Singapore with its super-modern city center is the ultimate consumer paradise. But if monochromatic designer malls made of steel and glass are not your scene, you can always venture into the colorful ethnic neighborhoods of Chinatown and Little India.

Chinatown Singapore

Only a few metro stops from fashionable Orchard Road lies Chinatown, the historical center for Straits-Chinese settlers. Red paper lanterns strung across the roads mark the beginning of the area. Here, futuristic high-rises give way to British colonial architecture, and pastelly yellows, blues and pinks replace the Continue…

We’ve decided to take a short break from the developing world and take in modern, spotless, stunning Singapore.

The last time I was in Singapore was exactly 20 years ago and, to be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the country at the time. In 1991, I felt Singapore’s autocratic leadership left the city feeling like a coldly functional dystopia defined by clinical sterility and bizarre signs stating things like, “It is prohibited to urinate out the window.” OK.

But Singapore a la 2011 is a whole new city – and I like it!!! Although prohibitions and fines are still around, they have seriously cut down on the annoying little signs. And some prohibitions such as Continue…