Beautiful Singapore. Review on Singapore, General

One of the good countries to visit is Singapore. I will suggest if you are visiting Malaysia, you visit Singapore too. From Malaysia you can travel to Singapore by bus, for only 7 USD. It takes 5-6 hours depending on the traffic.

STAY: Singapore is expensive country. Especially if you are an Indian, the rupee exchange price is higher. The cheapest place to stay is area near “Little India or Sarangoon Street. There are hotel starting from 60 SD (Singapore Dollars) fro single beds. Look for hotels which offers complimentary break fast. I paid 74 SD per day for twin bed with break fast. Don’t spend highly on staying if you are staying for less than a week. Because most of the time you will be out.

TRANSPORT: The best mode of transport to travel within Singapore is the public bus and the trains. They are cheapest. Avoid taking a cab as it’s very expensive. A 10 minute drive will cost you around 10 SD. Every hotel has a travel desk. Pick up a map from them and ask them the way to nearest train station or bus stop.

SHOPPING: Most of the people go to Singapore for shopping. But I did not found it to be cheaper than Malaysia or India. I don’t know about other countries. My suggestion, do shopping at Malaysia, it’s cheaper. Well you can do window shopping here. One of th biggest shopping mall in Singapore is “Mustafa shopping centre”. Advantage, its open for 24 hours. Its on in the “Little India” area. Its one stop shop for all your requirement. Here you will find every thing from electronics, gold, clothes, shoes, sports item, pharmacy, music etc. So go for it. Only disadvantage is its very congested and most of the time is crowded. You will rub shoulders with many shoppers. There are many other shopping malls else where too.

FOOD: There are many restaurants at Little India, serving Indian and Chinese food. Most restaurants have buffet food. Go for this as this is cheaper than ordered food. Again food is also costly.

PLACES TO SEE: There few tourist places to see in Singapore, which you must plan accordingly. Few places are closed on certain days of the week, so plan it early man. Few places which I went was “Snow city”, “Science centre”, “Zoo”, “Night safari” and “Santosa Island”. Again the best mode of transport is bus or train.

Snow City: If you are with your kids do take them here its fun for them. Be careful if you are not comfortable in cold, then this is not a place for you. Its damm cold in there man. It’s an indoor arena full of snow. They provide jackets, shoes and hand glows. There is a big snow slide, as you actually sliding from a snow mountain. Children can play in snow, make snow balls and have fun. Good experience.

Science City: adjacent to Snow City is Science centre. It has different section ranging from Physics, Biology and Aeronautical etc. Good one. There are Science shows organized for free.

ZOO and Night Safari: from the science city you can take the train and then a bus to go to ZOO. Details of train station to alight and bus numbers are there in every maps and hand outs. Zoo is good for children’s and adults too.

Night Safari: starts at 7:30 pm onwards. Every one should go for this. One of its kind experiences to see wild animals in night. There is a big queue for the tickets, so be on time. They take you in a trailer in the jungle and show you many animals that are in the jungle, either resting or strolling. There is no cage. All the animals are in the open and some time at a distance of few meters. You can see tiger, lions, leopard and many more animals roaming free in the jungle. If you prefer you can walk around the jungle on tiger trail. It’s a very good experience to travel in the jungle in the night. After the jungle round you can see the animal show organized by them for free.

Santosa Island: A MUST VISIT place for every one. You will just love the place and won’t flee like returning back. It’s an island out side Singapore. You can reach here by road, water transport or by cable car. I suggest you to take a cable car. One of its kind experiences to travel by over head cable car. The place to take a cable car is called “Mount Faber”. Every body knows about this place. Reach here around 10AM, so that you can spend more time at Santosa. The cable car goes over the river and buildings to reach Santosa Island. Here a tourist guide will be waiting for you. The places to visit here is Butter Fly par, not to miss under water fish aquarium, the Dolphin show and the spectacular water fountain show (attend the 7:30 one as its with laser show). The island its self is so beautiful that you will like to stay for days. There are good beaches here. The whole island can be traveled by train. This service is free any amount of time. There are free buses too. You can hire a cycle to move around the beautiful place. I suggest you to stay back for one night. There are few resorts here. For god sake don’t miss the under water park and the Dolphin show.

Important point to remember at Santosa Island if your traveling back by cable car. The cable cars last service is at 9:00PM. So if you miss the last car than you will have to stay back.

FINALLY: There are many other places to visit. You can explore them on your own. Depending on you stay duration. Overall the entire city is good, clean and friendly. You cannot smoke in public places. Don’t litter.

Take care, and hope you have a nice vacation at Beautiful Singapore!!! Bye…

Robin