OH. MY. GOD. I've died and gone to heaven. Arrived in Singapore and the difference compared to India is astounding. It's so clean! Even the loos in the airport have bacterial wipes for the loo seat. No children shitting on the side of the street, no cows wondering down the road, hardly any noise (comparatively), no rickshaws driving into me to in order to try and get me to ride in their rickshaw (when will they realise it won't work - fear doesn't make someone jump in the back of one).
Singers is clean roads, pruned trees, hedgerows, flowers, it's tidy and there seems to be a place for everything. No one has asked me for money and I'm not constantly being starred at. I feel strange. Lost even.
First day in Singers and I decided to do some sightseeing. But before I knew where I was I found myself in a shopping mall; Gucci, Prada, YSL - I nearly yelped when I saw the luxury brands sparkling at me crying 'come to me, Nina...buy, buy, buy'. But sadly $800 handbags just doesn't work with my traaaaaveller attire so I headed to Top Shop instead and brought knickers (totally justifiable).
Then I headed to the beauty department. Why oh why did I buy so many Aryvedic products before I left India? Had to do some quick thinking in order to justify the Clarins anti wrinkle sun (face) cream (I'm 35 April 12th - another hint!) and an aging lady needs all the help she can get, battled as to whether to buy a bottle of Marc Jacobs fragrance (reminds me of home even though I'm not so sure about the smell on me anymore) and Kate Moss fragrance (decided I like it and it's full of synthetics so the fragrance will stick despite what 'smells' are going on around me!). Lancome mascara (needed it), Laura Mercier eye shadow in various shades (needed it), MAC burnt orange nail varnish (needed it, makes my feet look really brown)....I was just about to head over to the SK II counter for some skin care purchases when suddenly I realised what I was doing. I stopped dead in my tracks and moved slowly away from the counter and out of the mall before I spent my entire travelling budget.
Decided I needed a drink to help me overcome the purchases so headed to Raffles to experience a Singapore Sling (see pic above). Mainlined a few of those and then walked (stumbled) out only to find myself in another shopping mall....but this time I was drunk. My head was saying no, my heart was saying 'yeeeees'. I skipped around Kate Spade, trotted around the Shisedo counter, purred up against the Marc Jacobs handbags and rolled around Chanel (obviously not but you know what I mean). And then I saw Fendi. The beautiful handbags where whispering to me. The gleaned and sparkled, they felt like old friends. But I was strong. Well, I wasn't but my budget really couldn't handle a pasting from Fendi. I wasn't that drunk.
Decided I needed to leave Singapore quickly. I have no self control. Headed to the Internet cafe and promptly booked my flight to Bali. Via Kuala Lumpa. In my haste to leave India I didn't check to see if there were direct flights to Bali. Turns out there isn't and I have to fly there via KL. When I booked the flights the 'I don't want flight insurance' button didn't work. I have insurance, I don't need anymore. But I ended up paying for it anyway. You see budgeting and me just doesn't work. I try as hard as I can but it never works out - clearly I'm born to be wealthy. I really am. Really.
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