Shopping Guide for Singapore Part 1

Singaporeans love shopping as much as they love food, so it's no surprise to find that The Little Red Dot (as the locals like to call Singapore) is a shopaholic's heaven. It's full of great bargains, quirky presents and an excess of shopping centres – bring an extra suitcase with you and get ready to shop to your heart's content!

Denisa H's City Tips

- Singapore is super easy to get around by MRT (metro). Buy a Singapore Tourist Card or an EZ Link card, which you can top up with credit and use to tap in and out of stations.

- Do eat a lot. Do shop a lot. Don't litter anywhere – especially chewing gum (that's if you've managed to sneak it into the country) – as it's banned throughout the city.

- Always take the opportunity to see what's on offer while you're there – due to Singapore's high-speed development, there's a good chance it might not be around for much longer.

- For areas not covered by public transport, taxis are fairly cheap and easy to hail (green light on means available). The city is also dotted with taxi stands.

- It is always a good idea to carry an umbrella, as the showers come down thick and often. However, there are also many places you can shelter while the shower passes.

- Tipping is not customary, but always appreciated if offered. A service charge is usually included in your bill.

The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

- You cannot get more glam than here, at Singapore's showboat Marina Bay Sands, the imposing building and centre that's been written about time and time again since it first opened in 2010. Home to the famous Skypark, a casino, flashy eateries run by world-renowned chefs and the ArtScience Museum, shopping may not be all that's on your agenda here. The Shoppes have been designed with serious feng shui in mind – just ponder the centrepiece 'Rain Oculus' for a while. You can also take a sampan (traditional boat) down the indoor river and browse hundreds of designer and highstreet shops on its banks.

Joo Chiat/Katong

- This neighbourhood is full of all things Peranakan – the unique south-east Asian fusion of several different cultures, mainly Chinese and Malay. You'll know you're in the right place when you see all the ornate and colourful houses. Locals come here for the Katong laksa, a special version of the popular local soup, where all you need is a spoon and a big appetite. You can find Peranakan souvenirs in Rumah Bebe, a shop that also sells freshly made Nyonya (a Peranakan lady) cakes and snacks. Also look out for beautiful fabrics, brooches, hand-embellished slippers ('kasut manik') and other souvenirs.

Tiong Bahru Estate

- Just a short ride on the MRT brings you to one of Singapore's oldest housing estates, which in the 1930s was referred to as the Den of Beauties, because all the rich men kept their mistresses here. An incredible collection of Art Deco style public housing awaits you, complete with its village-like atmosphere. Shoppers can enjoy browsing the perfectly sized Tiong Bahru market to a backdrop of birdsong. Fresh poultry, seafood, vegetables and fruit are all featured here, but you can also pick up local spices and spice pastes or grab some lunch upstairs from the sprawling food court, which features local delicacies like mee (noodles), herbal soups, local pastries and rejuvenating fresh fruit juices. However, the real draw of Tiong Bahru is the number of boutiques and cafes that have sprung up recently, including Books Actually, which sells a wealth of both foreign and homegrown fiction books and their own stationary, to boot, or Nana and Bird, a little boutique sourcing labels from all around the world.

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Death by Selfie !

Practically anyone with a smartphone today is guilty of taking them, but as some have found out the hard way, selfies can kill. While selfies of people sitting, standing, or hanging from extreme heights and other daring situations have spread like wildfire on social media, death by selfie is a real phenomenon that has killed dozens over the past two years alone.

And while other selfie problems are gradually being discovered, such as the spread of head lice, the irrelevance of some people to their own personal safety while trying to get the most unbelievable pics up on Facebook, Instagram, or SnapChat is by far the deadliest trend today.

In India, where death by selfie rates are said to be the highest in the world, three college students were killed while snapping a selfie dangerously close to a moving train.

The most famous instance of death by selfie in Russia is one such clear example. Two Russian soldiers took an extremely daring – and certainly crazy – selfie with a live grenade. The grenade exploded prematurely as the phone recorded the tragic moment.

Another tragic death by selfie incident occurred in Washington state when a man took a selfie while pointing a gun at his own face. The man apparently thought the gun was unloaded as he had taken similar selfies in the past after ensuring that the firearms were safe.death by selfie

According to Pricenomics, 49 selfie related deaths have occurred since 2014. And that is only based on the selfie deaths that have been reported by the media.

That number is only expected to increase as more people strive to take the most daring selfies they can.

To curb the rise of this phenomenon, several countries have taken measures to prevent or discourage people from taking fatal selfies.

The selfie stick is also being banned at numerous tourist sites around the world. (So if you are a selfie-fanatic, you might want to check if your next destination or favorite landmark is one of those places where selfies are banned.)

While it should be a no-brainer, online publicity is never worth the risk of death. So before you take that next flick on your smartphone, ask yourself if that photo will end up being just a figure in the latest death by selfie statistics or not.

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