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Independent Singapore
a day ago
- Independent Singapore
'Been there, done that!' — Singaporean solo traveller and camper shows what Singapore's 2025 ultimate travel guide really looks like
SINGAPORE: If you're heading to Singapore in 2025 and want more than just the usual tourist checklist, local traveller and camper Tomy Arden Phang has you covered. In his latest guide, Tomy—known for his smart, grounded, and sometimes cheeky travel tips—breaks down exactly how to enjoy Singapore without burning through your budget (or your patience). His guide is packed with practical insights and personal flair, making it as entertaining as it is informative. 🏙️ Welcome to Singapore! Small in size, big in personality 'Singapore is the smallest country in Asia with the biggest personality!' Tomy declares proudly. Despite being densely populated, the city-state is globally known for its clean streets, safe environment, and mouthwatering food scene. Depositphotos/photousvp77 Nicknamed the Garden City, Food Paradise, and Fine City (more on that later), Singapore is convenient to explore and culturally rich, thanks to its multicultural roots. 🗣️ Language? Not a problem! According to Tomy, Singapore is 'the easiest Asian country to travel to' because it ranks highest in Asia—and second in the world—for English proficiency. Almost everyone speaks English fluently, and public signs are multilingual, including translations in Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Photo: YT screengrab/@dashingheights Better yet, most locals are bilingual. 'We're forced to learn in school,' Tomy jokes, referring to the mandatory 'Mother Tongue' subject. 'Many of us, like myself, are naturalised immigrants, so we still speak our native language.' 💵 Money Matters: Singapore dollars; no tipping required! Tomy points out a fun fact: 'The most commonly used notes are made of plastic, so they're very durable—and waterproof.' Perfect for a country where food and rain often come uninvited. Photo: Depositphotos/PantherMediaSeller While credit cards are widely accepted, especially in malls and restaurants, he recommends carrying some cash for hawker stalls and local eateries. 'If you're not sure how much to bring, just carry some spare notes,' he advises. 'We have quite a few money changers here.' Tipping isn't required, and in most cases, the price you see is the price you pay, though some restaurants might add Goods and Services Tax or GST and a 10% service charge. ⚠️ Safety first, fines later Singapore's reputation as one of the world's safest cities holds up, especially for solo and female travellers. But, Tomy warns, 'Singapore is the most dangerous country… for drug traffickers (that is)… just 500g of weed will grant you the capital punishment.' Photo: YT screengrab/@dashingheights Even trace amounts of drugs in your system can get you into serious legal trouble. 'The safest way,' he says, 'is to not consume any before coming here.' Singapore is also infamous for its rules, hence the nickname Fine City . 'No littering, no smoking, no durian,' Tomy says, pointing to the spiky, smelly fruit banned on public transport. 'Once it stinks up a place, it stays there for a very long (time).' 🚆 Getting around: MRT (train), buses, and waving at drivers Singapore boasts one of the best public transport networks in the world! And Tomy insists it's the most affordable and efficient way to get around the city. For instance, a trip from Changi Airport to Merlion Park will take about an hour and cost 'slightly over S$2.' You can pay using Visa, Mastercard, or Apple Pay. If you prefer local options, grab an EZ-Link card at any train station and top it up at the machines. Photo: YT screengrab/@dashingheights Be warned, though: 'You need at least S$3 in your card,' or the train gantry won't open. Google Maps works like a charm in Singapore, and Tomy uses it for everything from bus routes to train transfers. He offers a crash course on how to use buses: Look for the correct stop and route number. Wave at the bus when it arrives (seriously). Tap in and out with your card. Press the stop button one stop before your destination. 'If you don't wave, the bus might just drive by and skip your stop,' Tomy warns. Photo: YT screengrab/@dashingheights Trains, or MRTs, are just as simple. Transfers are seamless and don't cost extra. 🚖 Grab a cab; don't rent a car! Tomy recommends apps like Grab, TADA, or Zig for taxis. For example, a ride from Changi Airport to Merlion Park takes about 20 minutes and costs between S$20 and S$25. Photo: YT screengrab/@dashingheights But renting a car? 'It's super expensive! (not worth the hassle),' he says. Parking is limited, and Singapore's public transport is too good to ignore. 🛌 Where to stay (and where not to) Here's where Tomy shines even more—breaking down the best neighbourhoods to stay in for price, accessibility, and vibes. Spoiler alert: it's not Marina Bay. ✅ Top 4 places to stay: 1. Chinatown Best overall. Incredible accessibility via the Blue, Purple, and Brown MRT lines. Tons of hawker centres, cultural sites, and budget-to-luxury accommodations. Photo: YT screengrab/@dashingheights 2. Bugis Great food, vibrant street markets, and modern malls. MRT lines connect to Marina Bay, Chinatown, and Little India. Plenty of budget and mid-range hotel options. 3. Outram Park Strategically located with three MRT lines. Not much to see in the area, but very well-connected. Mid to high-end hotels, plus foodie favourite Keong Saik Road. 4. Little India Culturally rich, colourful, and great for vegetarians. Budget-friendly hostels and direct MRT links to Marina Bay and Sentosa. Don't miss Tekka Centre for food! Tomy's golden rule: 'Pick a hotel that's within walking distance to a major MRT station.' ❌ Where not to stay (unless you have a reason): 1. Orchard Road Too posh, too pricey, and not enough vibe. Great for high-end shopping, but not for local flavour. 2. Sentosa Island Mostly luxury resorts with poor accessibility. Only recommended if you're doing multiple days at Sentosa attractions. 3. Clarke Quay Noisy nightlife and late-night partygoers. Fine if you're bar-hopping till 3 am—not so great for peaceful rest. Photo: Depositphotos/ (for illustration purposes only) 🎒 And yes, there's still more to come… Of course, there's still more to cover—like food, top attractions, and how to navigate hawker centres. But before we come back with those if you really want to get a more vivid feel for what we covered today, watch Tomy's full and very detailed guide below. And don't forget to have fun when you're finally here with us. Happy travels!
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Sumba, an hour away from Bali, Indonesia is the perfect vacation spot to do absolutely nothing
After a motorbike ride down an empty road, my daughter and I found ourselves jumping off a high wooden platform into a deep lagoon with salt-white sand, healthy coral — and no one else around. As the Indian Ocean splashed, we swam, jumped again and laughed. We lost track of time. Maybe we were just lucky. The platform had to have been built by someone, for the fun of many. But it was neither the first nor last time that we felt practically alone in Sumba. Sumba, one of Indonesia's easternmost islands, is just an hour's flight from Bali. But Sumba is as quiet as Bali is thumping. There are no digital nomads, DJ parties or drones at sunset. The island is twice the size of Bali with one-fifth the population. The airport is a walk-across-the-tarmac affair with one baggage carousel and, on the 40-minute drive to our hotel, we saw maybe a dozen people. Whether Sumba can remain an anti-Bali is a question. It's just starting to reach a tipping point with enough hotel development and word-of-mouth buzz to draw more than just surf-crazy adventurers and celebrities with blank-check budgets. We heard about it from surfer friends in Sydney, and when we planned a trip two months before departure, most of the island's handful of hotels (ranging from US$180, or about S$230, per night, for a double at Sumba Beach House to US$1,300 for the award-winning Nihi Sumba) were booked. Some would argue that means go now. Others will tell you, as they told us, that Sumba can never be Bali for many reasons, from infrastructure to size and local culture, which requires a great deal of community trust-building and approvals before anything gets built. 'There's just not much here,' said Kiri Desborough, the wellness director at Cap Karoso, the hotel where we eventually ended up for a four-night stay, which is privately owned and still feels manageable and intimate. 'It's a very different place.' ROOM TO SPREAD OUT Having come from Bali, we immediately noticed a difference in the landscape. Geologically, Sumba is an Australian continental fragment that drifted north, which means no volcanoes or towering cliffs. It's mostly plains of grass and corn, which serve as animal feed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cap Karoso Sumba (@cap_karoso) Space is part of the appeal, and like the other hotels spread across the island, Cap Karoso has made the most of it. The two-year-old property has 44 guest rooms and 20 villas on more than three acres of hilly land that rolls toward Karoso beach. None of the major hotel chains have set up shop on Sumba so Cap Karoso is as big as it gets. The owners are a French couple — Evguenia and Fabrice Ivara, a former luxury goods brand manager and a digital ad agency entrepreneur. Their aesthetic is minimalist, with modernist furniture and airy buildings, featuring plants on the rooftops and lemongrass bushes lining the walkways. We passed the hotel's organic farm on our way to the lobby. Upon arrival, David Garcia, the general manager, welcomed us and explained the hotel's ethos: 'There's a lot to do, or this can be the perfect place to do nothing.' After an around-the-world lunch at the beach club (poke bowl, pizza, bao buns and a club sandwich, for about US$50), my family — myself, my wife and our two teenage children — chose to be active. We went for a surf with the hotel's longboards, which were free to use. It was a bit of a paddle into smallish waves, but the water was crystal clear. The next day we embarked on a snorkelling trip that was included with our room rate. Our guides were chill — they brought spear guns and caught a red snapper for dinner — and there were only a few other boats on the water. Underwater, I've seen a wider array of fish in other places, but in a time of climate change and coral bleaching, the colours and health of the reefs brought a sense of deep relief. Then, after our lagoon adventure, we booked a half-day surf trip, which sent us with a guide around the southwestern tip of Sumba. We bounced down dirt roads through traditional villages with thatched roofs standing several stories high. Officially, Sumba is mostly Christian, but in the ancient animist religion of the island, ancestors or 'marapu' guide the living from above so the traditional homes (and some government buildings) reach for a connection. Waingapu, our destination, sat just beyond a river mouth and a village. There was no one else in the water. The waves were four to five feet, soft, clean and tons of fun for us intermediates — probably the best place we'd ever surfed together as a family. Our guide, Julianto, said he came to Sumba for exactly that kind of experience, after growing up in West Java and working in more crowded places. 'Bali has so many people,' he said. 'I love Sumba because Sumba is still nature.' Garcia told me that 90 per cent of the hotel staff is Sumbanese. Many of them were trained through a partnership with the Sumba Hospitality Foundation, a local nonprofit, and perhaps because tourism is still so new and seems to be delivering local benefits, the relationship of guest, staff and community felt warm and unjaded. Children from a nearby village swam at the edge of the hotel beach, waving, smiling and trying out a little English. When my daughter and I got lost on our way to the lagoon, locals pointed us in the right direction with a smile. A PLACE TO RELAX We managed to do a bit of nothing too. Sunsets by the main pool, which sits slightly higher than the villas, offered amazing views of sky, sea and a lighthouse in the distance. One night, my wife and I signed up for dinner at Julang, Cap Karoso's fine-dining option featuring guest chefs who serve guests at a single long table from an open kitchen. There were only six of us there for a meal from Robbie Noble, a British-raised chef based in Melbourne, Australia. His menu leaned into local seafood, offering chilled crab tea, grilled octopus (with tahini and shallots) and a steamed mahi mahi dish with morning glory, otherwise known as water spinach. We worked through it all with a pair of American expats living in Amsterdam and a British couple who told us about their courtship on a 30,000-mile motorcycle trip from Alaska to Patagonia. Luxury in remoteness can be costly: The prix fixe meal at Julang was around US$90 per person, without wine; doubles at Cap Karoso start at US$325, two-bedroom duplexes at US$750 and three-bedrooms can cost as much as US$4,000 per night. More reasonable options at smaller boutique hotels or homes are available, if you book early. At all of them, you're likely to be on site for most meals and activities since other development is sparse (though the kitchen staff did mention a karaoke bar near the airport). Sumba's balance at the moment, with nature, its staff and food offerings like freshly baked pastries every morning, feels extravagant and fragile. As always, the rich-visitor poor-local divide risks distorting the culture of a place that has persisted, largely unchanged, for hundreds if not thousands of years. At the lagoon, for example, a handful of vendors have set up stalls to sell local crafts and when we left, a few men and boys competed for who should be paid a small parking fee. But compared to Bali — or much of Thailand, or Fiji, or so many other places — Sumba still feels like a secret getaway, a place to clear the mind, enjoy the breezes and the sea, and most of all, avoid the crowds. 'We don't have the infrastructure for a Four Seasons,' said Desborough, who recently launched a seven-day wellness experience, with immersion into the nature, community and shamanic practices of the island. 'And to be honest, we're OK with that.'
CNA
3 days ago
- CNA
France airport strikes: About 40% of flights serving Paris cancelled amid second day of protests
A second day of strikes by French air traffic controllers have disrupted more flights and caused cancellations at airports in France. About 40 per cent of flights serving the country's capital Paris have been cancelled, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers scrambling to find backup plans at the height of the summer travel season. French air traffic controllers are holding a two-day walkout in protest of under-staffing and what they described as "toxic" working conditions, as well as ageing equipment. The strikes are adding to uncertainty across Europe's wider travel sector, due to ongoing geopolitical tensions and consumers' budgetary constraints. Ross Cullen reports.
