Singapore is a ‘crazy rich' city, but here's how to do it affordably
You'll get a similar perspective by visiting a prominent place of worship, such as the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple – an imposing, Tang dynasty-style complex built in 2007 that claims to house the Buddha's left canine tooth. Others are the atmospheric and deity-covered Sri Veeramakaliamman Hindu temple and the arresting gold-domed Sultan Mosque. Entry to all three is free.
For live entertainment, the durian-shaped Esplanade theatres next to Marina Bay Sands (MBS) have a year-round program of free performances, and the district's nightly free sound and light shows – Spectra at MBS and Garden Rhapsody in Gardens by the Bay – are unmissable. If you watch the 8pm Spectra show, you'll have time to walk to the 8.45pm performance of Garden Rhapsody.
Trail warrior
Despite Singapore being the world's third most densely populated country, it's surprisingly easy to escape the urban embrace and discover restorative open spaces.
The Central Catchment Nature Reserve is a tranquil oasis with 20 kilometres of trails winding through more than 2000 hectares of native forest. A popular option is the seven-kilometre TreeTop loop, which includes an impressive 250-metre-long suspension bridge from which you may glimpse long-tailed macaques and flying lemurs.
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is another gem, offering hiking and biking trails through one of the largest surviving remnants of primary rainforest. It's home to both the city's tallest tree, a 60-metre seraya, and its highest natural peak, the 163-metre-high Bukit Timah Hill.
If you do only one hike, make it the 10-kilometre trek from Mount Faber Park to Kent Ridge Park along the Southern Ridges, a network of parks and reserves with captivating city and coastal views. Easily accessible by public transport, the trek has highlights including the city's tallest pedestrian bridge (the undulating Henderson Waves), a treetop boardwalk and several World War II sites.
If you're more of a stroller than a hiker, Singapore has free gardens galore, from the stunning 82-hectare UNESCO World Heritage-listed Botanic Gardens, home to more than 300 plant species, a swan-dotted lake and a stunning orchid collection (well worth the $S15/$18 entrance), to Gardens by the Bay, a fusion of futuristic Supertrees with tranquil spaces such as the Kingfisher Wetlands and the Serene Garden. While there's a charge to enter the climate-controlled Cloud Forest and Flower Dome, the rest of the complex is free.
Just be warned that any outdoor exertion in Singapore's legendary humidity is going to induce Olympian levels of perspiration, so dress accordingly and carry plenty of water.
Art addict
While many of Singapore's museums contain impressive art collections (the National Gallery boasts South-East Asia's largest public collection of modern art), it can get expensive to visit them all.
Fortunately, the city's streets and laneways are ablaze with murals and sculptures which can all be enjoyed at no cost. You'll find prolific artist Yip Yew Chong's works all over the city, but some of his most evocative murals depict traditional life in Chinatown.
Muscat Street is another hotspot, with two ornately carved eight-metre-high granite arches book-ending colourful Omani murals and mosaics, as is Haji Lane in Kampong Gelam, which is decorated with bold artworks by street artists from throughout the world.
To discover the city's varied collection of public sculptures, download one of the National Arts Council's self-guided art trails. For kid-friendly phone-based fun, check out the playful augmented reality experiences available at many notable sights via Google Maps (enter 'Singapore' and they'll be marked with a pin).
Frugal foodies
While you could easily squander a week's wages at any of Singapore's 51 Michelin-starred restaurants, for those on a budget, we have two words for you: hawker centre.
You'll find them all over the city – busy, noisy, cavernous food courts lined with compact stalls selling outrageously good food for refreshingly low prices. Feast on Singapore staples such as Hainanese chicken rice, char kway teow and spicy laksas, then return the next day for minced pork noodles, popiah spring rolls and chilli crab.
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While there are dozens to choose from, you can't go wrong at the Maxwell Food Centre, Chinatown Complex Food Centre or Lau Pa Sat, which has the added benefit of being next to 'Satay Street', a laneway that changes into a nightly food orgy with its sizzling satay stalls.
The customary Singapore breakfast of kaya toast with coconut jam and soft-boiled eggs isn't for everyone, but it's a budget-friendly option available from traditional kopitiam coffee shops and most food courts.
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Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
I felt smug about my airfare, until I realised it was the wrong airline
I'm feeling pretty smug about the flight I've booked on Singapore Airlines that takes me from Melbourne to Madrid, and then from London back to Melbourne. Until, that is, I read the email confirmation after paying for it. Why on Earth am I flying home via Delhi? Duffer that I am, I've accidentally clicked on the wrong flight on The time is almost identical, the price likewise, the flying time ditto. The only major difference is the route, and the airline. I am flying with an Indian carrier. Oh well, at least the food should be good. I don't really think about it again until the morning of my flight home. I arrive at Heathrow just after 7am, to find my 9.45am flight delayed by four hours. They send an email while I am in the cab, which of course I don't see until I arrive. As excuses go, they have a pretty good one: the airspace over the subcontinent is closed because India and Pakistan are firing missiles at each other. I am about to wheel away to find a much-needed coffee when it dawns on me: assuming this plane really does take off in four hours (which, given the conflict, feels like a stretch), I will miss my connecting flight. 'Right,' says the check-in fellow. 'You'd better follow this man to the service desk.' Sleep- and coffee-deprived, my neurons are firing about as well as a clapped-out Morris Minor, but out the corner of my eye I spy some bloke sprinting through the terminal. He is five metres, 10 metres, 20 metres ahead of me, doesn't once make eye contact, and says not a word. I have no idea if he is the person I am meant to be following, but in the absence of a better option, that's what I do. And then he stops, and lo and behold it is the Air India service desk.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
I felt smug about my airfare, until I realised it was the wrong airline
I'm feeling pretty smug about the flight I've booked on Singapore Airlines that takes me from Melbourne to Madrid, and then from London back to Melbourne. Until, that is, I read the email confirmation after paying for it. Why on Earth am I flying home via Delhi? Duffer that I am, I've accidentally clicked on the wrong flight on The time is almost identical, the price likewise, the flying time ditto. The only major difference is the route, and the airline. I am flying with an Indian carrier. Oh well, at least the food should be good. I don't really think about it again until the morning of my flight home. I arrive at Heathrow just after 7am, to find my 9.45am flight delayed by four hours. They send an email while I am in the cab, which of course I don't see until I arrive. As excuses go, they have a pretty good one: the airspace over the subcontinent is closed because India and Pakistan are firing missiles at each other. I am about to wheel away to find a much-needed coffee when it dawns on me: assuming this plane really does take off in four hours (which, given the conflict, feels like a stretch), I will miss my connecting flight. 'Right,' says the check-in fellow. 'You'd better follow this man to the service desk.' Sleep- and coffee-deprived, my neurons are firing about as well as a clapped-out Morris Minor, but out the corner of my eye I spy some bloke sprinting through the terminal. He is five metres, 10 metres, 20 metres ahead of me, doesn't once make eye contact, and says not a word. I have no idea if he is the person I am meant to be following, but in the absence of a better option, that's what I do. And then he stops, and lo and behold it is the Air India service desk.
ABC News
4 days ago
- ABC News
Taiwan to push back US stopover as US–China trade talks continue, sources say
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te is set to delay a diplomatically sensitive trip his team had floated to the Trump administration for August that would have included stops in the United States, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Mr Lai is yet to visit the US since President Donald Trump took office, but such a trip was bound to infuriate Beijing at a time when the US president was trying to negotiate a deal on trade with China, according to Reuters. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, and regularly denounces any shows of support for Taipei from Washington. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only the island's people can decide their future The trip, which would have included stopping in New York and Dallas on the way to and from Latin America, was never formally confirmed but had been discussed with the governments involved, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr Lai was set to delay the trip until at least later this year for a handful of reasons, including the need to organise his government's response to extreme weather in Taiwan, one of the sources told Reuters. Two sources spoken to by Reuters also pinned the delay on the ongoing US tariff talks with Taipei and Beijing, respectively. The Financial Times reported that, according to multiple sources, the US told Mr Lai he could not visit New York on the way, and that was the reason the trip was delayed. China faces an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with the Trump administration, after weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a blockade on rare earth minerals. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from US duties snapping back to triple-digit levels, which would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. The White House and China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Taiwan's delayed trip to the US, while Taiwan's Presidential Office was not immediately available for comment late on Monday night. "There's no such thing as cancelling the trip," said a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who said stopovers were likely to include Texas and another city in the US mainland. "In fact, further arrangements for the trip will be made later this year." Earlier on Monday, Taiwan's Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo said once the president's overseas visit itinerary was finalised, it would be announced to the public in a timely manner. "However, considering the recent typhoon disaster recovery efforts in southern Taiwan, the US–Taiwan reciprocal tariff measures and regional developments, the president currently has no plans for overseas visits in the near future," Ms Kuo said. The decision comes as Mr Trump has tried to lower tensions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and potentially have a summit in Asia with him this autumn. China's Foreign Ministry has previously condemned what it called "sneaky visits" to the US by Taiwanese leaders under any pretext. They said the US must understand how sensitive the Taiwan issue was and act with the utmost caution. Yesterday, top US and Chinese economic officials huddled in Stockholm, Sweden for more than 5 hours to resolve longstanding economic disputes and extend a truce by three months. Negotiators from both sides were seen exiting the office around 8pm, local time, and did not stop to speak with reporters. Tariff discussions between the US and China are expected to resume today. US trade representative Jamieson Greer said he did not expect an "enormous breakthrough" today. "What I expect is continued monitoring and checking in on the implementation of our agreement thus far, making sure that key critical minerals are flowing between the parties and setting the groundwork for enhanced trade and balanced trade going forward," he told CNBC. The Stockholm talks follow Mr Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union, for a 15 per cent tariff on most EU goods exports to the United States. Trade analysts said another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May between China and the United States was likely, and would facilitate a potential meeting between both leaders in late October or early November. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. Previous trade talks in Geneva and London focused on bringing US and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China, and the US's stoppage of goods including Nvidia's advanced chips. They included US complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model was flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that US national security export controls on tech goods sought to stunt Chinese growth. "Geneva and London were really just about trying to get the relationship back on track so that they could, at some point, actually negotiate about the issues which animate the disagreement between the countries in the first place," said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Analysts say the US-China negotiations are far more complex than those with other Asian countries and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on US industries. Reuters
