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Published: November 30th 2011
If we were to say that we enjoy 6 hour train journeys, it would be a lie. To have the agony delayed by 3 hours however is just a kick in the balls. KL Sentral Station was home whilst we waited for our train, and boy were we glad once it finally came. For a cross-country service it was surprisingly quiet, except for 1 annoying screaming toddler behind us (I swear 6 hours must be a record). Fortunately, the train was equipped with televisions, and we had “I Am Legend” to keep us sane for some of it.
To be honest it was relatively comfortable, and if you keep yourself occupied it goes much quicker. Once we reached the border there was a quick stop for the customs officials to check our passports, which only took about 20-30 minutes but another delay we didn’t need. The train should have arrived in Singapore at about 20:00, but because of the 3 hour delay we were looking at 23:00, and not knowing when the reception closed we thought that a night on the streets was on the cards. Fortunately, Adam’s brother quickly rustled up the hotel details and text them through, so
we phoned and explained our situation (cheers Mate!)
Eventually we made it to Woodlands Station in Singapore, where we were whisked through security in a matter of minutes (much more efficient than Mumbai!) and caught a taxi to our hotel, The Amrise, on Sims Avenue. It was about a 20 minute cab trip, costing 20 Singapore Dollars.
NOTE – It is not customary to tip in Singapore, so for anyone tighter than a fishes arse it’s great.
The guys at the hotel were friendly, our room wasn’t big enough to swing a cat, and we were knackered. For what we needed, the Amrise was adequate, and I’m sure they have bigger rooms somewhere, but if you are looking for 3/4 star comfort, avoid it. If you need a bed, shower and shitter, it’s perfect. for four nights we paid just over $200. They do have good wifi as well which is always a bonus.
NOTE – We feel obliged (or Adam does) to tell you that the hotel is actually in the Red Light District, which Natalie claims not to have known when booking, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. There’s nothing
Us again
...after going on the Singapore flyerseeding going on, especially not during the day, and at night we didn’t see any prostitutes or Kerb crawlers.
On our first day we decided to have a wander into the city using the MRT (Metro Rail), and we had 2 stations near us to choose from. It was a 10 minute walk to Aljunied, and a ticket into the city was $1.80 each. Their ticketing system is different than over here in the U.K, the machine gives you a plastic ticket the size of a credit card, which always charges a $1 deposit when paying in case you don’t return it. Once you get to your destination, you need to go back to a GTM (General Ticketing Machine), reinsert the card and get a dollar back.
The trains are fantastically reliable. I can’t remember one being late at all, and they’re frequent as well. It’s not a huge rail network, and it is always easy to find your way because it is so well designed (plus it’s all in English). Unlike the U.K, the trains are wider, fully air conditioned and remarkably clean. On some lines there is the usual map of stations above the door, but
here they have flashing LED’s to show you where you have been and where you are going.
When we reached the city, the first thing we noticed was how clean it is.
NOTE – It is illegal to chew gum in public in Singapore, as is it also illegal to litter. There are also hefty fines for eating and drinking on public transport. Also every station it like a mini shopping centre, absolutely nothing like the London Underground. We stopped off for some food in a restaurant called “Thai Express”, but the service was slow even though they weren’t busy. On a tight budget, avoid these kinds of places, because as we found out after, they just offer the same food but just charge more.
We made our way to the bridge that would take us into the more tourist centred area, and saw a wheel looking remarkably like the London Eye. As it was a clear day we took a walk over, paid 90 Singapore Dollars for 2 adults and queued for about 5 minutes to get on. It takes about 30-40 minutes to fully rotate, and there are some spectacular views of the skyscrapers
Orchard Road
Just part of the Shopping haven that is Orchard Road in the business district of the city. Reading the tourist brochure, it makes very clear of the fact that it is 5 metres higher than the London Eye, making it the highest observation wheel in the world. Some of the photos are on this blog entry.
Afterwards we took a walk over the bridge and went into the Marina Sands Shopping Centre. Plenty of designer shops here, and a few high street brands as well, but it’s not just the shops that are the attraction. It’s very chilled out and has plenty of food outlets, and there are also Gondola’s (yes, the boats) that float up and down the fountain throughout the centre. These can be used by tourists but we didn’t decide to do it. There is also a small “fake” ice rink there to use.
We exited the shopping centre at the opposite end, which takes you out onto the front of the river where the Art Science Museum stands. It’s a beautiful city around here, plenty of photo opportunities, and there is a foot bridge with some lookout points for photos of the skyline.
The next day we took the MRT into the city
Us
Us with the beautiful Singapore skyline behind us where we booked 2 tickets for the tour buses. There are 2 routes to take, the City Tour and the Heritage Tour. You can just buy one ticket each and hop on and off each one when you like, so we firstly took the Heritage one which went through China Town and Little India. Seeing as we did China town in Malaysia we decided to skip it and get off in Little India instead.
To be honest, unless you’re looking to haggle for some jewellery, there really isn’t a lot to do here. Just one long road with jewellery shop after clothes shop after jewellery shop. We walked about 15 minutes into it and turned back as it wasn’t really our thing.
We hopped back on the bus and completed the Heritage tour, got back to the bus station and waited about 10 minutes for the next City one to set off. We would recommend going on both, they’re both well thought out and run (just like everything in Singapore). We hopped off the City one on Orchard Road, which is Singapore’s version of Oxford Street, although much, MUCH nicer! There are a lot of designer shops, food
outlets and shopping malls. It’s a fantastic street, and anyone could quite easily spend a whole day there.
On our penultimate day we crammed in a few things in the evening. We went to the Art Science museum first and looked around the titanic exhibition, which was at the London O2 a little while ago. It cost around 30 Singapore Dollars to get in, and for someone like Natalie who is interested in the Titanic it was very enjoyable.
Afterwards, we went across the street to another observation point, the “Skyboat”, which is atop 3 skyscrapers which you should be able to see in some of the photos on the blog. It’s just about the highest point tourists can get up to to take pictures, and it does give spectacular views of the city. We did it at night so we could get the skyline lit up, and as you can see from the pictures it is well worth doing. NOTE – It costs 20 Dollars per adult, but this only gives access to the frontal part of the deck. The rest is reserved for hotel guests only.
After this we caught a cab to Raffles Hotel
where we met with Natalie’s friend Rachel, where we had a couple of Singapore Slings (that's a drink with gin which is very tasty). It’s a beautiful hotel, which I imagine costs a bundle per night, the bar is open to everyone (yet rather expensive) and the dress code is trousers, and t-shirt, no vests or shorts.
On the last day, having spent most of our money, we took a cab to Rachel’s and chilled out for the day, and they kindly treated us to fajitas before we shot off to the airport to catch our flight to Darwin, Australia.
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