Been to Singapore,anyone?

Bugis Street ;)

Ngeeh.....Sob..Sobbb....We could not go as the snow in Europe disrupted the whole scene and all the flights in the Asian sector got fully booked. We were supposed to go by subload tickets which are subjected to availability. The VISAS are valid till March and we might try going before it expires...

All the best for your journey.....

Hi Elegance, how was your trip, I am planning in Mid Feb share some tips, hotel stay etc?

Universal studios and Sentosa island! waah i wanna visit singapore too.

Thank you so much dear buddies...Next to God,I have put Qatar Living to help me and my family, nowadays.I sit and pray and then post a question in QL. Both rarely go unanswered..Thanks a lot dear people! Keep posting...And the theme for this season in Singapore is "Christmas is love"...I guess your gesture has started off the season for me...!

i used to make it a point to visit singapore every year before i came to work here in qatar. it can become boring if you stay for a week but it's ok if it's your first time. i like the efficiency of everything there. and their airport's the best i've been to. collect brochures at the travel desk as soon as you land and you won't need to buy lonely planet because they have more information than you'll ever need to get around :) it's a travel hub in asia so you can easily get cheap flights to all countries in southeast asia and beyond using budget airlines like tiger airways, jetstar, airasia (for malaysia) and cebu pacific (for philippines). if you check their websites every once in a while you can get flights for QAR100 or less if you're lucky.

i personally prefer sg's mrt train system than hk's mtr, although the latter's trains are faster. it's a bit newer and i find the stations more spacious and tourist friendly. the food's also generally cheaper if you eat at hawker stalls and they're very delicious. there's a noodle shop i frequent for their minced beef noodles near the aljuneid station beside a 7-11, but that's just me. i don't know anyone else who purposely goes to the place to eat. i know i can do it myself if i really want to but i also love drinking milo dinosaur, which is available everywhere. i love satay too(you can have this in malaysia and indonesia as well). there are also lots of good hawker restaurants in the chinatown area and little india.

a cheap hotel i can recommend is southeast asia hotel in the bugis area. i don't know how much a room costs now but the hotel is in a very convenient location (lots of bargain shops nearby, hindu & buddhist temples as neighbors) and you can walk to an mrt station, even with your luggage. if you are the backpacker type you can get accommodation for as low as SGD 20 a night or less for a dorm bed. bookstores are the best too, like kinokuniya, popular and page one. they have better collections on sale than the ones found in my home country so it's my personal heaven. electronics are also much cheaper there than here in qatar.

some people say the zoo is better than the night safari because it's dark, you can't use your camera's flash for pics and the animals are mostly sleeping but i've only been to the zoo. they're right next to each other though. i love jurong bird park too. all these are easily accessible by a combination of bus and train rides. do try going to the marina bay sands and universal studios on sentosa island, they weren't open yet the last time i was there.

pm me, or post here if you'd like more info. if you also have other countries in mind around the asean region i'd be glad to help out as much as i can. enjoy your trip!

sure you will enjoy there...dont worry about transport its nice to walk and use public transport,hope you dont miss the zooommingg ang honking of Land Cruiser there,drivers seldom use that..:)

Oh yes, here are the best food...

Penang: Char Kuey Tiew and Prawn Mee (although it's good in KL too) but thats where the food's originally from. Also, Nasi Kandar... google up the names so you can see the pictures

Taiping (Perak):- One Ton Mee or Won Ton Mee

A very chinese town, you can feel like you're back in the 80's friendly people riding bicycle everywhere.. old cars too..

Oh yes, curry mee too

Old Klang Road:- Bah Kut Teh

Downtown KL:- Dim Sum, there's this one place really good... been opened since early 90s probably in the 80s... sorry forgot the name

Telok Gong:- Very famous seafood restaurant the place is called coconut flower.. it's very remote though so you might want to have a car. try the coconut and the indian alcohol stuff

Wake up early in the morning and if you see a food stall by the streets, most probably is nasi lemak... yum yum...

I used to go to Singapore at least 5 times a year (I lived just next door) for fun... anyway, here it goes..

Casinos in Singapore

There are 2 casinos in Singapore, you should really go there even if you dont plan on gambling, the structure of the building is really nice and I am sure there are other things to do inside besides gambling, ie shows, live performance etc.

Universal Studio

Also newly opened, that place is packed with people even on weekdays, let alone the holiday season, but worth checking it out, it's in the Sentosa island too

Orchard Road

Beautiful road, lots of wonderful lights, the place is full of people too, shopping mall, nice hotels, restaurants, coffee house etc, go there at night, you will enjoy it more

Night safari

Like what the other people say, it's nice, worth your money, I forgot how much you have to pay but it's worth it, the animals wont come near you though, and there's a barrier between you and the animals

A' Famosa

Not sure if it's still there, worth checking it out, there's a boat ride etc I guess like a theme park, havent been there in years, so I am not too sure.

Temples

There are a few temples in Singapore you can look it up on the internet, it has nice decoration etc.

Geylang Street

Prostitution area... but these ladies are nice they wont bother you if you dont approach them. Also, there are alot of cheap hotels ie Hotel 888. Guess it's cheap because of the location. But then again, it's safe.

These are a few things I can think of at the moment, people say you can go travelling around singapore within a day... I believe it.

Malaysia

Places to go...

Genting Highland- casino, theme park, cool area up on the mountain.. you should go not because you can gamble but if you check out the history you will be amazed on how 1 guy can build such a place. His name is Lim Goh Tong, he cant read or write, he was a labor until he build this whole empire... one of those rag to rich kindda story

Museum Negara

Malaysian own National Museum.. you can see how Malaysia is the way it is today

Taman Negara

Once you're in KL, you can go to a Mandarin Hotel and they can arrange a trip for you to Taman Negara. Taman Negara is our preserved forest. Basically you'll be living in a jungle, of course you get to chose if you want air conditioned room or other wise. Oh yes, lots of mosquito there too. But worth visiting because you get to see the native.

Jalan Alor

One whole stretch of food stalls, restaurant basically food paradise... you see... one of Malaysian culture is to eat... so food is everywhere 24/7. Oh yes, this place is pretty expensive compare to other restaurants elsewhere just because it's a tourist spot. If you're lucky, you will get to see some cops arresting prostitutes (male, female and transgender)

Oh yes, this goes for Jalan Chow Kit as well

jalan= road

Changkat Road

A very westernized area where the whites are whites and non whites are trying to be whites... pretty entertaining... on top of that, they do have nice bars/ clubs in this area and also good euro restaurant... hmm.. pork knuckles!

Zoo Negara (National Zoo)

Dont waste your time

Penang (a whole different state) about 4-6 hours from KL (kuala Lumpur) I forgot how long is the drive.

But basically you can go be aeroline bus coach... when you go there, you can visit Cheong Fat Tze house, blue house and other museum... that's the only thing facinating about the place.. of yes, again... the food, although I think the food is over price..

If you have more time you wanna go to Pulau Tioman, Pulau Redang, Pulau Perhentian... these are all islands in Malaysia.. near Terrengganu... worth going there! they always sells packages for 3 days 2 night including food... for RM300 per person.. I think it's probably RM600 per person now..

Advice:-

DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT CARRY A HANDBAG IN MALAYSIA, DO NOT CARRY ANYTHING ON YOUR SHOULDER EXCEPT YOUR BACKPACK, AND EVEN THAT CARRY IT IN FRONT OF YOU... LOTS OF PICK POCKETS AND SNATCH THIEF WHICH CAN KILL YOU!

DO NOT GET INTO A CAB WHICH DOESNT USE METER... TRUST ME...

DO NOT GIVE ANYBODY MONEY... DONT FEEL SORRY FOR ANYONE... DONT TRUST ANYONE'S STORY

I'll write more if I can remember...

Good luck!

p/s: I am going back to Malaysia on the 2nd Dec then to the States 13 dec and back to doha, maybe I'll bump into you guys! Wait.. I dont even know you...

...dont litter coz u might end up staying longer ur trip there,u will ask to choose between community service or fine...it's a fine(penalty)city after all.

Cheaper reasonable hotels near to the downtown area of orchard road/raffles can be found on the serangoon road around the area called little India.

Food is varied, cheap and easily available throughout the island.

Travel via MRT/buses is convienient cheap and they reach most places. Taxis are readily available but are expensive.

From airport you can go to city via MRT, bus or taxi. Bus No. 36 goes to the suntec convention center in the heart of the city from the airport basement at T2.

Locals speak thickly accentuated english called Singlish. It will take you a bit of time to get the hang of it.

It is very safe to even walk around at night though basic precautions should be taken. Bars of different flavors are aplenty.

Regarding places to visit...that you can easily find out by doing some search on the internet.

Elegance

take the advice of getting the lonely planet book - i believe it covers singapore, malaysia and brunei.

Singapore is like a very large city, vibrant, noisy and expensive but you can have fun there.

likewise KL is also vibrant, it depends on what kind of fun you want to have , nightlife, drinking,clubs, sightseeing. yes there are plenty of beach resorts if you are into beaches..

But no way is KL boring ( just ignore blue panther ) I lived and worked there for several years and its a real eye opener.Like the singaporeans the malaysian love their food and you get three major cusines( malay, indian and Chinese ) plus many others.

You might want to try the smokehouse in KL for a fancy xmas dinner.

Regards

suggest to go malaysia also, but not to kuala lumpur (just a normal city, unless u like to shopping), go to islands, highlands.... and try various malaysian food, very nice.

should see the bird park also.

Pick up a lonely planet guide - that should keep you from scratching your head or anywhere else :-) Do look at wikitravel in the mean time - http://wikitravel.org/en/Singapore. this will start you up.

River side has some excellent restaurants, sentoza etc. Their MRT system is fabulous. Pick up a iphone 4 in singapore - 2nd cheapest place to pick up one (first being HK).Electronics great too. Can combine Malaysia with Singapore - KL is boring so maybe try out Langkawi/Penang - relax in some beach resorts out there.

actually i dint go to night safari during my visit... we dint have enough time to go there but my bro was saying night safari is awesome...

as avatar said, dont miss the night safari over there.. and one more is the water show at the sentosa.. It is the best water show I had ever seen in my life... It starts six in the evening so you need to plan accordingly..

I love it there.

A trip to Sentosa is always nice, plenty of things to do there.

I am not an expert, but I liked that area, so you'll need more comments for an itinerary :-)

hi, i visited Singapore last June and throughly enjoyed my stay there... luckily I had my bro there and so the entire accommodation and food was free for me.. ;-) however, from what i heard, accommodation is little bit expensive. Even the cost of living is comparatively higher that Qatar. If you can spare a week's time, then you could cover all places in Singapore. If you need any help in finding a affordable hotel, please PM me and I will get details. Also, I suggest you to stay for a couple of days in Malaysia coz its better than Singapore.