A bit of everything: October 2007

So, you are planning a honeymoon trip to Singapore? Great! Based on my experiences, I am writing a few pointers you may want to be aware of as you leave.

This post is written in Oct 2007, based on my honeymoon trip taken in Oct 2006 from Bangalore, India.

1. We had gone to Singapore for 5 days and 6 nights (as the flights are mostly in the wee hours of the morning and count for 2 nights in travel)

2. The cost of the tickets to and from Singapore was around 30K (booked 3 months in advance in JetStar Asia Airlines, which is a low cost carrier).

3. The travel agency that helped us was Travelport (http://www.travelport.in/). We took a comprehensive holiday package, for around 22-26K, from them (not including the airline tickets which we brought ourselves) for 5 days and 4 nights.

4. Money we carried - roughly 20K, of which we were able to bring back around 2K. This brings the cost of the trip to around 70-75K.

5. Food is expensive in Singapore, so remember to check for the free breakfast included in the package and make sure to eat a hearty breakfast every morning and leave early from the hotel.

6. In terms of a sweater, you may want to carry a light pullover as it is not cold in Singapore mostly. So a pullover or a thin sweater may do. But you may want to carry an umbrella, since it rains unannounced and pretty heavily in Singapore.

7. OK, once all these are done, you are left with two meals to plan for every day (lunch and dinner) and what to do / places to visit during the day/night. Singapore is a very safe city, so you can stay out till almost midnight and still find enough people around. but I would suggest you to be up by 7:30, have breakfast and leave by 8:30 and be back in the hotel by 10:30 or so.

8. Travel by the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit system or the Subways of Singapore). It is very economical and very well connected. It is open from 6AM till around 10:30 PM, so, be sure to never miss the last train back to your haunt.

9. Buy a map of singapore and figure out the nearest MRT station to wherever you guys are going to be put up in. Use this as the center of all your travel plans.

10. An ideal day would be like this - Out of hotel by 9 - Use MRT to reach some place to see/shop by - 10 - roam till 12 - lunch till 2 - roam again till 8 - dinner till 9:30 - catch last subway back and be in hotel by 10:30. Tell the travel agent to book a few preset sight seeing tours for 2 days and 1 night. This way, you will have 3 days and 3 nights to yourself. And trust me, the fun is in going on your own and not in a travels bus.

11. Some places to visit are:

Little India - This is the best place to start from for an Indian. Lots of Indian faces and less intimidating in the early stages. You may also want to be here for food if you prefer only Indian food. Be sure to see Mustafa shopping mall there. Its economical and has lots of variety. (You may want to carry more money since, we hardly shopped too much. Or else shop on the last day to spend the max possible)

Chinatown - Lovely chinese food and the feeling of being in China. But venture for chinese food only if you are in an experimental state. Stomachs may go bad (happened once for me). If it does, carry a big packet of methi from here and swallow a palm full of it with water and you should be back on your feet by the next morning.

Orchard street - The MG road of singapore. Kind of the place where you would want to window shop as you can't do much more. But there are some nice places to eat here.

Esplanade - Theatres on the bay. In the picture on my post, you will see the MerLion with water coming out of its mouth. This is the place. You should make sure to visit this place once in the morning and once in the night. This place is spectacular at both times. The esplanade is a walkway along the river and has some open air theatres for public performances to on side. You may want to be here on a saturday or sunday to enjoy the plays as well as the place.

Esplanade - Food street (I am not sure what it is called though) On the other side of the esplanade, there is a small portion along the river with a lot of restaurants with a variety of foods. There is indian, chinese, far easters, middle eastern, and lots more. Will also get alcohol to accompany the food. If you like sea food, you may want to try the prawns and the crabs here. Not much for the vegetarian, unless you choose to eat in the indian place (and that is very expensive at least for us).

DHL baloon - When you are traveling around the city, you may see a yellow balloon somewhere over the city. You would want to get on this and see the view of singapore from a 100 feet high balloon. You should find this marked on the map you buy.

Hard Rock cafe - I really enjoyed the food and the beer here, not to mention the rock memorabilia collection. So, if you are a rock fan or even a remote admirer, this is a place for sure. I also picked up a hard rock cafe T-shirt from here and I treasure it.

Sentosa island - Tell the travel agent to book this as part of the package. This is a full day trip from say 10AM till 6 PM. Once on this island, visit the following:- fountain show, 4D theatre, big merlion. You will know the rest.

Jurong bird park - Tell the travel agent to book this as part of the package. This is a day visit (half day). Make sure you sit in for the two performances that the birds put up.

Singapore botanical garden - Tell the travel agent to book this as part of the package. This is pretty straightforward. A day visit for half a day.

12. There are many more places, but you may want to visit them based on your liking and time available.

13. A few helpful points.

There are shops called 7/11 (open from 7 to 11) where you can shop for almost anything to eat at any time. They are spread out everywhere, so in case you are caught without a hotel, get into one of these.

Exchange half the money you carry at the Singapore airport. They give a good rate. The rest, exchange in small bits as and when required. Exchange the remaining money back to rupees at Singapore airport before you board back.

Take lots of photos. Walk a lot. Avoid the gold colored Taxis, take the blue ones instead. Use the MRT extensively, and spend some lazy hours just walking and sitting about.

Buy calling cards to call home. This is also pretty expensive, so you may buy a card for 30 singaporean dollars and use if for 2 days or so. These cards can be used in any local booth spread along the roads of the city.

Well, I think I have done a fair job of giving you guys a start. Hope you have a great time.

In case you need any more info or help, let me know. And let me know, how it went, once you are back.

Cheers...