Woodlands, on the Singapore side of the Causeway leading to Malaysia, has a strong Malay influence. The busy Woodlands Shopping Centre is one of the best places to buy fabric. Many of the colourful fabrics on display are used to make the shimmering traditional dress favoured by Muslim women.

Getting there: Take the MRT to Yishun (N12), then SBS bus 856 from the bus interchange or take TIBS bus 952 from Somerset Road or Orchard Boulevard.

Yishun is a satellite suburb in Singapore’s north?the last stop on the MRT.

Step straight off the MRT into the six-level Northpoint Centre, a modern shopping mall complete with all the big brand names to be found along Orchard Road. Right next to Northpoint is a high quality, eight-cinema multiplex. And on the other side is a row of shophouses selling food and bargain goods.

Visitors to Toa Payoh will find its central shopping area reminiscent of Singapore’s older shophouses. Here you can pick up garments at ridiculously low prices —T-shirts and shorts at $10 for three items or children’s clothes for as little as $2. Toa Payoh town centre includes cinemas, hawker centres, coffee shops and a library, but it also boasts a nearby park with streams and lily ponds alive with Chinese carp and goldfish. Getting there: Take the MRT to Toa Payoh (N6).

Tampines, an HDB estate in the north-east of Singapore, has the distinction of having won the coveted United Nations World Habitat Award for Excellence in Housing Design. With new schools, shops, markets, beautiful playgrounds two golf courses, a swimming pool, a badminton hall and a stadium, it has all the facilities its residents could want. A Japanese department store, supermarkets and food chains have already been attracted to Tampines.

(Getting there: Take the MRT to Tampines (E11).