What is free or cheap in Singapore?

At the airport

Waterfall at Jewel mall, part of Changi airport.

Changi airport:
1 Free toilets.
2 Free water fountains.
3 Free view of waterfall at Jewel mall. Free sponsored sound and light show at intervals in the evening.(If the restaurants are too expensive for you, or you are in a hurry, look for the supermarkets in the basement.)
4 Free Butterfly Garden on two floors.
5 Several sculptures and some sculptures for Selfies.
6 Free bus tour if you are around in the city more than 5 hours.

Jewel waterfall at night.

Butterfly Garden. Changi Airport.

Community Clubs
You can recognize them by the imposing building, often on a corner, sometimes with a large clock tower.
In front will be a sign with the Malay word for club, Kelab.

Community Club at Tampines West, near the airport.

Inside will be an open sided sports area, often with team sports or martial arts lessons. Next to that in the centre, usually on the ground floor is a large sports hall or gym alos used for events. Usually a fast food restaurant such as McDonalds or KFC or a Chinese restaurant or hawker centre (food court).

Free toilets.
Open air space to sit. (No air con in public areas.)
Some Community Centres have a small pond containing large fish near the lift which will entrtain children and adults.

Often free newspapers and magazines to read, many Chinese and one or two in English, plus many public service leaflets.

Botanic Gardens
Free to walk in at both ends. One end is near the Botanic Gardens MRT undeground railway station.
Trees have plaques. Take a picnic or look for McDonalds. Food at all prices but long walks in between so plan your route and take water. The kiosks are cheaper than restaurants but some of the restaurants are expensive.

Free masks given out at many hospitals and health clinics to stop the spread of disease.

Gardens By The Bay
Outside the two giant paid for attractions is a garden of trees along the river. Numerous plaques about history, myths, and medicine and food and furniture using the trees.

MRT Underground Train Stations
Free wifi.
Free toilets at the station entrance - no need to buy a train ticket.

Many stations have sculptures or murals. Near Bencoolen is an art college.




Holland Village MRT station, Singapore. Mural showing windmill. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Daeso bargain store. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Cheap Shopping
1 Daeso Department store. Japanese. But many Chinese items. Convenient branches are by Expo MRT exit, or in the Ion Mall at Orchard MRT or in City Squre Mall by Farrer Park MRT.

2 Mustafas department store, covers two blocks, two floors and open 24 hours. Has everything from food and clothes to watches, luggage, curtains.

3 Bargain Basements in many shopping malls.
Bargain shops in out of the centre MRT station approach roads. For example, Toa Payoh. Also at the entrance to Expo MRT in the basement you find a Daeso and a Value store.

4 Supermarkets, Pharmacies & Convenience Stores
Fairprice supermarket.
Guardian Pharmacy. Cheap umbrellas.
Watsons Pharmacy. Cheap umbrellas.
7-11
Many branches in the malls by underground MRT train stations.

Cheap Eating
Food courts called Hawker centres are in the basement or on the top floor of many shopping malls and office blocks. Also look for hawker centres in markets, HDB (government housing estates), around MRT railway stations and in hospitals.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Why You Should See Changi Airport in the Singapore Garden City

Changi Airport repeatedly wins awards and this year with the giant waterfall opened in 2019 it is better than ever.
Even if all you do is collect your suitcase you see flowers and greenery everywhere. Giant palm trees stand over the banks of luggage trolleys. Grennery is apparently on the walls. (In most buildings the inodor and outdoor greenery is on a frame a foot away from the wall for easy of access, watering and maintenance.)
Tubs of plants are along the moving walkways or travelators. Greenery is along the edges of the carousel carrying your suitcase.


Changi Airport Interior. Trolleys and palm trees. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Giant palm trees and a wall of greenery. High ceilings. Space. Abaundance of trolleys.

What to see:

The Waterfall In the Centre of Jewel Shopping Mall
Walk along indoors to Jewell Shopping mall. A giant waterfall about five storeys high. Actually it does down two basements. Feel the spray at the top amidst the greenery. Or dine beside it at the basement where it is encased in glass.



At night on the hour you can see a light and sound show on the waterfall. Free.

The waterfall in the centre of Jewel Shopping Mall, Changi airport, Singapore, at night.

Video by Angela Lansbury.

The Butterfly Garden
On two levels. A delight for children and adults. Huge butterlifes land beside you ready to be photographed on sliced tree trunk stumps, which I presume have some food to attract the butterlies, or are just a convenient flat resting place amid all the surrounding plants.

Butterfly Garden. Singapore's Changi Airport. Free.

On site hotel
Again an indoor walk through the airport to the hotel on one side of the elegant terminal. (Unlike the hotel at Warsaw where you have to drag your cases through a giant concrete floor car park.)

Sculptures.
Strategically placed statues are sccattered around with plaques explaining their significance.

Railway - The MRT
Walk through indoors and downstairs to the underground railway, called the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport). Only one stop away at Expo you find the station has two exits. One takes you to the Exhbititon centre. (Check out what's on.) the other exit is to a shopping mall. Right next to the exit are two bargain stores.

Daeso Bargains
The large supermarket style Daeso is a Japanese company where everything costs two dollars. nearby is another bargain basement store, value. I bought a cheap four wheel suitcases. they also sell hats and chocolate, toothpaste and lots more.

Singapore flags on sale near the checkout at Daeso, Japanese Department store ner Changi Airport, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.

Daeso. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Free Tour By Bus
If you have about five hours to spare in the daytime, and want a quick view of Singapore, you have time to queue up for the free two-hour bus tour and get back in time for your hour or two in advance check-in.

If you have several hours, take the train anyway. Several stations have attractive sculptures or murals reminding you where you are.

Free evening's entertainment:
Toastmasters Find-a-club.

Useful Websites
Singapore
visitsingapore.com

Singapore Airlines
Singapore.air.com

Airport

Wikipedia
Wikivoyage
Wikitravel
Tripadvisor

See other posts by Angela Lansbury on Singapore, learning Chinese (Mandarin) and more.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

How To Plan For A Singaporean National Day Celebration or any celebration

Buy national flags. You can order online. Allow time for delivery.

Or go to a supermarket or discount store.

Daeso, Japanese store. Singapore flags, set of two, and pennants. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Daeso in Singapore, although a Japanese company, has seasonl items and local items such as flags and pennants (a string of triangular flags). Find them by the checkout on the opposite wall.

Buy caps or clothes with the flag.

Check rules about flags. Singapore has a page about the rules on flags. They used to have very detailed rules about what you could not do because it was deemed disrespectful to wear a flag.

Rule that you could not fly flags on vehicles. Now this has been revised and you are simply told to be careful the flags are securely attached.

(Or print flags and attach to a straw or stick. Work out the cost of printing ink and paper if you plan to claim back the cost on expenses. Check whether anybody printing for you will be claiming expenses and agree the amount to be claimed with the treasurer of committee.)

Have a supply of pins and blutac, in your pocket to attach strings of triangular pennants.

Transport
Check the times of the last train - but it may be crowded so also check alternative routes. Have the numbers of taxis and Grab in your mobile phone in case you miss the last train. Be prepared for all taxis to be charging more or for a long wait when they are all busy. Plan to be at a pickup point outdoors where they can stop without being fined and where they can find you easily. Some companies take a picture of you to send to the cab which makes it easier for the driver to find you.

Author
Angela Lansbury

Flags and Food For Singapore's National Day and other national days

Singapore flag

I was looking for items for a Singapore theme for the meeting of my toastmasters club, two days before Singapore's National Day which is August 9th.  Daeso the Japanese bargain shop, where everything is two Singapore dollars, was selling pairs of Singapore flags; also a banner with several triangular flags on a white cloth string, again for two dollars.

Daeso. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I went to the Daeso branch in City Square Mall beside Farrer Park MRT station, one stop from Little India on the North East line. Daeso in that mall is quite hard to find, even when you know where it is.Walk past the main escalators on the ground floor to the back and then turn left and take the back escalator up to the fourth floor.

Biscuits and Cakes
I found pictures of biscuits with the red and white flag on them. Quicker and cheaper to make, or buy and decorate than a full size cake.

Cakes are hard to carry intact. You need to keep them upright in a tin, or wrap in clingfilm. Or decorate on site. Biscuits, if very hard, would be easier to transport, so long as they are hard and don't crumble. If you buy from a shop such as a patisserie, you might get a cake in a box with a handle.

Failing all else, I shall simply put the flags on the food table.

Other Flag Items
Ebay sells iron on or sew on patches for clothes, also tattoos, and bumper stickers..

Toothpick Flags
You can also buy toothpick flags, a dozen countries but not singapore. You could print a teeny flat and paste it over another flag. I thought you got mixed flags. When I went to buy, I discovered that on several of the sites you do not get a mixture of flags but you can choose 50 or 100 or the same country's flag, for example the USA.

Customised Cakes
A couple of years ago I customised a cake in Singapore for a major birthday. The cake maker, Mr Ho, who was catering at the American school and for events everywhere, made a cake with four pictures on the top showing my husband's interests which were, one was a mountain for trekking, one was a playing card for playing bridge, another a motorbike, because he had a motorbike, and another was a portrait of the birthday boy.

Later in the UK I looked at ordering printed edible toppings for a birthday cake. The first time I ordered a large photo of the birhtday boy, my husband, and instructed him to do that again for my birthday, with a picture of myself.

The third time we tried to do it the price had increased. However, it was cheaper to order a dozen pictures to go on cupcakes. I made the mistake of adding text included in the price or very little extra, happy birthday to be printed over the picture. Unfortunately, on a tiny picture this obscured my face, over one eye.

One picture of the birthday boy or girl can be used in the centre of a larger cake. The others can be kept for another event if it is within the use by date of the edible topping.

To print a flag or the picture of a person (such as the UK queen or the US president or your club or company president or your mother or Member of Parliament or guest of honour) you need an edible printer. Or take a photo to a bakery and ask them to print a topping. You then lay it on your iced cake and if you like, add whipped cream rosettes around the cake base and up the sides and around the photo A lot of work.

Singapore flag cake from the Cake Shop Pte Ltd, cheapest is:
listed as $62.90. I messaged them on their website chat and got immediate reply.
They will delivery free for a cake dosting over 70 dollars.
They replied:
We can customize a photo image print cake. The smallest size is 8 inch around 1kg. The cost is $62.90

You can order for the photo image print cupcakes instead. We do have 12 pcs ($46.90) and 16 pcs ($55.90).
We also give 10% discount for SAFRA Member."

From their website:

Hotline: +65 3157 0303
Whatsapp: +65 9662 0303

Email

Please kindly email us at admin@thecakeshop.com.sg for any enquiry after operations hours.

They are at JCube, Grandstand, and Seletar Mall.

Useful Websites
carousell.com
ebay.com
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Toothpick-Flag-100pcs-Qatar-Saudi-Arabia-Singapore-Thailand-Turkey-UAE-Vietnam
Video on  you tube about how to make a photo cake - fasinating even if you don't have the budget or time to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ldH9EBm2XI
UK cake with optional topping photo
https://www.sponge.co.uk/cakes/whole-cakes/chocolate-orange-cake
UK topping to order free delivery UK, can deliver worldwide:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Birthday-Cake-Edible-Image-Printed-Topper-Decoration-PERSONALISED-Mobile-Phone

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Where To Practise Your Japanese, Eat Japanese And Buy Japanese Goodies

WORLDWIDE
Visit Japanese restaurants worldwide.  Chinese restaurants worldwide use the same symbols.

UK
London
In London using the same symbols one Japanese restaurant is at Japan house which also has a giftshop, library, workshop events, and free exhibitions in the galery.
Japanhouselondon.uk

https://www.japancentre.com/en/stores
They have a student discount.

SINGAPORE
Takashimaya department store
Kinokunya bookshop.
Daeso bargain goods.

Singapore's Japanese Stores:
Isetan, above Orchard MRT underground railway station, at the heart of Singapore, on the crossroads of Orchard Road, for Japanese notebooks, diaries - in stationery and children's section; and clothes.

If it's raining, or too hot for you outdoors, walk along the air-conditioned basement walkway along Orchard Road from Isetan to Takashimaya.

Takashimaya department store, occopying basement and ground floor and more of Ngee Ann City skscraper, on Orchard Road.
Upstairs is Konokunia bookshop with Japanese books.

Daiso bargain shopping in Singapore, has several branches. It is a giant supermarket. (Not to be confused with Daeso, a large indoor market in South Korea.)
According to Wikipedia, Daiso has outlets in 25 countries including Australia and Vietnam. Daiso has 2,800 stores in Japan, and 700 stores overseas in Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia (Jakarta), Kuwait, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates (UAE, Dubai), United States of America, and Vietnam.^{[5][6] Several in the US are in California. Others in Washington state.}

Useful Websites
daisojapan.com

SINGAPORE
singaporeair.com
visitsingapore.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, speaker and language teacher.

Where to Buy Bargains Around the World

I was looking for a bargain store in Greece because a member of my family has a trip there. I found that according to Wikipedia Greece has branches of Lidl and Carrefour.

I am also planning trips to Hong Kong and Singapore.

Here's my country by country guide:

Australia
Daiso; Kmart; The Reject Shop; Spotlight (discount card gives 10% off on your birthday).

Belgium

Canada
Buck or Two; Costco; Daiso; Dollar Tree; Dollarama; Great Canadian Dollar Store; Hart Stores; Honest Ed's (Toronto); Uniprix; Walmart; Your Dollar Store With More (The Bargain Shop is now My Mark or Red Apple).

China
Daiso (internet sites see http://www.shops-in-china.com: Tmart)

Denmark Flying Tiger
France Monoprix
Germany Karstadt

Hong Kong
Daiso; Living Plaxa by Aeon; Wabash to Seikatsu.
Website gives pages of factory outlets. http://www.hongkongextras.com/_outlet_shops.html
City gate mall has many factory outlet shops.
Street markets such as Stanley Market.

India
Ireland Dealz; Eurogiant
Israel
Italy UPIM
Japan 100 yen shop; Daiso
Macau Daiso
Malaysia Daiso
Mexico Casa Ley; Waldo's Dollar Mart
Netherlands Action; Euroland; HEMA; Zeeman
New Zealand
Philippines Daiso

Singapore 
Daiso (Japanese chain all over Asia); Duty free shops (you must show a passport and/or return ticket ? -  you might have to make a minimum spend and then collect goods from airport on leaving and allow time to go to the office and collect the money owned to you.
Japan Home. Mustafa Centre. (See my post on Where to buy bargains in Singapore, 30 Jan 2016).
NTUC  Fair price supermarket. Popular book store. V a l u Stores (no spaces but spell check keeps trying to turn the word into value). Several 'wet markets' for food.
Online shop through Qoolo - equivalent of UK's eBay.

South Africa Makro; Shoprite; Woolworths
Switzerland Coop City; El Corte Inglés; Manor; Migros
Taiwan Daiso
Thailand Daiso

UK
99p store; Aldi; Argos; Bargain Buys; Cancer Research; Coop; Lidl; Home Bargains; IKEA (Wembley and many more); Littlewoods; Macro (mostly large quantity cash and carry food but also large items such as fridges - you need to show a business card or headed notepaper to get a card); Oxfam; Poundland; PoundGiant; Poundstretcher; Poundworld; Quality Save; St Luke's; Value Stores; Wilko; (£1 sandwiches in: Boots; Tesco). Cheap clothes in Primark. eBay. Amazon.co.uk
Fashion wholesaler UK (sections everything £1, £2, £5);
Food and eating
Wetherspoons pub;Toby Carvery.
The Taste card gives half price meals at selected restaurants.

USA
99 cents only; Big Lots; Deals; Dollar Tree; Dollar General; Family Dollar; Five Below; Fred's; K Dollar; Ocean State Job Lot; Ollie's Bargain Outlet; Target; Walmart. 7-11.

Also check for: Bargain Basements; Charity Shops (UK); Consignment stores (USA); Department Stores; Designer Outlets; Discount Stores; Duty Free Shops; Factory Outlets; Factory tours/Shops; Markets; Supermarkets; Thrift Stores (USA).
FOOD and eating
Look for All you can Eat stores and discount ad in local free newspapers.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, researcher.
If you know of any others or want to promote your bargain business or website please send me the details.

100-yen shop (Japan) Daiso (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand) Living Plaza by Aeon (Hong Kong) Watashi to Seikatsu(Hong Kong) Europe 99p Stores (UK) Action (Netherlands) B & M (UK) Bargain Buys (UK) Coop City (Switzerland) El Corte Inglés (Spain) Dealz (Ireland) EuroGiant (Ireland) Euroland (Netherlands) Flying Tiger Copenhagen (Denmark) HEMA (Netherlands) Home Bargains (UK) Karstadt (Germany) Manor (Switzerland) Migros(Switzerland) Monoprix (France) PoundGiant (UK) Poundland (UK) Poundstretcher (UK) Poundworld (UK) Quality Save (UK) UPIM (Italy) Zeeman(Netherlands) North America 99 Cents Only Stores (US) Big Lots (US) A Buck or Two (Canada) Casa Ley (Mexico) Daiso (Canada, US) Deals (US) Dollar General (US) Dollar Tree (US) Dollar Tree Canada (Canada) Dollarama (Canada) Family Dollar (US) Five Below (US) Fred's (US) Great Canadian Dollar Store (Canada) Hart Stores(Canada) K Dollar (US) Ollie's Bargain Outlet (US) Ocean State Job Lot (US) Rossy (Canada) Waldo's Dollar Mart (Mexico) Your Dollar Store with More(Canada) Oceania ABC Stores (Guam) Daiso (Australia) Crazy Clark's (Australia, defunct) The Reject Shop (Australia)

Valentine's Day Heart Shaped Treats

Armchair travelling the Web

Heart shape pendant

Heart shape toast, using a heard shape cutout (or fold the bread and use a piece of paper as a template).

Heart shape crumpet sold in supermarket.

Heart shape crumpet white plate.

Sainsbury's website had some great ideas for heart-shape foods. My favourites are:
1 Fried egg cooked in a heart-shape hole cut in toast.
2 Lightly boiled egg squeezed into heart shape by pressing base into v-shape card, and making an  indentation on top with a chopstick, washed pencil or similar
3 Heart shape bread for biscuit with red topping. (Savoury eg beetroot or sweet eg jam (called jelly in the USA), jelly (called Jello which is a brand name in the USA) and/ or red squashed or pureed fruit.

Travelling the UK
If you are travelling around before Valentine's day, look for some special dinners in restaurants, themed pubs, and heart shape crockery displays in department stores.

After Valentine's day look for discounts on the heart-shape crockery. In Brent Cross shopping centre try Fenwicks department store crockery department.

Travelling In Singapore
If you are planning a trip which takes place before or during Valentine's Day, you can spend time during your rest at the airport or on the plane noting down in your diary some Happy Valentine's Day stories.

Toastmasters International Clubs
If you go to a speakers' club in Singapore not just on Valentine's Day but during the month of February, meetings will have the themes Love and Valentines. You may be asked:
What will you do on Valentine's Day?
What do you do if you don't have a Valentine?
What was your best Valentine's Day.
What was your best present?(Given received, seen in shops.)
What was your worst present? (Given, received, seen in shops.)

If you are looking for something on a budget, try Daeso, Valu, or even the pharmacies such as Guardian and Watson.

Popular bookstore has items such as heart-shape notebooks or Post-its. Now everybody seems to be in on the festival of love, not just courting couples but married couples, children and teachers, children and parents, brothers and sisters. You can buy not only cards showing hugging bears but pairs of hugging stuffed toys.

Daiso Stores
Here's a heart shape espresso cup and saucer I bought in Daeso in Singapore for only two (Singapore) dollars, the same price charged for every item in Daeso.

Daiso is a Japanese brand store, everything the same price. I found branches in Ion in the centre of Singapore and in the mall a couple of blocks away from the last stop going north at the end of the Downtown line, Bukit Panjang. You can see two malls, Junction 10 and Bukit Panjang Plaza.

In Daeso I saw a set of cookie cutters in the four playing card shapes, clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts. I think they also sold a set of three heart shape cutters in varying sizes, nesting inside each other.

UK - Lakeland stores
In the UK the place to find this sort of thing is Lakeland cookery utensil stores. They have a branch in Watford and a website. They stock a huge variety of cookie cutters as well as seasonal items.

https://www.homemadebyyou.co.uk/articles/tips/4-hopelessly-romantic-breakfasts-for-valentines-day

Angela Lansbury travel writer and photographer.

Where to buy bargains in Singapore

Food
Watch out for prices of food which are not what you expect. For example, spinach in January, courgettes were marked at a couple for dollars per 100g but when you get to the checkout your half dozen courgettes are costing you S $10! (£5). (S$ is Singaporean dollars, currently about two to £1, not necessarily the same as US dollars.)

Even allowing for the fact that Marketplace is an upmarket supermarket chain brand, if you opt for familiar vegetables they can be dearer than the local ones.

You can buy in the local 'wet markets' (open air stalls which are open air and used to have wet floors from rain and spillage - now kept much cleaner). However, you may need to adapt to local vegetables. In ethnic areas such as little India you will also find unwrapped vegetables at cheaper prices. The seller has lower overheads. Possibly the wobbly shapes of the vegetables are just as tasty but not looking nor fitting into the evenly shaped packaging trays.

It helps to know the local names for the vegetables if buying specific items for a recipe. However, if you just want to buy what it is available, you can simple point, and look up recipes for whatever you bought after you get home - or put small items such as bean sprouts into a large basin shape wok for a stir -fry, or chop the sold vegetables to go into a slow-cooker or casserole. (You can buy slow cookers locally at all sizes in the department stores as well as on offer in drug stores and all sorts of shops.

Looking for cheaper shops? Locals will buy in the suburbs, not in Orchard Road. For example, take the MRT to Toa Payoh.

Here are some of the cheaper stores:

NTUC FairPrice

A supermarket with small sections on stationery and home wares.

Valu stores
Tiny shops like corner shops with shelving like warehouses with floor to ceiling shelving. Crammed space between shelves, scarcely
room for one person. You have step over boxes and to back out to
let somebody through. Looking for Nutella or cleaning materials like Jif/Cif/local brands bleach or a pack of ten pens or three toothbrushes in a pack, this is the place.

Japan Home
Cheap plastic everything with pictures of princesses and Teddy bears. Loads of stuff such as toys for toddlers and for Mum there's frying pans with colourful bases. Er  - not $2 for a frying pan, it might be $20 or $30, still cheap for what it is but sorry, no good if you've only $S10-20 or $50 maximum cash, aren't carrying a credit card for fear of pickpockets.

Popular Bookstore
Huge shop like the UK's W H Smith. I found three varieties of watercolour pencils. I wanted a box files. I was shown plastic box files, half the size of the cardboard ones posting about £4 each in the UK but twice width and twice the price of the slim A$ files for S$2 in Daeso.

A Diary
At last I found a diary in Singapore's Popular stationery and book shop in Toa Payoh (end of January). Fairprice supermarket in Toa Payoh no longer stocked the diaries. In the UK you can buy diaries all year, at assorted reduced prices depending on when the diary dates are running out. For example in the huge department store size Tesco which is on one of two floors and open 24 hours (one in Watford - others in most major cities - but you might need a car to get there), diaries from January to January and also 18 month diaries and school year diaries starting September.

Daiso - spaciously laid out. Staff very helpful. Wide central aisle - looks like a cross between the UK's Marks and Spencer and British Home Stores and Homebase.

Basement market stalls:
The basement area of major malls will be filled with stalls selling tote bags, pillows and sheets and curtains sets. Some are stalls from the building's major retailers. You buy from the stall seller, then are escorted by her/him to the cashier who acts for the whole area and can take credit cards.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Living Abroad or Holidaying - shopping cheap and quick

Would you believe it - you can shop from John Lewis in the UK anywhere in the world, for about £10 delivery charge on those items which say available for international shipping. I had looked for John Lewis and the system saw my computer was logging on from overseas and up popped sg.johnlewis, but when I hunted for the store no such place existed in Singapore, it was all online.

I was looking for heatproof table mats. You arrive in your second home or rented apartment and suddenly decide you must have some item you have six of at home like coasters and table mats. The trick to searching online is to know what terms to use.

Here's what I discovered:

DAESO
Japanese company, selling items for only two dollars (Singapore dollars) found all over the world:
China, Japan, HK, Macau. Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand.
I went to the branch in the centre of Singapore on basement 4 B4 at Ion, Singapore's equivalent of Piccadilly Circus. For two Singapore dollars I could buy
Bookends (I think it was for one bookend, so $4 for the pair, but still a great price;

At the sales desk I found the cashiers accepted only cash or NETS which is the local debit card.  They had the items I'd been looking for: pads to go under furniture so it doesn't scratch the floors, zips to make my jacket pockets more secure, hangers, floor mops.

UK
In the UK Poundland (Harrow and elsewhere) now take credit cards. (So does Primark, selling cheap clothing store, which usually has gloves and socks for £1, t-shirts and vests for about £5 upwards, often a rummage box of flip flops for £1 or £2, and a sale rail or bargains.

Singapore
DAESO
fishpond.com.sg (free shipping worldwide)
Mustafa Centre (huge 24 hour store) online I couldn't even check the MRT (nearest train station or bus), but I could read about the company.
Qoolo
Spotlight

UK
99p stores
BHS
Poundland
Pound stretcher
Poundworld
Primark
Online:
Amazon free shipping if you join Prime; Ebay (prices and shipping vary; lots of clothes and products from China offering free shipping); Etsy (USA and worldwide; prices and shipping varies).

USA & Canada
Dollar Tree
Dollar Stretcher
Etsy

Australia
Daiso

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.