Buy a slice of Asia.

Buy a slice of Asia.


Fisherman pants at Anjuna Beach, Goa by Erwin Nah

Dear readers, Lanxi and I would be peddling our wares this Saturday. I'll be selling most of the stuff I shipped/lugged back from India, while I believe she would be selling clothes/accessories from Japan.

Fisherman pants, sarong skirts, Indian silk tops and colored beads. If you fancy getting your hands on any of these at a reasonable price, head on down to:

Singapore Conference Hall (nearest MRT Tanjong Pagar, exit E)
This Saturday, 25 October 2008, from 1pm to 6pm

Spread the word, and we hope to see you there. :)

The angmoh diaries.

The angmoh diaries.

I'd expected queues, but not quite those we experienced outside the Crystal Jade outlets at lunchtime today. Our dim sum plans were foiled, so after an unremarkable lunch at Fish & Co, we set about window shopping in Paragon and Takashimaya.

B's a huge fan of luxury watches (and all things luxury actually), and we set foot in stores that I entered only when i was interning at a fashion magazine two years ago and never thought to visit on a usual shopping day. I'm not fond of anything pretentious, and that includes nightspots, restaurants and boutiques. Honestly, I don't see the point of setting myself up to be judged upon stepping through those doors and into a world where only money talks. Still, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Beyond the extravagant and exclusive exteriors, the sales assistants really weren't as judgmental or intimidating as I had imagined them to be, and there were more Singaporeans in flip flops than manicured tai-tai's milling around.

Ceci once quipped, after I told her how I didn't want to go to a particular place with B as it was kinda attas and I didn't want to dress up - "But you have a French man on your arm, and that's your best accessory!"

So, were the sales people nice only because my boyfriend's white-skinned and therefore assumed to have wads of cash to throw around? (Honestly he doesn't because he's a student like me, haha.) Or have the service standards in Singapore improved drastically since two years ago, when I suffered contemptuous glares as an intern picking up stuff for the fashion shoots? I'm inclined towards the latter, and I don't blame them. Before I started dating B, I too used to assume that all Caucasians shopped in LV, had champagne brunches and lived in landed property. Perhaps it's karma, haha.

Service discrepancies and twisted world views aside, I felt a brainwashing mechanism creeping in after our third luxury store. Having seen watches that cost S$61,000, those that cost S$1,800 suddenly seemed reasonable. And I suddenly found myself looking wistfully at the clever window displays of leather bags, chic heels and smart dresses and thinking how nice it would be to own a closet full of them. Seriously, the blur of boutique-visiting screwed up my perspective. The amount I pay for a single item would have bought me a diving certification, surfing lessons and two beach holidays. Phew. Today was definitely one of the rare times I was actually glad that my bank account was as dry as the Sahara, and that I didn't have a credit card to whip out.

And on another different note, am I the only one who feels like there's nothing to do in Singapore but to eat, shop and watch movies?

To Tanjong Beach and back.

To Tanjong Beach and back.




I suppose we had had enough of procrastinating and throwing in the towel and turning back each time we reached the roundabout, so for the first time in a long while, we extended our run to Tanjong Beach and back. And for the first time in many weeks, the skies stayed rain free for us to enjoy a spot of post-run basking.

Now here's what puzzling me. I mapped out our run online, and was told that our 50-minute run only covered 4.33km. However, a 35-minute run around my estate covered 4.9km. Speed can only differ so much. Help, anybody?

And my online shopping frenzy ends today. I've ordered whatever I wanted to order, so I'm done browsing websites late into the night. It's exhausting, so much so that I fell asleep while in the relaxation pose at the end of my yoga practice today.

Yawn.

Gossip Monday.

Gossip Monday.



There are some friends with whom you don't speak with on a regular basis, but when you do finally meet for a much needed catch-up session, you end up having so much to fill each other in that there is hardly time to pause for breath. Yesterday was such a night, and Flora and I took our chatter from dinner to coffee, and when Gloria Jeans cleared out, we continued yakking away at the MRT station till the last train. This would probably be our last session till she returns from Korea in December. That gives us about seven months to store up on material for our next session.



On a different note, my mom saw the photo Erwin took of me shopping at a street stall in Mumbai. Amidst complaining about the cut-throat prices the vendors usually quoted, I ended up telling her about my successful bargains. My mom is not someone who's easily impressed, but she actually went "wow" when I told her of how I ended up paying 150 rupees for a pair of sunglasses in Delhi, down from the initial quote of 600 rupees. That's about S$20 to S$5. See, at least I acquired a valuable life skill from navigating the various flea markets on my Asian travels! Let's see if I'll find equal success in Europe.

It's Chrystal's birthday bash at spaboutique tonight. Can't wait to catch up with the CS peeps I haven't seen since I left!