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When you first spot it, you may be tempted to say "Wow! The London Eye has fi¬nally come to Singapore!" And your taxi driver may correct you, pointing out that this new toy belongs to the citystate and is called the Singapore Flyer. "I see, it's not called the Singapore Eye, then?"

Actually I have to admit it is impressive to see such a worldbeating Ferris wheel in Southeast Asia. The onemonthold ride was the main attraction on my latest trip to Singapore.

Stand on Raffles Avenue in the Mariana Bay area, and the Singapore Flyer is the out¬standing landmark. Towering 165 metres - the equivalent of a 45storey building - it beats the London Eye as the tallest ob¬servation wheel in the world. The Great Dubai Wheel is set to snatch the title away from Singapore later this year, be¬fore the citystate really gets a chance to crow about its pre¬mier perch. And in 2009, the Beijing Great Wheel will sur¬pass them all.

Getting a ride on the Singapore Flyer isn't as straightforward as a trip on its little brother in London, where you enter from ground level on the bank of the River Thames. The Singapore wheel is housed in a threestorey mall with plenty of restaurants and sou¬venir shops. The entrance is surrounded by a rainforestlike central atrium and a concert space for live events.

The engineering and archi¬tectural core of the wheel has been designed with the num¬ber 28 as a theme. The Singapore Flyer has 28 aircon¬ditioned capsules, each of them with room for 28 passen¬gers. Jasmine Yin, PR person for the new Ferris wheel, ex¬plains that Singaporeans be¬lieve 28 to be a lucky number - let's hope the engineers agreed.

It is hard to imagine how such an elegant and delicatelooking structure can be re¬sponsible for lifting 16tonne capsules to a height of 165 me¬tres. But that's exactly what happens. And the ride is very smooth. During a 30minute trip, passengers get to drink in and photograph panoramic views of Marina Bay, the hedgehog of highrise build¬ings across the bay, the FormulaOne circuit as well as what will be the Marina Bay Sands casino, which is under construction. On a clear day, neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia can be spotted too.

Options are created by vari¬ous different styles of rides, says Yin. An inflight host can be arranged, with a selection of wines and champagnes, canapes and pastries.

A lot of Singaporeans seem satisfied with the view from the ground - not too many have taken the trip yet. But vis¬itors file into the capsules all day long, from 8.30 in the morning to 10.30 at night. The most popular time for a ride is at sunset, when the last light of day fades and the neon city blinks into life.

Singapore Flyer is within walking distance of the Esplanade, Suntan Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre as well as all the luxury hotels in the Marina Bay area.