It’s my last day in Singapore for a couple of weeks. I’m headed to Paris tomorrow to spend the weekend with Aude, then off to Istanbul for two weeks on business. The plan is that all of her friends will meet in Paris to celebrate her 30th birthday, but the party may turn out to be smaller than anticipated if her friends get held up in the transport strikes. The latest news was that very few long-distance trains are running, but that situation may clear up in time for the weekend. In any case, I’m flying in so it shouldn’t be a problem.

A tailor was recommended to me, so I’ve managed to have loads of clothes made this week – although that leaves me with the rather awkward problem of having to cart them around with me for the next three stops on my trip, which might be tricky as I think I’m considerably over the permitted baggage limit.

Shopping in Singapore can be a little overwhelming. There’s lots of visual noise and bright colours vying for your attention!

Had to capture a picture of Spiderman, if only for the sake of completeness after the comments I got in Bangkok!

You can eat very well at the food courts here. US$2 buys you all this…

I also had to go shopping for a winter coat last night – I packed for Singapore weather, and consequently have nothing warmer than a shirt. Weather forecasts for Paris are below freezing.

Buying a winter coat in Singapore presents its own problems – given the year-round warm weather here, they don’t keep many in stock. I finally managed to find one, but you’re not really spoiled for choice out here.

Christmas decorations along Orchard Road in Singapore

Christmas decorations along Orchard Road in Singapore

All against a very Asian backdrop…

A pretty impressive tree at the Takashimaya shopping centre in Singapore

All the decorations are up for Christmas already, although the characters aren’t quite as I remember them. Christmas is clearly commercialised, so Jesus Christ has no part in the events whatsoever. And apparently, neither does that rather secular fellow called Santa Claus. Princess Noel, on the other hand, does make an appearance – whoever she is? It’s all a bit surreal seeing all the Christmas decorations (many of which have a “Winter Wonderland” theme to them) when the temperature outside is brushing 90 degrees.

My next challenge is deciding how I’m going to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’ve made some preliminary enquiries, but it turns out that it’s very difficult to find a turkey in Turkey.

Another day, another room service meal. This time, a seafood bouillabaisse.

For the record, bouillabaisse is an incredibly difficult word to spell, as I’ve just discovered as I tried to type it for this blog.

Bouillabaisse

Hats off to the chef. Room service or not, it’s one of the best bouillabaisses I’ve ever had, and it’s loaded with no fewer than three lobster tails. Mmmm. (Although I secretly fear that there are three lobsters out there in little lobster wheelchairs, having given up their tails for my dinner.)

It was a bloody long day today — we’ve got a workshop on Weds/Thu/Fri this week and so we’re all working away feverishly to get everything ready in time for all the bigwigs to fly in on Friday and pass their verdict. Not helped by the fact that I decided to watch “The Good Shepherd” last night, not realising that it’s about 4,000 hours long. So my ‘early night’ turned into a reasonably late night… Not the best way to start the week.

My client is full of a cold and spluttering everywhere. My colleague has already succombed. It’s only a matter of time before I catch it…

Another early start today, as I wanted to get out to see the flea market at Clarke Quay which is held every Sunday. The quizzical look I got from the doorman when I asked for a taxi to Clarke Quay at 9am on a Sunday should have been my tip-off. “Why you want to go so early?” he asked.

Trusting my guidebook (thanks a lot, Neil!), we set off for the market despite the doorman’s warning. And when we arrived at Clarke Quay, it was totally empty and everything was closed. The only other people around were a handful of other tourists. I couldn’t see whether they were clutching the same guidebook as I was, but there was definitely no sign of a market.

All dressed up and nowhere to go! After a few minutes looking around the attractions of Clarke Quay (definitely a good place to come back to in the evening) we headed across the bridge to the Swisshotel and had a coffee.

Gina scopes out a few places around Clarke Quay that she’d like to return to later…

There are nearly as many cats here as in Turkey. This one was clearly pregnant…

Around 10:30, we once again followed Gina’s hunger pangs. She’d been given the name of a good, authentic dim sum place. Given my previous experience with her “authentic” restaurants, I was a little dubious – particularly when I saw the sign for the place (and, inside the aging elevator, the “No urinating!” warning). But the food was good, and we ate like kings.

Gina only brings me to the classiest places.

Happy as a pig in mud!

True to form, we spent the afternoon shopping on Orchard Road, then back to the hotel for a quick nap. I headed out a little later on to snap some more photos of Singapore – they’ll be up on here as soon as I get a chance to edit them.

It never fails to amaze me what you can buy in Asia. And yes, it does just what it says on the tin. If you don’t like human placenta, you can also buy sheep or goat placentas. Never let it be said that the customer isn’t king here!