Ditto Isis's questions. Is the food more Chinese influence ?

well, alot of questions. lets see if i can answer them.

1. i like singapore because it is orderly, clean, safe, inexpensive food and transportation, and communications is easy, as most people speak english. i first lived there in the late sixties, and it had alot more flavors then. i am not a shopper so i can't comment on the prices for shopping. but more than anythink, my dw has two older sisters who live there, and we are all getting old, so we like to visit with them while we can still remember what they look like, and without stopping traffic for an hour while we cross the street.

2. i rec. the shangrila hotel, as it is very nice, and not as formal as the raffles, but we now normally stay with dw older sister is a modern five bedroom 4 bath three story condo close to the east coast seafood restaurants.
other posters like guen, kathi and other could probably give you great hotel ideas. if i had to stay in a hotel, i would probably chose the fullerton, beautiful property.

3. last year, i went from sin to bkk on tiger air for $70 r/t. booked the tkt online from home. this year, i will again use tiger air, but now, its about $100us for a oneway trip to bkk. i'm sure it would be cheaper on other airlines such as air asia. i think the fares are lower in oct, than nov.

have you been to sin before? if not, i think its a great city, lots of culture, and great entertainment, and other activities that have been mentioned so often on this board.

there are many threads here pros and cons about sin. a good one was about 'dissing' singapore. we all travel for different reasons and preferences. i just like singapore, like i enjoy bangkok, and japan. love to go to india, so still working on dw to go, but so far, no go.

I also very much enjoy Singapore. As Ken says, people speak English, it's clean, safe, orderly, has great (and cheap) public transportation, so it's a very easy and convenient place to travel. Shopping used to be good in Singapore, but the dollar's decline makes it no longer the bargain it once was.

There are many wonderful hotels (not as cheap as Bangkok, but still affordable), lots of fabulous food of many types. I also have a long list of things I enjoy doing in Singapore and am always adding to it. I use it as a gateway to SE Asia, just like I use Bangkok.

I've stayed at the Grand Hyatt and at the hotels at Raffles Place (now the Swisshotel Stamford and Raffles the Plaza), both are great locations. For me, I want something as close to the MRT as possible. Next trip, I want to try out the Fullerton.

Can't add much, it's a nice change for a few days, very efficient, clean. Flights on the route SIN-BKK are highly competative, also Valuair does the route, cheap flights and good service, you can also get cheap fares with Turkish, Swiss, Scandinavian , Finnair etc.

the most often mentioned thing about singapore is its sterileness....as an example....when we found it to be just another city among many and not all that interesting, i decided to visit little india where certainly there would be something unusual and maybe even a gum wrapper on the ground....no luck...it was just as sterile as the rest of the place....

that said i would go back....if you think of it as asia in disney world clothing and ambiance then you will get the picture....bangkok rules!!

its not a bad place, don't get me wrong...just not very asian and that is how they want it i believe...it is very livable i am sure...

ht, the food is fantastic. i don't think the food is really influenced by one ethnic group, but a blend. lots of chinese, malay/muslim, indian, european mix(nonya) foods. all good and delicious.

i hope to go to melaka, so i will see if i can find some baccalau, and vinha dos for you.

Yes, the food is wonderful and there is such a variety!

The place doesn't strike me as sterile, Bob. It is clean and safe - I wished Seattle was as clean and as safe! But in no way does it strike me as "Disney" - these are real people who have shaped their city in ways that make it very livable.

The Museum of Asian Civilizations (two branches) is great, and I always visit the botanical gardens (in particular, the Orchid Garden). There are interesting places to visit in Chinatown and Little India, for instance. I never lack for things to do in Singapore.

I vacation there regularly and like everything about the place. I love to shop there,too. Yes, the prices might be a bit higher than Bangkok as far as shopping goes, but the quality is also high and there are things there that I can't get at home or in Bangkok.And things are much easier to find thus cutting shopping time in half. Singapore is highly organized. So, I always look forward to shopping in Singapore. Plus I buy my cotton, batik fabrics there....down on Arab Street and then either take them to Bangkok to have them sewn into clothing or bring them home and have them sewn into clothing. For the things I like to buy, Singapore is the place for me. Oh, by the way, my kebabya arrived a few days ago and is absolutely fabulous! It took over two months to have it hand made. My kebaya maker Fed Expressed it to me. I wanted to wear it to the Boston GTG, but it hadn't arrived by then. Oh,Isis, if you click on my name and go to the old Boston GTG thread and jump down to the bottom of it and scroll up, then you'll see my report from Singapore when I was just there in August 2005. As for hotels, I'm for the YMCA International House at 1 Orchard Road where I get a private room,with private bathroom, with two twin beds in each room, on the 8th floor, for about US$47. a night. Have stayed there since the 90s.Love it.Plus, it's next to the Dhoby Gaut MRT(subway)station and a bus stop that has tons of buses that stop there. Oh, breakfast is included in the rate, e-mail is relatively inexpensive...compared to regular hotels...there's a pool on the roof...and laundry service is fast and cheap. But,for an upscale place, The Fullerton is absolutely gorgeous. Once I stayed at the Holiday Inn near Orchard Road and it was fine, but boring. I like the Y better...great for those of us who travel alone. I always meet people there. It's a jumping place. Happy Travels!

kurano:
ok...the vinha dalhos got me going for sure!
Aloha!

Ah, it's so nice to have relatives in foreign places. Thank you for the reply Kuranosuke. And thank you to Kathie, Guenmai, JamesA and Bob! Our current planned trip is to some laidback places and I'm thinking Singapore (Big City) will be special, too, for late 2006!