The Hungry Ghosts Festival. Known to expats as that couple of weeks when you're likely to stumble upon metal barrels of billowing flames and smoke in the middle of the sidewalk. Known to the fire department as that couple of weeks when you say regular prayers that all fire extinguishers on the island have easy to understand Chinese language instructions on them.
The Chinese believe that every year, usually around September, the souls of the dead are freed from Hell and roam the earth. They put tables of food and sticks of incense out on the street and light fires to show their respect and ward off evil spirits. (Certain pockets of New Englanders have practiced something similar over the years as the Red Sox enter their usual fall death spiral, but this ritual was finally put to rest in 2004.)
This year I saw offerings ranging from bowls of Lucky Charms cereal to full feasts that would feed, well, a small island nation. On my walk home from work one day I was lucky enough to encounter this extravagance. You can't really see it well in this pic from my Blackberry, but that is a whole roast pig on the left hand side of the table. Should go nicely with the case of Australian Shiraz on the right.
The Opening of a New Mall. There's a buzz in the air as the opening date of a new real estate extravaganza approaches. This year it's for the new ION Mall on Orchard Road. Is it really true that the condos on top are going to sell for $1 million per square meter?? Is it really true that the grocery store on the 4th floor will sell truffle salt for $100 a jar? (I really miss my truffle salt - had to bequeath it to Aurelie when I left SF.) And most importantly, will Singapore finally break the global record for the largest number of Prada, Vuitton, and Cartier stores in 1 square mile?
Thanks to my time in Singapore I now know far more about clever mall design strategy than I ever dreamed possible. These malls are where most Singapore residents spend most of their free time and money, so they're a centerpiece of the economy and social life here. Let's take a look at the design of ION:
- There are 8 levels of shopping. You walk in off Orchard Road, past the water show with cool colored lasers, into an oasis of gorgeous marble floors, 30 foot ceilings, even an art gallery in there somewhere. But wait...not everyone gets the marble.
- 4 of the 8 shopping levels are below street level. They're for regular people and are therefore most easily accessible from the adjacent subway station. These look like any old American mall -- you half expect to see a JC Penney around the corner. Oh wait -- there's Dunkin Donuts!!!
- The mall's parking garage is located above the top 4 levels of super high end designer shopping, which forces people who are wealthy enough to own a car in Singapore (note that cars in Singapore cost 2x or more than the same models in the US, and that's before the high fees to put them on the road) to walk down to street level while being seduced by Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Chloe, and more. Brilliant!!
Here's a shot of the velvet rope and bouncer outside of the new Vuitton store in ION to keep the rowdy folks in the queue under control. All in all, a casual visitor to Singapore strolling around malls on Orchard Road would conclude that 1) Singapore isn't nearly as congested as one would think for a tiny island housing nearly 5 million people and 2) everyone here dresses in high fashion labels because there doesn't seem to be anything else available.
Hint: take your closest escalator down and discover the hordes teeming beneath the streets. We're all eating donuts and wearing flip flops.
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