Singapore

Singapore
The English language name Singapore comes from Malay Singapura, "Lion-city", but it is possible that one element of its name had a more distant original source.^[20] Pura comes from Sanskrit puram, "city, fortress", and is related to Greek polis, "citadel, city".
Singa- comes from Sanskrit siṃha, which means lion. Today the city-state is referred to as the Lion City. Studies of Singapore indicate that lions probably never lived there, not even Asiatic lions; the beast seen by Sang Nila Utama, the founder of Singapore who gave it the name meaning "Lion City", was most likely a tiger, probably the Malayan Tiger.^[21][22] Alternatively, it could simply be a reference to the ancient Sinhapura as described in the Mahabharata

Geography and climate

Singapore Botanic Gardens, a 67.3-hectare (166 acre) Botanic Gardens in Singapore that includes the National Orchid Garden, which has a collection of more than 3,000 species of orchids

Singapore consists of 63 islands, including mainland Singapore. There are two man-made connections to Johor, Malaysia — Johor-Singapore Causeway in the north, and Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's many smaller islands. The highest natural point of Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill at 166m.^[41]
The south of Singapore, around the mouth of the Singapore River and what is now the Downtown Core, used to be the only concentrated urban area, while the rest of the land was either undeveloped tropical rainforest or used for agriculture. Since the 1960s, the government has constructed new residential towns in outlying areas, resulting in an entirely built-up urban landscape. The Urban Redevelopment Authority was established on 1 April 1974, responsible for urban planning.^{[citation needed]}
Singapore has on-going land reclamation projects with earth obtained from its own hills, the seabed, and neighbouring countries. As a result, Singapore's land area grew from 581.5 km² (224.5 sq mi) in the 1960s to 704 km² (271.8 sq mi) today, and may grow by another 100 km² (38.6 sq mi) by 2030.^[42] The projects sometimes involve some of the smaller islands being merged together through land reclamation in order to form larger, more functional islands, such as in the case of Jurong Island.^{[citation needed]}
Under the Köppen climate classification system, Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate with no distinctive seasons. Its climate is characterized by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity, and abundant rainfall. Temperatures range from 22 °C to 34 °C (72° to 93 °F). On average, the relative humidity is around 90% in the morning and 60% in the afternoon. During prolonged heavy rain, relative humidity often reaches 100%.^[43] The lowest and highest temperatures recorded in its maritime history are 19.4 °C (66.9 °F) and 35.8 °C (96.4 °F) respectively.
June and July are the hottest months, while November and December make up the wetter monsoon season. From August to October, there is often haze, sometimes severe enough to prompt public health warnings, due to bush fires in neighbouring Indonesia. Singapore does not observe daylight saving time or a summer time zone change. The length of the day is nearly constant year round due to the country's location near the equator.^{[citation needed]}
About 23% of Singapore's land area consists of forest and nature reserves.^[44] Urbanisation has eliminated many areas of former primary rainforest, with the only remaining area of primary rainforest being Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. A variety of parks are maintained with human intervention, such as the Singapore Botanic Gardens

Tourism

Singapore is a popular travel destination, making tourism one of its largest industries. About 7.8 million tourists visited Singapore in 2006.^[59] The total visitor arrivals reached around 10.2 million in 2007.^[60] The Orchard Road shopping district is one of Singapore's most well-known and popular tourist draws. To attract more tourists, the government decided to legalise gambling and to allow two casino resorts (euphemistically called Integrated Resorts) to be developed at Marina South and Sentosa in 2005.^[61] To compete with regional rivals like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, the government has announced that the city area would be transformed into a more exciting place by lighting up the civic and commercial buildings.^[62] Cuisine has also been heavily promoted as an attraction for tourists, with the Singapore Food Festival in July organised annually to celebrate Singapore's cuisine.
Singapore is fast positioning itself as a medical tourism hub — about 200,000 foreigners seek medical care in the country each year and Singapore medical services aim to serve one million foreign patients annually by 2012 and generate USD 3 billion in revenue.^[63] The government expects that the initiative could create an estimated 13,000 new jobs within the health industries.
Singapore is a melting pot of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Arabic communities. Tourists will see women with Chinese features wearing sarongs and Arabic dress, and these cultural aspects help make Singapore an unusual destination to visit.^[64]
Under the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Wireless@SG is a government initiative to build Singapore's infocomm infrastructure. Working through IDA's Call-for-Collaboration, SingTel, iCell and QMax deploy a municipal wireless network throughout Singapore. Since late 2006, users have enjoyed free wireless access through Wi-Fi under the "basic-tier" package offered by all three operators for 3 years.
There are approximately 30,000 registered hotel rooms available in Singapore, and average occupancy is around 85%.

Singapore Tourist Attractions
Visiting Singapore ? Here is a list of Tourist Attractions / Places of Interest in Singapore which you can visit while you are here in Singapore .

Asian Civilisation Museum The Asian Civilisation Museum is a form of the three museums of the National Museums of Singapore.  This is the most established museum in the region to focus exhibits and origins in Asia's cultures and evolutions. It is indeed a place to go to if yo ... Escape Theme Park : Singapores Biggest Outdoor Theme Park Game for an adrenalin rush? Scream your hearts out at Singapore's biggest outdoor theme park, Escape Theme Park.  Escape Theme Park will certainly thrill and excite you with its huge range of wet and dry rides for the whole family. They have rides ... Jurong Bird Park Located at the west end of Singapore, the Jurong Bird Park is the largest and most remarkable bird park in Southeast Asia. Opened on 3 January 1971, Jurong Bird Park will certainly fascinate and impress you with its variety of 9,000 birds from more ... Kent Ridge Park With a size of 47 hectares, this park offers you the most magnificent views of the off-shore islands such as the Pulau Duran Darat. Filled with Tembusu, Acacias and Dillenias trees, you will certainly enjoy the peacefulness and serenity of the park, ... Merlion This merlion is to welcome all visitors to Singapore. Standing tall at 8.6 metres high and weighs as heavy as 70 tonnes, it was designed since 1964. It is originally located at the mouth of the Singapore River. It then settled into its new home here ... Night Safari Officially opened on 26 May 1994, the Night Safari is the first wildlife park built especially to be viewed at night unlike the traditional nocturnal houses elsewhere. The Night Safari occupies 40 hectares of land, with some free ranging animals fr ... Pulau Ubin A small island, shaped like a boomerang, this island is off the northeastern coast of Singapore main island. This could be the very last kampung or village in Singapore. Taking a stroll in Pulau Ubin would bring you back into the lifest ... Singapore Johore Battery @ Changi The Johore Battery is a war memorial site in Singapore that dates back to the early 1940s. Some of the other major coastal batteries were the Pasir Laba Battery, Labrador Battery and the Fort Siloso Battery. As the British were certain that an ... Singapore Zoo The modern Singapore Zoo, or formerly known as the Singapore Zoological Gardens, displays animals in the open. Residents of the animal kingdom roam spaciously in landscaped enclosures. In case you are worried about agile leopards and jaguars (known ... Sir Stamford Raffles Statue Sir Stamford Raffles was the founder of the modern Singapore. The Lieutenant-Governor of Java and Bencoolen. First landed in Singapore on 29 January 1819, he believed that Singapore was a great place for the British to start a trading settlement. ... The Fullerton Hotel Built in 1928, this Fullerton Building (now known as Fullerton Hotel)  was the centre of Singapore's commercial, social and official life. It became home to the three of the most important institutions of Singapore; The General Post Office, The Sin ...