O2SUN AND XINHUA BOOKSTORES

We also popped in to take a look at these two bookstores along Zhongshan Road, namely O2sun and Xin Hua bookstores. O2sun is the largest private-owned chain bookstore in Fujian and one of the leading bookstores in China.

While Xin Hua bookstore has collection of classics and has been instrumental in promoting governmental policies, cultural, scientific and technological information.

Hubby bought a handful of books suchs as Chinese-English Conversational, and some very short introduction books about Consciousness by Susan Blackmore, Cosmology by Peter Coles and Jung by Anthony Stevens. Price ranges from Php 100.00 to Php 250.00 only (around US$ 2.50 to $6.00). Cheap huh!


But here's the downside, most of their books (almost 99%) are in Chinese language.

VIVO CITY: PAGEONE BOOKSTORE

Then we visited PageOne bookstore located at level 2, occupying a floor space of almost 28,000 square feet. It has a large offering of English & Chinese books, totaling more than a thousand titles. In addition, the store also stocks a range of periodicals, music & movie titles, as well as Asian artefacts and handicrafts.

Hubby bought a book titled "The Monk and the Philosopher: A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life", by Jean-Francois Revel and Matthieu Ricard (Foreword by: Jack Miles).

PageOne Bookstore entrance

I left him for a while, and I did a bit of shopping and window-shopping. I bought a Bre Wooden Hoop with Charms Necklace gold (S$9.50) at Viva. The original price was S$19.00 but I got a 50% discount because of the ongoing Great Singapore Sale. :)

Viva is a shop exclusively selling fashion accessories such as necklaces, earrings, bracelets, bangles, belts and hair accessories.

ORCHARD ROAD

It was Sunday morning and after we had our buffet breakfast, we headed to Orchard Road. The place is shaded with some tress with a multitude of malls stretching the entire road. From there we walked around the main shopping district of Singapore, until we saw a Visitor Information Centre, wherein you can drop by here and ask for a wide variety of publications and the latest copy of the Official Guide & Map which are available free-of-charge.

Orchard Road has practically everything under the sun from apparel to fashion and lifestyle labels to electronic items. For serious and well to do shoppers, you will surely be spoiled for choice with the full range of brands available.

Then we dropped by at Ngee Ann City / Takashimaya Shopping Centre. This mall boasts cavernous basements and outdoor arena. It has two towers, Tower A and B which are both 26 storeys high. There are expensive branded goods on the ground floors, more affordable shopping in the two basement floors. Upmarket and International names like Shanghai Tang, Zara and Guess have also set up home here, and an entire floor level 4, IFourum, is devoted to creativity and children. A branch of National Library is also located on the 5th floor. The Civic Plaza is where roadshows, concerts, functions, performances are held. There is also a fountain at the front of the Civic Plaza facing Orchard Road.



We popped in for a few minutes at Books Kinokuniya on level 3. Hubby bought some books there. Kinokuniya is currently the largest bookstore in Singapore, providing an extensive collection of quality titles from all over the world, including English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German publications. (Opening hours: Sun to Fri - 10am to 9:30pm & Saturday - 10am to 10pm)



Then we went off to The Hereen Shop, where imported apparel, accessories and specialized offerings can be found. There's HMV, which features one of the largest music selections in Singapore. This shop entices teens and twenty something alike.



Later on we went to some malls like Tangs Plaza, Wisma Atria and Lucky Plaza (a hunt for assorted goods from the Philippines and electronic products).