Most Singaporeans are bilingual, and speak their mother tongue as well as English. Singapore is also a mixture of religions. Singapore's skyline boasts the distinctive minarets of mosques, spires of gothic cathedrals, intricate figurines of Hindu temple gods and distinctive roof architecture of Chinese temples. The main religions are Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism.