You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February, 2007.
having been a virtual (if frequent) visitor to my own country for the past 3 years, so many changes have taken place and at such a shocking rate that it’s quite warping to think about it:
the integrated resort / tourist hub of the future?
everything’s being built at an alarming rate– the singapore flyer is about one-fifth complete, and new condos and service apartments are being built everywhere. even in the CBD– the building where Asia Insurance used to be is now taken over by the Ascot residences to build service apartments (for tourists and expats, i assume). momsie tells me of buying frenzies and long queues for condos driving property prices up. :O
air-conditioned nation
vivocity is up and fully-functioning. i thought the prospect of vivocity was terribly soul-destroying. it’s kind of sad isn’t it, when a big deal is made for having the BIGGEST… shopping mall in singapore? and yet one must wonder at the creature. it looked hideous when i drove past it (the many times i had to go to NUS over the summer- alas!) but now that it’s built… it has a curious… allure to it. it’s really quite well done. i was worried it might turn out like new times square of KL which was huge, but awful and sparse inside, but i suppose singapore would do a better job of packaging consumerism (:P) it’s linked with sentosa’s monorail, so there’s a steady stream of tourists coming in, there’s a swanky (and creative) food republic, and a gym, and a marche (MOVENPICK FTW), and many many shops and brands i’ve never seen before. granted– just walking there with the aim of shopping can be quite depressive (to me, i’ve got a low stamina for this), but there’s so much more that can be done there, and it has the potential to have creative events staged (there’s this lovely outdoor space that would be lovely for–dare i say it, Shakespeare :)) that i find myself curiously attracted to it.
gosh. capitamall– you’ve done a good job $elling $ingapore.
people are techified!
my mom. owns. a N73. with. a 3.2 megapixel camera. it’s a smartphone. and she is perfectly proficient at its usage. O___O my dad has also upgraded to a pda phone. and he owns a tablet pc.
-dies-
service is getting better!
if you ever need spectacles, and would like to patronise a paris miki outlet– go to the harbourfront mall’s outlet and look out for Nasir. he’s the loveliest service personnel i’ve ever gotten. extremely patient, stayed waaaaay beyond closing time for us (most shops turn customers away if they’re near closing time already), took the pains to answer all of my mom’s (koffoldpersonkoff) questions, and well– he’s just lovely. and awesome. and he is what GEMS should be about. i need to write a nice letter to paris miki hq about him.
… or maybe not.
staff in department stores still look persistently catatonic. even in good old (semi-)posh taka, the salesgirl at a particular brand at the handbag department after accompanying us to the cashier stood there blankly after the cashier had processed our transaction. the cashier had to bossily remind her to do her job, following which she blankly slipped the handbag into the carrier, without even wrapping it in paper, and sealing the carrier with tape. O_O (although it transpired later she was new and it was her second day, so we’ll forgive her– but seriously. isn’t it common sense to do so?)
and the usual–
buildings pop up, get torn down, roads are opened, the national library is officially now a tunnel– and you don’t really know whether the direction the country is moving in is good, bad, or perhaps (and most tragically) neither– it is merely what is necessary.
