Statue of Francis Xavier in Malacca. Doesn't he look a little like Singapore's Stamford Raffles?

You may wonder, is this all to SE Asia?  Of course not!

If you can find a day or 1/2 day free, you might find a chance to go out of the city center, to experience other parts of Singapore, or if you’re more daring (and have more than 6 months validity on your visa, try going out of the country to visit nearby Malaysia or Indonesia.  Johor Bahru (JB for short) and Malacca (about 2-3 hours away each way) in Malaysia offers a contrast to the super modern urban landscape that makes up downtown Singapore.

Our tour desk offers two tours going out of town to JB and Malacca and gives you a safe return.  We recommend going with the tour (especially if you’re thinking of going to JB; tourists are often targets of scams).  You can find the tour desk near the foyer of the Ballroom.

Enjoy!

(PS – want more detail?  Check out Chris’ earlier post on traveling to Malaysia)

Changi Terminal 3

It’s apt to write about Changi Airport when I’m actually at Changi Airport now waiting comfortably in a cafe for another 3 hours to my flight (and have been waiting for 2 hours). I thought of writing a single article about Changi Airport, but realized that it would be either too superficial or too lengthy. So I’ll try splitting them for now.

So right now let’s discuss the arrivals at Changi. So here is my experience this morning arriving at Changi Airport (disclaimer: this is partly a personal experience; yours might vary ). When I arrived at Terminal 1, I was greeted by the familiarity of the surroundings. Yeah, after 2 unfamiliar airports (it was my first time in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport—where I was transiting twice—and Københavns Lufthavne), I feel at home.

Well, for you guys, you’d probably greeted by a scene of Singaporeans speaking in a language that is like English, but not quite English. That is what commonly described here as Singlish, an English-based creole used by many Singaporeans (including yours truly when speaking with Singaporean friends). The wikipedia article even mentioned this as a first language for most Singaporean. Since, the ACL-IJCNLP conference is focusing on language, I’m hoping to get my linguist friend to post on Singlish soon (provided she has the time).

Anyway, back to the experience, once you exit the gate, just follow the signs for Arrivals. You’ll soon arrive at passport control. You’ll get into the rather long queue (but usually quick-moving) indicated by ‘All Passports’ sign [unless you're a Singapore resident, in which case, you'll go to the 'other', much shorter queue]. Remember to grab the entry form to Singapore, usually offered by the airline stewardess (or grab it at the desk near the passport control), and fill them out before getting on to the queue.

Once past the passport control, you may want to take some time at the DFS shop if you love liqueur. Singapore grants duty-free concession of 1 litre of spirits, 1 litre of wine, and 1 litre of beer.

Singapore Visitors Centre @ Changi T3

Afterwards, check out the overhead LCD screens that lets you know which belt your baggage is at (and wait patiently; usually no longer than a few minutes). Now come the customs. As usual, there would be two channels, the red and green channel. Go to the red one if you have goods to declare (dutiable/taxable goods, controlled/restricted items, prohibited items—we’ll get to this later); otherwise go to the green one.

Once you exited the restricted area, you may want to check out the Singapore Visitors Centre (at the same level as arrivals in all 3 terminals; they’re pretty noticeable) as mentioned in a previous post.

Transport from Changi Airport

What to do from now on? Most people take the taxi from the Arrivals hall. They’re in abundance during both peak and off-peak hours. All drivers are mandated to use the meter to determine fare charges and usually will do so automatically. A trip to city centre by taxi will cost about SGD15 during daytime (and more at night with the 50% fare surcharge).

If you’re feeling adventurous (and, hopefully, carrying light luggage), you can try getting around by the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit; basically an urban public transit rail). If you opt to do so, you might want to check out gothere.sg for direction to your accommodation. Fare for an MRT ride to city centre is pretty cheap (not more than SGD2; cheaper if you buy the ez-link card—this would be a subject of another post in the future).

While it is generally possible to get to anywhere in Singapore by a combination of MRT and bus from Changi Airport, your best bet (value/effort ratio) is a combination of MRT and taxi ride. Get to an MRT stop closest to your accommodation and try to grab a taxi from any busstop nearby (at city centre, you may need to find a taxi stand as drivers may not be allowed to stop at any busstop). A bus ride with luggage is usually a painful effort and not advisable if you’re carrying luggage with large dimensions. [I did manage to get back on the MRT and bus today with 20 kg of luggage and a laptop bag; but I was bringing a travel backpack and a sling travel bag.]

(Last thing to note is that the MRT is in operation from 530am or 6am to about midnight; but I wouldn’t suggest taking the MRT after 1115pm since you may not be in time for transfer to other MRT lines that you may need to take; visit the SMRT website for detailed train schedule—does not include the NE line operated by SBS.)

Prohibited Items

Now is the fun part: the list of prohibited items (mentioned earlier). Some people found some items on the list funny; others found it unreasonable; well, I have gotten used to it. d:

Here goes the list (the list is taken from the ‘Customs Guide for Travellers’ available for free at the airport—comments in [..] is from me):

• Chewing gum; [Yes! No chewing gum! Apparently we had a bad share of sticky things on public amenities. So yes, it's banned.]
• Chewing tobacco and immitation tobacco products; [This one surprised me as well.]
• Cigarette lighters of pistol or revolver shape; [The funny thing is, actual pistol and revolver aren't on the list; NOT that you can bring them]
• Controlled drugs and psychotropic substances;
• Endangered species of wildlife and their byproducts;
• Firecrackers
• Obscene articles, publications, video tapes/discs and software; [Possession of porn is a crime in Singapore; strangely, I've heard that due to some loophole, viewing them isn't.]
• Reproduction of copyright publications, video tapes, video discs, laser discs, records or cassettes;
• Seditious and treasonable materials. [This is the hardest to describe precisely; if you had doubts, don't bring them!]

All right, this post is long enough as it is. I hope it is helpful for you. I know it is kinda early to read about this now, so I’ll collect posts like this under ‘Travel Essentials’ category so you can get to them easily in the future. (: