Thread: Singers,flippers and ties.

great pics mate, can you tell us something about prices of hotel, food and booze etc, only been once in 98 but might go again

The Park Regis set us back about $180 Aus a night which was reasonable. The service was impeccable and we had rooms right beside the pool. I think we may have been lucky in that there were not many kids staying. I could imagine it would get noisy near the pool if there were more kids.

This is an impressive looking hotel,the Park Royal.


As far food goes we found it to be like most places. Eat upmarket and it costs, eat local and it is a lot less. We tended to mix it up a bit as the food was one of the main reasons we went to Singers.

As for booze,they charge like wounded bulls. Every purchase is ++. Basically that is VAT plus sin tax and that adds up. One observation I would make is that everybody so polite and restrained I would suggest that they spend a bit of that sin tax they collect and buy some sin.

Keep it coming, croc...Good job...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Keep it coming, croc...Good job...

Cheers BB. Will do ,we were on the road for a month so still a bit to come.

Looking good so far crocman

Originally Posted by crocman

The Park Regis set us back about $180 Aus a night which was reasonable.

Bloody cheap, actually.

Originally Posted by beerlaodrinker

Looking good so far crocman

Cheers BLD. We hit a couple of your old stomping grounds soon. Alona Beach and Boracay.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Originally Posted by crocman

The Park Regis set us back about $180 Aus a night which was reasonable.

Bloody cheap, actually.

It is a hotel we would stay at again Willy,if only for its location alone. The only slight drawback we encountered there was that they were renovating their Breakfast Area and we had to have it in a temporary place.

Nothing like roughing it,eh?

You got a great deal in the park Regis, that areas usually bloody expensive around Clarke quay, I was sent on a mining conference held in the marina bay sands a couple of years ago , the company ponied up $220 nightly allowance, if you were on the conference you could get a room in marina bay sands for about $350 a night, in hindsight I should of coughed up the extra on my own behalf, probably spent more than that in one night at the 4 floors of whores (on drinks, honestly)

^That Marina Bay Sands complex is some place isn't it. The Dragon Lady and I were in the shopping precinct downstairs and we were blown away. I wouldn't say that the good lady and I were short of a quid, but Jesus the money in that place.

On a different note can anyone tell me why you need a passport to get into the Casino?

Originally Posted by crocman

On a different note can anyone tell me why you need a passport to get into the Casino?

Locals not allowed to gamble? Dunno....

Originally Posted by Gerbil

Originally Posted by crocman

On a different note can anyone tell me why you need a passport to get into the Casino?

Locals not allowed to gamble? Dunno....

According to a cabbie we had the locals are welcome but have to pay $100 sd cover charge while farang only have to produce their passport.

Casino Entry Levy

Singaporeans and Permanent Residents of Singapore (the "Residents") must have a valid entry levy to enter the Casino Premises.

Day Levy: S$100
Annual Levy: S$2,000

18. Are non-Singaporeans and Permanent Residents of Singapore ("non-residents") required to purchase entry levy before entering casino?

Non-residents are not required to purchase entry levy to enter the casino. However, it is a statutory requirement for non-residents to present either of the following identification documents before entering the casino:

a. Foreign passport with short-term immigration pass (Note: This includes group passports with the particulars and photograph of each member in the group);

b. Long-term visit pass with photograph identification;

c. Long-term visit pass without photo identification together with foreign passport;

d. Student pass with photograph identification;

e. Student pass without photograph identification together with foreign passport;

f. Work pass with photograph identification;

g. Work pass without photograph identification together with foreign passport;

h. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Identification Cards issued to Diplomats in Foreign Embassies and Professional Staff in International Organizations;

i. Special pass with photograph identification issued by the Ministry of Manpower or the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority; or

j. Dependant's Pass issued by the Ministry of Manpower.

Casino Sentosa | Casino | Resorts World Sentosa

Originally Posted by Mid

Casino Entry Levy

Singaporeans and Permanent Residents of Singapore (the "Residents") must have a valid entry levy to enter the Casino Premises.

Day Levy: S$100
Annual Levy: S$2,000


18. Are non-Singaporeans and Permanent Residents of Singapore ("non-residents") required to purchase entry levy before entering casino?
Non-residents are not required to purchase entry levy to enter the casino. However, it is a statutory requirement for non-residents to present either of the following identification documents before entering the casino:
a. Foreign passport with short-term immigration pass (Note: This includes group passports with the particulars
and photograph of each member in the group);
b. Long-term visit pass with photograph identification;
c. Long-term visit pass without photo identification together with foreign passport;
d. Student pass with photograph identification;
e. Student pass without photograph identification together with foreign passport;
f. Work pass with photograph identification;
g. Work pass without photograph identification together with foreign passport;
h. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Identification Cards issued to Diplomats in Foreign Embassies and Professional Staff
in International Organizations;
i. Special pass with photograph identification issued by the Ministry of Manpower or the Immigration and
Checkpoints Authority; or
j. Dependant's Pass issued by the Ministry of Manpower. Casino Sentosa | Casino | Resorts World Sentosa

I applaud the social reasons for placing restrictions on the locals entering casinos but doesn't that just promote and or sustain illegal gambling.

Singapore we're talking about here ....................

Originally Posted by Mid

Singapore we're talking about here ....................

My bad......Still reckon they should invest that sin tax and buy some bloody sin.

Great start Crocman. Looking forward to the rest.

They are way to well behaved, the singaporeans

Well done, Croc!

Originally Posted by beerlaodrinker

They are way to well behaved, the singaporeans

Perhaps, a little bit too well behaved...

top story croc....looking forward to the rest of it.....i do like singers and the phils and...well shit most places I have been I have enjoyed

Originally Posted by ossierob

top story croc....looking forward to the rest of it.....i do like singers and the phils and...well shit most places I have been I have enjoyed

It helps if you travel with good people and don't make a goose of yourself while travelling. I always try to be respectful to the locals,and their customs which usually makes the experience a whole lot better.

There is always an exception though,some body who maybe sees that as weakness and tries to take the piss as one young chap in Manila tried.

We will leave that story for when we get there.

A couple of singers at night.

The famous Durian building

And The Marina Bay Sands


Next stop Manila.

The Dragon Lady and I have been to Manila before. However our kiwi travel companions hadn't. We tried to soften the blow of arriving in heaving Manila compared to leaving sedate Singapore. No matter what we said to prepare them, it still knocked them for six.

I like Manila, it is a hard town and it keeps you on your toes. On this trip I travelled with three cameras. My Nikon,a Panasonic Lumix and my new GoPro 3+ black! however I don't have a lot of pics from Manila as I don't like walking around flash.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn and suites in Makati. This is a relatively new hotel and it sits atop the Glorietta Mall.


The security at this place is superb which made our friends relax a little. It has a rooftop pool and bar with a gym right next to it. The rooms themselves were stylishly furnished and had great big king sized beds. My only complaint about this place was the bad WiFi in your room. You had to go down to the lobby for better results.




A couple of shots of a nice little park out the back of the hotel.




As I said earlier the hotel sits on top of a mall and just across the road from the Greenbelt Complex so the Dragon Lady and her lizard like apprentice had ample of opportunities to dispose of our hard earned. But these two don't just like upmarket they want to go downtown as well.

I offered them Divisoria but thought that might be a bit too much for them,so instead we opted for Greenhills. Funnily enough they weren't that keen on the repetitive nature of the place so we managed to escape after a measly three hours.

My big outing in Manila consisted of a three hour tour of Intramuros guided by the celebrated Mr Carlos Celdran.



Carlos takes you on a three our tour of Intramuros giving his version of how the Philippines and Manila came to be in there present state. The tour is part street theatre,part theology lesson and part slide show. Carlos portrays several important characters in Manilas history during the tour including Rizal and McCarthur.




The Intramuros area has been well restored and is well worth a visit






This building still bears the bullet hole scars of when McCarthur made his promised return. If the stupid prick had of been doing his job he would never had to of scuttled off in the first place.


How the gentry got around.


And how we got around.


Towards the end of the tour we boarded one of these Calesas and headed of into peak hour traffic to the last remaining Spanish Cathedral left in Manila from the original five.It was only three blocks but it was a pretty hairy ride.




Next we were taken across the road to a quaint little shop where we were all served some Halo Halo, a Filipino desert which is a mixture of many different things as it's name suggests.Halo Halo, mix mix. Which in a simple way describes the Filipino people and their culture, a mix of many different influences.

That is the end of the tour, but by now it is dark and you aren't where you started from and to top things off it is peak hour. Now for those of you who don't know, if a Manila cab is not moving its meter isn't ticking over,so in peak hour traffic they prefer only short trips. We had to get from Intramuros to Makati which normally would only be about 350/400 pesos, not much. We could not get a cab for love nor money. Luckily a couple of local street kids came to our rescue and after badgering and threatening every cab driver they could, after 45 minutes they finally scored us a ride. During all of this,in the next street a bloody gun battle started with shots going off everywhere. The Dragon Lady And company were bricking it. The two lads that did all the work were well looked after. And we paid the cabbie double.

That was pretty much it for our four days in Manila. Next we are off to Bohol. Panglao Island, Alona Beach where the rest and recreation part of our holiday kicks in. The dragon Lady and her lizard like apprentice get to warm their cold blood in the sun while crocman gets to explore the depths off Balicsag Island.

Before we were due to fly out I checked the weather report for the Bohol region. Category 1tropical storm. This will be fun.

Capturing much of the flavour and diversity of Manila for touists. Did you have to pay extra for the gun battle? Well done.