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Less the hours and day just to stay inside the hotel / room...
Singapore - 5 days : Me- 2 days
Kuala Lumpur - 3 days: Me - 1 day
George Town, Penang - 3 days: Me - 1.5 days
Bangkok - 5 days :Me - 3 days
Saigon - 2 days: Me - sure
Hanoi - 4 days: Me - 3 days
Phnom Penh - 2 days: Me - 1 day
Yangon - 1 day: Me - sure
Hong Kong - 6 days: Me: only 2 days...6 days quite long.
Taipei - 6 days: Me- can do 2 days
Shanghai - 5 days: Me - 3 days
Beijing - 5 days: Me - 2 days
Tokyo - 6 days: Me - 3 days
Seoul - 4 days: Me - 3 days
Kyoto - 5 days: 3 days
Kolkata - 3 days: Me- 1 day
Delhi - 5 days: Me - 1 day
Mumbai - 4 days: Me - 1 day
Jakarta - 2 days: Me - 1.5 days
Manila - 3 days: Me - sure
Cebu - 2 days: Me - sure
Bandung - 3 days: Me - 1 day
Two days in Beijing are not enough (for first timers).
The great wall will cost one day, and you still have the forbidden city, summer palace, temple of heaven, some modern buildings, museums...
Two days in Beijing are not enough (for first timers).
The great wall will cost one day, and you still have the forbidden city, summer palace, temple of heaven, some modern buildings, museums...
For the Great Wall...i'll spend an hour or two...i wouldnt spend the whole day walking on it...The first few meters or first half of a kilometer would be sufficient...
For the Great Wall...i'll spend an hour or two...i wouldnt spend the whole day walking on it...The first few meters or first half of a kilometer would be sufficient...
The Great Wall is not in the city. You need to take a bus in the morning and get back in the afternoon. Sometimes it takes an hour even to get out of Beijing City.
Usually people will visit the tombs of Ming emperors on the way, so it takes some time too.
Also, the places of interest in the city are also kind of far from each other. For example it is over 30 km from Tiananmen to the Summer Palace. Don't forget Beijing is the largest city in China in terms of area of city proper.
Last edited by Bettafish; 07-14-2014 at 11:47 AM..
I can't fly into a country, check it out and leave all in the same day.
If 6 days is the maximum stay and 2 days the minimum stay
and if i could only use each number of days (2-6) five times...
2 days: Delhi, Calcutta, Yangon, Bandung 3 days: Mumbai, Pnohm Penh, Penang, Jakarta, Cebu 4 days: Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore 5 days: Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Manila, Saigon 6 days: Tokyo, Kyoto, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok
90 days total!
I agree with this pretty much except I'd put Singapore in the "2 days" category. Great place to raise a family, dull and sterile place to visit. It's kind of the Charlotte of the Far East. I'd also switch Seoul and Beijing, Kyoto and Shanghai.
I've been to Bangkok, Phnom Pehn, and Hanoi. All are pretty cool, but don't require more than a few days visit. I'd say 2 days Bangkok (big and bustling, but your time is better spent elsewhere in Thailand); 2 days Phnom Pehn (the city itself isn't that great, but lots of interesting history to see); Hanoi 3 days (really cool city and lot of great history to see... try to get North to Sapa if you get the chance--one of my favorite places!).
I don't deny that Singapore HAS history - but the city state has 700 sq km, only a bit harder than Toronto, the city I live in, and smaller than Los Angeles or New York city. There is only this much to see.
In terms of "history", it hardly has a total history of 200 years, compared with more than 2000 for Kyoto for example. It will be hard to find a city that has less than 200 years of history in East and Southeast Asia, isn't it?
I am sorry, unless you lie on the beach for 3 days doing nothing, there is simply not enough to see for 5 straight days in Singapore. 2 probably is enough. If Singapore deserved 5 days, Paris and Kyoto probably would need a month.
As to Hong Kong, I just pity those westerners who fly all the way to East Asia but ended up spending most time seeing Hong Kong just so that can comfortably get by using English, ordering western style food and don't get much of a cultural shock - it is better than Singapore for sure but by not much.
History is one thing, but what does history count for if there are no visible signs of that history? So Kyoto has a history dating back 2000 years, but how much of that history actually remains? It's oldest buildings are barely 1000 years old. Whereas go to Rome, you have some buildings close to 3000 years old, or Athens, Cairo, now THAT is history to boast about. Most of Kyoto is actually even less historical than Singapore, with fewer historical buildings, same with Tokyo. Most Asian cities, even if they boast an old city history, actually have few buildings over a few hundred years old. Beijing, for instance, or Seoul. Bangkok and Saigon are only around 300-400 years old each, and have little in the way of historical buildings outside the main tourist sites. What about Shanghai?
5 days is probably a good length of time for S'pore. I could easily suggest a good itinerary for 5 days for Singapore. 1 day exploring the old city core, Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, and Marine Bay Sands. One day for Orchard Road, another for the Zoo/Night Safari, another for Bird Park, 2 days for Sentosa, one day for Little India and Arab Quarter. A day exploring Bukit Timah nature reserve and Sungei Buloh. A day trip to Bintam and Batam. A week could easily be filled in Singapore.
History is one thing, but what does history count for if there are no visible signs of that history? So Kyoto has a history dating back 2000 years, but how much of that history actually remains? It's oldest buildings are barely 1000 years old. Whereas go to Rome, you have some buildings close to 3000 years old, or Athens, Cairo, now THAT is history to boast about. Most of Kyoto is actually even less historical than Singapore, with fewer historical buildings, same with Tokyo. Most Asian cities, even if they boast an old city history, actually have few buildings over a few hundred years old. Beijing, for instance, or Seoul. Bangkok and Saigon are only around 300-400 years old each, and have little in the way of historical buildings outside the main tourist sites. What about Shanghai?
5 days is probably a good length of time for S'pore. I could easily suggest a good itinerary for 5 days for Singapore. 1 day exploring the old city core, Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, and Marine Bay Sands. One day for Orchard Road, another for the Zoo/Night Safari, another for Bird Park, 2 days for Sentosa, one day for Little India and Arab Quarter. A day exploring Bukit Timah nature reserve and Sungei Buloh. A day trip to Bintam and Batam. A week could easily be filled in Singapore.
Kyoto is more interesting than Singapore, the gold and silver temple and many others shrines, the grid streets of the city, wooden traditional architecture, the Geisha, the palace, the Japanese gardens and being the capital of Japan for more than a century its the heart of Japan's culture at its best. Unfortunately Japan didn't left many monument since their cities and temples are built of wood. Kyoto is spectacular city in its own right, it wasn't bombed in ww2, its definitely more interesting and historical than Singapore by miles.
There's no denying that Singapore do have history, but putting Kyoto behind Singapore in terms of historical significance based on "historical buildings number" is ridiculous.
Plus, the OP is Singaporean-Australian. So, that is probably part of the 5-day itinerary.
But, I agree, I could easily spend a week in Singapore. I like clean, organized, international, cosmopolitan, foodie, cultural, English-speaking major world international cities.
Kyoto is more interesting than Singapore, the gold and silver temple and many others shrines, the grid streets of the city, wooden traditional architecture, the Geisha, the palace, the Japanese gardens and being the capital of Japan for more than a century its the heart of Japan's culture at its best. Unfortunately Japan didn't left many monument since their cities and temples are built of wood. Kyoto is spectacular city in its own right, it wasn't bombed in ww2, its definitely more interesting and historical than Singapore by miles.
There's no denying that Singapore do have history, but putting Kyoto behind Singapore in terms of historical significance based on "historical buildings number" is ridiculous.
Well yeah, Kyoto of course has more of that heritage, but outside the shrines, historical district, a lot of Kyoto is quite unremarkable. It's chalk and cheese, Singapore has a different heritage. I think the Peranakan shophouses are interesting in another way.
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