SIN and "doctor fish"
 

The lure of DEQM and upgradable fares under 1K took SanDiego1K and I to SIN this past weekend.


Had a great Flight LAX-NRT in the new C, I had the Zen box and chose to fly backwards. It was totally normal except for landing. Did none of the work I had planned to do - simply slept and watched some TV shows.

We had a silly swine flu inspection , in which 2 pieces of white paper were missing, so it ended up being 45 minutes. Watching the people in that hazmat gear was amusing ( I mean geez - 36K people die from the regular flu every yr).

This left us with a very tight connection in NRT ( no time for the RCC , but time for the smoking lounge by gate 35).

NRT-SIN was in old C ( what a contrast, I got on and thought I was in coach :) ). Awful crew - left my dinner dishes sitting for over an hour.

Taxi into town was $12 SIN before surcharges and $25 after - cant make any
sense of it. Check in at the conrad was painless and my room was fine. SanDiego1k had to get a new one.

Got up next morning and we went to the lounge - selections seem to have gone down hill since the last time I was there . We decided on our plan for the day - reflexology, lunch and a museum.

We went to the refloxology place and they had the "doctor fish". Nevhttp://www.doctorfishmassage.com/er ones to pass up an adventure we had to try this.

So we stick our feet in the "pool" with the fish and they start nibbling at them. Felt weird and tingly, but the end result was NADA.

Refloxology was fantastic, lunch place was closed for updating and it was raining so we went back to the Conrad and had high tea b4 going to the FT dinner at Palm Beach ( see Community thread)

Got up this morning and ugh same crew SIN-NRT.

Did you take photos of your fish treatment? I've always been a bit curious as to how it feels, but not enough to try it. I've seen it in Malaysia and squeamishly wanted no part of it. I don't eat fish; they don't get to nibble at me! ;)

Figuring taxi fare is easy
 

just use

http://taxisingapore.com/external/taxi-fare-calculator/

Estimated Fare using meter at 01:14

Start: Changi Airport Destination: 2 Temasek Road (Conrad's Address)

Distance: 17.74 km. | Duration: 17 min.

first km S$2.80
10.0 km. x S$0.52 per km S$5.19
6.74 km. x S$0.61 per km S$4.09
waiting in traffic (~4 min.) S$1.07
midnight surcharge S$6.57
Changi Airport & Changi Air Freight Centre S$3.00
Total S$22.72
on a Sunday or Public Holiday it would be S$16.15

Your problem with the fish was that in safe and sane Singapore there is a regulation requiring all feet cleaning fish to wear a retainer :p:p

Indonesian fish on Batam don't have to abide by this regulation. :):)

Interesting but I’ll skip doctor fish. Anything involving fish better include a tasty sauce.:)

I was afraid that "Dr. Fish" had followed you to Singapore.

Same! And there are lots of tasty fish options in Singapore too.

We went to Kenkos Fish Spa and Reflexology, which is an easy walk from the Conrad, beyond the Pan Pacific Hotel. The fish spa has tanks that line the windows. If you sit there, you are a living advertisement for everyone who walks by. There is also a large tank in the room. I would guess that 60 plus people could be using the fish tanks at a time. These are not my pictures, but this is what it looked like:

fish tanks

fish around feet

If you stay at Starwoods in Asia, the TV clip they run advertising the Asian Starwood hotels shows a segment on the Kenko fish spa in Kuala Lumpur. It is in the shopping center immediately across the street from the Sheraton Kuala Lumpur.

The spa costs 20SGD for 15 minutes or 38SGD for 1/2 hour. We bought a package for 78SGD that including a half hour of fish spa and 1 hour of foot/shoulder/hand reflexology.

It was really weird to look at the fish swarming our feet. The little ones came right up to the water line on my legs. They would nibble right between our toes, a bit ticklish. I got used to the feel within a few seconds. I had high hopes of great exfoliation, but really saw no difference in before and after. At the equivalence of $25 US for a half hour, I wouldn't bother with this again.

On the other hand, I highly endorse Kenkos for its reflexology. It was superb. I could use them again today after 18K miles of flying in 4 days.

Pepper crab
 

I really enjoy pepper crab. It has become traditional to eat it whenever I am in Singapore. My husband and I normally go to No Signboard on Geyland. For this trip, Jan and I decided we wanted to stick closer to the Conrad, in large part because of our brief stay and our very early morning return to the States.

A new FTer, TowTruckDriver, has just returned to Singapore after finishing grad school in the States. He very graciously took us in hand, and booked Palm Beach near the Merlion at One Fullerton where he had a discount coupon. This was a lovely location, with indoor and outdoor dining. There are lots of comfy places along the water where you can sit and have a coffee and enjoy the view.

TowTruckDriver is up to date on new Singapore food trends, and told us about golden crab. This is crab covered in salted egg. We had newcomers to Singapore who wanted to try the traditional curry crab. I no longer enjoy it; it is too wet and messy for me. I really enjoy white or black pepper crab, so we ordered one of those. And we tried the new trend, yellow crab. TowTruckDriver posted pictures and costs here. We had three big crabs for seven of us, which was ideal. We each got as much as we wanted, and got to try each variety. Golden crab was blander than pepper crab. I like the punch of pepper crab, but it was fun to try a new style.

As for our lunch, it was my intent to eat at Din Tai Fung, in the basement of the Paragon Shopping Centre. Their speciality is yummy handmade dumplings. We schlep over there, and discover it closed for renovation. Back at the Conrad, we're told there is a Din Tai Fung outlet within walking distance. Now we know.

All my UA flights have posted. It was a great way to earn 36K EQM, flying biz the entire route except for the little commuter plane between SAN and LAX.

I wonder if this is one of those things where you need to have a few weekly appointments before you see results. :confused:

Edited to add: Just looked up an article on this and one of the comments was that to fully get rid of some damaged skin (such as psoriasis) you need to be in the fish water for eight hours a day for three weeks :eek: Others, with more normal skin, talked about seeing results after four days of doing it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...lbeing.health2

As usual, SanDiego1K has a much better memory than I do :). Since we only had 30 hours on the ground I guess we did not have enough time. One of my coworkers mentioned to me today that there actually had been one of these in Phoenix but it closed recently. Though it was a fun experience - I would definately pay for more refleology first - my feet still feel good !!

On a side note - in further proof of what a small world it is , it turns out that Ripper7865 wife ( the charming Amy) mother - lives one block from me in Phoenix

Washington state made this illegal after a spa offered it there. The state health department ruled it unsanitary and potentially unsafe since the fish can't be sanitized between customers as other pedicure instruments can be.

Trying to visualize sterilizing fish ;)

toe nibbling fish
 

Florida banned this. You do not need to sterilize the entire fish just their teeth.
If one were to sterilize all the fish eventually there will be no fish left in the sea.:):)