Singapore At A Glance For The Untutored Traveller

By Sandy Atas Rubias

While tourists bemoan that there's little to do in Singapore, savvy travellers will tell you otherwise. Travelers, unlike tourists, get off the beaten track and discover for themselves Singapore's treasures that only locals who are in the know enjoy. Discover Singapore's secret hideaways and treasures through this guide.

Thrills and Treasures

Ride on the Flyer.

The world's largest observation wheel at 165 meters, it's Singapore's version of the London Eye. The best time to take a ride is at sunset for a scenic view of Singapore's skyscrapers.

Visit Pulau Ubin Island.

It's a rustic reminder of what Singapore looked like more than 100 years ago. Make sure you visit Chek Jawa, it's a marine sanctuary. Permits are issued to guests.

Tour the Chinatown Heritage Center.

Here you'll find complete sets of kitchens, living areas, bedrooms, and even street scenes of 19th and 20th century Singapore rendered with faithful mastery. It is an authentic cultural experience no traveler should pass up.

Don't forget to take a stroll through Haji Lane

Seated right in the heart of Singapore's Muslim quarter, Haji Lane provides well crafted wares when you're in need of some retail therapy. From home accessories to excellent house label clothing, indulge your senses in this small and colorful lane.

Head to Singapore's Botanic Garden to commune with nature. 

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Travelling with a limited timeframe can urge you to cram every site to see, every experience to be found in a 24 hour day. Yes, travelling can be a source of stress. Give yourself some 'me' time to gather your thoughts and clear your mind. Slip into comfortable clothes and get ready to enjoy a walk through the lush greenery of Singapores virgin rainforest.

Master the basics

Accommodations
Stay at the marina bay sands or the Ritz Carlton for excellent service and professional pampering. Of course you can expect to pay premium prices but if you're travelling with a specific budget, no worries! Retail or chain hotels abound.

Transportation
You can go around Singapore using the Mass Rapid Transport or MRT. It's safe, convenient and cheap if you get the one day tourist pass. Cabs are available and metered and most cab drivers are honest.

Tipping
Tipping in restaurants, hotels, or cabs is not customary in Singapore but a 10% service charge is usually added to the bill.

Meet the locals
Singaporeans are generally reserved so don't be surprised when you get curious stares with your cheerful greetings.

Communication
Singaporeans speak in a variety of languages that include Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and English. Expect to be greeted by a mixture of Singlish when conversing with locals. An expressive body language will also get your point across.If you don't mind a little kitschy souvenir, have your photo taken with the Merlion, Singapore's iconic water spewing statue. One thing's for certain, a passionate traveler will never be bored in Singapore.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sandy_Atas_Rubias

How Singapore is even greener now

By: Karla Vizcarra
Philippine Daily Inquirer

 58 19

GREEN, green grass and domes

From Justin Quek’s Sky on 57 restaurant atop Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, you get a perfect view of the world terraforming below. The land is flat—gray in parts where highways and buildings have risen, brown where construction is ongoing.

There is a large outdoor stadium, its capacity reaching the thousands. A strange Louis Vuitton shop floats on the bay. Towards the right, a humongous Ferris wheel and a museum shaped like a lotus.

Singapore never runs out of things to build. If anything, they run out of land.

But that’s never a problem. They simply build some more of it.

In 2005, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that a new garden will rise from 100 hectares of reclaimed land.

The project, Gardens by the Bay, was to encircle the city’s central business district and form an integral part in pushing the government’s mission to transform Singapore from a ‘Garden City’ into a ‘City in a Garden.’

BULL and tree

The Gardens just opened. I could see its sprawling greenery from my perch high above. I see two amphibious-looking domes and five gigantic Supertrees: vertical hybrids of organic matter and machine.

Grow back trees

The visuals are highly arresting, even emotional for what it represents: a physical testimony to an ultra-developed city’s pledge to go back to being green.

Here’s an elementary take at how Singapore came to be: Singapore cleared land of trees and greens, built industries on cleared land, makes money off built industries, then uses money to grow back trees and greenery.

It’s either that, or heck, Singapore just has so much excess capital that it can very well build rainforests inside giant domes if it wanted to.

Which is exactly what it did. The team behind Gardens by the Bay built a rainforest, literally, with waterfalls, mist and tropical plant species inside a clear conservatory of sci-fi-like levels (Cloud Forest).

CONCERT at the Meadows

In another dome, they replicated the cool, dry climate of semi-arid tropical regions and filled that up with thousands of plant and tree species, from African baobabs to Mediterranean palms to olive trees from Spain (Flower Dome).

But even before one can even begin to imagine the magnitude of work that went into executing that—the trees, for instance, were shipped to Singapore from various corners of the world—I learn that the conservatories are managed using sustainable technology, which may be an even more incredible feat.

Useful energy

The Flower Dome is run by horticultural waste that powers a steam turbine, which generates the electricity needed in keeping the temperature at below 20°C.

The Supertrees are solar-powered.

A STREET full of character

At a certain time after the sun sets, the lights come on and the vertical gardens are bathed in light.

Whether one is stretched out under the trees or suspended high above the air on the Gardens’ Skywalks (bridges that connect the 50-m Supertrees), seeing this and knowing that wasted energy has been converted into useful energy is nothing less than magical.

At the Gardens’ opening, the Prime Minister said it was not easy having chosen to cultivate greenery instead of commerce. The garden was built on 100 ha of reclaimed land, precious land that previously did not exist.

To be more precise, land that could have easily made oodles of money on condominiums, parking lots and a couple more malls. But in a country that is known for being constantly ahead, constantly hip and constantly relevant, that would have been ordinary and altogether boring.

For the rest of the trip, I am reminded of how effortless being cool is for Singapore.

Andy Warhol and Harry Potter sit three floors apart at the Artscience Museum. High school students mill casually about, inspecting soup cans and taking down notes. In the basement, actual Quidditch broomsticks are encased beside Hagrid’s coat.

A CITY that loves to build and eat

Our hotel is on Fort Canning Hill, a colonial landmark that was used by the British Command. Like most of the city’s cultural spots, it shows how impeccably Singapore can blend the old with the new. Within the hotel’s elegant balustrades and classic architectural details are thoughtfully designed interiors: An entire wall of my bathroom is disconcertingly made of glass, but my bedroom is warm and immediately comforting.

In the mornings, coffee drips delightfully from a machine.

I go wild at the Bras Basah, a four-floor complex of old books, art supplies and magazines. I sift through shelves and shelves of old Archie comics, then cross the street to the National Library, where I nearly weep upon seeing an entire basement of books, alternating rows of modern and classic authors, available to anyone, anytime, for free.

Meanwhile, a few steps away is the Toy Museum.

Meals are always exciting, and at places like Wok & Barrel, artisan brews are served alongside mod sin cuisine such as Beef Rendang Pizza. Though more traditional fare is still available in hawker stalls, there is concern that such beloved haunts may soon become out of sync with the rest of the city.

And like Singapore’s old and traditional villages, the simple way of life that just could not adapt inevitably get buried beneath the next big wave of construction rubble.

At the Sands, I am with Dino, a newfound Singaporean buddy. “In here, anything can change,” he says, gesturing towards a small figure that I vaguely recognize. It is the Merlion. “That guy is no longer our national icon. He’s been retired. We are standing on top of the new one.”

I let this sink in, thinking about the Merlion shirts I’d bought only seven years ago, and wonder how the Merlion feels about this.

“Twenty minutes, 30 minutes… the city is always changing,” Dino continues. “In Singapore, nothing ever stays the same for too long. That is the way of the city.”

I look at the crisscrossing swatches of land below me. Perhaps if I stare hard enough, I may just see the green begin to overtake the concrete.

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Singapore’s secret hotspots promise an interesting summer

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WITH summer 2012 pegged to be a cool season in the Philippines, it seems like a good time to take a break from the same old beach routine. Instead of bringing home beach bracelets and sand bottles, bring your friends and family to Singapore and enjoy a new experience exploring its hidden gems.

“Singapore offers surprises for Filipino families, couples and barkadas who are looking for a new way to enjoy the summer vacation,” said Sherina Chan, Singapore Tourism Board area director for the Philippines and Brunei.

Bring them to see a new side of Singapore with the Original Singapore Walks by Journeys. Take the road less traveled with expert local guides and explore off the beaten tracks. Be entertained with an endless store of anecdotes that reveal the true heart of the city for you to proudly declare, ‘I’ve truly been to Singapore.’

Colorful

If you are interested to find out how Singapore was sold to the British for 60,000 Spanish Dollars and catch a glimpse of dying trades, the Sultans of Spice Walk may be for you. Catch the parrot astrologer, visit Singapore’s most colorful wet market and take in the exotic colors and aromas as you begin your Little India Walk.

Know what goes into your golden pint at the Brewery Tour and indulge in a slew of craft beers with the Clarke Quay-Singapore River Walk tour. Pre-booking is not necessary, so you can simply turn up at the designated meeting point, pay the guide and off you go.

If you want to see a more mellow landscape, the D’Kranji Farm Resort in Lim Chu Kang offers a farm-stay experience with 19 villas, a spa, a seafood restaurant and a beer garden, making it a must-visit agri-tainment hub.

You can also visit the Maritime Experiential Museum and Aquarium, which is both an educational and entertaining experience with its interactive exhibits and a view of the spice trade, maritime archaeology and traditional shipbuilding.

Vivo City also has activities for the whole family. Kids can enjoy the open air playground and rooftop water feature, while the whole family can enjoy the wide array of retail and dining options.

Food and drinks

For good food, take your family to the Singapore Food Trail to experience an exciting dining concept which brings out the nostalgic charm of Singapore in the 1930s. The 16,000 square foot property boasts some of Singapore’s best street hawkers with favorites like satay bee hoon, fried hokkien mee and chicken rice.

Barkadas should drop by Singapore’s hottest clubs like Ku De Ta, Avalon and Pangea to party the night away. Clarke Quay offers an intimate downtime happy hour where you can get the best booze for your buck. Choose from a wide selection of drinks from sake and beers to cocktails and wines for as low as P250 per pint.

For the best happy hours, check out Café Iguana, Brewerkz and Harry’s Bar. If you need some local fare to feast on for supper, head to the Food Republic Beer Garden for an array of local delights in an alfresco environment and live bands.

Barkadas can also check out the budding Haji Lane, a fashionista Mecca for those who want unique finds, hip retail apparel and indie record labels. The stretch of Haji Lane and Ann Siang Hill is not just a shopping destination—it’s also a place where girls can enjoy quirky desserts in picturesque cafes while the guys can drink the night away at some of the hippest bars and clubs.

Excitement

Sentosa also offers barkadas a fun time with attractions like iFly Singapore, the world’s first largest themed wind tunnel for indoor skydiving. The 650-meter go-cart-like adventure track of the Skyline Luge Sentosa can provide the addictive rush that speed demons and racetrack devils crave for.

For a romantic getaway, couples can enjoy Holland Village, which is only a 10-minute drive from the busy Orchard Road. Holland Village is an entertainment haven, complete with restaurants, bars and shops.

To set the mood for a romantic evening, couples can swing by the Marina Bay Sands Skypark, which has a breathtaking view of Singapore’s skyline especially at sunset. Or view the entire Singapore cityscape while toasting with your loved one at the Moet and Chandon Champagne Dining on the Singapore Flyer.

“Singapore is more than just a city filled with shopping on Orchard Road or attractions such as Universal Studios, it also has a side that features the unique charm that only Singapore can offer. We hope these fresh, new experiences will never cease to surprise our Filipino guests,” said Chan.

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Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on April 05, 2012.