It's a steamy Saturday morning in Singapore and I am perched beside the pool at the venerable Raffles Hotel.
Today is day three of a seven-week adventure that will also see me trekking in Nepal, returning to England and spending two weeks road tripping and hiking in northern Spain.
Staying here at Raffles, which first opened its doors in 1887 and is named after Singapore's British founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, I am following in the footsteps of writers like Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling and Ernest Hemingway and can only hope to emulate them in delivering evocative accounts of my travels.
It's been two decades since I was last in Singapore and have to admit that I stayed away because of many reasons it is feted as a destination - it's safe, clean, well organised and stable, having been ruled by the same authoritarian government (the People's Action Party) since 1959. In 1992, they famously banned chewing gum here. In recent times they've deployed an estimated 90,000 security cameras around the city, a number set to rise to 200,000.
Previously, I eschewed Singapore as being restrictive and boring, for an Asian country. So, this time I've given myself four days here to prove myself wrong, and am already prepared to eat humble pie. Or more appropriately, devour the favourite local dish, Hainanese chicken rice, at a hawker stall commended by the late Anthony Bourdain, as I did yesterday.
My visit began with the fastest exit I have ever experienced in any international airport, 20 minutes from the plane door to the taxi rank. My bags miraculously appeared second on the carousel and border control at Changi airport was swift and painless. Tick number one.
I was in my room at the lovely Four Seasons Hotel where I spent my first two nights, within an hour of landing, with Singapore's 9pm traffic negligible and check-in completed online en route.
On my first morning, after waking at 5am and making use of the Four Seasons vast high-tech gym, which used to be indoor tennis courts, I was onto Singapore's excellent MRT underground system to do my first tour. With colour coded lines and ubiquitous English signage and trains seemingly running every three minutes, this was positive number two.
The four-hour bikearoundtour.com I did next provides a great introduction to Singapore, taking in nine stops including Marina Bay, Chinatown, the Civic district, Little India and bustling Haji Lane, along the 17-kilometre route, 95 per cent of which is off-road.
Showcasing Singapore's heritage, multicultural harmony and thrusting development, from 19th century fishing village to international financial centre, home to 6 million, it is engaging, and informative. Mine is led by guide Derrick Koh, whose love for his country is infectious.
"I identify with my country first and my race second," Koh tells us after detailing how ethnic integration was enshrined in government policy, after race riots in the 1960s.
After a superb dinner at the Four Seasons' award-winning Cantonese restaurant Jian-Nan Chun, on my first night, I follow up the next morning with a Michelin-starred hawker stall tour (monsterday tours.com). It's the first time I have had laksa - a spicy combination of Chinese, Malay and Indian culinary influences - for breakfast and is just one delicious dish we try that exhibit Singapore's multicultural riches. All served in clean - health inspectors do spot checks and customers are fined for not clearing the table - hawker centres, often at the foot of government apartment blocks, and informed by knowledgeable commentary from guide Linda Gouw.
Arriving at Singapore's most famous hotel yesterday, I was whisked off to the World Heritage listed Botanic gardens for a "Raffles Insiders" experience, that included strolling through the rainforest and orchid enclosure with passionate outdoorsman Jason Lee and a divine Guided Soulful Meditation, led by Felicia Wee, inside a colonial bandstand. This had me drifting off to birdsong, until we were rudely interrupted by a wedding party that had booked the space for photographs.
I quickly recovered my peaceful state, though, doing yoga back on the Raffles' lawn and ended the day with more memorable food at the in-house Butcher's Block restaurant, where my tasting menu included Dry aged duck and Wagyu striploin.
It's a tough job, as they say...Anyway, must go, an historical tour of Raffles, a Singapore Sling experience - where it was invented- at the Long Bar, and a North Indian dinner in the Tiffin Room, are calling me.
Daniel Scott is a Newcastle-based travel writer.
