We were off (without our friendly tour guides this time) to the famous Orchard Road for a bit of retail therapy this morning. This road is definitely not cheap street, and interestingly all of the iconic shopping centers seem to have a very similar selection of shops. So it was a bit of 'seen one, seen them all'. All the famous designers had stores, as did Cartier and all the well-known jewellers. Had another go at persuading Allan that a necklace in the Cartier window might suit me - this one was only $26,000 in Singapore dollars - half the price of the one in Paris!
Allan discovered a humungous book store and whiled away an hour or more there. Luckily, our luggage allowance is under pressure so he could only buy three books - a little necklace on the other hand, could have slipped into the suitcase easily!
The heat was getting to us a bit so we took an air-conditioned train out of the city. The rails move from underground to elevated as you go out, so it is a good way to see some more sights.
Singapore is very lush and green as you would expect with the tropical climate, but I am really impressed with the amount of premium land set aside for greenery. There are masses of tall thin apartment blocks, so I guess the small building footprints are what allow the green spaces.
There is a lot of wealth here and in some areas, it seems no expense has been spared to create an opulent looking city, as well as one that seems to function very well. There are apparently 5 million people here in a land mass that is the size of Lake Taupo, but everything just seems to work.
Had my first swim in the pool in the midst of a thunder storm this afternoon. Refreshing!
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