grace, Gracie the dugong is the star performer at Underwater World. Leafy seadragons and wobbling Medusa jellyfish are mesmeric, while stingrays and 10ft sharks cruise inches from your face as they traverse Ocean Colony’s submerged glass tubes. Watch divers feeding the fish, or muster some nerve for the 30-minute Dive with the Sharks experience (from S$96 per person; call for details and bookings).

The lights are turned off after 19:00 and the aquarium takes on an eerie torchlight atmosphere.

Entry includes admission to Dolphin Lagoon at Palawan Beach where Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins (aka pink dolphins) dutifully perform at 11:00 , 13:30 , 15:30 and 17:30 . For around S$120 you can swim with the dolphins ( 09:45 , Thursday to Tuesday).

Singapore: Money & Costs
Cash is usually necessary for the payment of small items such as meals in hawker centres, food courts and bars, and for buying items from street vendors. Travellers cheques are popular and are a fail-safe fall-back; it is a good idea to always have some travellers cheques, otherwise plastic is still a viable option for most travellers. All major credit cards are widely accepted and ATMs are common place in the city, with most accepting Visa, MasterCard and cards with Plus or Cirrus.

Currency
Name Singapore Dollar
Symbol S$ Changing Your Money
Banks can be found all over Singapore. Exchange rates tend to vary from bank to bank and some even have a service charge on each exchange transaction – this is usually a few dollars, but can be more, so ask first. You’ll also find moneychangers in shopping centres all over Singapore that do not charge fees, so you will often get a better overall exchange rate for cash and travellers cheques with them than at the banks. Most shops accept foreign cash and travellers cheques with rates only a bit lower than at moneychangers.

Money Tips
Singapore is much more expensive than other Southeast Asian countries, which may come as a shock if you are travelling on a shoestring budget. You can still stay here without spending too much money, as long as you can forego the temptation to run amok in the shops or indulge in luxuries you may have craved while travelling in less-developed Asian countries. It’s possible to stay in Singapore for S$50.00 a day, if you stay in hostels and eat cheaply. If you’re staying in mid-range hotels and eating at good restaurants, S$150.00 is a more realistic daily minimum.

All major credit cards are widely accepted, although you’re not going to make yourself too popular after a hard bargaining session for a new camera if you then try to pay for it with your Visa card. It’s probably still a good idea to take cash and travellers cheques for emergencies.

Sample Price Guide
single-trip Mass Rapid Transit ticket S$ 0.90-4.00 small bottle of beer S$ 5.00 process 36 roll colour film S$ 13.00 trishaw transport per half hour S$ 50.00 museum entrance fee S$ 3.00-8.00 simple hawker meal S$ 4.00 Singapore Sling at Raffles S$ 20.00 Average Room Prices
Low Mid High Deluxe
S$30-60 S$60-200 S$200-500 S$500+
Average Meal Prices
Low Mid High Deluxe
S$3-20 S$20-35 S$35-85 S$85+

Tipping
Tipping is not expected but is growing as a practice in Singapore: most