Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Singapore: Orchard Road

We were six days and nights in Singapore. Our first day we mostly gawked at Orchard Road, where our hotel was, and the area's many giant super-shopping centers, the presence/abundance of just about every famous designer or retail name you can remember or imagine (including some you thought were dead and gone), the many many-starred restaurants, and so on. All the opulence, extravagance, and ostentation...and then some.

















A store window at the Paragon, advertising the strange alliance between Mickey
and Gucci 

Third floor in the Paragon, a floor of (Lunar) New Year gifts

Across the street at Ngee Ann City, where you can design and print your own Polo
shirt (T-shirts starting at S$149; S$.75=1U$D)

Takashimaya (big department store) gourmet/New Year food court (don't worry,
there'll be a separate post on Singapore food)

Street scene

S$10,000 purse, anyone?

At a Lego Store, the glamping set all sold out 

Another street scene
 
View from our 14th floor room, the point of which is to introduce Singapore's
interest in greening everything...to make it not the Garden City, but a City in a
Garden (so the C of C said); we rode over much of the island, and it is truly the most
completely and beautifully landscaped place I've ever been 

Ngee Ann City shopping center (including the towers)

Across the street, the Paragon

You can have all the Chanels and Guccis...I'll take the 7-11s, which are as abundant
and crowded in Singapore as in Bangkok; and the rest of SE Asia

Tang Plaza and Tower, another mega-shopping center

More shopping centers, including Wheelock Place, which houses one of many
fine Marks and Spencers in the area

































































































































































































































































Thus (also to be found at Cold Storage, the grocery in Takashimaya)


Perhaps best known, the Ion


Part of Ion atrium

Sculpture outside Ion; the Burghers?!

Ever more shopping

Pretty incredible

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Krabi Out-Takes

We didn't see "Lady Boys of Bangkok" when we were at the Fringe in Edinburgh
last summer, nor even when we were in Bangkok, so I guess this is as close as I'll get

Maybe they were Lady Girls; not sure

Not something I'd wear in Thailand; sold out anyway

Dollar store; well, Three Dollar store

Jousting lobsters (the movie was better)

DIY ramen at the 7-11; oh thank heaven

Holiday Inn shrines at Ao Nang; the god(s) apparently really like Fanta Red

Krabi Muy Thai (Thai kick-boxing) stadium

As close as we'll get to that

















































































































Muy Thai advertising truck, as in Koh Samui; but in Krabi you don't have to "get
there earlier"



















Thai dye shoppe; nyuk, nyuk, nyuk





















































































Thai haircut

Ao Nang Night Market

The Ao Nang city mothers and fathers have done a smart thing, providing a great space and facility for a night market, seating for hundreds, bar service and entertainment. It provides a clean and well-lit environment for the more squeamish among us to try Thai street food; and to be assured that what we're eating hasn't been sitting out on the cart all day. Anyhow, Vicki led the way, not so much by example, and I enjoyed the market so much as to eat there a second night.

In the future I think I'll stick with the pina coladas

Speaking of sticks, Vlad the Impaler would have loved Thai street food




"Jujube"? Not in a box? Yes, also called Chinese date; traveling is so broadening



Sushi district

The really tempting stuff; 30 baht=$1US; prepared before your eyes


First night I finally opted for the shrimp and seaweed and cucumber; second night,
shrimp satay; I really like shrimp, especially when someone else peels, de-veins, etc.






Forbidden fruit; little did I know I'd be eating it in a few days in Singapore

"Mackerel from Norway"


Super place; actually the food hall is down the way, beyond the pointy things