 |
| I like to keep lots of coconuts on hand for tired guests. |
It's so much fun to have guests arrive here. I love the look of shock when they finally make it to our place from the airport after their 24+ hour trip and see us here in our place like it's the most normal thing to be on the other side of the world. We have quite a few more guests planning a trip here and everyone wants to know how long they should come for, what should they do and how long it takes to acclimatize.
Don't expect too much from yourself for the first two to three days. It'll take that long to get your sleep sorted out. You'll probably crash pretty early in the afternoons and be less able to handle outdoor adventures in the heat. Almost everyone tries to do a lot on day one and then gives up and ends up by our pool instead. You probably need a week in Singapore before taking off for your first side trip. Three days to acclimatize and a few extra to do all the things you want to do here.
Yes Singapore is cool but really the side trips are a pretty big deal for most of our guests (and for us). Everyone has different interests and levels of comfort so while my family was happy to do a more rustic Penang trip and backpack around the interior of Bali, other folks are happier going to beaches and diving in the Perhentians or doing a weekend trip to Cambodia or Thailand. The books of things to do are endless. Click on any of the destinations over on the right side of our blog and see where we've been or drop me a line. I'm happy to dig up remote exotic destination info.
I highly recommend coming back to Singapore again after a side trip. First, for practical reasons. If you caught Bali belly or anything else on your side trip you'll need to get better before the long haul. You'll probably have also run out of time to do things around Singapore in your first week so this is a great time to do your final bucket list things. Maybe buy a cheap suitcase for the extra gifts and hit up a few shops for items you meant to buy but didn't.
How long should you your whole trip be? Less than two weeks is pretty crazy unless you only stay in Singapore. If you plan one short (2-5 days) side trip, two weeks is fine but will go by really fast. If you want to do a few side trips look at doing 3-4 weeks. Time just flies when you're running on rainbow time in SE Asia.
There are good and bad times to visit. Most people are concerned about Monsoon. I'd say be more concerned about religious and school holidays since Monsoon can actually be a really nice time to be here. Here are times of year I'd avoid if you want to get cheaper flights, fewer crowds and hotel availability.
- The Lunar New Year (for 2013 it's February 10th). This time of year is absolute madness. Everyone is trying to take their families out to local attractions, prices go up on just about everything across the board and all the locals like to take side trips to all the same places you want to go so flights can more than DOUBLE in price and sell out, hotels fill up and it can suck. This goes on for a few weeks so give CNY a wide berth if you aren't a crowd lover. If you want to experience all the regalia plan everything well in advance and budget extra.
- School holidays are sometimes a really busy time to sight-see around the city. For 2013 they are: Spring Break Saturday 9 March - Sunday 17 March, Summer holidays Saturday 25 May - Sunday 23 June and Saturday 31 August - Sunday 8 September and Winter break Saturday 16 November - Tuesday 31 December. The cheap side trips might be a little less cheap during these school breaks. Nothing compared to CNY but worth noting.
- There are a few other short public holidays that had get a little nutty too. Here's a list. Xmas and New Years are not particularly busy holidays. You just might want to avoid leaving on a Friday of one of those long weekends. Otherwise they aren't a huge deal. Some of the markets and festivities are a lot of fun to see and participate in. If you do a flight leaving on a Tuesday after the long weekend it's back to cheap rates again and you're probably going to have no trouble finding places to stay.
Singapore Stuff to do while jet-lagged:
The National Museum History Gallery - Seriously, start your trip with an eye-opening look at how everything around you got there. Also the food gallery will give a complete intro to the food you're about to see everywhere on your travels.
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple - Calming and mostly air conditioned. Good first day thing to do
The Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. Yes, it's silly expensive and oh so touristy but you just might love it.
Dinner on a patio on Dempsey Hill with a nice breeze blowing through the palms...
Botanic Gardens walk and dinner at Casa Verde. The gardens are always beautiful. If you aim for dinner after 8pm you don't need a reservation and there won't be so many kids running around your table.
Singapore Stuff to do when you've got your feet under you
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and/or the MacRitchie reservoir and suspension bridges
Little India Temples, markets and feast for dinner at Anjappar - Hottest part of the city, take plenty of water.
The Night Safari - Lots of walking, but not quite as hot as a day time trek
The Bird Park - very hot area of the island and lots of walking but great things to see
Hawker Centres!
Joo Chiat stroll to see shop house architecture
Stuff that's not that awesome
Orchard Road
Sentosa
Clarke Quay
Books and Maps to have
A smartphone is the most amazing travel device. I buy lonely planet PDFs online and email them to myself or put them in Dropbox and then I just carry my phone. Wifi in hotels is pretty normal though you do have to sit in the lobby at most places. You can't get temporary data on a pay as you go basis so don't count on that as a resource. Besides, outside Singapore 3G is not going to help you. Just seek out wifi and get cheap sim cards to make calls when you need to. Ipads are also great for travel. Obviously back up everything before you leave just in case and keep an eye on valuables. In Singapore theft is rare and iphones are no longer a big symbol of wealth (my cleaning lady has one). Folks in Bali are also pretty unphazed by our toys. Be more careful in Malaysia. But still, I iphone my way around Malaysia and no one has ever bothered me.
Lonely Planet is good for these areas, Eyewitness makes my favourite city guides and they have the best maps inside. If someone offers you a map of Singapore that's more than a year or two old don't bring it. There may be a lot of new roads since then.
No comments:
Post a Comment