China's Internet is sprouting travel sites and numerous bookstores, Hong Kong's two major grocery chains offer Internet shopping, Singapore and Thailand sport online department stores.

CNN: THE E-TAIL REVOLUTION

When it was time for everyone to leave Myanmar, Oo's mother told authorities she and her children were going on a shopping trip to Singapore.

CNN: SHARE THIS

Maybe because, 20 years ago, Singapore was all about shopping and Western brands.

BBC: Nonya kueh: Wolfing down Singapore's wobbliest cake

Partly all this was in the interests of the tourist industry: not every visitor to Singapore wanted to spend all his time in a shopping mall.

ECONOMIST: Asian nation-building

To maintain the pace of ambitious expansion plans, the emirate has more than ever to rely on entrepreneurial flair, slick promotion and a reputation as the best place for shopping, schooling, boozing, medical care and making money between Singapore and Europe.

ECONOMIST: The biggest and best in a patch of beach and desert

Across town, Singapore Democratic Party members sell the latest issue of their official publication, The New Democrat, outside shopping centers on Orchard Road.

CNN: Battling Long Odds