When one steps onto Singapore soil and travels from Changi International Airport to the city centre, one would see a modern and seemingly westernise cosmopolitan city. Yet, when more time is spent in the country, one can easily find very distinctive cultures projected by the three main ethnic groups of Chinese, Malay and Indian. The Chinese way of life can be found in the China Town area located around North Bridge Road and South Bridge Road in the city centre, where one can find shops which sell Chinese herbs, Chinese style jewellery and gold ornaments, and Chinese ceramics and potteries, as well as Chinese (or localised Chinese) food, as they have been sold for a hundred years or more. Throughout the island, there are many Chinese temples worshipping different deities.
"Little India" located around Serangoon Road has a concentration of Indian shops selling all kinds of wares, and restaurants and Indian temples.
One can also spot Malay culture everywhere; the most prominent forms being mosques and Malay food stalls in hawker centres and food courts, as well as people who are dressed in traditional Malay dresses.
Finally, there is something which I would call a "Singapore culture", which is a mix of everything, i.e. a population of over 4 million people, speaking a common language that is not the mother tongue for most people and often speaking each other's ethnic language, eating and cooking each other's cuisine, sharing the same neighbourhoods, schools and work places, and at the same time absorbing cultures coming in from the west and from other countries. It is an amazing place.
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