The magic that is Singapore

Exploring Singapore is like pulling a large rabbit out of an incredulously small hat. And while the city-state is among the best in the world in terms of awe-inspiring infrastructure, the experience isn’t limited to thrills and fun; it teaches and enriches. Which is why Singapore is not just a place for leisure and entertainment but also for young kids to learn.

A group of schools kids from different cities in India realised this when they visited Singapore on a five-day trip recently. The trip was a reward from travel agency Thomas Cook for their performance in the company’s annual Travel Quest quiz competition. The city-state is only slightly larger than Hyderabad and what we take away from it is their ingenuity in conservation and preserving heritage.

The regular tourist haunts may not include the Changi Museum and the Kranji War Memorial considering how quiet it is, but it offers an insight into the deep war trenches that Singapore has emerged from, narrating tragic stories of PoW torture at the hands of the Japanese and how Indian soldiers — and those from other countries — died defending Singapore.

“Even war hardened soldiers from countries like Australia come here and break down when they hear the stories. Many families even come searching for the past of their fathers and grandfathers,” says Lena Loo, tour operations manager, Journeys Pte Ltd, which manages the Kranji and Changi Museum. The Kranji war cemetery is significant since it is the final resting place of many Allied soldiers, almost a fourth of whom still remain unidentified.

When having fun is on the agenda, Universal Studios in Sentosa is a must-go. But be warned, one day is not enough to explore Universal Studios. According to Danny Cham Chiah Siong, manager, communications at Resorts World Sentosa had six million visitors in 2014.

Resorts World Sentosa also has Ocean Suites and each bedroom has a brilliant window view of the marine life at the S.E.A. Aquarium. While flying into Singapore at night or in early morning, you can’t miss the brilliantly lit Singapore Flyer from the sky. After all, it’s one of the world’s largest, and best, ferris wheels.

And across the bay is one of the largest climate-controlled greenhouses — Gardens by the Bay. One of the three gardens it comprises houses the world’s largest indoor waterfall at 35 metres, along with thousands of plants from countries around the world.

A tour of the Gardens by the Bay feels like being transported to the Amazon rainforests. It is quite surreal that one of the smallest countries has so many structures that figure in the world’s largest. Which is precisely why visiting Singapore is a great learning experience.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) knows this well and has come up with “learning travel” as a new concept. STB has tied up with Thomas Cook to reach out to schools and parents to send their children to Singapore on short learning trips.

Soo Siew Keong, director of enrichment, STB, says, “Indians have become global citizens and the programmes we designed are best suited for Indian kids. These are programmes that are shorter and beneficial for students from the learning perspective.” The programmes take kids behind the scenes, like in the Singapore Zoo where children are shown the science of the zoo.

But learning in Singapore is not confined to a few places. “Even the cable car ride from the mainland to Sentosa has a story. And it is the quintessential story of Singapore,” says Edmund Tan, assistant manager, Learning Travel, Singapore Tourism Board.