Porthole Magazine
June 1, 1999
Singapore Shopping Spree

You may not be allowed to chew gum in this immaculate, scrubbed-down
city of rules, but in Singapore you sure can shop. It's the national
pastime. The 250-square-mile island, the cruise hub of Asia and
a port of call for nearly a dozen ships between November and April,
is chock full of modern shopping malls, department stores and enough
fast-food restaurants to keep you fat and happy until you go broke.
One after another along Orchard Road in downtown and in the malls
tucked into the island's many towering apartment complexes, store
shelves are stocked with the world's biggest name brands and labels
in fashion, electronics and gadgets (and at western prices, too).
But look a little deeper and venture beyond Singapore's commercialistic
heart to find some old-time character and charm in the city's off-beaten-track
shops. Whether you've got just an afternoon while your ship is in
port or a couple of days before or after your cruise departs from
Singapore's swank cruise terminal, if you know where to go, there
are easily accessible pockets of the past. Vestiges of the Chinese,
Malay, and Indian history and culture have managed to cling on to
Singapore's forever growing grid of shiny high-rises and manicured
parks. Refreshingly dusty and cramped, these offbeat shops provide
a lingering flavor of the country's -- and the region's -- diverse
ethnic make-up. From Chinese porcelain and camphor-wood cabinets,
to Indonesian masks, silk Chinese dresses, and bronze statues of
Indian deities, you can spend a few dollars on a small trinket to
thousands for hand-carved furniture.

To discover these charming treasure troves, it helps to have a seasoned
shopping pro lead the way. I know I've got one! Uma, my husband's
sister and a world-class shopper who's lived in this materialist's
Mecca for nearly five years, is an expert. Like a painter or marathon
runner or master chef, as a shopper Uma is dedicated, experienced
and highly talented, having honed these skills and persuasive prowess
at an early age growing up in India, where shopping opportunities
are many and haggling is expected. While bargaining isn't really
practiced by the law-and-order obsessed Singaporeans in the mainstream
stores, shopkeepers in the antique and handicraft stores expect
it from foreigners and are willing to negotiate ñ especially if
you're buying more than one thing or a big-ticket item. It sure
works for Uma. On our annual visits to Singapore, watching her in
action is to watch a polished professional practice her craft.

"Oh pleeease sir," she tells a shopkeeper with a coy cock of her
head and a sweet smile that scrunches her appley cheeks into an
irresistible gaze, "you must give me a better price. I absolutely
won't take it for a penny more," she implores in that sing-songy
tone of hers, big, doll eyes fixed on his. A 5'2" dynamo in a neatly-pressed
tunic and a tiny diamond nose-ring, she doesn't let up until they
budge.

On our most recent trip, she brokered a beautifully-carved wooden
Buddha statue embedded with colored glass, as we stood to the side
and watched like spectators at some sporting event -- she haggled
the price down 20%. Inspired, I tried my luck and got a $20 Chinese
lacquer bracelet down to $15 and $10 knocked off of a silk Mandarin-style
dress for a friend's little girl.

But whether you've got the bargaining knack or not, don't miss out
on exploring Singapore's intriguing craft shops where an exotic
Far Eastern world comes to life. Here are Uma's favorite haunts.


The string of cluttered shops at Holland Village, off of Holland
Road in the southern part of the island, sell everything from bamboo
laundry baskets to porcelain opium jars. Sitting side by side, Sin
Huat Hin Wine Merchants and Sin Seng Huat Food Suppliers no longer
sell rice wines or bird nests, but they do offer elaborately painted
Indonesian masks, green Thai celedon lamps, Chinese bamboo songbird
cages, and beaded Chinese abacus lamps.

Also in Holland Village is a three-story complex of eclectic stores.
At the largest, Lim's Arts and Crafts, pick up an Indonesian brass
gong, Balinese fabric hangers, and embroidered Vietnamese linen.
You'll find beautifully-crafted Korean boxes, fragile Cambodian
rice-paper lanterns, Oriental ivory and jade perfume bottles, and
Thai opium pipes. In the same complex, Vistas and Company specializes
in cloisonnÈ vases and a variety of different wind chimes. Jessica's
Arts and Crafts sells Japanese tea sets and sake sets, and is well-known
for its porcelain bird cages. Mughul's Palace and Tabline has a
range of Indian bronze statues, like Ganeshes and dancing Shivas,
Rajasthani puppets, and Mughal miniature paintings. Simply Divine
sells Indonesian shadow puppets, gold-leaf Buddhas, and Ikat wall-hangings.


For Chinese porcelain at bargain prices, venture to The Old Man
of the Forest, otherwise known as Thow Kwang Industry or the Dragon's
Kiln, in Lorong Tawas. Just about as far-flung as it gets, this
pottery factory tucked into a jungle of banana and tamarind trees
has row upon row of handcrafted porcelain vases, ginger jars, figurines,
and lamps, set up in shacks outside of the giant kilns they're made
in.

In China Town, along Pagoda and Temple streets, shops offer a dizzying
variety of Chinese earthenware teapots and incense-burners, traditional
eight-sided ginger jars with dragon motifs, porcelain vases and
figurines of Chinese Gods and Goddesses, and weather-beaten fishermen
and their boats. China Town's Wet Market across the road shocks
the senses with an exotic spread of local favorites, like dragon
fruit, star fruit, lychees, and horse chestnuts, and a meats section
that will you leave you speechless ñ green and black toads, slimy
eels, and entire pigs are for sale. Within walking distance is Garry
Lee, on Smith Street. It's the place to go for fine Chinese linen
-- exquisitely-embroidered bed sheets and pillowcases, tablecloths
and table linen, handkerchiefs, doilies, wine coasters, and cocktail
napkins. For antiques, Windows to the Past, nearby in the Trade
Mart Building on Martin Road, has colonial furniture from South
Asia like antique beds, brass urns, ancient gramophones, and silver
betel nut cases. Just outside of China Town at the House of Huanghuali
on Mohammed Sultan Road -- shop for old Chinese furniture like a
two-drawer coffer with hidden compartments, and elegant cabinets
in highly-prized Huanghuali wood (a rare Chinese hardwood).

For Chinese country furniture, go to Cherry Blossom, at the Sime
Darby Centre. There are elm- and aromatic camphor-wood pieces from
southern China, Opium beds (once used for just that) with embroidery-like
carving, old dowry chests, carved Chinese window and door panels,
rice barrels, and sliding wooden screens.

So, shop away! There really is more to Singapore than meets the
eye. Venture past the sea of generic shopping malls, and discover
Singapore's eclectic underbelly. You'll be glad you did!