Asia Trans Travel

Singapore, also known as “The Lion City”, is located along the equator and separated from the southern tip of the Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. A country in Southeast Asia and a multi-racial society, it is not difficult to observe that Singaporean cuisines are a fusion of Malay, Chinese and Indian foods.

The Malay cuisine in Singapore is a blend of traditional dishes from Malaysia with strong influences from the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. Like the Chinese cuisine, rice is also the staple food, which acts as a “neutralizer” for the spicy cuisine.

Coconut milk is widely used to blend vegetables, fish, beef or prawns that are served with white rice. Food stands serve a tasty Malay treat such as satay, nasi lemak, rendang and asam pedas. One of the characteristics of Malay food is that it is often hot (pedas in Malay) and spicy. If you’re trying to eat these “pedas” type of foods make sure that your have a glass of cold water as a standby to save your tongue from burning!

You can find Malay cuisines in most eating-places in Singapore. However, if you are keen to immerse yourself in just Malay cuisines and nothing else, visit Geylang Serai, the cultural heart of the Malay community in Singapore.

Satay
Satay is perhaps the most famous of the Malays cuisines. Satay is comprised of little pieces of mutton, beef, or chicken skewered over charcoal and eaten with a rich peanut sauce, sliced cucumber, onions, and chunks of compressed rice. A tasty hot sauce is prepared for you to dip the satay before it is eaten. If you are not used to spicy food, use the sauce moderately or you will run the risk of burning your taste buds!

The satay tastes just as nice on its own! Besides the sauce, satays are also eaten with cut onions, cucumbers and “ketupat” (or Malay rice cakes).

Beef Rendang
Large chunks of beef are cooked with lashings, spices and herbs to come up with Beef Rendang. It is another hearty, and very spicy, favorite among Singaporeans.

Nasi Lemak
Rice that is cooked with rich coconut milk and pandan leaves, Nasi Lemak is a popular Malay cuisine in Singapore. Eaten with fried ikan billis (anchovies), nuts, egg and fish, Nasi Lemak goes well with a specially made chilli paste. Skip the chilli paste if it is too hot for you.

You can also try tp make your own Nasi Lemak combinations in most Nasi Lemak food stalls. Side dishes like luncheon meat, fried chicken wings and fish cakes go very well with this Malay coconut rice too.

Laksa
Beehoon (or rice noodles) soaked in rich, spicy soup, is another must-eat in Singapore. The main ingredients of the soup are lemon grass, shrimp paste, coconut milk and of course not to forget the red, hot chillies! Served with half-cooked clams, shredded chicken, toufu (or beancurd), bean sprouts, nuts and hard-boiled egg, its aroma excites the taste buds of many Singaporeans.

If you are game for real hot stuff, ask for sambal chilli paste to be added to your laksa. This will surely bring its good taste to a greater height!

There are many more Malay cuisines in Singapore that are tasty and you can try them during your travel to Singapore. If you ever fall in love with the Malay cuisines, tell your friends just exactly how “sedap” the food is. “Sedap”, the Malay way of saying delicious. So enjoy the nice and hot Malay cuisines.

Setting your calender for your holidays but ran into difficulties in making your destination choice? Why not try something different this time - choose ASIA countries as your destination for this year. Sure, Asia travel will give you a real break from your daily hectic lifestyle.

First, start choosing your ASIA destination. Choose five countries in Asia that you feel will be the most rewarding for your. Then list the cities, towns and places of your interest or something that you feel will make your holiday an awesome experience.

The list may include different cities in different country. It does not matter what cities or places that you will place as number one in your list. Once you have made the list proceed to find out as much as possible about the most attractive destinations in each of the cities listed .

It’s not difficult to find comments or recommendations about travelling to the cities or destination that you’ve listed, just jump to the internet and do some online search. Type-in something like “travel” or “tour” followed by the name of the city or destination that you are looking for.

You’ll find a lot of comments from people who had been there sharing their experience. You can find many feedbacks.. either good or bad or moderate.

Also look for the recommendations because there are many good reasons why these places become tourist attractions. Particularly note the recomendations for all the cities in your list and compare them. You can also choose what type of activities that might interest you duringthe travel. Are you going to go for water rafting, hiking, biking, jungle trekking or scuba diving?

Big cities also sound like a good place to visit especially if you choose Asian countries. Travelling Asian countries will give you a great experience which is totally different if compared to Japan, China or Korea.

Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei are made up of people from diverse ethnic origins such as Indian, Chinese, Malay, Arab and other ethnics. They live and work together but practice different religion, culture and lifestyle. You’ll find it’s like they are celebrating and having fiesta all around the year. They celebrate the Independence day, three different religion festivals (Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist), celebrating new year and many more.

Once you’ve finalised you destinations for your holiday, then you need to find some travel literature for more information. You can either go at a local bookstore or search online for books about your destinations.
If everything has been set and ready then you might want think of some activities about what you want to do there. Make sure you have the adequate equipment and more importantly good health and physical condition before you go for your holidays if you had planned for jungle trekking or for water rafting.

Finally in choosing your travel agency make sure that you do some good research both offline and online. Always check their track records in providing good and efficient service. This is important so that you can travel to your destination without any hiccups along the way and enjoy your holiday as planned.

Welcome to ASIA and enjoy you holidays!

Singapore is among the best country in Asia to visit. Since it is a tropic country you can just visit it at any time of the year. The weather is normally warm all the year but the beaches are very beautiful and inviting.

Plan your vacation or travel way ahead to make sure you can have all the wonderful and enjoy the vacation that you want. Part of this process is ensuring you have a great hotel to stay in. You will find some very basic ones as well as the top of the line classy ones to choose from. There is no shortage of great hotels to be found in Singapore.

There are many good hotels of 3, 4 and 5 Stars in Singapore. It is good that you plan ahead about where you want to stay. It could be that the entire stay will be in one location. You can also choose a few nights at separate locations so you can explore more areas of Singapore. You should look for a hotel that is in the heart of all the action. Some of 5-Stars hotles are right along the beach while others are just a short distance away.

Hotels are located in almost all parts of the city - Orchard Road, Heritage District, Financial District, River District, Chinatown, Little India, North Downtown, and East Singapore. The Orchard Road area is where most tourists try to stay if they can afford it at 5 star hotels like Hilton, Le Meridien, Meritus, Marriott, and Royal Plaza.

You may only want the basic essentials from a hotel in Singapore. If your days and nights are full of activities then you won’t be hanging out in it too much anyway. These will be the most affordable. If you want to treat yourself to a five star hotel, you will find them offered as well. They will have everything you could imagine to spoil yourself and to ensure you can relax.

If you’re on business travel most likely you want to be in the Financial District of Singapore, check out the 5-star hotels like Marina Mandarin, Pan Pacific, and the Oriental. You may also want to stay closer to the airport to catch an early morning flight out.

The Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel Singapore has 520 rooms and is 4-star quality, just 10 minutes from the Changi International Airport. A free shuttle will transport you to and from the airport.

For budget hotels, there are aplenty of them and you could easily find a suitable one for your need. Among the good ones are Ford Canning Lodge Hotel, East Downtown, Changi Hotel, Fortuna Hotel, Garden Hotel and Chinatown Hotel.

The hotel prices in Singapore is quite cheaper during the week than over the weekends. The prices are also higher during summer so if you are looking to save money you should go at the end of the summer. You may be able to upgrade to a fancier hotel for a price that still fits into your budget.

You can always check out your options for Singapore hotels on the internet. You can see where they are located as well as the prices. Some hotels website provides highg quality pictures and enables you to see the inside and outside of the various hotels. Knowing what yours will look like can make you more excited about your trip to Singapore.

When you visit Singapore don’t missed to shop at these places. Almost everything that you can imagine to take back home as souveniers can be found at these popular tourist shopping bazzars. Good bargains and cheap items to hoard for your collections.

Bugis Street
Bugis Street in Singapore is situated above Bugis MRT Station and features Singapore’s first glass-covered, air-conditioned shopping experience. The surrounding areas of Bugis Junction have a vintage ambience which creates nostalgia.

Bugis Street is a place where people shop, dine and entertain to enjoy the divine shopping experience. Bugis Street is every shopper’s paradise as it gives a memorable and refreshing shopping experience worth every visit.

From antic Persian rugs, rattan cane furniture, vintage clothing and antiques or belly dance costumes, yet modern boutiques and ice cream parlours - the beutiful scenes that you’ll when you walk down the road.

Arab Street

Arab Street is the centre of the Muslim community. Many of the shops here reflect the Muslim influence, selling prayer rugs, skull caps and all other necessaries for Muslim worship. You’ll also find traditional batiks from Indonesia and Malaysia. The real glory of Arab Street is the textiles. You can find many exquisitely hand-made by the wax-resist dye method and typically sold in sarong lengths. achine-printed batik with traditional designs is also available by the metre or in ready-made shorts, sundresses, ties, table linen and more.

There are also bales of gorgeous chiffon, silk, cotton georgette and other luxurious fabrics crowd the pavements, in rainbow hues and intensities. Besides fabrics and clothings, the street and the nearby areas also serve a wide range of cuisine and delicacies, from Arab, Turkish, Persian, Mediterranean, Indian and of course traditional Malay cuisine.

Chinatown
Chinatown is the the cultural hub of the Chinese migrants. Chinatown can be divided into four main districts - Kreta Ayer, Telok Ayer, Tanjong Pagar and Bukit Pasoh - each with its own distinctive flavour.

The sights and sounds of Chinatown are like other Chinatowns where you’ll find medical halls with mix snake skin, herbs and spices and other exotic ingredients into potions for all ailments, lots of traditional delicacies like sea cucumbers lie drying in the street, fruit sellers squatting near mounts of rambutans, pungent durians smells, mangosteens and other seasonal fruits.

You can bargains around from beautifully-embroidered kimonos, gold jewellery and T-shirts to pottery and traditional crafts at delightfully hard-to-believe prices.

You can also try to have your future luck read to you by the fortune-tellers who will peer intently at open palms over make-shift tables. Then try the thin slices of pork from barbeque hawker stalls. The food centre is really good and serves varieties of food. Try the claypot food varieties and you cant exactly rem which one is the most deicious because all of them are delicious and good.

Little India
First, you will be greeted by the strong, heady scent of spices and jasmine garlands, followed by the treasure trove of silverware, brassware, ethnic jewellery and colourful silk sarees, dazzling to behold. Traditionally the home of Singapore’s Indian community.

Little India is a great place to look for bargains. Just Walk down Serangoon Rd and the little laneways and go in and out of all the little shops. As you walk along you will be greeted by the beautiful smells of incense and the music of India. Meet the locals, expect to bargain and you will have great fun.

You’ll find almost everything here, from costume jewellery to women’s and men’s wear, beautiful saree shops. They don’t just have to be used as dresses. Hunt through the hanging rails to find beautiful embroidered, sequined women’s tops or skirts, men’s T-shirts and shorts. There are shops devoted to costume jewellery with beautiful bracelets and necklaces. You can even find Bollywood movie or CD and surely you’ll find your favourite movies here. It’s really cheap and you can get 2-3 sets of movies for on less than S$20.

When you stroll around Little India you’ll quickly feel hunggy because of the delicious semll of food is everywhere. There is a wide choice of food with some nice Indian restaurants, cafes and takeaways. Some have authentic Indian food but some Hawker stalls are a bit rough and ready. The food is cheap and good and don’t forget to try the banana leaf lunch set. Don’t get upset if you see people around you don’t use any spoon and fork when they are eating - yes, they just use their fingers to eat.

Singapore is a small city-state with the area of 699 km2. Although it is one of the most densely-populated countries in the world, Singapore is famous for its clean and green environment. There are four official languages in Singapore: Singapore - Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English. The population is made up by a mix of Chinese, Malays, Indians and a small proportion of other nationalities. In spite of its small area, Singapore is a new industrial country with one of the busiest ports of the world.

Singapore is an island country with 58 smaller islands around the main land. The most famous island of Singapore is Sentosa, the country’s most visited attraction. This island is aimed mostly at tourism with many aquariums, museums, beaches, sports centres, camping sites and a lot of hostels and luxury hotels.

Located in the tropical area of the world, Singapore’s climate is hot and humid all year round. The temperature during the day is up to 34C and falls to about 22C at night. Although it is said that the rainy season is from November to January, a small amount of rain can occur all around the year.

Besides many skyscrapers in the urban areas, which occupy more than 50% of the land, Singapore also has many parks, botanic gardens, zoos and waterfalls. Although most of them are artificial, even the sand for the beaches is imported, they are very lively and attract millions of tourists every year.

Singapore is also famous for its shopping centres. You can find almost everything there from clothes and electronic goods to herbal medicine. The most famous road for this activity is the Orchard. Orchard road is ideal for all shopping addicts.

The newest and most fashionable shoes and clothes can be found in this area and you will wander there all day without any boredom. This area is also called the “dining centre” which has many big restaurants serving food from all over the world.

Besides big and modern shopping centres, other destinations for shopping are Chinatown, Little India and the Arab street. There are many unique and inexpensive things here which you can buy as souvenirs and gifts for your friends and family members.

Other places you shouldn’t miss when visiting Singapore are the Holland Village, Changi Village and the Jurong town. Jurong town is a big industrial centre of Singapore. The Jurong Park has the world’s highest man-made waterfall, which stands at 30 meters.

by Michael Russell