Orchard Road Christmas Light Up 2016

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and yes that’s right, I’m talking about Christmas and that means another round of the annual Orchard Road Christmas Light Up. With lovely glittering lights hanging above the streets and beautiful Christmas trees and decorations located along the pavements, it’s a sight worth seeing. Here’s more on the scoop.

Exploring the Quiet Buona Vista Area

Buona Vista, a relatively quiet neighbourhood located right in between Holland Village and Clementi has become more lively with new and recently-opened developments. And with the new Buona Vista Circle Line MRT station opened about five years ago, getting here is much easier. Here are some of the stuff that you should check out right here in Buona Vista.

Taking A Walk Around Warehouse Club in Joo Koon

Grocery shopping is a pretty standard affair for most of us. We enter the supermarket, grab the stuff we need and then leave. What if I told you there's a new way to shop for groceries? Warehouse Club is a relatively new warehouse supermarket located in Joo Koon that's exclusively for members only. Here's the scoop.

Going Sky High At Ion Orchard's Ion Sky Observation Deck

When it comes to observation decks, the first thing that comes to mind is the Marina Bay Sands SkyPark. However, you need to pay to get access and if it rains, better luck next time. Now, there’s an alternative. It’s air-conditioned, it’s located in the Orchard Road shopping district and it’s free. It’s called Ion Sky and here’s some information that you might need to know about it.

Taman Jurong and Boon Lay Shopping Centres

Shopping malls in Singapore are getting bigger and bigger. In the city, you have ION Orchard, Plaza Singapura and Suntec City. In the neighbourhoods, you have NEX, Vivocity and Jurong Point. These malls are fine but a lot of residents don't really have access to these big malls. It's mainly because there are no bus services going to these places passing by their houses or that the nearest MRT Station is located quite far away. How do these people go shopping? Through non-aircon shopping malls built by the HDB. Every HDB estate in Singapore has at least one non-aircon shopping mall. If they don't, it's probably a town centre or a neighbourhood centre. In today's article, I'll be talking about my visit to two HDB non-aircon shopping malls in the West which are Taman Jurong Shopping Centre and Boon Lay Shopping Centre.

Orchard Road Christmas Light Up 2012

Each year in November and December, Orchard Road, also known as Singapore's most popular shopping district, will be decorated with beautiful lights and decorations in the spirit of Christmas. Known as the Orchard Road Christmas Light Up, it's the most popular event in Orchard Road and on Christmas Day each year, a section of Orchard Road will be closed for the public to walk around freely on the roads and enjoy a variety of Christmas related shows and performances to celebrate Christmas. Sure, Christmas is long over and the decorations are no longer here as of this writing. This post is for you to check out what you might have missed during the Christmas Light Up event in 2012. I have written an article about the 2011 version of this event which you can check it out here.

Farewell Carrefour Part 2: Suntec City Mall Outlet

Sorry for not updating for quite a while. My laptop was not really working that well but now, my laptop is working better now so I can start updating more often. Back to the topic, Carrefour announced its closure in late 2012 and the stores that used to be located at Suntec City Mall and Plaza Singapura have already closed down. After hearing the announcement, I decided to check out both Carrefour outlets and I will now share with you how Carrefour Suntec City Mall looked like before its official closure. I have written an article on the Plaza Singapura outlet previously which you can check it out here and for today's article, it will be about the outlet at Suntec City Mall also known as the first Carrefour outlet to be opened. Unlike Carrefour Plaza Singapura which opened in 2003, the Suntec City Mall outlet opened in 1997. Let us take a walkthrough of the store when it was still in operation.

Farewell Carrefour Part 1: Plaza Singapura Outlet

Remember Carrefour? Carrefour was the French hypermarket which first made its debut at Suntec City Mall in the year 1997 and they opened a second outlet at Plaza Singapura in 2003. Carrefour Singapore made an announcement in August 2012 that the two stores were going to close down due to high costs of rent and loss of profits. After the popularity of competitor hypermarkets, upmarket supermarkets and smaller scale neighbourhood supermarkets, it's no wonder Carrefour was struggling. In this article, I will be giving you a tour of what Carrefour looked like before its official closure. Today's article will be about the outlet found at Plaza Singapura. The article on the Carrefour outlet at Suntec City Mall will be coming in a few days time.

Far East Square and the Fuk Tak Chi Museum

In the Central Business District of Singapore is a shopping district that is located in the Far East. Wait a minute, isn't the CBD located in the central area of Singapore? Anyway, Far East Square is a great shopping district located in the CBD. It's called Far East not because it's located in the Far East, the parent company that owns this place is by Far East Organisation. Wherever it's located, Far East Square is an awesome place to eat, drink, shop and find out more about history with its stunning shophouse architecture and the wonderful Fuk Tak Chi Museum.

Big Box Mania at Tampines Retail Park

When I hear the phrase 'big box retailers', I will immediately think of popular retailers in the US like Target, Walmart and Best Buy. Unfortunately, they did not make their presence in Singapore so we can't enjoy affordable furniture, clothes, electronics and groceries. Not all is lost though. Singapore does have its own set of big box retailers in the east called Tampines Retail Park which consists of a Giant Hypermarket, Ikea Furniture Store and Courts Megastore. Let me give you a brief tour of all the three big box retailers here at Tampines Retail Park.

Exploring Holland Village

Holland Village is a great place in Singapore that's popular among expatriates and the place has several shophouses that looks like it was stuck in the olden days. The thing about Holland Village in Singapore is that it's neither related to the country nor is it a village. Holland Village is named after Hugh Holland who was an architect and an early resident. However, there was also some speculation that Holland Village was named after a nearby road called Holland Road. Whatever it is, all I know is that Holland Village is a place with many traditional shops along with some modern shops and food establishments located almost everywhere within the area.

Geylang/Paya Lebar Ramadan Bazaar 2012

I hope you enjoyed my article about the Muscat Street Ramadan Bazaar previously. For today's article, I will be giving you a virtual tour of the biggest Ramadan Bazaar in Singapore which is the Geylang/Paya Lebar Ramadan Bazaar and it's located in the heart of Geylang Serai and Paya Lebar. You can find stalls from Paya Lebar MRT Station all the way to the Geylang Serai Food Centre. There were also stalls found along Haig Road Food Centre and along Tanjong Katong Complex. Lots of people were there and the bazaar sold a wide variety of things ranging from food to clothes and so much more.

The Orange Lantern @ HarbourFront Centre

Singapore is an eating paradise. Everywhere you go, you will sure to find food establishments selling food from all sorts of cuisines especially Asian cuisines like Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and so much more. Right at the heart of HarbourFront, is a shopping mall called HarbourFront Centre which also doubles up as the Singapore Cruise Centre. In today's food review, I'll be talking about my visit to The Orange Lantern at HarbourFront Centre which is a Halal restaurant that serves a variety of delicious Vietnamese dishes. Let's take a closer look at some of their interesting offerings.

Awesome Town Centres Part 2: Toa Payoh Town Centre

If you read my previous article, I talked about my trip to Ang Mo Kio Town Centre. Ang Mo Kio Town Centre is located in the heart of the northern estate, Ang Mo Kio and has several facilities available at the town centre. These include Courts furniture store, Broadway Plaza, Ang Mo Kio Public Library, Ang Mo Kio Hawker Centre and so much more. I hope you enjoyed that article and I do hope that you have visited the town centre after reading about it on my blog. 

Next, I am going to give you a brief tour of another town centre that I also enjoy going which is Toa Payoh Town Centre. Toa Payoh Town Centre is located in Toa Payoh which is the first HDB satellite town in Singapore. Toa Payoh has a mixture of old HDB flats and new HDB flats within a short distance. Toa Payoh also currently has HDB flats which are considered Singapore's tallest and it has a town centre, a shopping mall and an integrated public transport hub similar to the one found in Ang Mo Kio. If you don't know what a Town Centre is, do check out my previous town centre article right over here. Without further ado, let me show you around the town centre.

Awesome Town Centres Part 1: Ang Mo Kio Town Centre

If you don't know, majority of Singaporeans live in HDB flats which are also known as public apartments. HDB flats (Housing Development Board) are the government's solution to affordable housing and it's also the solution to old villages AKA Kampungs. In today's article, I'll be talking to you about my visit to a town centre in a HDB estate. A town centre is a central place where shops and restaurants are located at the void deck of low rise HDB flats. Most old HDB estates have town centres and when I mean old HDB estates, I meant flats that don't have lift access to every floor (Yes there are such things). Many activities are held here, many affordable goods can be found here and many food establishments can also be found here at the town centre. In this Awesome Town Cendres series, I'll be taking you on a tour of Ang Mo Kio Town Centre in the heart of Ang Mo Kio housing estate. The other town centres will be featured in a later date.

Memories of The Malay Village

Singapore is now more mordernised and wherever you go, you'll find tall and modern buildings. Singapore used to be a village also known as Kampong (village in Malay language). The Malay Village at Geylang Serai located near the Paya Lebar area is a combination of museum, gallery, traditional shops and food court in the theme of, well, Malay villages. Unfortunately, this place has closed down in September 2011 to make way for a newer and more modern Malay community centre and heritage gallery known as Wisma Geylang Serai. Think of it as the bigger and better version of the Malay Village.

The New Changi City Point

You may be wondering why I am writing about a shopping mall. All of us, (including me), are tired of shopping malls since most of the shops are commonly found in Singapore. When I first visited Changi City Point, I thought the same thing. Well, I was wrong. Changi City Point is a relatively new shopping mall that opened in late October 2011/early November 2011. Unlike regular malls, this mall has a wide selection of 'outlet stores'.