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Singapore for first time / for a few days, NOT just a stopover

Singapore for first time / for a few days, NOT just a stopover

Old Mar 29, 2010, 12:56 am
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Singapore for first time / for a few days, NOT just a stopover

We've been travelling to Sydney each year via Singapore and each year the stopover has got longer and longer ..... and currently stands at 4 days on the outward trip and 4 days on the return.

Guess what?!

Next year .... we're going to Singapore and staying for seven days or so ......

Why? I think we've realised against the common attitude that Singapore is actually a wonderful destination rather than simply a place to have a stopover on the way to somewhere else. We find ourselves thinking about Singapore more and more and the final destination less and less. For example the Botanic Gardens where we go every morning for our walks. The place is unique. And for the hawker stalls where you get fantastic food etc. It's just a lovely place to wander and eat and idle. I know it's not a beach destination but I don't like beaches!

I know the place is small, but it IS perfectly formed and you receive a genuine welcome. So I'd encourage people to think about Singapore on it's merits rather than just somewhere to recupererate for a day or two before moving on.
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 1:28 am
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uk1, thank you! We'd like to think of Singapore as a good place to visit and stay too, not just a place to sleep overnight before moving on someplace else.

(BTW not to be snide but in the interest of transparency, are you getting something from the Singapore Tourism Board for your post? The new advertising slogan is 'Your Singapore', and suggests that you make 'Singapore your own'!)
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 2:21 am
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Originally Posted by dsgtc0408
uk1, thank you! We'd like to think of Singapore as a good place to visit and stay too, not just a place to sleep overnight before moving on someplace else.

(BTW not to be snide but in the interest of transparency, are you getting something from the Singapore Tourism Board for your post? The new advertising slogan is 'Your Singapore', and suggests that you make 'Singapore your own'!)
I'm surpised you ask - look at my post count! Do they pay!? No - I'm not!

My first year to Sydney we went via Bangkok and returned via Singapore. Bangkok was interesting but we found it - and I generalise - dirty and difficult. We found ourselves in some difficult taxi situations and were accosted quite a lot. I got food poisoning from a 5* hotel. We won't be going back. On the way back we stayed at Singapore and had a great time. Everyone is friendly and welcoming and honest. And there is enough to do if you like wandering and eating etc. Since then we've been many times and we're now starting to plan trips to Singapre as the destination.

I wanted to post because we're suprised to find ourselves thinking this way and simply thought we'd say so to encourage others to rethink.
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 2:28 am
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We have been to Singapore quite a few times- mainly for 2 or 3 days at a time. We do love it- but its very expensive so we wouldn't look at it as a main destination.
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 3:56 am
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Originally Posted by fiona
We have been to Singapore quite a few times- mainly for 2 or 3 days at a time. We do love it- but its very expensive so we wouldn't look at it as a main destination.
EXPENSIVE!

Not certain how you find it so. I stay at the IC and use their special rates (learn from the ICHG forum) and get upgrades etc. I also get a rebate via Quidco. I use weekend certs as a Royal Ambassador - you get these also if you buy Ambassador membership. My last two 3 night stays had a base cost that was cheap. I had 2 weekend certs and I earned enough points for nearly 2 more nights stay. So having then taken the quidco rebate offl it was three nights for the price of one and we had a great suite for the price of a room. Lounge access gave us breakfast and some wine before we went out in the evenings. It was very very cheap and very very good!

Taxis are the cheapest anywhere - not even worth bothering about public transport. Our best meals all seemed to be around 2 or 3 ..... although I admit we order several meals ...... I must admit I don't like the price of beer and wine though. Sydney for example is very expensive both accomodation and food.

Which element of your travel budget in Singapore is expensive? Let's see if we can help!
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 4:18 am
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Originally Posted by uk1
I'm surpised you ask - look at my post count! Do they pay!? No - I'm not!

I wanted to post because we're suprised to find ourselves thinking this way and simply thought we'd say so to encourage others to rethink.

Sorry - I was playing a bit of tongue in cheek humor that didn't quite come out right. However it is interesting that the Singapore Tourism Board has recently changed their promo slogan to 'Your Singapore' - just a coincidence with your post.

Apologies if I was a bit over the top, mea culpa.
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 4:24 am
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Originally Posted by dsgtc0408
Sorry - I was playing a bit of tongue in cheek humor that didn't quite come out right. However it is interesting that the Singapore Tourism Board has recently changed their promo slogan to 'Your Singapore' - just a coincidence with your post.

Apologies if I was a bit over the top, mea culpa.
No problems at all........

I think we're just suprised by how different Singapre has been to what we expected. And it's very inexpensive to add very real luxury to the trip. Our best indulgence is the JetQuay service which I know is bad value compared to taxis etc but being met from the plane by the buggy and having your luggage collected for you and limmo'ing into town is the only way ......
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 1:38 pm
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The last time we went to Singapore, summer 2008, we found the hotels were a lot more expensive. I'll need to pop in here before we next go( tend to stopover both to and from Bali) and see if anyone can point me out to good deals. Also restaurants. I don't think you can help with cheaper drink prices though- I did notice most people ordered a drink and a water.
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 10:40 pm
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I guess you got my genuine welcome because when I was there a few weeks back, no one was welcoming me!

Sorry, I still find the place hot, humid, and boring.
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 11:51 pm
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Originally Posted by RichardInSF
I guess you got my genuine welcome because when I was there a few weeks back, no one was welcoming me!

Sorry, I still find the place hot, humid, and boring.
That's a shame.

You should see the welcome us Brits get when we come to the US .......
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 11:52 pm
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Have to admit it is one of the most humid places I've been to. Perhaps we picked the worst time to go. (Hong Kong in the summer is also as humid). I do prefer Bangkok but Singapore has so many great places to visit. The World War aspect of it interesting for instance. Changi museum, the Battlebox and Fort Siloso - the latter being one of the few places I would visit on Sentosa though- far too gimicky for my liking.
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Old Apr 2, 2010, 7:53 am
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You've probably gathered from my post ..... I think it's a long fuse thing. A place you sort of "get into".

All of the things I hear highlighted by people seem to be the things I didn't like but now realise I do like I hear it's "oppressive"! Oppressive for who? People who spit, or smoke in public, or get drunk in public, or run in front of cars or deal drugs or break the law etc etc?! If a street hawker is dirty, or cheats his customers he's closed down.

As it happens I get the impression people feel safe there. You don't see police all over the streets - but it's safe. People are polite and interested. Life is "well ordered". It isn't perfect, but it feels so.

We were just looking at my wife's video for our early mornings into Botanic gardens and looking at the ladies doing tai chi. Do you know it's the same ladies in our film for the last 6 visits! That's continuity.

Back a few weeks and now planning my next trip ..... but without the silly diversion to Oz. I'm plucking up courage to spend a week in Singapore. Will I get bored? Who knows ..... but I'll let you know!
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Old Apr 3, 2010, 3:24 am
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Originally Posted by uk1
Back a few weeks and now planning my next trip ..... but without the silly diversion to Oz. I'm plucking up courage to spend a week in Singapore. Will I get bored? Who knows ..... but I'll let you know!
I've been 6 or 7 times, specifically just to visit SIN and then back to the UK, never been bored. Then again I'm happy sitting by the river drinking Tiger

Haven't been for a couple of years now but had a fix last weekend with google earth street view
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Old Apr 3, 2010, 3:38 am
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The OH and I are wondering about a re-visit [I lived and worked there for 3 years back in the days of Empire, some 40 years ago]. I have a friend there at the moment on a long stop-over on the way to Oz, and I'm waiting for her report.

Please keep the info coming, especially hotel recommendations that won't require me to come out of retirement and get a job to afford to stay in them!

Humid? Yes - all year round, as I remember it!!
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Old Apr 3, 2010, 4:30 am
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I think Singapore's problem is that most of the feedback people hear is from people just on short stopovers and understandbly they got their feedback from others on stopovers ...... so it's understandable that the majority don't "get it".

I must admit I'm either thinking about food ... and tiger beer .. most of the time or eating it. My last main meal on my last trip was at Newtons and was under 2.00 .......

People are programmed to notice differences when they see them but often don't notice things that "aren't there". One thing I noticed on my last trip is the lack of impatience on the roads and the almost complete lack of people using their car horns. Once you notice it .... it's eery because you get use to the sound of horns in cities.
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