How time flies, before you know it my nine days away from the office is almost over. I’m almost dreading going to the office tomorrow, Monday. It will be difficult to get started over again: waking up at 07H, driving to the office, ploughing through my daily duties etc.

Singapore, to say the least, was a nice diversion from Kuala Lumpur. I’ve decided that I need to make a trip down south every other month just to keep sane - see my next entry. KL is a nice city to live in, but I think there’s a disjuncture of sorts between me, as a person, and KL at its stage, and rate, of development. I could go on and elaborate but I wouldn’t, simply because I do not want to descend into writng pessimistic tirades about matters which are frankly beyond my ability to really change.

So Singapore.

Surprisingly, I didn’t really shop. I merely shopped, i.e. I did marathon runs through shopping complexes without really dallying at merchandises and walking through one shop after another - traits which are hallmarks of “real” shopping! That said, I managed to cover a lot of ground with these marathon runs. I must have gone through 90% of the shopping centres in the CBD. Due to the minimalist nature of my shopping, I ended up only buying things which I had earlier decided on getting or those which really caught my eye, and thus ended up being “good buys”.

And what did I get? I got three comfortable linen trousers, or rather one comfortable linen trousers in three colours (yes, they were that good)! A nice black bag which I’ve been looking for to replace my old worn out blue one. Home perfumes/scents from L’Occitane (on 50% sale). A body moisturiser from the Body Shop (70% off). The best experiential hair shampoo and conditioner on earth, Original Mint Source (20% discount at Isetan), which I first discovered when I was studying in the UK. One book on Malaysian politics published by ISEAS and on 20% discount at Kinokuniya. In case you haven’t heard, it was the Great Singapore Sale!

Finally, and saving the best for last, I got a great digital cordless phone which I’ve been desiring since 2001 when I first saw it in the UK (why get it only now? Because I now have a salary and it was so much cheaper than in the UK). However, this was in place of getting this.

Oh yes, I also bought a sweater because I couldn’t take the excessive air-conditioning in every building and public transport on the island anymore!

Of course, I didn’t only shop (although, the premise of Singapore’s tourism industry is largely shopping). Andrew and I also did some sightseeing. We went to the Singapore Science Centre and watched a beautiful IMAX film on coral reefs at the geodesic-screen theatre. We spent an evening at the marvellous Night Safari, where we had a pleasant and romatic walk under the stars, surrounded by the scents and sounds of the forest.

We also walked about the city a lot - of course, a lot of this was in the process of getting from one shopping centre to another! We had dinner at Boat Quay and then walked around Marina Bay towards the beautiful Esplanade - interesting not just from an architectural and socio-cultural perspective but also from the urban developmental logic and processes underlying the project, demonstrating yet again the ardous, meticulous and driven nature with which the Singapore government pursue developmental goals which the Malaysian authorities can only imitate at half-measures.

STOP! I’m doing what I said I wouldn’t do - I’m on the verge of writing a pessimistic tirade. Must not digress…

So yes, it was, all in all, a good city holiday. Good company (my cousin and a great friend), good food and good shopping. All in an aesthetically pleasing and comfortable environment within a 5-hour coach ride from KL. Who could ask for more?

Posted on June 29th, 2003 by jl
Filed under: lost blah blah