Along Orchard Road

Orchard Road

While waiting for Grace's arrival at Orchard road on the eve of Deepavali, Sara and I watched and observed the heavy passenger traffic along the street.

Jet Star was on a fierce promotion exercise inviting almost everyone into their booths for the latest offers.

Undeniably, ice cream vendors dotted the place and we were wondering if they were individual owners or if they belong to a chain store. After much argument we concluded that they must belong to a group enterprise. A dollar for one.

Sara had a taste of it...very ordinary but it attracted a lot of customers.

We noticed that people love to smoke here from ladies to gentlemen and from the young to the old. The one there was a grandmother and she enjoyed that stick in front of her grandchild. They had a jolly time racing each other along the street.

We popped into Lucky Plaza despite Sara's protest...ma, everything is filipino. Indeed, everything is filipino ; all sorts of stores and goods meeting the needs of the thousands of filipino house help from sauces to pans, perfumes, lotions ; every item that a filipino needs is there. It's a little filipino hub and haven.

Opposite it is of course the place where every local loves to go in...Takashimaya next to Atria where the action is.

Sales, sales, sales...everyone seemed to have gone crazy. The other complexes that we visited were also filled with frenzied buying and some of the offers were really attractive. But the exchange rate is not so fun though.

At one point when our legs could carry us no more, we sat in front of Takashimaya and observed these delighful children playing among themselves...without a guardian. Where's the guardian? What would happen to them if they were left alone in the streets of Kuala Lumpur? Stories of kidnap and rape filled out thoughts. We kept watching them for a good half an hour before the modern mama appeared. She sure was bold and unfearful. Well, Singapore must be very safe.

Perhaps the epitome of the evening was reached when Carrie Underwood performed in front of Paragon and she rendered the lovely tune ; 'I told you so'...the song she sang in one of the final rounds of last year's American Idol. It was a lovely way to end the evening.