My travels have certainly taken me to some of the world's most interesting places; and not just interesting historically, culturally, spiritually, nor those pertaining to amazing views, food, shopping, and partying.  Some of these places have been insanely crazy (in a fun way) and Haw Par Villa in Singapore definitely belongs in that category! In a nutshell, it's a theme park featuring a recreation of hell complete with demons and tortured souls; one that has scared generations of kids (the writer included when I first visited the place back in the 90s)! A note from the writer: this is a pre-pandemic tale.

Amusement parks do not only cater to families, they also make for an awesome venue for a date with one's significant other. I was lucky to have experienced it both ways! Opened in 2010, Universal Studios Singapore is the first and only Universal Studios theme park in Southeast Asia and is a must visit when in SG. Located on Sentosa Island, a massive resort playground just south of mainland Singapore, USS covers almost 20 hectares; small by Universal theme park standards but packed with all the crowd favorites. It is also part of the larger Resorts World Sentosa complex, which includes a casino, SEA Aquarium, and several luxury hotels. A note from the writer: this is a pre-pandemic tale with additional post-pandemic photos. Here's a pic of us back in 2019.

When one thinks of the word "megacity", Singapore definitely comes to mind. No other city in Southeast Asia, maybe even the world, balances the skyline, technology, and infrastructure of the first world, with the intricacies of its multi-cultural inhabitants, as well as Singapore has. And all this happened.. only in the last 40 years!  * Hard to believe that this whole country was once just a swamp-filled jungle. Today, Singapore's world famous Merlion is the figurative "king of the jungle" and the country's most famous tourist attraction. A note from the writer: this is a pre-pandemic tale with additional photos post-pandemic.

En route on my  company trip from Manila to London , I was awarded a  6-hour  opportunity to explore the ultra-modern and oh-so-neat city of Singapore. The last time I was here was around  15 years ago , so I was excited to see how much the place changed.  (In hindsight though, this was the exact same orderly, clean and prosperous city that I remembered from my youth.)  * Touchdown Singapore, after a  short flight  enjoying Singapore Airlines'  great in-flight entertainment service and cuisine .