Singapore and Tokyo in early April

In My Humble Opinion
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Brag My awesome hubby has been invited to give two talks at a conference in Biopolis, Singapore in April of 2014. The organizers of the conference are footing the bill. It’s not a done deal yet because his company has to approve the trip, but there is really no reason for them to deny it as it has huge potential for adding business from that part of the world. If everything is approved, my mother-in-law wants to pay for an airline ticket for me. :smiley:

Since this is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for the both of us, (provided it’s approved) we are going to make it into at least a week and a half vacation for the both of us. The plan right now is to arrive a couple of days ahead of the conference and be tourists, then fly to Tokyo and stay a couple of days. As long as we are in vacation mode we thought why not stay a couple of days in San Francisco on the way back to RDU.

I know virtually nothing about any of these places. There are a few hotels that the conference people recommend in Singapore. The conference is being held in the Matrix building and there is only one hotel close enough to walk. All the other recommended hotels are in the Riverside district. Are any Dopers familiar with this part of Singapore? Any recommendations for accommodations, dining, places to see, and things to do?

Then Tokyo - we will fly into Narita and I understand there is an extensive train and subway system. My initial research points me to staying somewhere near the Tokyo station, but I am open to suggestions. Our hotel budget for up to 3 nights is 400-600 USD. I want some recommendations for good sushi, but somewhere I won’t embarrass myself with my lack of knowledge. Neither of us know any Japanese, but if the trip is approved, I will do my level best to learn some key phrases. I’d also love to try one of those places that have the dishes on the conveyor belt if anyone knows a good one. What else should we see and do? I saw something about a train tour to Mt Fuji. Is that something that’s worth doing?

San Fran Dopers feel free to weigh in as well on places to stay (budget around 400 USD), see, go and things to do while we are there.

Any tips, hints and suggestions will be appreciated!

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A Singapore Sling is the world’s worst drink, but the Raffles Hotel is an awesome beautiful old colonial hotel where the cocktail was invented, so I think you ought to mosey up to the bar there and have one. I think they shot the last tiger in Singapore in the pool room at the Raffles.

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In Singapore, we like the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel.

We were in Tokyo this past April, and here is my thread asking for advice. You can check that out too. In post #45, someone recommends the New Izu Hotel in the Ueno area, and that’s where we ended up staying. TINY rooms, but we just needed a place to flop at night. It was quite okay, and we would definitely stay there again. The neighborhood is quiet and peaceful at night, and the staff are super friendly. And you’re close to Ueno Station, which I think is maybe only three (?) stops from Tokyo Station. It’s also near Ueno Park, which should have some good cherry-blossom viewing. And the excellent Tokyo Museum is in the park too. Also, Ueno is one of the few places in Tokyo that is actually closer to Narita Airport than to Haneda Airport, and there is a special train that travels straight between Narita and Ueno Station, the Keisei Skyliner. It’s an easy walk to the New Izu Hotel from Ueno Station, especially if your luggage has wheels.

For sushi, visit Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest in the world. It’s free admission, but it is a working market, so be careful not to get run over by a forklift. There are some sushi restaurants on site, and it’s about the best we had. You won’t find it any fresher. This is my plate I ordered, and the wife had one exactly the same. There are picture menus but no conveyor belts that I saw. That plate in the photo was a set. I liked the market itself a lot better than I thought I would.

It will be chilly in April, but not too bad. We arrived in Tokyo on April 8 but missed much of the cherry blossoms. It seems this year was the earliest bloom on record, but there still were some to see, just not the full spectacular view.

A day in Yokohama was nice too. An express train goes straight there from Tokyo Station. We wandered around close to the oceanside near the Landmark Tower, and there’s a couple of old warehouses converted into modern shops. Reminded me a little of Chelsea Market in Manhattan. However, if you’re only going to be there three nights, you might not want to veer that far away from Tokyo proper.

Be sure to go up into the tall towers – the new Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Tower and, in Yokohama, the Landmark Tower. Those are the three tallest structures in Tokyo, and the Landmark is the tallest building.

Tokyo also has some good hop-on, hop-off bus tours, We used the Skybus. Their ticket office is near Tokyo Station.

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Oh, one other thing. While Tokyo will be chilly in early April, Singapore will be brutally hot and humid.

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And for Singapore, hit Sentosa Island, the Singapore Zoo/Night Safari and the bars along the river.

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Fantastic suggestions so far. Thanks Siam Sam and Darryl Lict. I was hoping that we’d be able to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for us.

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I second the idea about the Raffles Hotel too. Even though I hear that these days they keep the Singapore Slings mixede in batches, it’s still a great place to spend an hour or two. They serve free peanuts in the shell, and you’re supposed to throw the shells on the floor. And Darryl Lict is correct about that tiger in the Raffles. Accounts differ slightly on exactly which room it was shot in – some say the Long Bar itself, others say the Billiards Room – but one story can be found here. It was an escaped circus tiger.

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And the cocktail you will be served will be made with fresh fruit juice and very different ingredients from the nasty cousin they serve in North America.

I’m heading to their brand new museum, on my next visit! And I’m already planning what I’ll eat first!

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There will be cherry blossoms in Tokyo. I spent a month there, leaving on March 21 and there were cherry blossoms in Tokyo. Sakura, I think they were called. I can’t help with hotels, since I was staying elsewhere (Tsukuba at a research institute that had its own accomodations, just came into Tokyo to get to their airport). Many restaurants in Japan have pictorial menus, so you can just point. The staff won’t expect westerners to speak any Japanese and will, in fact, take a long time to even hear you if you do, so unbelieving can they be.

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And brush up on your chopstick skills. I can use them fine, but I noticed that in Japan, it’s pretty much a given that you will know how to use chopsticks. Dunno what would have happened if I’d actually asked for a fork or something.

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Make sure the hubby stays well clear of Geylang.

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I’m sure times have changed since my days in ‘Singers’, but I would hope that the 'Makan Malam’s ’ (night markets) ala Newton Circus are still going strong. Eating great food day and night was (is?) so easy it hardly made sense to cook very often.

Oh yeah, don’t forget your hat - as I remember, the Sun is just about directly over head in April. At noon, you may not cast a shadow and the part in your hair may suffer.

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In Singapore, I love the Halia Restaurant in the Botanic Gardens. I also love Archipelego Beer which is available in a couple of brew pubs around town. For hotels, I really like the Fairmont, it’s owned by the same company that owns Raffles and is pretty much across the street, but it’s expensive (I like to stay there when someone else is paying). Singapore has some great museums, especially of Asian history.

The Night Safari is kitchy fun and we really enjoyed some of the Singapore Walks tours http://www.journeys.com.sg/singaporewalks/index.asp.

ETA: check out Makan Sutra and don’t think you’re going to lose weight in Singapore

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A couple more suggestions for Tokyo. Be sure to visit the Shibuya area. That’s where all those high-tech billboards are on display that you see in the movies. And Shibuya Crossing is one of the world’s busiest intersections, with 100,000 people going through it every hour (yes, hour). When the pedestrian light goes on, it’s good to watch the fun it from the nearby upstairs Starbucks (you’ll see it). That Starbucks is the company’s highest grossing in the world, and they serve only “tall” sizes to cut down on people lingering too long.

The Harajuku area, just one stop away from Shibuya on the JR Line, has a different flavor, kind of trendier, and its Takeshita-dori (Takeshita Street) is very interesting to wander through.

Visit a maid cafe in the Akihabara area. Looks and sounds like something in an erotic soft-core film, but it’s really good clean fun. Honest! Don’t worry, just stroll down the street, and they’ll find you. (I think we visited one from this chain.)

And in Asakusa is the big Senso-ji (Senso Temple), open 24 hours and free admission.

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Avoid Newton Circus - now its mostly overpriced tourist crap.

If you’re into food, and up for new stuff,

Try Paradise Crab in Defu Lane (take the chilli crab, drunken prawns, the crispy chicken and the ribs)

Then got to Jalan Besar Hakwer Centre and try the turtle soup (its really good)

You can also ask your conceirage for some food recommendations - but do be sure to tell them you don’t want tourist.

For breakfast, you can go to Red Star - its traditional dim sum, be sure to take
siew mai
chicken feet
and gui ling gao (this is a dessert)

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Kaya toast, it’s my favorite breakfast.

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Loving all the suggestions! I am a try most anything foodie and my hubby is a well-done burger type of guy. He has said that he will try sushi in Japan, but whereas I will want to take in the local cuisine, he is going to mainly want something familiar most of the time. I am going to try to get him to sample some new things.

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If you are a foodie, then Singapore is your town. You can get great food at places that don’t look like anything special. For new arrivals, Makan Sutra is a very approachable introduction to Singapore cuisine http://www.makansutra.com/.

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Finding Western food doesn’t seem to be much of a problem in Tokyo. And I was surprised how limited the Japanese food variety is. It seemed like unless we were willing to spend big bucks for the really high-class traditional fare (we weren’t), then there wasn’t that much variety. The pork cutlet seems to be at least the de-facto national dish – we were warned ahead of time that we would become sick of pork cutlets, and they were right! We now understand why there are no Japanese Muslims or Jews. (Tonkatsu is the word for pork cutlet, IIRC.) But the little hole-in-the-wall noodle shops will give you some surprisingly good cheap meals.

Japanese sweets. Now those are really a treat.

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If you want to go the cheap, familiar route in Tokyo the convenience stores actually have pretty decent food. It’s not like North America with dried out fried chicken and questionable tuna sandwiches :wink: Fresh packaged meals for fairly cheap. Also, the chain Lotteria does some pretty funny takes on burgers sometimes like a ramen burger and a combo cheeseburger/shrimp burger.

Okay, I just really like conbinis…