In Singapore, we have little enclaves of culture, and while a Chinatown is prominent in many countries, Singapore has Little Thailand, Little India, Mini Myanmar and more.

Golden Mile is known by every Taxi Driver, or you could also take an Mrt. The two nearest Mrts would be Nicoll Highway and Lavender. Buses like 100, 961 and 980 stop here too. If you are driving, carpark charges are $2.20 per entry after 1800 till 0700 in the morning, and $2 per hour or part thereof for the first hour, $1 for subsequent hour or part thereof. Motorcycles are at a flat $0.80 per entry.

Over in Golden Mile, you get Thai fashion, Thai food, Thai Disco, Thai Beer and even fruit and vegetable native to Thai, trucked in from Thailand. Shown here is popular Mookata (Known as Le Yang in Issan) found on the ground floor. At night, the shops are closed - except for food on level one and nightlife on level two. Food can be found from 24hours daily, and you can get Issan food like Larb and Somtam here too.

I was so happy when I spied durians for sale in Golden Mile! Durian is seasonal, especially for the Monthong Durian which fruits only after 12 years after you plant it. You can also find steamed bamboo shoots, eggplant, native vegetables and herbs from Thailand. These provision shops seem to be open till midnight.

Do you know you can get from one place to another in Singapore for less than $2.20 if you are paying by cash and less than $1.96 if you are using the EZ-Link card? These are the revised rates after the price increase in Oct 2011.

Most people don't use the bus services enough, which is strange, because Singapore has probably the cleanest and most comfortable public buses in this region.

TransitLink, operator of most of the buses, the MRT and the LRT in Singapore, has just updated one of the most useful apps they have created, How2Go. This app brings you to places, calculates the fares and even shows you the bus's estimated arrival time. Click on the link for the full review!

Now you don't have any reason not to step out and explore, because almost the whole of Singapore is linked via public transport.

I haven't had time to watch Despicable Me 2, but I have seen all the minions posted on my friend's status updates.

The movie was released in Singapore on the 4th of July 2013, and it is still available in the movie theaters now!
Check it out at GV cinemas.

When in Singapore, you will often hear words that are strange to the ears...Singaporeans have a knack of taking words from different languages and making it their own. In this online dictionary, you will not only find the meanings of the words, you will also find ways to use it. 

http://www.singlishdictionary.com/

I hope you find this useful, as you will now be able to decode the secret lingo of Singaporeans, and enjoy your Singapore Experience a lot more. It was very informative for me as well, as I live a very sheltered life, so the lingo is pretty foreign to me too. After looking through the dictionary, I found out that there is alot more to Singlish than the famous "LAH".

The great haze first started on the 14th of June, escalating to alarming proportions on 21st of June 2013, where PSI hit 401 at noon. This broke the previous records of 321, 371 and even 400.
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/choking-humor-singapore-pokes-fun-055748677.html
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/haze-comic-relief-all-funny-pics-singapore-haze-2013-a-4260683.html

For the budget traveller, Singapore has budget friendly areas to visit as well! Dorm rooms are $12-$16 with free wifi, just search online!


FREE STUFF!


1) Head over to East Coast Park where there are plenty of cheap eats at the East Coast Lagoon Food Village, afterwhich you can walk along the beachfront and buy beers or cocktails from 7-11( cheapest option would be 2 bottles for $7, just look out for the promotions ). People watching is fun here, you have babes on rollerblades and bare bodied hunks jogging in the evening. People are friendly, especially those who are walking their dogs! Singapore also has alot of other parks to explore, like West Coast Park, Labrador Park and more!

2) Go on a tour of the shopping centers along Orchard Rd, starting from Tanglin Mall, walk down Orchard Rd - plenty of people watching and you can get food under $5 anywhere in any food court. There is all kinds of cuisines available cheap, from chinese, malay, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese to Italian and western. Food shops in Orchard Towers are a plenty, and you can take a look at Far East Plaza too. Singapore has quite a lot of unusual looking shopping centers like Ion and Orchard Central, so remember to take more photos! If you didn't bring money out, head to the supermarkets for free food. Isetan has a basement supermarket with a lot of different Japanese food available for sampling, and on Sundays, Jason's at Orchard towers has free wine sampling. Ice cream can be sampled at any outdoor gelato kiosk and soup is available for sampling from our many soup restuarants like Soup Spoon and Souperlicious. Wine and dine in Singapore for free! ( Though getting the food after sampling is definitely more satisfying! )

3) Get high in Singapore! Go to the tallest hotel in Singapore, Swissôtel The Stamford. Head up to the bar for an amazing view of Singapore for free! If you want to stay for a drink, they have special "sundowner" promotions, so check ahead. 

4) Go on walking tours to the Marina Bay Sands stretch! You get to have beautiful photos that are uniquely Singapore, and if you walk over to Boat Quay as well, you can find many famous sculptures everywhere, including sculptures by Salvatore Dali! If sculptures are your thing, take a bus to Resort World SENTOSA too, the thinker, Adam and Eve and several Salvatore Dali sculptures are found there too. There are walking tours you can join too, The Original Singapore Walks, and they have so many different walks for different folks!

5) Chinatown is good for a wonderful street experience with plenty of food everywhere, including the famed Durian! Try duck heads, BBQ pork, frog porridge and more, all along the streets! Meet an engineer who gave up his job to start a business selling fruit juice, or a German PR selling sausages, or simply the old man roasting chestnuts at the road side. Trinkets and souvenirs should be bought here as you can get items as cheap as $1! Take a look at the 3 for $10 shops as you can get some quality items. There is a Tin Tin shop and a local "museum"
You can peek into. Scour the many lanes for different "attractions" from food to cheap perfume and kitschy T-shirts. 

I will be putting up some photos and reviews of things you can do in Singapore, so do check back every few days!

Some fun things to do in Singapore

1) When you get off the plane, be sure to experience Changi Airport, voted world's best airport for many years running. Besides checking out the many shops and restaurants, take a look at our many sculptures and art in motion available in all terminals. We also have themed displays that change every month, alongside with fun areas for the children if you are traveling with kids in tow.

2) The Singapore Zoo and Night Safari has been voted best in the world as well, don't miss out on Jurong Bird Park either, as you get a discount if you visit all 3 parks! 

3) Have time for something fun and exhilarating? Visit Universal Studios at resort world and have a screaming good time on the rides and take loads of memorable photos with the characters there too.

Before you step into ESPA, you must know that the simple act of your friend sending you in via the RWS carpark will cost him $6. Yes, $6 for less than 5 mins. Opps! Thank you Jimmy!

I only found out later that if I got him to drop me off at the casino drop off point, it would have been free. I could have gotten a shuttle bus from Festive Hotel or Hard Rock Hotel to ESPA. A shuttle bus is available every 15mins in a circular route from one hotel to another in RWS.

Getting off at the carpark, you walk into a lift. With no signs to tell you which level ESPA is located on, you might just do what I did, press both other levels and hope for the best. Now that you are reading this, just press one, it leads you directly to ESPA.

Welcome to the world of relaxation and peace.

Went to check out SEA Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa and was pleasantly surprised. Though it reminded me of Underwater World ( I like Underwater world better, as it felt friendlier with staff who are better informed and more proactive and it has exhibits which look more impressive in a more natural setting ), it has the largest viewing panel in the world and it redeemed itself there.

Price wise, SEA Aquarium and Underwater World are comparable, depending on which credit card you happened to have brought along, as different cards had different discounts. Both have little online information about the various discounts. It is about $25 per person if you have a NTUC card.