Kids' activities & Japanese things
 

We have a 2-day trip to Singapore coming up with 2 kids (7 & 5). We're using 1 day to do touristy things that are fun for kids. Another day to get a feel for what type of place it is to live, how it is for Japanese expat community and what's available for Japanese people.

This is the first time in many years I'm traveling to a country I've never been to. So I'm nervous. Sadly, I'm also not good at researching and planning visits to places I'm not familiar with.

We're probably staying at the Hilton on Orchard Rd, possibly Conrad. We're going to be up probably 5a~6p (well, breakfast till ~7.30a). Definitely in bed by 7p.

Questions:
-- For the one fun day, we're thinking zoo, Gardens by the Bay, one mall (Marina Bay Sands?), one place we can get a view of the city (ferris wheel or Sands Sky deck?), Bukit Timah time permitting. Bukit Timah is only because my kids would love to see monkeys running around, but it can be crossed off. Could we fit all that in in one day? It sounds like the zoo alone will require half-day at least.
-- I read that subways are very crowded. I'm also nervous about catching the wrong train, etc. Other than going back and forth between Hilton and the Marina Bay area, we plan to take taxi's everywhere (too/from airport, zoo, Bukit Timah, Japanese school). Do you think this is a smart way to get around?
-- I heard that all the popular food places have long lines. Chicken rice place, food market, etc. So skip those if on a tight schedule, right?
-- Love Crystal Jade in HK. Is the one in Singapore even better, and is it worth going? We'll be in HK right after SIN, btw.
-- Any other good sit-down Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant in Orchard Rd area that will not require a wait at ~5pm?
-- As far as Japanese things are concerned, we're going to check out the Japanese school. Otherwise, all the Japanese things are concentrated around Orchard Rd, correct? Is that where there's highest prevalence of Japanese people walking around? It's the main reason why we chose Hilton over Conrad... to get a feel for where most Japanese people live and hang out at. Any other areas to check out with regards to this purpose?
-- Does Singapore have a city'super (that's a HK store) type grocery chain that caters to expats? If so, I'd like to check it out.
-- Do we need cash for anything besides taxi? (we only have VISA card, and I hear taxi's don't take VISA)

I apologize if some of these are stupid questions.

According to this there is a large Japanese expat community in River Valley https://www.99.co/blog/singapore/uno...ves-singapore/

For the Japanese-specific questions maybe contact the Japanese Association or similar.

-Unless your kids (and you) are used to the high humidity, you will struggle to do too many outdoor activities in one day.
-The MRT is easy to use and well signed in English.
-5pm is very early for dinner. Doubt there will be waits.
-Cash only at hawker centres but doesn't sound like you'll be eating there...

Thank you.

River Valley is very close to the Hilton! Will go wander around that area. That whole area, including the walk down from Orchard Rd towards River Valley, is completely safe, correct?

We're not fans of high humidity. It's just that we only have one day to pack in touristy stuff. But we'd better keep that in mind.

I will attempt to offer as many responses to your questions as I can. However other posters should (and probably will) contribute, in case I am wrong or my information incomplete. Additionally I am not Japanese so cannot really respond to those questions, although I think I can help you perhaps fine tune your questions.

- Singapore is overall a very safe place, possibly as safe as most places in Japan. You should feel ok walking the streets at almost any hour.
- It is not clear to me there are a lot of Japanese expats around the Orchard Road belt. It is one of the major shopping areas and attracts a lot of tourists, however one does not notice a majority group of tourists from one country or another while wandering along Orchard Road.
- Assuming you stay at the Hilton, there is an Isetan just down Orchard Road (other side). On the Hilton side, there is a very large Takashimaya Department Store at Ngee Ann City - this is just a 10 minute walk. The Conrad is in the Suntec City area. Note that it's sort of isolated from the touristy/visitor sorts of things to do; it's a ten minute walk from the City Hall area, for instance.
- On supermarkets, I haven't been to city'Super in Hong Kong, but there is a supermarket that caters to Westerners called Jasons. It will be easy for you to check out - it is part of the Orchard Towers complex and just a five minute walk from the Hilton. If you wish a more Japanese supermarket, there is one in the basement of Isetan, as well as in the basement of a shopping center called Liang Court. There is a chain of supermarkets that is more mainstream for Singaporeans but which, depending on the location, modifies its product selection for its immediate neighborhood. It's called Cold Storage (is owned by the same group that owns Wellcome in Hong Kong) - there's a Cold Storage in the basement of the Takashimaya. BTW there's also a Best Denki in Takashimaya, if that matters.
- River Valley is actually the name of a road with many upscale condos that is favored by expats and locals. (The Liang Court Shopping Centre is at one end of River Valley Road.) I'm not sure it's worth the walk. Here and there you will see some stores but it's all residential. You can get a feel for it just by taking either a bus that runs down it, or by taking a cab. On the other hand, there are a lot more Japanese that live in the Clementi area, I suspect because it's close to the Tuas industrial zone further west. There's at least one Japanese school along West Coast Road; I think that West Coast Plaza (another shopping center) has a heavier Japanese clientele but I may be wrong.
- Your best bet to learn more about Japanese related issues is to contact The Japanese Association. They are on Adam Road off Dunearn Road, which is in the Bukit Timah area.
- More monkeys can be found around MacRitchie Reservoir.
- On your question on kid friendly things to do, one day is not enough. You'll have to cross a few things off the list. MBS and the Skydeck will be good for the view; they have a huge shopping center but note that a lot of the shops are seriously high end. Gardens by the Bay is right there as well. The Singapore Zoo (and Night Safari) is at the northern end of Singapore in Mandai. According to their website it's a 30 minute cab ride from town areas in Singapore (including the Orchard area). Mass transit is doable but you would need to take a bus after the MRT (subway) to get there.
- Crystal Jade is a Singapore restaurant. You'll just have to try it to see if they're as good or better than the one in Hong Kong!
- Take mass transit when you can; use taxis for remote places or if it's too hot to get around. The MRT (subway) is going to more and more places and is pretty easy to make use of - it's nowhere near as confusing (I think) as the Tokyo subway (no insult). Having said that, cabs can be ok. They're much cheaper by distance when you compare them to cabs in the US. Having said that, note that there's a lot of different surcharges that can apply (one for CBD, another for peak hour) which can be confusing for visitors. In fact, cab fares are not regulated (different flag fall and distance rates), therefore rides on two different cabs by one cab company between the same point A/point B can be quite different.

Hopefully this information will be of some use. Please post again if you have other questions. Additionally I'm sure other posters will have their own comments as well. No worries - you're going to have a great visit here!

dsgtc0408: Thank you so much for such detailed post! Your info is invaluable.

I was really hoping to take the kids to the zoo. But if you think we have too much on our list for one day, then I guess the logical thing to do would be to cross off something that's really out of the way and then maybe focus on hanging out primarily in the Marina Bay area. We're actually going to HK's Ocean Park (for the 4th or 5th time) right after Singapore, so I guess that makes it all the more logical to skip it in Singapore... although it seems that Singapore's zoo exceeds OP by a large margin. Maybe we should skip trying to see monkeys, as well.

Do you think just spending time in the Marina Bay area (MB Sands for the sky deck, Gardens by the Bay, merlioin) will easily take up a good part of a whole day?

Jasons are actually also in HK. In HK I'm not as much of a fan of Jasons as I am of city'Super, but I will go check them out in Singapore. Will definitely go check out the Isetan complex and Takashimaya / Cold Storage. I feel like Hilton still works out for us, given its proximity to Isetan and Takashimaya.

We're actually going to visit the Japanese school, and yes it's actually on Clementi Rd. Would love to go check out West Coast Plaza while we're out that way, but it may not be feasible if Google is showing it as a 24min walk each way to/from the school. I will take your rec on River Valley and give it a miss.

No questions are stupid. :) Besides, I appreciate your input in the Japan forum, so happy to return the favour here in the SIN forum.

- The Zoo will take up a good part of the day, but you can do the Marina Bay area in the evening. MB Sands for the sky deck, Gardens by the Bay, merlion will probably take approx 3 hours, provided you don't visit the paid conservatories in GBTB (Cloud Forest and the other one whose name I can't seem to recall). It will be a very packed day though. You really need to start the day early. As the zoo will be humid and there's a children's playground and water park at the Children's section, you may want to bring a change of clothes for your kids. The Zoo rents out wagons and strollers, so you may consider them (in case your kids get tired of walking).

- Agree with dsgtc0408 on the subway (MRT as we call it). You'll be okay, because they are nowhere as packed/complicated as Tokyo's. You'll really only need the taxi for the ride to the Zoo, other than that, the MRT will get you to most places. Buy an stored value card (EZ-Link card, similar to Suica/Pasmo) or this from the ticketing office and you're good to go.

- It's a Singapore assumption that long lines = good food. So the 2 Michelin Star hawker centres have very long queues. Having said that, most places sell decent food. You can go to a hawker centre/food court near your location (Such as the one at ION Orchard) and take your pick from the food options there.

- Crystal Jade originated here. I can't say that the HKG one is better than here, but you will have to try to make your own judgement. Or on the flipside, don't try it since you would have very high expectations for it and would be setting yourself up for disappointment. :) Or you can try Crystal Jade's competitor - Imperial Treasure. Also, there are several different Crystal Jade concepts in SIngapore, so make sure you are comparing like for like (eg. Casual dining vs casual dining).

- Your options at 5+pm is limited, as most Chinese restaurants open at 6pm. Imperial Treasure at Marina Bay Sands and Crystal Jade at Level 5 Ngee Ann City opens throughout, so you can consider this.

- There are a lot of Japanese, I can't say that they mostly hang out in one area. For example, my child's kindergarten (in the west side of Singapore) have a few Japanese kids. The bus that I take from the MRT to my work place (very close to River Valley) always have a few Japanese mums on board. Re the Japanese school, there's actually one in West Coast and another campus in Changi, so I think it's safe to say there are more Japanese living near the schools.

- West Coast Plaza is not that near the Japanese school. You'll need to catch a cab, but to be honest, there is nothing really "Japanese" about it, other than a Japanese supermarket and restaurant. .

- The equivalent of a City Super would be Cold Storage. There is a Cold Storage in Takashimaya, and also a huge Isetan right opposite the Hilton (with a recently renovated supermarket). There is also a Meidi-Ya in Liang Court.

- If you want to check out where most Japanese expats are located, I would also suggest checking out Liang Court. Besides Meidi-Ya, there is also a Japansese barber/hairdresser and a Japanese tailor. I'm sure if you enquire, they may give you some answers to your question.

Also, this is a Japanese magazine in Singapore which may be useful for you re life in Singapore - http://www.mangosteen.com.sg/

With family in tow and not wanting to waste too much time idling, I would suggest you either use taxis or Uber/grabcar to get around. It won't cost you much more on medium distances compares to 2Adult + 2Child MRT tickets. And certainly less if its short distance.

Am happy to share! In this reply, note that I'd like to acknowledge SQ319's and gilbertaue's responses as well, even though I am only quoting your post.

- On your fun day, I can see how going to the Marina Bay Sands area can take up the entire day. The thing is that I don't see all the activities there as being terribly kid oriented, ie it's stuff that both adults and kids can get into (especially going to the Skydeck) but there isn't anything that is 'kids first'. My big question is: are you sure you will be collapsing in bed at 7PM? Will this be due to jet lag, the fear of oversleeping the CX early flight to HK or simply because it's your bedtime? Assuming you and your family is somehow able to stay up into the evening to say 11PM, you might consider going to the Night Safari. It's run by the Singapore Zoo people, but focuses on animals that come out at night. Not sure if there are any monkeys but hopefully this is a good substitute. I've never been to Ocean Park in HK but somehow I have the gut sense this is better. Or else go with SQ319's suggestion and go to the Singapore Zoo during the daytime. I guess my view is that the only thing different about MBS is checking out the view from the Skydeck. Other than that, it's sort of 'been there, done that' (especially the shopping centers, some might say the Merlion is kind of touristy as well).
http://www.nightsafari.com.sg/visito...xperience.html

- On food places, Singapore is known for its hawker centres. These are essentially these are street food vendors who have been moved off the streets to work in government constructed food facilities where it's all much cleaner (SQ319 refers to this in his/her post, second item). If you take a cab from the Hilton, there's a local hawker centre not terribly far away on Zion Road (across from the Great World City shopping centre) where the food is decent to pretty good and the lines and the prices are not outrageous. It's a better choice than the Newton Food Centre which has a heavy tourist clientele and prices to match.

- For your purpose you need cash for transportation and the odd purchase (eg McDonalds, a bottle of water from 7-Eleven, perhaps supermarket items, that sort of thing). The smartest thing to do is to bring either USD or Japanese Yen and change at one of the bank money changers at Changi Airport. The buy/sell spread for retail FX transactions is really narrow here, better than taking a chance that using a foreign ATM card to withdraw cash that might hit you with foreign transaction charges and the like.

SQ319: Thank you so much for your detailed info. You are awesome! I also really appreciate your kind remarks.

Thanks again, dsgtc0408, for the additional insights.

If it were just my wife and me, we could probably stay up later. But ever since our kids were born, we've learned that the only way we can manage these short Asia trips is by planning the kids' sleep schedule in advance. For this trip, our flight leaves YVR at 5pm SIN time (1a YVR time). We've done the overnight flight from YVR/SEA enough times to be able to anticipate that our kids will probably sleep from ~7pm till 1~3am SIN time on the plane (they need more sleep usually, but they sleep less on the plane). That'll actually be perfect, because 3 days later we all have to wake up at 3.30am to head back to Changi for our 6.50am flight. But that is really the rationale to strictly keep to the 7pm bedtime each of our 3 nights in Singapore. If we deviate too much from that, then I'm afraid we'll really pay for it when we're heading over to HKG. From that standpoint, the Night Safari is certainly out, unfortunately.

You're saying the Marina Bay area will be less than half a day, whereas dsgtc0408 thinks it'll take up a good chunk of the day. Either way, it seems like a full visit to the zoo plus Marina Bay area will be too much to fit in a day, unless we do an abridged visit to each. Anyways, those are all great advice about the zoo. The word "humid" seems to be a recurring theme, so the kids probably need a break at the hotel between the zoo and Marina Bay, further limiting the time. If we hit the zoo at 8.30 or 9am and left by 12.30~1pm, do you think that's enough time to enjoy the best features of the zoo?

As far as food goes, I think we'll forget about Crystal Jade. I've been to the one in Jpn (although I think it's now closed) and thought that the ones in HkG were much different and significantly better. So I just thought maybe the original ones in Singapore might be even better than the ones in HKG. But you are right that I might be building up too lofty of an expectation. And we are definitely doing Crystal Jade in HKG later that week (hairy crab season in HKG, which means hairy crab XLB at Crystal Jade!) We will definitely check out the hawker centre at ION Orchard or the one on Zion Rd, per your recommendations. Will also definitely put Imperial Treasure on our list.

That is pretty amazing.

Wow, so many different pockets of Japanese businesses/communities. We're definitely going to try to fit Liang Court in on day2 as long as time permits.


Thanks for the advice. You're right, time is of the essence. I feel better about taking MTR after reading what folks had to say here. But for short distances and then to get to places that are hard to get to (eg, train+bus), I will definitely look to take the cab.

Really? In Jpn and HKG, I always draw local currencies at ATM using my US card. My bank only charges me nothing and furthermore pays for the local ATM fee up to 2x per month. And I've always avoided Travelex, etc. Also, 7-11's and McDonald's in Singapore take credit card, even for very small purchase, no?

I don't know what kind of exorbitant spreads / foreign ATM fees you guys get, but the spreads at Changi airport money changers are most certainly not narrow :eek:

I was thinking worse case situation by putting myself in the shoes of the poster, evergrn - he did say it's his first time to Singapore and is evidently Portland based. For me, the worse FX exchange S$/USD I recall was at Travelex at JFK T7 - the spread was bigger than what I'd seen in Asia. I'm also noting that ATM withdrawals with foreign cards can incur foreign exchange transaction charges imposed by either/both the card issuing bank as well as the bank owning the ATM.

Personally I would change money at a specific money changer at Peoples Park (starts with C), but I wouldn't recommend it for someone who has just 48 hours in the country noting the queue can be 40 minutes. For just walking around money, the money changers at Changi are fine.

I will second the plan to use taxis with 4 people, the cost will not be that much different than 4 MRT tix and obviously far more convenient. I don't use MRT with the whole family in tow.

<snip>
Actually, I was thinking one day mainly because I had factored in a break in the afternoon to avoid the worst of the sun and humidity. If you can be someplace air conditioned between say 12 noon to about 4PM, you'll be past the worse of the heat.
<snip>

This is going to make me sound picky, but ION has a food court, while the hawker centre is located on Zion Road. The difference is three-fold:
- food court is privately owned (shopping mall situation), air conditioned and more expensive
- hawker centre is in a government owned facility, open air (potential hot and humid) and less expensive

Arguably, the food and experience at the hawker centre is likely to be higher quality and more authentic, however food court will be more pleasant.
<snip>

Not sure about 7-Eleven taking credit cards (I presume they would take the bank cards), however McD's takes Visa, MasterCard and JCB. Frankly my ignorance is because I pay cash for really small items, and use my local ATM card as a debit card to pay for others.

dsgtc0408: Thanks for the clarifications! You've given me tons of valuable info. Now I just have to decide on whether/not to go to the zoo, but otherwise I think I'm set.

DeepUnderground: I will heed your advice, esp for short distances and also for getting to places where public transport is not convenient. One thing I'm worried about is catching taxi back from places. I'm reading that Singapore is not like HKG where cabs are easy to catch and hail-able anywhere. I read that they may be difficult to catch at certain places during certain hours, and also you generally have to go to a designated taxi stand or a hotel to catch one. Anyways, push comes to shove, we could always take a bus/train.

The Zoo opens at 8.30am. If you are there by then since u wake up early, you should be done by 1pm.

I've included the park map here. I would assume you will want to cover the monkeys since your kids like them. You will see that there are 2 distinct loops. Suggest that you start with the one on the left, as that's where most of the monkey exhibits are. Once u are done with that, do the one on the right halfway to the rainforest kids world. Your kids can have some water play if they are keen. Once u are done with them, u can head back to the entrance, using the tram if you prefer, as there isn't much to see in the remaining half of the loop. Don't miss the orang utans in the middle (Orang Utan broadwalk). That's the signature exhibit for the Zoo. There is a feeding at 11am. http://www.zoo.com.sg/assets/pdf/parkmap.pdf?v1

If you finish with that early afternoon, u can head back to Hilton for maybe a 1-2 hours rest, then out again at 3 to the Marina Bay area to cover Merlion, Esplanade then MBS for the Skydeck and dinner after.

Frankly speaking, I don't think Gardens by the Bay is really a must do, as it's just a nice well manicured garden (I much prefer the Botanical Gardens). It's probably something you can do on your 2nd trip, or if you do decide to relocate to Singapore.

I definitely agree that hawker centre is a more authentic experience and Zion Road is a good choice if you do want to make a detour. Char Kway Teow and Prawn Noodles Soup would be my reccommendations at this hawker centre.

However, given your time contraint, a food court will give you a feel of what SIngapore food have to offer. ION is more expensive, yes, but it is one of the better food courts around (Beef Soup, Bak Chor Mee (Minced Meat Noodles) and Prawn Noodles soup are my recommendations here).

I think it really depends on how your day work out. You may want to play it by ear as to whether to go or not.

(If you do go Zion, just fyi, that Great World City, the shopping mall opposite the hawker centre runs a shuttle bus to Orchard and other nearby MRT stations https://www.greatworldcity.com.sg/getting-there/)

Yes, 7-11 takes credit cards. You need cash for taxis, because not all taxis take credit cards, and you don't want to spend time waiting for one which does. Also the major taxi operator only takes Mastercard and not Visa.

Appreciate the follow-up info!

At the zoo, my kids would be most interested in hands-on things, such as petting or feeding. They're not particularly into monkeys per se. I just brought up Bukit Timah because I figured they'd be interested in seeing wild animals. Thanks for the detailed info. As long as the weather's good and the family's not fatigued from the trip, I think we're going to do the zoo.

ION food court sounds good. We'll also keep Imperial Treasure on our list. Zion food centre is 2km away from Hilton, which is 4x the distance compared to the easily-walkable ION. Based on that and based on what you're saying, I think things like Gardens by the Bay and Zion hawker centre would be options only if time permits. Personally I'd really love to go check out the hawker centre, but the rest of the family might not be keen if there's no A/C, etc.

Are a lot of these spicy? We are really lightweight when it comes to spice. Prawn noodle soups, in particular, look really spicy. Char kway teow looks great, though. Is pho popular in Singapore? In HKG, I sometimes like to have things like roti chennai, sauteed morning glory with garlic, satays and pomelo salad. I've never found those things anywhere outside of HKG (mind you, I've only been to HKG so far in Asia). But I presume all those dishes come from Malaysia or Singapore. Do you think the food court might have some of those things?

Anyways, I'm sure there will be no shortage of great food that the whole family will love.

Well, you can pre-plan your visit to food places at ION: try this
http://www.ionorchard.com/en/store.h...%20Fast%20Food

Just one last pitch for Zion Hawker Centre: the hawker centre is one of the cultural things that's unique to Singapore, while to me a shopping center food court is a shopping center food court. Anyway it's an easy 15 minute bus ride from your part of Orchard Road - take bus 5 from the Far East Plaza shopping centre bus stop. Get out when you see the Great World City shopping centre, cross the road by the overhead bridge, walk through Great World to Zion Road, and just ask for directions. It's just two minutes on foot. Going the other way, just board the bus at the bus stop on Zion Road across from Great World, and exit when the bus reaches the Royal Plaza on Scotts (next to DFS). Or take the Great World Shopping Centre shuttle bus (free!) to go back to Orchard Road.

Regardless, you're right: you will find lots of food your family will love.

P.S. Suggest you get for the kids ice cream sandwiches from the street vendors - this is a local thing too. There's a couple such vendors doing their trade on Orchard Road, should be able to find one somewhere in front of Takashimaya/Ngee Ann City or Lucky Plaza. Mango will be a good choice, between two wafer biscuits (could never get used to having a brick of ice cream between a slide of white bread).

P.P.S. If you make it to West Coast Plaza, go to Jalan Kayu Prata Café for Roti Prata (the Singapore name for Roti Canai). They do a pretty good job.

The good thing about Singapore food is that there is always the option to have it without chilli. All the dishes I listed can be served without chili (just remind the staff when you place the order, as sometimes, the default option is with chili).

For prawn noodle soup, it looks spicy, because the prawn shells are fried until they are orange red in colour and then pressed to extract the flavour, hence the red color soup. It's not spicy on its own. There is chilli powder (similar to ichimi but finer powder and spicier) which you can add on the side.

You will find pho in some hawker centres and food courts and also in Vietnamese cuisines, but I haven't been to Vietnam to know if they are really authentic or have enough pho to know if they are good. There is a local Vietnamese chain called Nam Nam which serves pho. If you are keen, there is a branch located at the basement of Wheelock Place, just 2 buildings from the Hilton.

As mentioned by dsgtc0408, roti canai = roti prata in Singapore. You may even be able to find it on the buffet breakfast at Hilton.

Sauteed morning glory with garlic - This is a local staple. You will be able to find it in most hawker centres and food courts in the zi char stalls (Zi char is a Hokkien dialect used to describe the cooking method used in these stalls - wok fried home style dishes cooked upon order). The local name for morning glory is kang kong. So use the local name and everyone will know what you're talking about. This is typically cooked with spicy sambal chili, so make sure u emphasize the no chili. :)

Satay = again very common, but this is more of a evening appetiser than a day time one. Zion Road has satay (around 60 to 80 cent per stick - minimum 10 sticks). I wouldn't order satay in any food court, as the best satay needs to be charcoal grilled! :)

Pomelo Salad = more of a thai than local dish. Can be found, but not that common.

The one in front of Takashimaya is almost a permanent fixture. :) Personally I love the red bean or yam flavours, but you can be daring and try the more unique ones like sweetcorn or durian (tastes nothing like the real thing).

Then you may want to assign more time to the Kids World, as that's where the petting and farm animals are. :)

Just one last thing about hawker centre, if you are keen to explore Zion, I definitely recommend going in the evening, or late afternoon, the weather is much more pleasant then. I'll also say to avoid the lunch hours between 12.30-2pm, as the hawker centre is crowded with lunch crowd and that's when it's the hottest/most humid.

Your link above brings up various fast food establishments within the ION mall. But then there's also a listing of different places under "ION Food Hall."
http://www.ionorchard.com/en/store.h...%20Food%20Hall

But I actually thought SQ319 was referring to the food court called "Food Opera" at the basement of ION Orchard, which has a whole different set of eateries yet from either of the above two lists. I was thinking this Food Opera food court looks great, as google results show that it's touted as a place offering hawker food in an updated air-conditioned setting.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will definitely keep an eye out for these ice cream sandwiches, although my kids are not at all adventurous and so they will probably go for a plain flavor.

Unfortunately I highly doubt we'll make it to West Coast Plaza. It just seems we already have quite a lot on our agenda to fit into 2 days, not to mention having to deal with kids who're probably going to be whining about heat and humidity. Sort of the reason why I'm not sure I'd be able to work in things like Zion Rd hawker centre, even as I appreciate your recommendation and would personally be very interested. Maybe I might try to head down there alone.


That's great to know! Will definitely put Nam Nam on our list. Seems like food options are endless in the immediate vicinity of Hilton. And we only have 3 nights.:( (not to mention Hilton's exec lounge will supposedly have free evening bites, which we'll have to try to resist)

Thanks so much also for the education on those other Singaporean food. Having never been to SE Asia before, I would've never been exposed to any of this, had it not been for Hong Kong. I thought they were pretty good in HKG, but I'm sure they're a couple notches better in Singapore and I can't wait to try them.

So I think the default plan for our one fun day is to start out early at the zoo, try to get back to the hotel before 1.30pm for a rest, then a few hours at Marina Bay. And if there're issues with the weather or the family's too worn out from the long plane ride the day before, then we'll skip the zoo and then take our sweet time hanging out around the Marina Bay area.

I know other posters have suggested Liang Court, River Valley Road, Robertson Quay etc but ... what it's a bit hard to understand what exact "Japanese Things" you're seeking.

Liang Court (the shopping mall) has a Japanese supermarket (meidi-ya) and maybe 70-80% japanese restaurants and shops ... but that's about the extent of the "Japan-ness." Other than perhaps a marginally higher proportion of Japanese people shopping in the supermarket aisles, the entire mall is barely distinguishable from any other mall in the city.

Same story with Robertson Quay or any of the other commercial pockets where Japanese businesses / restaurants set up.

You know what? I take back what I said. SQ319 had it right, it is the Food Opera. Check out this review - all these choices look like they would be very, very good... http://www.misstamchiak.com/food-opera-ion-orchard/

Having said that, the one local thing in ION Food Hall is Ya Kun. It serves local style coffee and toast (and local style coffee is really local, can't get it anywhere else except Malaysia and I think Indonesia). Quite a few folks would have this for breakfast or afternoon tea.

<snip>

I was guested to the Executive Lounge a few months ago: it's not evening bites, it's a full blown buffet dinner with free flow of wine and beer. It was quite good. You should go hungry (and go on a diet afterwards).

This is a plan which sounds really well worked out. I'll stay out of your way now but will wish you and your family a wonderful visit. And thanks too, to SQ319 - lots of rock solid advice from him/her.

dsgtc0408: Omg I did not realize it's a full-blown dinner buffet at Hilton's EL, and a good one at that! Combined with the daily breakfast buffets and all these great food places nearby, I don't know how we're going to manage the food intake!

You and SQ319 were amazing with your help. Thank you so much once again! Our trip is at the end of Nov. Will definitely report back!

We're Japanese (well my wife isn't, but she might as well be for all intent/purpose) but there is a potential opportunity in Singapore that I may or may not pursue. Anyways we just want to get some idea of the Japanese community there and the types of things that are available to the Japanese community. It's really sort of a general thing.

delete

or just use Uber (or Grab).
They are plentiful in Singapore and at times can be much cheaper than taxis

I'm okay with red bean, but can't wrap my brain around sweetcorn (a vegetable flavored ice cream?). That's why I always order mango (I can be pc with that choice but indulge my artfully hidden ang moh side)!

About to leave in a few days.

Few last-minute questions:

- Time-permitting we might be interested in checking out one or two rental condominiums, just to see what housing is like in Singapore. In Singapore, can you only tour apartments/condominiums through rental brokers, or are there condominiums (but not one that's outrageously priced) where there's on-site rental agent who can take you on a tour if you just show up?

- It seems like it's raining everyday there and will continue to do so. I'm reading that River Safari is good on a rainy day. However, the Zoo has a lot more. If it's raining off and on throughout the day, would you recommend a 1st-time visitor to go to the River Safari or still do the zoo?

- If it's raining, then it won't be good to go to Marina Bay for the promenade or the MBS Sky Deck, right?

Why would anyone spend their time with you knowing that you have no intention to rent a unit?

You can't appear at a building 'to see it' - you need to be accompanied by the agent.

Okay, thanks.
In America, many rental residence complexes have on-site offices where you can just walk in and request a tour of the complex. I had a feeling it wasn't like that in Singapore, and I guess what you're saying confirms it.

You are talking to former Californian here, all good. :)
You assumption is that rental market in Singapore is set up the same way as in US - when large development companies are building apartment complexes to rent them out afterwards. It is not the case.

99% of apartments on rental market are privately owned by individuals. They are leased by owners via RE agents - think about selling/buying property in US and apply that concept to rental, well, except loan/mortgage. Both sides have agents to negotiate deal and in most cases it is impossible to dial directly with the owner bypassing the agent - they simply won't talk to you.

So you first need to either find a unit which you are interested in, or hire an agent who will show units to you and obviously, if agent knows that you don't live or plan to live here, they won't engage. (And don't get me started about local RE agents. I would trust word of a drug dealer from West Oakland more, than local agent, especially when you are freshly arrived foreigner - they will try to screw you over on every possible occasion.)

There are also serviced apartments for short term (no more than 2 month) lease but they are very expensive - start from $250/day.

Thanks for the additional insight, invisible.

That's too bad that real estate agents over there are like that.

Trust me, in China it is worse.

But we are diverting from the topic. If have time, you can go to Japanese and Chinese gardens, but I would put it as second/third priority.

To evergrn (and due respect to invisible), suggest the following for looking at housing.

1. Make an appointment to check out a serviced apartment just to see what it's like. You should be able to do this at fairly short notice. I'd try Frasier Suites because they're probably the biggest serviced apartment provider here. Yes, their rates are sky-high but it's good to see what the most expensive places would look like (ie establish baseline impression of the high end).

2. Check Craigslist Singapore to look for what might be available as short term rentals (eg one year term or less). Many short term leases are for individual rooms, but there should be some whole units available. You may need to buy a prepaid SIM for your phone so you can have a local cell number for folks to contact you. invisible is right about real estate agents and how they're most likely not going to be interested in working with you, so your ability to dissemble is going to be important.

My thinking is that it's good for you to see what local real estate looks like. For all you know, the configuration of local apartments might be so different from your expectations that by itself it's an immediate deal breaker in terms of working here.

Presumably you're started your trip. Hopefully this comment isn't too late.

Hey evergrn, hope this isn't too late for you as I've just returned from a trip. :)

1. Rental market - I am local here, so cannot help with this. Like what both said, u need to liaise with a RE agent to bring you around with seeing rental apartments. Besides dsgtc0408's recommendation for Frasers, you can also check out Ascott, which is also a very big player in the serviced apartment market here. There is a Somerset Serviced Apartment (mid range brand managed by Ascott) located at Liang Court. You may walk to the reception and ask to see a family sized unit. Also the Ascott website has floorplans of their units and sizes etc, which may be useful for you.

2. If it's raining, then you can consider doing the River Safari, as it's 90% sheltered, compared to the Zoo which is mostly outdoors. If the rain is not heavy, then do the Zoo. Otherwise, do the River Safari.

3. You still can do the promenade at Marina Bay, but probably not the sky deck...

Thank you very much to dsgtc0408 and SQ319 for the additional info and for all the past help. I've been in Singapore for two days now and alas am getting ready to fly out early tomorrow morning. Getting a chance to see housing firsthand would've been ideal, but oh well. Most important things were to get a sense of the place, see my wife's reaction, and tour the school. We got all of that done, plus provide some fun for the kids. Again, I am very grateful for all of your advice... definitely helped us get the most out of our short stay.

I will definitely check out the websites for those serviced apartments. Serviced apts will be way out of our budget, but it'll be good to get an idea of the types of layout that exists in Singapore. It seems like decent condominiums will also be very difficult to afford unless you go a bit far from the center. Then again, the area out west near the Japanese school on Clementi Rd looked very nice.

Despite the poor weather forecast on paper, the reality was different and we sort of lucked out with the weather. We really didn't get rained on other than ~30min yesterday (and that didn't affect us since we happened to be under the roof at a show at the zoo). Yesterday we went to the zoo... got there just before 9am, left around 1.45pm. I think we managed to see just about everything, except we only did one show. Kids fed the elephants and loved the splash park. I think the zoo would've been difficult on a day where it constantly rained. But on a day that features 1 or 2 patches of short rain, it would be just fine. There are many resting areas and show areas that are covered. Also, the zoo is brilliantly designed to help visitors cope with heat... not only the many covered areas and the splash park, but also many places with fans blowing. The zoo was not as expansive as we'd anticipated, and so we were okay without using the tram. Anyways, what an amazing place! The best zoo ever. Monkeys were right next to us as soon as we entered, the animals' manmade habitat blended so well with the natural lush landscape, and the Fragile Forest enclosure was amazing.

Then we headed back to the hotel and rested a bit. Then headed down to the Merlion. Walked around the bay over to MBS. Headed up to the sky deck. Beautiful weather. The view got better and better as we approached sunset. So we ended up sticking around till just before 7pm, then hurried back to the hotel to sleep. The sky deck is expensive, but I thought it was definitely worth it.

We checked out Liang Court and Takashimaya/Kinokuniya. Couldn't believe that you can get things like Royce's chocolates and many esoteric regional Japanese things here. Even Cold Storage had loads of Japanese things. I guess the only bad thing is the price of Japanese goods... somehow I expected the price to be ~similar to HK, but it's definitely pricier (almost same as US).

We ate at the Food Opera. Had char kway teow as recommended... very flavourful, very good. Had Hainese chicken rice, which was amazing. We also tried the coffee at Ya Kun as recommended... you're right, we've never had coffee like that before anywhere else. Very sweet with the condensed milk, but definitely very good.

We ended up taking taxi everywhere. We took MRT just once... I'm very thickheaded and couldn't figure out how to use the ticket machine. Luckily there was an employee standing there to help, and she basically did everything for us. I was prewarned that taxis would be hard to get without reservation. So we prebooked most of the time. I couldn't figure out the surcharge and the price discrepancies each time. I prebooked a peak-time taxi from Hilton to the Zoo... figured there'd be a significant markup due to on-call service and the peak time. Yet our 1.45pm return taxi (supposedly no surcharge) ended up costing the same. Then the taxi from Hilton to Clementi had the upfront surcharge of $8, way higher than any of the other rides.

Orchard Rd is decked out in all sorts of Xmas lighting right now. I think it's great that people here would take the time and effort to put up such elaborate lighting/ornaments all up and down that long street.

Two days is too short to get a full idea of what it'd be like to live here. And Singapore is just one of a few options we're looking at, and we've got quite a while to decide on things. Obviously I have to do more research. But the city definitely left a very positive impression on us.

Thank you for mentioning this - we head to SIN tomorrow and I've been bummed about missing the Thanksgiving Day parade & NYC lighting of the Christmas tree (I don't live in NYC - just have always watched on tv) I'll make sure we head to Orchard Rd after dark to see the lights!!!

Hoyaheel, the weather forecast for NY on Thanksgiving is going to be wet and grey; seems there's already some nasty car accidents in upstate NY already. (I was at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade one year as a child - awfully cold. Watched on TV all the years after that. ;) ) If you can handle Singapore's heat, you'll be happy you left this nasty weather behind.

evergrn - The Orchard Road displays are elaborate, but what would you say if I told you the displays are left up for Chinese New Year, just with a little freshening up to make it CNY festive during the in-between time? Singapore is definitely not a place that wastes things!

I'm happy that you were able to get a lot of stuff done and many of your questions answered while you were here. If you end up moving here for work, suggest you focus on the Clementi area. More central parts of Singapore are expat geared; if you feel you can handle the more local lifestyle in Singapore's western suburbs, then there's no reason to pay the extra costs (housing and otherwise) in the more central parts of town. If you've got any future questions please feel free to pm me.