Wednesday, October 08, 2014

4 day singapore trip

General Notes :


  • I went from Bangalore to Chennai by train and took a flight from there. As the flights from Chennai were much cheaper. 
  • I applied for Singapore VISA through Thomas Cook. They charged Rs. 2200/- and took 2 weeks to get it even though they had promised 3-4 days.
  • I went by Malaysia Airlines, changing flights at Kua lalampur. Since both the flights were Malaysia Airlines, I didn't need a transit VISA for Malaysia, otherwise I would have had to apply for the Malaysia Transit Visa as well.
  • Singapore has very good cab service. Though it's more expensive than MRT + Bus system, it's much faster. Especially if you have a kid, you don't want to walk to an MRT and stand in queues. If you insist on using public transport, you can create a card which you can recharge multiple times and refund the balance at the airport/MRT stations when you are exiting Singapore. By using that card you will not have to stand in MRT queues. And the bus drivers always ask for exact change or you have to get down from the bus. Using the card you can overcome that problem too. But for a small trip using cabs is the best.
  • Before going there I checked with all the credit cards about their charges if I swipe the card there. SBI had an offer running on international card swipes. So I used that for all the swipes.
  • You can get a Singapore SIM at the airport itself with internet access. So no need to buy a SIM from India for the same (for e.g. from Matrix).
  • We stayed at Dickson road. There is an eatery by the name Dicksons there. Pretty good for Indian food.



Day 1 :


  • zoo  + river safari + night safari (all are adjacent to each other) 
  • for the best views of animals, note down the time of their feeding sessions and go there.
  • go early if you want to rent a stroller else they might be finished 
  • free wifi 
  • food in the zoo premises is very expensive 
  • cab from Little India to Zoo cost around 20 SGD
  • zoo + river safari + night safari ticket combo was 83 SGD. Free for kids below 3 years. If you want to go to the bird park as well you can take the combo including bird park as well. The ticket will be valid for 30 days or so. But keep in mind that you can't cover all 4 of them in 1 day. 
  • there is 5-20% discount if you buy the tickets online. you can buy the ticket online outside the zoo itself using their wifi and app. 
  • took a cab back to kailash parbat in Little India. cost around 20 SGD.

Day 2 :


  • Cab from Little India to Universal Studio cost around 14 SGD.
  • If you want to cover all the rides and attractions in Universal Studio, you need to buy the express ticket. Else you are doomed. You will end up covering only 40-50% of rides. Even if you don't buy the express ticket before entering you can still buy it inside on all the souvenir shops.
  • go early if you want to rent the stroller.
  • There is no wifi inside Universal.
  • From Universal take the free Sentosa Express train to the beach station, i.e. Sentosa island. There is small beach there. In the evening there was a very good laser show at 7:40 and 8:40 costing 18 SGD per head. There was a sky diving place as well. You can also check out The Bikini Bar. If you are ordering food there, order for the smaller portions as they give you good amount of food.
  • From Sentosa we took the free shuttle bus to cable car station which cost 39 SGD for 1 pair of adults and dropped us at HarborFront MRT. From there took the MRT to Chinatown and shopped around. Chinatown has free wifi and cheap beer.
  • Took the MRT to Farrer Park and went to Mustafa to shop some more. Mustafa center is open 24 hours for shopping.

Day 3 :


  • Took a cab to Singapore Flyer. Cost us 33 SGD per head. Nothing great really. If you have taken the Cable Car you can skip this.
  • From there took a 1km walk to Marina Bay Sands. There you can see the Infinity pool by paying some fees. Close by is Arts and Science museum.
  • From there took a walk to Gardens by the Bay. Bought tickets for Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. Flower Dome can be skipped.
  • From there took a cab to Merlion Park which has the famous lion statue.
  • From there took a bus to Orchard Road. Pretty expensive shopping street. Took the MRT back to Little India.

Day 4 :

  • Went by Bus + MRT to Jurong Bird Park.
  • Free wifi.
  • Go early for strollers.
  • There is an amphitheater show at 11AM and 3PM. Don't miss that.

No comments: