Background- three ladies on a long weekend to do some shopping and sightseeing and flying Jetstar from Perth on their opening special.
Late night flight which landed in the early morning at Terminal 1. Taxi ($18) to our hotel, City Bayview which was booked online at asiabesthotels.com Price included breakfast and the online price could not be matched by the hotel via email. Hotel was well located – short walking distance to one end of Orchard Road and also to the Raffles. Third bed was the sofa which was not a full sized bed. Breakfast was adequate and we tended not to eat lunch.
Day 1 Quick look at Mustafa to change money and have a look. Prices were cheaper and variety enormous (must have been 150 types of hairbrushes) but goods were not to our taste. Experienced coffee Asian style – must use condensed milk as it is very sweet. Had high tea at the Equinox restaurant. 70th floor - $45 and booked via email. Great variety of foods served buffet style. You will not need lunch or dinner. Visited Chinatown and bought a few knick knacks and then off to Orchard Road for our free bus ride through the Christmas lights. This was excellent but book early in the day for a time later that night. We had booked at Suntec City.
Day 2 Went to Johore Bahru for the day. Taxi one way is $10 per person from the taxi stand at Queens Street. Taxi waits until there are four people so we enjoyed the company of a local. Traffic jam as there was a public holiday and many people visit relatives. Passport and the small departure card are required. If you forget the card, you will need to go to the office at the border. We went to Terbrau City which is very modern and has a good variety of shops, many of which are western franchises. Final stop was Holiday Plaza where the best buys were DVDs and clothing. Taxi to Singapore taxi stand and caught the bus (about $1) back to Queens Street. Could have stopped off at the MTR soon after the border and this would have been quicker.
Day 3 quick trip to Sentosa via cable car. Did the Fort Siloso tour ($8) which describes the fall of Singapore during World War 2. Big building program for Universal Studios and the casino due to open in 2010. Wandered around and then caught the cable car back. Singapore Botanic Gardens was the next stop and was very pretty. Good food court at one of the entrances. Walked along Orchard Road to look at the Xmas lights and a few shopping centres. Dinner was at Lau Pa Sat satay market where a street is closed and turned over to satay stalls. Satays are 60c and other meals can be ordered.
Day 4 Singapore Flyer ($29.50) was a 30 minute ride with headphone commentary. No queues. Saw the floating soccer field, another casino being built and the new botanic gardens being built on reclaimed land. Next was the Kenko Fish Reflexology ( $10 for 10 mins or $30 for 30). Choice of two sizes of fish to nibble on your dead cells. Also told there was a full body one at Tanglin Mall ( only for the brave hearted). Enjoyed lunch at the bakery at the Raffles ($9.90 for a very big roll and cold / hot drink). Had decided to do this as the seating for the Raffles high tea was less than an hour and by doing the Raffles bakery lunch and the Equinox high tea (up to two hours) combined was the better deal. Hope this helps some people with their planning as the forum really helped us with ours.
Just back report December 6-9Thanks Liem - Great JBR.
We are off to Singapore in January after a week or so in KL. What did you buy while in Singapore? What were the prices like?
Regards Chris
Just back report December 6-9THis TA member have another similiar Post at this link below which might help:
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294262-i1747-k240…
Hi Chris, Singapore is a shopping paradise where it had lots of imports internationally considering that we are a Duty Free Port. Singapore has a wide range of shopping malls/shops/markets. It depends on what you want to buy and where you buy it.
If you are looking for branded goods you could take a trip to Orchard Road (easily accessible via Mass Transport System (MRT) or you could access via a taxi.)
I would say Singapore taxi is pretty cheap, about S$20 for a 20minutes ride. But there are additional charges for road taxes, like if you enter town area there will be a road surcharge of SGD 50cents to SGD2.50... depending on what time of the day you go. But dont worry, all singapore taxis go by meters, so it is unlikely that they will overcharge you like in Thailand or Malaysia. Singapore is very safe.
What kind of shops in Orchard Road:
Takashimaya and Wisma:
This is the place where you will get branded goods. Sometimes they are on sales and you can get a good bargain. Otherwise, there is not much difference or could be more expensive than Europe. There are also other varieties of brands where you can get clothes at a range of SGD20-SGD200. Different brands offer different prices.
Far East Plaza:
This is the place where you will find alot of Korean/Japanese fashion clothes. There are many shops importing clothes from Korean and Japan... but beware of some shops which are selling fakes (they claim they sell korean/japanese stuffs but in fact they had imported it from China.) My advice is that you don%26#39;t buy on impulse. Compare the material quality and you will see the difference from the different shops. Real Korean Clothings usually are of very good quality, and soft to touch. =) However it can be pricey. One top can cost you SGD80-SGD200.
Shaw Tower and CK Tang:
Both have concepts similar to Takashimaya and wisma...
Borders:
This is the place for book lovers.
If you are interested to get some good bargains for electronics such as cameras, computer related stuffs, you could take a trip to these places:
Funan Centre, Sim Lim Tower, Sim Lim place. This is the cheapest place in Singapore to get Technology gadgets. Dont forget to bargain.
But then again, don%26#39;t busy yourself too much with shopping... Singapore is well-known as a food paradise. Try out all the different ethnic cuisines! Singapore has a wealth of good chefs.
If you need any other information on singapore you could pm me or just feel free to ask me on forum.
Cheers,
Suying
Liem Great JBR
I will check out the Kenko Fish Reflexology.
Might get rid of my dead skin under my heels and feet.
Ed
Interesting trip report and I enjoyed reading it.
Some great tips from other posters too regarding shopping !
Thanks for sharing.
Sorry for the late reply about shopping. Silly season has arrived and things are hectic. The best value is in the taxi fares, public transport and eating out. Shopping is 10 - 20% more expensive than in Australia. We looked at Chinatown and Orchard Road and had hoped to go to Toa Payoh. We did our shopping in JB and almost none in Singapore. As an example, we wanted one special Christmas decoration to take home as a memento. We thought this would be easy because the lights on Orchard Road were spectacular but there was very little and overpriced. Sorry to disagree with the previous posters but this is what we found. Enjoy the sights instead.
Hi Liemperth, sorry to hear that your shopping experience was disappointing in Singapore. And i totally agree with you that shopping CAN be expensive in Orchard road... due to the high rentals. But one point to note to shop in Singapore is that you have to know where to shop for what you want for the best bargains. In Orchard, there are places with cheaper and more expensive clothings... depending on the branding and which building you bought it. But of course, as i concurred earlier, highly branded goods like Louis Vuiton, Chanel etc in sg is considered expensive.
It comes a surprise to me that you thought that shopping Australia is cheaper. I went to Perth twice and thought the things there were more expensive. perhaps I%26#39;ve been shopping at the wrong places too?!?
Tao Payoh can be a ripped off sometimes as their rental is also very high. Personally I dont shop there for fashion purposes. Contrary to beliefs, it is actually cheaper in town areas with better quality.
And you are definitely right that Johore is cheaper! Their currency is half that of sg. However, one interesting trend is such that for those who can afford, Malaysians tend to shop in Singapore instead. The reason being that Singapore tend to offer more up-in-trend clothings. That%26#39;s also the reason why personally I will still pay a bit more and shop in Singapore. And imported goods such as Nike and Addidas etc are actually cheaper in Singapore if you compare apple to apple. Same scenario for Thailand where branded goods are more expensive than sg, though it is super bargain at chatuchak %26amp; suan Lum for non-branded goods, and as such my thai friends will choose to shop for their nike/adidas shoes in sg.
That%26#39;s by far my personal experience. Perhaps one suggestion to share is that ';always buy things in a foreign country which you will not be able to get it from your own country';. Like I will always look out for brandings which Singapore doesn%26#39;t import. In this way, more than often I dont regret what i buy even if it is at a slightly higher price. Coz it will be sth i wouldnt be able to purchase at home. Cheers and Merry Christmas!
One more highlight which i missed is, no dont shop in Chinatown! The shop vendors will tend to quote a higher price for foreigners.
And also, to serve an example to you about the prices in Singapore: I know of a boutique shop owner who bought a few necklaces from this shop named Barang Barang at S$2.90 in Marina Square Shopping Mall(near Suntec City). And then she sells it at S$60 at her own shop in the Esplanade (it%26#39;s a building just opposite Marina Square). Same stretch of road, same town area... but the great difference in pricing. That%26#39;s what I meant by Don%26#39;t buy on Impulse when shopping in Singapore... Look around, compare prices unless you are already familiar with the shopping trends in Sg.
This is where this forum is really good. We can all share our tips. From a shopping point of view, our dollar has crashed so much that shopping is expensive. Shops in Perth are feeling the chase for the consumer dollar and are offering good bargains at the moment.
I had bought books previously on a trip to Borders. Variety is good and it is busy but like shopping in any country, you must know your prices. A book bought earlier in the week in Perth for $28 was $40 at Borders. It never ceased to amaze me how busy the shops were in Orchard Road. There was a queue to get into Gucci at Ngee Ann City.
Suying, it is interesting your should say that Malaysians come to Singapore to shop. We caught the taxi to JB and because there were only three of us, we had to wait until we had a fourth passenger. He was going for the weekend and he would do some shopping in JB. He talked about the trend for Malaysians to shop in Singapore too.
Hi Liemperth,
hahaha. Yes, alot of Singaporeans love to go malaysia for shopping for good bargains, as i mentioned, the currency is cheaper. And the main perk for drivers is actually for the car petrol which is half that of Singapore!
As I mentioned earlier, the shoppings in Malaysia do are cheaper than Singapore... but that Singapore offers more up-in-trend fashions. That is why it depends alot on what you would like to buy. As for me, I went Malaysia a number of times but didnt buy anything much as I prefer the fashion styles in Singapore. That%26#39;s why the Malaysians who can afford will still come to Singapore to do fashion shopping instead.
One re-nowned trait of majority of Singaporeans is that we are always going for the BEST BUY, going for the cheapest quote. You see alot of Singaporeans queueing for many things which they think is the BEST BUY. That%26#39;s why you see a long queue at the Gucci! If I%26#39;m not mistakened, it%26#39;s a good chance that when you saw that queue Gucci was having a sales?
On an interesting account, Singaporeans love to queue. You see it at hawker centres, food restaurants... where they see it%26#39;s good food, they will queue. But point to note, not all that they queue are good! So it%26#39;s good to practise some viligence when in Singapore... sometimes... our people do illogical things.
Cheers!
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