SINGAPORE, AN AXIOMATIC APPROACH WITH APPLICATIONS OMER ZILBERBOIM 1. Normalize your money The rst thing you should do to get a proper sense of your money's worth is go to McDonald's. There you'll nd that crispy chicken is 2 SGD, and an entire meal is about 6 SGD. A big bottle of water (1.5 litre) in a supermarket or a 7 eleven would cost you around 2 SGD. A good map of Singapore (the ocial map) will cost you 8 SGD (the price is written on it), and I strongly suggest you buy it, as it contains some information on interesting sights and how to get there. In fact, if you are in Singapore for a few days, that's probably all you need. On this map you'll nd enumerated markers that correspond to a list of places of interest. Again, I strongly recommend to buy this map (could be found in some of the 7 elevens). On this note, let's say a word on the do's and don'ts: Do bring breathable cloths, preferably short and a swim suit. Don't bring any sort of weapons, drugs, chewing gum or tobacco. 2. There exists good, clean, cheap food. Don't look for restaurants, look for food courts. These are spread all around and can be found where the population is more dense. If you bought the map, you'll see some of them marked on it (try looking for a fork and a spoon, for instance on the enlarged downtown part, L-15). Various types of food - Malaysian, Chinese, Indian etc. can be found in these food courts for about 3-7 SGD per person, depends on what you take. This does not include drinks, which are usually sold at a separate stall in the food court, and include the regular beverages from a can/bottle as well as more exotic drinks such as: Bandung (roughly, milk with rose avor), sugar cane juice (get it if you can nd it !), lychee juice etc. Usually there will also be various fruits, served sliced as a desert. The more I talk to people who have been to Singapore it appears they have missed out this point, namely, eating at food courts. I'm not saying you should eat only at food courts, sometimes you're just not up for it, but I strongly suggest that you insist on going to one of the large food courts on your rst-second day, and try them out. I would recommend going to Albert Centre or Tekka Centre if you want a safe bet (food variety-wise). It seems to put the whole Singapore experience in a dierent perspective: Assuming you'll order 7 SGD (the more expensive meals) worth of food on EVERY meal, that you eat 3 times a day and that once a day you'll order a meal you don't like (in practice, that only happened to me 3 times in a month), you'll end up spending 28 SGD per day on food. Considering that a lot of the activities suggested in this paper are FREE, you can get a good bound on the amount of money you'll spend per day (adding the cost of public transportation and accommodation). 1 SINGAPORE, AN AXIOMATIC APPROACH WITH APPLICATIONS 2 But the real joy of these food courts is the great variety of food on the same place. English is not always understandable (most of the times it is), but you can point out what you like, since everything is usually either displayed or shown in pictures. Examples for these food courts are Albert Centre (if you are near Bugis MRT station), Tekka Centre (if you are in little India), Food Republic (which is a chain of food courts, there is one in Vivo City for instance). These were just the big names, but there are plenty more food courts, some are unnamed and might be smaller but just as good. There are also food courts at MRT stations (for instance, the one in Bugis station - NOT the Albert centre which is close by). After a while you'll see that those are a little dierent, and of course malls are lled with them (but usually more expensive). This section would be named: All food in Singapore is cheap and good BUT: 2.1. There exists expensive food. If you go to Clarck Quay, which is by the way a nice place to hang out, you'll nd some expensive restaurants. This can easily seen to be related to the proximity to the Central Business District (CBD), the expensive hotels, and to the massive amount of foreigners sitting there. No need to worry, the Clarck Quay MRT station is nearby, where you can nd a food court. If you are willing to go a bit further, Chinatown is also close, where you can also nd food courts and, of course, Chinatown itself. Don't skip Peoples Park which is across the street from Chinatown, and where you can get a glimpse of real china. 2.2. There exists bad food. Durian. This is a fruit that smells so bad, it is not permitted on the public transportation and hotels. It not only taste so bad, but its taste tends to stay in your mouth/stomach. Try it at least once. There are Durian cakes, shakes, ice cream, pancakes and many other ways to ingest the foul fruit. Make sure you get yours fresh.... 2.3. Specialty Food and Alcohol. This paper is not the right place to look for directions to specialty food (chilli crabs, shark n soup etc.), but you should be aware that there are exotic dishes which are considered very good in Singapore. A word of caution though: don't be tempted to pay a lot of money for nonsense. For instance, a Singapore Sling (a local drink) would cost you a pretty penny at a hotel or a bar (probably since it is considered a thing to do for tourists in Singapore). Regarding alcohol, look for the places that have happy hours and remember that a big bottle of beer (Tiger, Carlsberg etc.) would cost you approximately 5-6 SGD at a drinks stall in a food court or on the street, and drinking like the locals do is an excellent experience. 3. Suppose you have a local sim card, Then you have free internet. Let me explain: a local sim card would cost about 18 SGD for the simple pre- paid kind. Assuming it ts in your phone (if your cell phone is not locked or incompatible), you could surf the web for free wherever there is a wireless@sg net- work hot spot (meaning a wireless LAN connection). There are many such spots, all over Singapore, so maybe it won't work inside your room, but you should be able to nd it at most public spaces. A registration is required, and then an sms is sent to your phone containing your user name and password (so just buying the SIM card is not enough, you'll need a phone too). For more information see SINGAPORE, AN AXIOMATIC APPROACH WITH APPLICATIONS 3 http://home.singtel.com/wirelesssg/. This is through SingTel's website, in case you have an M1 or StarHub SIM card, you might want to check their websites as well. 4. Existence of Good Public Transportation Public transportation in Singapore is very eective. A pass card could be bought and charged with money, to be used in all the train lines (MRT, LRT) AND buses (EZ link is one example for such a card). Simply swipe the card upon entering or exiting a bus and the right amount of money will be deducted o of your card (according to millage). Once leaving Singapore, you can approach the customer service counter at any MRT station (for instance, the one in Changi Airport) and cash back the remaining credit on your card. For a map of trains you can refer to: http://www.smrt.com.sg/trains/network_map.asp, though it is also possible to just ask a small map in any of the MRT stations. If you got the ocial map of Singapore, then there is also a map of the MRT there. Lastly, there are cabs: nancially they are the most expensive option, unless you are traveling by a total company of 4 (or 3) people, in which case it is sometimes better to take a cab or combine MRT with them. It is illegal for a taxi driver not to run on a meter, and notice (usually on the back window) that there are extra charges (night time, airport drive etc.). 5. Accommodation This is really an issue I hoped to avoid, but there is something to be said here: At the time of writing, there are at least two hotel chains that run in Singapore: Fragrance Hotel and Hotel 81. Both run hotels all around the island, at various costs and various levels of comfort, cleaning etc. It very well can happen that the same chain has several hotels in the same neighborhood with similar prices but dierent facilities. Another thing to look out for, regarding location: there are considerably cheaper hotels in Gaylang (a district on the east side of the island), however, be sure to know that this is a red light district. The only golden rule that I could recommend is that closer to Bugis is better (from the perspective of neighborhood, facilities, proximity to many areas of interest etc.), and more expensive.