Singapore Botanical Gardens: Singapore is very built up and exciting but this is good for a chill out and escape for a bit if you have the time!

Just outside the city centre - can take a taxi or walk there - if it is a nice day and clouds not too daunting of a thundery shower then the walk is good! Lots of maps show the gardens but are different to many others in the world, are quiet, relaxing and near to some good cafes! Good chill out place in a bustling city!

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52 hectares of well laid out lawns and plantings with small sections of tropical forest with good paths. Plants are well labelled and there are instructive booklets available in the garden shop Best is the large orchid collection with many new varieties bred in-house Good restaurant and other catering facilities.

Map of Singapore - 52 hectares are difficult to hide on a small island.
www.sbg.org.sg/index.asp

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Largest and last piece of original rainforest left on the island. Walk up the incredibly steep hill (mind the monkeys!) for a fantastic view from the top. Thick forest offers a respite from the high temperatures.

Bukit Timah Road; get the bus toward Malaysia (I think it's the 70 and/or 170), or a taxi.

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An island off the north east coast, a place which is largely how Singapore used to be before development took off.

Take a short bumboat ride and spend half a day or longer strolling through the rain forest enjoying that rare Singaporean comodity: peace and quiet. If you want to move more quickly, hire a bike on the island. Don't forget to leave time to eat at the food shacks near the landing point.

This website gives all the information you need. The boats leave pretty frequently so there is no problem about getting over there.
www.wildsingapore.com/ubin/index.html

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Here you can cycle, rollerblade, walk, run, eat drink, or sit and read your book. Bikes and blades can be hired cheaply by the hour. This is a fully landscsaped linear park with lots of trees and flowers, running alongside the sea halfway between the airport and the centre of town.

There are also several work-out stations, and a couple of reflexology circles. These are uptured pebbles of varying degrees of sharpness laid out in a circle for you to walk on and invigorate you feet with a self foot massage. There are also clumps of restaurants and bars serving different kinds of foods.

About 20 minutes by taxi from Orchard Road. Ask for East Coast Park.

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Singapore may be a modern business hub, but elements of its original melting-pot culture remain if you take time to search them out. When bored of the malls of Orchard Road, head to the free museum in Raffles Hotel (third floor) to see photographs and memrobilia of a bygone age: Charlie Chaplain, Elizabeth Taylor, Lord Mountabtten and more including images of streets with rickshaw drivers, coolies and colonials. Chinatown has some charm, but has sadly been made "more Chinese" over the last decade. The nearby Telok Ayer area (where you will find Singapore's oldest Taoist temple next to a tiny park) has some good cafes and restaurants including the budget Lotus Cafe. Porta Porta Restaurant on Stanley Street and Aoili on Boon Tat Street offer inventive and authentic Italian and French food (the set lunches are modestly priced at around S$20 to $30). If you want organic vegetarian food, two doors from Aioli is Yogi Hub.More authentic than Chinatown is Little India, but ignore the infamous Komala Villas Restaurant (now serving poor quality Indian vegetarian food in a bad atmosphere) and head for Sri Saktivillas Restaurant on Cuff Road for fantastic food at cheap prices. On the next street - Upper Dickson Road - is Kulfi Bar where you will find some of the creamiest Indian ice-cream in an amazing variety of flavours (the colours and tastes of the beetroot and pistachio are unforgettable.)Fort Canning Park (not far from Orchard Road) and the Botanical Gardens offer green and pleasant distractions. See the Spice Garden at Fort Canning and the Orchid Gardens at the Botanical Gardens.On Hill Street is the charming Armenian Church of St Gregory the Illuminator. It has a circular design, a marvellous atmosphere and is a national treasure. And for a taste of a more authentic Singapore life, head to the heartlands of Toa Payoh, Tampines or Clementi. Among the Housing Development Boad apartment blocks you will find shops, food centres and coffee shops with economy prices and a genuine local flavour.

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If passing through Singapore's Changi Airport and you have five hours or more between flights, you can have a FREE tour of Singapore. Just look for the Free Tour Desks and sign up. They take you on a quick coach tour into the centre - you get a short trip on a "bum boat" as well - and bring you back to the departures lounge. Its easy to do and its free!

Singapore Changi Airport

www.changi.airport.com.sg

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The small outdoor performance area at the Theatres on the Bay on the Esplanade hosts free concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Concerts also take place less frequently on the stage built on Symphony Lake in the Botanic Gardens. Both are idyllic settings in very different ways, and you may get some good music, too.

Events on the Esplanade are advertised there (nearest MRT station City Hall). Enquire at an information centre about concerts in the Botanic Gardens. The gardens are just beyond the top of Orchard Road, and a definite must-see in their own right.

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