M-whY

People say Singapore is a clean and beautiful city. I can see why. Somehow, despite covering only 1000 square kilometers and having one of the highest population densities in the world, they managed to fit in a whole lot of green. The sidewalks were as clean as you could expect for a metropolis. This disconcerted me even more. What if my pockets suddenly developed a hole, and a piece of paper fell out onto the street. Would I be fined a few hundred bucks for littering?!

I made it a mini-mission to look for some trash. With over 4 million people living here, someone has to be a rogue. It's just not possible for everyone to be law abiding citizens, especially with the laws as strict as they are here. I scoured the streets carefully... Aha! A piece of litter! Singapore isn't the utopia people make it out to be!

Several times during my trip, I've wished for a better camera than my Pentax Optio S4. Maybe a DSLR, so I can shoot pictures with enough resolution to print posters. Or a camera with some nice lens, to handle low light conditions. Or even just one with 10x optical zoom, for zooming in on objects far off in the distance. But actually, what I really want most is a spy cam. Something small, that doesn't look like a traditional camera, to take pictures unnoticed, and not scream 'Hey, look at me, I'm a photo shooting tourist." To capture those spontaneous moments, to get shots of everyday life, which would really bring my blog to the next level. (And, perhaps... for even more insidious purposes?)

Singapore used to be a bargain hunter's dream. Nowadays, things have changed a bit, at least for electronics. It's absolutely necessary to do your research before you go shopping. Crooked dealers have taken advantage of ignorant tourists and charged them more than what the product would've cost at home. I spent some time checking prices on the internet before hitting the stores.

There are a couple places that are known for electronics. (Actually that's not quite true, you can find electronics pretty much on every corner, but anyways...) The first of which is Lucky Plaza. The first two floors are packed with cameras, video recorders, cell phones. I began trying to get a feel for what the prices were.

"How much is this Sony Cybershot L1?" I asked in mandarin. I could've used english, but I wanted every possible advantage I could get.

"$450 (S$1 = US$.60)" He took down the display model for me to check out.

The Cybershot L1 isn't exactly a spy cam. It had a body of a regular camera, but the lens were not the retractable type. I could turn it on, snap my picture, and turn it off without anyone noticing. It was on my short list of possible second cameras.

"How about that Panasonic SV-AV10?" The SV-AV10 was also on my short list. Looking more like a cell phone than a camera, it's probably the smallest digicam on the market. A great candidate for my secret agent aspirations.

He punched in the price on a calculator and showed me. "$390."

I asked a few questions about each, to feign genuine interest in purchasing. I didn't bargain hard though. I had left my credit card and debit card back at the apartment, so I wouldn't make any rash decisions. It would've been pointless to haggle the price down, and then say I don't have any money.

I repeated this process at a few more dealers. I've been warned to watch out for 'tourist prices,' but only a couple cases was I quoted an outrageously inflated amount (e.g. S$590 when everyone else was asking S$450). But the prices were nothing to write home about. It was pretty much the same as retail back in the US.

Singapore's other electronics mecca is Sim Lim Square. On my way there, I saw a guy hock a loogie. I half expected police to fall out of the sky and arrest the man. But nothing happened! I then realized, I hadn't seen a cop all morning. I could've spat and littered to my heart's content, and not have been caught. It's only the fear of a heavy fine that prevents people from doing so. People say tougher penalties aren't necessarily a deterrent to crime. Well, it seems to be working for Singapore pretty well.

The range of electronics at Sim Lim Square is astonishing. I'm an avid technophile, though I don't have the gadgets to prove it. Several floors, packed with every gadget, accessory, and toy you can think of. Enough to make my heart flutter. I came for a digital camera, but I found myself checking out flashy laptops that weighed less than a kilo, and still managed to fit in an optical drive. I compared prices of external CDRW drives, which would be useful to burn my own CDs with instead of paying $5-6 a pop to backup my pictures. It's a good thing I left my wallet at home!

Again, prices for digital cameras were nothing special. I was more than a little disappointed.

It was getting dark already by the time I finally left Sim Lim. I had one more stop before I could call it a day. I trekked over to Little India and the Mustafa Center, a 24-hour superstore that had everything from groceries to clothes to jewelry to big ticket electronics. Probably the best way to describe it is like a Walmart, except with more stuff. Prices were fixed, but very reasonable. I sauntered over to the digital camera section to see what was available.

The SV-AV10, which I really had my eyes on, was marked for only S$350. About S$50 cheaper than what everyone else was selling it for. That came out to be less than the best price I could find online (only by a few dollars though). Which goes to show, if you look hard enough, bargains (however small) can still be found!

Even so, I wanted to mull it over. I started heading back home, and didn't reach the apartment til nearly 9:00pm. I suddenly realized, I had been engaging in a woman's number one pastime, shopping, for over eight hours...

So where do I turn in my man card?

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!