Interesting Facts about Singapore

Singapore, a destination dream of many is an island city in Asia. The country has over 5.7 million inhabitants of diverse ethnic and religious groups.  You many have heard about the country for its beauty and diversity but there is so much you don’t know about this enchanting city-state.

Facts about Singapore

The city is believed to be the home of the first ever man- made waterfall which was built in 1971 at Jurong Bird Park. In Jewel Changi Airport, you will also find a waterfall indoors also believed to be the tallest in the world. It is believed to rise up to 40 metres.

One of the main reasons people gush about the beauty of Singapore is the city’s immense greenery. A large part of the state is filled with greenery. Most of their buildings house so many gardens and rare plants. Singapore is home to over 2000 different plant species.

The Nature Reserve known as Bukit Timah is known to have more different varieties of trees than the whole of the Continent of North America.

Did you know that their national anthem is on the back of their 1000 dollar note? Isn’t that interesting?

When it comes to Islands, most people assume that Singapore is just one Island but no, it isn’t. It is actually filled with 64 different islands which are all around the main island. The most notable mini island of Singapore is the iconic Sentosa Island. Other notable ones include the following:

• Sentara Island
• Lazarus Island
• Coney Islet Island
• Jurong Island
• Bukom Island

Despite these many islands, not all of them are inhabited.

Can you believe that apart from all the richness of this land, it also houses the first ever Night Zoo in the world? The zoo that was commissioned in 1994 has over 1000 different animals inhabiting it. The park is 35 hectare in size which gives both tourists and nationals an incredible experience whenever they visit the night zoo.

It has been stated that, the Lion City was named based on the word “Singa” from the Malay language which means lion. However, it is believed that the Lion this city’s name was based on,  was in fact a Malayan tiger that was seen by the founder of old Singapore by name Prince Sang Nila Utama.

Just like many different countries have different ways of speaking English and referring to it as their slang, the people of Singapore speak what they call Singlish. The people use this unique language in their day to day affairs. The language is usually a mixture of Chinese and Malay which are both common languages in Singapore. Even though the language has been discouraged by the government among other powers to prevent their people from speaking bad English, it has not yielded any results since the language has become a household language. Interestingly, some of their slang made it to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016. As at 2020, it is believed that 27 of their words made it to the Oxford Dictionary.

When it comes to tourism, Singapore is an excellent choice considering they were praised and recognized as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO  in 2015.  The Singapore Botanic Garden was the only Botanic Garden to make it to the Heritage List of UNESCO  as at 2020. The garden is the first of its kind in all of Asia. The garden was founded in 1859 which makes it older than present day Singapore!  The garden is known to have over 200 different variations of orchids that are considered to be very special plants. Personalities like Nelson Mandela and Jackie Chan have visited this place to see the beauties for themselves and have had orchids named after them.

When it comes to celebrations, Singapore is always alive with one celebration or another. The people celebrate different festivals regarding their culture, their beliefs, their sports, their entertainment among others. Every year, they celebrate the Chinese New year which is highly anticipated. During these celebrations, families come together to feast and exchange gifts and the streets are filled with beautiful Chinese decorations among other things. There is also the National Day Celebration which is filled with parades, fireworks and celebrations. There is the food festival, the Singapore International Film Festival,  the Singapore Fashion Festival, Christmas and Deepavali among others. There is also the National Tree Planting Day where everyone plants trees. These festivals cover different religions, different cultures and different choices of entertainment which also build up knowledge for people there and people who visit the lovely country.

Despite all these interesting things about Singapore, it is a very tiny country. It is actually one of the 20 smallest countries in the world. For example, the United States of America is almost 15,000 times bigger than this country.

In every 6 people however, one has over a million dollars in assets which makes them a very rich country.

In the year 2000, 9,234 students came together to build a domino chain of over 4km in Singapore and made it to The Guinness Book of Records.

As a man in Singapore, after high school, you are mandated to join the military for two years and continue to go back to train until you are 40 years old

Can you believe chewing gum is not allowed in Singapore? To be able to chew gum, a person needs to have a medical prescription!

It is also not allowed for a building to be over 280 meters in Singapore. However, in 2016, The Tanjong Pagar Center with special permission was allowed to build up to 290 meters and is currently the tallest building in Singapore.

In 1613, the city was burnt to the ground by pirates from Portugal due to their prowess in trading.

Did you also know that Singaporeans walk the fastest in the whole world? They walk at the speed of over 6 kilometers per hour!

Singapore is also believed to be the most uncorrupted city in Asia.