What can Hong Kong visitors do in Singapore? Locals suggest hawker centres, Gardens by the Bay and Popular bookstore

With the Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble opening on May 26, seeing family and friends will be high on the agenda but ‘tiger parents’ may also go book shopping

Hong Kong actor Alan Wan could spend the whole day in Changi Airport, while actress Michelle Saram thinks travellers will want to experience Singaporean food

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A cyclist rides past the skyline of the financial district and Marina Bay in Singapore. Quarantine-free travel with Hong Kong will start on May 26. Photo: EPA-EFE

Kimberly Limin SingaporeandDewey Simin Singapore

Published: 9:00am, 27 Apr 2021Updated: 5:40pm, 24 Aug 2021

Banker Matthew Kong has an inkling where his Hong Kong friends will want to visit when the travel bubble with Singapore opens on May 26. Beyond the usual tourist attractions, he said parents like him actually enjoy the city state’s Popular bookstore.

“The exercise books and textbooks are of high standards thus the ‘tiger mums and tiger dads’ will come and get different types of materials,” said the father of two, referring to the term “tiger parenting” where parents push their children to attain high levels of academic success. Kong, 42, is a senior vice-president at a bank and moved to Singapore from Hong Kong in 2015.

After stocking up on school materials, Kong said his friends would then usually head to Singapore’s famous hawker centres such as Lau Pa Sat, meaning “old market” in local vernacular, to feast on dishes like satay and thunder tea rice, before going to attractions such as Gardens by the Bay or the Universal Studios theme park.

His friends and family are definitely excited to visit, having been stuck in Hong Kong for more than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. He said Hongkongers typically prefer travelling to Japan, Taiwan or South Korea, but with the Singapore travel bubble opening up, “they are eager to come now”.

This has resulted in flight prices shooting up after the announcement. On Monday a one-way Singapore Airlines flight to Hong Kong in early May was priced at S$286.10 (HK$1,675), but a return flight departing on May 26 cost upwards of S$776.10 (HK$4,544). A one-way travel bubble flight on Cathay Pacific cost HK$4,133 (S$705).