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|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.
Singaporean here! (jon)Welcome to the smallest country in Asia. Not even kidding. But also the richest country. 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!
== Affordability ==
in my travels folks say Singapore is expensive, but I disagree! Compared to Western countries, Singapore still gives you so many great prices which are otherwise inflated up north for a city with the best infrastructure and technology.
It's more expensive relative to the rest of Asia, no doubt. What could cost you 1USD for a bowl of noodles in Malaysia would cost you 3/4USD here.
But if you need to eat cheaply, supermarkets are still amazingly affordable - a packet of bread would go for around 2USD, ham for 2USD, cheese for 2 - you can get by. And hawker centres offer the cheapest and fastest selections of food ALL OVER the island - Singapore is famous for these stalls. People run these stalls for 30 years + and get to become experts in the art of making just one dish.
Public transport is cheap and I would recommend getting an Ez-Link card if you're planning to stay for more than 5 days. It's more worth it than the ticket.
== 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 ==
=== 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 ===
There is one ferry to an [[Indonesia]]n island.
Forget about entering the Singaporean port, I think the only way might be to get a ride on a yacht from a marina. There is one marina that might let you also enter without being member right next to Tuas checkpoint.
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== Public Transport Airport ==Singapore has a very good public transport system, with a metro (MRT) doing the very long distances as well as many buses. Prices are usually relative to the distance for buses, but the MRT seems to be around $3 even for very long distances.I would not try to jump the gates of the MRT as there are cameras EVERYWHERE in Singapore. I don't know what the fine might be, but considering that you can be imprisoned for 7 years if you steal an apple in a shop or sentenced to death if you smoke a joint, I would not try... ([[User:toortoth|toortoth]])
== 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.
''Address:'' 3B River Valley Road #01-05 Singapore 179021
{{IsIn|South-Eastern Asia}}
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[[Category:Asia]]
[[Category:Singapore]]
[[es:Singapur]]
[[fr:Singapour]]