How to get to your destination in Singapore

Last week we had a delicious lunch with our tutors at Orchard road. However, did you wonder how to get to the place before you join the class group? Now I would like to share one of the most convenient ways to find your way in Singapore.

At the beginning, you need two important tools. They are Street Directory and Bus guide & Bus stop Directory. Both of them can be found in bookstores in Singapore. The larger one cost $12.90 while the smaller one cost $3.90. Though they are not cheap, you’ll find it worthy as soon as you make full use of them. The Street Directory shows the details of the city in map type and the Bus guide & Bus stop Directory shows the bus routines in table ways. What’s more, use them together can be very powerful.

Now let’s take Orchard road International building as an example. We know we are going to the International building and we can find it on the Street Directory by searching the names of buildings along orchard road. We can easily find the Int’l bldg near the end of Orchard road on map 109D. Then we can see a symbol B18 which refers to the bus stop in front of the international building. Next, take out your Bus guide & Bus stop Directory and use the bus directory to find Orchard road on page 71. As soon as you find the list of bus stop on Orchard road, scan B18 and find the buses which stop there. Then find the bus number, especially the one you’re familiar with. So we can find No.111 which stops at Queens town MRT station and No.123 which stops at Queensway shopping center. Locate these bus stops nearby and find out which one you would like to go. As a result, we choose No.123 bus to go to International building and get off at B18 stop called Royal Thai embassy.

Before we get on the bus, there is still one important thing for us to do, which is where we shall get off. As Singapore is not big at all, we can try our way out on the map. When you scan the way you’re going, you can always find some typical characters near your destination. For example, when we get to the Tanglin road, the road would turn to a one way street because we can only find bus stops in the north side of the road. This interesting character will be the same until you get off. So when we are on the bus, just enjoy your view and get off at the third stop when you find the one way street. Quite easy, isn’t it?

Though it’s not convenient to take a bus without telling you each stop’s name, the surroundings can always remind you where you should get off. So next time you can try it yourself and enjoy the view outside the window.