i arrived in singapore on 4 hours of sleep after fighting my way through the holiday weekend travellers to get tickets on the overnight train from kuala lumpur down to singapore, and going through a customs/immigration exercise of sleep deprivation while trying to 'sleep' on the overnight train, clearly not something that was at the forethought of the people directing us to get up 3 times during the night for customs, immigration, and the many waits between the two.
when i mentioned to other travellers i met that i was planning to spend a few days in singapore, i heard a lot of comments along the lines of "it can all be seen in a day". never being any good at taking advice, i remained on my original 2-day plan for singapore, and had an excellent time.
i wish that i could say that i saw the new national library, the museums, and the major highlights on singapore. i did almost none of that, aside from a whirlwind evening tour of the city during my last night in town. instead, i convinced my roommate at the hostel that what he really wanted to do was come with me on to the tiger beer brewery, my favorite asian beer (and which happens to have originated singapore). 1.25 hours of public transit later, we were running to catch up with the tour group to hear every moment of tour amplified via a handheld megaphone.
luckily the tour ended not just with a photo opportunity with the Tiger Beer tiger, but also all the tiger beer we could drink for S$5 (around $2 USD) during 2 hours of loitering at the bar. ah, the classic brewery tour benefit! much more satisfactory than the heinkeken bewery tour in amsterdam, which is ironic given that they're both owned by the same company.
and then wham, a night of shopping (and a quick singapore sling cocktail at the raffles hotel), and off to sleep to get up early for the flight to bangkok.
the country of singapore and the people are both clearly prosperous, and it shows in the high quality of public services. while i heard a lot of noise about how there aren't as many "deals" in singapore as there are in the rest of SE asia, i found the prices overall to be quite low, and the quality of the goods being sold significantly higher than other places in SE asia. as a place to stock up on supplies (and take a well-deserved break) either before or after a trip to asia, i strongly recommend singapore.
ps. to maximize my geek-out time when doing the occasional bit of websurfing, i've finally done what most of my readers are going and signed up for bloglines to aggregate RSS feeds from the sites i like. great stuff!
when i mentioned to other travellers i met that i was planning to spend a few days in singapore, i heard a lot of comments along the lines of "it can all be seen in a day". never being any good at taking advice, i remained on my original 2-day plan for singapore, and had an excellent time.
i wish that i could say that i saw the new national library, the museums, and the major highlights on singapore. i did almost none of that, aside from a whirlwind evening tour of the city during my last night in town. instead, i convinced my roommate at the hostel that what he really wanted to do was come with me on to the tiger beer brewery, my favorite asian beer (and which happens to have originated singapore). 1.25 hours of public transit later, we were running to catch up with the tour group to hear every moment of tour amplified via a handheld megaphone.
luckily the tour ended not just with a photo opportunity with the Tiger Beer tiger, but also all the tiger beer we could drink for S$5 (around $2 USD) during 2 hours of loitering at the bar. ah, the classic brewery tour benefit! much more satisfactory than the heinkeken bewery tour in amsterdam, which is ironic given that they're both owned by the same company.
and then wham, a night of shopping (and a quick singapore sling cocktail at the raffles hotel), and off to sleep to get up early for the flight to bangkok.
the country of singapore and the people are both clearly prosperous, and it shows in the high quality of public services. while i heard a lot of noise about how there aren't as many "deals" in singapore as there are in the rest of SE asia, i found the prices overall to be quite low, and the quality of the goods being sold significantly higher than other places in SE asia. as a place to stock up on supplies (and take a well-deserved break) either before or after a trip to asia, i strongly recommend singapore.
ps. to maximize my geek-out time when doing the occasional bit of websurfing, i've finally done what most of my readers are going and signed up for bloglines to aggregate RSS feeds from the sites i like. great stuff!
Comments (2)
Hey man. Was introduced to your blog today and i am impressed. You are living your dream and mine. I wonder when will mine be realised.
Anyway, i am glad that you enjoyed your trip to Singapore (though u did not really say much about what you saw. But i am sure, there are more to our island that u have not seen or tasted!). Sorry that Lonely Planet's suggestion of trying out the Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel left somewhat a bitter taste.
Hope you will have a great time completing your trip.
Posted by Johnson | February 7, 2007 10:22 AM
Posted on February 7, 2007 10:22
johnson: thanks for the feedback! my visit to singapore was definitely too short, and i'll be coming back one day to spend more time there. i had a great time exploring the multitude of shops around town, little india, and a few other spots. but basically, i just need to go back. :)
Posted by andy | April 10, 2007 12:16 PM
Posted on April 10, 2007 12:16