Singapore
Lying almost on the equator, Singapore is a thriving city-state that has overcome its dearth of natural resources to become one of the juggernaut economies of Asia. In the crowded streets of Chinatown, fortune tellers, calligraphers and temple worshippers are still a part of everyday life. In Little India, you can buy the best sari material, freshly ground spices or a picture of your favorite Hindu god. In the small shops of Arab Street, the cry of the imam can be heard from the nearby Sultan Mosque.
Singapore may have traded in its rough-and-ready opium dens and pearl luggers for towers of concrete and glass, and its steamy rickshaw image for hi-tech wizardry, but you can still recapture the colonial era with a gin sling under the languorous ceiling fans at Raffles Hotel. It is this carefully stage-managed combination of Western modernity and treasured Eastern and colonial past that makes Singapore such an accessible slice of Asia.
Malaysia
Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious country, with Malay, Chinese and Indian ethnic groups. In religious terms it is predominantly Islamic, but with strong Christian, Buddhist and Hindu communities. The Malaysian constitution provides for a system of privileges favoring the Bumiputra (Malays and aborigines) which is reflected in the country’s national development plans. In terms of economic welfare, Malaysia ranks second in South-east Asia, after Singapore, though there are wide disparities between Kuala Lumpur, other industrialized and tourist-oriented regions and the most remote parts of the country.
