Singapore may not be the cheapest country in Southeast Asia for a holiday, but at least you don’t have to pay for the WiFi. That’s right, as part of its uber-modern image Singapore has invested in a wireless broadband program available in most public places. It’s called Wireless@SG and it’s completely free – even for tourists – and a great solution if your hotel dares to charge extra for Wifi!

Free Wifi is the best kind of Wifi.

To sign up for a Wireless@SG account of your very own all you need is a WiFi-enabled device (laptop, smart phone, any kind of iDevice) and a Singapore mobile phone number. Then follow these five easy steps:

1. Find a Wireless@SG hotspot. The service is available at hundreds of places including shopping centres, libraries, museums, public swimming pools, Clarke Quay and selected restaurants and fast food joints (including KFC and McDonalds). It’s also available at some unexpected places like the Botanic Gardens, East Coast Park, and the Singapore Zoo & Night Safari. A full list of hot spots can be found here.

2.  Connect to the network and open your browser. A Wireless@SG log-in page should appear. I’ll assume you’re a new user if you’re reading this, so click on the “New Sign Up” link which will direct you to the registration page.

Need a new account? Look to the upper right.

3. Fill in the required information including your name, passport number, a local address (your hotel’s address will do), and a local phone number. The phone number is a crucial detail because the password will be sent to you as a text message. The fact that it must be a Singaporean (+65) number is definitely the biggest shortfall of the system, but a local SIM card is only S$8. Alternatively, you can call the Wireless@SG help desk at 6309 4525 and they’ll help you register without using a phone number.

4. Log in using your newly assigned username and password. The assigned password is a random alphanumeric sequence so, if you plan on using the Wireless@SG service frequently, change it to something you‘ll actually remember. There’s also a Wireless@SG app for automatic log-in.

Tell us a little about yourself.

5.  Start surfing! The speed is limited to 1 MBps for the free accounts, but that’s plenty of bandwidth for bragging on Facebook that you’re drinking a Singapore Sling at Raffles.

More useful information about Wireless@SG can be found on its official website at http://www.infocomm123.sg/wireless_at_sg/.

Tags: internet, wifi, wireless@sg

Singapore has many public parks, but if you want to picnic by the seaside, walk through dense jungle and learn about World War II history there’s only one that fits the bill: the Labrador Nature Reserve.

Come for the jungle, stay for the World War II relics.

Located along the south coast of Singapore quite close to Sentosa Island, Labrador Park was officially upgraded to a protected nature reserve in 2002. Its 10 hectares cover a diverse range of landscapes from secondary jungle to rocky sea cliffs to swampy mangroves and are home to endangered birds, crustaceans, monitor lizards and monkeys.

The coastal area is the most developed part of Labrador Park and a paved pedestrian path runs along the water. This is where the majority of the visitors can be found as they make use of the children’s playground, scenic jogging trails and barbecue pits. There’s also an elevated boardwalk over the water where you can spot mudskippers, sea grasses and small crabs.

In Singapore, even nature is orderly.

Behind the developed coastal area you’ll find the true jungle. This is where Labrador Park feels a world away from urban Singapore and on weekdays you’re more likely to encounter a plantain squirrel than another person. The trees covered with vines are so dense they practically block out the sun and the cicadas can be deafening. The trails are paved and have stairs and hand railings where necessary, making Labrador Park one of Singapore’s easiest nature reserves for walking. Keep your eyes and ears open for wildlife as the park is home to more than 70 species of birds including wild parrots and bright yellow orioles. Remember that feeding animals or picking flowers is more than just bad for the environment – in Singapore it can land you a hefty fine!

Amid the jungle you can also see some moss-covered remains from World War II including bunkers and gun batteries. The area that is now Labrador Nature Reserve was once Fort Pasir Panjang, one of the military forts built by the British to protect the port of Singapore. Informational signs dispel common myths like that Singapore lost to the Japanese invaders because the guns at these coastal forts were pointed facing the wrong direction (in fact, they could rotate 360-degrees but were not placed for firing inland and had the wrong kind of ammo). Some secret underground tunnels from the war were rediscovered at Labrador Park in 2001, but they are currently closed to the public. If you’d like to see a military fort in better condition, consider a visit to Fort Siloso.

A great view or a perfect location for a military fort.

With the opening of the new Labrador Park MRT station the park is getting an influx of visitors and services, and is now home to chic al-fresco eateries like the Eco Gourmet Café. From the station it’s a 15-minute walk to the park or, if it’s a weekend or public holiday, you can catch Park Bus #408 the rest of the way. Don't forget to download a free Labrador Park walking trails map courtesy of the Singapore  National Parks board.

Tags: History, Labrador Nature Reserve, nature reserves, parks

Although Singapore is so densely populated that the government has resorted to literally increasing the size of the island, the northwest corner of the country remains refreshingly rural. The few businesses operating here have banded together to promote the Kranji countryside as an “agri-tainment” destination where you can visit small farms selling organic veggies, goat milk, ornamental fish, and even frog meat.

Head to the Kranji countryside for goats, frogs and fresh veggies.

After pig farms were banned in the 1980s over environmental concerns, clever farmer Hay Yak Tang switched to raising goats. Today, Hay Dairies is the only livestock farm in Singapore and rears about 800 goats solely for their milk. There’s one pen for the bearded females and another for the cute kids. Admission is free and you can watch milking demonstrations at 09:00 and 11:00.

Side by side, the Max Koi Farm and Haussman Aquarium both deal in ornamental fish. As the name suggests, Max Koi Farm breeds the beautiful Japanese koi which resemble overgrown goldfish as well as arowana, scaly fish that are considered lucky for their resemblance to the mythological Chinese dragon. Haussman Aquarium specialises in smaller aquarium fish and is more fun for families as you can feed the fish or try some catch-and-release fishing using a net and bucket.

Meet your veggies at one of Singapore's organic farms.

The critters at the Jurong Frog Farm aren’t so lucky: they are raised for their meat. Thousands of ribbiting American bullfrogs are kept in watery pens until they’re ready to be turned into a healthy dinner (frog meat is leaner than even chicken breast). This is definitely the most educational of the farms with signs and interactive displays and you can pick up some frozen frogs legs on your way out; recipes are even printed on the brochure.

You can buy organic fruits and veggies at Fireflies Healthfarm or Quan Fa Organic Farm, but Bollywood Veggies is the only one that will also serve you their fresh produce for lunch. In addition to their tropical gardens teeming with butterflies, Bollywood Veggies has children’s activities, a dog run, a food museum and the delicious Poison Ivy Bistro. It’s definitely worth the S$2 admission for people aged over 12.

Getting there: Although public transport to the Kranji countryside is not that convenient, the farms are close together so you can visit multiple sites in one trip. The easiest way to get there is by catching the Kranji Countryside Express shuttle bus which departs from Kranji MRT every 90 minutes. The shuttle runs from 09:00 till 17:45 and costs S$3 for adults and S$1 for children. It also makes a stop at the nearby Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

For a less direct but slightly cheaper service, you can take public bus #975 from Choa Chu Kang MRT station which stops near Hay Dairy Farm, from where you can walk to the rest.

Tags: bollywood veggies, farms, jurong frog farm, nature

Any Singapore trivia buff should know that the city-state isn’t made up of just one island, but 63 small separate ones. In my ongoing series exploring the 62 lesser-known islands, I take a short bumboat ride to the east coast island of Pulau Ubin, one of the most rustic places left in Singapore.

Pulau Ubin has transformed from granite quarries to eco-paradise.

In local folklore, Pulau Ubin was created when a frog, a pig and an elephant decided to have a race from Malaysia to Singapore. The elephant and pig failed to swim the whole way, and were together transformed into the relatively large island of Pulau Ubin.

During the British colonial days, the island was known for its quarries and its name actually means “Granite Island” in the Malay language. The stone walls and floor tiles in many historic Singapore buildings originated from here and the rocks used to build the original causeway linking Singapore and Johor Bahru came from Pulau Ubin’s mines. However, the mines shut down in the 1960s once they had dug to sea level and by the 1970s the island was practically abandoned to nature.

Take a hike or rent a bike to explore Ubin's jungle trails.

Due to Singapore’s serious land shortage it wasn’t long before the government began eyeing Ubin for redevelopment, but citizens objected on the grounds that Ubin had essentially become a nature reserve. The abandoned quarries had filled with water and turned into lagoons, the thick jungle trees were growing back, and animals previously extinct in Singapore – like the Malay mouse deer and majestic hornbill birds – had returned.

Thankfully the government relented and Pulau Ubin remains in its charmingly rustic state, now serving as a popular weekend destination for locals and tourists alike. A few shops have sprung up near the ferry point where you can rent a bicycle or enjoy freshly-caught seafood and there is a visitors' centre where you can learn about the island’s wildlife. There are a few other points of interest scattered about the island including the Chek Jawa wetlands, some peculiar shrines, and a mountain biking trail, but most visitors simply want to escape urban life for a few hours.

Sailing away from the skyscrapers and shopping malls of mainland Singapore.

Pulau Ubin is ideal for a day trip, but it’s also possible to spend the night. It is free to camp on Noordin and Mamam beaches (bring your own tent and food) or, if you’re not the “roughing it” type, more comfortable accommodation is available at the Celestial Resort which has its own swimming lagoon and restaurant.

Getting to Pulau Ubin: Simply getting to Pulau Ubin is an adventure as the only way to get there is by the bumboats that depart from Changi Beach Pier from 05:30 to 21:00. Instead of following a strict schedule, bumboats depart when they have 12 passengers. The fare is S$2.50.

Tags: bicycles, islands, nature, nature reserve, Pulau Ubin, seafood

To quote Singaporean food blogger Leslie Tay, “Never waste your calories on yucky food!” This is even more important for visitors to Singapore who have a limited number of meals to sample the city’s diverse and delicious cuisine. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of food apps to direct smartphone-toting travellers to the most mouthwatering meals.

The Ieat app reveals the best hawker stalls within walking distance.

Note: The apps require internet access for full functionality, so consider investing S$15 in a prepaid 3G microSIM card.

ieat hawker: If sampling the best of Singapore’s hawker food ranks high on your to-do list, then this is the app for you.  The listed stalls are selected by food blogger Leslie Tay of ieatishootipost.com (and the clever quote above) and organised into categories like ‘crabs’, ‘laksa', and ‘kopi and toast’. The full version is definitely worth $0.99 and lists multiple stalls per category with a full review, photos and ranking out of five stars. But the app’s best feature is definitely the interactive map: use GPS to locate yourself and it’ll highlight recommended stalls nearby. What are you waiting for? Go eat!

Makansutra: The foodies at Makansutra are undoubtedly the experts on the best Singapore hawker food with their annual print guidebook, TV series, and now a free app. The different food categories are presented with mouthwatering photos, and tapping on a dish results in a general description and audio of how to pronounce it (useful for Chinese words like cze cha). The recommended stalls are definitely the best of the best (like Tian Tian chicken rice), but there aren’t very many of them – just three listings for where to eat chicken rice and zero for chilli crab. I suspect this free app is still a work in progress, but it definitely has potential.

The Makansutra app.

Hungrygowhere: This free app is a companion to the popular HungryGoWhere website with thousands of user-generated restaurant reviews. This means it’s incredibly comprehensive – you’ll even find reviews saying which McDonalds has the best service – but, since the reviews aren’t by a trusted critic, you’ll need to take what you read with a grain of salt. For each restaurant, the app lists full contact details, opening hours, average prices, recommended dishes, and an overall approval ranking (out of 100%). If you’re in the mood for a certain kind of restaurant, the ability to search using multiple tags results in some excellent recommendations. For example, searching for a ‘midrange family-friendly Vietnamese restaurant near Orchard Road’ results in the yummy Orange Lantern Restaurant.

Tags: apps, hungrygowhere, iphone, makansutra

There’s no question that Singaporean food is delicious, but this cosmopolitan city is also a great place to satisfy any cravings for food from far-flung countries. The fact that all food in Singapore is imported from overseas means you can get any ingredient here, including the tomatillos, chipotle peppers and masa harina necessary to make authentic Mexican food.

Casa Latina -- as authentic as it gets in Singapore.

The best Mexican food in Singapore is without question Casa Latina, which has an experienced Mexican chef running the kitchen. The menu goes way beyond the usual burritos, and you can get chile relleno (stuffed peppers), pescado frito (fried fish), and pollo divorciado (chicken with two different mole sauces). Of course, being the best comes at a price -- around S$25–35 for mains.
Casa Latina: 42 Waterloo Street, 6884 6929

In close second is Piedra Negra in the trendy Haji Lane area. The fish tacos and burritos are as good as it gets in Asia and the guacamole is made in-house. Best yet, prices are quite reasonable with most dishes S$15 or less. If you need any more reason to go, Piedra Negra has a cool artsy vibe and a full bar serving strong margaritas and Mexican beer like Sol and Corona.
Piedra Negra: 241 Beach Road near Haji Lane, 6291 1297

Sometimes nothing satisfies like a fajita.

For a quick taco or quesadilla, try the Senor Taco taquería at Clarke Quay. Tacos are served open-face with fillings like shredded pork (tacos al pastor), chicken, beef, and seafood and tend to be a bit dry, but adding some of the house-made chipotle sauce or salsa will remedy that. The tacos cost around S$3 apiece but are little more than a mouthful, so you’ll need a few to make it a full meal. Senor Taco at Clarke Quay is open until 04:00 on weekends for a post-clubbing snack, or try the new full service Senor Taco restaurant at CHJIMES.
Senor Taco: #01-12 3D River Valley Road, 9118 4155

Also at Clarke Quay is the long-running Café Iguana. Their best dishes like nachos, chile con queso, bean burritos and tequila-glazed steak are more Tex-Mex than authentic Mexican, but it’s still yummy and portions are generous. Understanding that drinks are just as important as food, Café Iguana has the biggest selection of tequila in Singapore, which is used to make their excellent margaritas and original cocktails like the Iguana Colada with tequila, Kahlua, coconut and pineapple juice. Come early for happy hour specials.
Cafe Iguana: 30 Merchant Road, #01-03 Riverside Point, 6236 1275

If you're wondering where in Singapore you can buy the ingredients to cook Mexican food yourself, expat bloggers Jeffrey & Flora have discovered a shop specialising in imported Mexican ingredients.

And if Phnom Penh is on your Southeast Asia radar, we've got Mexican food covered there as well.

Tags: cafe iguana, casa latina, clarke quay, international food, mexican food, piedra negra, senor taco

Would you love to try the famous food of Penang and Melaka, but just don’t have the time to add Malaysia to your travel itinerary? Now you can feast on Malaysian streetfood favourites like char kway teow and chicken rice balls right here in Singapore. Malaysian Food Street is the newest dining destination at Resorts World Sentosa as well as its most affordable. Let the pig-out begin!

I have a strange feeling we're not in Singapore any more ...

Before Malaysian Food Street opened in January 2012, a Resorts World team of street-foodies spent eight months eating their way across Malaysia to hand-pick the best hawkers and invite them to set up shop south of the border. The result: 17 stalls serving up Malaysia’s best eats, including local legends like Penang’s Lim Brothers char kway teow and Kuala Lumpur’s Petaling Street porridge, which have been in business for more than 50 years. Other offerings include bak kut teh (herbal pork rib soup from the Malaysian town of Klang), Penang lor bak, Melaka chicken rice balls, mutton curry, sliced cuttlefish, kaya toast and dim sum.

The setting may be fake, but the food's the real deal.

In true Malaysian style, many of the stalls are certified Halal including the nasi lemak (coconut rice with side dishes), roti prata, and chicken biriyani. Wash it all down with a cup of kopi or bandung, and do try to save room for dessert. Take my word for it that the Penang cendol with green jelly noodles and beans tastes better than it looks.

Malaysian Food Street doesn’t just offer a taste of Malaysia, it also tries to recreate the country’s ambiance. Despite being completely indoors (with much-appreciated air-con), it features traditional shophouse frontages, old advertisements in bahasa Malay, Kuala Lumpur street signs, and an antique cycle rickshaw. It's a little gimmicky, but you are on Sentosa after all.

KL wanton mee: a little different from its Singapore cousin.

Malaysian Food Street is slightly more expensive than your average hawker centre, but it represents great value for generally over-priced Sentosa. I paid just S$4 for a plate of KL-style wanton mee (with a darker, sweeter sauce than the Singapore version). A mere S$5 will get you Hokkien noodles with plump prawns or a bowl of chicken curry with roti prata.

If you can't decide what to eat, pick up a copy of the free Malaysian Food Street newspaper which explains each dish and its heritage in detail.

Malaysian Food Street
Resorts World Sentosa, next to Universal Studios
Singapore
Open Mon–Thurs 11:00–22:00; Fri–Sat 09:00–00:00; Sun 09:00–22:00

Tags: hawker food, Malaysia, resorts world sentosa, sentosa

Singapore is often dismissed as being the most Westernised country in Asia, but the older generation has hung on to many customs including traditional Chinese funeral rites. While funerals are deeply personal affairs that visitors probably shouldn’t intrude upon, you can gain some insight by visiting a Chinese funeral supply shop.

What should you wear in the afterlife?

Funeral supply shops are a common sight in residential areas like Tiong Bahru and Ang Moh Kio as well as in Chinatown. The shops sell incense and candles for burning at Singapore's numerous Buddhist temples, but also paper replicas of everyday items like clothing, medicine, cars and even mobile phones.

The dominant religion in Singapore is a mixture of Buddhism and Taoism, and one of the core beliefs is in reincarnation and an afterlife. Singaporean Buddhists believe that the same items used in daily life are needed in the afterlife, and that they can send these items to their dearly departed by burning them. This is the same principle behind the annual Hungry Ghost Festival where angry ghosts are appeased by leaving food offerings and burning fake money called Hell notes.

Send your dearly-departed gifts that they couldn't afford in mortal life.

It’s no secret that Singaporeans love to shop and, in a modern twist to this age-old funeral tradition, people now burn replicas of luxury goods to send as gifts to their deceased family and friends. Take a look around any funeral supply store and you’ll see paper credit cards, lingerie, iPads, Louis Vuitton hand bags, condominiums, and even cars complete with a chauffeur. They certainly make for a unique souvenir, but bear in mind that giving a living person an item designed for the dead is considered a bad omen.

Being dead is no excuse to not check your email.

If you’re interested in seeing a traditional Chinese funeral shop for yourself, you can find one at 22 Smith Street – a street also known as Chinatown Food Street for its nightly food market.

Tags: Buddhism, funerals, temples, traditions

We cycled the 2260 kilometres from Singapore to Bangkok in 18 days. I'd like to say that it was pure grit and determination that kept us going, but really it was the food. When you are cycling six to nine hours a day, you need a lot of fuel to keep going, and you can partake with gusto and without guilt. Southeast Asia provides food with no problem. The regional cuisines are fairly well defined -- central Thai, southern Thai, northern Malay, Perenakan, Melakan, Malay-Indian, Chinese -- but the interesting part is where they blend together. Cycling happens at such a slow pace that you slowly evolve into a new food region instead of just arriving; it's like jet lag, only with food instead of time zones.

This. This is just the start.

In Bangkok and the first few days of biking south, noodles and Isaan food were king. Isaan is the region northeast of Bangkok, but its food is immensely popular in the central region. Fried noodles, noodle soup, pounded papaya salad (som tam) and roasted pork powered us through. As we approached the more Muslim south, the picture slowly began to change as pork (while still existent) began to be replaced with chicken. Curries started to contain much less coconut milk, but more chillies, and the food in general got spicier. Roti (a layered, flaky bread baked on a wide griddle), while available in central and northern Thailand, started showing up on every street corner, served with condensed milk and sugar.

Nothing says loving like fried noodles.

Past Hat Yai, we crossed the border into Malaysia where pork almost immediately disappeared from all but ethnic-Chinese kitchens. Where southern Thai food is firey and fishy, in northern Malaysia the fish stays in but the chillies all but disappear, replaced with coconut milk and spices -- black pepper, curry leaves, ginger, anise and cinnamon. Nasi kandar is what's for lunch in Malaysia, where 10 to 20 pre-made curries, stir fries and vegetable dishes are mixed and matched on steamed rice.

Tandoori chicken in Penang.

In Penang, the large Chinese community left an indelible mark on the island's plate including Perenakan cuisine, which developed when traditional Chinese dishes were cooked using locally available produce. It's a cuisine special to the west coast of the peninsula, stretching from Phuket to Singapore, with Penang as its beating heart. The large Indian community in Penang serves the hungry out of tandoor ovens, curry pots and dosa griddles. We had to stay two days in Penang to get our fill.

Satay and grilled fish mousse in Melaka.

Heading south the food changes again in the more mountainous centre of Malaysia, seeing variations on coastal dishes created by replacing fish with lamb, beef or occasionally goat. Melaka has its own special variation on Perenakan food, influenced both by the Portuguese colonists and their proximity to Sumatra.

Cycling south from Melaka we were close to the finish. I had dreams of Singapore laksa as we sweated along the highway leading to the causeway. Singapore might be subjected to sniping about its sterility and boringness (both untrue), but sour tongues are silenced when it comes to Singapore's food scene. Singaporeans are serious about it and we are all the better for it: chilli crab, laksa, dim sum and hundreds of steaming hawker centres serving it forth at all hours. I ate my weight in curry mee.

Curry mee: INTO MY FACE, MEE.

We were also thankful for the food that travellers don't normally wax poetic over: Magnum ice cream bars and Cornettos, Mars bars, M&Ms, dried mangoes, dried pineapples, dates, grilled dried squid, nori sheets, almonds, cashews, peanuts fried with chilli and makrut leaf. They might seem like banal snacks, but standing at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, they are your ticket to getting somewhere. Snacks were the unsung heroes of this cycle journey (that and Tiger Balm).

Was it worth it just for the food? It was. It was, without a doubt. I would do it again tomorrow.

Tags: chillies, dosa, Isaan, Melaka, Penang, Perenakan, roti, som tam, Tandoor

When Singapore split from Malaysia in the early 1960s, the government implemented a number of policies to rapidly modernise the newly independent city-state. One of them was to move all the people from Malaysian-style kampong villages to the high-rise public housing apartments. Somehow, one of these traditional villages was spared from the bulldozer and survives in 2012. It’s called Buangkok, but is better known as “Singapore’s last kampong”.

It sure doesn't look like it, but you're still in Singapore.

The first time I heard of Kampong Buangkok was in a New York Times article, “Singapore Prepares to Gobble Up Its Last Village”, published in January 2009. Since the Singapore government has the power to reclaim the land at any time it’s inevitable that it will be redeveloped, but as of April 2012 the village still stands.

Kampong Buangkok is located in northeastern Singapore between a canal and a construction site. Thick trees and bushes shield it from view, but a few handwritten signs point the way. Follow the dirt road and it will lead you between the dozen or so wooden houses with tin roofs that make up the village. A world away from the high-density apartment blocks that most Singaporeans call home, the kampong houses have large gardens and some families even keep chickens.

Not your average Singaporean dwelling.

Visitors are welcome to walk around the public areas, but Kampong Buangkok is not a living museum – people really live here – so please do respect their privacy and don't take photos of people without their permission. Instead, say "hi" and see where the conversation goes; many of the residents are eager to discuss their unique village and what the future may hold.

New housing developments are already encroaching on Kampong Buangkok, so it’s just a matter of time before the last kampong is history, too.

Modern Singapore is sneaking up on Kampong Buangkok ...

How to get to Kampong Buangkok: As you might have guessed, Kampong Buangkok is not served by the MRT. The easiest way to get there is to go to Serangoon MRT station, then transfer to bus #70 or 103. It’s about a 15-minute ride and you want to get off at the bus stop at the Church of St. Vincent de Paul on Yio Chu Kang Road. From there, cross the road and follow the stairs down to the canal with a paved jogging path. Follow the unpaved road behind the jogging trail that leads into a tree-filled area, and you’ll eventually see the hand-written Kampong Buangkok sign.

Tags: History, kampong buangkok