New Year, New Shades

I welcomed in 2009 in Singapore. My 3 day minibreak was spent visiting my grandmother, shopping and doing lots of walking. I've been to Singapore many times, so it perhaps doesn't induce as much excitement as a trip to Japan. However, I do have my little "routine haunts" down pat.

Favourite place to shop: Far East Plaza

Lots of little local designer boutiques at reasonable prices. When I say little, most of the stores are less than five square metres in size. I stumbled across a cute boutique called HURS where I picked up two blouses for $75.

After my first day of shopping I came up with this complete outfit:



Dress: Hula Bula, $39.90 SG
Jacket: Giordano, $47.50 SG - they were having a 40% off everything sale!
Shoes: Charles and Keith, $49.90 SG

Charles and Keith is my favourite shoe shop in the world, I never leave without at least two pairs of shoes. Plus they're all reasonably priced, I've never paid more than $50 for one pair so it makes you feel less guilty for buying multiple shoes.


Best duty free purchase - sunnies from Sunglass Hut.

My Rayban Wayfarers were $182 SG, on a day with a good exchange rate for my Aussie dollar. The regular retail price is $275.

Singapore isn't just about shopping though. The streets of Singapore smell of food. When you're bypassing hawker stalls the mixture of smells of chilli, frying garlic and curry powder seems heightened due to the humidity. Strolling through food courts and settling on a dinner choice is a difficult task. There's just too many to choose from. I do like my Yong Tau Foo though...and J Co Donuts...and kueh lapis...

Best food to bring home (and well worth waiting in the customs line for) - Bengawan Solo cakes.

Bengawan Solo is best known for their fresh, traditional kueh or cakes and a shop is conveniently located in Terminal 1 of Changi Airport. I also bought Chinese New Year cookies, this year it's my year - the year of the ox!

Some touristy shots of Marina Bay


The Singapore Flyer is not flying at the moment, but still looks much more impressive the Wheel of Perth - honestly who came up with that name?!



The Merlion spitting out water.



Some of these buoys had new year messages handwritten on them. Hello 2009.