Bencoolen Street is no longer the place to find cheap hostels: the old houses have been torn down and new expensive hotels are reaching for the sky.
Ture Alsvik, Denmark (Nov 98)
Singapore airlines had an offer of accommodation for US$1 per person per day in a 3-star hotel including airport shuttle but excluding breakfast. It was supposed to expire on 31 October 1998 but they have now extended it till 31 December 1998. On the other hand, they added a small but important note: 'this offer is subject to local regulations', meaning that if SAL in your country does not support this offer, they are not obliged to give it to you.
Koen, The Thorn Tree (Sep 98)
No & low budget internet in Singapore: yes, yes, yes! One can surf the internet in Singapore for free! Only mailing and chatting are not allowed. There is no disc-drive, no newsgroups and no real-audio. There is a time limit of one hour, but while the students are locked-up in their schools during the week it's no problem to use it for several hours. The place to go is the main branch of the National Library in Singapore. Go to the second floor and ask for the 'Singapore-One' service. They have about five PCs. A little faster are the multimedia stations - these cost $2 per hour (you need a 'cashcard' to pay), and there is no time limit. To obtain a cashcard you need a local Singapore ATM-card and an ATM-machine. You can find a special cachcard-ATM machine on the first floor in the library.
Johan - The Thorn Tree (Jul 98)
I was informed by the owner (of a guest house) that Singapore will soon be closing down all of its budget hostels. In an attempt to fill the mass of empty hotel accommodation, the government has given the hostels the deadline of June to close, convert to a hotel or face heavy fines. Indeed, hostels have already closed and more are planning to. This means budget travellers may be forced to use expensive hotel accommodation when travelling to Singapore. My advice to anyone who needs to travel to Singapore in the future is to stay in Johor Boroh over the Malaysian border and travel by bus into Singapore. The journey time is one hour and costs S$1.
Mark Reed (Apr 98)
For [national] directory information, call 100 [not 03]. For international enquiries, call 104. Hot tip: call 777-7777 for Star Search (this is a Help Line on anything you are unable to find in the directory).
Concerning books, Borders Bookstore opened in November 1997 at Wheelock Place, corner Scott's Road, opposite Shaw House and next to Orchard Rd MRT station. Check out Borders extensive offerings on anything literary.
For newspapers and magazines: check out Holland Village, opposite the Post Office - one can't miss the stall with the wide range of papers, journals and magazines. In fact, Holland Village is such a popular place to eat, drink, shop or just hang out, that it might be worth a visit.
The free IS magazine is published on the first and third Friday of each month and gives plenty of useful information on what's on in Singapore. IS is available around town at pubs, restaurants, hotels, etc.
Listen for Singapore's arts radio station on 99.5FM (since December 1, 1997). There is much going on at the substation: regular festivals are held, e.g., Nov-Dec Theatre Festival, or hosting the Writer's Week in July. Events are advertised in the 'Life!' section of the Straits Times, or pick up a monthly programme downtown at the substation.
Dr Margit Waas - Singapore (Mar 98)
Cyber cafes are sprouting up like magic mushrooms in the Adelaide Hills on a good day. Some handy spots to check your email:
Level 3 of Terminal 2 at Changi Airport has a neat Cybernet CafΘ for S$8 an hour. The top floor of the Funan Centre has a couple of places for about the same price. The longer-standing Cybernet CafΘ in Tanjong Pagar is still going strong and the 'Coffee Bean' on the Boat Quay has a few terminals. The basement of the Bugis Central Market has a rather crowded and expensive Pacific Net centre: S$11.50 an hour. The National Library is the cheapest at S$2 an hour - web browsing only and you have to get a cashcard to use the terminals.
What's hot? If you've got a few bob to chuck away, 'Chijmes' is the place to do it, but to do it in style. This former church and monastery complex occupying a whole block in the middle of the Colonial District is full of trendy European restaurants and watering holes. You can drink and dine among manicured lawns, waterfalls and colonnaded walkways and know that you're where the Singaporean glitterati like to gather. At Chijmes, 'Jump' is the hottest spot for music and dancing, 'Father Flanigan's' will serve you a pricey pint of draft Guinness (S$14), and 'Stars' is a restaurant for the... Stars - who else?
Paul Hellander - Lonely Planet Author (Feb 98)
Chinatown: where Telok Ayer Street crosses Pekin and Cross Streets, the old buildings have now been completely demolished. Also the 'vacant lot' on the corner of Cross and Club Streets is now a tarmac carpark. The market has vanished. In fact the majority of Chinatown is being redeveloped - unfortunately it felt more like a tour of a building site than a historical part of town!
Jackie Laine - UK (Nov 97)
Quirks of the almost-totally-automated transit system: when using multi-ride cards in the subway or buses, it is very important to buy them (whatever denomination or type) at least the day before travelling since most of the ticket windows do not open until 10 am (some not until noon). When they do open, there is often a line of 15 to 20 people so go early (9.45 am) if you did not plan ahead.
Some tourist attractions such as the zoo and the bird park have excellent shows, but these tend to concentrate in the mid-morning and late afternoon. Visits over the noon hour are not as interesting. Sentosa also tends to limit its weekday activities to the evenings. Tourists should know that each of these sites is at least an hour by subway/bus from downtown, and they should plan accordingly. The bus #171 is especially useful, going past the downtown museums, Orchard Rd and Bukit Timah Reserve almost all the way to the zoo (there is a short, well-marked transfer at Mandai Rd).
Edward Schlenk, USA (Mar 99)
The national airlines of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Brunei have launched an air pass targeted at long haul travellers from the US and Europe. All you have to do is fly to any of the above countries on the airlines mentioned above and you can buy a ticket to any other destination within the six countries for only US$90. You need to buy at least three tickets however.
Magdelene Lim (Feb 99)
The office of Singapore Airlines is now in the Saigon Tower building at 27 Le Duan, District 1.
Marco Perucchi, Switzerland (Jan 99)
Bus 16 does not operate out of Changi Airport to the city anymore. Neither does the Airbus, which costs SGD5 per passenger since 16 November 1998. There is a new Airport Shuttle Service which costs SGD7 per passenger. The maxicab ferries six passengers only. It operates daily from both terminals between 9 am and 11.05 pm. It offers transfers to all hotels in and around the city, excluding the hotels on Sentosa & Le Meridien Changi.
Singapore Girl, The Thorn Tree (Jan 99)
Bus number 16 no longer travels to Changi Airport, only service no 36. It's quite misleading since they used to travel the same routes, but 36 now loops at Tomlinson Road, somewhere in the Orchard area and travels along the expressway to Marine Parade. There is also the Airbus, which takes passengers direct to the airport from the city centre for $5, a few dollars higher than a normal bus ride to the airport, but it has space allocated for luggage. Both services can be crowded at rush hour since they serve the Marine Parade residential district. For passengers travelling with a higher budget, there is the Mercedes cab which ferries passengers from the airport to anywhere in Singapore for a flat rate of $35, but for some places, an ordinary metered cab would be much more economical.
Tan Shang Wei, Singapore (Dec 98)
If you are travelling with Malaysian Railways from Singapore to anywhere in Malaysia or Bangkok, you can make a huge saving by getting the bus over to Johor Bahru and buying your tickets there. There are money changers opposite the train station, which is about 300 metres from Malaysian Customs at the border post.
John Holan, Australia (Dec 98)
The MRT has been extended and is now 83km in length with 48 stations.
Dr Margit Waas - Singapore (Mar 98)
Getting to Changi airport (Singapore) from the city is easy by bus. Number 16 and 36 buses which run along the road in front of Raffles Hotel go to the airport basement.
Ashley Heath - Australia (Mar 98)
The MRT is slowly being extended to Punggol and - at long last - to Changi airport. The new lines will be ready by 2001.
You can now order taxis from streetside terminals much like you pull a queue number in busy shops. Pay S$1 and a computer will find a cab for you, print its number and ETA and print it all on a little ticket for you. All you have to do is wait for it. If you travel the MRT a lot, get a tourist farecard for S$7 and get $6 worth of MRT travel. Then you can take the plastic card home as a souvenir. Thirty minute boat tours of the river and harbour now cost S$9.
Paul Hellander - Lonely Planet Author (Feb 98)
Today, bridge number two to Singapore is opening, but they're still fighting over the high tolls (four times the ones on the first bridge!) Prices for motorists crossing the 1.9km second link would be set at RM32, and prices on the first link are going up as well, to promote the usage of link number 2!
J÷rg Ausfelt - Sweden (Jan 98)
All ferries to Bintan Island, Indonesia now leave from the new terminal at Tanah Merah.
Ben Peacock - Japan (Dec 97)
Getting back from Johor Bahru by bus: you can't get on and buy a ticket at the causeway/immigration area. You have to walk in the opposite direction and catch the 170 to the terminal, get off, go through immigration, then join the queue to get back on the bus again. Dozens of people (including me), went through immigration and joined the queue only to be told to go away and buy a ticket "down the road".
Jackie Laine - UK (Nov 97)
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