Stopping over in Singapore

Theimprover

There is 3 of us stopping over for 3 nights on the way to Brisbane, does anyone know on average how much cash we would need for the stopover? Hotel/beer/food etc, 3 lads btw

Gregsor

I stayed there for 4 nights a few weeks backs,enjoyed the city,quite affordable,taxis cheap,train travel was fast and cheap food was fairly cheap too if you look around beers where a good price,stick in to the districts like Chinatown and Little India,good deals had there and all advertised,go the large Tigers !;).
Accommodation is anyone's bet,book beforehand,we were disappointed with ours and we searched for hours and assumed this was the place to be but we were let down.
One countries 4* is anothers 2*.
All in i would budget 3 nights digs each @ $200 SPD and the same for food and beer,but you can get cheaper obviously.
Food and beer are quite cheap there imo,try avoid the touristy spots that try flag you in and follow the locals to the busy spots
Try the Hakka Stalls?so cheap and a huge variety of local dishes and if you have time the tourist bus which is a good goer plus it will help you escape the humidty which has to be said is the worst ever,yuk!
A few nights will go very quick in fairness but soak it up :cool:

elle

Sorry to hop on your thread but can I just ask if anyone knows can we use Aus Dollars to pay for our taxi? I know you can use Aus dollars in most shops and we are thinking of just bringing dollars instead of having 2 different currencies, as we are only stopping over for 3 days.

Stinicker

elle wrote: »

Sorry to hop on your thread but can I just ask if anyone knows can we use Aus Dollars to pay for our taxi? I know you can use Aus dollars in most shops and we are thinking of just bringing dollars instead of having 2 different currencies, as we are only stopping over for 3 days.

Unlikely, I was in Singapore last year on a 4 day stopover and everything was priced in SGD, at the airport I just changed Euro for Singapore Dollars and it was fine. You might be able to prepay by Credit Card however. I didn't find anything special about Singapore and it is far more expensive than Bangkok, ok for breaking the journey and with plenty air connections but like my friend said, this place must be the worlds only shopping centre as a country!

irishh_bob

Stinicker wrote: »

Unlikely, I was in Singapore last year on a 4 day stopover and everything was priced in SGD, at the airport I just changed Euro for Singapore Dollars and it was fine. You might be able to prepay by Credit Card however. I didn't find anything special about Singapore and it is far more expensive than Bangkok, ok for breaking the journey and with plenty air connections but like my friend said, this place must be the worlds only shopping centre as a country!

a country made entirely of concrete and no native culture , its baschically luxembourg in the far east , a place where foreigners work

shar01

Was there in August. Food on Boat Quay and Clarke Quay was expensive - by SE Asian standards - SGD220 for starter, main and couple of drinks for four.

Would recommend Zsofi Tapas bar on Dunlop St - free tapas with each drink. Pint of beer was SGD15. Plenty of places had happy hour.

Chinatown has plenty of reasonable eateries.

Also Lavender food court was reasonable - SGD3 for pancakes for breakfast - we stayed nearby in Aqueen Lavender. €600 for twin room for 3 nights. It was fine - bit noisy but 10/15 minute walk to underground.

As mentioned by others - taxis cheap - SGD25 from hotel on Lavender St to Airport. Easy enough city to walk around.

Our trip included Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Chiang Mai and Siem Reap. Of them all, I really enjoyed SIN. But, my Gawd, they are a paranoid bunch - all the warnings about unattended luggage on the underground.

Have fun.

Stinicker

irishh_bob wrote: »

a country made entirely of concrete and no native culture , its baschically luxembourg in the far east , a place where foreigners work

Kind of, Singapore was a British Colony until 1963 and then they got independence and merged with newly Independent Malaysia but as Singapore is primarily Ethnic Chinese and non-Muslim there was this disagreement on racial and religous grounds also.

After 2 years the Malaysians expelled them and Singapore as an Independent city state was born.

I think of Singapore as mix of Northern Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland, it is a country made up of outsiders of a different religion and has similarities to Switzerland as a great hiding place for crooked money with offshore banking one of its major fortes, add to this the Mallaca straits which sees most of the Chinese goods destined for Europe and the US East coast pass through it.

It is an incredibly rich place, driven by the Chinese work ethic in a capitalist haven. It now is trying to become the Las Vegas of the SE Asia having opened the Marina Bay Sands which is an incredibly cool place and uber expensive.

It is so fake and not even good value for shopping either unless you are after some Jimmy Choos or some Cartier bling bling with a skyhigh Credit limit. Like Dubai it is artificial and fake.

Good place for a stopover, however it would be very low on my list of places to visit except for it being the gateway to Oz, if I was going to Oz again I'd stopoff in Bangkok everytime, however when I was going there the redshirts kicked off in Bangkok last year so Singapore won out due to the travel warnings. Having finally made the trip to Thailand this year I loved it and can't wait to go back sometime.

irishh_bob

Stinicker wrote: »

Kind of, Singapore was a British Colony until 1963 and then they got independence and merged with newly Independent Malaysia but as Singapore is primarily Ethnic Chinese and non-Muslim there was this disagreement on racial and religous grounds also.

After 2 years the Malaysians expelled them and Singapore as an Independent city state was born.

I think of Singapore as mix of Northern Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland, it is a country made up of outsiders of a different religion and has similarities to Switzerland as a great hiding place for crooked money with offshore banking one of its major fortes, add to this the Mallaca straits which sees most of the Chinese goods destined for Europe and the US East coast pass through it.

It is an incredibly rich place, driven by the Chinese work ethic in a capitalist haven. It now is trying to become the Las Vegas of the SE Asia having opened the Marina Bay Sands which is an incredibly cool place and uber expensive.

It is so fake and not even good value for shopping either unless you are after some Jimmy Choos or some Cartier bling bling with a skyhigh Credit limit. Like Dubai it is artificial and fake.

Good place for a stopover, however it would be very low on my list of places to visit except for it being the gateway to Oz, if I was going to Oz again I'd stopoff in Bangkok everytime, however when I was going there the redshirts kicked off in Bangkok last year so Singapore won out due to the travel warnings. Having finally made the trip to Thailand this year I loved it and can't wait to go back sometime.

good post but im not so sure about the comparison with northern ireland

Stinicker

irishh_bob wrote: »

good post but im not so sure about the comparison with northern ireland

The reference to the North would be how I imagine some Malaysians might see Singapore as a piece of "their land" occupied by people from a different country with a different religion, ie. Chinese and Buddhist, and also much wealthier, all similarities with the North from a hardline Nationalist POV I suppose.

jank

irishh_bob wrote: »

a country made entirely of concrete and no native culture , its baschically luxembourg in the far east , a place where foreigners work

Well clearly you havent travelled much of the place so. Do you know that it is only one of two cities in the world with its own rain forest? The other is Rio. There is loads of green spaces away from the city centre. I agree to some extent that the city can appear bland, but for a few days its a great place to stop off, living there is an entirely different matter and out of the scope of this thread.

Some of the cheapest and best food in the world can be had there. Unreal cuisine! Plenty of history too, just go out to Changi prison and learn about it. When the Japs occupied Singapore and the British surrendered you were seeing the end of the British colonial empire that dominated the world for over 200 years. Of course you may not hear much about that in the western media

royster999

Where would be the best place to stay ? Which area has the best nightlife?

Cookie_Monster

stock up on the cigges in the airport. 200 are about 8 euro! even if you don't smoke it's worth it:pac:

kdevitt

Was there last year - nice spot, it was expensive for some things and cheap for others. Taxis were cheap - and all took credit card. Drink wasn't so cheap - got hit for $13 for a diet coke in the hotel.

catbear

The night time tour of the zoo is well worth doing and the museum of asian cultures is the best in the region.