Singapore

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore is an island city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south and Peninsular Malaysia to the north. Singapore's territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 square kilometres or 50 square miles). The country is known for its transition from a developing to a developed one in a single generation under the leadership of its founder Lee Kuan Yew.

In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore as a trading post of the British East India Company. Singapore is a global hub for education, entertainment, finance, healthcare,  human capital, innovation, logistics, manufacturing,technology, tourism, trade, and transport.

The city-state is home to 5.6 million residents, 39% of whom are foreign nationals, including permanent residents. There are four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil.  Its cultural diversity is reflected in its extensive ethnic cuisine and major festivals. Pew Research has found that Singapore has the highest religious diversity of any country. 

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In the first days we had to get used to the extremely high humidity and temperatures around 40 degrees during the day. Singapore is only a few degrees latitude away from the equator and therefore knows only one season! It rains almost daily, but mostly in a manageable and short period of time. The golden and blue hours are very short and the skyline of the city offers magnificent views almost everywhere.