Getting into Zoukout is a bit like getting into the Pentagon. Only after many police checks do we finally step into an enclosed grassy field to meet a PR called Harry Ng, who is perhaps the only man in Singapore wearing a woolly hat. "Yeah, people are really gonna be freakin' out and enjoying themselves all night long," shouts Harry He is probably right Mild-mannered young people are queuing up outside Skyscrapers glitter to one side The weather is perfect. Over there I even see a chapel with stained-glass windows and a gothic tower. This place, it turns out, was run as a school by French nuns until the 1980s. The fronts of the two-storey houses are still Chinese baroque, all half-moon tiles, bamboo roof-ridges, Malaysian swing-doors and Corinthian columns.

But that must have seemed like a waste of a good heritage site, which is why the school has now moved out, and we lucky tourists have moved in.After dinner, my guide surprises me yet again, announcing that a huge outdoor party called Zoukout is being held on reclaimed land not far from the city centre. Why not, I say, gazing over a lovely complex of shops, bars and restaurants amid green lawns and frangipani trees. Big international orchestras have already played here; operatic megastars such as Jose Carreras have given it their blessing. And, as everyone knows, Singapore will not be a proper city unless it has a proper concert hall.Night falls, suddenly, and it's time for dinner My guide proposes an ex-convent called Chijmes. When I've finished looking at Singapore's past, my next task is to visit its future.

This means a visit to the Esplanade Theatres right in the middle of town.These two world-class concert halls may have cost more than £200m, but Singaporeans do not seem to be complaining For one thing, they look great In fact they resemble two monstrous prickly durians. Isn't this authentically Chinese all right?After my three-hour potted tour of Asia, it's time for a burst of Europe Singapore, you see, has it all. My guide suggests that we drop in at Raffles Hotel, which, when we get there, does indeed turn out to be an intensely charming place, with modestly proportioned courtyards and palm trees and tiffin and turbaned porters. The famous Long Bar may have lost something with the advent of air conditioning and of recorded pop music.