Posted on: 16 October 2008 |
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The Wrap offers some advice about where, and where not to sleep in Singapore.
Please don’t park here
The Wrap has been known to nod off to sleep on a park bench – one particularly delightful occasion occurred while listening to a military band playing on a warm summer’s day in London’s St James’s Park.
But falling asleep on a park bench in Singapore is not be recommended because the park police will be prowling around to determine if you’re taking 40 winks – or maybe just closing your eyes while listening to a Beethoven symphony on your iPod.
A blog in the Straits Times has revealed that a bus driver, known only as Kassim, has had the unfortunate honour of being the first Singaporean to be fined for sleeping.
The New Paper ran a story on how he was fined $200 for 15 minutes of snooze time on a park bench.
The National Parks Board stated that the fine was due to "misuse" of park facilities.
Hopefully, the Singapore Tourist Board will draw the attention of visitors to this Uniquely Singapore law-breaking activity lest a tired tourist, having shopped and dropped, should doze off in a local park.
Why fined for sleeping?
And it’s good night from Changi
Still on the subject of sleep in Singapore, the website SleepinginAirports.com is dedicated to budget travellers who are looking for a way to skim a few bucks off their travel expenses.
Many airports, it says, are actually better than local lodgings.
And guess which airport is the budget travellers' favourite for a quality night’s sleep.
Singapore’s Changi, of course. It scores a perfect 3 out 3 rating despite a few negative comments.
They include this one from Rachel, "To my consternation all of the chaise lounges were fully occupied by SATS staff, who were sleeping either on or off-duty.”
And this one: "Got nudged with the tip of a machine gun in mid-sleep and had to show my passport."
But overall Changi rates highly as an airport night stop.
"There's really no reason to leave the airport," wrote Guenther Thoemmes.
And the worst airport for a peaceful night’s rest? Paris Charles de Gaulle was the pick of a bad bunch.
"I didn’t sleep in this airport (phewwwww), but I just had the urge to say that it's the ugliest, dirtiest, noisiest and messiest (if this word exists) airport in the world," wrote “Sassenach”.
Other than that, we guess Sassenach was quite impressed.
