It’s almost needless to say, but one dollar doesn’t buy you much in Southeast Asia’s most expensive country.the city is for those with bucks to burn. Often, the same products and brands offered in Philippines and Malaysia are more than twice as expensive here in Singapore. Ouch, that hurts.


Clearly, in order to enjoy the city, we had to put our budget on the backburner for a while. But Singapore is not completely a lost cause. There are still some items and services that can be had for 1.25 Singapore dollars or around a buck:

• 1.5 liters of drinking water
• 1 yam cake
• 3.2 km in an air-con city bus
• 3 apples
• 1 can of coke
• 1 Mentos

Sadly, this might just be the complete list of 1-dollar-items in all of Singapore…

Oh well, it may not be the ultimate budget destination, but neither is Paris, Tokyo, London, Rome, or a host of other sensational cities. Just remember to pack a couple of extra credit cards.