not to mention about 6 McDonalds?
And no, orchard road’s not for being propositioned by pimps, but rather for being accosted by charity ticket-sellers.

is a shopping and hotel area. And Singapore is the test market for any respectable foreign business that wants to make money and open other boutiques in the rest of the region. So if you don’t find Esprit, Zara, Borders etc there, you wouldn’t find it anywhere else in S.E Asia and how are all those nice Americans and Europeans going to continue to support their mortgages back home otherwise?

And the world is an open place. Singapore-managed hotels are big in other parts of the world e.g. Australia, UK, Malaysia, China and I certainly hope that people there are not going to call them Asian crap. If Hilton & Co are doing well in the country, then the many tourists from all parts of the world (and the majority come from the rest of Asia actually) must prefer them. Why don’t you ask most Americans why they always eat in MacDonald’s no matter where they go?

And why don’t you mention the small and medium local boutiques that exist among the many foreign brand names, the local restaurants and food courts that largely outnumber MacDonald’s and Tony Romas? These foreign names provide alternative and choice to the local population and may comfort visitors from wherever they originated when they visit the island. How many Singaporeans would eat there more than once a month? It’s not because you do not have foreign restaurants and hotels that you are more Asian. It simply means that it’s not economically viable to have them there.

I love Orchard Road, just like I love shopping streets in Paris, New York, Sydney, Madrid, Barcelona, Carpi, Ubud, Bangkok…I can spend hours, weeks, months and years shopping so I can say that they all have similar and different things to offer and the shopping experience is not the same in each city. Orchard Road has some amazing little art galleries, wonderful restaurants e.g. Club Chinois, Lingzhi, Crystal Jade etc etc, what is Tony Romas? I’m going there in 2 weeks and I can’t wait to shop and eat in Orchard – and you are talking to someone who has been living in Europe for the past 12 years.

And Singapore is a city state. In many other cities you get accosted by beggars, prostitutes and what not. Here some foreigners get accosted by pimps (sorry but you must have the look of someone who would buy and wear a fake watch coz my French hubby never has this happen to him before), c’est la vie.

But at the end of the day, you do not like Orchard, you do not like Singapore, that’s your priviledge. We can’t please everybody and of course if pimps can bother you, you can bash Singapore.