Walking along a concrete Pasir Ris bicycle lane recently, photo-hunting partner, Evelyn Bartolome and I met an old Singaporean. I greeted him and commented, “You have a very beautiful country.”

“All countries are beautiful, Madam,” he waved and resumed his speed.

“Selamat,” I shouted.

True enough, all countries are beautiful, especially their people, natural resources like bodies of water, forests, mountains and hills, plains and valleys. High-rise man-made structures like condominiums and public buildings including city forests and gardens amaze visitors.

There is no time difference between Singapore and the Philippines. I heard that unlike the Philippines, Singapore has never been visited by destructive typhoons and floods. It feels warmer in Singapore, being located along the equatorial line. However, nature neutralizes the hot hours with rains which seem to fall intermittently after each hot segment of the day.

Singapore has a very convenient transportation system from its MRT-LRT to bus rides that take passengers to its tiangges, malls and shopping centers. Taxis come more by phone calls than by flag downs.

Sight-seeing tours and harbour tours with licensed tour guides plus free bus pickups and returns to destinations make every visitor understand and appreciate mixed culture and environment. Wherever I threw my eyes, greenery dominates the land areas of Singapore. Wide paved streets are lined with evergreens – huge trees, shrubs, decorative plants, and well manicured sidewalk gardens. Despite the hot summer, green grass covers all other land areas like golf lawns. I guess the unpredictable constant rains become the natural watering system for these plants, so they remain ever green.

I enjoyed the foot trek at the bay side near the Costa Sands Resort made cool by the huge trees and tall coconut palms. We spent our first two days in Singapore at the Costa Sands Beach Resort which boasts of air-conditioned cottages as many as the English alphabet, Olympic size swimming pools, barbecue pits, picnic grounds, and a huge reception hall. We occupied Cottage M where Bamboo Bartolome Santos, only child of Jojo and Honey Santos, our hosts, celebrated his second birthday.

Sometimes Emy and I got lost, but strangers politely offered us to find our way. One lady Singaporean got off the wrong MRT we took and led us three levels below to get the correct train. Often, we asked strangers in English to find our direction. "Aba, Filipino pala kayo. Doon po sa kabila ang sakyan ninyo.”

Singapore appears a melting pot of Asians and the world – Malaysians, Chinese, Hindus, Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, Cambodians, Australians, Thais, and other nationalities including Americans and the British. The harmonious blending of different peoples and their cultures is amazing.

Equally amazing to me is the efficiency of its electronic facilities in banks, malls, and transportation. Personnel at the MRT and LRT booths do not issue train tickets. Passengers get their train tickets by touching electronic buttons indicating their final stations. The cost is indicated on a screen. Whether exact coins or bills are inserted into the machine exact change in coins come out together with the card. Card includes a dollar deposit which can be retrieved through the same machine. I inserted more than 10 times the first card I used. Ten times the machine cancelled it until a stranger got the card and fed it to another slit. The machine swallowed it and dropped a dollar coin. I didn’t feel embarrassed though, for it was an initial segment in IT learning.

Brochures, maps, flyers abound in every strategic area. Coach tours or harbour cruises take local and foreign tourists to exciting eco-sites like Sentosa, Marina Bay, Chine Garden, Clark Quay, Singapore Botanic Garden, national art museums, zoo, bird park, and more. MRT and LRT rides stop at commercial malls where shopping is as exciting as land or harbour tours, that is, if you have enough Singaporean dollars.

(Cecilia S. Angeles is a Fine Arts professor and a regular lecturer in the FPPF Photography Workshops at Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila.)