October 18 - Singapore's National Pastime - Shopping!

Lonely Planet Guidebook:  "Singapore’s mania for shopping almost rivals its obsession with food, and barely a year goes by without a vast new retail monolith flinging open its doors."  And that has certainly been my observation in the short few days I've been here.  The city has massive, high-end, destination shopping meccas like I've never seen before in my travels.  I'll spare you the details -- but I've walked through several (including ION Orchard, Harbourfront, VivoCity) as they are situated at light rail "MRT" hubs.  While I've previously posted about my distaste for such temples to the capitalists' success in addicting us to acquire and consume their world-wide brands -- I have enjoyed the variety and quality of the highly regarded "food courts" at these destination malls.

However, on recommendation from a friend, first stop today was the older "Lucky Plaza" where I witnessed the Sunday gathering spot for the masses of millennial-aged, primarily female Filipinos. This was not the church-quiet mall of the upper-crust shoppers, this was ground zero for conversation and socialization.  And shopping didn't seem to be the primary preoccupation -- but rather crowding "remittance" and "money changer" businesses.  I later learned that these Filipino women are predominantly the servant/maid "domestic worker" class to the more wealthy Singaporeans -- who only get Sunday off and flood this Plaza both for socialization and to send some of their earnings back to their families.

Just half the listing in the mall directory:

After a lunch of another area specialty, Singapore noodles (I'll spare you the foodie photo this time), I was back on the MRT to find the cultural center for Indian workers: Little India -- listed by Lonely Planet among Singapore's Top 10 places to visit.  I couldn't help but think back to my posting about my Bali snorkeling experience where I observed the "stratified behavior of fish as many only swim in schools of the same species even as they live in peace with the abundance of diversity around them."  Today, within just a few miles, I was observing the same situation with cultures.  

The morning exposure to these distinctive cultural enclaves was put into historical and political perspective when my next stop was the National Museum of Singapore where I spent about 3 hours immersed in excellent, informative exhibits on both the history and future of Singapore.  The distinct cultural districts grew from the segregation imposed during colonial British rule (which ended in 1965).   The journey through the exhibits were particularly helpful in understanding the sad history of Japanese occupation in 1942 as well as the progression to the global commerce, financial and transportation powerhouse it is today (highest per capital income in the world and ranked Asia's most influential city as well as 4th in the world, for a couple of examples).   

After about three hours in the museum, I was happy to learn I was within walking distance to the creative home for the once famous (at least to my generation) cocktail: the Singapore Sling. Seemed like a downright touristy thing to do even knowing that the small drink (just to get these couple of photos) was going to set me back $26 USD (for less than three of 'em I could fly back to Bali -- or I could drink three and feel like I was flying).  I had one!  But I also enjoyed a delightful conversation with a couple from Australia who were seated next to me at the bar and doing the same thing I was doing -- in fact alot of people were -- The Long Bar (the name of the place) was just like Voodoo Donuts, Eggslut and now Chicken Rice -- it had a line!

Thanks to some wonderful Chaco Sandles recommended by my son Neal -- my feet were still feeling good after a day of walking and standing  (how's that for succumbing to my minnion-ness addiction to capitalists' world branding! -- if you're reading my blog close enough, you'll understand)

-- so I decided to return to Gardens By The Bay "Supertree Grove" for the evening light show:

Just another busy, fun day in Singapore.