Singapore experiences - please share

Singapore is a little like living in the Disney version of South East Asia. It is lush, beautiful, modern, comfortable but boring, rigid, and expensive. Everything works though unlike the more lively and chaotic nearby countries.

It's not very gay friendly, there are other places I'd suggest.

R2 such as?

It's the Switzerland of East Asia, and that is not a compliment.

Very rich, very anal-retentive. Fine for a visit if you've got a lot of cash (they've built up all sorts of tourist attractions), but basically a police state full of people who like living in a police state. A nation of Asian Karens, if you will.

I've been there several times OP. Singapore is fucking hot. Very rich, very nicely organised, very westernized and some incredibly interesting and quirky architecture.

I'd rather go to Thailand. There's so much more to do, much more concentrated culture, stunning places to visit, very gay friendly and lovely people. Best and most delicious food in the whole world too!

You can do both and if you fly with Singapore Airlines you should be able to get a stopover in Thailand easily for free or get a very cheap flight from Singapore to Thailand. I would do no more than 5 days in Singapore and then spend the rest of your vacation time in Thailand.

Singapore is what happens when a place is completely capitalistic.

No heart or soul at all--only lots of money

Really good street food and Singapore Airlines (and Changi Airport) are the world’s best. The street food is actually available at the airport in the employee food court, so you can skip the humidity if you want. Also worth leaving the airport for brunch at the Raffles Hotel for a taste of fine colonial living.

Humid climate, harsh penal system.

Beautiful city and airport. Police everywhere and I found the locals watching us for any transgressions they could report and when we tried to hail a cab NY style we got scolded. You have to go to the cab stands.

SIN is the most sterile and soulless country I've been to, having visited most of SEA. On other hand, didn't mind it, when on expense account for work, given its compactness and efficiency, just wouldn't want to live or vacation there.

All I remember about Singapore is the two-storey waterfall at the airport and that the streets were so clean you could eat off them.

R5 - where do you recommend in Thailand? And thanks for the advice!

In Thailand you’ve got your sleazy sex-tourist bar and beach areas. Then you’ve got your backpacker druggie rave bar and beach areas. The middle the country has national parks, historic old capitals, but otherwise not very interesting to foreigners. The north has the mountains for trekking, hill tribes and is generally cooler. Bangkok is 24-hour non-stop chaos and pollution. It really depends what your interests are.

Singapore looked really cool in "Crazy Rich Asians."

Good place for a caning.

While aside from the trauma of getting there, I found it fascinating. This was my first "big overseas" trip, so I wasn't very adventurous. I loved the zoo tour at night, and the 4 Chopsticks monument is interesting. It is spectacularly clean, and the people are kind but quite reserved. Now that I've grown older and know how to do proper research before leaving home, I'd love to go back. A great experience.

^^R38 in the related thread^^

Everything I've heard about its climate makes it sound like one of the most oppressively hot and humid major cities in the world.

"but basically a police state full of people who like living in a police state."

Sounds wonderful to us. Just what we've been looking for and just what America needs to be great again.

I met some people from there on a trip to Sri Lanka. They were all nice, funny and smart. It does sound very hot and somewhat rigid culturally, but their attitude toward things like mask wearing is much more rational, and they seem to appreciate that they need to work together instead of arguing about their right to get sick/make others sick. Also, privately they have plenty of jokes about their own culture and government, not unlike us or any other country. It does sound hot, modern and clean, as mentioned above.

You GOTTA try this astounding, even orgasmic thing they have called the "Singapore Sling!"

Oh, and I guess there's ALSO an alcoholic beverage by that name . . .

I was there for work, setting up an office and hiring staff. While same sex activity is technically still illegal in Singapore, there are bars and "massage parlors" that openly cater towards gay men (I've tried both.) I lived in a modern condo tower in Novena, north of the CBD, that had a gym and pool. Public transportation was well run and very clean. Uber was available so I used that a lot to get around. Shopping can be fun as they have whole malls dedicated to specific categories of goods like a whole complex devoted to sporting goods or one just for filipino foods/groceries. Orchard Road is their main shopping hub, lots of luxury shops.

I remember one of the first things someone told me about Singapore was obey all the rules, even the small ones like don't litter or don't eat/drink on the trains. A co-worker once told me a story of how she was walking in a park with friends one day and while getting something out of her bag, she dropped a tissue. Even before she was able to pick it up, someone stepped up her, said she was littering and gave her a ticket.

Another nice thing about Singapore is that it's a great jumping off point for other parts of the Oceania region so you can take trips to Hong Kong, Tokyo or even Sydney.

Go there at least once to experience a city-state that’s clean and virtually crime-free, a rarity in today’s world. For pretty much the same but with greater degree of WTF and super-advanced, world class city, go to Tokyo. The Japanese leave you alone if you’re gay. If you want super gay-friendly in Asia you go to Taipei, Taiwan. Not as clean as Singapore but people there know how to have fun and the food is just as good if not better due to the Japanese and traditional Chinese (pre-communist) influences.

I have been there four times and I would not recommend it for more than 3 nights. As it has been said, it is boring. Beautiful but soulless. Stay one night at the hotel with the pool on the roof and it is very impressive, beautiful at night. However, avoid summers (May to October, approximately) because it is humid and hot as you cannot imagine.

I lived and worked there for two years. The best part of Singapore is its location and the (at the time) availability of budget airlines. I got away from Singapore at every opportunity.

The Singaporeans hate the large expat community. The expats on the whole are awful.

You know that there’s something wrong with a place when the chief weekend recreation is shopping.

Ugh - sounds horrible. NYC is sterile enough - absolutely no need to ever see Singapore.

I lived in SE Asia for years and would drop down to Singapore when i was desperate for organization. After a few days there i was ready to get back to Bangkok's chaos.

Leave your spray paint at home.

r19 The Deplorables wouldn't last five minutes in Singapore. They want to defy rules, not follow them.

LOL, I showed up one year and the crosswalks had arrows painted on them in an attempt to get pedestrians to stay in their lane while crossing the street. Totally ignored of course.

Still you have to admire that after WWII, they were in bad shape, then there was the split with Malaysia but an authoritarian leader was able to marshal the country and it became one of the most modern countries in the world.