Woke up pretty late & had an enormous breakfast at the breakfast buffet served at our hotel.
It was a day dedicated to shopping and dedicated we were. Singapore’s expensive compared to India but I guess on holiday it’ easy to get bitten by the shopping bug. We shopped, shopped and shopped. Oh did I mention we shopped? And then at the end of it all, we shopped some more. Lol.
Among the places we visited were Orchard Road – but naturally! Walking the streets in Singapore is such a pleasure! Everything is clean and green & seemingly made for walking shoppers. There are tons of TV like giant plasma displays all over with adverts and everything is so organized and properly done. There are also lots of phirangs all over the place which makes the average holiday-er fit right into it all.
We shopped at C. K. Tangs, which a friend insisted we “must” go to. The place was imo somewhat like the Oberoi Shopping Center (and is in fact in a five star hotel too). We were lucky at the time that there was a sale going on, though honestly it didn’t make too much of a difference, the prices were still exorbitant! Lol.
I was also impressed to see this sign proudly displayed outside:
We also went to the Wisma Atria (seen in the Singapore adverts) and Takashimaya a place recommended to my mum by a friend (also full of ridiculously exorbitant brands). It was here my mum made here royal purchase, don’t even ask.
We decided to change gears a bit and went to Bencoolen Street – to my mum’s favorite mall in Singapore – Simlim Square (which is different from Simlim Towers apparently). Both are known for the Electronic gadgets they sell and boy do they ever!!!
Floor after floor after floor of ever type of electronic gadget ever made and ever know to man, it’s a techy geek’s heaven.
We had lunch in Simlim Square at a small little foodie place called ‘Fred’s Café’. I couldn’t stomach the food - I actually hid some of it in my bag & threw it away later so as to not offend the proprietor, a Mr. Fred P. who sat down at our table with us & spoke to us at length about oh so many things. He was a very very nice gentleman, the type of person you’d meet for an hour & remember a lifetime.
After lunch I actually managed to persuade my mum to leave Simlim (wonders of wonders!!) and go to the other side of Bencoolen.
Here I discovered what was since my favorite place to shop in Singapore – OG. The mall has great brands which were perfect for my wallet. I’m not a shopper by any stretch of imagination but even I went mad here. Enjoyed OG tremendously, got some fabulous buys and made a note to go back there should time permit in the days to come.
From OG we decided to head back to the hotel but not before exploring the famous (or is it infamous?) Bugis Street.
Bugis Street is apparently known for it’s transvestites and cross dressing culture and has street shopping (supposedly the largest in Singapore) comparable to our Fashion Street in Mumbai.
Keep in mind the weather in Singapore at this particular time of the year (March) is very very hot & shopping on the street as opposed to in an air-con mall is not my cup of tea. Still, judging by the crowds there (another reason that put me off) obviously not everyone feels that way.
Didn’t hang around there too long but decided to walk around a bit before catching a cab back to the hotel. Saw a lot of interesting building that I really liked- these two were painted bright red & green – such a simple way to keep the place looking attractive. Also saw the Singapore trishaws. They’re like our Rickshaws and Bangkok’s tuk-tuks. Very cute indeed!
Had dinner at the hotel. I planned to go on a swim after a bit (yes, did keep the one hour thingie in mind) but somehow it didn’t happen. Both of us were pretty exhausted after day out shopping & with dinners and warm bath, it seemed only natural to retire into bed.
I did watch a spot of TV before going to bed but was so shocked by the program I saw – some kind of reality TV dating program where the girls were actually telling the guy the hoped to win the date with what they’d do in bed – that I turned off the tele. From the little I know of Singapore, it seems a very varied place – with people of all kinds and all different religious and moral values. I don’t know if I managed to ponder such thoughts too long, I think I drifted off to lala land before I knew it.
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