Office Supplies???

We spent a lovely day with a woman whose job it is to show expats around the island and give us wide-eyed inports an introduction to the lovely Singapore and show us how to navigate the markets and the touristy stuff. She was loads of fun - very energetic and enthusiastic, and like me, willing to put just about anything in her mouth. Since she has lived here for a good long time, John and Andrew trusted her. As a result, they ate some local food! One of the candies made Andrew cry, but everything else was a success. We even bought about 100 pounds of the fruit in the picture. We went into the bowels of the city - wet markets and restaurants and running paths and even a furniture store where pretty nice stuff was selling like hotcakes and before ol' John knew it he was writing a check for two armchairs. (They are being delivered here on Tuesday...I have no idea how we are going to get them to our house next month.)

When this gal called last week to set up our tour, she asked me what we needed most. I told her we needed office supplies. You know - paper, pens, 3 ring binders...stuff like that. Where is a Target or an Office Depot in this godforsaken place? Singapore has a dang Toys R Us, but no Wal Mart! Incredible. She hemmed and hawed. Not a good sign. She told me that the paper here is the standard A4 European size, and binders are 2-ring. She said "There is one place....You sure you don't just want him to buy this stuff at school? It's pretty overwhelming..."

Naturally this little warning made me want to go to this store all the more. We headed to the bowels of Little India. She told me that I should avoid this area at night, and to dress very modestly when I went there during the day. I have never seen a place like this...7 floors, people everywhere, narrow little isles, and checkout stands peppered in the midst of all of it. (they bag everything and secure it with a zip-tie to prevent theft.) You could smell durian and incense and popcorn. Stuff was stacked precariously to the ceiling and two people could barely pass in an isle. If you had a cart - which is about 1/3 the size of the Target model - passing was impossible and someone would have to move to an adjacent isle to allow it. We heard the work "Americano" a lot. Apparently the shell shocked American does not frequent this place...

I wanted to suggest we do some shopping, but we were out of time. After the Great Chair Incident of 2PM I didn't figure I could get John to write any more checks anyway...

I can't wait to go back.