I will be in Singapore for the first time next Friday through Monday (too long for a MR, too short to be a real vacation). Are there any interesting things going on that I should look out for? I would be particularly interested in events that have a unique local character, even a nice place to watch he sunset with a relaxing beverage and good food. Also, is it worth taking a day trip to Malaysia. I would like to have another stamp in the passport, but not at the cost of a wasted day. TIA

The night Zoo , Little India , China Town , Sentosa Island , Shopping . And no it's not worth the time to go to Maylasia if you are there for a short time.
Singapore is a great place to eat ! Enjoy !

For the sunset,food,drink, go to one of the hawker centers at East Coast Park. I agree that it will be a wasted day to go to Malaysia. There's a thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=618451) on this subject already with some usefull information.

You don't have much time, so don't waste it on Malaysia.
In Singapore, there's the Night Safari (starts at 7:30 - midnight), well
worth the time and money. Also, Chinatown, Sentosa (very
touristy, but do make sure you visit "Images of Singapore"), a
Singapore sling at the Raffles Hotel (overrated, I know, but the
history of the hotel is great), food at the Hawker Center, the
Esplanade(have a drink there), Clarke Quay, Memories at Old
Ford Factory Museum, Changi Museum. If you don't have time to properly "visit" a hawker center, go to the basement of the Takashimaya on
Orchard and you can sample lots and lots of Singaporean
food or go to a mall and find a "kopitiam".

Food!!!

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like food it is. I'm happy with that. Are there any public markets or the like? I like to explore such places just to see, smell, and taste what the locals do. In Tokyo, I wandered through Tsukiji. In Barcelona, Fiji, Paris, and London, I spent time in the street markets.

Newton Circus Food Centre is a tourist's favourite, but I avoid that place as much as possible, because of the overpriced items and (reportedly) touting in the food centre.

My favourite food centres in Singapore are Tiong Bahru Food Centre, Amoy Street and Maxwell Road. Both food centres start early in the morning so get there early, but avoid lunch hours at Maxwell and Amoy Roads and it will be packed with the office crowd.

I would suggest checking out Tiong Bahru Food Centre and Market in the morning (between 7 and 10am) over the weekends. As the food centre is attached to a wet market, you can get a taste of local life! :) Tiong Bahru is also a quaint housing estate with loads of architecture from the earlier times.

Check out the stalls to patronise: http://www.sbestfood.com/

This gives you an idea of how Tiong Bahru is like: http://www.geocities.com/meesiam99/spore21.htm

Another vote for food. When you get there, don't stuff your face with one kind of food. Be daring and try everything! Singapore is food heaven!

Eat food in Singapore. Definitely visit Little India, Chinatown, and Bugis market.

The best thing to do is just take the MRT or Bus, get down in one of the suburbs like Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Yishun, Geylang etc etc, and find for a coffeeshop (not to be mistaken with the dutch coffeshops :cool: ). These are like small hawker centres under the appartment buildings where the locals live. You will see these coffeeshops almost anywhere (Singapore is all about food, food, food) and can have a fantastic meal for just a few S$.
Avoid places like Newton Circus, the food is not as tasty and the prices are at least 30% higher then elswhere in Singapore.

Toa Payoh market is one of my personal favorites, you can eat anyhing from inesting to lobster. Other favorites of mine are the one in Nee Soon Central (Khatib MRT station) and at Bradell MRT Station

A great web resourse is Makan Time (http://www.makantime.com/) thought you might find out that you will need a few months in Singapore to try out all these great dishes :D

Probably considered touristy? Food loft on Orchard street upstairs some shopping mall. I had excellent food there. Suntec had a pretty crazy Kopitiam also.

I'd also recommend:

For great views of the city take afternoon tea on the 69th floor of the Swissotel. Make sure you make a booking.
The food market in the Bugis centre.
Botanic gardens and Orchid garden.

clark quay has some good food..has a whole bunch of those "hawker stalls" i think it's what they call them

I'm in London, currently on a *A RTW business trip, and will be in Singapore for my very first time for all but 34 hours or so This Wednesday and Thursday. I get in at about 8:00 A.M. and leave at midnight the next night to Sydney. Not much time, of course, but I will have all day Wed. after I arrive and most of Thursday into mid afternoon to take some things in. I'l; be staying at Raffles The Plaza.

Question - are there any markets in and around Singapore that are similar to Xiangyang in Shanghai? Something that has a little bit of just about everything, from clothing to nick-nacks to food to fake stuff to real stuff, with los of bargains, price haggling, etc? Any suggestions for markets similar to this - or as close as Singapore has to offer - would be much appreciated.

And I can't WAIT to try the food! :) Thanks!

I'm in London, currently on a *A RTW business trip, and will be in Singapore for my very first time for all but 34 hours or so This Wednesday and Thursday. I get in at about 8:00 A.M. and leave at midnight the next night to Sydney. Not much time, of course, but I will have all day Wed. after I arrive and most of Thursday into mid afternoon to take some things in. I'l; be staying at Raffles The Plaza.

Question - are there any markets in and around Singapore that are similar to Xiangyang in Shanghai? Something that has a little bit of just about everything, from clothing to nick-nacks to food to fake stuff to real stuff, with los of bargains, price haggling, etc? Any suggestions for markets similar to this - or as close as Singapore has to offer - would be much appreciated.

And I can't WAIT to try the food! :) Thanks!

For anythign and EVERYTHING try the Mustafa centre in Little India. No haggling though ;-(. Other than that not really sure....

For anythign and EVERYTHING try the Mustafa centre in Little India. No haggling though ;-(. Other than that not really sure....
Is no haggling the complete standard in SIN markets? I'm going for the first time soon myself...

Another vote for the Singapore Zoo, especially the Night Safari (buy the ticket during the day because the lines get very long at night). Other than that, it'll have to be the food! Definitely try some hawker food (I liked Glutton's Bay at the Esplanade for the beautiful view of water and skyline), kopi tiams, etc. Here's a good site on food in singapore:

http://www.makansutra.com/index.php

Is no haggling the complete standard in SIN markets? I'm going for the first time soon myself...

We were there in August, and except for the department stores, did
plenty of bargaining. We were with friends that are locals and they
too tried to bargain on our behalf.

Definitely agree with checking the local hawker stands for lunch -- Tiong Bahru is my favorite. For hawker stands at dinner time, I like Gluttons Bay (mentioned above) or East Coast Food Center (great satay stands!). I tend to hit the more touristy hawker stands like Newton or LPS only for the midnight (or later ;) ) munchie runs. If you're in the mood for something like chili crab (or prawns) or pepper crab, you might try No Signboard Seafood which has been frequented by many FTers (Geylang seems to be the favorite for a more "local" feel, while others favour the Esplanade location for a bit nicer atmosphere)

Someone mentioned tea at the top of the Stamford for a daytime view. Try New Asia Bar (71st floor) at night for a great view as well.

For wet markets, if you're going to be in Chinatown during the morning, try the wet market there (there are also produce & fruit markets on either side of it).

Have a great time in SIN!

Don't think i've seen this posted yet, so take a day trip to Pulau Ubin off the North East corner of the Island.

It's part of Singapore but certainly doesn't feel like it. Hire a bike if you're feeling energetic or just take a walk along to the village and have some lunch.

On arrival back on the mainland ;) they x-ray your bags, presumably to ensure you're not using Ubin as a staging post for smuggling stuff back from Malaysia!

Don't think i've seen this posted yet, so take a day trip to Pulau Ubin off the North East corner of the Island.

It's part of Singapore but certainly doesn't feel like it. Hire a bike if you're feeling energetic or just take a walk along to the village and have some lunch.

On arrival back on the mainland ;) they x-ray your bags, presumably to ensure you're not using Ubin as a staging post for smuggling stuff back from Malaysia!
I like the sound of that. Any details on how to get there?

I like the sound of that. Any details on how to get there?

Yes, get to Changi village ferry pier (bus from Tanah Merah MRT or S$15 in a taxi from downtown) then take a boat across. Full details are in things like lonely planet, but in summary, boats take 12 people and leave when they're full. S$2 each way.

I assume you can buy up the empty seats on the boat if you're in a real hurry but i'm sure we visited midweek and it wasn't a problem.

Yes, get to Changi village ferry pier (bus from Tanah Merah MRT or S$15 in a taxi from downtown) then take a boat across. Full details are in things like lonely planet, but in summary, boats take 12 people and leave when they're full. S$2 each way.

I assume you can buy up the empty seats on the boat if you're in a real hurry but i'm sure we visited midweek and it wasn't a problem.

I'd also recommend this. Also, if you don't want to wait you can pay SIN$24 and head over on your own. I followed this visit with a trip to a restaurant for Chili Crab - delicious!