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advice for Asia


juanarcin
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I have a cruise scheduled out of Singapore in December.

 

I will land in Singapore on the 23rd and start the cruise on the 24th. So I only get the 23rd to explore Singapore. The cruise ends on the 29th. I then have 7 days (til the 5th of January) to hang out in Asia.

 

I have never been to Asia. I'm curious what anyone has to recommend I do out there. My current plan is to fly to Bangkok after Singapore. I'm undecided if I should spend new Years in Singapore or in Bangkok though. However, this plan is really out of nowhere, I'm not too familiar with destinations or attractions around Asia.

 

What I would like to ask all you travelers, is what would you do? Any other countries worth considering? Where to spend New Years? Should more attention be given to Singapore? I have that week after the cruise and I am overwhelmed with the options!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If it helps, we are a couple in our mid thirties. We aren't too excited ab out beaches. We are more excited bout food, sight seeing (temples, caves, cities, etc), landmarks, and drinking with views ;)

 

Please send me ideas and recommendations!!!

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Singapore is a great city but you can do it iin one or two days. One of the best attractions in Singapore is the Botanical Gardens. It is an amazing place, inside and outside. I’m not referring to the Orchard Gardens, which is nice, but the billion dollar Botanical Gardens. Visit Raffles Hotel for it’s history. If there is a hop on hop off bus (not sure if there is) you can do that. Bangkok is a nice city to visit as well. There are a few interesting temples, a river trip to the floating market and a trip outside of the city to a historical temple (can’t recall the name right now.). I’d say 3-4 days in Bangkok would be plenty. Oh, visit Jim Thompson’s house as well.

 

Another option from Singapore is to visit Kuala Lumpur in Malayaia, right next door. There may be a bus to KL for a day trip.

 

Not sure what you like to do on vacation so it’s hard to say. The hotels in Asia are beautiful, the food is great and you can get very low cost massages. Enjoy your planning.

 

Another option is to skip Bangkok and go to Hong Kong, which may be on your way home (not sure where you live.). It’s a fascinating city and it may break up your air travel a bit.

Edited by hubbards
forgot something.
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Do the HOHO in Singapore. I can also recommend staying at the Royal Plaza on Scott's Road...great hotel and location. Use the MRT and go to Lau Pa Sat (Google this to see what you don't want to miss) for the best night time (starts at 6:30pm when they close down the street) BBQ Satay ever....so good we went two nights. during our pre-cruise stay.

 

Enjoy Singapore !!!

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Perhaps it would help if you tell us where you are cruising to...then we can eliminate those ports/countries. :)

 

 

 

Google is your friend. Research before you go do you know what you want to see. Visit Singapore is a great site. HOHO is a bit expensive in Singapore. Thus city has a great MRT train system, cheap and easy to use. If you are short on time forget the Orchid garden and go to Gardens by the Bay. Been there 5 times and going back again in 3 weeks, always plenty to see. If you can fit it in they have in my opinion the best zoo in the world. Also night zoo tour is great. A beautiful very clean city.

 

 

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Singapore is a great city but you can do it iin one or two days. One of the best attractions in Singapore is the Botanical Gardens. It is an amazing place, inside and outside. I’m not referring to the Orchard Gardens, which is nice, but the billion dollar Botanical Gardens. Visit Raffles Hotel for it’s history. If there is a hop on hop off bus (not sure if there is) you can do that. Bangkok is a nice city to visit as well. There are a few interesting temples, a river trip to the floating market and a trip outside of the city to a historical temple (can’t recall the name right now.). I’d say 3-4 days in Bangkok would be plenty. Oh, visit Jim Thompson’s house as well.

 

Another option from Singapore is to visit Kuala Lumpur in Malayaia, right next door. There may be a bus to KL for a day trip.

 

Not sure what you like to do on vacation so it’s hard to say. The hotels in Asia are beautiful, the food is great and you can get very low cost massages. Enjoy your planning.

 

Another option is to skip Bangkok and go to Hong Kong, which may be on your way home (not sure where you live.). It’s a fascinating city and it may break up your air travel a bit.

 

Thank you so much for this info! Kuala Lumpur seems like a great options for a quick day trip after the cruise and before Bangkok/Hong Kong. Hong Kong and Tokyo were actually on my radar, I sort of leaned more towards Thailand because I assumed it may be a bit cheaper for a week stay. Because of this I decided I would rather do a full 2 weeks without the cruise in Tokyo next year. But Maybe I should look into pricing before making those decisions? thanks!

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Do the HOHO in Singapore. I can also recommend staying at the Royal Plaza on Scott's Road...great hotel and location. Use the MRT and go to Lau Pa Sat (Google this to see what you don't want to miss) for the best night time (starts at 6:30pm when they close down the street) BBQ Satay ever....so good we went two nights. during our pre-cruise stay.

 

Enjoy Singapore !!!

 

OMG! Lau Pa Sat looks amazing! I'm absolutely going to this place! And I've done the HoHo bus in a few European ports, if they do have it here I would absolutely take advantage of it, thanks!

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Siem Reap in Cambodia is well worth considering.

 

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Thank you so much! this is the first answer that actually has me doing tons of research! After a quick Google image search I was in love! I'm going to be heavily looking into this. After hubbards mentioned that Singapore can be done in 1-2 days and Thialand in 3-4, it makes me think I may be able to just sort all three locations into one trip. I'm also considering Hong Kong, but these three are really looking amazing to me!

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Perhaps it would help if you tell us where you are cruising to...then we can eliminate those ports/countries. :)

 

Of course! should have added it to the post and I can't edit it to make sure that info is on there. but just so I'l add it here, I will be stopping in Penang (Malaysia), Lang Kawi (Malaysia), and Phuket Thailand

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. HOHO is a bit expensive in Singapore.

 

Our hotel provided HOHO bus passes for free to us. It was also within walking distance of the Maxwell Hawker Center and Lau Pa Sat hawker center. (Oasia Downtown - we stayed 6 nights and loved it!!! Also next door to MRT station) [we did a SIN-HKG cruise and I did some work in SIN before we embarked on the cruise, that's one reason we were in town so long]

 

We want to go back and see more of Vietnam & see Cambodia - perhaps (eventually -I have to get my husband on a flight to Asia again, he's a baby about long flights) a river cruise on the Mekong. I've had quite a few work trips in China so have seen some of it - never mind seeing more but it's not a top priority like Siem Reap is....I'm not a beach person so I have no desire for any of the Thai beach areas.....

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Just some random thoughts:

 

You can visit a few sights your first day in Singapore. The MRT is easy to use and a great way to get around Singapore. During our last visit, we actually walked from the cruise terminal to the Gardens by the Bay...we highly recommend visiting this incredible place. Orchard Road, Chinatown, Little India, and the rest of the botanical gardens...just depends on how jet lagged you are.

 

After your cruise, I would stay another night in Singapore and visit sights you missed. You should be an expert on how to get around Singapore by that time.

 

Your idea to fly to Bangkok is a good one. Lots of temples to see...Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arum, the floating market...hotels and food are relatively cheap. You can even experience a true Thai massage in Bangkok (unless you have one during your cruise at your stop in Phuket) Our favorite experience in Bangkok is riding the long boat and enjoying the bigger boat up and down the Chao Praya River...with dinner and drinks included. There are plenty of taxi's and "tuktuks" to get around but traffic can be really bad.

 

We also highly recommend flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia and visiting Angkor Wat...breathtaking.

 

Perhaps you can plan on visiting Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, and the Philippines on your next trip to Asia. :)

 

Just another thought...in Europe where you can take the train to just about anywhere, you will have to fly to most Asian countries and that can get expensive...unless you have the time and budget for a really long cruise.

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OMG! Lau Pa Sat looks amazing! I'm absolutely going to this place! And I've done the HoHo bus in a few European ports, if they do have it here I would absolutely take advantage of it, thanks!

You're so very welcome...enjoy that Satay & Peanut sauce...just make sure you don't get there until 6:30pm..it's not the same during the day time hours...it's all about the night time and the street closure.

 

The HOHO is well worth it during the day to get an overview...our's included the Singapore Flyer too .....ask your hotel for a discount coupon for the HOHO.

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Just some random thoughts:

 

You can visit a few sights your first day in Singapore. The MRT is easy to use and a great way to get around Singapore. During our last visit, we actually walked from the cruise terminal to the Gardens by the Bay...we highly recommend visiting this incredible place. Orchard Road, Chinatown, Little India, and the rest of the botanical gardens...just depends on how jet lagged you are.

 

After your cruise, I would stay another night in Singapore and visit sights you missed. You should be an expert on how to get around Singapore by that time.

 

Your idea to fly to Bangkok is a good one. Lots of temples to see...Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arum, the floating market...hotels and food are relatively cheap. You can even experience a true Thai massage in Bangkok (unless you have one during your cruise at your stop in Phuket) Our favorite experience in Bangkok is riding the long boat and enjoying the bigger boat up and down the Chao Praya River...with dinner and drinks included. There are plenty of taxi's and "tuktuks" to get around but traffic can be really bad.

 

We also highly recommend flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia and visiting Angkor Wat...breathtaking.

 

Perhaps you can plan on visiting Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, and the Philippines on your next trip to Asia. :)

 

Just another thought...in Europe where you can take the train to just about anywhere, you will have to fly to most Asian countries and that can get expensive...unless you have the time and budget for a really long cruise.

 

Thank you for all your suggestions, we are making a list with everyones input, so much to see and do!!! As for Europe, I am very familiar. This will be my sixth cruise, but first time in Asia. The other 5 cruises were European. I got to see so many places and taste so many flavors! Hopefully my next 5 will be in Asia!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bangkok is a dirty, rather dangerous city. Singapore is a beautiful, clean, safe city. We did New Year's there last year prior to a cruise and it was just wonderful. We stayed at a Holiday Inn just two blocks away from the area where it was held and were able to walk there as often as we wished. There are neat things to see in Bangkok but I prefer to do them on a ship's excursion than wander around on my own. As far as flying in the day before the cruise-- last year we flew from Chicago to LA where our flight was delayed 3 hours and we were unable to leave that night. Then we had to fly to Hong Kong the next day and overnight it there and the following day fly to singapore. So we lost 2 days. I would be careful about arriving so close to your cruise.

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Thank you so much! this is the first answer that actually has me doing tons of research! After a quick Google image search I was in love! I'm going to be heavily looking into this. After hubbards mentioned that Singapore can be done in 1-2 days and Thialand in 3-4, it makes me think I may be able to just sort all three locations into one trip. I'm also considering Hong Kong, but these three are really looking amazing to me!

 

I can't imagine being able to do Singapore in 1-2 days or Thailand in 3-4.

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I can't imagine being able to do Singapore in 1-2 days or Thailand in 3-4.

 

I agree, I would still be in the first pub I came across in the first couple of days to rehydrate myself in all that heat in preparation for the rest of my days in those wonderful locations.

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I am in Singapore at the moment and have visited Singapore frequently as it is close to where I live. I am always finding new things to do and can't imagine doing everything in Singapore in 1-2 days!

When I return home from my holiday in a few days I will list some of my favourite things to do. For now I am off to enjoy Singapore.

Oh, I have also taken the flight from Singapore to Siem Reap for a few days to explore the temples. A great option IMO. I would choose that rather then visiting Kuala Lumpur. But everyone is different and has different priorities.

 

Julie

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