Travel To Singapore

[Admin]

Thinking of visiting my favourite place, Singapore? If so I'll offer you a few pointers to ensure you get the best out of your stay.

First of all you need to book a hotel as close to Orchard Road as you can, as this is the heart of the country. I've stayed in the York, Crown Prince and Orchard in this area and I'd recommend any of them. The cheapest and easiest place to book is http://www.asiarooms.com/

NEVER BOOK DIRECT WITH THE HOTEL.

Once you've booked via Asiarooms (they are the cheapest on the WWW), you get a receipt to print off in a few days when your stay is confirmed, print this off TWICE, and put one in your passport NOW, as you need this as proof. If you want any extras such as a high room, non-smoker, internet, etc, email the hotel direct with your reference number to ensure they know what you want.

I always use Singapore Airlines from the UK as they fly direct. It does cost a little more, but well worth it for the shorter travel time. Make sure when you book it is a 777, as the 747's make one stop usually, and with security these days you have to get off & back on again!!

When you land at the airport, it is quick to get processed through, just ensure you filled the landing card in you get on the plane. Get a taxi, it usually cost around $20 to Orchard Road.

When using taxis in Singapore, you may notice that the driver charges more than what is on the meter, this is not a fiddle, as they daren't break the law. It is usually the additional charge they get for driving through 'toll' areas. A bit like the London Zone we now have. I usually tip between $1-$2.


Things To Do

You can spend the whole week on Orchard Road their is so much there. Visit this site http://www.marimari.com/content/singapore/


The shopping plaza's are amzing, don't miss out Lucky Plaza the homeland of Filipino shops, and full of the people themselves on a Sunday. Far East Plaza, great for just about everything. Paradox, this is all the expensive designer gear, but still things worth a look.

We usually spend every other day in the area of Orchard Road, and every night take a stroll around it. Not only is it vibrant, cheap, but it's full of pretty girls as well!

Visit Sentosa Island via the cable car, or get a taxi direct. The cable car on the Island is Free. Relax on the beach, and visit Underwater World, Dolphin World, and many other places on this exotic island. You also have great views of Singapore. Don't forget the memory for the digi cam. If you have time take a boat trip from the Jetty under the cable car on the mainland. Then back to Orchard road for a good evening meal and another stroll around the plaza's you missed. Also visit Sim Lim Square for all electronic goods, this is my Heaven.

You must visit the Bird Park http://www.birdpark.com.sg/Main/ , some remarkable winged creatures in there, and the place is like the Tardis so expect a good long walk.

The Zoo is also a must see http://www.zoo.com.sg/ , this is also a long walk, but very enjoyable, and plenty of places to cool down (like the crocadile lake!!!!)

Not far from Orchard Road is the Botanic Gardens. A big park to relax in, and includes the Orchid Gardens, with a small charge to get in, but well worth it. Take plenty of drinks, as it can get hot in that area. In fact don't go anywhere without a bottle of water.

Another 'must see' is a visit to Little India. Ask the taxi driver to drop you off by the market, and then walk all the way up, taking in the full Indian culture, until you reach Mustaffa's. This shop is the best on the planet, you can buy virtually anything you want. They have two shops, one at the front which is being refurbished, and just behind that is another. Visit both, it'll probably take you a day, the place is MASSIVE. I buy all kinds from electronic goods, to local food.

If you like sport, their are two World class golf courses on Sentosa Island. For horse racing, one of the best tracks in the World is at Changi, and even if you know nothing about the donkeys, it is a great afternoon/evening out, and cheap. http://www.turfclub.com.sg/

A taxi into China Town is also worth a visit, as this place is 100% Chinese, and you can buy things you can't get elsewhere (like monkey brains!!!)

If you have time after all that, take a cruise to one of the local tropical islands. The costs are good, and the sites well worth it.


What To Eat

Singapore is well known for it's range of fodd, and you can buy almost every type of meal on the planet.

You only really need stay around Orchard Road to eat as the Food Courts will take you a few years to try everything. Their are many restaurants, and of course KFC, McDonalds, etc

Food I eat again & again is the Nasi Goreng in the Orchard Hotel, and the Nonya Chicken Curry in the York Hotel. In fact any food in these restaurants is good.

Obviously if you eat in the restaurants or hotels it will cost usually between S$10-S$20 each, eat in the food courts, and you get a filling meal for as little as S$4. Try something different every meal.

You don't need to tip, but usually in the hotel I'll give the maid, etc a few $'s. Do this when you arrive, you may get better treatment than the exceptional treatment you already get.


Crime & Safety

You won't believe this, but crime is as close to ZERO as you'll get anywhere in the World. probably cos they either deport people, lock them up for years, or in the case of using drugs, murder, rape, etc, hang you! No long drawn out appeals process like in the States. if your sentenced to hang, it happens within a short time. You can leave things lying around the hotel room they won't be touched, but best to keep things out of site anyway.

Most of all enjoy your visit, I'm sure you'll want to go back.

[ginapeterb]

My Singapore Experience.


Firstly When Gina and I wanted to go on our honeymoon, we originally were set to go to China, we had provisionally booked a 5 day tour of Shanghai, Beijing, with a Filipino Travel agency, however, our Chinese visa's fell through and would not be ready until well after we had left, so we turned to Keith for help and asked him to provide us with some information for Singapore, this was a great help, and we wrote everything down.

Singapore was exactly as Keith said it would be, we managed to go to many of the places he recommended so thanks for that Keith, now I know why you like it so much.

We took a 7 day package tour with one of the many Manila Travel agencies, this seems to be the preferred way in the Philippines of doing anything, and in some ways its better to have the flights and hotel wrapped up, although its not normally the way I do things, but also, we bumped into other Filipino couples and that was fun in doing this.

We had a package of return flights on Philippine Airlines, the outward flight was the Airbus A320, which had the t.v. screens in, the return flight was somewhat of a joke, as their was no t.v.s, they had put on an old Boeing 737 and for a 3 hour flight a pack of playing cards was a bit of a joke, to which I duly complained, behind me was sat a senior Army Officer of the AFP and he was laughing his head off at my complaint, and nodding in agreement.

We left Manila at around 8.25am in the morning and arrived at Changi airport Singapore at around 11.45am, the one thing that struck me straight away, is the mild formality of entering Singapore, everyone apparently is granted a visa, for a short stay, this I suspect is the Singappore government wanting as much tourism as possible.

I realized after taking a city tour just how little I knew about Singapore, our city bus tour guide was very informed about the history of Singapore, and he went to great lengths to praise the British, especially Mr Ted Heath former PM who he said had left 3 batallions of UK Infantry to defend Singapore during independance.

He also went on to explain that whilst Singaporeans work very hard, there is little or no natural resources in the island, and that they are largely dependant on other countries such as Malaysia for water and other materials, something of which is a concern as the current agreement to supply runs out in 60 years.

One does see that Singaporeans are very proud of their achievements as a small country, proud of their education system, strict discipline and adherence to law and order, this was I thought rather forcibly pushed on the visitors, almost to say "This is how we like it, we dont know what you do in your countries, but please respect our way of life", this is of course only fair.

The first thing I noticed about Singapore, is the sheer cleanliness of the city, the comtemporary look, and appearance of wealth, whilst we were there, the government were debating on t.v. the prospect of the emergence of gambling and the new casino industries, through integrated resorts.

On arrival we were taken by multi-van to our hotel, sadly, I was not able to choose our hotel, it was a take or leave it situation, we were taken to a hotel called the Crystal Fragrance in the Geylang area, I couldnt understand why every time I took a taxi there, that the taxi driver asked me if I wanted a woman ? as I declined in the face of sitting next to my new wife of some 3 days, one could understand my reluctance, my driver assured me that in Singapore, prostitution was legal, and government licenced something that suprised me, considering that Singapore is so regulated.

The one thing where I would agree with Keith, is where you stay in Singapore, our hotel was too far away from Orchard road, the main shopping street, Orchard road, appears to be similar as Oxford Street is in London.

Taxi's were around SD 5.00 to 7.00 I also noticed that the charges were increased by driving through the toll zone as Keith had indicated they would be.

Things to do:

Our first day in Singapore, was spent relaxing at our hotel, until around 5.45pm in the evening, we had booked ourselves on the Night Safari tour, this is by bus, and the downside of any of these tours is that you have to wait so long for other passengers to be brought by mini bus to the big main bus, which will take you to the Night Safari.

To be contd

[ginapeterb]

The Night Safari

We were collected from outisde our hotel in Singapores downtown area around 5.45pm, and along with another Filipino family (Richard and Daisy) (where are you Richard!!) we were then taken across to other hotels, to collect other people, finally we linked up with the big tour bus, and boarded it, this was around 6.30pm, this I find to be a major disadvantage, we noticed that we continually had to wait for a Malaysian couple, especially on at least 2 tours starting in the morning, Gina and I had gone out to the multi van, the Malaysian couple were seen walking hand in hand back from the chinese cafe's , they must have had breakfast on both occasions and they were late.

Having got to the Night Safari Park, we had to rush into get into position, one thing you notice about guided tours is that you are constantly being hurried to keep up with group tour schedules, The Night Safari was exactly what it says, a night safari, you sit in a road tram and drive through 28 hectares of lush vegatation and see nocturnal animals, sadly, people were repeatedly asked not to use flash cameras, and they did, at least 5 times people were asked to stop flashing their cameras, and people seem to be so stupid.

The safari for me was pretty boring I have to say, in that I was sat at the back, it rained, and also i got bitten 4 or 5 times by the resident mosquitoes, who attached themselves to my arm, thanks a lot guys, I owe you one.

The 2nd show was the Creatures of the Night show, again I thought pretty boring, to be honest I was glad to get back on the tour bus where the aircon was on, and go back to our hotel, sadly the hotel did not have a restaraunt, whereas some of our freinds were staying at the Oxford Hotel, in Queens road, adjacent to Middle road, and close to the Sim Lim Plaza, they had a small but nice restaraunt, although I heard there were some complaints from the Filipinos who had been told if they did not eat all the breakfast, they would be charged extra.

This is a weird thing I encounter much in the Philippines, you are not allowed to have leftovers at buffet breakfasts, if the fee for the breakfast is say 250 pesos, their is often a sign saying "No sharing" or "No leftovers" its actually quite offensive in UK Culture, but the thoughts behind this, is that, they dont want people taking more food than they can eat, just for the sake of it, I did tell them I thought it was offensive.

The City Tour

The City Tour commenced at 08.15am, again we had to wait for the Malaysian Couple, I told Gina if we had to wait one more time I was complaining, thankfully this couple did not appear on any other tours we took, the tour started off with a visit to the statue of Sir Stanley Rafflles the founder of Singapore, and then a tour around Chinatown, and a visit to a chinese temple, but to be honest when you have seen one temple you have seen them all, then a short boat ride up the river to the Singapura lion, and then back again, then a tour around the island, and to take in Changi airport, and the Governments recycled water project.

[Admin]

you are not allowed to have leftovers at buffet breakfasts
Guess this is just a Filipino mind thing!! I've stayed in 9 hotels in Singapore, and you can eat, take, and leave as much as you like.

Go round the food courts and their are leftovers everywhere, mainly because they give you so much. I made the mistake last year of ordering Hot & Sour soup and a chicken curry, only for the soup to turn up in something the size of a washing bowl :blink: I now know that Singapore soup in the food courts is actually a complete meal. Not bad for £1.75

The Hotel 81 range is mainly for backpackers, etc, and trust you to get the one in Geylang, for the prostitutes :lol: Luckily you had your nwe wife so had the 'extras' for free :) .......how much was the wedding and honeymoon again!!! :o :o :o

Singpore proves that visible policing does not mean a low crime rate, it is not very often you see the police, but no one dare do anything, and they don't have many CTV cameras either.

[ginapeterb]

I have to say in truth Keith I agree with you, I was dissapointed with the hotel, that Skyway Travel in Malata, allocated us to, I think this was mainly because Gina was trying to keep my costs down, and to be honest, that I appreciate, however I didnt want my comfort to be compromised at the expense of a few dollars.

The Cyrstal Fragrance Hotel, and there are lots of the Fragrance hotels in the Geylang area, are very basic accomodation, the floors are a sort of klitchen tile floor, the bed is basic, with a very unusual leather covered mattress, with 2 sheets and a blanket, also, there were only 2 pillows, which for me is totally unnaceptable, I had to ask housekeeping for extra pillows, it was no point in continually blaming Gina for this, she felt bad enough about it as it was, we had a similar experience when we booked into the Gilarmi appartments, on Ayala avenue, to cut costs down, it was P2200.00 per night including breakfast, the Gilarmi appartments are in my view a disgrace, considering they are close to Ayala avenue, the main benefit, is that you can walk to Glorietta without getting a taxi, in the end I moved us over to the Intercontinental, and got back to a decent room, with a decent bed, and mini bar, the usual facilities I am used to.

Sadly, in Singapore, I must stress, there was little point in arguing about it, as we had already committed and paid for the trip, I could go over it time and time again, it wont change the fact that we stayed there, and if I was asked, wouldnt stay there again.

But then again having said that, when we arrived at Changi airport and was asked by our transfer guide whether we wanted to go on tours, we agreed to go on 3 tours, and paid out SD 430.00 thinking this was the best thing to do, in some ways it was, because they handled the boat transfers to Indonesia, and other matters, but it has major disadvantages, waiting for other passengers who fail to turn up on time at their requested hotel, is a distinct disadvantage, I am a person who likes to roam free, in hindsight, I wish now that we had gone our own way, although perhaps going on group tours does have the advantage of making freinds, of which we did on the Indonesia trip, meeting several Filipinos, both couples and single ladies.

Ive stayed in some of the best hotels in the world, and by contrast Ive stayed in soem of the worst as well, the pension house in Baguio City reminds me of that very much, where the shower head fell off when you got in, and the shower had to be cranked up, and the power lever flicked down, although the power lever looked like the cranking handle on a Model T Ford car.

When you look at all these things, you have to put them down to experience, yes ok we saved some money, but how far do you go in saving money at the expense of comfort, it does give you some thought for the future, as to how you will travel, Singapore was ok for us, would I go back for holiday, to be honest its not high on my list of holiday destinations, having seen most of the attractions recommended, it has the major disadvantage of being a 26 Km wide island, and you cant go to many places inside that small area, Singapore in my view is a place you might want to go for 2-3 days break, mainly for the shopping, and if you are like me and hate shopping for designer clothes, it doesnt hold much of a magnet, its a place that Gina likes because she can spend all day browsing designer shopping labels, thats her baby, it isnt for me, so there we have it.

[ginapeterb]

"how much was the wedding and honeymoon again!!! "


The wedding in the Philippines was in my view excellent value, the basic package with the Business Inn, you may remember we switched from the Sugarland, represented good value for money.

Interestingly enough, there was never any suggestion that I might be helped with the cost of the wedding, it just never came up, guess I always knew that I would be paying Keith.heheheh

The wedding package was P36800.00 approximately £365.00

For this we had the following.

The Hire of the 2nd largest hall in the Hotel, which seated over 150 people at tables, we had a central isle left free for the bridal procession.

The tables were arranged with 5 on the left hand side each seating 10 guests, and 5 on the the other side.

In the end 100 people or so turned up for the wedding, these were accomodated and seated very well.

The package included serving by the waiters of the Presidential table, which was for the bride groom and parents, I had my stand in parents, Gina's Aunt and Uncle who I have become very fond of.

The package just about included everything, the extra costs, were for the photography P10,000
The flower arrangements P6000

The whole wedding cost us probably around

£1200.00 in total, by the time we had paid for Tickets on Philippine Airlines to bring down members of the family who needed to be there, and the honeymoon with spending money somewhere around £800.00

The total cost of everything including my ticket on Sinagpore Airlines, was around

£2500.00 which to be honest by UK Standards is pretty good, that included Gina's wedding outfit, my Barong Tagalog, and all other costs, such as make up artist, for the ladies, Hair stylist to come to the room, these had to be engaged, the Master of Ceremonies, who sang for us, and his neice who also sang, when you add in everything the invitiations, the programmes, the flower arrangements, the food, the Mercedes, to bring the guests to the hotel, the ice carvings, the wine tasting, the 3 Layer cake, was magnificent, all in all one cannot complain, although I never got a peice of the cake, amazingly, the cake dissapeared at the end of the wedding almost as fast as it appeared wonder where that went ??? does anyone know ?? I didnt eat much either, where did all the food go ??? I did notice doggy bags being preferred at the end, and bags for the lechon, which made me laugh.....oh trust me they will find a way to take what is left, but bless them, I couldnt eat it, and neither oculd Gina, so Im happy for them.

I was glad when the whole day was over, then we could crash out on the bed and rest, and no Keith, we were too knackered for any aerobics, a Filipino wedding does take it out of you.

[Admin]

and no Keith, we were too knackered for any aerobics, a Filipino wedding does take it out of you.
Their is a hidden meaning there somewhere but I can't figure it out <_< :D

[fontain]

My little bro lives in Singapore, and like the guys above I cant recommend a better place to visit.

Its so clean and the people are lovely, for booze its definately not the cheapest place, but for the younger generation (me included) they have some good clubs & bars around the Quay areas, Ministry of Sound have opened at Clark quay and one night stand is worth a look too and there is a good ice bar at Boat quay, also Orchard road has bundles to choose from, Brix is especially good for live music.

Gotta recommend a Brazillian restaurant at Robinson Quay (by the square) & the colourful bridge, where you pay a set price (approx 60 Sing - £20) a head, for unlimited food. As the chefs cook the meat, it is brought to your table and if you want some it is carved directly onto your plate, the quality is superb, beef pork, chicken, lamb, sausages, chicken wrapped in bacon, the list goes on & on, also you can have mussles (included in the price) you just have to ask and lots and lots of side dishes.

And yes Lucky plaza is the place for4 all things filipino, its where I tasted my first Halo Halo

And the main reason I love Singapore is coz its where I met my girl !!! :cwm38:

Have fun :Hellooo:

[Maria_2300]

Thank you for this information. I have been browsing the net for a few days now looking for some travel tips in Singapore. I wanna know the places to visit during my stay there. I will be there for 2 to 3 days only cause I will be going to Malaysia also so, I will make sure that I must see all the beautiful places in Singapore. I was thinking of Orchard Road and Sentosa Island.

[Win2Win]

Woman = Shopping = Orchard Road.....that should cover the 3 days :)

[Maria_2300]

Hehehe...Yes, shopping is woman's weakness Kieth. I wonder what's men's?