Comments: The Indian Quarter reminded me of London's Southall, and of course some of the metropolitan parts of India where we'd been just a month or two before. The key difference to both the UK and India was that it was clean, as with everywhere else in Singapore. It was Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Lights) when we flew into Singapore, and it was good to see the airport fully decorated in recognition of this - a good, and literal, illustration of the way in which the Singaporean state, despite it's democratic failings, recognises and embraces its multicultural population.

Note the high-rise flats/apartments in the background. Most of the housing in Singapore is high-rise - space is at a premium, given the small size of the island (over 3 million people in just 646 sq-km), so this is a necessity. However, unlike the UK where this type of housing has been associated with social problems, Singaporeans enjoy the 'high life' and effective micro communities have been established within these blocks.

Not an especially good photo, and a very disappointing sky devoid of any colour or texture. It would have been good to return at night to capture the illuminated Diwali decorations.