That other holiday

With all this talk of Deepavali and Ramadan, I almost forgot we had our first real taste of Christmas last week. The area in Singapore where our friends Tracey and Sean live is one of the bigger shopping districts in Singapore (which is saying something, because the entire city basically seems to be one big shopping district), and it was fully decked out for Christmas. It was strange enough to see it decorated so early--even by U.S. standards, where the Christmas season gets closer to Halloween every year--but it was particularly difficult to comprehend Christmas trees and fake icicles and snowflakes when it was a humid 35 degrees or so (low 90s Fahrenheit). It just felt wrong somehow.


As for the shopping, it was insane. I don't know if I've ever seen malls so crowded, which was especially crazy since the city is one big mall! I guess when it's always so hot and humid you look for any excuse to stay inside. I was on a quest to find more work shirts but didn't have much success before the crowds just became unbearable (not only that, but other than books, the prices weren't that great). This was the scene at one of the malls we visited: