(From top): Bright lights and Christmas decorations at Centrepoint; the electronically operated Carlsberg Sky Tower at Sentosa; the Sentosa Luge; music lovers groove to the beats at Zouk Out

So, you’ve been to this island in the sun countless times. You’ve cased all the joints and malls in Orchard Road. You’ve dumped the kids in Jurong Bird Park, while you went on the shopping expedition to beat all shopping expeditions. Isn’t Singapore passe and a big yawn? Could there be anything left to do?

The answer, amazingly enough, is yes. Those crafty Singaporeans are dreaming up a host of new attractions to ensure that tourists keep flying in to this 21st century tropical isle.

If, for example, you’ve been wondering what to do this Christmas, the Singapore Tourism board is pulling out all the stops to ensure that the island is gripped by the Yuletide spirit. OK, there’s no snow but Orchard Road is already lit up and there’s a mega-fireworks display every evening at Marina Bay. The two themes for this year’s celebrations are Christmas Wonderland: A Musical Kaleidoscope and Winterland: Dreaming of a White Christmas. The Musical Kaleidoscope mainly involves illuminating Orchard Road with lights arranged in the shape of musical motifs. Evening performances, street acts and special international cuisines will be the highlights this season.

And this is only the run-up to Christmas. The actual Christmas celebrations will include something called a ‘singing’ Christmas tree, nightly live musical performances at the city’s retail paradises like Ngee Ann City, Paragon and Tong Building, colourful floats and a life-sized nativity scene.

Also on the cards is a series of cultural performances with Christmas themes by 10 ethnic groups of the region. Says Kok Yul Chin, assistant director, Leisure Marketing and Events Management, Singapore Tourism Board, “We expect about 500,000 tourists to hotfoot it to Singapore this Christmas, which will help us hit our target of 8 million in 2005.”

For those who had always hopped across to Sentosa in a cable car and were simply enchanted by the sun and sand, there are new attractions and they don’t involve large cash outlays. You could, for instance, stop by for a gourmet meal at Tastes of Singapore, the smart new restaurant on Sentosa that serves up everything from Chinese specialities to high-class Western fare.

From there the next stop could be the equally new Carlsberg sky tower at the centre of Sentosa overlooking the Harbour Front and Tanjong Pagar Port Terminal. The sky tower is an electronically operated viewing terminal that zooms from ground level to a height of 110m in a matter of seconds. It has a cabin capacity of 72 and offers a panoramic glimpse of Singapore, Malaysia and the outlying islands of Indonesia as well. And it isn’t terribly expensive. The spectacular ride on the sky tower as it escalates to the top comes for just S$10 (Rs 260) for an adult and S$6 (Rs 156) for a child.

For the adventurous who are into thrills and spills, there is the Sentosa Luge. The part go-cart, part toboggan is a first for South East Asia and lets you hurtle down a winding downhill track stretching for almost 650 metres. The three-wheel cart with its own braking and steering system was introduced in Sentosa a few months ago and ensures that the rider is in charge as he goes cruising down to Siloso beach.

I’ve never been one for adventure sports and therefore beat a hasty exit to the ever-popular Underwater World on the island. Here too, there’s a new exhibition ? Crabs ? The Unusual Suspects opened to public viewing in November. Did you think that one crab was much the same as another and only good when served up with lemon sauce? You can have second thoughts here! The fascinating variety of crustaceans here include the Rainbow Crab, Sponge Crab, Japanese Giant Spider Crab and the Yellowline Arrow Crab. They eat anything from coconuts to small aquatic life. Get up, close and personal with the Velcro Crab that uses bits of sponge, seaweed, shells and debris to camouflage its body and ward off predators.

If all this erudite stuff about crabs is too much for you, it might be time to get footloose and fancy-free at Silosa Beach for the annual dance and music festival ZoukOut. Get grooving to the beats of trance, techno, hip-hop and Mambo Jambo busted out by star DJs like Cash Money and Sven Vath. There are synchronised live visuals as well. The line-up of international and local music talent is quite impressive and attracts tourists from countries like Australia, Germany and Hong Kong along with music-lovers from neighbouring nations. The S$1.2 million party has attracted a record 15,000 visitors this season and hopes to be the hottest music event in Asia next year.

Singapore has always been famous for being the most staid island in Asia with its legendary strict laws. But maybe it’s looking for an image change. Anyway, this year at Clarke Quay, Crazy Horse Paris is putting up a smouldering act. The cabaret is a passionate mix of dance, music and stunning light effects and comes for a price of S$65 (Rs 1,690) for bar seats with a complimentary standard drink and can go up to a whopping S$500 (Rs 13,000) with a bottle of champagne.

In case, a crowded party is not your scene and you would rather prefer a cosy interlude, make a dash for Mount Faber. Mount Faber is host to one more Singaporean novelty: a giant artificial Christmas tree 61m high, which is adorned with a 11,520m garland of artificial pine tree leaves. Add on 15,000m of fairy lights, 500 blinking strobes and 40 icicle lights.

The top of Mount Faber has another brand-new tourist attraction, The Jewel Box. This is a mall-like building that has come up around the cable cars that bring in diners from Sentosa to Mount Faber. You can have intimate dining experiences at any one of the restaurants in the complex like The Altivo Bar and Faber Rock. Situated 90m above sea level, The Jewel Box offers a spectacular view of Singapore’s city skyline and its surrounding islands.

If you have a passing interest in science, it might be a good idea to stop off at an exhibition titled The Art of Star Wars that’s now underway at the Singapore Science Centre. This provides an opportunity to all those Star Wars fans out there to look behind the scenes and be a part of the movie-making experience. Occupying a space of 3,000 square metres, the exhibit houses almost 100 original props, costumes, set pieces and models used in the film.

Kids are sure to whoop it up with the Jedi gym that includes the ‘Hollow Point’ allowing visitors to test their ‘force’ and ‘Mind Ball’, which permits the movement of a ball using the mind. One of the top draws of this exhibition is a Foley Studio where visitors can audio record various scenes for the films. The fan brigade almost had a stampede to catch a glimpse of ‘Darth Vader’s Surgery Table’ and ‘Padme’s Birthing Table’ from Star Wars Episode III. The exhibition will continue till April 3 next year and is scheduled to include a host of other interactive programmes.

If you still have the time to go back to those enchanting places that had attracted you to Singapore years ago, take a leisurely stroll around the Singapore Zoo or go on a wildlife trail at the Night Safari. Round off the trip with the special buffet spread at the Night Safari overlooking a herd of African Ankole cattle. And you will definitely come back for more every year.