On a previous trip to Singapore, Ren and I were on the MRT en route to Little India from Changi, when I overheard this conversation between two young travelers:

“Singapore is a lot like Japan”, one friend said to the other, “but you can talk to people here.”

They sounded European and from that, it was clear that the guy talking had been to Singapore before while his friend was here on his first ever visit.

I get what he was trying to say. He meant that Singapore is similar to Japan in its hyper modern-ness. They’re both clean with citizens known for being disciplined and orderly, but more Singaporeans are proficient in English so there’s less of a language barrier here.

I agree with him on both points, but the more I visit Singapore, the more I realize that there’s so much more to this city than what you see on the surface.

Most first-time visitors will notice its cutting edge architecture. How can you not? Iconic structures like Marina Bay Sands, the Supertrees of Gardens by the Bay, the Durian, and the ArtScience Museum were designed to grab your attention. But the more often you come, the more you get used to them, and then a funny thing happens. They start fading into the background to reveal what makes this tiny island nation truly special in my opinion – its diversity.

Singapore is called the “melting pot of Asia” for a reason. You may be too blinded by Marina Bay to appreciate that at first, but stay here long enough, and you may soon realize that Singapore’s unique blend of ethnicities, culture, and food is what makes this country truly shiok.