Sunday, July 20, 2008

Singapore

Back in Singapore last week to register my Singapore citizenship but I didn't really get it done actually but that's the story on Monday. Let's start from the weekend as my best friend, Grace, happened to be in Singapore as well.

The hotel cost in Singapore has been more than double because of the whatever demand. So I booked Grand Central Hotel at Orchard because they offer 130nett for 7 days stay. That's considered good price based on the location. However, the hotel room is really terrible. I have very high threshold for accommodation because of my traveling experience. I can stay at backpackers place or even some those budget places but I can't really stand places old, smelly and suffocating. On that night itself, I just moved to Grace's hotel at Swissotel and of course it's much much better as it's the 5 star standard.
SG City Night View fr Swissotel 26F
SG City View fr Swissotel 26F
SG City Vew fr Swissotel 26F
SG City View fr Swissotel 26F
Swissotel is also one of my favorite places in Singapore as I really love the
City Space at the 70 floor because of the view, atmosphere and the drinks there. On Sunday night, Grace and I decided to be the tourist to visit the newly open Singapore Flyer. Can't really take any picture because of the blue light inside the capsule. The conclusion is the view and atmosphere at City Space is really very good. :)
Singapore Flyer
Singapore Flyer
On Monday, I went to Taipei Representative office in SG to renounce my Taiwan citizenship but only then I realized that I need some other documents from the tax office and also the police. I actually checked with one of my colleagues on what to prepare for this renouncement but she total forgot about mentioning this part to me. Therefore, I didn't renounce my Taiwan citizenship and therefore can't continue with the registration part in the afternoon. When I know about this, I started to wonder if it's a sign to ask me not to do this conversion as things happen for a reason. Anyway, in the end, I still decided to do it but just not sure if Singapore government would allow me to delay until Oct as I won't be able to be there for another 5 days until next quarter.

Anyway, the only thing I realized this trip is the cost of living in Singapore is SKY HIGH right now. I used to say the taxi fare there is very cheap but nowadays it's easily double digit for any trip with all the surcharge. As to hotel, it's even more terrible. After the first 2 nights at Swissotel, I moved to Hotel Link.
Link Hotel, SG
Link Hotel, SG
This kind of place is charging SG$225 nett which is terrible to me. I would really need to book early for my usual backpacker's place at Hive Backpackers Hostel.

No comments: