A thousand years before Marco Polo travelled the Silk Route between Venice and China, there was a little town in the strategic location of Singapore.
In 1320 the Mongols shopped for elephants there. As Europeans scrambled for footholds in the Spice Islands–gambling their lives for nutmeg, cloves, and pepper–Singapore attracted increasing attention. And in 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles set up a British trading post on the island, founding modern Singapore.
Today the little town is a wealthy country of 5.5 million people, its economy driven by electronics exports, financial services, and the world’s busiest cargo seaport.
I’m heading there to work with a few clients. It will be hot, humid, drizzling–and fascinating.
Enter your email address under my photo to the right to get daily updates from this food-obsessed, highly-organized tropical paradox. I’ll also be in Malaysia for a week–more on that tomorrow.
Marty's Travel Blog: History, Culture, & People 
