Better yet, take the two-hour harbor cruise for SD$22 rather than the boring Singapore River cruise. Avoid the cheesy Night Safari. Definitely do the food stalls at La Pau Sat: a huge, delicious meal for two can be had for less than $10 US.

I think I'm only qualified to help on the "What can I do in Singapore for 7 hours?" question! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Two additional ideas away from the central city:

Ride the MRT subway (mostly aerial) for a circular tour of the island, past some of the most sustained apartment tower block developments you'll ever see. Get off at something like Chep Chang Mai to ride the driverless aerial LRT past further megadevelopments at close range. This is the real Singapore where 90% of the inhabitants live.

Visit Changi Prison Museum, near the airport. Prison used by Japan as a brutal POW concentration camp during WW2, now modernized and the site of occasional whippings and canings.

In the course of going to various parts of the island, I rode nearly the entire MRT system at one time or another. The scenery gets dull. More interesting is to ride on the top of one of the double-decker buses such as the one I rode all the way back from Changi Village to the center of town. (I believe it was line 2, but will have to check that once I'm home from my Philly trip.) On a bus you see the street scene, and on the top deck you have a nice bird's-eye view.

Kathy

Good idea. I've let the Singapore Tourism Board know that they need to produce a bus map for distribution - right now nothing is available and the system is rather confusing for the uninitiated.

Two more sightseeing ideas:

1. The morning chirping competitions of caged birds on Tiong Bahru at Kim Seng (not for animal rights activists). Some of the cages are nicely designed, as are the ornaments inside, and the bird song is remarkable.

2. The URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Gallery at 45 Maxwell Road in Chinatown. Gives you the inside scoop on how Singapore can accommodate 3.2 million people on a tiny island. Development methods and practices past and future with many displays, including a huge, optimistic model of planned megadevelopment downtown!