Singapore: A few things to know

As you fly to Singapore, you are presented with the entry papers to fill out, nothing unusual there. Until you turn the card over and notice that they are informing you drug smuggling into Singapore is punishable by DEATH. Whoa. . .they do still take their laws very seriously and while they may seem odd to us (no gum), do us all a favor and just obey them, OK? I really do not need to hear about you getting caned in Singapore on CNN. And yes, it does happen - while I was there the news reported on a caning of a local for some offense or another.

About the airport - Changi:

I was a bit caught off guard by the airport procedure at Changi. Everything went smoothly until I arrived at my gate. Each gate has an additional security screening and there was no water or restrooms past this security point. Plan accordingly. There is the standard security screening as you enter into the gate area also – so two security gates.

What to avoid

Hotel Restaurants:

The Raffles Hotel restaurants: overpriced and frankly - just not worth it. The hotel itself is very lovely, but the food just didn’t cut it. We ate at the Long Bar, a steakhouse and it was super expensive and super pedestrian.

One-Ninety at the Four Seasons: Seriously? You are going to charge me that much for fried rice? Puh-lease. It wasn’t even that good!

Taxis:

Unless you call for a taxi, forget about it. The little taxi stands along the streets are worthless (you cannot flag down a cab, you must wait at the stand). We asked a local about this and were told that a cab driver makes more when responding to a call to pick up a specific person at a specific location. We would actually see cabs go by and turn on their “on call” light before passing us at the stand and then turn it back off. Either carry cards for some taxi services, use MRT or be ready to hoof it.

Durian:

If you have never smelled the horrible stench of this fruit, well, I suppose in some ways you ARE missing something but not a pleasant experience. People are forbidden to buy this and bring it back to hotels and such. The stench is strong, powerful, rotten and carries a long, long distance. Since I couldn’t get within 20 feet of vendor selling the fruit, I certainly did not TASTE it . . . and really, why would you??

One Perfect Day: Singapore

I was fortunate to be staying in the Four Seasons since I was on business travel. For female travelers, you have to realize tank-tops won’t get you into the temples and mosques and will cause you to freeze in the shops and air-conditioned places. I wore a long-sleeved white linen shirt, a skirt and slip-on shoes. Obey the local laws: no spitting, no chewing gum, etc. The upside of all the laws is that Singapore is an amazingly clean, modern city with a very polite culture and excellent service wherever you go.

First stop: “Little India”. It is a bit difficult to navigate Little India – sidewalks sometimes vanish or end up being very broken and sporadic. Compared to the rest of Singapore, this is a bit disconcerting. After exiting the MRT system, we found a great place called Mustards on Race Course Road. The server kept asking me about “gravy” and I never really did figure out what he meant, but the food was fantastic!

There is a very notable Hindu temple to Vishnu, Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on Serangoon Road. It is open air and very elaborate, very beautiful. To the Western eye, it may seem like a bit much – but take a moment to realize Indian culture values color more than our culture. Look everywhere and notice everything. There are statues that are just stunning and carvings that are amazing. You must remove your shoes to enter. Continuing along Race Course Road the Buddhist temple, Leong San See Taoist Temple, also known as the Dragon Mountain Temple, was just stunning. Even someone as cynical I as can be truly moved by this place. Past the entrance is an open air courtyard. When I arrived the monks were singing a chant to their ancestors. There were birds in cages around the courtyard contributing in their own way to the chant – it was overall just an incredible experience.

Along the same street, there are a couple more Buddhist templates, neither as interesting as the first. The temple with the “great” Buddha (Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple) wasn’t as interesting as the Lonely Planet book made it seem. It did have an adorable “guard cat” who was hanging out with the worshipers at prayer. If I have my history correct, this is suppose to be one of the oldest temples to Buddha in the city and notable for making slight concessions to Hinduism.

Along the way, we found the Tekka Mall. If you have time, there are plenty of vendors here happy to fit a traditional Indian outfit for you. The shops are amazing and varied – silk, gold, purses, food – definitely a place to visit, though I suspect there is an aspect of “buyer beware” going on here.

Taking the MRT to Chinatown, when you come up out of the subway it is a bit surprising. Chinatown in San Francisco and New York are a bit gritty. The Singapore Chinatown has wider streets and is spotless. It is also very, very beautiful! The two or three story buildings are painted a vast amount of colors with shuttered windows and the odd advertisement painting on the building itself. The red paper lanterns strung across the streets must be really made of plastic since they survived the downpour I was trapped in. The streets are paved with brick and stone and no cars allowed. During said downpour, we ducked into a place called “8 Treasures” to get something to eat and escape the rain. Air-conditioning greeted us and we scored a window seat! The place had a colonial feel to it and the staff were fantastic. The food is all vegetarian but extremely good. The spicy Schezwan soup was amazing and the olive fried rice seemed to be missing the olives but was delicious just the same. The chrysanthemum tea was a new thing for me and I loved it!

Skip the Chinatown Complex – completely lame. We ran into it to avoid the rain (which had started up again) and it wasn’t anything special. There is that special fruit that smells horrid – Durian - and there was a vendor here selling it. The smell permeated the whole complex. Watch out for the jewelry shops. Seriously. They have A/C which draws you in “just to look” and you walk out significantly poorer. However, if you are good at saying “no” (and meaning it) and at bargaining, you can score some good deals here.

At this point, you should be thoroughly exhausted and it is time to call it a day!

San Francisco: Best of Alcatraz

Alcatraz is a self-guided tour with audio tours available. The boat ride over is short but with gorgeous views (on a clear day). It will almost always be chilly on the water so bring a jacket. If you are around the Pier 39 area and think you are just a very short walk from Pier 33 - think again. It is about a 10 minute walk or more depending on how much energy you have left.

San Francisco: Best of the Academy of Science

The food options are pretty lame for families and overall, the experience is expensive. However, the planetarium is freakin' AWESOME despite the preachy monologue that goes with it. The aquarium is very cool and the rainforest is OK.

Go early in the day and when everyone else is working or at school for the best experience.

Cabo San Lucas: Adventures in Lodging

In two trips to Cabo, we've tried two very different lodging experiences.

Our first trip, we rented a condo at Terrasol. If you aren't familiar with the geography of the area, this is on the Pacific side. You almost go through a pass in the hills to get to this area and it very quiet over here. The water is much rougher and swimming is not recommended or even realistic - the water is usually freezing. However, it is pretty quiet over here in general and the beaches aren't crowded and filled with people peddling goods (private beaches - it isn't allowed).

Terrasol is an older condo complex and there isn't really anything special about it. We had a decent place and could see the ocean from our deck. No room service, no housekeeping service but we had a full kitchen, washing machine and a dishwasher.

The second trip, we stayed at the Villa del Palmar. It was part of an overall package and given the price, we figured just do it.

Hmmm. . . .well, you get what you pay for. See my previous post on being stalked in our hotel to sign up for a timeshare tour. Add to that the water went out at least three times, once while I was in the shower. The A/C went out on the hottest day of the week and stayed out for over 12 hours. When we called the front desk, they were surly and unable to give us an ETA on when it would be fixed. Each room does have a sitting room area and a balcony, along with a kitchen (though only burner worked) with pots, pans and dishes.

The pool area wasn't bad, if you stayed at the top pool area. The bottom pool was water aerobics, crazy guy screaming into a microphone, loud music and general chaos pretty much all day. At night - same thing. If you prefer a little less chaos, I would suggest you do not get a room overlooking the pool.

The restaurant on the ocean, Bella California, was average. The food wasn't too expensive but it wasn't thrilling either. Dinner was better than lunch/brunch. The drinks were cheap but not very strong. The staff were very sweet and helpful and the view was stunning, but you did have to watch out for folks stopping below and trying to sell their wares - jewelry, t-shirts, rugs, ceramic works, etc.

Palmar is probably best for people with kids, or college students who want to keep it wild and crazy day and night. We browsed through the neighboring property, Villa del Arco, which seemed much more low key (and had a nice steakhouse!) but I was a little put off by the pirate ship bar. Not kidding - El Buccaneer - a life size pirate ship for your drinking pleasure. Arrrr mateys!

Cabo Pulmo: Snorkel!

This is one remote and very cool place! Be prepared for the journey if you drive it - about two hours from Cabo San Lucas and the last 6-7 miles are on a rough, rutted and bumpy dirt road. We lost a hubcap on our rental car on this road (the driver will remain unnamed) but since it was plastic the rental agency didn't charge too much.

The Cabo Dive Center is the place here. I'm not kidding, it is the only game in ... the village. We went out on the snorkel tour, which lasts about two hours. Bring a waterproof bag with and some supplies: water, snacks, lip balm, sunscreen and a towel. They provide the boat and the wetsuit. Visibility and water-temp vary day to day and they tend to run operations almost on a day-by-day basis. The winds can get strong enough to make visibility near zero and they won't run trips in those conditions.

The first snorkel stop was really pretty damn cool, though there were jellyfish in the area. This was my favorite spot and they gave us plenty of time to fully explore. The second spot was at the rocks of a sea lion colony! It seemed gimicky to me at first, but I have to admit it was pretty cool to see one swim by all of maybe six feet from you. The final snorkel location was over a coral reef and was a fairly short stop due to the water temperature being pretty darn chilly (even in a wetsuit) that day.

If you make the trip, you should realize this is pretty bare bones operation - but the people are phenomenal. The boat is a motorboat so don't expect anything fancy. In fact, you might be asked to help launch it. We tipped our guide and boat captain and they seemed surprised. If you forgot a camera, they have one underwater camera available for renting (first come first serve) at $30 USD – this includes images written to a CD.

Once you return, venture upstairs to the Coral Reef restaurant. Again - is the only game in town but the food is good, the place is clean and the prices are great.

If you are into scuba, they have a ton of scuba spots here and I can imagine it would be truly stunning. Makes me wish I had my diving certification!!

Visiting Los Cabos: the Timeshare Gauntlet

Every time I walk off the plane in Cabo San Jose, I want to scream. This isn’t usually how I like to start a vacation, but it should say something for Los Cabos that I love this place even though my first reaction is to scream and maybe even hurt people.

Why the visceral reaction? The madness begins in the airport (A/C never seems to work) with customs. Find your bag, hand it to the screener, push a button, randomly get screened. OK, this part isn’t too bad and in fact, it is the best part of the airport.

After this you walk into a lobby area where there is a sudden rush of individuals wearing official-looking airport security badges. They all are there to help you find a car, a hotel, excursions, etc. Actually, they are NOT there to help you and I’ve had one flat out lie to me before: “The Hertz shuttle just left, ma’am, so you have time to just step over here and speak with me, I have a deal for you”. As it turns out, Hertz had gone out of business in that airport; hence, there could not be a Hertz shuttle at all. This lobby of helpful folks are all there to sign you up for a timeshare tour. Do not be fooled.

If you are lucky enough to have rented from a rental car company still in business and running shuttles (stupid Hertz – you suck!!!), proceed to the rental car fun. The price is negotiable – trust me. And that free map and guide book they just provided? It has your rental car agent’s name and cell phone number in there so you can contact him for a timeshare tour. By the way, (as you get into your car), would you like to sign up for a timeshare tour? I can provide you a voucher toward your rental car expenses.

The drive to Cabo San Lucas is lovely – take the toll road and avoid traffic in downtown Cabo San Jose. At your hotel, avoid picking up your “welcome package”, your “free” drink coupons and having your ass signed up for yet another timeshare tour. At Villa Palomar I finally had to go down and stand there for 10 minutes and let them show me their favorite attractions on a map, all the while building to the timeshare tour request I knew was coming and had refused several times. However, I realize they have a job to do and they will STALK YOU in your hotel until you at least give them a few minutes. Don’t sit down. Say no, request no additional notes under your door, following of you to the pool or phone calls to your room.

After that, you should be able to enjoy your vacation!

To be fair, if you have the time, energy and the ability to say “no” with a vengeance, our first trip to Cabo we did a tour and got about $200 USD off our rental car. I wouldn’t do a tour for anything less than $200 USD. If you decide to do it, negotiate like a devil – you’ll get what you want. And I realize these folks are just doing a job that (probably) corporate America is paying them to do – I sympathize with that – but damn! No, means NO!