Powered by Tofu » Singapore

The Price Is “How Much You Want To Pay?”

poweredbytofu — Sat, 24 May 2008 23:43:48 +0000

Since I had a really early flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), I ended up sleeping in the Singapore airport last night. Which means I spent the night curled up in an uncomfortable chair at the coffee shop, trying to sleep. After my flight arrived in HCMC, I walked to the domestic terminal, and waited for my flight to Hanoi. Welcome back to the real SE Asia! I arrived in Hanoi around 2pm and caught a taxi to my hotel. The taxi drivers here in Hanoi are dodgy! I’d read that they like to scam people, so I had the name, address, and phone number of my hotel on a piece of paper. I gave it to the driver and he called them (clearly he called another number), and then said they wanted to talk to me. The person on the phone said they didn’t have my booking and that there weren’t any rooms available and tried to book me at another hotel. So I told them that I’d already paid for my hotel (lie) and that I was meeting friends there (lie), and then refused to talk to them anymore. The driver called them again and then even stopped at a place that wasn’t my hotel and they came out to try to convince me to stay there instead! I was pretty pissed off at this point, since I’d spent the night in the airport and then been traveling all day. While he was driving in circles, I was busy locating us on my Lonely Planet map and asked him why we’d already driven past the same area twice. Once he realized that I was a cranky tourist with a sense of direction, he shut up and drove straight to my hotel.

Checking in to my hotel was another ordeal. They really want to make every possible cent off you in Hanoi. They asked how much I wanted to pay, and so I was like “What? Well how much is the room?” So they proceeded to describe to me all the different prices and rooms I could pay for, with the lowest one of course being almost twice as much as what I booked it online. I ended up having to check my email there and show them my booking.

After an afternoon playing mind games with the residents of Hanoi, I grabbed lunch at a cafe near my hotel and then went to sleep.

Passing Time In Singapore

poweredbytofu — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:09:42 +0000

I ended up spending a week in Singapore waiting for my Vietnam visa. The first day I was going to drop my passport off at the embassy, it was a public holiday, but I ended up getting my visa in time. Singapore was a fun city, but since they’re known for their shopping and eating (both of which are expensive hobbies in this city), it wasn’t the easiest city to be stranded in.

Here are a few things I did to occupy the long days in an expensive city (while not doing any of the many things you shouldn’t do in Singapore):

There are malls on almost every block in Singapore… with air conditioning! Since my hostel did not have aircon, I spent a bit of time mall walking.
Movie tickets in Singapore are cheap, only $7 SGD, which is about $5. So I saw three movies during the week. Including the new Indiana Jones on the day it came out, (which technically was the day before it came out in the US because of the time difference!). Oh, and interestingly, they have assigned seats here, so when you buy your ticket you look at the seat screen and pick what seat you want to sit in!
Sentosa Island was such a tourist trap, but I wanted to go to the beach! I took the gondola over from Vivocity, went luging down to the beach, paid $14 for a mojito and $15 for a “sunbather” (beach chair), and then felt obligated to stay for several hours to get my money’s worth!
Shopping on Orchard Rd. OK, I didn’t buy anything, I just browsed.
Exploring the city. Even though it was sweltering hot out, I found myself wandering all over this town. After a week, I really had the MRT, bus and map down.

See you in ‘NAM!

Moving To The Muslim Quarter

poweredbytofu — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:49:47 +0000

This morning, I used the pay phone to call another hostel, checked out, and high-tailed it for the Muslim Quarter. I took the MRT to Bugis station and then walked in the wrong direction for 20 minutes. I almost walked all the way to the city center! So I bused back to were I started, walked for 5 minutes in the other direction, circled the neighborhood twice and finally arrived. The Muslim Quarter is much better than being out east. It’s much more central to sights, and feels way safer. Humorously, I’m staying on Arab Street between Baghdad Rd and Muscat St, right behind the Sultan Mosque. It’s a really neat neighborhood, and you can hear the calls to pray during the day.

Singapore Hostel Woes

poweredbytofu — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:40:41 +0000

This morning after breakfast, I really drug my feet packing up my bag and checking out. It’s been so great staying in nicer hotels, with a room to myself. Tonight, it’s back to hosteling. I went to the Asian Civilization Museum with a few of the California girls who are still here. We had drinks and a light lunch on the Quay, before heading to Little India. After relaxing for a while back at the hotel, we took the MRT back to Clarke Quay for dinner. It was really nice having them to hang out with. After dinner, we took a taxi back to the hotel. I grabbed my pack, said goodbye, and continued on to my hostel… out to the ghetto. The taxi driver didn’t help calm my nerves about the safety of the neighborhood. The hostel had really good ratings, but I’m not liking the location, and the people staying here seem to be more in an international housing situation, than fellow travelers. I am so leaving in the morning.

Singapore Sling

poweredbytofu — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:15:57 +0000

After several relaxing days in Melaka, it was off to Singapore. Goodbye Malaysia and cheap prices! Hello Singapore, land of exorbitant prices! After we arrived, we took the MRT (Singapore metro) out to the Singapore Zoo. Since I’ll be here for a week, I bought a metro EZ-card, like I did in Tokyo, so I don’t have to buy single trip tickets every time. Anyway, the zoo was really cool, and the night safari was amazing! I had never been to a night zoo before. It’s a really great concept. We took a train and then walked around the night zoo, looking at all the animals. They all seemed so close, especially the lion!

After the zoo, we headed back into town. A few of us went to Raffles for Singapore Slings and then walked around the Clark Quay area. Singapore is fun, but you can spend too much, way too easily here. This isn’t going to be an easy week, budget-wise.