Singapore is a small but prosperous city-state in Southeast Asia, just north of the equator. It lies between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, nestled between Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Singapore Strait is the shortest maritime route between Europe and Asia, with an estimated 2,000 vessels passing through it daily.

In terms of land area, Singapore would almost fit within Helsinki’s Ring 3. It spans roughly 50 km from Tuas in the west to Changi in the east, and about 27 km from Woodlands in the north to Sentosa island in the south.

It’s also one of the wealthiest nations per capita. Always in the top 5. Being a resourceful nation instead of a country of resources, Singapore has fared well, albeit a young nation. In 2025 it celebrated it’s 60th anniversary and we managed to enjoy some of the festivities.

Introduction to Asia

We had the opportunity to spend just over three weeks in Singapore in July. As Europeans who had never set foot in Asia, Singapore offered us a soft landing – a beginner’s introduction to Asia rather than diving into the deep end.

Finnair offers a direct flight from Helsinki to Singapore, but it still clocks in at a hefty 13 hours, with a +5-hour time difference. In all honesty, 13 hours in economy class with that time difference was murder. And not on the dancefloor.

The first 2-3 days we went to bed late and woke up knackered. The immense heat and huminity adding to it. Coming from Helsinki’s +15°c to a daily +30°c took its toll.

It ain’t no Schengen.

Having primarly travelled in Europe and holding a Finnish passport – one tends to forget what border crossings can be.

As a tourist, and with an EU passport there is no need for a visa to enter Singapore, but there is an immigration procedure called SG Arrival Card (SGAC).

In hindsight -the best form of wisdom – we could have filled our SGACs 3 days prior to our arrival, but jetlagged and care-free was our approach. But mind you, this immigration procedure was good training for our Indonesian and Malaysian endeavours later.

Oh, behave!

There is this legend of Singapore being a country where you almost get jailed for spitting a chewing gum on the street. It’s not true, but there are fines. Presumably, they are enforced too. We didn’t try.

The difference is that in other parts of the world people are expected to have certain level of civility, but in Singapore people are told what those expectations are and if not followed, the rules are enforced.

Finland, being a law-abiding nation is a wonderful , but in Finland we come across a crisis when rules are broken. We think that having a law is enough, without the need of enforcing it. The result is Finland where motorists are wild, e-scooters litter every walkway and any public disturbance is shrugged off.

All in all, I do quite like the Singaporean approach of treating the individual as clueless who doesn’t know how to behave unless instructed.

Apparently, FAFO works, since during our stay, we never saw a drunkard on a metro, nor any graffiti in public spaces. Being able to travel in MRT without any worry at any time with kids is priceless.

I’ll be covering Singapore and the surroundings in series of posts on this blog.