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    The Rough Guide to Singapore (Travel Guide with Free eBook)
    The Rough Guide to Singapore (Travel Guide with Free eBook)
    The Rough Guide to Singapore (Travel Guide with Free eBook)
    Ebook445 pages5 hours

    The Rough Guide to Singapore (Travel Guide with Free eBook)

    By Rough Guides

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    About this ebook

    World-renowned 'tell it like it is' guidebook

    Discover Singapore with this comprehensive, entertaining, 'tell it like it is' Rough Guide, packed with comprehensive practical information and our experts' honest and independent recommendations.

    Whether you plan to discover the historic ethnic enclave of Little India, enjoy a rooftop drink at Marina Bay Sands, indulge in an Orchard Road shopping spree or sample street food at bustling hawker centres, The Rough Guide to Singapore will help you discover the best places to explore, sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way.

    Features of The Rough Guide to Singapore:
    - Detailed regional coverage: provides in-depth practical information for each step of all kinds of trip, from intrepid off-the-beaten-track adventures, to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas. Regions covered include: The Colonial District, Little India, Chinatown, Marina Bay, Orchard Road, Northern Singapore, Eastern Singapore, Western Singapore, Sentosa.
    - Honest independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, and recommendations you can truly trust, our writers will help you get the most from your trip to Singapore.
    - Meticulous mapping: always full-colour, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around Arab Street's hip cafés and boutiques, the surviving nineteenth-century streets of Chinatown, and many more locations without needing to get online.
    - Fabulous full-colour photography: features a richness of inspirational colour photography, including the colourful Botanic Gardens and the golden-domed Sultan Mosque.  
    - Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of Little India's, Chinatown's, Arab Street's and the Colonial District's best sights and top experiences.
    - Itineraries: carefully planned routes will help you organise your trip, and inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences.
    - Basics section: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting there, getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more.
    - Background information: comprehensive Contexts chapter provides fascinating insights into Singapore, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books.

    About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInsight Guides
    Release dateJul 1, 2019
    ISBN9781789196214
    The Rough Guide to Singapore (Travel Guide with Free eBook)
    Author

    Rough Guides

    Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about--having either traveled extensively or lived there--and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

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      Introduction to

      Singapore

      The handiest and most marvellous city I ever saw, wrote the natural historian William Hornaday of Singapore in 1885, as well planned and carefully executed as though built entirely by one man. It is like a big desk, full of drawers and pigeonholes, where everything has its place, and can always be found in it. This succinct appraisal seems apt even now, despite the tiny island’s transformation from an endearingly chaotic colonial port, one that embodied the exoticism of the East, into a pristine, futuristic shrine to consumerism. In the process, Singapore acquired a largely deserved reputation for soullessness, but these days the place has taken on a more relaxed and intriguing character, one that achieves a healthier balance between Westernized modernity and the city-state’s traditional cultures and street life.

      The foundation for Singapore’s prosperity was its designation as a tax-free port by Sir Stamford Raffles, who set up a British trading post here in 1819. The port plays a key role in the economy to this day, though the island city-state now also thrives on high-tech industry, financial services and tourism, all bolstered by a super-efficient infrastructure. All these achievements were accompanied by a major dose of paternalism, with the populace accepting state interference in most aspects of life in exchange for levels of affluence that would have seemed unimaginable a couple of generations ago. Thus it is that since independence much of the population has been resettled from inner-city slums and rustic kampongs (villages) into new towns, and the city’s old quarters have seen historic buildings and streets bulldozed to make way for shopping malls. Even visitors will soon notice that this remains a country that neither knows how to sit still nor when it’s best leave things well alone: museums close to completely restyle their galleries, metro stations mushroom almost cheek by jowl, and migrant workers constantly attend to seemingly faultless footpaths and floral borders.

      Yet although Singapore lacks much of the personality of some Southeast Asian cities, it has more than enough elegant temples, fragrant medicinal shops and imposing colonial and modern architecture to captivate visitors. Much of Singapore’s fascination springs from its multicultural population of around five-and-a-half million, predominantly Chinese, with significant Malay and Indian minorities (English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil are the official languages). This ethnic make-up can make a short walk across town feel like a hop from one country to another, and endows the island with a range of mouthwatering cuisines – a major highlight of any visit. The city also rejoices in a clutch of fine museums, plus a lively arts scene featuring no shortage of international talent and local creativity.

      Top 5 dishes

      Singapore has no national dish – but that’s because it has any number of dishes that could happily qualify for that title. It’s definitely worth sampling a few things beyond the predictable fried rice and noodle plates – here is our selection of five of the best things to try.

      Satay A mainly Malay dish of mini-kebabs, barbecued over coals and eaten dipped in a peanut-based sauce, accompanied by glutinous rice cakes and cucumber and onion slices.

      Fish-head curry Many Indian restaurants offer this fiery stew containing a large fish head – eyes and all; the cheeks are the best bits.

      Chicken rice Widely available at hawker centres, this Hainanese Chinese speciality features steamed chicken served atop rice cooked in chicken stock, and is served with chicken consommé – simple but incredibly satisfying.

      Chilli crab Whole crabs wok-fried and served in a thick gravy made with tomato, chilli, garlic and a little egg. It’s mainly served at seafood outlets, though some ordinary Chinese restaurants offer it too.

      Laksa A Peranakan classic of rice noodles, prawns and other morsels steeped in a rich, spicy, curried coconut soup; not hard to find at hawker centres and food courts.

      iStock

      What to see

      Shaped like a diamond, Singapore’s main island is 42km from east to west and 23km from north to south, compact enough to explore in just a few days. The southern corner of the diamond is home to the main part of the city – downtown, or just town to locals – which centres on the Singapore River, the creek where Raffles first landed here in 1819. After a full day’s sightseeing, the riverside is undoubtedly the top place to unwind, lined with former warehouses that are now home to buzzing restaurants and bars.

      The main draws for visitors are the city’s historic ethnic enclaves, particularly Little India, a couple of kilometres north of the river. Packed with gaudy Hindu temples, curry houses and stores selling exotic produce and spices, the district retains much of its original character, as does nearby Arab Street, dominated by the golden domes of the Sultan Mosque. South of the river, Chinatown is a little sanitized though it still has a number of appealing shrines, an immaculately restored Chinese mansion – the Baba House – plus a heritage centre documenting the hardships experienced by past generations of Chinese migrants to Singapore. Wherever you wander in these old quarters, you’ll see rows of the city’s characteristic shophouses, compact townhouse-like buildings that are the island’s traditional architectural hallmark.

      Of course, the British left their distinctive imprint on the island as well, most visibly just north of the Singapore River in the Colonial District, It was around the grand Neoclassical buildings here and nearby – including the famed Raffles Hotel plus City Hall and the old Supreme Court, now jointly converted into Singapore’s lavish National Gallery – that the island’s British residents used to promenade. Also here are the National Museum, showcasing Singapore’s history and culture, and Fort Canning Hill, a lush park that’s home to a few historic remains. All these are somewhat upstaged, however, by the newest part of town, Marina Bay, built on reclaimed land around a man-made reservoir into which the Singapore River now drains. Around it are arrayed the three-towered Marina Bay Sands casino resort, the spiky-roofed Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay arts centre and Gardens by the Bay, with its two huge arch-shaped conservatories.

      Nearly as modern as Marina Bay, but steeped in tradition as far as Singaporean consumerism is concerned is Orchard Road, a parade of shopping malls that begins just a few minutes’ walk inland from the Colonial District. Just beyond is the finest park on the whole island, the UNESCO-listed Botanic Gardens, featuring a little bit of everything that makes Singapore such a verdant city and a ravishing orchid section.

      Getty Images

      CHINATOWN

      Singlish

      Singapore is the only country with an ethnic Chinese majority not to use Chinese as its main language of education and business. English enjoys that role – but here it’s often upstaged by the entertaining, though often baffling, Singlish, a mash-up of English together with the grammatical patterns and vocabulary of Chinese and Malay. Pronunciation is staccato, with final consonants often dropped, so cheque book would be rendered che-boo. In two-syllable words the second syllable is lengthened and stressed by a rise in pitch: ask a Singaporean what they’ve been doing, and you could be told slee-PING.

      Conventional English syntax is twisted and wrung, and tenses and pronouns discarded. If you ask a Singaporean if they’ve ever seen a Harry Potter film, you might be answered I ever see, while enquiring whether they want to go out to buy something might yield Go, come back already. Responses are almost invariably reduced to their bare bones, with words often repeated for stress; ask a shopkeeper whether they have something in stock and you’ll hear have, have, or got, got.

      Exclamations drawn from Malay and Hokkien Chinese complete this pidgin, the most ubiquitous being the Malay suffix lah, used to add emphasis to replies, as in: Do you think we’ll get in for free? Cannot lah! If Singlish has you totally confused, try raising your eyes to the heavens and crying ay yor (with a drop of tone on yor) – an expression of annoyance or exasperation.

      Although lexicographers have recognized Singlish as a distinct variety of English and started adding its terms to mainstream dictionaries, in Singapore there is much official hand-wringing that poor English could compromise the country’s ability to do business globally, so much so that a government-backed Speak Good English movement has been set up to try to shore up standards.

      Getty Images

      PADANG

      Downtown Singapore is probably where you’ll spend most of your time, but the rest of the state has its attractions too. North of downtown is the island’s last remaining pocket of primary rainforest, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, and the splendid zoo, where the animals are confined in naturalistic enclosures rather than cages. There’s more fauna of the avian kind on show in the west of the island at the excellent Jurong Bird Park, while eastern Singapore is home to some sandy beaches and a museum recalling the infamous Changi Prison, where so many soldiers lost their lives in World War II. Among the many smaller islands and islets that lie within Singapore waters, the only one close to being a must-see is Sentosa. Linked to the main island by causeway and cable car, it boasts Southeast Asia’s only Universal Studios theme park and several slick beach hotels.

      When to go

      Singapore’s climate is simplicity itself: hot and humid. The island experiences two monsoons, from the southwest (June–Sept) and the northeast (Nov–March), the latter picking up plenty of moisture from the South China Sea. Consequently, December and January are usually the rainiest months, though it can be wet at any time of year; during the southwest monsoon, for example, there are often predawn squally showers sweeping across from the Straits of Malacca. The inter-monsoon months have a tendency to be especially stifling, due to the lack of breezes. At least it’s easy enough to prepare for the conditions – have sun cream and an umbrella with you at all times.

      20

      things not to miss

      Unless you’re in town for a while, it’s not possible to see everything Singapore has to offer in one trip. What follows is a selective taste of the city-state’s highlights – the most vibrant neighbourhoods, best museums and most captivating events. Each entry has a page reference to take you straight into the Guide, where you can find out more.

      Getty Images

      1 Chinatown

      Chinatown’s once characterful shophouses have been rendered improbably perfect by restoration, but the area is still home to many shrines and shops specializing in Chinese food, medicine and other products.

      Getty Images

      2 Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

      Crisscrossed by several easy trails, this pocket of primary rainforest offers an authentic jungle experience, minus leeches but with the prospect of coming face-to-face with hyperactive macaques.

      Alamy

      3 The S.E.A. Aquarium

      Packed with stunningly vast tanks showcasing marine life, mostly hailing from the waters around Asia.

      Alamy

      4 The arts scene

      From ballet in the ultramodern Esplanade complex to street performances of Chinese opera, Singapore’s entertainment scene has something for everyone.

      iStock

      5 The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

      Chinatown’s biggest and brashest temple has its own museum, roof garden and, most memorably, thousands upon thousands of Buddha figurines.

      Simon Bracken

      6 Little India

      Little India is easily the most atmospheric of Singapore’s historic quarters, with colourful south Indian-style shrines, spice shops and outlets blaring Tamil music.

      iStock

      7 Arab Street

      Dominated by the golden-domed Sultan Mosque, the area around Arab Street is a fascinating mix of carpet-sellers, curio shops and alternative boutiques.

      Getty Images

      8 Marina Bay Sands

      The striking Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino includes its own museum and a vast rooftop deck where you can eat or drink while enjoying eye-popping views back to the Colonial District.

      Simon Bracken

      9 Boat Quay

      Boat Quay is alfresco dining at its best; the reflected lights of its myriad riverside bars and restaurants dancing on the waters of the Singapore River by night.

      National Gallery Singapore

      10 The National Gallery

      Nowhere better epitomizes Singapore’s artistic ambitions than the National Gallery, presenting East Asian art and world-class travelling exhibitions.

      Simon Bracken

      11 Changi Museum

      Reopening in 2020, this is a hushed and moving memorial to the horrors perpetrated in Singapore during World War II.

      Alamy

      12 Asian Civilisations Museum

      A tip-top museum of cultural artefacts from all over Asia, noteworthy in particular for the treasures in its Tang Shipwreck Gallery.

      Alamy

      13 The Baba House

      A gloriously restored shophouse, recreating how a prosperous family of Baba-Nonyas – an ethnically and culturally mixed local community – might once have lived.

      Shutterstock

      14 Zoo night safari and river safari

      Spot polar bears and Malayan tigers at these three adjacent zoos; one section is entirely devoted to nocturnal animals and open, appropriately, at night.

      Alamy

      15 Tekka Market

      The closest thing Singapore has to a central produce market, selling everything from halal goat meat to exotic vegetables, and featuring its own superb food centre.

      LKCNHM

      16 Lee Kong Chian Museum of Natural History

      Fossilized dinosaur skeletons, thousands of creepy-crawlies and other zoological and botanical specimens, plus the low-down on Singapore’s own flora, fauna and geology.

      Alamy

      17 Thimithi

      The annual fire-walking festival is centred on the Sri Mariamman temple, a Hindu shrine that, in true multicultural Singapore style, happens to be in the heart of Chinatown.

      iStock

      18 An Orchard Road shopping spree

      Think Oxford Street, Fifth Avenue or Ginza: Orchard Road has enough famous brands to impress even the most jaded shopaholic.

      Getty Images

      19 The botanic gardens

      Genuinely world-class, Singapore’s Botanic Gardens feature everything from ornamental tropical shrubs and jungle to a dazzling collection of orchids.

      Getty Images

      20 Street food

      Enjoy Malay and south Indian curries and a bewildering range of Chinese rice and noodle dishes – mainstays of Singapore’s delightful and inexpensive street food – in myriad food markets called hawker centres and in the kopitiam diner.

      iStock

      Tailor-made trips

      These itineraries aren’t meant to be followed rigidly – you may have to leave out one or two suggestions if you choose to linger at a museum or cool off at one of the air-conditioned malls, for example, and Singapore’s excellent public transport makes it feasible to chop and change routes. The trips below give a flavour of what Singapore has to offer and what we can plan and book for you at www.roughguides.com/trips

      LITTLE INDIA TO THE COLONIAL DISTRICT

      Tekka Market A terrific place for food at any time of day, and home to an engaging produce market.

      Indian shops Small stores at the start of Serangoon Road sell flower garlands, foodstuffs, music and jewellery.

      The Sri Veeramakaliamman temple Probably the most engaging of Serangoon Road’s Hindu shrines.

      The Sakaya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple Explore the inside of the Buddha statue at this Thai temple.

      Kampong Glam Visit the Sultan Mosque, with its golden domes, then browse the souvenir and craft shops of the surrounding area or take in the Malay Heritage Centre.

      Colonial District museums Spend the whole afternoon at the National Gallery or a couple of hours at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

      Raffles Hotel With its striking whitewashed facade, Raffles exudes colonial elegance. Splash out on a Singapore Sling at the Long Ba, where the gin-based cocktail was invented.

      The Singapore River Take in the river’s restaurants and nightlife on an evening river cruise, then dine and drink at Boat Quay.

      CHINATOWN TO MARINA BAY

      The Chinatown Heritage Centre A museum that examines the struggles of the area’s migrant pioneers.

      Sri Mariamman Temple Singapore’s most high-profile Hindu shrine.

      The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple A mammoth affair packed with Buddha figurines, worth seeing from its ground-floor halls right up to its roof garden.

      Thian Hock Keng. An immaculately restored historic temple, now something of a museum piece.

      Maxwell Food Centre Lunch at this old-school hawker centre, where the quality of the food makes up for the hot, sweaty atmosphere.

      Bukit Pasoh Road A conservation area with terraces of ornate shophouses.

      Baba House Book in advance to tour this restored shophouse, once the residence of a wealthy Peranakan family.

      Marina Bay Sands Head up to one of the rooftop restaurants and bars for superb views back towards downtown.

      Gardens by the Bay Evening is a good time to visit, with the Supertree grove magically lit and both giant conservatories still open.

      You can book these trips with Rough Guides, or we can help you create your own. Whether you’re after adventure or a family-friendly holiday, we have a trip for you, with all the activities you enjoy doing and the sights you want to see. All our trips are devised by local experts who get the most out of the destination. Visit www.roughguides.com/trips to chat with one of our travel agents.

      THE SOUTHERN RIDGES AND SENTOSA

      With an early start, you can combine the hilltop walks of the Southern Ridges with an afternoon and evening at Sentosa. If you need to freshen up at your hotel after the walk then scale down your plans at Sentosa.

      Haw Par Villa Endearingly kitsch prewar relic of a park packed with tableaux depicting scenes from Chinese folklore.

      Walk the Southern Ridges A series of hilltop parkland walks, all linked by bridges.

      Universal Studios The most popular target at Sentosa, with oodles of rides and film-set recreations.

      The S.E.A. Aquarium A superb marine life showcase.

      Fort Siloso An old British base, now a museum of past attempts at defending Singapore and its capture by the Japanese.

      Siloso beach Sentosa’s most broadly appealing beach has a few beachside restaurants and bars for sundowners.

      THE BOTANIC GARDENS, ORCHARD ROAD AND BEYOND

      Singapore’s fine botanic gardens lie not far from the Orchard Road shopping precinct; once you’ve seen both it’s easy to head out to more distant attractions.

      The Botanic Gardens Spend the cool of the morning here, being sure to see the ravishing orchid gardens.

      Orchard Road Some malls are extremely upmarket, others quite pedestrian – a good middle-of-the-road place for lunch and a small dose of retail therapy is Plaza Singapura. And for a tipple, check out the bars of Emerald Hill.

      Fort Canning Hill This likeable park hosts Battle Box – an old military bunker revitalized as a museum of the fall of Singapore during World War II.

      The Night Safari Head out to northernmost Singapore to see what is deservedly the most popular section of the zoo.

      iStock

      FORT CANNING HILL

      Shutterstock

      MARINA BARRAGE

      Basics

      Getting there

      Arrival

      Transport

      The media

      Health

      Travel essentials

      Getting there

      Reaching Singapore by air is straightforward: the island is one of the main air hubs of Southeast Asia and is often a stopover on the extremely busy long-haul route between Europe and Australasia, so fares can be much more competitive than you might expect. There are also budget flights linking the country with the rest of Southeast Asia, India and Australia.

      Fares climb by at least ten percent for travel during high season – from mid-June to early September, and over Christmas and New Year. It’s also a little more expensive to fly at the weekend; the sample fares below are for midweek travel and include taxes. Whenever you fly, you generally get the best fares by booking as early as possible.

      Flights from the UK and Ireland

      There are daily flights to Singapore from the UK. Singapore Airlines, British Airways and Qantas both offer nonstop flights out of London Heathrow (13hr), Singapore Airlines also flying several days a week from Manchester. Many European, Middle Eastern and Asian airlines offer indirect flights to Singapore, which involve a change of plane at their hub airport en route. Although these take at least a couple of hours longer, they are generally also cheaper if you’re starting from one of the London airports. Conveniently, airlines such as Air France, KLM or Lufthansa can get you to Singapore from a UK regional airport or from Ireland.

      Fares from London to Singapore start at around £450 during low season, climbing to at least £550 in high season. From the Republic of Ireland, reckon on €600 in low season, and at least €700 in high season.

      Flights from the US and Canada

      Singapore is roughly halfway around the world from North America, which means that whichever way you head to Southeast Asia, you have a long journey ahead of you – at least 21 hours from the east coast, 18 hours from the west. Setting off from the west coast, you’ll invariably fly across the Pacific; it’s faster to fly the transatlantic route if you’re departing from the east coast, though sometimes it can cost less to fly via the Pacific.

      Unsurprisingly, the most comprehensive service is provided by Singapore Airlines, which operates nonstop flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston plus (from Sept 2019) Seattle. New York flights normally involve one stop, although from Newark airport there’s also the option of the nonstop flight 22 (business class only; 18–19hr), the longest scheduled passenger flight in the world. United Airlines flies nonstop from San Francisco, too.

      Fares start at around US$800 or Can$1100 from major airports on either coast.

      Flights from Australia and New Zealand

      The budget carriers JetStar and Scoot (an offshoot of Singapore Airlines) offer some of the best deals from Australasia to Singapore. JetStar has the better coverage, with flights from several cities in both Australia and New Zealand; Scoot serves only Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and the Gold Coast. Otherwise, the usual full-cost airlines operate to Singapore from major cities. Flights from Auckland to Singapore take just over ten hours nonstop, while from Sydney and Perth the journey takes eight and five hours  espectively.

      Fares in high season are generally up to a third higher than in low season. In general, a low-season return ticket from Melbourne to Singapore can start from as little as Aus$450 on JetStar. From Auckland, you’re looking at fares of around NZ$1000 in low season with JetStar.

      Flights from South Africa

      There are flights from Cape Town to Singapore via Johannesburg with Singapore Airlines, taking around thirteen hours from Cape Town. These tend to be expensive though, costing around twenty percent more than indirect flights with a Middle Eastern airline, for which you can expect to pay around R10,000 in low season.

      A better kind of travel

      At Rough Guides we are passionately committed to travel. We believe it helps us understand the world we live in and the people we share it with – and of course tourism is vital to many developing economies. But the scale of modern tourism has also damaged some places irreparably, and climate change is accelerated by most forms of transport, especially flying. We encourage our authors to consider the carbon footprint of the journeys they make in the course of researching our guides.

      From Southeast Asia

      It’s easier than ever to visit Singapore as part of a wider Southeast Asian trip. Between them, AirAsia, JetStar, Scoot and others provide low-cost links with many Malaysian cities. There are also plenty of flights, not just on budget airlines, between major cities in the region and Singapore.

      Buses and trains

      srimaju.com), which serves the main west-coast cities. Finally, there are also buses from Hat Yai in southern Thailand, a fourteen-hour slog.

      The Malaysian rail www.ktmb.com.my) but, for the time being, it is basically impractical to catch a train from Singapore or Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur. Paradoxically, it is possible to catch a slow, antiquated train between the rural east coast of Malaysia and Johor Bahru via the jungled interior, a journey that takes eighteen hours

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