(With great thanks to Colmx for taking the time to write this lengthy report on recent Singapore adventures. Copied here from the Gay Thailand Forum)
Hi All
During my recent trip to Thailand, myself and my BF took a side trip to Singapore.
After much research I booked a 4 day/3 night trip through Asiatravel.com
www.asiatravel.com/package/singapore/singapore.html
The complete package cost 18,500 baht, for 2 of us including:
- Return flights Bkk/Sin with Valuair (Singapore Airlines new budget sister airline)
- 3 Nights 4* Accomodation
- Singapore departure tax (S$40 each)
On advice received from here and elsewhere it was decided to stay in the Swissotel Merchant Court:
www.asiatravel.com/singapore/merchant/index.html
We were going to spend Friday 16th - Monday 19th July in Singapore, as we had a 16.00 departure from Bkk on the friday we decided it was best to stay in Bkk on the Thursday night.
Thursday 15th:
Before leaving for Bkk I called Jimmy in the Pinnacle for a room, unfortunately he was sold out, we also called the malaysia which was sold out, so instead decided to stay in the Babylon Barracks.
For anyone who has never stayed there before the Barracks can be a bit of an ordeal (shared toilets, stark rooms, single beds, no TVs etc)
However we had stayed there in the past (before my BF turned 20 and we wanted to get around the no-under 20s rule!)And so we were used to this hardship.
The price had gone up a little 1403 baht (yes that is a 3!) for a twin room and including 2 free entries to the Sauna.
After checking in we went to the sauna and went our own seperate ways... No questions asked or answers given on either side! several hours later we hit the town, a few bars and DJ (report to follow) before going to bed.
Friday 16th:
Checked out from Babylon, had to walk to the end of soi nanta with baggage in order to hail a Taxi, took the taxi to the Airport.
We were not issued with tickets for our flights, just a booking reference number, on arrival at check-in I quoted the ref no and we were issued with our boarding passes.
I was very impressed with valuair "Smiles More"...
- Great new spacious aircraft
- Friendly Smiley cabin crew
- Captain came down for a chat with everyone
- Air hostess sang little song at the start and end of flight.
- On a downside there was no in-flight magazine!
On Arrival in Singapore we took a minibus to out hotel @ S$7 each (found out after that a taxi would have only cost 15!)
Check-in staff asked if we were sure we wanted a double bed, I said yes!
BF was very impressed with the hotel, reckoned there were not many hotels like it in Pattaya (and hes been to most of them!) There were lillions of towels!
I would guess there would be no problems with guests here as we were each issued with a swipe card for the lift/room, you don't have to pass reception to get to the lift lobby and and there is no discernable security presence in the lift lobby
After a quick shower we went out to eat some food and sample the gay night life. Unfortunately i had left my maps behind in pattaya so we didn't know where to go for the gay bars.
Walked as far as boat Quay and my BF went to eat in a Thai restaurant (where else!) whilst I went to Mcdonalds... The Noodles for him cost s€27 - 675 baht! I nearly had a heart Attack... He required recussitation!
We set off to find the gay bars but could not find any, asked 2 taxis to bring us to one, but they both threw us out! Asked another to bring us to an internet cafe, he didn't know where there was one! Finally as 12 midnight we headed back to the hotel to ask where there were internet facilities.
Turns out the hotel business centre was available, s€10.50 (262 baht!)for 10 minutes... We got the names and address of some gay bars and off we went...
Taboo:
I was expecting somewhere the size of Dj station, seeing as it is meant to be the no.1 bar in singapore, however I would think even telephone in Bkk is far bigger.
It was spread out over 3 levels, the upper levels being mezzanine levels with windows down to the dance floor. All the music was trance
Full of English/Ozzie blokes and unsmiling Asian Muscle Marys, and of course some nice smiley guys, we stayed for a few drinks before moving on
No covercharge and s$10-13 per drink
Waterbar:
Bigger than Taboo, but on one level, much younger crowd with less attitude, not many foreigners and better music (even some thai pop!)
The cute guys from Taboo all turned up here later in the night
Again no covercharge and s$10-13 per drink
Soon it was 2 o'clock and time to go home
Ate some food at the noodle shop between Taboo and Waterbar, beside Rairua sauna, s$3.50 each and apparently better then the $27 meal!
Saturday 17th:
Woke up at midday, the hotel was right beside Clarke Quay MRT so we took the MRT to Harbourfront and had breakfast in the Food Bazaar there. Took the bus to Sentosa Island @$2 each and paid the $2 entry fee.
First up we visited the Merlion, did the tour took the photos etc, balked at the cost of entering everywhere else (skytower $10 ea, dolphin lagoon $17ea, butterfly park $10ea, fort siloso $8ea - none expensive in their own right... but add them up!) wondered around before taking the cablecar back to waterfront station.
Looked around the shopping centre at the singapore cruise centre and bought some underwear for the person who forgot to bring any (him - not me!)
We then took the MRT back to out hotel and went to look for One-Seven Sauna, turns out it was around 100 metres from the hotel! Had to pay s$70 (1750 Baht) for both of us to enter the sauna 10 each for membership, 25 for entry.
Once again we went our seperate ways... I was immediately pounced on by some potatoe queens, but they weren't really my type, decided to bide my time instead!
The sauna was spotless and i was very impressed with the rooms, there were rooms with slings, crucifixs, scaffolding, bench presses, polevalt horses, one way mirrors, peep holes etc...
After around 11 we went back to the hotel to get ready, the manager of one-seven had printed some maps for us so we could find the other gay bars, we took the MRT to China town, had some food and checked out Backstage bar...
Spoke to the manager there and had a drink, but it was more of a place to go to chat than to dance so we headed back to waterbar and spent the rest of the night there.
Sunday 18th:
Woke up around 1 and took the shuttle bus from the hotel to raffles place, looked around, went to Orchard Rd, bought some bits and pieces, took pics etc before heading on the MRT to Ang Mo Kio and singapore zoo
At Ang mo Kio we had to take a bus to the zoo, be warned, singapore buses don't give change!
Paid $31 each to enter the zoo and night safari on a combined entry ticket.
The Zoo was impressive, plenty of monkeys for me to compare him to, plenty of buffalos for him to compare me to!
The night safari was more impressive, especially the "creatures of the night" show and the unaccompanied night trails
www.nightsafari.com.sg
Took a taxi to the nearest MRT station and then headed back to one-seven sauna...
Arrived at 10.55PM ... It was closing!
Went back to hotel, showered and changed and headed for Taboo... closed
Waterbar... Closed!
The gay bar Tantric was open, drinks @s$14 each, stayed for a few before going back to the hotel.
I could not believe that everywhere was closed on a sunday night! We were told if we went to central it would be open, but at that stage we were too tired
Monday 19th:
Our flight was at 2PM so we had to get up at 11ish and took a taxi to the airport.
Once again very impressed with Valuair.
Arrived back to Bkk at 3.30 and checked back into the barracks... more sauna fun before hitting the bars... found a nice guy who we both liked in Fresh boys and took him to DJ.
Went back to Babylon together and BF locked our valuables in the safe... and then proceded to forget the combination! We had to call the hotel staff to open the safe so we could pay the boy... so embarrassing!
Overall:
Singapore has a long long way to go to catch up on Thailands gay scene.
Cheap to get to, expensive to stay there.
The people there all speak great english, they are friendly but are so unsmiling, so very unnerving if you are Thai and used to Thai smiles!
The best part of the trip for me was the culture shock for my bf!
He could not believe the price of things in Singapore (same here!) and found it very hard to fimd suitable food.
For someone who is normally so gregarious, he was very shy in singapore and afraid to talk directly to anyone for the first few days... eventually he came out of his shell, but kept being polite and calling everyone "sir" (even the women!)
If his culture shock was that bad for Singapore I dread to think what it will be like in Europe when he (eventually) gets here!
Oh yes and just to re-iterate... It was damn expensive... Cheap skates like Smiles... Don't even think about going there!
" ... good GOD, this is even worse that I thought ...
"
