Blogs from Singapore, Asia - page 8
Wang Qing Yuan (晚晴园) - Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
Published: January 30th 2012Asia » Singapore
January 29th 2012
Sunday, 29th January 2012 Visiting Wang Qing Yuan (aka Dr Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall) at Tai Gin Road (off Balestier Road) was a last minute affair. Never mind that there were more relatives' homes that I was supposed to visit this afternoon. And never mind that there were birthday celebrations and a farewell dinner that I was supposed to attend the very same evening. This was just one of those few lousy moments that I genuinely wanted some peace and quiet. And since I had combed through all the other museums during the previous open houses, I just wanted to add Wang Qing Yuan to my portfolio. This was the latest museum to be included under the National Heritage Board umbrella. No prizes for guessing it right, the $4 admission was waived and this ... read more
January 28th 2012
I landed in Singapore at 3:35 am. I could have waited until 7:00 or 8:00 to take a tour directly from the airport – however I wouldn’t have been able to leave the bus. Instead I decided to go through customs and take a cab into town. Before that I called my parents via Google Voice. Google Voice is a great way to make free calls from your computer. My parents even claimed that it was clear than when I call them using AT&T. I’m so glad that it worked. Before I left I got a dedicated number so I can use it from anywhere and it’s just as if I was calling from the US. This is probably the first major difference from my European trips. Thirteen years ago I had to buy a phone ... read more
A Singapore Sling - From The Rubble to the Ritz
Published: January 28th 2012Asia » Singapore » Toa Payoh
January 28th 2012
This is how it felt!...As soon as I boarded the plane and was handed the drinks menu (yes, I know...a drinks menu in economy!) my eyes scanned the list and as they fell upon "Australian Sauvignon Blanc" I did a tiny yelp of delight! Finally White Wine! Bring me 3 please! I'm staying with my Singaporean friend Irene for 3 days whom I haven't seen for nearly 4 years! She meets me at the airport and we get a cab back to her beautiful apartment in the city. The first thing I notice is how quiet the traffic is...No horns, no screeching of brakes, no zipping in and out of tuk tuks, no near death experiences (always a bonus); Singapore is beautiful! Everything seems brand spanking new and clean and shiny! I love it! We go ... read more
January 27th 2012
Kære Brevkasse. 4 x M på eventyr, startede ud en meget tidlig torsdag morgen, med frost og klart vejr i Københavns Lufthavn. Med 4 ens tasker, lidt rejsekuller og en masse forventningen lettede SQ351 med kurs mod det første stop, Singapore. Efter 12 timer i et halvfyldt fly, god mad og ikke mindst en stor fødselsdags lagkage til Marianne (dog vil den opmærksomme tænke, at hun endnu ikke har fødselsdag, men Singapore Airlines havde kludret lidt i datoerne. Men pyt med det! Jordbærkage og champagne er altid godt…) landede vi sikkert i Singapore. Efter 2 timer på øjet, trodsede vi (pånær Martin) jetlag og drog ud på sightseeing. Vi fik det meste af Singapore fra bus i både 31 grader og høj sol, og fra noget der minder om en monsunregn. Dagen blev sluttede af med ... read more
Singapore – The closest we will be to the equator on this trip!
Published: January 27th 2012Asia » Singapore
January 26th 2012
Singapore isn’t really what I expected, I think. It is very similar to a lot of other cities we have been to before in that it has the modern buildings, casinos, high viewing points, redeveloped harbours, Chinatown and shopping. It is a fabulous city but overall its drive to be “western” may ruin it slightly. Everywhere you look the adverts have western models, the designer shops (you would not believe the amount of them) are just continuous and very similar to what you would see in Dublin, New York, London etc. and the buildings are so new that the “lived in” feeling is lost to the WOW factor. Do not get me wrong, the city is so clean and well-kept it is a breeze to hang out in and get around but maybe it is just ... read more
January 25th 2012
Nach Singapur ging es mit dem Bus von Melaka aus. An der Grenzstation ist alles so wie immer. Aussteigen, Stempel von Malaysia geben lassen, wieder in den Bus einsteigen, dann mit Gepäck wieder raus, Stempel von Singapur geben lassen und wieder in den Bus. Was direkt auffällt ist, dass hier alles echt sauber und modern rüber kommt. Und der erste Eindruck täuscht nicht, in Singapur ist wirklich alles sauber, geordnet und schön modern. Liegt allerdings auch daran, dass es für alles saftige Strafen gibt. Fahrrad im Fussgängertunnel stehen lassen 1000 S$, Essen im Bus oder in der Bahn 500 S$ oder rauchen in Bus & Bahn kostet auch 1000 S$ (Kurs liegt bei ca. 1S$ = 0,65 €). Und alles ist wirklich Video-Überwacht. Also hier muss Zucht und Ordnung herrschen.... Naja, also der Bus fährt uns ... read more
January 23rd 2012
Well, after a 13 hour flight, we landed in Singapore at 7:30pm (lost 8 hours somewhere). BA managed to leave Sylvia's bag at Heathrow but Iain's arrived thank God. Hotel is very good but looks quite expensive if we were to eat there. However, about 10 mins walk away is a very large food hall which is a lot cheaper. Monday morning we went on an inclusive City Tour which was very good. We say "Merlion" which is a symbol of Singapore, being a very large white statue of a lion's head and mermaid's tail. Then we went to a gem factory where they made precious gems from stone (e.g. mother-of-pearl etc) into jewellery and various other lovely works of art. From there we went into Chinatwon and then onto the Orchid Garden at the Botanical ... read more
January 13th 2012
Singapore, the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur and the island of Langawi, and the Thai islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Samui were where I spent 3 wonderful weeks travelling over the holidays this year. These five destinations proved to be an interesting mix of places to visit, with each having their own flare and unique quality of experiences to offer. These beautiful spots included everything from conservative Muslim life, party-hard and rebellious tropical island scenes and posh living amidst big city glitz and glam. I left the serene Thai island of Koh Tao and went to Malaysia for this three week sabbatical from my Dive Master Training duties to meet with a wonderful guy from Canada named Jay. My first stop was Kuala Lumpur, where I showed up a couple of days prior to Jay’s ... read more
January 12th 2012
Part of the reason for coming on this trip was to lose some of the excess flab and chunkiness that I seem to have mysteriously acquired over the last year or so, but, I've been so busy gorging myself stupid on many of the culinary delights that exist here that it looks like my attempts at err ..... dieting, are going rather rapidly, down the swanny! I was hoping for some good old fashioned tropical heat too, to help rid me of my extra kilos. But at this time of year, Singapore has entered its monsoon season and the weather is mostly overcast and wonderfully cool although still relatively humid. While the mainstream restaurants are prohibitively expensive, the hawker stands that abound on almost every street serve up lashings of good value, scrummy fare. Main dishes ... read more
January 9th 2012
Singapore is now definately one of our favorite new cities!! So, took us around 15 hrs on the coach to get here which was painless enough (although wasn't feeling at all well which wasnt the most fun experience!) but we had aircon, comfy seats and plenty of room to sleep so that was plus - still 15hrs on a coach though!! As usual the coach dropped us of at some random location - we had no clue and at 5am with our rucksacks it was not the most fun experience. Managed to find the MRT (underground) which took us to Lavander Street where our hostel was - still took us 20 mins to walk to the Hostel though - when its baking hot, wearing a very heavy rucksack and you're feeling like crap = not fun!! ... read more
