Travel
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Cheers gents - thinking is 7 nights in mid-January, accepting that we lose basically a day travel either side from Sydney.
We've looked at staying on Sentosa, Marina Bay, and Orchard Road. Pros and cons to each.
Wife is interested in the shopping part of things (natch) and we're both into the history. Kids won't care as long as decent wifi exists and they get to laze around the hotel room / pool for a couple of hours a day.
I am led to understand the public transport is pretty good but set it up on your phone beforehand or something.
I'm definitely keen to see any of the WW2 stuff like Changi prison memorials etc.
Is there plenty of available public wifi or should we pick up a SIM card or something?
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The MRT (metro) covers most places and is cheap and so regular you just front up knowing a train will pull up in a couple of minutes. I have a link card but you can get unlimited bus and MRT travel passes for <$10/day.
Taxi's are cheap. If you can stand the heat walking is an option as a lot of sites are close together in downtown. There's also the river, but that isn't as cheap.
Download the Wireless@SG app and you'll have free service pretty much everywhere.
Also forgot to mention how safe the place is. You can leave your phone and wallet on your table as a placemaker while you go for a piss and know it'll be there when you get back.
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There was uber type app last time I was there, as uber had just exited the space. I agree that taxis are very cheap, and it saves you the killer walk from the MRT station to the next air conditioned building
lowest temperature ever recorded in Singapore: just before sunrise, coldest night of winter ever: 18 degrees.
It's crazy hot. Partner and I checked a destination; was only a couple of km. Thought a cruisy stroll was the shot ... broke down with heat and had to get an ice cream part way through. It's insane... but you do acclimatise after a while (or so I am told)
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@nzzp I like the heat and the humidity. My partner does not
Once you get to know the place you can do a lot of walking underground or through buildings. They do air-condition major streets too like Orchard Road.
It is important to hydrate though. At every opportunity
Hence whuy I find the place expensive.
My brother does a 70km cycle ride every Saturday morning. That's not fun - especially after Friday night's hydration session.
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Aaaaand the wife is now having second thoughts due to the heat.
It’s farking hot there mate, but it need not destroy your holiday if you plan accordingly.
You sweat a lot, but it’s not THAT oppressive.
It’s not like Dubai during summer, or even a 38 degree day in Sydney. It’s a different heat.
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It is hot but nearly 30's. It is humid but seriously just tell your missus everywhere is air-conditioned. Except the hawker markets. My partner doesn't do heat well but apart from once when we walked all around downtown when she was recovering from a summer flu she has never once complained.
Too busy spending up large in the boutiques. That should be your concern - not the temperature
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I'm not greatly concerned either way.
I mean we were looking at Japan for Christmas with friends - mostly because there isn't much point having Christmas with what is left of our respecitive family - and she got cold feet on that, too.
Japan is fucken cool. I've been a couple of times. Tokyo is awesome, went to Kyoto as well which was beautiful. Last time in Tokyo was a boys trip for the RWC SF. That wasn't cool
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@MajorPom said in Travel:
Aaaaand the wife is now having second thoughts due to the heat.
It’s farking hot there mate, but it need not destroy your holiday if you plan accordingly.
You sweat a lot, but it’s not THAT oppressive.
It’s not like Dubai during summer, or even a 38 degree day in Sydney. It’s a different heat.
And it's not like you're working. I've been there on conference, wearing pants and shirts was tough when you stepped outside. But after a day or so you start to acclimatise. And as everyone else has said, you can spend most of your time in air conditioned places
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Hey fackers - thinking about Singapore with the family in January. Recommendations?
To throw a slight spanner in the works, is Singapore locked in as a destination or are other nearby places also in your thoughts? Because, if you've never been to say Malaysia or Vietnam I'd favour those two (slightly cheaper and a lot cheaper) over Singapore.
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Hey fackers - thinking about Singapore with the family in January. Recommendations?
To throw a slight spanner in the works, is Singapore locked in as a destination or are other nearby places also in your thoughts? Because, if you've never been to say Malaysia or Vietnam I'd favour those two (slightly cheaper and a lot cheaper) over Singapore.
Look mate, we're asking a female if anything is locked in....
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Hey fackers - thinking about Singapore with the family in January. Recommendations?
To throw a slight spanner in the works, is Singapore locked in as a destination or are other nearby places also in your thoughts? Because, if you've never been to say Malaysia or Vietnam I'd favour those two (slightly cheaper and a lot cheaper) over Singapore.
Vietnam sounds amazing, and the food is great. Singapore is definitely entry level Asia. Vietnam is apparently a bit manic. But I'm eager to go. I like Malaysia too. Malaysia is very cheap, quite tatty compared to Singapore
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and now she's hearing that flights are turbulent due to thunderstorm weather. This is going well.
Odds on we'll be in NZ this summer at some point
How about Broome? Meant to be very nice, beaches look great, South East Asian influence without leaving Straya. My sister lives in Melbourne, she loved it there
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@NTA Say goodbye to ever flying to the Northern Hemisphere then. Almost always thunderstorms when you transit the tropics.
@canefan Vietnam is awesome on a tick. I absolutely love it. Probably my favourite destination. Fantastic scenery, delicious food, amazing friendly people - and green beer
Been there twice. One of my retirement plans is to rent a place in Hanoi for a few months and hang out with these guys
It's not all that manic especially if you get out into the countryside or up into the mountains.
I definitely wouldn't recommend it to Mrs NTA but it was my partner's first experience of SE Asia and she loves it too. She was intimidated by stepping out into the traffic for the first couple of days but soon got the hang of it.