Singapore - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 670

OPENING HOURS AND PUBLIC
HOLIDAYS
Shopping centres o cially open daily
from 10.30am to 9pm but opening times
are far from set in stone. Banks open at
least Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm,
Saturday 9.30am to 1pm; while o ces
generally work Monday to Friday 8.30am
to 5.30pm and sometimes on Saturday
mornings. In general, Chinese temples
open daily from 7am to around 6pm,
Hindu temples from 6am to noon and
5 to 9pm, and mosques from 8.30am to
noon and 2.30 to 4pm.

9

and caning with a rattan cane. Tra cking
is punishable by the death penalty. If you
are caught smuggling drugs into or out
of the country, at the very best you are
facing a long stretch in a foreign prison;
at worst, you could be hanged.
Singapore's police , who wear dark
blue, are generally polite and helpful
when approached.

MEDICAL CARE AND EMERGENCIES
Medical services in Singapore are some
of the best in the world, with hospital
staff almost everywhere speaking good
English and offering modern services
and facilities.
Pharmacies (daily 9am-6pm) are well
stocked and pharmacists can recommend
a range of treatments for minor problems.
If you're in any doubt you should contact
a local doctor.
Larger hotels have doctors on call at all
times. Dentists are listed in the Singapore
Buying Guide (equivalent to the Yellow
Pages ) under “Dental Surgeons”, and
“Dentist Emergency Service”.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
January 1 New Year's Day
January/February Chinese New Year (two days)
March/April Good Friday
May 1 Labour Day
May Vesak Day
August 9 National Day
October/November Deepavali
November/December Hari Raya Puasa
December 25 Christmas Day
December/January Hari Raya Haji

FESTIVALS
With so many ethnic groups and
religions represented in Singapore, you'll
be unlucky if your trip doesn't coincide
with some sort of festival , secular or
religious. Most of the festivals have no
fixed dates, but change annually
according to the lunar calendar; check
with the tourist o ce (see p.685).

MONEY AND BANKS
he currency is Singapore dollars, usually
written simply as $, though throughout
the chapter we have used S$. he
Singapore dollar is divided into 100
cents. Notes are issued in denominations
of S$2, S$5, S$10, S$50, S$100, S$500,
S$1000 and S$10,000; coins are in
denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents,
and S$1. At the time of writing, the
exchange rate was around S$2.04 to £1
and S$1.25 to US$1.
Sterling or US-dollar travellers' cheques
can be cashed at Singaporean banks,
licensed moneychangers and some
hotels. Major credit cards (preferably
MasterCard and Visa over American
Express) are widely accepted in shops and
restaurants. here are also moneychangers
in shopping centres and at hotels. No
black market operates in Singapore, nor
are there any restrictions on carrying
currency in or out of the state. his
means that rates at moneychangers are as
good as you'll find at the banks.

LANGUAGE
English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil all
have the status of o cial languages,
and you should have no problem
getting by in English. One intriguing
by-product of Singapore's ethnic melting
pot is singlish , or Singaporean English,
a patois that blends English with the
speech patterns, exclamations and
vocabulary of Chinese and Malay. Look
out for the word “lah” when conversing
with Singapore locals - it was originally
used to add emphasis to the point
being made; now it is just used to round
off a sentence.