Window shopping

 



Monday 2nd November
To Chinatown on the MRT (underground). It’s only one stop but worth taking a trip to see where the inspiration for London’s Jubilee line and Oyster card systems came from.

Chinatown is limited to a grid of 4 or 5 streets, crammed with shops, stalls and restaurants all, like everywhere in Singapore, incredibly neat and clean. I bought a pretty fan and put it to use immediately and Robin got a calligraphy brush to practice his Chinese characters.

The builders were in at the old Hindu temple on the corner of Pagoda Street so we couldn’t see much there, but looked round the Buddhist temple, where the jolly Chinese buddhas were very different to any I’d previously seen. Later at the museum, you could clearly see how Buddha is represented in different cultures - the Cambodian version is incredibly elegant.

We were so hot by this stage that we took the Singapore river cruise to cool down, and found ourselves on the water in the middle of yet another torrential thunderstorm. The traditional boats were replaced last year with clean electric ones, but fortunately ours still had closing windows – the light-weight solar powered version has open sides.

The rain forced us into the Museum, housed in the old Government building, for the rest of the afternoon. There is a huge amount to see there, but we concentrated on Singapore and SE Asia – checking out Indonesian culture which we’ll see later on the trip. Interesting to see how the trade winds have influenced the development Singapore, and the climate, which is hair-frizzingly hot and wet year round.

Luckily the rain stopped in time for the Night Safari. Not quite the Serengeti, but the tram and walking tour of the zoo after dark is a must-do. Loved the small animals – otters, civets and flying squirrels (even if they didn’t fly) – but felt sorry for the leopards prowling behind glass. Saw three of these beautiful creatures in the wild last year, they really should be left there.

Tuesday 3rd November
My last day in Singapore, so just time for a spot of window shopping in Orchard Road – and what splendid windows they are. You can’t miss the latest shopping mall, Paragon, which is fronted with two storey high ads for Gucci, Prada and Armani. Inside all is air-conditioned calm, with chill out sounds designed to lull shoppers into opening their wallets – though there were few of them around. Contrast this with the nearby Lucky Plaza mall, packed with people and small stores selling anything and everything. Both equally typical of Singapore; as is Orchard Road itself – already festooned in Christmas lights, which are, of course, new every year. Oxford Street eat your heart out!