Here’s a list of things for Singaporeans to take note of whilst in Paris. If some info is wrong, please let me know kay?

The Mostest Important Point – Want to know which attractions to visit? Google is your friend. Google Map is your friend too.

0. Lodging – Homelidays is a great site for getting apartments for short stays. It puts you right in touch with the owners instead of going through housing agents. Btw, we found our apartment via this site. Couple of point if you’re renting apartments:

a. Try to make sure that the place has internet access included, otherwise it could be really tough coz Paris doesn’t have a lot of free wifi zones.
b. Try to find out if the rent includes electricity, etc.
c. Try to stay in central Paris (zone 1 and 2), it’s cheaper to get around Paris.
d. Try to learn a bit of French. The English language is catching on but some of the middle age folks will refuse to speak English.
e. Also, try to change S$ to Euro in Singapore. The best exchange rate is back home, the money changers here take approx 30% as a service charge. You can also withdraw money via ATMs using your credit card, there’s a service fee but it’s not as bad as the money changers.

Another nice hotel is Hotel du Levant – Great little hotel in St. Michel, just 5 min from Notre Dame. Smack in the middle of a Boat Quay-ish smogarsboard of cheap and good restaurants (cheap by Parisien standards). Recently upgraded with free wifi. Rejoice you techies. Straight train from Charles de Gaulle airport, great especially if you have heavy luggage. Rooms have skanky smell, don’t spend too much time inside (thanks for the update Kelvin!). Goto Pt 5 now.

1. Mobile phones – If you are thinking of calling from your mobile, use the call back service provided by your telco (*138 for M1). It’s probably cheaper but you might get charged for IDD *and* incoming roaming charges. Friend of ours had roaming fee charged to her in France and not in the UK. Kelvin still got charged for S$1k+ for callback + incoming + smses. I totally suggest thinking about re-routing phonecalls from Spore. For sms, manual search the provider and use ‘bouygues’, it’s the cheapest, it was S$0.50/sms the last time we used it.

2. Asian women are exotique, you might get stopped and asked out for coffee when you are alone on the streets. It doesn’t matter if you are over 30, they can’t tell. And it’s worse if you look Japanese.

3. Zen-zoo is the only place in Paris that sells bubble tea. 5.50euros a pop, we shared 1 cup after 3 months of not having any.

4. There are no Singaporean food here. No cha kway tiao, mee pok, chendol. Zilch. Zero. Closest thing to noodle soup is pho (it’s nice but it’s not Sporean).

5. Be prepared to walk lots, there are very very very few escalators, lots of stairs in the Metro, lots of stairs near the Eiffel, lots of stairs everywhere. Wear comfortable shoes else your feet will suffer.

6. Real French food is expensive (>10-15 euros/meal), that’s why we haven’t ventured much into the nice restaurants. However, the humble boulangerie (bakery) will have make appetizing sandwiches (3 to 4 euros/meal) for lunch/dinner. Things stay fresher here so they usually taste better than the stuff in Singapore. So if you are on the go and need to get good/cheap stuff, try the boulangerie.

7. There’s a budget restaurant chain called ‘Flunch‘, it runs cafeteria style. The food is dirt cheap, a simple meal can go for about 5.30euros. Here’s how it goes, you get the meat (fish, chicken, beef hache, etc) and you go to a service station where you can take, macaroni/chips/baked potato/whipped potato/veg in *any* quantity, as long as the stuff doesn’t fall out of the plate, it’s yours. For the really thrifty, you can time your meal somewhere between lunch and dinner.

8. Coming in from London? Take the Eurostar. Why? Coz if you fly, you have to take the train/bus/taxi to the outskirts, check-in, wait, take plane, land, collect luggage, take the train/bus/taxi to the city. If you go by train, it’s take train in city centre, admire scenery, arrive in city centre. In fact, take the train if you’re in Europe, plane is sianz. (unless you are heading to Scotland from Paris lah). And yes, we know it’s more expensive by trains sometimes.

9. This is for wedding photographers:
a. Hair+makeup stylist is unheard of. We also don’t know any hair/makeup stylist here, bring your own.
b. Best way to move around is via taxi when the bride is in a gown. You can book a taxi for the day. If you are adventurous, go for the metro.
c. Here are the locations that’ll look good for photography: Lourve, Hotel De Ville, Eiffel Tower, Seine River, Champ Elysees – Arc de Triomphe, Pont Des Artes, Tuileries Garden, Luxembourg Garden, Butte Charmont Garden, Sarcre Coeur Basilica on Montmartre, Versailles (30-45min out of Paris by train), Mont St. Michel (not in Paris, it’s in Normandy).
d. Some of the parks/gardens open at 8-9am and close by 9pm-ish, watch out for closing time.
e. Best time to come is from April (to about September. Daylight photography is approx from 7am+ to about 9pm+ in summer. There’s loads of light.
f. There’s lots of dog shit in some areas. Make sure the everybody (esp the bride) has the poop radar on.
g. You can rent cameras/lenses if something goes kaput.

10. There’s loads of places with free wifi internet access. Way better than 3 years ago. Bonne chance!

11. There’s more stuff suggested in the comment section below.