13 things you don’t know about Singapore

1. You won’t get any more connected than you will here

Thanks to its minuscule size, Singapore has the infrastructure to support island-wide 3.5G mobile and wireless Internet access. According to Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), there are 6.5 million mobile subscribers here (as of July 2009), making for a staggering 140-plus-percent mobile phone penetration rate. Add to that four million wireless broadband subscriptions. This is why you’ll see Singaporeans paying more attention to their phones than to their environment.

2. We’re natural disaster-free … for the most part

Owing to our geographic location, Singapore is sheltered from most of the natural disasters that afflict neighboring countries. Locals get a kick each time a strong wind blows down from the north or our houses.

3. We’ve got the most crooked-backed kids per capita

Small children toting oversized backpacks crammed with books are common to our streets. That would be due to our intense educational system, with streaming programs that start as early as primary four. Suffice to say, we are a pretty smart bunch.

4. We’re dedicated to keeping people alive forever

Singapore has one of the best health care infrastructures in the world, with dignitaries and royals from the region often flying in for treatment at local hospitals -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe even slipped in quietly for a 'secret cancer check-up' in 2008. The health care provision system is one of the world's best, so good that some say it beats the proposed ObamaCare model.

5. The most awesome crustacean dish in the world is here

Singapore chili crab is famous, as evidenced by the Singapore chili crab festivals staged across Europe. Madam Cher Yam Tian created the succulent recipe in 1950 and it's become the unofficial national dish of a food-loving nation, with restaurants and coffee shops serving it by the ton nightly.

6. World’s youngest iPhone developer lives here

Lim Ding Wen has written an iPhone app called Doodle Kids that allows users to paint on the iPhone using shapes like triangles, circles and squares composed of random colors and sizes. Within a week of Doodle Kids' release through the App Store, it was downloaded more than 1,100 times. Ding Wen's now busy porting his Apple IIGS title Invader Wars to the iPhone. What's the big deal? He turned nine this year.

7. 'Public housing' aren't dirty words

In many countries, 'public housing' conjures images of poverty, crime and places Rambo wouldn't tread without an M16. Not so here. Public housing is actually pretty good, with most of the population living in government-managed apartments -- it's just not cheap. In fact, far from impoverished, Singapore has the world’s highest density of millionaires at 8.5 percent of the population.

8. English that no one else understands … and proud of it

It's the unofficial 'first language' of most Singaporeans and one that would bewilder the rest of the English-speaking world. Singlish is the Creole of choice for citizens cobbled together from various linguistic backgrounds including Queen's English, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil, dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Bengali, Punjabi and a smattering of European, Indic and Sinitic languages. Word of warning -- if you don't know it, don't try it. It'll make you sound sillier than we already do. Eh, dun pray pray ah …

9. You can get caught in a snowstorm

In fact, there are a number of parka-friendly places in town. Check them out here.

>10. Gong Li and Jet Li are at home here

Two of the biggest Chinese names in Hollywood call Singapore home. She married Singaporean businessman Ooi Hoe Soeng in 1996 and became a Singapore citizen in 2008. He followed suit in 2009, choosing Singapore for its exemplary education system.

11<. We’ve developed the most complex coffee ordering procedure ever

Everyday in kopitiams (local coffee shops) all over Singapore, coffee stall attendants with bellows for lungs yell out drink orders in the most perplexing code this side of the Causeway. "Kopi-o peng gao jit puay" means one iced thick coffee without milk and less sugar, while "teh-si siew dai sua neng puay" means two cups of tea with condensed milk and less sugar. Don't bother, most Singaporeans just place their drink orders in plain ol' indecipherable Singlish.

12. Toilets are taken seriously

The Restroom Association of Singapore wants its public toilets so clean you can eat off the lids. To do that, they comb the island to eradicate messy areas and spread the gospel of good toilet etiquette.

13. Everyone's apparently related

It's strangely comforting when everyone -- and we mean everyone -- is accorded a familial title, including the Ice Cream Uncle on Orchard Road or that Toilet Auntie at Far East Plaza. If your taxi driver is younger than you, then it's 'bruddah' or 'sistah.’