Singapore, the Lion City...?

by Oscar Mario Rosas Tabera
(Chofu, Tokyo, Japan)

Singapore means Lion City in Sanskrit, named this by its founder Sang Nila Utama. Everybody would think that this city-state would have pretty lions, but no, lions don't even exist here.

It is believed that maybe the animal seen by Utama was most likely a tiger instead of a lion. As this, there are many interesting things about Singapore. One of them: it has 4 official languages! If you want to learn some English, Chinese, Malay, or Tamil, this is your best option (maybe the only one).

About Singapore's territory, 276 square miles may sound a little bit small, but actually, this country has a great GDP index, with Singapore having the 3rd highest GDP per capita in the world (now it's not as small as it seems, right?).

Finally, a funny fact about this country is its rules: Singapore is a safe country; in fact, it's so safe that if you cross the street when the red light is on, you might end up in the jail.

This might not sound interesting, but sometimes, people who break the law receive another punishment called caning, which is being hit in the buttocks many times with a bamboo stick... That hurts.