Singapore
Gimme some advice!
Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?
I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.
Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...
Cheers, me dears...
I'll be in Singapore in October 2005:
Francesca says:
1. Visit the Raffles hotel in Singapore but rather take tea there instead of having a Singapore Sling - it is foul, and a waste of a beautiful location. The hotel itself has a wonderful atrium and the staff are exceptional - and a surprising relic from colonial times. Book ahead if it is something of interest to you :)
2. Chicken rice is ubiquitous - and welcome if you are short of cash. Singapore's restaurants must display a grading relating to the quality of the meat they serve which ranges from A (the best) to D (the worst). Most chicken rice establishments are grade C or D (the lowest two grades), but do not let that put you off - the city state is not called Asia for Beginners for nothing and the quality of life there is very high for the majority of the inhabitants.
3. Even if it is a tourist thing to do, visit and walk along Orchard Road, which is the main shopping area. If you step into the side roads, you will see a variety of small houses - these come at a large premium because of a lack of space. Again, they are largely colonial in style but very quaint and worth a look.
4. Take a harbour tour and spend the afternoon in Boat Quay - it is also the site of the main expatriate bars, should you be so inclined. And if you really want a giggle, visit Orchard Towers, and its "Four Floors of Whores". Many of my buddies have fallen foul of the most beautiful girls sitting on their knee... who aren't "girls" at all :)
5. The best advice I can give you for this city is to wander around. Cabs are very cheap, but the subway (Mass Rail Transit) is astonishingly inexpensive and reliable. Away from the obvious I have mentioned above, it is just an intense feast for the eyes. A very beautiful, clean and safe introduction to Asia.
Greavsie says:
Singapore - Humid. Sentosa, good for a blast. Don't drop litter. Buy fan. Take deodorant.
Wiffle says:
1. Singapore. is. small. People. are. strange. sometimes. colonial. Where. big. beige. or. overly. colourful. blocks. dominate. the. skyline. and. underwear. wave. like. flags. hung. on. sticks. stuck. outside. windows.
2. Take the bus. Be confounded by the language. Be amazed at the total pervasion of nothing of interest for miles. Taste the ghee on the char kuay teow. Be bemused at the Engrish you will come across. Wonder why everyone is either trying to be White or trying to be Japanese. Listen to the radio and the accents that come from nowhere at all.
3. Flush a toilet. Chew gum. Wear an ugly floral shirt no local would think of using. Buy The Straits Times. Buy a young Singaporean blogger a drink. [Edit: Will do!]
Gia says:
REad my posts about Singapore and Hanoi here. Singapore is great. We called it Asia Lite, it's a kind of Epcot Center version of Asia... which isn't a *bad* thing really. Make sure you visit the zoo. Just the best zoo in the world.
Daan says:
Right. Singapore. Not much to tell about S'pore, really. It's like any city you find in the west. Only cleaner, safer and greener. The underground is ultra-convenient. If you're into shopping: you must go to Orchard Road, it's like Oxford Street only... err, bigger. It's madness, really. What makes it all very pleasant and "exotic," though, are all the distinctly Asian things: the buddhist and hindu temples, the colourful shops in Little India, the huge hawker food centres, ... Not much to do besides wander around in S'pore. I stayed at the (very well known to backpackers) Inn Crowd hostel. Highly recommended. Oh, and whatever you do, don't litter in S'pore. Well, you shouldn't do that anywhere... :)
Waterhot says:
1. The best dim sum restaurant in Singapore is...
...called the Din Dan Huan (or rather something similar, as I can't find it on the net) - if you go to level -1 in the Paragon Shopping Mall "you can't miss it", according to my friend. There are other dim sum restaurants in the same centre, particularly one called Crystal Jade or something like that (on level 5, I think), which is very highly rated (everyone has his own opinion on the best dim sum restaurant, it must be said). But I prefer the quality and the atmosphere at the one I recommend, and you can't beat it for spectacle.
2. You must visit the Esplanade centre - extraordinary modern architecture
3. You must go and have fish-head curry served on a banana leaf in a restaurant in Little India - try the Banana Leaf Apolo on Race Course Road
4. If you're not anti them on principle, the zoo is superb
5. Even if you are anti-zoo, you must do the Night Safari - it sounds really touristy but it's fab - a tip : get there a little early, and don't wait for the official opening time - you can usually set off five or ten minutes before, just as dusk is falling - if you set off at a brisk walk for the first couple of minutes you get ahead of the crowd and you're guaranteed a quiet tour, which is important both for your enjoyment and because the animals are more likely to be out and less likely to be hiding. The flying squirrels are incredible.
6. You should go up for cocktails one evening to the Equinox bar on the top of the Swissôtel (also known as the Stamford, I think) for the best view of Singapore there is
7. You should go and eat chilli crab in one of the restaurants on the East Coast Parkway
8. There are a number of Chinese temples in Singapore, but I have a soft spot for the Wak Hai Cheng temple, the Taoist temple to the calm sea, an oasis of peace nestled between huge office buildings...
9. I guess you should go to the Raffles for tea - or Sunday brunch if you can get in - it is impressive
10. I'm a botanical gardens nut, so I'd always recommend going there
11. I suspect you're an avid people-watcher like me, so just wandering up and down Orchard Road and in and out of the huge department stores can be fun
12. And you simply must go to the restaurant that serves the best dim sum in the world - unfortunately I can't remember the name [Edit: See point 1 above!] (I've asked a colleague in Singapore to e-mail it to me, and I'll forward it to you as soon as I get it). It's Taiwanese and it's in the building opposite the Takashimaya department store (on the other side of Orchard Road). The kitchen is in the centre of the restaurant, with glass walls, and you can watch the small army of cooks preparing the dim sum. It's always full of "real" locals - obviously a good sign. And the sesame seed balls are a tastetastic explosion of deliciousness.
13. Oh, and if you like metros, Singapore's is one of the best in the world.
Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?
I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.
Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...
Cheers, me dears...
I'll be in Singapore in October 2005:
Francesca says:
1. Visit the Raffles hotel in Singapore but rather take tea there instead of having a Singapore Sling - it is foul, and a waste of a beautiful location. The hotel itself has a wonderful atrium and the staff are exceptional - and a surprising relic from colonial times. Book ahead if it is something of interest to you :)
2. Chicken rice is ubiquitous - and welcome if you are short of cash. Singapore's restaurants must display a grading relating to the quality of the meat they serve which ranges from A (the best) to D (the worst). Most chicken rice establishments are grade C or D (the lowest two grades), but do not let that put you off - the city state is not called Asia for Beginners for nothing and the quality of life there is very high for the majority of the inhabitants.
3. Even if it is a tourist thing to do, visit and walk along Orchard Road, which is the main shopping area. If you step into the side roads, you will see a variety of small houses - these come at a large premium because of a lack of space. Again, they are largely colonial in style but very quaint and worth a look.
4. Take a harbour tour and spend the afternoon in Boat Quay - it is also the site of the main expatriate bars, should you be so inclined. And if you really want a giggle, visit Orchard Towers, and its "Four Floors of Whores". Many of my buddies have fallen foul of the most beautiful girls sitting on their knee... who aren't "girls" at all :)
5. The best advice I can give you for this city is to wander around. Cabs are very cheap, but the subway (Mass Rail Transit) is astonishingly inexpensive and reliable. Away from the obvious I have mentioned above, it is just an intense feast for the eyes. A very beautiful, clean and safe introduction to Asia.
Greavsie says:
Singapore - Humid. Sentosa, good for a blast. Don't drop litter. Buy fan. Take deodorant.
Wiffle says:
1. Singapore. is. small. People. are. strange. sometimes. colonial. Where. big. beige. or. overly. colourful. blocks. dominate. the. skyline. and. underwear. wave. like. flags. hung. on. sticks. stuck. outside. windows.
2. Take the bus. Be confounded by the language. Be amazed at the total pervasion of nothing of interest for miles. Taste the ghee on the char kuay teow. Be bemused at the Engrish you will come across. Wonder why everyone is either trying to be White or trying to be Japanese. Listen to the radio and the accents that come from nowhere at all.
3. Flush a toilet. Chew gum. Wear an ugly floral shirt no local would think of using. Buy The Straits Times. Buy a young Singaporean blogger a drink. [Edit: Will do!]
Gia says:
REad my posts about Singapore and Hanoi here. Singapore is great. We called it Asia Lite, it's a kind of Epcot Center version of Asia... which isn't a *bad* thing really. Make sure you visit the zoo. Just the best zoo in the world.
Daan says:
Right. Singapore. Not much to tell about S'pore, really. It's like any city you find in the west. Only cleaner, safer and greener. The underground is ultra-convenient. If you're into shopping: you must go to Orchard Road, it's like Oxford Street only... err, bigger. It's madness, really. What makes it all very pleasant and "exotic," though, are all the distinctly Asian things: the buddhist and hindu temples, the colourful shops in Little India, the huge hawker food centres, ... Not much to do besides wander around in S'pore. I stayed at the (very well known to backpackers) Inn Crowd hostel. Highly recommended. Oh, and whatever you do, don't litter in S'pore. Well, you shouldn't do that anywhere... :)
Waterhot says:
1. The best dim sum restaurant in Singapore is...
...called the Din Dan Huan (or rather something similar, as I can't find it on the net) - if you go to level -1 in the Paragon Shopping Mall "you can't miss it", according to my friend. There are other dim sum restaurants in the same centre, particularly one called Crystal Jade or something like that (on level 5, I think), which is very highly rated (everyone has his own opinion on the best dim sum restaurant, it must be said). But I prefer the quality and the atmosphere at the one I recommend, and you can't beat it for spectacle.
2. You must visit the Esplanade centre - extraordinary modern architecture
3. You must go and have fish-head curry served on a banana leaf in a restaurant in Little India - try the Banana Leaf Apolo on Race Course Road
4. If you're not anti them on principle, the zoo is superb
5. Even if you are anti-zoo, you must do the Night Safari - it sounds really touristy but it's fab - a tip : get there a little early, and don't wait for the official opening time - you can usually set off five or ten minutes before, just as dusk is falling - if you set off at a brisk walk for the first couple of minutes you get ahead of the crowd and you're guaranteed a quiet tour, which is important both for your enjoyment and because the animals are more likely to be out and less likely to be hiding. The flying squirrels are incredible.
6. You should go up for cocktails one evening to the Equinox bar on the top of the Swissôtel (also known as the Stamford, I think) for the best view of Singapore there is
7. You should go and eat chilli crab in one of the restaurants on the East Coast Parkway
8. There are a number of Chinese temples in Singapore, but I have a soft spot for the Wak Hai Cheng temple, the Taoist temple to the calm sea, an oasis of peace nestled between huge office buildings...
9. I guess you should go to the Raffles for tea - or Sunday brunch if you can get in - it is impressive
10. I'm a botanical gardens nut, so I'd always recommend going there
11. I suspect you're an avid people-watcher like me, so just wandering up and down Orchard Road and in and out of the huge department stores can be fun
12. And you simply must go to the restaurant that serves the best dim sum in the world - unfortunately I can't remember the name [Edit: See point 1 above!] (I've asked a colleague in Singapore to e-mail it to me, and I'll forward it to you as soon as I get it). It's Taiwanese and it's in the building opposite the Takashimaya department store (on the other side of Orchard Road). The kitchen is in the centre of the restaurant, with glass walls, and you can watch the small army of cooks preparing the dim sum. It's always full of "real" locals - obviously a good sign. And the sesame seed balls are a tastetastic explosion of deliciousness.
13. Oh, and if you like metros, Singapore's is one of the best in the world.
posted by Lectrice at lunes, junio 07, 2004
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