Singapore Things to Do Tips by trisanna

Arab Street or Kampong Glam area is a very interesting area of Singapore. Just a few blocks from the hustle bustle of Bugis Junction. This area has beautiful old shophouses that line the streets. The highlight of the area is the grand Sultan Mosque, which you can enter as a visitor if you are properly dressed. The mosque may be closed to visitors on certain days. This area is important in Singapore history, since the Sultan had his Istana (palace) here.

Arab Street is now more known for the fabrics the vendors sell out of the old shophouses. A great place to go if you want or need fabric/silk. On Baghdad street-there are a lot of new restaurants/cafe houses opening up. Many of the restaurants have sheeshas or water pipes, which you can smoke. Across from the Sultan Mosque-is Zam Zam's, which makes great murtobaks and chicken curry.

Recently they have created a wonderful pedestrian area on Bussorah street located right behind the Sultan Mosque. There are shops and cafes here. I highly recommend Alaturk for great turkish food. Ladies, if you need a spa treatment, i recommend wayan spa on bussorah street for Balinese treatments.

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Address: Arab Street
Directions: Take the MRT to Bugis Station (EW12) and walk along Victoria Street towards Arab Street.

The Asian Civilisations Museum on Armenian Street is housed in a stunning white colonial building-which used to be a school. Presently, the museum holds an impressive collection of Peranakan art, jewerly, and furniture. The Peranakan's are straits chinese-that are born locally in Singapore. For more information on Peranakans you can use the link below.
http://www.peranakan.org.sg/Culture/culturehome.html

There are some great statues outside of the building. Look for the old man with the young girl waving to the woman in the upstairs terrace/window. Look for the cute cat by the door.

One word of warning this museum will be closed late fall 2005 for renovation.

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Phone: +65 6332 5592
Address: 39 Armenian Street, Singapore 179941
Directions: You can either use the City Hall or Dhoby Gaut MRT stop. The City Hall MRT stop is a little closer. Walk down stamford road and make a left onto Armenian street. There is a bus stop on the corner of Stamford Road and Armenian Street.
Website: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/ACM/acm.shtml

It can be confusing, since there are two Asian Civilisations Museums. This one is the newer renovated Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place. The Asian Civilisations Museum at Armenian Street-specializes in local Peranakan art. This museum specializes in southeast asian art. This is a stunning museum. Not a huge museum-like the ones in Europe. They have galleries that contain Cambodian, Lao, Malaysian (Borneo), Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian art. Lots of textiles,statues, Balinese instruments, shadow puppets, etc.

Every few months, this museum gets some blockbuster exhibits. Last year there was an exhibit of Turkish art. In late summer-they are getting art from the Vatican Museum. Check their website for more details.

They have a nice gift shop-Banyan Tree. Outside the museum, there are two restaurants that face the river-Siem Reap and Indochine. More restaurants/cafes are around the corner at the Arts House or head to the Fullerton Hotel for a great tea.

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Phone: 6332-7798
Address: 1 Empress Place, Raffles Quay Singapore 179555
Directions: Raffles MRT. Across the Cavenagh Bridge and the Fullerton Hotel. Boat Quay is across the river.
Website: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/ACM/visit_getting.shtml

The botanical gardens is a large park located close to Orchard Road. It is a 15-30 minute walk from the main shopping centres. 10 mins from Tanglin mall. This is a lovely place to relax and admire all the wonderful tropical plants. You have to be in awe when you see the fantastic banyan trees. There is a large swan pond, which has turtles, fish and of course swans. They always appreciate it if you can spare some bread.

The highlight of the gardens is the national Orchid garden. For this, there is a small fee. You will see lots of orchids. They even have a section of orchids that are named after celebrities -mostly politicians that pass through Singapore.

This place is great for kids, since there is a lot of room in the botanical gardens for them to run around in. On some evenings-there are special performances (mostly Singapore Orchestra). They sometimes show movies at night in the park.

There are a few restaurants in the park. A cafe, Au Jardin-a fancy french restaurant and Halia (ginger) a nice cafe/restaurant, which is surrounded by a nice ginger garden.

The MRT line doesn't head up this way. For public transportation-the best way to head this way is by bus. From the city-you can take the 7,77,123,106, 502 and a few others. Take the bus to the oppsite Botanical Gardens stop. Just off Holland Road.
If you take a taxi, ask to take them to drop you off at the visitor centre at the back. When you leave -you should head out by the holland road exit, since it's very difficult to get a taxi at the visitor centre. The only way to get a cab there is to call one or luck out-as one is dropping others off.

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Phone: 1-800-6-471-7300
Address: Cluny Road, Singapore 259569
Website: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/parks/sbg/par-sbg.shtml

Chijmes is an old convent, which now houses lots of shops and restaurants. The church, which is now deconsecrated is used for weddings and small concerts. This place is stunning at night. People have been so impressed with this place, that it recently became an UNESCO world heritage site.

Most of the restaurants serve western food, but there is a good Chinese and Vietnamese restaurant-if you are looking for alternatives.

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Address: North Bridge Rd. & Bras Basah
Directions: City Hall station
Website: http://www.chijmes.com.sg/

Chinatown is one of the interesting quarters of Singapore. Originally created by the British, who placed various Chinese immigrants, mostly by ethnic groups in defined areas. The British did this with all the Singaporean ethnic groups. Chinatown is a living breathing part of life here. They have a great wet market(wonderful fruits and veggies)-but just watch out for the turtles and frogs for sale (quite sad). Lovely architecture. One of the best times to witness life in Chinatown is a few days before the Lunar New Year or Dumpling festival. In the evening, there is a little night baazar (very tame compared to Bangkok), but still pleasant to walk through at night. On Smith Street-it is lined with hawkers, selling mostly Chinese food. Supposedly the government approached some of the best hawkers to set up shop here. Try the popiah-it's one of my favorites.

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Directions: Chinatown MRT station

If you enjoy history or if you want relief from a very hot day -this may be the attraction for you. To me, this is one of Singapore's best attraction, which has usually gone unnoticed.

On the top of Fort Canning Park(warning lots of steps to get up here-if you are exhausted take a taxi to the top) there is small office-where you buy tickets and watch a short film on the Japanese invasion.

Afterwards, in small groups with a guide you walk just a few meters and go into the bunker. Once inside you will hear rumbling (or simulated bomb noise) and British soliders warning of gas attacks.You go into the battle box-as if it was the day Singapore surrendered to the Japanese. You are given headphones and watch hologram images clicking away morse code. Britain's finest military generals are represented by robots acting out that dramatic day. After the short tour, you are free to walk around and see a small case, where some war artifacts are placed.

If you are interested in Singaporean or WWII history this place is a must. If you plan to do other WWII touring, such as Fort Siloso or Changi Prison Museum-you should head here first-so you know the history better.

And if you just come to escape the heat-i am sure you will enjoy yourself.

Sunrice cooking school is a few more meters up the hill. They have a nice cafe that overlooks the city and park. They have a wonderful lemongrass iced tea.

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Phone: 65-6333-0510
Address: Fort Canning Hill, 51 Fort Canning Rise
Directions: Close to MRT Dhoby Gaut Station. If you walk-warning-lots of steps. If you have bad knees or tired from the heat -please take a cab.
Website: http://www.newasia-singapore.com/sections/articles/4c/1%2C1180%2C394%2C00.html

Located outside of the city centre-this is a wonderful large area to go hiking or mountain biking. Lots of trails. You can even take the long trail to Mac Ritchie resevoir-which is around 10-15km.

By the visitor center, there are lots of monkeys hanging around. Just remember, not to feed them.

There is a small shop at the visitor center, that sells drinks and popsicles.

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Address: Hindhede Road
Website: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nparks_cms/display_level2.asp?parkid=8&catid=1

During WW II, after the Japanese had invaded Singapore, many Australians, British, Singaporeans and others were imprisoned at Changi Prison. These people lived under concentration camp conditions. Many died building the death railway from Thailand to Burma. The real prison, has sadly been torn down (another example of how Singapore mows down history). Various parts of the prison have been saved and are in the museum-the others have been sent to Australia-where they are building a museum.

Admission is free. Not sure if the guided tours are free or if you have to pay a little something. This is a very interesting museum-you will learn about how these women and men survived during these hard times.

There is a nice cafe on the grounds of this museum.

The Johore battery is nearby-maybe a 20-30 min walk from the museum or a quick drive.

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Phone: 65-6214-2451
Address: 1000 Upper Changi Rd, Singapore 507707
Directions: Take
SBS bus no. 2 from Tanah Merah MRT
SBS bus no. 29 from Tanmpines MRT station
Website: http://www.changimuseum.com/

This may not be the real monster gun, but it's still quite impressive. This is a reproduction of one of the large gun emplacements the British had before the fall of Singapore. Once the Japanese had taken hold of the island-all gun emplacements were ordered to be destroyed and not fall into the enemies' hands.

When i went there, there was no guard-but it's open to the public. We went in, walked around and took some pictures. There isn't a lot of stuff to do-so i would combine this with your Changi Prison museum visit.

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Phone: 65-6546-9897
Address: Cosford Road, off Upper Changi Road North
Directions: Take SBS bus 2 from Tanah Merah- alight opposite Selarang Camp. You can also take a taxi.
Website: http://www.asia-pacific-news.com/s/Editorial-Country-Information.asp?ReportID=32368&_Title=Johore-Battery-At-Changi-Officially-Opens