Sleep.Eat.Work.Shop.Eat.Shop.Eat

When you ask someone what there is to do in Singapore they scratch their heads, think for a little while, first they say shop, then after thinking for a little longer they say eat. This is a city of four million tucked at the edge of Malaysia almost all new. It has two main pastimes apart from working. Shopping seems to be national obsession; in one day alone I found myself in five separate malls. Even the hotel has a mall attached. They each have their own cheap but amazing food halls; on my first day here I had five separate meals. My own excuse is that I was soaking up the atmosphere...and the calories. There is massive mixture of cuisine; a hybrid of Chinese, Indian, Western and Malay. Bizarre but surprisingly tasty were rice burgers and pizzas where the bread was replaced by sticky rice.

It seems that there are even specialised malls. I was taken to a place I like to call “Nerdvana”, seven floors of tech shops, each floor with twenty to thirty outlets. In one I bought a newly released Canon for around two thirds the UK price (ended up buying the G11). I have a new dealer.

Mornings began with Kaya Toast or a McDonalds coffee to take advantage of their free WiFi, then an early morning walk for 3 or 4 miles to take the place in before the crowds began. on the second day my afternon was taken up by two people whom I had worked with. They had moved back a couple of years ago and it was great seeing them. They were the main reason for my five separate meals, I hope they don't mind taking the balme. they both seem to have progressed well with harder work but also a better reward both financially and professionally. Habeeb is now a local consultant and Lynette is expecting her second child, congratulations to both of you.

When I wrote on the way here that that the place was a pandemonium of cultures I did start to wonder where that was. It certainly wasn’t there upon arrival. The streets were clean, people reserved, indeed for most of the morning the place was deserted which for early riser tourists is a little disconcerting. Even Chinatown with its orange orbs and (Indian) street traders was pretty pooped under the midday sun. All that changed in Little India, the Diwali lights were up a month early and people were pouring through the streets, all Indian faces with a smattering of tourists; all this only 500 metres from my clean staid business district hotel. It even had the obligatory dedicated mall. People shouted, people bustled, the camera in my hand went crazy trying to find someone or something to focus on. Here people were sitting on the fields, jaywalking, shouting and pressing up against you. In short just like India. And just as I began to scratch the surface....

Next stop Melbourne....