SINGAPORE LEFT AT ALTAR AS QANTAS BOUNDS OFF

Illustration: michaelmucci.com

In Singapore last week, I stayed near the venerable Raffles Hotel. Not at the Raffles Hotel, with its rooms starting at $540 a night when I checked. I popped into the famous Long Bar for a nightcap. The waiter blew it immediately. The first words out of his mouth were: ''Two Singapore Slings?''

Tourist trap. The room was full of tourists dutifully drinking lurid, sweet Singapore Slings.

Now Singapore itself is getting the sling, from Australia. Last week, I made a point of looking at the tremendous amount of energy the city-state has devoted to reinventing itself as a destination, the enormous Marina Bay Sands casino, hotel and mall, the even bigger Sentosa island development, the giant domes of the new Gardens by the Bay. Singapore is sophisticated. On GDP per capita, it has comfortably surpassed Australia in wealth.

09/09/2012  :  Paul Sheehan / The Sydney Morning Herald.

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