2
edits
Changes
→Hitchhiking from Singapore
|language = English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil
|capital = [[Singapore]]
|pop = 56,000,000
|currency = Singapore dollar (SGD)
|hitch = <rating country='sg' />
}}
'''Singapore''' is a city-state in South-Eastern [[Asia]]. It has a road border with [[Malaysia]] to the north and a sea border with [[Indonesia]] to the south and west. The currency is the Singapore Dollar. Most Singaporeans speak an almost perfect English, often as their first language. Don't be surprised when you walk in and you might find folks speaking better English than their western counterparts. Singapore's in the divide between east and west, so folks aren't very concerned about race at all and both eastern and western traditions exist within the webbing of this society - you'll find Singapore the most multi-cultural city in the world, and the easiest to co-exist as well. That being said, if you're a westerner, you'll still be assumed to be a tourist. Hitchhiking is very rare within Singapore, mainly because it is a city and public transport is very good. So most folks here would have only seen it in movies and books. You'll get surprised faces. Also, there's a law that's stricter than 99% of countries in the world - cars here can't be owned past 20 years. And every 10 years you pay 40,000 USD to renew your license. So every car is generally worth about upwards of 100,000 USD (even the cheapest toyotas) ... which leads to people being really careful with their vehicles. Not sure if this would affect hitchability because I've never tried. But yeah it's interesting because everyone who drives past you with anything above a Camry is likely a millionare in assets.
For those who are crossing borders to [[Malaysia]], there is a checkpoint in the North called "Woodlands checkpoint" and another checkpoint in the West called "Tuas checkpoint".
If you arrive by flight to SIN, and plan to cross the border overland, check the "Airport" section!
== Hitchhiking In ==
I've only known of two people who've hitchhiked into Singapore - Yahn Adam and Artur Nitbritt. It's hard, and taking the bus is incredibly cheap (around $3 SGD or $2 USD) from the Johor Bahru side.
But if you've managed to hitchhike in good on you. Once you get into Singapore there are public toilets galore and malls for wifi just about everywhere.
== Hitchhiking out ==
You can either take public transportation to Malaysia, hitch from the border or hitch a boat to leave the city / country.
=== Bus or Metro ===
From the Airport, take the "JB Shuttle Bus" which takes you to JB = [[, Johor Bahru]] in Malaysia, just over the border. Cost: $7 10 SGD (sept 2011feb 2020)
Or take the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport = Metro) : Red Line to "Marsiling station" (Attention: the border checkpoint is called Woodlands, don't get out at Woodlands station but in Marsiling which is closer).
From there take the bus 950 that takes you to JB. Then you can hitch out of customs just walking up the road. It is definitely illegal, but it is rare to be harassed by police for standing right on the freeway in Malaysia.
Take the MRT from the airport (Changi Airport) from the Green Line and transfer to the Red Line, to woodlands station. You can take multiple buses to JB, just type into google maps "JB Sentral Mall" and you'll see a number of buses come up, they're pretty reasonable.
It's more likely that you're to be questioned by police in Singapore for hitchhiking, and get lots of curious stares, than if you do it in Singapore. Singaporeans have only heard of the concept of hitchhiking through movies and books, because the country takes literally 30 minutes to traverse from one end to the other, and due to the dense road usage, it's generally not heard of.
=== Hitchhiking from Singapore ===
=== By boat ===
== Airport ==
If you arrive by flight to SIN, and plan to cross the border overland, make sure you made a fake return e-ticket from SIN (to anywhere). There is a high chance that they ask you for your return itinerary at the check-in counter of the departure airport. It's a new regulation in Singapore Customs. While in some cases if you explain you go overland they may let you in, they also can be annoying. While leaving CDG to SIN with Singapore Airlines they accepted my explanations, but when I left MEL to SIN with Jetstar they just didn't accept any explanation and I had to buy a ticket I would never use departing from SIN, at last minute leaving me no choice ([[User:toortoth|toortoth]]). So make a fake, with a frame from another airline (in case they want to check in their own system, but they never do, it would be too long to check itineraries of all passengers, especially calling other companies). Cheapest ticket out of the country is most likely the Singapore-Batam ferry, can be booked online on batamfast.com for SGD15. Officially suggested by Jetstar.
== Sleeping ==
The ''Gardens by the Bay'' is a huge park close to the ''Marina Bay Sands'' hotel. At night there are not many people and you can find a somewhat hidden place to sleep. You'll usually see some local crashing somewhere in the grass as well.
At the south end, there is a building with a meadow on the roof. Downstairs, there are very clean public toilets with showers and drinking water fountains, open 24 hours.
Wildcamping here requires a permit if you want to stay by the sea, and the police are known to be quite stringent in this. At night the mosquitos are relentless as well, and it can be sweltering to camp out in Singapore. Many many many places such as Macdonalds and countless other chains are open 24hours to cater to the Singaporean lifestyle, so you can just find an airconditioned seat and nap there. Folks aren't adverse to it.
If you reaaaally want to wildcamp ... you can try lower pierce resevoir or upper pierce resevoir, two of the more deserted resevoirs at night. There isn't usually crime in Singapore so ... you'll be mostly safe.
== Food ==
'''Singapore Buddhist Lodge.''' The Kim Yan Road temple serves free vegetarian breakfast(07:00-09:00), lunch (11:30-14:00) and dinner from 7am to 7pm(17:00-19:00). All are welcome regardless of their race or religion. In the queue one can find all sorts of people, from the homeless, unemployed, foreign students, foreign construction workers and of course some freeloaders who work nearby.
'''The Central Sikh Temple.''' The temple in Jalan Bukit Merah provides free vegetarian Indian lunches every day.
=== From Competitions ===
'''The Terminator ($58)''' is a towering burger of 6 Wagyu Beef patties, layered with cheese, pieces of bacon and caramelised onions; with coleslaw and fries. Wolf it down in less than 20 minutes and the burger will be on the house.
''Address:'' 13 Dempsey Road Singapore 249674
''Address:'' 3B River Valley Road #01-05 Singapore 179021
{{IsIn|South-Eastern Asia}}
__NOTOC__
[[Category:Asia]]
[[Category:Singapore]]
[[es:Singapur]]
[[fr:Singapour]]