Singapore
Two and a half weeks in Singapore and I had no time to drink... only five beers. Anyway..
Heres the hard and short version. Arrive at Changi airport, reach bags in fifteen minutes, reach cab five after that. Ride into town costs maybe $15.00 Sing which is about $8.00 U.S. Know the routes and tell the cab drivers you want the expressways or suffer the scenic routes when using the cabs. The cabs themselves are neat and tidy but avoid the 'Prestige' cabs such as the white Mercedes Benz's. These guys have a terrible reputation for ripping people off, especially early in the mornings outside hotels. Stick to the Hyundais and Toyota Crowns.
The hotels are heavily booked thanks to an economic boom in asia, and everyones travelling to Singapore to spend up big, so book ahead and think laterally. If you dont have to stay downtown, find somewhere a little ways out with a MRT train station nearby. Trains and buses are dirt cheap and excellent value. Get a travel pass and save even more.
If you dont have a roaming phone account, consider buying a sim card from Singtel ( present your passport ) for eight dollars. Thats will get you a card AND ten bucks worth of calls so you have a contact number for friends and relatives. StarHub calling cards, available at 7/11, allow you to use hotel or public phones to call the U.S or Australia for maybe five cents a minute, and right now ten dollar cards have an extra five dollars credit thrown in. Thats over three hours calling to the U.S for about U.S $6.00.
Internet cafes range in price from a dollar an hour at the unairconditioned caves on Mountbatten Road behind Roxy Plaza to seven dollars for 15 minutes in the hotel lobbies and even more in the rooms. McDonalds 'McCafes' have free wireless internet for those with a laptop. Dont use the hotel phone services unless your using a phone card.
Shopping? For everything but at a slightly higher price, theres Orchard Road, the main shopping drag in Singapore. Be prepared to fight to survive when shopping there on weekends. Stores open anywhere between 11.00 am and one pm and stay open until 10.00 or 10.30 pm. Electronics? Go to Sim Lim, a five dollar cab ride or ten minute bus ride from Orchard Road. Its about five floors of nothing but electronics... cameras, phones, computers, software, medical, entertainment... you name it. Laptops are particularly cheap, as are phones.
For general shopping, try Sun Tec Plaza nearby. It has a Carrefour spread over two floors that sells everything you could possibly need.
Prices? Laptops, phones, computers, accessories are cheap. Software isnt bad but I didnt think it was a bargain, and Ive had one or two bad buys there. Watches are everywhere but I didnt see any bargains. Clothing and running shoes are very cheap, bedding is cheap enough, luggage is cheap, beer is bloody expensive, hotels are becoming expensive, food is excellent and very affordable, books are about the same price you would pay in the U.S but the selection at Borders ( Wheelock Place, Orchard Road ) is mind boggling to someone from Australia. If you are into the offbeat or curious, check out the Yellow Pages... I found one tiny store the size of a broom closet at Katong Plaza that specialised in antique British and American plastic model aircraft kits of the sixties, seventies and eighties in their original wrappers ( my personal collection is now about 500 ). If I could find someting that specialised, you should find what youre after in one of these rabbit warrens too.
Do's. Do walk around and talk to people. Its a terrific city and its so cosmopolitan you feel at home very quickly, more so I found than in Hong Kong or Japan. Do eat out every night and try the little bars rather than the big ones. Look hard enough and youll find little places that have a hot rod theme, a western theme, a line dancing theme... karaoke is everywhere. Do go nuts shopping but remember your weight allowance for the airport.
Dont's. Drugs. The penalty is hanging and being a foreign national in Singapore doesnt mean you will recieve any leniency. The law is applied equally, quickly and effectively and Singapore hangs a significant number of foreigners every year. Dont jaywalk, speed, spit, litter, abuse or assault anyone. One guy shoved a traffic warden and got a year in jail while I was there. Its a very clean and polite city but theres a reason for that. Dont rent a car and drive over the causeway into Malaysia for the day unless you enjoy being 'fined' by the Malaysian police for driving with a dirty windscreen or an expired paintjob. Oddly enough, the fine is always fifty bucks, cash, and they never seem to have receipts. Singapore police are far more professional.
In a nutshell, its a good city to visit and not as sanitised as I remembered it from years ago. Use public transport, eat out every night, explore the little shopping centres rather than the large ones and you really should have a good time.
K
