Singapore: 🇸🇬, 🌱, 🛍

And here we go, with the final trip for 2018! I went to Singapore for about three weeks, ostensibly on research for my new book. That means everything’s a write off! Right? Advertised as an uber-expensive city, Singapore proved to be not too bad depending on how you lived. It was easy to eat cheap if needed, for example.

Getting to Singapore was easy, just a mere $300 ticket from Taipei, and since I was traveling with my girlfriend for this trip, that number was doubled. Finding accommodations was a little tougher, as AirBnbs are technically outlawed but there were still plenty of options, just not a ton for so many consecutive days.

Finding something central and near public transportation was a priority but as it turned out, everyone cabs everywhere anyway. We stayed in the CBD (Central Business District), where all the finance high rises are, which was convenient if a bit staid. The best part was that our apartment was right across the street from Lau Pa Sat, a hawker center that proved to be very convenient for picking up fruit or getting quick meals. For sixteen nights, the total charge for accommodations was about $2,500.

To be honest, I didn’t find the food in Singapore to be stellar. There were many average meals and some highly touted foods that weren’t that amazing. However, having said that, I think we were mostly eating in the wrong places, as we often chose convenience — hawker centers and mall food courts — over personal recommends. But compared to a place like Taipei, where nearly everything is pretty good, Singapore disappointed on the food front. We had one particularly distasteful meal at an Indian restaurant that I was very excited for. Oh well, I’ll eat better next time I’m there. Overall food cost about $850, split $550 / $130 / $150 / $30 between dining out shared, dining out, snacks, and boba.

I’ll skip on shopping details but suffice to say that most of the $550 or so I spent shopping was spent on household stuff for the AirBnb, clothes and thermoses for gifts, and one grey side bag that I had to get because my daily carry items were too much for the trusty fanny pack. Also we had to bring a light umbrella everywhere because there’s rain at least once a day. Oh, SIM cards are readily available and about $25 for fifteen days of 100 GB data, which is more than enough.

Taxis were a huge part of our transportation expense, as the subway cards we got were cheap and rarely used. From what I could tell, each subway ride was under a dollar or so, and our initial fill of $20 for the cards was more than enough. Taxis cost $400 for the whole trip, as I took about forty trips for an average of $10 each. Oh, everyone uses Grab in Singapore, since they bought out Uber. When in SG, Grab away!

I saw two movies in Singapore — Aquaman and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — and prices were about $8-10 per ticket. Mostly though, I spent my time exploring museums, which ranged from free for the Peranakan up to $20 for the National Gallery or attractions like Cloud Forest and ArtScience Museum.

More importantly, I spent $80 each for two Friends of Wildlife passes, which gave unlimited annual access to four animal theme parks: Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Safari, Jurong Bird Park. I ended up going to all of them and then promptly forgot to use the 20% discount when I bought cute things for the nieces. It’s okay, the animals need my extra twenty-percent. The nieces need the cute things.

There was two hours in a casino, in which we played a roulette-type game called sic bo (or dai siu 大小), and three of us all walked out up money, which was amazing. I won a cool $200 to cover that day's shopping and food expenses so it was perfect. I haven’t won money in a casino in years, so I guess I must have better luck gambling in Asia?

Last of all, we had a karaoke night that was three hours of singing and a drinks minimum, which only cost $60 for three people. Karaoke places in Singapore apparently have a little grocery store-like setup in front where you pick up your snacks and drinks, which was quite a novelty and fun. The song selection was also excellent. Singapore wins for karaoke!

I wish I had seen more of the night life in Singapore, but mostly we were too tired at night to be out much. From what I could gather, drinks cost a lot and cover charge at clubs also ran high. There were a plethora of bars and lounges in certain neighborhoods but I only went out once, to a tiny techno bar that was very quiet and I ended up chatting with a bunch of expats. I guess next time I'll find out if Singaporeans dance.

So that was Singapore in a nutshell: $5,400 for two-and-a-half weeks of book research. Averaging all the costs into the days spent there, Singapore tied with the Philippines for my most expensive daily trip this year, at around $340 per day. So I guess it’s either a day on a private island or a day in the city of the crazy rich: your pick!