It's not like me to have difficulty sleeping, but tonight was an exception, so you find me sharing my thoughts with you at 5am Sing time on Sunday morning. That's 10 pm and 5 pm on Saturday for my UK and US readers respectively, and 8 am on Sunday for my sister in Oz.
Perhaps it was the excitement of last night's Murder Mystery Dinner at the Tanglin Club (it was Rupert, the long-lost son who dunnit) or the effect of dessert (the largest creme brulee I have ever seen) giving me a sugar buzz, but being awake with time on my hands gives me the opportunity to tell you about the Great Singapore Sale. This is an annual event and for two months from the end of May to the end of July (it's not called "great" for nothing) there are bargains to be had island-wide.
I have shared with you before the Singaporeans' love of shopping, so you can imagine the effect on the national psyche of discounts of up to 70 per cent on just about anything. The sale is actually organised by the Singapore tourist board in order to promote tourism, and visitors get special privileges on shopping, dining and various tourist attractions.
The sale begins with the Great Singapore Shopping Challenge - an event which seeks to elevate shopping to the status of a sport. This activity, now in its 5th year, involves teams of two (27 in total, with only a third of them from Singapore, so it's clearly an international sport), each of which is given S$1,000 and three hours to bag the best bargains from selected categories. The winning team is the one that manages to achieve the biggest savings in the time, and they get to keep their purchases as well as trousering a bucketload of shopping vouchers. Hmm, I wonder if my friend Kerry fancies entering next year...........
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