Amazing place. We were in Singapore about 11 years ago, just before Christmas (same weather all year round in Singapore - they are on the Equator so 12 hour days and nights all year round also). Four days there and we saw so many gigantic indoor multi-story malls in a row down Orchard Road. The Adelphi Mall is in a different part of town, and I just stumbled upon it by accident. A decade ago the brands offered were slightly different, more western brands, but so much high end equipment, all in one building. Never have seen anything like it before or after.
We were going on our first round the world trip, going east from San Francisco, with the ultimate destination of Hong Kong. We stopped in London, Rome, Singapore and then Hong Kong. After a week in Rome, where we were treated to a city with more old medieval and renaissance churches and Roman religious ruins than any other place we had ever been, we could easily contrast that with Singapore, where everything was new and instead of the religious Gods of Rome, the Gods of Singapore were the Gods of Capitalism and the temples and churches were high rise shopping centers. Instead of the great Roman Fountains (ala Respighi) Singapore has the largest fountain in the world in the center of a giant shopping center - the Fountain of Wealth!
Larry (not a Crazy Rich Asian)
