Day 116: Mustafa Been Having A Laugh

Today, the time came again for me to brave another sojourn to the Mustafa Centre. My mission was to buy a new suitcase for my move to Holland Village next weekend...

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After my first excursion to the 24/7 department store known as the Mustafa Centre, in October, I wrote about just how dazzlingly enormous it is. A few of you then asked for photos to illustrate its size. I went back today to buy a new suitcase in preparation for moving into my new Holland Village condo next weekend. Last time, I had got lost among a healthy supply of Samsonite luggage at Mustafa for a good price, so I knew they were somewhere in there.

Unfortunately, it's just so big that fitting it into one photo is nigh on impossible! I did take one from a painstakingly oblique angle looking down Syed Alwi Road. I have highlighted the various sections of the store. In between is a road that runs perpendicular to Syed Alwi Road and cuts the building in half...but that doesn't stop them! Mustafa just starts again on the other side of the road and carries on!

You have to go with a plan. You have to know what you want. So that you can get in and out as quickly as possible before the throngs of crazed Singaporeans trample you in their insatiable lust for materialism. It can be, as you know from my account of my first trip, an overwhelming place on your first few visits, before you've mapped your way around enough sections to be able to find the most tolerable route to the thing you want! This time, I remembered that entrance 6 is the easiest one to get in from: that is the one nearest to the foreground in the photo. Entrance 6 leads into the relatively peaceful pharmaceuticals section, dozens of aisles of First Aid supplies, cosmetics, over-the-counter medicines, shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, shaving razors! I remembered that the luggage section is the one above the 25 aisles of chocolates and sweets, so that was where I tried to get to first. It wasn't hard to find. You just follow the screams of excited children and hear them turn into banshees as their parents try to drag them away from the reassuring certainty of dental work.

From the tooth decay aisles, it is a few minutes walk round to the escalator. When on the right floor, I looked around a few moments, swinging this way and that around aisles of miscellaneous travel items about halfway down the section. And then I spotted the luggage along the back wall - only if I squinted and concentrated really hard! - and checked my watch. It was 11:41 as I began my walk to the luggage area, which comprises at least 17 aisles of suitcases, hand luggage, backpacks and bags! When I got there, it had taken me nine minutes to traverse half the length of this one section. If you're following along, then I was now in the middle ground of the photo, where the road cuts the store in half.

It seems that the most popular luggage brands among the Mustafa clientele are Swiss Polo and American Tourister, for their products make up the bulk of the range. But I was not here to settle for those! There is a good range of Samsonite specimens to browse through, small ones, large ones, medium ones, large-medium ones, small-medium ones, handheld ones! All of them in three or four colours, too. I took about ten minutes to examine the largest ones for prices and hiding places, but was happy with my choice ultimately, for which I paid $262 (~£125).

It was only on the way back down again that I got lost. I had to take a few trips around the underwear before I realised I was going in circles. So getting out of the place took some 15 minutes, and I didn't really know which door I ended up coming out of, but it all worked out well because it happened to be near the bus stop.

There aren't many places back in the UK where you can find such a large Samsonite trolley suitcase for £125. If you're prepared to brave the Mustafa Centre, it won't disappoint. Every consumable that exists is right there, and little of it is too expensive.

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By:

The Imperial Orange.

23rd January 2016

Day 110: Bin and Gone

To prepare for my impending move from Geylang to Holland Village, I intended to buy a new suitcase. At the Mustafa Centre, Singapore's 24/7 department store, they do an affordable line of Samsonite [other brands are also available], so that was of course where I singularly failed to go today. Instead, I was lazy and put off the trip.

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In the 200,000-year history of the Homo sapiens, few members of this ingenious and adaptable species can claim to have achieved what I did today.

While out doing my usual Sunday afternoon grocery shop in Paya Lebar, I stopped off at a cafe and bought a takeaway drink. I ambled around some shops and got through it. Eventually, I set about searching for a dustbin to dispose of my empty cup, and I saw one on a traffic island across the road. It was of the sort with grey and black streaks because it has the vertical metal bars and a bucket inside (like the rather attractive one here:http://img.edilportale.com/…/prodotti-158119-relde4b126d6a7…

). As I was at a pedestrian crossing already, I thought it would do nicely! So I waited dutifully for the green man, which is a national pastime here in Singapore.

As I began to cross the road, I readied myself in preparation for slam-dunking the cup into the bin in one smooth manoeuvre as I passed it on the island. I took aim, but then, just as I was about to release the cup, something extraordinary happened! When I was halfway across the road, the bin sprouted legs and started dashing off in the opposite direction, causing me to stop dead, right there in the middle of the road, and gaze in astonishment at the sight before my eyes.

The mystery was soon solved when I looked up and saw the bouncy hairdo on top of the "bin", realising then that it was no bin at all, but a woman in grey-and-black stripey trousers. She had just been standing on the traffic island, waiting for the green man with her legs together, and I almost came along and threw a drinks cup at her! (I wonder if that's a capital offence...) Fortunately, there actually was a bin on the island - the woman had obscured it by standing in front of it - a green one unmistakable for a person, so I managed to throw my cup away without attracting any glares. But it took two movements rather than one, so I failed in my mission.

How many Homo sapiens in history can say they have mistaken a pair of trousers for a dustbin? What's more, how many Homo sapiens can say that they have been mistaken for a dustbin?

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By:

The Imperial Orange,

17th January 2016

Day 100: Laced with Sin

Today marks 100 days since I moved to Singapore. To celebrate, I was tempted by darkness...

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See that there building in that there link, the one that looks like the over-sized shipping containers stacked atop each other? (http://buro-os.com/the-interlace/) Yes, that one. It is called The Interlace, and it is a condominium in South Singapore, designed by some German bloke called Ole Scheeren (no relation to Ed) and completed in 2014. It contains 1,040 apartments. In November 2015, The Interlace was awarded first place in the 'World Building of the Year Award' at the World Architecture Festival (https://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/congratulations-2015-waf-winners). I must say, I didn't think it looked all that extraordinary. It was nice enough, but the best building in the world? Who's to say?

Today, I got my own personal tour of this acclaimed building when I went to view one of its 12th-floor apartments. And it is not until you have been inside it, or even on top of one its many roof gardens, that you get a feel for why this complex won the award. There is no conceivable way, given the orientations of the "containers" with respect to each other, that you could get the same view from two different roof gardens, and that's part of the excellence of it. The landlady, Trace, took me up to the 13th-floor roof garden, and the views of Singapore from there are staggering. We could see the ocean and even Sentosa, Singapore's famous beach island off the south coast. I am told that the views of the Chinese New Year fireworks in February will be particularly impressive from the roof garden.

In addition to the multiple roof gardens, the condo boasts its own residents' gym, games room, three karaoke rooms, a 50-metre swimming pool (if you're into that sort of thing), three tennis courts, a running track, a spa (with sauna and jacuzzi), a study room with desks, charging points and Wi-Fi, a cinema, a barbecue pit, a residents' cafe and a residents' grocery shop. With a mere 1,040 apartments, you might imagine it would get pretty crowded. But the unique design ensures that every container operates as its own self-contained block, with no awkward after-you polkas in the lifts.  So, living at The Interlace is probably about as close as the mere mortal could get to sinful opulence.

For the price of $1500 pcm (£705) - which, believe it or not, is not too far off the average rent for a condo in Singapore - I could have myself a room in Trace's apartment. She lives there with her partner and a French student. The three seem to be quite close, often eating together, watching TV and even going cycling in Sentosa of a weekend. I think I could fit in quite well. The room is the smallest in the apartment, but still large enough for my needs. And, in many years, I could tell anyone that cared to listen that once upon a time I lived in the World Building of the Year. The only catch as far as I can tell is that Trace and her partner are Liverpool supporters, but the Hammers' recent 2-0 victory over Liverpool means that they're unlikely to shout it out too loudly.

I have a few more viewings lined up over the coming days, and perhaps I will find one that suits my needs more. For instance, the location of The Interlace is not ideal. It is a fair way from the nearest MRT (railway) station, but they've even thought of that by laying on a complimentary shuttle service in the mornings and evenings! Nevertheless, my early conversations with the landlords and tenants of other properties have been promising, so I am hopeful that I will find a good place to take out a long-term contract for the entire year or even for the remainder of my time here in Singapore, whether that be at The Interlace or elsewhere.

Back in September, I had huge trouble even eliciting a response to my enquiries about properties, because of the thinly-disguised racism of some landlords in this country. This time, I have prepared a story in the event that someone should accuse me of being Indian: my dad is called Dave, and he is a builder from Thurrock, where he does "Dave the builder from Thurrock"-type things like drinking horrible-tasting beer and voting Labour. That's if anyone asks, which they haven't yet, except by way of making conversation.

Today marked a meaningless but symbolic milestone: 100 days of living in Singapore. By the end of his first 100 days as US President, Franklin D Roosevelt had ended the Great Depression. It takes our entire Earth only that long to travel over 160 million miles around the Sun. While the Earth lilted underneath it, Apollo 11 could go to the Moon and back 12 times in 100 days. My own "First 100 Days" draw to a close, but I cannot boast of any such grandiose achievements as I sit squarely in my dank HDB in Geylang, lamenting the four-month delay in the opening of my research labs, and hoping that I haven't done anything else to warrant another telling off from my housemates! But perhaps the tide - which goes in and out 200 times in 100 days - is about to turn in my favour...

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By,

The Imperial Orange,

7th January 2016