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 While the low-tax financial hub is often called a playground for
the rich, Singapore's wealthy tend to live a more conservative,
low-key life than Hong Kong's showy socialites or Macau's
high-rollers.
In step with the film's release in the United States on
Wednesday and ahead of its release in the city-state next week,
here are five ways to spend your cash in Singapore.
1. ORCHID-SHAPED SUPERCARS
Cars in Singapore are some of the most expensive in the world,
owing to huge government taxes aimed at limiting their number in
the tiny island-state.
That doesn't stop the super-rich - Ferrari, Maserati and
Lamborghini are commonly sighted. When a Singaporean character
in Kevin Kwan's book, Goh Peik Lin, moves to America to study
she immediately buys a Porsche saying they are "such a bargain".
For the super-rich patriot, Singapore-based firm Vanda Electrics
has designed an electric supercar - Dendrobium. Its roof and
doors open in sync to resemble the orchid that is native to
Singapore and after which the vehicle is named.
A show car, built by the technology arm of the Williams Formula
One team, was unveiled last year. It was originally estimated to
cost around 3 million euros ($3.44 million) before tax, although
Vanda Electrics advised the final price will likely be lower.
2. YACHTS WITH SUBMARINES
Yachts are an affordable alternative to such supercars.
"Impulse buys of luxury items such as yachts are becoming more
common" said Phill Gregory, the Singapore head of yacht dealers
Simpson Marine, who sell everything from sports boats to
superyachts costing tens of millions of dollars.
Gregory said Singapore-based clients have some of the most
sophisticated tastes and an eye for style: sometimes he flies
them to Europe to deck out their yacht with luxury furniture
from the artisans of Milan or world-famous Carrara marble
straight from the quarries in Tuscany.
Others have more unusual requests. These include a bespoke
'beach club style' lounge area set underneath a shimmering
swimming pool, helipads or even a space to park a small
submarine or sea-plane.
3. 999 ROSES
The iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel - which resembles a giant
surfboard perched on three tall columns - features prominently
in the film's trailer.
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The hotel features the invitation-only Chairman's suite - the
largest in Singapore - which has its own gym, hair salon, and
karaoke room, and according to some media reports costs over $15,000
a night. There is no publicly available price.
The likes of former British soccer star David Beckham and Bollywood
actor Shah Rukh Khan have stayed at the hotel.
George Roe, director of hotel operations at Marina Bay Sands, said
he has had some unusual requests from his guests including
organizing the delivery of 999 roses to a residential address in
Singapore as a surprise.
4. RARE BEEF
"You do realize Singapore is the most food obsessed country on the
planet?," Nick Young, the very well-heeled protagonist of 'Crazy
Rich Asians' tells his girlfriend Rachel Chu ahead of their trip to
the city-state.
Even hawker stalls hold Michelin stars in Singapore but there's no
shortage of places for the super-rich to get their fix.
The restaurant CUT by Wolfgang Puck is the only one in Singapore to
offer Hokkaido snow beef - which is even scarcer than Kobe beef -
through an exclusive arrangement with a private reserve in Japan.
Only two cattle are harvested from the reserve every month, with CUT
receiving about 20-30 steaks a month - a chunk of which goes to
regulars who visit the restaurant every time it comes on the menu,
said general manager Paul Joseph. The current price is S$330 ($240)
for a modest 170 gram serving.
5. GOLD TEA
Forget wearing gold - in Singapore you can drink it.
Boutique Singaporean tea company TWG Tea claims to sell one of the
world's most expensive teas - a white tea plated with 24-karat gold
which retails at S$19,000 ($14,000) a kilo.
The Grand Golden Yin Zhen is described as a "glimpse of the divine
in a teacup", and the gold is said to have anti-oxidant properties
that revitalise and rejuvenate the skin.
(Reporting by John Geddie and Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Martin
Howell)
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