Things to do in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia

MrWenger1982

Hi,
I am going to Singapore for 2 days next week and then onto Penang, Malaysia for 6 days. Has anybody any advice on interesting things to do there? Is the food good? I have been told not to drink the water. Does everybody speak English?

MrWenger1982

Has anybody ever been here at all?

KevIRL

Not heaps to do in Singapore, its basically one massive shopping mall filled with loads of smaller shopping malls, so if ya like shopping then yer sorted.
The zoo is top notch, is massive and open planned so basically the only animals kept locked up are those that can kill ya, and even then they have huge enclosures to roam about in.
Theres also a fun park/island called Sentosa (I think) Never made it there, but its meant to be great.

bringitdown

Can only comment on Singapore:

Feck, I loved Singapore altho it is a bit SE Asia Lite.

Okay, in terms of shopping as prev. posters mentioned the place is shoppers paradise, Sim Lim Square for electronics bargains.

Skipping that I stayed in Little India which comes alive at night. Grab a Tiger in one of the street side bars and watch the craziness. Then have a stroll around, it is perfectly safe.

Chinatown is okay but has become a little antiseptic ....

Food was fantastic if a bit daunting to order for the uninitiated ... most of the shopping malls have a food court that will be of good standard but not the real deal so to speak. Try some Murtabarak (sp?) in Little India - curried pancake, lovely stuff. Also every western franchise under the sun.

Water: I did drink bottled water in SE Asia, but Singapore's water supply is potable so it is a personal choice.

Nighttime: plenty to do, loads of (expensive) bars in the center along Clarke quay, Boat Quay.

Mousie

Go to the Night Safari!

MrMagoo

MrWenger1982 wrote:

Hi,
I am going to Singapore for 2 days next week and then onto Penang, Malaysia for 6 days. Has anybody any advice on interesting things to do there? Is the food good? I have been told not to drink the water. Does everybody speak English?

Penang is a good place :-) People are great and beaches are clean. We stayed in Batu Ferangi beach in July 04. You are right about the bottled water but food overall is great. Just stick to the hotels and better looking restaurants. At night there are miles of markets in the resorts selling everything from shirts, bags, wallets, crafts, DVDs etc. All fake of course, but who cares! Some hotels run buses to the capital called Georgetown which isn't the nicest place in the world. If you do go, stay in the shopping centres. Outside doesn't feel too safe. The shooping centres are dead cheap and you'll find DVD and software shops everwhere selling pirates for pennies. Some loophole in the law means they can!

All in all, Penang is a lovely place for a sun holiday. Water sports are very popular and as I said, a bit of cheap shopping thrown in too. Oh, and yes everybody has good english too.

Enjoy it!

gerire

I really enjoyed Singapore. Would full reccomend the Zoo and a trip to Sentosa, it is advertised as a fun park but its not really, the pink dolphin show was very good, The women are fantastic I thought, the best in SE Asia but as mentioned before its a bit more cosmopolatin than the rest of SE Asia.

Go see Raffels hotel its impressive and if you have the money for a singapore sling its supposed to be nice but @ $Sin25 a bit too steep for me on the budget I was on