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Chang and Saint Francis Enterprise.

Joo Chiat, a short walk away from East Coast Road, is renowned for its array of restaurants and food outlets serving exceptional local grub. It comes to life at night, its restaurants and coffee shops brimming with diners sitting on makeshift tables and stools strewn along its five-foot ways.

Speaking of food, the best examples of Singapore cuisine lies can be found in hawker centres and food centres, found across the city. Hainanese Chicken rice, the closet Singapore's has to a national dish, is best tasted at Tian Tian Chicken Rice, situated in Maxwell Road Hawker Centre, Tanjung Pagar. Be prepared to queue up for a whiff of the stall's infamous fluffy, fragrant rice and moist, deboned chicken. The dish is served with a slathering of ginger-infused chilli and dark soya sauce.

Stroll through the garish, neon-lit streets of Geylang, one of Singapore's officially designated red light districts. It may come as a surprise to many to know that uptight and squeaky-clean Singapore actually sanctions prostitution. This area is also a foodie's paradise, featuring a cacophony of tastes and smells, notwithstanding dubious brews claiming to boost flagging libidos. Geylang consists of 42 lorongs (Malay for "side streets"). The odd-numbered lanes are where one will find eateries and restaurants, whilst the even-numbered ones house the insalubrious bordellos.

Singapore is often perceived to be a concrete jungle, offering little for the nature lover. Its status as a green city' is severely underestimated. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, extending over 163 hectares, is one of the last remaining tracts of rainforest in Singapore. The reserve is home to over 500 species of animals, including butterflies. Bold long-tailed macaques flit from treetop to treetop; and numerous rainforest birds can be found by the water's edge. The 130-hectare Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a hidden gem to the north of the island, is the preserve of mangrove and freshwater flora and fauna. It is home to the extremely rare smooth otters, which tend to make their appearance in the quiet calm of the mornings.

The best way to end the day would be to partake a drink in the newly refurbished Rochester Park or Tanglin Village, where one can imbibe concoctions under the stars. These once abandoned black and white bungalows, vestiges of Singapore's colonial past, have been converted into trendy restaurants and bars, which rival any of the best found in the world's most sophisticated cities.

Learn more about this author, Linda Haden.
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