I recently had the opportunity to head back to Singapore, my first trip to the city state in almost 5 years. If you read my previous article on Singapore, you'll note that I only stayed a couple of days and mentioned it was one of the places I'd like to visit again, only with more time to spare.

Well I finally had the chance to revisit it, and I spent almost a week exploring areas of Singapore that I didn't have a chance to see the first time around. Read on for more about my views and observations about one of the more divisive places in Asia.

Singapore is the worlds only city state built completely on an island and competes with Hong Kong as the centre of commerce in the far east. It truly is a global city with amazing infrastructure, cleanliness that is rigorously enforced and a level of multiculturalism that would put London and New York to shame. Infact Singaporeans pride themselves on their racial harmony and we can definitely learn a lot from the way they do things, from respecting each others religions to mixing different backgrounds in a large cosmopolitan city.

There is no doubt the city is expensive, perhaps a little too expensive for me to ever consider moving there, but with that tax money, the government has built a city to rival any other in the world. The city mixes colonial buildings, architecture from different cultures and modern skyscrapers almost effortlessly and the only other city I have been to that I can really compare it to is Dubai and Singapore comes out on top (probably because it also treats its labourers much better).

I didn't spend as long as I would have liked in the city, but here are the 5 things I loved most about Singapore.

If there is one place that I have visited that I wish I had spent more time in, Singapore would be the place. Not quite as charming as Chiang Mai, not as loud as Bangkok, there is nevertheless a lot to do in this small city state. I only had a handful of days available in Singapore so I had to pick and choose the sights that I wanted to see.

Singapore Changi Airport has won numerous awards over the years, and its not difficult to see why. The airport is clean and efficient and staff are friendly and knowledgeable. It really makes the whole experience of flying more relaxed and pleasant.

I got a cab from the airport into the city. I decided to stay in little India, a cultural gem in the city and even in traffic it didn't take much longer than 30 minutes to get there from the airport. The cab driver was friendly and all he wanted to do was talk about English football, something I was happy to talk about. It was during my trips to SE Asia that I realised the greatest British export of the 21st century so far is the Premier league. Everyone watches it and everyone wants to talk about once they realise you are from England. They all tend to support the big teams, so when I mention Aston Villa, I always get asked why. Sometimes I ask myself the same question.