10 fun facts about Singapore you might not have known before reading this

The more you know, courtesy of r/Singapore.

Guan Zhen Tan | January 18, 2017, 04:36 PM

A question was posted in the Singapore Reddit forum: "What in Singapore are you 100% sure nobody knows about?"

For being such a small island, surely there were lots of things that we think we'd already know, but these Redditors compiled a pretty awesome list, which included the following:

1) Singapore is one of the only 5 countries which have official Tintin shops. (via)

While many places are authorised resellers, Singapore, along with Belgium, Japan, Spain and the UK are the only ones with official stores dedicated to Tintin.

Ours is in Chinatown, tucked between all the touristy shops and restaurants.

The store is teeming with all sorts of souvenirs, such as watches, mugs, notebooks, puzzles and of course, the Tin Tin comics that were so popular in our childhood days.

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Address:  28 Pagoda Street, Singapore 059188

 

2) Singapore has over 60 islands (via)

Including our main island a.k.a Pulau Ujong,  Pulau Tekong, and our landfill Pulau Semakau. Island city, mah.

listofislands Screenshot via

3) There is a natural hot spring located in Sembawang (via) and one located in Pulau Tekong (via)

Some say it's common knowledge, but here's the refresher for everybody.

This hot spring is situated along Jalan Ulu Sembawang at Sembawang Air Base, where water is flowing through granite at 150 litres per minute.

While it's not certain where the water comes from, it could be somewhere on high ground at Bukit Timah.

It's open from 7am to 7pm for the public to enjoy.

Photo via Photo via

The one at Tekong is not the most well-known, but it's not surprising - it's located in the northern part of Unum, which is supposedly infamous for being one of the most haunted parts of Tekong.

Nevertheless, the spring is nicely maintained, with a signboard and boardwalk.

 

4) Singapore’s lowest recorded temperature was below 20°C (via)

Photo via Nicolas Lannuzel on Flickr Photo via Nicolas Lannuzel on Flickr

There's a bit of confusion. The Redditor posted that the lowest temperature recorded in Singapore was 18.9°C  on the Jan. of 1934, but a quick search says it's 19.4°C.

According to Meterological Sevice Singapore, Singapore did reach a low of 19.4°C, recorded by the climate station on Jan. 30. and Jan. 31 1934, but all stations also recorded a 19°C at Paya Lebar in 1989.

Be it in 1934 or 1989, please, we just want this kind of weather back.

 

5) The largest Japanese graveyard situated in South East Asia is here in Singapore (via)

Well, you probably have known about the graveyard after watching our video:

Built in 1891, the Japanese Cementery Park contains the graves of several important Japanese figures in Singapore's history, Japanese residents, war dead, and unmarked tombstones of prostitutes.

 

6) The original version of Majulah Singapura was different from the final version (via)

There are parts where it is roughly the same, though the difference is pretty obvious early into the anthem.

Delving into musical technicalities, there are 8 bars of music here, which was then removed in the current version.

 

7) Singapore is one of the only 3 city-states in the entire world (via)

Image adapted from here, here and here 

A city-state can be understood to be a city, along with the surrounding territory, forming an independent state.

The other two are Monaco, which is well known for its beautiful scenery, hosting F1 races and their casino; and Vatican City, which is home to the Pope, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel.

8) The shade of red on Singapore’s national flag is Pantone 032 (via)

The white portion of it is Pantone White.

Don't get mixed up searching for the exact shade, though. There are three types of Pantone 032, which are 032C, 032U, and 032U respectively.

The answer should be pretty obviously 032C, however.

 

9) SMU's location used to be a prison for Indian convicts who were involved extensively in construction works of colonial Singapore (via

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In the early 19th century, many Indian convicts were transported from India and Hong Kong to Singapore. Due to the increase in numbers, a prison was built at Bras Basah.

This prison, also known as Lau Kah Ku Keng Khau  (mouth of the old prison in Hokkien) was built by convict labour, as they were trained in construction skills such as masonry, carpentering, painting, blacksmithing and so on.

St Andrew's Cathedral is, too, built on such convict labour, and a plaque acknowledges their contributions.

Even though the remains of this prison has long been buried and gone, it is said that the Bodhi tree planted by one of the prisoners is the one that resides at the University today.

 

10) A 1ha plot within Bukit Timah Nature Reserve has more tree species than North America (via)

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400 species, to be exact. However, trees are apparently dying faster, with a 3% higher a mortality rate than Malaysia. NTU's Asian School of the environment is currently investigating why.

Bonus:

Screenshot via

Top image adapted from here, here and here

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