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As mentioned already, I only had a day in Singapore and I spent the entire day at The Funan Digital Life Mall. This one mall that focuses on digital electronics. You get 7 floors of digital products. WOW! I can’t imagine spending an entire day in Singapore at anywhere else (being a gadget freak/nut, etc).

Well, what can I say? It was pretty much what I expected and more! Of course, besides electronics, it offers other stores and restaurants as well, but seriously, most of its visitors are there for the electronics. I got to see a lot of interesting computer accessories, gadgets, smartphones, PDAs. Unlike the cramped and often smoky (actually too smoky that you can’t breathe) computer malls in Hong Kong, this was very pleasant. There was a lot more room and the stores are of a decent size. At least, you can walk around the mall without having to brush shoulders with a perfect stranger (something you tend to do in HK computer malls, unfortunately).

Here are some pics of the Funan Digital Life Mall and some of the things I saw
(Next time I will get a digital camera and take much better pictures. As much as I love the Treo 750, it doesn’t take as good pictures)

This is one of the few times that I found a Palm store (okay, it’s not officially Palm owned but they are authorized resellers but has the Palm logo on their storefront).

There’s also another store that sold a lot of Palm accesories.

Surprisingly, at least to me, Palm has more of a presence in Singapore than in Hong Kong. I have not seen a single Palm banner or ad in Hong Kong but saw a lot more in Singapore. That may be due to the recently released Treo 500v. I saw banners and ads of the 500v in many different places. I first caught of it on a taxi while I was enroute to my hotel but it zoomed by so quickly that I didn’t get a chance to snap a pic. The Treo 500v is available at many stores at the Funan Mall. Actually, I was quite surprised that some stores still carry accessories for many discontinued Palms like the m505 or something like that. So, if are looking for hard to find accessories for your old Palm device, you may want to try to look up a Singapore store or ask a friend who is either visiting Singapore or lives there to get it for you.

There was a Nokia both on the main floor of the Funan Digital Life Mall. I got the opportunity to play around with the Nokia n95 and was surprised to find it very easy to navigate around. I can understand how appealing it really is. As a Palm enthusiast who has finally dropped her preconceived notions about the competitors, I am thinking that it isn’t hard for any of the contenders out there to take the top spot. Also, during my visit, there were Sony, Fujitsu, Hannspree and other brands featuring and sharing the ground floor of the mall to tout their products. If I were seriously looking at getting a new laptop, I would have done some serious bargaining.

Besides electronic shops, many computer and electronics stores in Funan Digital Mall offers repairs for computers and electronics. This can be very handy for those of us in North America who have a hard time finding a repair shop to fix our devices.

It’s too bad that I didn’t have more time in Singapore as I would have checked out all the other places like Sim Lim Square and the stores along Orchard Road plus all the other attracions and places in Singapore. But there’s always next time.

So, this is my impression of the trip. Hong Kong and Singapore both offer a vast variety of electronics. Comparatively, based on the places I’ve visited, it seems that prices are cheaper in Hong Kong than in Singapore. But, Singapore seems to offer a better shopping experience with the Funan Digital Mall. Very similar to North American shopping, you are free to walk around the shops and grab and examine the products in your hand. In Hong Kong, most of the products are behind the counter or placed behind a locked cabinet. Of course, not every shop is like that, but it does seem the norm. That is most likely due to the lack of crime in Singapore as opposed to Hong Kong. Some computer accessories stores sell lots of plugs and connectors at amazingly low prices and I had to grab a few since it’s not only hard to find in North America but it would cost a lot more. Regardless, I still felt more at ease when shopping in Singapore, although I would be more likely to do the purchasing in Hong Kong because of the price. But they’re both great for shopping.

It’s no surprise that the iPod and iPhone are very popular in Hong Kong, although still restricted to phone enthusiast areas. HTC is pretty popular in both Hong Kong and Singapore with the Touch Dual banners and ads found everywhere in both Hong Kong and Singapore. The Palm brand is still well supported in Singapore with some shops bearing the Palm logo. On the other hand, in Hong Kong, although Palm devices and smartphones are available, they aren’t as popular. Some stores may bear a Palm logo in the store, it’s not as prominent as what I found in some stores in Singapore. It seems that Palm is sort of blended in with all the other PDAs and similar smartphone devices and restricted to computer and smartphone enthusiast stores and areas. So, unless you visit the Mongkok and Wanchai Computer Centers or other similar malls, you would have a lot of trouble finding Palm branded devices and accessories.

Singapore is very clean and it’s nearly impossible to starve in the city. Everywhere you look, there’s a restaurant or at least a place where you can get a bite to eat. And there’s normally quite a variety of choices. Although many Singaporeans can speak English, most will understand Mandarin, or more specifically, Potonghua, although some will speak and understand the Cantonese dialect. Since I don’t know Potonghua very well, I was at a slight disadvantage since not everyone speaks Cantonese. Hong Kong on the other hand, is much dirtier and much more poluted, also offers a vast variety of food choices. You also can’t starve in Hong Kong but not every eatery will be as clean as those found in Singapore.

I wasn’t surprised to find many Starbucks (my coffee shop of choice) in Hong Kong and Singapore, although it seems there are less Starbucks in Singapore. I visited several Starbucks in Hong Kong. Much like in North America, they look very much the same and offer pretty much the same menu. So, I got my Starbucks fix, even in Hong Kong. Over a decade ago, Starbucks wasn’t even found even in populous places like Tsim Sha Tsui but they’re practically everywhere, even in areas less frequented by Caucasians like Sham Shui Po. I was a bit surprised when I saw one while walking down the streets of Sham Shui Po.

Weatherwise, the weather in Hong Kong will change with the seasons with the temperature a bit cooler during the winter months. During my visit, it did go to a low of 10-12 Celsius, which, if you consider that most homes in Hong Kong are not very well insulated, translates to very cool temperatures. Think of 10-12 degrees 24 hours a day, unlike in North America, where it may be -10 Celsius outside but 20 Celsius inside. Of course, if you’re staying at a hotel, it won’t be different from back home since the inside will be shielded from the outside temperature. Singapore is practically the same all year round: sunny and hot. Regardless, both places offer something very special that obviously, I will want to visit again in the future.

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed my experience. It was certainly a feast for my eyes and well worth my time.

A final few extra thoughts I wanted to put down before ending this multi-part editorial. As much as I love how easy it is to snap a picture with my Treo cameras (650 and 750), they don’t work very well as a true camera replacement with respect to using the pics to document and archive my trip. Many of the pics weren’t as good as I’d hoped or expected. Especially with the Treo 650 camera, depending on the lighting, it could take quite a few seconds (ie. 5 seconds or more) before I can get to snap another photo again. Since I’m traveling with others, it’s not very handy to wait those extra few seconds between picture captures. Either the rest of the party I’m with has to wait for me, or I find that I’m so far behind after snapping those few photos. The 750 was much better in this respect, but some pictures were a bit blurry and didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped as well. Also, with the Treo 650 camera, it doesn’t like fluorescent lighting and pics taken in places with fluorescent lighting tend to get very yellow or orange. It’s very handy to have a camera everywhere I go, but I definitely need a real digital camera for the next trip. As you can tell, I snapped quite a number of pics during my trip. I only wished I snapped more and more of them came out better. Oh well.

This pretty much concludes my lengthy multipart editorial covering my trip to Hong Kong and Singapore. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

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