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Shopping is a national leisure for Singaporeans. You can find everything ranging from hi-tech wares to designer wear in the island. Orchard Road is a must-visit on your itinerary. Your shopping experiences from Orchard Road will be enriched and varied. When Christmas comes, the road will be transformed into a dazzling stage of lights and festive embellishments with all light-up buildings. Souvenirs and other memorable stuffs can be found in Chinatown, Arab Street, Little India and the suburban areas like Holland Village, Katong and Tampines. Shopping hours during holiday can extend to as late as midnight.
Great Singapore Sale - GSS
The mid-year Great Singapore Sale is the best shopping time as prices come down drastically in all shopping sites. But it does not mean you cannot bargin during non-sale times, visitors could buy attractive electronic goods with low price in stores such as Lucky Plaza, Sim Lim Square or Far East Plaza.
Tips for shopping
A general rule of bargin is to start around 25% -30% below the price offered. Comparing prices at different stores will be your wise choice when shopping. And no worries, most stores accept credit cards.
Singapore is a food heaven in Asia. Not only are Singaporeans passionate about food and eating, but tourists can often find numerous variety of food served everywhere on the island day and night. In this cosmopolitan, you can expect delicious cuisines from every part of the world. The abundant hawker centers are the best destinations for people searching variety in tastes and with low prices at the same time.
Let us see what kind of special food Singaporeans have:
Nonya Food
Nonya Food is a blending of Chinese, Malay and other influences and its recipes were passed from one generation to the next. The preparation of the dishes is time-consuming. Nonya cooking is all about the combination of spices, using pungent roots like galangal, turmeric and ginger; aromatic leaves like pandan leaf, fragrant lime leaf and laksa leaf, with other ingredients like shrimp paste, chilies, candlenuts and shallots.The dishes are tangy with ingredients such as lemon, tamarind, belimbing or green mangoes.
Halal Food
Halal food are served for Muslim community. There are two kinds of halal food, i.e. Malay Muslim and Indian Muslim food. Tourists must try the Nasi Padang which is a cooking style originated from Sumatra. Singaporeans like Indian Muslim or Mamak food very much. Suggested dishes include mee goreng, rojak and mutton soup.
Sea Food
Singaporean seafood is the most popular food of many visitors. Black pepper crabs, chili crabs, drunken prawns and deep fried baby squids are delicious sea food you must not miss. Lobsters and raw cockles are also frequently ordered by eaters. It's convenient for visitors to look for sea food as sea food centers are located at every part of the island.
Singapore is an independant state located in South East Asia and near the equator with the weather here hot and wet. Singapore is part of the ASEAN group of countries. It is a multi-racial, multi-religion country with culture, race, religion perfectly mixed and blended. In Singapore, you will find Chinese, Malay, Indians and other minority races. You would also see and find many religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Islamic Beliefs, Hindiusm etc. in Singapore. It is one of the rare countries in the world where there are cultural, racial and religion tolerance and understanding.In addition, each racial group not only has retained its own cultural identity but also developed and integrated into Singapore community.
The city originated from a British trading post set up by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. Nowadays, the country's industrialization boosted the economy, and today the state has one of the world's busiest container port. The country is also with a low unemployment and a efficient infrastructure. Today, almost the entire population has been moved from kampungs (villages) into HDB apartments or condominium. People from China, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Ceylon and the Middle East came to Singapore for a better life for themselves and their families.
National flag
National Emblem
Location
Singapore is made up of the main island of Singapore and 60 other smaller islands. The total area is 655 square kilometers. Singapore is on the southern part of Malaysia and linked to it by 2 causeways.
Language
English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil
Total Population
4.98 million
Singapore Residents
3.73 million
Visa
Foreigners holding travel documents issued by certain countries require either a Business or Social visa.
(For more information, please visit the Singapore Immigration website : www.sir.gov.sg)
Travelers enjoy Duty-Free concessions if they:
- are at least 18 years old
- have arrived from countries other than Malaysia
- have been away from Singapore for at least 48 hours
Currency
The unit of currency is the Singapore dollar. Most shops and entertainment outlets accepted major credit cards and travelers' cheques.
Taxes
There is a 7% Goods and Services Tax imposed in major shops and departments, with an additional of 10% service charge in restaurants.
Tipping
There is no need to tip if a 10% service charge is already added to the bill. If not, tipping is up to one`s preferences.
Public phones
Most public phones accept coins or phonecards purchased from bookstalls and newsagents, with a minimum value of S$2.00.
This blog is to complement my poster and newsletter in terms of providing a multimedia and interactive platform for ICA participants.
First of all, the blog's general design is consistent with my poster and newsletter as conciseness and the sense of vacation mood is what I would like to highlight in all my collaterals. Thus the background of headline is blue sky and green meadow. The yellow colour of blog title is to give a bright and relaxing first impression for blog visitors.
I've added slideshows to showcase many places of interests in Singapore. From slideshows visitors will get to know the city through photos taken in the CBD, natural sights as well as isles outside of Singapore. Each photo was subtitled. Visitors just have to move their cursor on the photo, the name of each photo will appear immediately.
The weather bar is a useful widget for those who has never been to Singapore before as temperature is quite high in this country and it's humid because of the location. Visitors can edit the "city" on the weather bar, key in "Singapore" and search they will be introduced to weather condition of this country in a second.
My newsletter will mainly focus on the concept and implementation of four distinctive and bespoke tours, namely the Tour of Friendship, the Tour of Connection, the Tour of Competition, the Tour of Engagement.
Each tour was explained in detail in terms of the meaning and significance to ICA participants. To make the explanation more clear and vivid, the pertinent pictures of places of interest that were mentioned in text were placed beside the paragraph.
Trough reading the newsletter, ICA participants will get the whole idea of the bespoke tours completely and clearly. They will understand what they can experience and achieve after each tour, and what kind of specific routes and activities they can participate in certain tour. In the end, they can easily make up their mind which particular tour or tours they have decide to take part in.
On the other hand, the newsletter can be a souvenir for the participants. It not only present a comprehensive guide and introduction to Singapore, but also serve as a memorial remind them the unique experience in Singapore.
My poster intends to give a strong impression of “My Singapore Weekend” and arouse interests among ICA members and media scholars. Firstly, the gradient blue which is the overall tone of my poster is to implicate the blue sky and clear weather of Singapore. Headline “My Singapore Weekend” in lemon yellow not only presents a salient look but a feeling of brisk joy. The “Y” in word “My” is figured by a parachute so as to reinforce the holiday mood. Then the theme of ‘friendship’, ‘competition’, ‘engagement’ and ‘connection’ was explained by a bespoke picture respectively.
The first picture of parrots welcoming tourists to Singapore Zoo indicates Singaporean’s hospitality and they are friendly to people all over the world. Besides, the two parrots looking like twins expressed a humorous sense of friendship.
Competition is presented by a picture of dragon boat racing which is a popular game in Singapore. Engagement shows the icon of the country – Merlion. As blending in Singapore, Merlion is the first thing you must not miss and get to know.
The fourth part of theme Connection means connecting with Singapore’s past and heritage. A picture of Supreme Court which is the classic Corinthian architecture built in 1939 was place beside the Connection. It perfectly represents the heritage of the country and is very suitable for the definition of Connection.
At the bottom of poster, ICA conference information was briefly stated including the host university and official website. ICA logo was also placed in the corner to show the relevance of the “My Singapore Weekend” to ICA conference.
In addition, a pair of footprints was placed between ICA logo and the picture of dragon boat racing. The footprints means the journey starts from ICA and will follow as four significant ways of exploring truly and uniquely Singapore. The steps of ICA members will never stop because there are so many meaningful activities during the weekend after the ICA conference. The four pictures plus ICA logo formed a ‘V’ so as to indicate the victory of both the conference and ICA members’ weekend activity.
Singapore is a city state diversified in culture, race and religion. Foreigners who just come to Singapore are often amazed to spot the harmony in every aspect of the society. In this unique city state, every person shall definitely experience the country’s colorful culture, booming economy and social stability.
“My Singapore Weekend” is designed specifically for foreigners who have not been to Singapore before. The project aims to show foreign visitors what they can do during the weekend of 26 – 27 Jun 2010. My theme for this unique Singapore weekend contains four major parts, namely friendship, competition, engagement and connection.
Shopping is a national leisure for Singaporeans. You can find everything ranging from hi-tech wares to designer wear in the island. Orchard Road is a must-visit on your itinerary. Your shopping experiences from Orchard Road will be enriched and varied. When Christmas comes, the road will be transformed into a dazzling stage of lights and festive embellishments with all light-up buildings. Souvenirs and other memorable stuffs can be found in Chinatown, Arab Street, Little India and the suburban areas like Holland Village, Katong and Tampines. Shopping hours during holiday can extend to as late as midnight.
