I will be taking my Thai boyfriend to Singapore in late May '08. He lives in BKK and it will be his first time out of Thailand and my first visit to Singapore. I am looking for any trip advice from those that have vacationed there before. Besides hotel and "not to miss" sight advice, my bf and I really enjoy gay dance clubs (ala DJ Station & G.O.D.) and I am looking for fun nightlife spots as well. I'm thinking 4 - 5 days may cover it but not really sure. We will also be visiting Samui for a few days and I am wondering if it is a good idea to continue on to Singapore from there before returning to BKK. Any thoughts?[/b]

Three days is more then enough to see Singapore, if you stay longer, then I would go on daytrips to either Malaysia or Indonesia. Otherwise three days is plenty.

Hotels are expensive, but you might find reasonable priced hotels, along Bencoolen street, I stayed at the summerview, small rooms, but not expensive.

For kicks, take a river tour, go to Mount Faber, by cable car, and if you feel up to it, you might take the same cable car back toward Sentosa Island. maybe good for a few hours.

Gay nightlife isn't that great, I did like the Backstage bar in Chinatown.

If you and your BF make some friends, Clarke Quay can be fun at night (if you do not mind lots of breeders around you).

Ditto on sjaak327's comments.

Singapore is nice, but it always reminds me of a giant shopping mall.  Interesting and boring at the same time, and it closes early.

There is really no problem to stay longer in singapore. For the lower budget is the hotelchain "81". I always stay mostly in Golden Landmark - only few steps to blue heaven sauna and metro bugis is around the corner. On sentosa island you can relax at the beach. Taxi about 14 Dollar to airport or 3-4 Dollar with public traffic. Will be there in june again.

Plenty of tourist type activities particularly interesting if your BF has never left Thailand....

Zoo (day or night), Jurong Bird Park, Botanical Gardens, Sentosa Island (Carlsberg Tower a must), river cruise (day or night or both), Clarke Quay and Boat Quay, street food at Smith Street (aka Food Street) in Chinatown in the evening, Club Street area in Chinatown has some interesting restaurants.   Suntec and other shopping malls make MBK look small.

If you do not fly in or out of the new terminal at Changi airport, take walk through it - quite spectacular (and unlike Heathrows new one, it worked properly from day one!).

We have had really fun times at a couple of the gay bars.  Not big into clubs so could not advise you on dance places.

A couple of years ago, I and my Chiangmai bf flew down to Singapore for a few days.  We didn't find any "gay" life there (to be honest, we weren't looking) but can say:

(1)  You just have to go out to Sentosa Island (via the glass cable cars mentioned).  It has all kinds of things out there - museums, some gardens, a lot of tourist-type lookout, dolphin shows, etc.  We really enjoyed the visit there - and you really need to plan on being there most of the day.

(2)  Night safari at the zoo - probably best in the world.  You'll enjoy.

(3)  Jurong Bird Park/Place - we had an enjoyable visit there.

We very much enjoyed going down to the Chinatown area (it's about a 3-4 block area not too far from the waterfront) and just walking around all the little shops.

If you're into shopping (we weren't), there are a gazillion high-end (Prada, Tiffany, etc.) shops along Orchard Road (and elsewhere) but most looked rather expensive.

Take a camera, lots of opportunities for that all over Singapore.  Enjoy.

... why people don't simply use Utopia's resources more - http://www.utopia-asia.com

homintern wrote:

... why people don't simply use Utopia's resources more - http://www.utopia-asia.com

I was going the say '' 'cos it's sooo out of date, lah!", but I checked it out first and was surprised to find it's (almost) in tune with the times. I particularly liked this bit:

Quote:

Don't assume that Singaporeans are backward. Global access to information and the rapid economic advancement of this small island nation have created a mobile and progressive generation of educated, fit, English-speaking young men and women of diverse cultural backgrounds. The art of conversation is alive and well here and you will make fast friends who won't be afraid to challenge your thinking with their own opinions. Green, modern and organized, The Lion City is also a haven for well-to-do expats.....

In fact, Singapore has Asia's hottest gay scene going these days. Nobody would have predicted ten years ago that Bangkok would become dully conservative while Singapore would ascend to the wild heights last explored by the party men of 1970s San Francisco. Nobody but us. Singapore (along with Tokyo) has always been one of those round-the-clock fun factories, only now its scene has moved indoors from serene tropical cruise beaches, steamy inner-city jungle gardens, and dark, decaying Chinatown alleys.

www.utopia-asia.com/tipssing.htm

kip-la, for "dance clubs (ala DJ Station & G.O.D.)" check out Taboo, still going after all these years and Why Not for younger guys and Play for the tendy mixed and metrosexuals. All in Tanjong Pagar area. Mox bar is/was the coolest chill out bar but it's closing tonight.

Sad to see ths thread has been moved out of the main forum as I am also going to Singapore with BF next month and was looking forward to hearing others comments

We last went there around 4 years ago and stayed in the Swissotel Merchant court at Clarke Quay
That was part of a package tour and great hotel as it was quite close to Club 17 sauna, however its sold out on our chose dates now

In general - besides the sauna - we found singapore gay nightlife pretty sterile, but have decided to try it again

Anybody got any recommendations for hotels in the Chinatown/Gay areas? Max budget 5000THB (But would obviously prefer cheaper)
Or any good hotel booking sites (asiatravel.com is what i have used previously)

The Inn in temple st - as recommended on Utopia - gets awful reviews on Tripadvisor.
Golden Landmark as recommended above is 6300THB per night - so over budget
Have tried unsuccessfully bidding up to $105 on pricelinein all areas

Also interested in hearing peoples comments on the Saunas:
RAW v Club17 V Blue Heaven

Club17 was one of teh best saunas I ever visited - but its opening hours are pretty limited, how do RAW and Blue Heaven compare to them crowd and size wise?

Thanks in Advance!

kip_la wrote:

my bf and I really enjoy gay dance clubs (ala DJ Station & G.O.D.) and I am looking for fun nightlife spots as well.

Then the place to go is the Powerhouse club at St James Power Station on any Sunday night. Sundays (and only Sundays) are gay at Powerhouse.  St James Power Station is an entertainment complex near Harbourfront MRT Station with multiple restaurants, bars, etc. Powerhouse - which used to be the main turbine room when the building was really a power station - is the main dance club within the St James complex.

Another place would be Taboo on Neil Road (Outram Park MRT Station). Taboo is gay every day but it's relatively quiet on weekdays but full on weekends. You will probably have to queue.

Unlike what another poster said, Singapore doesn't close early. At both these places, you'll find them virtually empty until  11 pm, and it doesn't peak until 2 am.

colmx wrote:

Sad to see ths thread has been moved out of the main forum

Why?  It should always have been where it's now ended up.  Or do you, like some others, believe posting guidelines shouldn't apply to you?

homintern wrote:

Or do you, like some others, believe posting guidelines shouldn't apply to you?

Its not my thread - so I don't see what your point is about posting guidelines applying to me.

However the reason I am saddened is that when posts like this end up here they rarely get any responses as nobody (except you!) bothers to check these backwaters...

And besides that the thread was more interesting than the drivel being posted by Raksiam in the main forum

I like to stay at the AMARA hotel.  It's right by the subway station and walking distance to the gay clubs.  It's about 5000 baht per night, but very upscale with big rooms.

Hey, this is a great thread. It's exactly what I'd like to see more of here.

When I moved it, I left a shadow in the Gay Thailand forum, meaning that it is now listed in the index of two forums instead of just one, thereby increasing its exposure.

It could have stayed in Gay Thailand, as it does relate to travel to and from there, but it is just so perfect for Any Other Country, I couldn't resist moving it here. It's exactly what this forum is all about.

JakeNasty wrote:

I like to stay at the AMARA hotel.

Hi Jake
Unfortunatley they are quoting 420SGD ~11,000 TBB per night for the Amara on my chosen dates (april 22-24th)

Any other suggestions?

Anyoneknow what on in Singapore at this time to drive the prices up so high?

At this rate i think we'll end up staying in one of the fragrance or Hotel81s!