Singapore Travelogue 2016
The year started on a good note. I was already planning for a trip to Singapore. After a gap of 6 years we were going some place out of India. It was more memorable since it was my son's first trip abroad.
So after a lot of research and inputs from friends we finally arrived at an itinerary. The whole trip was arranged on our own. In this travelogue, I will give few tips which you could use for budget travel and my post will be useful for the novice. People who have already been there, may not find this so interesting.
We started by finalizing our air tickets. This is an open secret but for those who may not know, if
you wish to save money, please fly from Chennai to SE Asian countries. You will save around 25% to 40% of the cost as compared to Mumbai. The cheapest flights are offered by Tigerair. However, we heard mixed reviews about the airline and since we had a kid with us we decided to skip this airline. Once in Chennai, we had a gap of around 5 hours in between flights. Kids generally get
cranky in such scenarios. It was a late night flight and needless to say we spent the entire night awake. We reached Singapore early morning 5 Singapore time.
It was raining heavily that day. We chose hotel Park Royal. This hotel is quite popular with Indians. Positive points are 1. it is located just across the road from Farrer Park metro station. 2. It serves an Indian spread in its breakfast; so a boon for vegetarians. 3. Mustafa is just behind this hotel so it helps on days like this when it is raining heavily. We just had to take an umbrella and walk to the building
behind the hotel. Also, Mustafa has a very good food outlet which serves Indian food. You also get dal rice (useful for kids). Adults can generally eat at any restaurant and try local cuisine but kids suffer. Also you have 3-4 Indian restaurants just next doors. I will make a special mention of
Anjappar. Good food (esp for non veg).
Again a small tip for a novice traveler. Singapore has some stringent rules about the number of people staying in a room. So although my kid sleeps with us, some hotels wanted us to book a
room with a double bed and an additional bed. So a cheaper hotel might not really be cheap finally
since the choice of room is not in your hand. For kids above 8 years old , they have different rules.
Mine is less than 8. So while booking online don't just look at the price, proceed with few further steps to see if the room actually allows you in.
There was still some time for check in. We were too early but the hotel was kind enough to give us
keys to their gym + pool area. They have a facility to take a shower and we were refreshed after a
nice bath. They took care of our luggage and we set out to explore Singapore. Today we had planned
to visit the SEA Aquarium. This is a splendid experience. I will give it a "must go" rating. Our mode of travel in SG was the metro. Again a tip for novices, please carry cash in Singapore. Not everyone
takes a credit card or the travel card e.g. the metro ticket machine. The ticket machine can accept
payment through NETS. I guess it is the equivalent of our NEFT or may be a debit card (not sure and I did not google it). Secondly, it does not accept notes of any denomination. So if you do not have a 2$ bill then please go to passenger service desk and they will happily help you. Same goes with coins. There are two types of machines, the general ticketing machine and a top up machine. From the name you know where you have to go. Take a metro route map from passenger service. They have around 5 metro lines. Find the line on which your destination station is and choose accordingly e.g.
North east and then choose the station name. It will give you the amount. Insert notes/coins accordingly. You will get a ticket and change if any. In case, you need to change your line, even
then you still have to give destination name for ticketing purpose. e.g. From Changi airport, when
you have to go to farrer park, you have to change the metro at Tanah Merah station but the ticketing
machine is not going to bother you with this. It is intelligent enough to know this. Repeat the same, for all the people in your group. Kids up to 5 years or 1.9m tall don't need a ticket. Please confirm this @ passenger desk so that you know what is the latest rule. That is it. You are ready to go on one of the worlds best metro system. The top up machine is for the residents who carry a metro card which must be a prepaid card.
People with kids and strollers need not worry. You will find a lift everywhere and you can carry the stroller inside the metro. You need not fold it and the child can remain in it while you embark n disembark. Smooth. (When I was in Europe, we did not have a child so I do not know how easy it is for a kid there but I can say for sure that we had come across two stations or rather two platforms where there was no escalator as well as lift and we had to climb the stairs with luggage).
This was my second time at the aquarium and I think it is now even more grand. My kiddo thoroughly enjoyed it. We were lucky to have chosen this activity on a rainy day. When we were back around 5 pm we were totally drained. No sleep took a toll on us. We relaxed in our room for a couple of hours. It was raining so at night we decided to go to Mustafa. Boss, it is huge and spans multiple buildings. If you look at the everyday supplies section, you will feel you are in Dmart. You get sev, wafers, farsan, and what not. I was interested in cosmetics but alas I did not buy any. Nothing is cheap. However, note the catch, if you want to buy in multiples then you are at the right place. They have amazing bundle deals. An Elizabeth Arden perfume is 30$ but if you buy 2, it really comes cheap say at $40 and so on. Mustafa has some capsules which has hair serum. I used it and liked it. The toys section is nice. I found what I wanted here (which I did not get in toys r us). So I will suggest you visit this store. It does not have the fanciness of a mall but you will get anything under the sun here. Also, you can buy Merlion shaped chocolates along with other huge variety. The Merlion gift packs can also be bought in Bugis street.
Day 2: We were off to the zoo. We took and mrt to Ang mo kio and then a bus to the zoo. Ang mo kio seems like an upmarket residential area. The bungalows dotting one side of the road and the tree cover give a different look to that area. The best part about the metro is you have exit gates marked for the attraction you are going to. Most exit gates open in the mall you want to visit and they are so
convenient. The zoo is quite far off. Tip: Visit the zoo and bird park on weekend. They have more
activities lined up on those days. You can buy a ticket online from their official website and you
get good bundle deals. We took a 2 in 1 pass (zoo and bird park). We thought doing the night safari and river safari would be just too much in a single day. The zoo, night safari and river safari
are all next to each other but for a kid it would be a very long day and he might not enjoy. If you wish to do it you can spread it over two days.
The tickets are available in INR on expedia.co.in. This is a good option who are not well versed with dollar purchase. One warning, if you visit expedia.com and check ticket prices, it might seem cheaper than official zoo website. Do not be fooled. Expedia.com has prices mentioned in USD and not SGD. The pass had a tram ride included in it.
Zoo is good. Its huge. I was not so impressed with the tram. You still end up walking most of the
zoo since tram stops are not ideally located. Kids special - Tip: If you do not have strollers, you can
rent one there. If it rains, the zoo store has umbrellas and ponchos on sale. If it is hot, they have caps. It is very tourist friendly (in other words please keep buying and spending, they have made it very easy for you. Help their economy grow and in the bargain you are very happy). The highlights - I loved the tiger feeding activity, do not miss. We reached the elephant activity on time but the venue got full 15-20 minutes before the show so we missed it. I had visited Bangkok zoo in 2004 and my comparison is with the zoo in that era. I think Bangkok zoo is better than Singapore.
It was almost 5pm when we left the zoo. On our way back we went to Bugis Street. What are vacations without some good shopping. Our trip happened just after the Chinese new year so we
were lucky to catch all the decorations there. Also a lot of sale's were going on in every mall.
The metro exit opens up in the Bugis junction mall. Bugis street is a shopping area like tulshibaug just across the street from Bugis junction. Mind you, it is very crowded. However since people give
way, it was better than India to go inside with a kid in a stroller. Oh, I love the place. I felt like buying everything I saw but local girls are so thin that I was a fatso amongst them and could not find my size. Anyway, I still had a gala time shopping.
Day3: It was the day for our visit to the bird park. You must have noticed that all our activities revolved around our kid. We took an mrt to Boon lay station followed by bus. The Jurong park is
very far off but the travel is worth it. The tram in the bird park is really nice. It takes you to all
the major spots. Do not miss the lorry loft tram stop. When we entered, we thought it was just a
restaurant but dont be fooled. Behind the curtain are so many birds. This is where the bird feeding activity happens. The birds are used to people feeding them so they come and sit over your head, shoulder and hands freely. We are the ones who are afraid in this case. It is an awesome experience. The waterfall aviary was another good location. So all in all I recommend the bird park to everyone.
This park is the only place where the metro ticket crossed 3$. All other tickets are around 2$. So here is another tip. Do not bother buying a day pass for metro. You do not really do justice to the 10$ every day. Once you buy a ticket and use it, do not throw it away. You are expected to use the same ticket again for the next 5 more trips. Place the ticket on the slot provided. The display instantly changes to add a trip. After 3 trips, you get a 10cent discount (well the discount part was not important as much as the reuse. I was just explaining how it works).
After the park, we took off to Orchard road. This is the road with unlimited malls. Choose one of your choice and off you go. We went to toys r us but were disappointed. Later mustafa came to our
rescue. On thing about Mustafa. If your shopping bill (in a day) exceeds 100$, you get a refund of
GST at the airport.
Next day, we were supposed to go and see gardens by the bay but we were really tired and wanted some leisure time for ourselves. The kid was tired too. So in the afternoon we went to Marina bay sands hotel. Please note that correct mrt station to reach this hotel is Bayfront and not marina bay. We made the mistake, now you wont. Also, please club merlion park and marina bay sands together. The entire area is a corporate hub and a posh downtown area. This is a must visit. We saw the light and sound show at 7:45pm.The night was beautiful there and very romantic. You can take a boat ride at merlion park (40 min) in the river or a 10 min boat ride inside the marina bay sands expo but that ride is internal in a small channel created artificially inside the hotel. If you have the time, please go on the 40min boat ride. We were short of time and hence settled for the other one. Also we did not know it was just an internal ride.
On the last day, we decided to go to China town. The hotel agreed to keep our luggage post check out. If you hotel doesn't, there are two options. Go to Changi airport and leave your luggage at 'Left baggage'. It is cheap and reliable (as I hear it). There is the-inncrowd.com where you can leave your baggage for a minimum charge. Thankfully I did not have to use both so I cannot give first hand feedback.
China town was as expected - colouful. You can buy so many items of Chinese culture as well small
items like bags, tshirts, cushion covers in Chinese style made of silk. It is a good place to visit. Must see rating from my side. We spent the rest of the day at Raffles place and went to Merlion park
(we missed it earlier). The entire area is so nice that you can spend a day doing nothing provided the
climate is not so hot. Singapore as a whole is a happy place. The people have a very promising smile on their face. They are helpful and nice.
It is difficult to leave such a beautiful place but well that was the end of our trip and with a heavy
heart we headed back to the airport and bid adieu to Singapore, promising in my heart that I would
surely visit it again.
So after a lot of research and inputs from friends we finally arrived at an itinerary. The whole trip was arranged on our own. In this travelogue, I will give few tips which you could use for budget travel and my post will be useful for the novice. People who have already been there, may not find this so interesting.
We started by finalizing our air tickets. This is an open secret but for those who may not know, if
you wish to save money, please fly from Chennai to SE Asian countries. You will save around 25% to 40% of the cost as compared to Mumbai. The cheapest flights are offered by Tigerair. However, we heard mixed reviews about the airline and since we had a kid with us we decided to skip this airline. Once in Chennai, we had a gap of around 5 hours in between flights. Kids generally get
cranky in such scenarios. It was a late night flight and needless to say we spent the entire night awake. We reached Singapore early morning 5 Singapore time.
It was raining heavily that day. We chose hotel Park Royal. This hotel is quite popular with Indians. Positive points are 1. it is located just across the road from Farrer Park metro station. 2. It serves an Indian spread in its breakfast; so a boon for vegetarians. 3. Mustafa is just behind this hotel so it helps on days like this when it is raining heavily. We just had to take an umbrella and walk to the building
behind the hotel. Also, Mustafa has a very good food outlet which serves Indian food. You also get dal rice (useful for kids). Adults can generally eat at any restaurant and try local cuisine but kids suffer. Also you have 3-4 Indian restaurants just next doors. I will make a special mention of
Anjappar. Good food (esp for non veg).
Again a small tip for a novice traveler. Singapore has some stringent rules about the number of people staying in a room. So although my kid sleeps with us, some hotels wanted us to book a
room with a double bed and an additional bed. So a cheaper hotel might not really be cheap finally
since the choice of room is not in your hand. For kids above 8 years old , they have different rules.
Mine is less than 8. So while booking online don't just look at the price, proceed with few further steps to see if the room actually allows you in.
There was still some time for check in. We were too early but the hotel was kind enough to give us
keys to their gym + pool area. They have a facility to take a shower and we were refreshed after a
nice bath. They took care of our luggage and we set out to explore Singapore. Today we had planned
to visit the SEA Aquarium. This is a splendid experience. I will give it a "must go" rating. Our mode of travel in SG was the metro. Again a tip for novices, please carry cash in Singapore. Not everyone
takes a credit card or the travel card e.g. the metro ticket machine. The ticket machine can accept
payment through NETS. I guess it is the equivalent of our NEFT or may be a debit card (not sure and I did not google it). Secondly, it does not accept notes of any denomination. So if you do not have a 2$ bill then please go to passenger service desk and they will happily help you. Same goes with coins. There are two types of machines, the general ticketing machine and a top up machine. From the name you know where you have to go. Take a metro route map from passenger service. They have around 5 metro lines. Find the line on which your destination station is and choose accordingly e.g.
North east and then choose the station name. It will give you the amount. Insert notes/coins accordingly. You will get a ticket and change if any. In case, you need to change your line, even
then you still have to give destination name for ticketing purpose. e.g. From Changi airport, when
you have to go to farrer park, you have to change the metro at Tanah Merah station but the ticketing
machine is not going to bother you with this. It is intelligent enough to know this. Repeat the same, for all the people in your group. Kids up to 5 years or 1.9m tall don't need a ticket. Please confirm this @ passenger desk so that you know what is the latest rule. That is it. You are ready to go on one of the worlds best metro system. The top up machine is for the residents who carry a metro card which must be a prepaid card.
People with kids and strollers need not worry. You will find a lift everywhere and you can carry the stroller inside the metro. You need not fold it and the child can remain in it while you embark n disembark. Smooth. (When I was in Europe, we did not have a child so I do not know how easy it is for a kid there but I can say for sure that we had come across two stations or rather two platforms where there was no escalator as well as lift and we had to climb the stairs with luggage).
This was my second time at the aquarium and I think it is now even more grand. My kiddo thoroughly enjoyed it. We were lucky to have chosen this activity on a rainy day. When we were back around 5 pm we were totally drained. No sleep took a toll on us. We relaxed in our room for a couple of hours. It was raining so at night we decided to go to Mustafa. Boss, it is huge and spans multiple buildings. If you look at the everyday supplies section, you will feel you are in Dmart. You get sev, wafers, farsan, and what not. I was interested in cosmetics but alas I did not buy any. Nothing is cheap. However, note the catch, if you want to buy in multiples then you are at the right place. They have amazing bundle deals. An Elizabeth Arden perfume is 30$ but if you buy 2, it really comes cheap say at $40 and so on. Mustafa has some capsules which has hair serum. I used it and liked it. The toys section is nice. I found what I wanted here (which I did not get in toys r us). So I will suggest you visit this store. It does not have the fanciness of a mall but you will get anything under the sun here. Also, you can buy Merlion shaped chocolates along with other huge variety. The Merlion gift packs can also be bought in Bugis street.
Day 2: We were off to the zoo. We took and mrt to Ang mo kio and then a bus to the zoo. Ang mo kio seems like an upmarket residential area. The bungalows dotting one side of the road and the tree cover give a different look to that area. The best part about the metro is you have exit gates marked for the attraction you are going to. Most exit gates open in the mall you want to visit and they are so
convenient. The zoo is quite far off. Tip: Visit the zoo and bird park on weekend. They have more
activities lined up on those days. You can buy a ticket online from their official website and you
get good bundle deals. We took a 2 in 1 pass (zoo and bird park). We thought doing the night safari and river safari would be just too much in a single day. The zoo, night safari and river safari
are all next to each other but for a kid it would be a very long day and he might not enjoy. If you wish to do it you can spread it over two days.
The tickets are available in INR on expedia.co.in. This is a good option who are not well versed with dollar purchase. One warning, if you visit expedia.com and check ticket prices, it might seem cheaper than official zoo website. Do not be fooled. Expedia.com has prices mentioned in USD and not SGD. The pass had a tram ride included in it.
Zoo is good. Its huge. I was not so impressed with the tram. You still end up walking most of the
zoo since tram stops are not ideally located. Kids special - Tip: If you do not have strollers, you can
rent one there. If it rains, the zoo store has umbrellas and ponchos on sale. If it is hot, they have caps. It is very tourist friendly (in other words please keep buying and spending, they have made it very easy for you. Help their economy grow and in the bargain you are very happy). The highlights - I loved the tiger feeding activity, do not miss. We reached the elephant activity on time but the venue got full 15-20 minutes before the show so we missed it. I had visited Bangkok zoo in 2004 and my comparison is with the zoo in that era. I think Bangkok zoo is better than Singapore.
It was almost 5pm when we left the zoo. On our way back we went to Bugis Street. What are vacations without some good shopping. Our trip happened just after the Chinese new year so we
were lucky to catch all the decorations there. Also a lot of sale's were going on in every mall.
The metro exit opens up in the Bugis junction mall. Bugis street is a shopping area like tulshibaug just across the street from Bugis junction. Mind you, it is very crowded. However since people give
way, it was better than India to go inside with a kid in a stroller. Oh, I love the place. I felt like buying everything I saw but local girls are so thin that I was a fatso amongst them and could not find my size. Anyway, I still had a gala time shopping.
Day3: It was the day for our visit to the bird park. You must have noticed that all our activities revolved around our kid. We took an mrt to Boon lay station followed by bus. The Jurong park is
very far off but the travel is worth it. The tram in the bird park is really nice. It takes you to all
the major spots. Do not miss the lorry loft tram stop. When we entered, we thought it was just a
restaurant but dont be fooled. Behind the curtain are so many birds. This is where the bird feeding activity happens. The birds are used to people feeding them so they come and sit over your head, shoulder and hands freely. We are the ones who are afraid in this case. It is an awesome experience. The waterfall aviary was another good location. So all in all I recommend the bird park to everyone.
This park is the only place where the metro ticket crossed 3$. All other tickets are around 2$. So here is another tip. Do not bother buying a day pass for metro. You do not really do justice to the 10$ every day. Once you buy a ticket and use it, do not throw it away. You are expected to use the same ticket again for the next 5 more trips. Place the ticket on the slot provided. The display instantly changes to add a trip. After 3 trips, you get a 10cent discount (well the discount part was not important as much as the reuse. I was just explaining how it works).
After the park, we took off to Orchard road. This is the road with unlimited malls. Choose one of your choice and off you go. We went to toys r us but were disappointed. Later mustafa came to our
rescue. On thing about Mustafa. If your shopping bill (in a day) exceeds 100$, you get a refund of
GST at the airport.
Next day, we were supposed to go and see gardens by the bay but we were really tired and wanted some leisure time for ourselves. The kid was tired too. So in the afternoon we went to Marina bay sands hotel. Please note that correct mrt station to reach this hotel is Bayfront and not marina bay. We made the mistake, now you wont. Also, please club merlion park and marina bay sands together. The entire area is a corporate hub and a posh downtown area. This is a must visit. We saw the light and sound show at 7:45pm.The night was beautiful there and very romantic. You can take a boat ride at merlion park (40 min) in the river or a 10 min boat ride inside the marina bay sands expo but that ride is internal in a small channel created artificially inside the hotel. If you have the time, please go on the 40min boat ride. We were short of time and hence settled for the other one. Also we did not know it was just an internal ride.
On the last day, we decided to go to China town. The hotel agreed to keep our luggage post check out. If you hotel doesn't, there are two options. Go to Changi airport and leave your luggage at 'Left baggage'. It is cheap and reliable (as I hear it). There is the-inncrowd.com where you can leave your baggage for a minimum charge. Thankfully I did not have to use both so I cannot give first hand feedback.
China town was as expected - colouful. You can buy so many items of Chinese culture as well small
items like bags, tshirts, cushion covers in Chinese style made of silk. It is a good place to visit. Must see rating from my side. We spent the rest of the day at Raffles place and went to Merlion park
(we missed it earlier). The entire area is so nice that you can spend a day doing nothing provided the
climate is not so hot. Singapore as a whole is a happy place. The people have a very promising smile on their face. They are helpful and nice.
It is difficult to leave such a beautiful place but well that was the end of our trip and with a heavy
heart we headed back to the airport and bid adieu to Singapore, promising in my heart that I would
surely visit it again.
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posted by Anagha @ 9:39 PM
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