Heh - I remember once not being able to get to an exchange and tried the old chemist route: I was a bit unsure and completely scattered (been awake for 2-3 days) and ended up making up some story about having diabetes and losing my pen thing and needed some syringes. No idea if they bought any of the crap I was saying, although I actually think they did, going by the conversation, in the end the sold me a pack of about 10 for about $2, they were really shit for injecting gear with: they were a really tiny gauge and also only .5ml syringe capacity.. left the left-overs in a drawer for months afterwards as a back-up for when I was in need, was always a sorry day when they were needed.
Anyway - no idea if I would have been better off just being more straight forward ^ as described above, all I know was I was scattered and paranoid and lost a game of 'paper scissors rock' to see who had to go into the chemist and try and buy them lol.
Regardless, I am sure you must have been able to buy some, there are chemists everywhere, sooner or later one will surely sell you some syringes, it's not like they're illegal.