Haze!

For the last two days, I've been in Singapore. Surely the thing that most impressed me at my arrival was the haze that reigns there since one week! At first sight, you'd think it's mist - thick, dirty-white fog everywhere in and over the city. But the moment you step outside the plane, you smell that it's no fog but some kind of unhealthy smog, which is hiding the sun and covering all Singapore.
Results that the haze comes from nearby Sumatra, where they are fire clearing forests, and the wind is as unlucky as to bring all the smoke to Singapore.
It's really a pity, the haze makes it very unappealing to go outside, and I had been looking forward to do some running here. And, besides, there's so many reasons to go out and do sightseeing in Singapore!
Actually, I went to Singapore mainly to visit a friend; I probably wouldn't even have stopped here if it wasn't for her. I'm so glad I did! In the end, I not only spent a great time with her, but I'm also really smitten by this ciytstate. It's probably the first time that I enjoy a city for its beauty as much as I could enjoy nature. The city's heart, Marina bay, is not a grown center, but designed due to the concept of a "livable city". To me, it felt like walking through utopia: a city as I would imagine if I tried to picture "the perfect city of the future". There are green spaces everywhere, combined with innovative installations; there is plenty of walking space among the streets; the city's indistinguishable skyline is visible everywhere. Perhaps you can perceive even the strange, unreal feeling the haze added to the scenery in the pictures in Picasa's "Singapore"-album.