My Egg Noodles

Due to my Indonesian visa expiring from spending the last 30 days in Bali, I had to go outside the country and come back in again on a new Visa (Known as a “visa run”). Singapore was the best choice as it’s only a couple of hours away, the air fares are cheap, Singapore offers great eating/drinking options and of course, no visit to Singapore is complete without a little shopping spree.

We arrived, whizzed through the very impressive Changi airport (free wii-fi internet everywhere) and for the first time, we turned towards the train instead of getting a taxi into town. I’ve always jumped into a taxi when visiting Singapore but the missus wanted to check out the train and as we had time – why not!

The fee is extremely cheap (1 or 2 dollars) and I’ve got to say, I was very impressed. A great cheap alternative to the taxi, takes the same amount of time and environmentally friendly too

Getting an Indonesian Visa in Singapore

The next morning we arrived at the Indonesian Embassy a little late and was told to put on some bejamas bottoms in order to enter the embassy grounds. We were then told we needed to provide proof of onward travel which we didn’t have – due to already booking our flights back to Bali and not having enough time to book another set of flights, we had no option but to come back to Bali on a 30 day visa.

We also had trouble going out of Singapore – Jet star, the airline we were traveling with needed proof of onward flights. As we were one of the last peps to check in, we didn’t have time to go to another terminal and book some extra flights. My heart sunk while we waited for the manager to come over and finally got the all clear as long as I could prove I had sufficient funds to cover the flight in case the immigration department at Bali had a problem.

In future, I will make sure I’m wearing jeans when visiting the embassy, arrive nice and early (like 9am), have onward flights organized, 1 passport photo and the fee ($75).

Exploring Singapore

We spent the rest of our time exploring Singapore which included the checking out the Chocolate Research Facility, going on the worlds largest observation wheel, admiring the art projects at the Singapore art museum and the best part of the whole trip… exploring the fine food courts!

I have at least one favorite restaurant in every city I have visited – But in Singapore I’ve only got fav food stalls in food courts which are located in the shopping centers in and around Orchard Road. They are extremely good (and dirt cheap) – and blow away food courts anywhere else I have eaten in. The Chinese food is just like at home – Thick sticky gooey sauces filled with MSG – Yum!

I like fast cars.

One of the many shopping centers on Orchard Road.

An art project outside a shopping mall.

The entrance to the Singapore Art Museum. I had a lot of fun exploring the different projects and spent a good few hours walking around feeling very inspired. If you go between 12 and 2 it’s free and there are even guides that will show you around! Well worth a visit if you have a few hours to spare, and the galleries change often.

Another art project.

This is actually the roof of a shopping mall. Everyone missed it but I thought it was very unique and futuristic.

This is the chocolate research facility. I had read a review about this place the day before arriving in Singapore, and although I’m not much of a chocolate fan I always admire people doing different things, especially with food. They had about 100 different chocolate bars, each ranging from $15 to $20 if I remember rightly. We tried the Lynche and the Spiced Tea. The spiced tea was awesome and my fav – a nice cinnamon component going on. The Lynche was interesting. If your a chocolate fan – You’ll love these interesting flavors! The very friendly owner that chatted to us for an hour or so over champagne tea also made the trip worth while.

Our Lynche and the Spiced Tea chocolate.

This is me just about to get onto the worlds largest observation wheel – The Singapore Flyer.

The pits area for the Singapore Grand Prix which starts this weekend!

A view from the top. This is one of the busiest sea ports in the world.

A great few days ended badly when I accidentally dropped my notebook which caused the motherboard to dis-function. Getting a new one is proving extremely difficult so I have decided to buy myself a new one when I head over to Bangkok in the next few weeks – so please bare with me while I get back up online properly in the next week or two

My 2 favorite cocktails – Pina Colada and the Singapore Sling are very different to each other but are both often made extremely poorly in bars. I’m not sure where Pina Colada was created, but I do know that the Singapore Sling was invented be a working barman in the Long Bar, located in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. As expected, The Long Bar is where you’ll find the real deal.

Every time I go to Singapore, I always head to the Long Bar, not only for the great cocktails, but also for the excellent live band and also the atmosphere. The Long Bar is not stuffy as you might expect from a bar in such a prestigious hotel, it has a very relaxed feel about the place. I also like the fact they offer free monkey nuts, which you just throw the shells onto the floor – I think it’s the only bar in the world where you can just clear your nut casings away your table straight onto the floor without anyone thinking your nuts!

So, if you visit Singapore, make sure you check out the Long Bar – Even if you just drink 1 cocktail, it’s a great experience!

Here are some pics:

Have you visited the Long Bar? If so, what do you make of it?

Every year, between late May to early July Singapore hosts one of the biggest Shopping sales in the world. The whole island joins in to offer discounts of up to 70%

I experienced the Great Singapore Sale on the first trip to Singapore, around 4 or 5 years ago. We stayed in the Orchard Road area, a huge road which has around 12+ huge shopping malls on it, each shopping centre joins in on the great sale. From household items to Gucci hand bags, every items is discounted.

If you are in the Asia area and are bored over the next few weeks, Visiting the Great Singapore Sale could be a worth while trip. Tiger Airways, Jet Star and Air Asia fly from Bangkok and offer very reasonable fares.

If your a shopping addict and can’t make it this year, add it in your diary for next year! 

I thought I’d write a post on my experiences with my recent visa run to Singapore.

In order to extend my work permit, so I could legally work in Thailand, I needed to renew my Business Visa which had expired. This meant that I needed to go to a Thai Embassy or consulate in a neighboring country. Some countries are more willing than others when it comes to issuing visa’s, I don’t know why this is but I hear stories all the time where people get knocked back due to the recent crack down on the visa situation here. My accountant, along with many other expats that live here say Malaysia (Kula Lumpur and Penang) and Singapore are the most Visa friendly.

Luckily I have an accountant that takes care of the paper work for me. His fee’s are reasonable at 4,000B which includes 2 visits to the labour department, a visit to the Immigration department and he also sorts out all the paper work.

In order to cover the whole trip in the least amount of time as possible, I had to get the first flight out of Bangkok to Singapore, which was an Air Asia flight departing Bangkok at 7am. As I was going on a Monday morning and I was late booking, the ticket cost me 3,500B, if you book earlier, you can get the ticket half this price. The flight leaves at 7am, you arrive in Singapore at 10.15 local time and the Royal Thai Embassy in Singapore stops accepting visa applications at 11am. This meant that I had to be very quick getting out of the airport and into a taxi as fast as I could. I only took a small back pack so I didn’t have to wait for my luggage to come out, this saved a lot of time.

I overstayed my Visa for 4 days so I was fined 500B per day. This was an easy process, I paid the immigration lady at the airport and they gave me a receipt. I guess this happens often.

Once I arrived at the Thai Embassy, which is located on Orchard Road, opposite the Hilton Hotel, I took a visa application form and a ticket number. The Embassy stops issuing the waiting tickets at 11am, so they can finish at 12 for lunch. I filled out the form and waited around an hour. When my number was called I handed in my big pack of documents my accountant had provided me, my application form, a passport sized picture and the $85S fee. I was then handed a receipt and was told to return the following day between 2pm to 4.30pm.

I wanted to get the first flight out of Singapore after 4pm, this gave me enough time to collect my visa and make my way to the airport, which is a 25 minute taxi ride away. Jet Star Asia had a flight at 5.30pm so I booked a ticket with them.

I didn’t book my hotel room prior to arriving in Singapore, I don’t know why, I just prefer to have a nose around and see what’s available. I checked a few hotels in Little India, however the ones I saw were too run down, plus I needed somewhere with an internet connection. I then jumped in a taxi and headed for the Hilton, a hotel I’ve stayed at before on a previous trip to Singapore. The rooms are very small here, and after the receptionist quoted my $400S I decided to go into a net café and see what else was available on Orchard Road, where all the shops, restaurants and the Royal Thai Embassy is located

This is where I noticed the Grand Hyatt Singapore was offering twin rooms for $320, the lowest rate for a 4/5 star hotel on this road. I wasn’t sure why the king bed room was $50 extra, however when I checked in they gave me a King room at no extra charge.

The hotel is located on Scott Road, no less than a 2 minute walk to Orchard Road. Check-in was easy and pleasant, even though I didn’t have my passport (My passport was at the Embassy), this has caused me problems before. I remember staying at The Peninsula in Hong Kong, this hotel is voted as one of the top 10 hotels in the world, year after year and they gave me so much hassle for not having my passport!

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with the size of the room and the gadgets, which included a big comfortable chair and foot rest, a big plasma TV and DVD and a work station where I could access internet for $35S per 24 hours.

The bad bits:
I can honestly say that I couldn’t pick a fault in the Grand Hyatt Sinagpore

The Good bits:
The lap-top safe! (I’ve never seen this before!)
Extra huge Bed
Huge Plasma TV + DVD
The lovely metal ashtray I stole
The size of the room
The private work station

Would I stay again?
Absolutely!