Shopping at Mustafa's

During all of the time that we had been in Singapore, people had told us stories of shopping at Mustafa's.  Some people said they would only go with a male escort.  Others said to bring a loaf of bread, so you would be able to drop crumbs to find your way out.  We decided that we had to go there at least once, and see if it lived up to the hype.

Looking at it on a map, it is quite a huge place.  It is also quite near the Farrer Park MRT station.  It should be easy to find.  Unfortunately, we were going on the weekend, which would make it exponentially more crowded.  Nothing could be done about that.  We headed off, exiting the Farrer Park station according to the signs.  Like Chinatown, the streets were all decorated there, but they had a  more Indian feel to them.  Also, the fruit stalls were loaded with green coconuts.

This is where it got a little weird.  All of a sudden, we were going through buildings, and going down alleyways to get there.  I felt as if we were spies, and we had to find our way to the entrance, in order to win admission.  That might have been just because Rich was leading the way, and he was taking me through backroads!

Once you got to the entrance, you had to have a bag check for larger bags, and there were security guards stationed at every entrance/exit.  We walked through narrow aisles that were stacked high with goods.  There were signs telling you which way to go to get to certain departments.  I really wanted the costume jewelry, because I wanted to find the bracelets that I had found for my friends and family in May.  Unfortunately, there were no wooden beaded bracelets, but there were rows and rows of other types of jewelry.   I had never seen so many bangle sets, but they had number sizes, which I also had never encountered, so I was afraid to buy them.  I stayed in the jewelry area, while Rich went through the store.

He said that he found some great prices, but some were just average.  I did notice that they had a huge selection of hair colorings, and their prices were much closer to the prices in the States than I had seen anywhere else.  Also, they had a very large CD and DVD selection.  I would say that it was definitely worth the trip.  When I have some to kill on a rainy weekday, I would go back.  I think I would avoid the weekend, though.

The street decorations...

...near Mustafa's.

Rich, at the gate to the mall and Farrer Park MRT station.

This reminded me of gates at the Royal Parks in London.