Travel tips for Sydney & Singapore

Have a day at the Blue mountains, easily reached by train from Sydney. But check the weather first, you see b***r all if it's misty.

Ferry to Manly is a good cheap way of a nice boat ride through the main harbour area

5 days might be a bit long in Singapore, you'll need to head out of the city centre, sure others will have good suggestions
 
wilkos_perm said:
Have a day at the Blue mountains, easily reached by train from Sydney. But check the weather first, you see b***r all if it's misty.

Ferry to Manly is a good cheap way of a nice boat ride through the main harbour area

5 days might be a bit long in Singapore, you'll need to head out of the city centre, sure others will have good suggestions
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We've actually got a camper for a bit after leaving Sydney, so the Blur Mountains are on our route; three sisters, scenic world etc.
 
Singapore -
I really enjoyed Night Safari at the zoo ( if you are ok with zoos) Was a while since I went but I’ll never forget walking along this path in the dark and I turned a corner only to be staring at a tiger 6ft away on the other side of the glass. Cos it was dark with dim lighting everywhere, and nearly deserted paths in some areas, it was completely different to seeing animals in the day time.

Breakfast with the orangutans. Again, it’s at the zoo but you basically head over early before it opens, and you have breakfast in the restaurant and orangutans come down from the canopy and sit on a bench nearby and you get to see them pretty close up. The keepers clearly love them, and last time I did it they put one in a golf car and drove it back to its favourite tree, which cracked me up. Then you can just see the zoo afterwards, as normal. I’m conflicted about zoos, but Singapore is a pretty decent one and their orangutan program is fantastic.

Obviously Singapore sling and lobbing monkey nut shells on the floor of the long bar at Raffles is an expensive tourist trap thing, but I enjoyed it.

Cocktail at the top of Marina Bay Sands hotel looking out over the bay at all the ships is pretty cool. You can’t have a swim up there unless you are staying in the hotel. ( I did that on my honeymoon and it was a good way to waste an afternoon.

There is a Universal Studios theme park on Sentosa island, if roller coasters are your thing. Not really anything Singapore about it, but good fun nonetheless.

There is lots of other stuff to see and do, I quite enjoyed the little modern art museum near the big Singapore flyer ( big wheel, bigger than the London Eye I believe)
Also a walk through the Gardens by the Bay is quite nice, including the cloud forest exhibit in the massive greenhouse type building. There was also a nightly laser/water lights show on the water by Marina Bay Sands that was quite impressive and worth swinging by to see if you are in the area. Other than that, just mooching about Singapore is cool. Bugis street for a bit of street food and Tiger beer from the Tiger girls. Clarke quay for lots of bars and restaurants, including chains like hooters and the like.
Think there is also a tiger brewery tour, but I’ve never done that. It’s a bit of a marmite place, some hate it and find it sterile, and others (me) love it. It is expensive but where isn’t these days? We’ve been a few times as a stopover for holidays out in Thailand/Indonesia, and we usually do the same type of stuff each time, but like most people who were/are in the Merchant Navy, I think it’s a great place.

Edit - the zoo is a massive complex . Night Safari is different from the main zoo, but same area. I think there is also a boat Safari you can do there, but that wasn’t finished last time I was there. You can do both the zoo and the night Safari - they are separate things, night Safari isn’t just walking around the same place in the dark
 
FabioPorkpie said:
Singapore -
I really enjoyed Night Safari at the zoo ( if you are ok with zoos) Was a while since I went but I’ll never forget walking along this path in the dark and I turned a corner only to be staring at a tiger 6ft away on the other side of the glass. Cos it was dark with dim lighting everywhere, and nearly deserted paths in some areas, it was completely different to seeing animals in the day time.

Breakfast with the orangutans. Again, it’s at the zoo but you basically head over early before it opens, and you have breakfast in the restaurant and orangutans come down from the canopy and sit on a bench nearby and you get to see them pretty close up. The keepers clearly love them, and last time I did it they put one in a golf car and drove it back to its favourite tree, which cracked me up. Then you can just see the zoo afterwards, as normal. I’m conflicted about zoos, but Singapore is a pretty decent one and their orangutan program is fantastic.

Obviously Singapore sling and lobbing monkey nut shells on the floor of the long bar at Raffles is an expensive tourist trap thing, but I enjoyed it.

Cocktail at the top of Marina Bay Sands hotel looking out over the bay at all the ships is pretty cool. You can’t have a swim up there unless you are staying in the hotel. ( I did that on my honeymoon and it was a good way to waste an afternoon.

There is a Universal Studios theme park on Sentosa island, if roller coasters are your thing. Not really anything Singapore about it, but good fun nonetheless.

There is lots of other stuff to see and do, I quite enjoyed the little modern art museum near the big Singapore flyer ( big wheel, bigger than the London Eye I believe)
Also a walk through the Gardens by the Bay is quite nice, including the cloud forest exhibit in the massive greenhouse type building. There was also a nightly laser/water lights show on the water by Marina Bay Sands that was quite impressive and worth swinging by to see if you are in the area. Other than that, just mooching about Singapore is cool. Bugis street for a bit of street food and Tiger beer from the Tiger girls. Clarke quay for lots of bars and restaurants, including chains like hooters and the like.
Think there is also a tiger brewery tour, but I’ve never done that. It’s a bit of a marmite place, some hate it and find it sterile, and others (me) love it. It is expensive but where isn’t these days? We’ve been a few times as a stopover for holidays out in Thailand/Indonesia, and we usually do the same type of stuff each time, but like most people who were/are in the Merchant Navy, I think it’s a great place.

Edit - the zoo is a massive complex . Night Safari is different from the main zoo, but same area. I think there is also a boat Safari you can do there, but that wasn’t finished last time I was there. You can do both the zoo and the night Safari - they are separate things, night Safari isn’t just walking around the same place in the dark
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Absolutely fantastic that, thank you, exactly what I was looking for 👍
 
We pre-hired a private guide in Singapore. Took my wife and I all over. Into various temples. Food halls. On the rapid transport system all the various districts . Cost me £ 400 but was worth every penny and was really usefull for the remaining 2/ 3 days we had on stop over.
I can get you the guides firm if you want they do groups which are a lot cheaper.
 
Osboro said:
We pre-hired a private guide in Singapore. Took my wife and I all over. Into various temples. Food halls. On the rapid transport system all the various districts . Cost me £ 400 but was worth every penny and was really usefull for the remaining 2/ 3 days we had on stop over.
I can get you the guides firm if you want they do groups which are a lot cheaper.
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What were your highlights from what you saw? Sounds like you saw a lot of the city.
 
Singapore’s wicked mate, you’ll love it. Extremely safe, clean and efficient with the vibe of a tropical Asian megacity but none of the chaos. Everyone speaks English and fun people.

Marina Bay and the colonial bits (Raffles etc) are pretty. For vibey neighbourhoods, I loved Chinatown, so many temples and interesting streets. Well worth exploring for an afternoon/evening. Eat in the Hawker Centres, Maxwell is the famous one - loads of fun, just hundreds of little stalls smashing out a couple of incredible dishes each. Singapore has a proper foodie culture and pound for pound probably the best quality and value food across the board that I’ve ever eaten. The hawker centres are about £2-£3 for a meal which is mental considering how expensive the rest of the country is. Can get very spicy!

Arab Street and around is a very cool neighbourhood, lots of jazz bars and little hip businesses. Little India is also great and atmospheric, it feels like proper India, but cleaner and without the hassle.

Botanical gardens worth a look and if you like your shopping, the malls around Orchard Road are pretty amazing - huge. Do visit any of the Buddhist, Hindu and Chinese temples, visually spectacular and you can go in while there’s a ceremony on. Quite interesting place in that Singapore is a proper plural culture, with everyone speaking English as a colonial legacy but with traditional Chinese, buddhism, Hinduism, Malay and Islamic culture all celebrated there.

Bear in mind it’s proper hot and humid! Whatever clothes you think you’ll need, pack less 😁

Sydney: jump on the ferries for a cruise around the harbour, they’re on the public transport network so it’s only $10 or whatever for a day ticket. Absolutely stunning views of Opera House, Harbour Bridge, the harbour etc. In fact I think the ferries are free on Sundays.

Northern suburbs are really nice and Manly is a stunner of a spot. For my money, nicer than Bondi, but there is a stunning coastal walk between Bondi and Coogee, well worth doing.

Bondi is a bit annoying to get to because there’s no trains to the eastern beaches, so it’s a bus ride to get out to those beaches. Surry Hills is a nice neighbourhood for restaurants and bars.
 
Jonny Ingbar said:
Any tips from the travellers on here greatly received, spending 5 days in each city.

TIA
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No tips but I hope you have better luck than my son who flew to Auckland from Manchester via Heathrow, Singapore and Sydney last week. Every flight he was on was delayed and he missed every connection arriving in Auckland over 24hrs behind schedule. Good luck!🙂
 
Jonny Ingbar said:
What were your highlights from what you saw? Sounds like you saw a lot of the city.
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The highlights include.
The day started with a visit to some govt office(?!) Which house's scale models of Singapore and its development from WWII to the present. The guide had perfect English and a spoke at length about the city,its people, it's politics, religion, diversity, pluralism and culture. This gave us a big insight as to what we were to see. The temples were amazing . The large Buddhist temple ( can't remember the names) was crammed with worshippers in full chant we were taken every where within by the guide . (We would not have dared enter by ourselves ) the Hindu temple was amazing.
The guide took us via the transit system and full explained how to use it ( costing pennys) to maximise our stay.china town.athe food markets. Michelin star chicken .Little India.little Arabia ( drinking tea from plastic bags with straws) marina Bay .the super trees at night, fantastic. The huge greenhouses on Marina Bay were amazing.
We used the water taxis to get about the Bay area , had Guinness ( it was paddy's day) in the huge grand hotel ( raffles was being renovated). Ended on the roof of the Singapore cricket club with the Singapore sports personality of the year who has his face on a stamp and was born in boro.!!
the guide may seem costly but it was a one off visit so we tried to max out on experience ( stayed in a Chinese hotel who sent an electric limousine to the airport to pick us up completely gratis). A wonderful modern city and as said completely save with " Singlish" spoken every where.
 
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Agree about Clarke Quay, could be anywhere. Preferred little Arabia ( beer street??)
Don't bother with shopping , prices and choice better in London as our guide said.
Didn't go but the night zoo got lots of recommendations.
Couldn't see the point of the theme park for us. Just another theme park.
Find the public parks on top of the tower blocks. Some fantastic buildings old and new.
Street food is heavily regulated and a valuable business to the families who depend on it , so , it very safe to eat.
Walk a lot . A road licence is about £20k a year ( we got transit, you use transit!) so if you can afford that you splash out on the car. Some fantastic vehicles on show.
On a more sober note whilst a beautiful city ( I normally hate modern cities) one resident references to it as " Disneyland with torture". A nice place if you have money and stay within the rules( e.g. chewing gum is banned by law). Early morning you see the people tasked to keep the city clean being trucked in and out. A reminder how blessed we are.
 
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