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Photos: Singapore Tourism Board and Maya Menon

Swinging Singapore The river by night, party animals at the Siloso beach and the underwater world

It’s Christmas-New Year season and the Singapore Tourism Board has lined up a host of events to give tourists a feel of ‘Christmas in the Tropics’. The celebrations, which commenced mid-November, are on till just after the New Year. Malls have become a shopper’s paradise, enticing customers with hefty discounts and attractive bargains.

Danny’s brief is to take us to some of the ritzy shopping centres, Raffles City, Orchard Road and VivoCity, where we can browse through some of the top brands and designer labels. Wish to pick up trinkets or trendy streetwear? It’s over to Bugis Street, a shopping centre that’s rather similar to our own Ranganathan Street.

‘Christmas in the Tropics’ being a key tourism driver, overseas visitors can look forward to a host of events – entertainment, music concerts, festive performances and sumptuous dining till the New Year. A special feature is the annual Light-Up from Orchard Road to Marina Bay. An open-topped Hippo Bus plied by the Tourism Board takes tourists on a magical trip to catch glimpses of this year’s Fairytale Light-Up. Myriad twinkling lights festoon the trees and arch across the motorways creating a dreamlike ambience.

Savouring international cuisines - Spanish, Chinese, Peranakan, Italian, Indian – at some of the top restaurants adds a multi-cultural dimension to the Singapore experience. No visit to Singapore is complete without adventure. Bungeeing, bumboating and balloon rides are part of the itinerary. They are fun for kids, but beware those unexpected downpours! They could play spoilsport.

There’s more kids stuff at Sentosa where the Luge and Skyride offer you thrills and chills. Part go-kart and part toboggan, the Luge ride takes unsuspecting visitors by surprise. You almost believe you are a Formula 1 racer, as the contraption takes you careening down the winding track, heart lurching, stomach churning, all the way till the end.

A Skyride after this is soothing, as this three-seater car glides up and down an overhead cable, offering a panoramic view of the dense vegetation below and the soft blue sea in the distance.

A stop at Underwater World gives you a chance to stroke a few amazingly placid sting-rays which swim about idly in an open tank. Besides, you can come face-to-face with various creatures of the deep as you are transported along an 83-metre long tunnel that slices through the oceanarium.

Clubbers and pub crawlers have their own brand of celebration. Singapore’s annual Zouk-Out, a dusk-to-dawn dance festival, now into its seventh edition, sees over 25,000 revellers from Brazil to Bali and Munich to Mumbai grooving and jiving across 56,000 sq ft of beach at Siloso.

The December 8 event featured some of the world’s top DJs who played an eclectic and explosive mix of genres across four arenas - electro, techno, trance, house, hip hop, indie and the ever-popular mambo jambo.

Sidelights? Oh! Yes… there was Asia’s largest inflatable water slide, performance artistes, palmistry, wacky art installations and plenty of food and drink to add zing to this mother-of-all parties. (visit www.zoukclub.com for more info)

Missed out on the excitement? Never mind. There’s the Siloso Beach Party that’s coming up on New Year’s eve. The night-long event on the sands of Siloso (December 31) will feature fantastic DJs, fiery pyrotechnics and plenty of fun on the fringes. (visit www.sentosa.com.sg for details).

Check-in early at Changi and there’s time for some last-minute purchases at the duty-free shops before you begin your homeward journey.

‘Christmas in the Tropics’? Images of gaily decorated fir trees, crystal lights and bright baubles whir through your mind – each one of them so ‘uniquely Singapore’.

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