Singapore
• The city state and city is in growing change to invite backpackers to places surely evaluated as World Culture Heritage soon – an inspirational guide you will find on the official tourism website YourSingapore.com http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/browse.html.
• Hostels are pricy and more like Southeast Asia average in comfort, and some hostels contain travellers in smallest box-like rooms – that may turn into the very occasion for Western tourists to develop a feeling for the life style of many native citizens in this region; and hostel staffs will kindly let you make your every day experiences in how to live Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Indian – Singaporean so to say – especially in matters of breakfast and late night snacks.
• Watch that your early booking several months in advance at expedia, tripadvisor or other well reputated booking companies will guarantee you to have a window in your hostel room.
• Hardcover backpackers can stay for B & B (Bed & Breakfast) everywhere in Singapore’s hostels areas, for the city state – a city designed from the super rich for the rich – has overcome all oppressions emerging countries mostly still suffer in, though tourists from western countries might be astonished about the position of some indigenous Singaporeans working in tourism, who seem not to comprehend that tourists come from far to see the beautyful attractions of culture, architecture, designed rainforest nature and social life instead of the simple Singapore: foodstall places full of waste and used miscelleanus plastic articles on the ground and shabby self-built houses in no-architecture style as ‘the other Singapore’ and as Southeast Asian reality; however at the beauty of The Gardens By The Bay all minds meet: Singapore’s Gardens are loved by all and unify diversities of understanding.
Backpackers mostly are used to be on their foot way all day long and next to save some monetary ressources for beautiful occasions and inspiring city events in the evenings they might want to learn how to live the small budget Southeast Asian Singaporean way:
• At all you’ll be well to buy household goods and personal needs in narrow native business stores located in small alleys, rear-side passages or inside placed hard to find shopping malls and fruit & vegetables at Singapore’s market tent places like at Causeway Point, a main bus transfer and bus exchange place, that is connected with the MRT Red Line (North-South-Line) station ‘Woodlands’.
• For short stays the Singapore Tourist Pass – STP or STG+, http://www.thesingaporetouristpass.com.sg/ – will save you a lot; and for long stays the ‘Singapore MRT and Bus EZ-Link-Card’ that you can reload at every MRT station office, http://www.ezlink.com.sg/ez-link-card/, in connection with ‘Friends of The Gardens By The Bay – One Year Membership Ticket’, http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/join-us/friends-of-the-gardens.html, you can place yourself into Singapore’s best locations daily even when it might rain. –
• To ride an official bus – crossing square through the whole city with the line 961 from “Lorong 1 Geylang Terminal’ to the other end station ‘Woodlands’, http://publictransportsg.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/service-961/, you can view several Singaporean districts within two hours – with ‘EZ-Link-Card’ using the automatic charging system will cost some Singaporean Cents only, but without this card or without the ‘Singapore Tourist Pass’ you might easily be misguided to pay to ten times more up to five Singapore Dollars.
A bus or MRT ride to Causeway Point (MRT station ‘Woodlands’) can be an essential occasion for backpackers to breath in the real Singaporean every day life – and whatever you may need for your short or long vacational stay – you can buy it at Causeway Point at prices of good value for your good money.
• MRT starts earliest at 6:00 in the morning, and at night some MRT lines do not drive the whole way long but end earlier like the Yellow Line mostly ends at the station ‘Stadium’. – A hostel close to tourist attractions like Gardens by the Bay or Orchard Road will therefore be preferable.
• The district ‘Bugis’ – close behind MRT station ‘Nicoll Highway’ that is located two stations from ‘Bayfront’, the station to get off the train for The Marina Bay Sands Resort and The Gardens By The Bay – is one of the places for many backpacker tourists.
• Banks will not change your foreign currency into Singaporean Dollars – in Singapore this is done by Money Changers only and if you are not forced to change rapidly you might get the better price shown on the charts, but in any case you ought to ask and to wait for the bill, a real receipt with the shop owner’s company stamp printed on it.
In case you would get in a disadvantage of price only once, then chances might exist to make the same exeperience again during all time of your stay, therefore rather do not buy than allow to be cheated. Cheating for the price seems to be a kind of sport in South East Asia in general and may be a kind of having fun with anonymous tourists. Singapore is placed on the same price level as Central Europe in most offered products.
• To buy a SingTel SIM-Card to use your own Singaporean mobile number might safe your good mood in late nights’ tries to call and get a taxi – busses of some lines drive either seldom or even not after 10:00pm in the night. For SingTel calls from Singapore to other countries you need to dial 019 before dialing the foreign telephone number (example: 019(out of Singapore) 49(Germany) xxx(provider) xxxxxxxxx(personal mobilenumber)).
All in all
• Singapore is a place for clean thinkers and for sober doers, because the government’s punishments and court judgements for selling or buying in prostitution, for practising homosexuality, for selling or buying drugs are jail or death penalty often: not only native Singaporeans but also tourists can be prisoned severly or be shot according to the laws of Singapore – and who would escape that would automatically fall under the rule of organized shadow government, that can act cruel for other reasons in a similiar way.
• Seldom a tourist will be confronted with organized crime, but in any unlucky case you ought resist it calmly by turning to the police: http://www.spf.gov.sg/contact/ and http://www.police.gov.sg/crimestopper/.
• Singapore is one of our Earth’s safest cities even for singles and for women travelling alone and even for walking home alone on tourist routes during nights.
• Keep the “Important Notice” portion – a small chit – that you will get handed out after your flight’s arrival when passing Singapore’s immigration office for your departure to return it to the immigration officer at the airport then.
• The tropical sun is dangerous for the skin between 10 o’clock in the morning until 17 o’clock in late afternoon, during hot time never stay in the sun unprotected longer than 10 minutes to avoid sun burns.
You also may view Singapore photos from 2014 at:
https://www.facebook.com/Singapore.Backpackers/: Index Tab ‘Photos’ > ‘Albums’
September 2014
Ku Dé Ta – coup d’etat – Singapore
Copyright jona(h) li June 2014
Ku Dé Ta http://www.kudeta.com/
singapore for backpackers 