Land of Opportunity

Sophie travels from one concrete jungle to another. Singapore is only 350 kilometers away from Kuala Lumpur, have the same ethnic mix of citizens, but they are different in many ways.

Singapore is a modern and efficient city very well organized and business-friendly. Its streets and sidewalks are immaculately clean. It is a far cry from the somewhat chaotic streets of Kuala Lumpur. Even the street food is organized into clean and comfortable hawker centers, which are beloved among its citizens and tourists. Sophie loves these collections of food vendors paying for each treat using her LUC8K leather wallet and saving her leftovers in her customized leather tote.

However, it does lack the spontaneity that made Kuala Lumpur so much fun.

The modern-day day city-state is built by man beginning with the British occupation in the early 19th century. However, much of its gleaming architecture and infrastructure was created in the last 50 years after the city-state gained its independence in 1965. It is now considered one of the world’s top financial hubs with one of the world’s busiest ports. It also considered one of the best places to live, even though the tiny country with a population of 5.5 million ranks it as the third most dense in the world.

Sophie is impressed by the economic and social success of this tiny country

But what is even more amazing to her is the city’s dedication to its parks and gardens—which underlines Singapore’s nickname as the “Garden City”. There are approximately 60 dedicated green spaces throughout the country’s chain of islands. Its most important is the Singapore Botanic Garden, the only tropical garden in the world named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is where Sophie spent most of her evenings.

Sophie was most interested in seeing the Gardens by the Bay, a private garden developed by the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. However, she was disappointed to learn that there was a fee to enter. She decided instead to spend her time at the plentiful and free gardens and parks and spend her money on food for herself and gifts for her family and friends. Those LUC8K leather bags sure come in handy in more ways than one. Sophie with her handbags was appropriately fashionable at Raffles Hotel bar as she sipped the famous Singapore Sling.

Singapore is a multi-cultural country but Sophie felt out of place. She found people staring at her as if she didn’t belong. They parted ways quickly as she strode through the city streets and parks. While she did find respite in the beautiful gardens at night she knew she wasn’t really welcomed there and had to make sure no one saw her.

She knew that it was time to say goodbye to sizzling Singapore and move on to her next adventure.