Remember when I asked what you could do in 11 plus hours? Well, last Saturday I ran to another city. OK, I did not literally run of course but you know what I mean. I left home very early on Saturday morning and caught a JetStar flight to Singapore. The ticket was bought back in May for RM99 return (cheaper than MAS, Firefly and even AirAsia) and the best thing is the airline flies to/from KLIA. I was dithering whether or not to check out the Singapore sale after last year’s experience and had been browsing airlines since April. Well, I don’t mind parting with RM99 for a day-trip to Singers (you know how I feel about Singers, I prefer to spend as little time there as possible).
The plane took off close to 9 am, about 15 minutes after its scheduled time and we landed into a dull, grey and wet Singapore about 45 minutes later. It was after 10 when I finally cleared immigration at Terminal 1. I had to take the train to Terminal 2 to get to the MRT and after fiddling with the stupid MRT ticket machines (why on earth won’t they accept S$10 bills?), I was finally on my way to Orchard station. I checked out some stores at ION Orchard (it wasn’t yet fully opened on my last visit) then went to check out Borders – they already had the August issue of British GQ which meant no such luck on the July issue ;’( - detoured to DFS Galleria on Scotts before returning to Orchard Road. I didn’t spend long in Tangs and continued on to Paragon. Yes, the day was spent traipsing up and down Orchard Road (besides the little detour to Scotts Road) – no trip to Arab Street this time at all. I went all the way to 313 Somerset where I had lunch before walking back up to Ngee Ann City.
So how did I find the sale? Disappointing really but maybe it’s because it was the penultimate weekend of the sale. Most stores no longer had any sale items and most of the few sale items that were left cost more than in KL. I did manage to buy something not available in KL, a cardigan at Isetan and two pairs of GEOX footwear which I’m pretty sure either retail at higher prices or no longer available in my size in KL. And that was that. I even went to check out the prices in Chanel (the small and big shopping bags, the wallet and long wallet etc) and was shocked to find they cost more in Singers - even after deducting the GST refund from the price. I even told the salesgirl so and she was equally surprised.
I hurried back to the airport and was not happy when I found that my flight back had been re-timed to depart at 2150 instead of the originally scheduled 1940. I don’t know about you but I absolutely dislike spending too long at the airport (except if there’s a sale and I could shop like I did before flying to Manila). The queue at the GST refund was horrendous and it was then when I realised that there were a lot of Indonesian and Indian visitors (I also saw some Middle Eastern visitors at ION Orchard but that was the extent of their presence). After that, I decided to kill time and took the train to Terminal 2 to have dinner at the food court there. And boy, was it crowded. I remember when I was small and visited Singers with my parents and sister and we stayed at our relatives’ place. My relative (and she was like 10 then) took us to Changi Airport for a trip all on her own – imagine a trip to the airport just for fun! Blimey, but even Ian Wright thought the airport is a small country on its own.
Anyway, our 2150 departure turned out to be a 2220 departure. I had no idea what was wrong and what caused the flight re-timing (you would have thought they owed us at least an explanation) and was not amused when we were still on the ground at 2200. I fell asleep through take-off and only woke up just before we landed. It was 11 pm when we emerged from the plane and I zoomed through the airport all the way to the aero-train, through autogate, bought my KLIA Express ticket and ran down to the train. And to delay me further, the ERL Express and ERL transit trains were combined because of track works – which meant we had to stop for all the three intermediate stations, resulting in me only reaching KL Sentral at 2355. And would you believe it, midnight rate for budget taxis start at 2345 instead of at midnight so I had to pay 50% extra. I finally reached home at 0007 on Sunday... what should be a 10-hour trip from KL turned out to be a 12-hour trip instead.
If I want to get a Chanel, I must do it before the GST is introduced here.
* I bought my GEOX at the outlet in Paragon though I did spend a very long time at the GEOX area at Tangs because the sales assistant there was oh-so-gorgeousss. I reckon he was solely responsible for the GEOX sale hike at Tangs for that Saturday afternoon. I would have bought mine there too but the ones I was eyeing were not available at Tangs and those that were did not catch my eye. Only he did, heh (catch my eye, I mean). I just about stopped myself from telling him that he should be on the catwalk instead of helping girls try to fulfil their dreams of being there themselves. I also tried to sneak a peek at his nametag but what little I saw looked to be like a girl’s name (?). Oh well, maybe he borrowed a colleague’s nametag to prevent crazy shoppers-cum-oglers like me from discovering his real name.
~~~~~~~~
I didn’t tell anyone that I was going to Singers – hey, it was only a day trip and besides, it was just Singers. I didn’t count on Abah trying to call me (I missed the call and because I de-activated my voicemail, he couldn’t leave any message) and then getting all worried and paranoid. He must have asked Akak because shortly after Abah’s missed call, I got her text telling me to return his call. I told her I’d call later that evening but she told me to do it ASAP. The thing is the message from Abah was to remind me of the appointment on Sunday which we had already discussed and agreed to earlier in the week, in short, nothing new that I didn’t already know. Finally I told her I was in Singers and I would call the mother ship later like I said. He must have not got the message because he called again (and I missed it again) late in the afternoon. Eventually, I called home from Changi. So much for keeping the trip to myself; in the end, everyone knew I was in Singers.
Look, I didn’t think (and maybe that’s my problem; sometimes, I just don’t think of the consequences) that it was that important a trip that I should inform all and sundry about it. Besides, I think and believe that I have the right to privacy and need not report my whereabouts all the time. And why did Abah have to immediately think that something untoward had happened to me like I fell down and broke my leg or something? Are all parents paranoid or just mine? Does everyone else have to call their parents the minute they touch down and when they have reached home safely? Because I have to do that every time on top of the itinerary of my whereabouts (complete with address and contact details, route plans and airline info) that I have to prepare beforehand.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not that ungrateful a daughter. I’m touched that they’re worried sick about me (although I wish they wouldn’t worry themselves sick sometimes) and they’re concerned about me. And I know that one day I will miss them missing me. I also know I need to behave like an adult to be treated like one but I don’t think the half-day trip warranted much attention and surely keeping the info all to myself is not being childish? It wasn’t a classified secret or anything but I just wanted to have a private moment all to myself where for once I don’t have to report where I’m going, what I’m going to do, whom I’m going with, where I’m staying and how long I will be away for. (I didn’t tell them when I went down to watch Liverpool; luckily no one called me then).
Like I said, I know one day I will miss them missing me like that and worrying silly over me. I know, I’m just confused and confusing, selfish, inconsiderate and thoughtless like that. You’re probably sympathising with my parents already for having to put up with me all this time. Maybe to their perspective, what is so secretive about this trip and why couldn’t I just inform them? (To my perspective, it’s not a secret and not a big deal, hence why I kept mum about it).
~~~~~~~~
More irritating noise came from Nou Camp from the male version of Sarah Jessica Parker (Cesc being deprived of coming home?? Such rubbish!) to Iniesta and Messi (don’t mess with us, Messi) and even Reina couldn’t help involving himself. And finally Sandro Rossell (aka Sandro Bollocks. By the way, I like Sandra Bullock the actress) admitted Cesc may stay at Arsenal after all. Having been in that same situation, Henry was unsurprisingly not envious of Cesc’s situation; the differences are that Cesc is from Barcelona suburbs after all and Henry would love to return to Arsenal one day. Wenger being much more classier than anyone from Nou Camp (well, he manages classy Arsenal after all) is more eloquent about the whole issue when queried but stressed the speculation has to stop as it is just unpleasant to read about it on a daily basis (imagine me having to agonise about it).
For the rest of the Gunners, it was back to business (in their new kit if I may add) with a traditional pre-season visit to Barnet on Saturday which the visitors won 4-0. New signings Koscielny and Chamakh played in either half. Here are some pictures of new boy Chamakh.
For more pictures of the old boys and new kids on the block in their new kit and banner of the day, go here and here. And watch the new New York Red Bulls striker, Titi, take shots against Jimmy Fallon here (the latter actually played in the movie Fever Pitch which is loosely based on the novel by Nick Hornby, a Gooner. What a coincidence, eh).
The plane took off close to 9 am, about 15 minutes after its scheduled time and we landed into a dull, grey and wet Singapore about 45 minutes later. It was after 10 when I finally cleared immigration at Terminal 1. I had to take the train to Terminal 2 to get to the MRT and after fiddling with the stupid MRT ticket machines (why on earth won’t they accept S$10 bills?), I was finally on my way to Orchard station. I checked out some stores at ION Orchard (it wasn’t yet fully opened on my last visit) then went to check out Borders – they already had the August issue of British GQ which meant no such luck on the July issue ;’( - detoured to DFS Galleria on Scotts before returning to Orchard Road. I didn’t spend long in Tangs and continued on to Paragon. Yes, the day was spent traipsing up and down Orchard Road (besides the little detour to Scotts Road) – no trip to Arab Street this time at all. I went all the way to 313 Somerset where I had lunch before walking back up to Ngee Ann City.
So how did I find the sale? Disappointing really but maybe it’s because it was the penultimate weekend of the sale. Most stores no longer had any sale items and most of the few sale items that were left cost more than in KL. I did manage to buy something not available in KL, a cardigan at Isetan and two pairs of GEOX footwear which I’m pretty sure either retail at higher prices or no longer available in my size in KL. And that was that. I even went to check out the prices in Chanel (the small and big shopping bags, the wallet and long wallet etc) and was shocked to find they cost more in Singers - even after deducting the GST refund from the price. I even told the salesgirl so and she was equally surprised.
I hurried back to the airport and was not happy when I found that my flight back had been re-timed to depart at 2150 instead of the originally scheduled 1940. I don’t know about you but I absolutely dislike spending too long at the airport (except if there’s a sale and I could shop like I did before flying to Manila). The queue at the GST refund was horrendous and it was then when I realised that there were a lot of Indonesian and Indian visitors (I also saw some Middle Eastern visitors at ION Orchard but that was the extent of their presence). After that, I decided to kill time and took the train to Terminal 2 to have dinner at the food court there. And boy, was it crowded. I remember when I was small and visited Singers with my parents and sister and we stayed at our relatives’ place. My relative (and she was like 10 then) took us to Changi Airport for a trip all on her own – imagine a trip to the airport just for fun! Blimey, but even Ian Wright thought the airport is a small country on its own.
Anyway, our 2150 departure turned out to be a 2220 departure. I had no idea what was wrong and what caused the flight re-timing (you would have thought they owed us at least an explanation) and was not amused when we were still on the ground at 2200. I fell asleep through take-off and only woke up just before we landed. It was 11 pm when we emerged from the plane and I zoomed through the airport all the way to the aero-train, through autogate, bought my KLIA Express ticket and ran down to the train. And to delay me further, the ERL Express and ERL transit trains were combined because of track works – which meant we had to stop for all the three intermediate stations, resulting in me only reaching KL Sentral at 2355. And would you believe it, midnight rate for budget taxis start at 2345 instead of at midnight so I had to pay 50% extra. I finally reached home at 0007 on Sunday... what should be a 10-hour trip from KL turned out to be a 12-hour trip instead.
If I want to get a Chanel, I must do it before the GST is introduced here.
* I bought my GEOX at the outlet in Paragon though I did spend a very long time at the GEOX area at Tangs because the sales assistant there was oh-so-gorgeousss. I reckon he was solely responsible for the GEOX sale hike at Tangs for that Saturday afternoon. I would have bought mine there too but the ones I was eyeing were not available at Tangs and those that were did not catch my eye. Only he did, heh (catch my eye, I mean). I just about stopped myself from telling him that he should be on the catwalk instead of helping girls try to fulfil their dreams of being there themselves. I also tried to sneak a peek at his nametag but what little I saw looked to be like a girl’s name (?). Oh well, maybe he borrowed a colleague’s nametag to prevent crazy shoppers-cum-oglers like me from discovering his real name.
~~~~~~~~
I didn’t tell anyone that I was going to Singers – hey, it was only a day trip and besides, it was just Singers. I didn’t count on Abah trying to call me (I missed the call and because I de-activated my voicemail, he couldn’t leave any message) and then getting all worried and paranoid. He must have asked Akak because shortly after Abah’s missed call, I got her text telling me to return his call. I told her I’d call later that evening but she told me to do it ASAP. The thing is the message from Abah was to remind me of the appointment on Sunday which we had already discussed and agreed to earlier in the week, in short, nothing new that I didn’t already know. Finally I told her I was in Singers and I would call the mother ship later like I said. He must have not got the message because he called again (and I missed it again) late in the afternoon. Eventually, I called home from Changi. So much for keeping the trip to myself; in the end, everyone knew I was in Singers.
Look, I didn’t think (and maybe that’s my problem; sometimes, I just don’t think of the consequences) that it was that important a trip that I should inform all and sundry about it. Besides, I think and believe that I have the right to privacy and need not report my whereabouts all the time. And why did Abah have to immediately think that something untoward had happened to me like I fell down and broke my leg or something? Are all parents paranoid or just mine? Does everyone else have to call their parents the minute they touch down and when they have reached home safely? Because I have to do that every time on top of the itinerary of my whereabouts (complete with address and contact details, route plans and airline info) that I have to prepare beforehand.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not that ungrateful a daughter. I’m touched that they’re worried sick about me (although I wish they wouldn’t worry themselves sick sometimes) and they’re concerned about me. And I know that one day I will miss them missing me. I also know I need to behave like an adult to be treated like one but I don’t think the half-day trip warranted much attention and surely keeping the info all to myself is not being childish? It wasn’t a classified secret or anything but I just wanted to have a private moment all to myself where for once I don’t have to report where I’m going, what I’m going to do, whom I’m going with, where I’m staying and how long I will be away for. (I didn’t tell them when I went down to watch Liverpool; luckily no one called me then).
Like I said, I know one day I will miss them missing me like that and worrying silly over me. I know, I’m just confused and confusing, selfish, inconsiderate and thoughtless like that. You’re probably sympathising with my parents already for having to put up with me all this time. Maybe to their perspective, what is so secretive about this trip and why couldn’t I just inform them? (To my perspective, it’s not a secret and not a big deal, hence why I kept mum about it).
~~~~~~~~
More irritating noise came from Nou Camp from the male version of Sarah Jessica Parker (Cesc being deprived of coming home?? Such rubbish!) to Iniesta and Messi (don’t mess with us, Messi) and even Reina couldn’t help involving himself. And finally Sandro Rossell (aka Sandro Bollocks. By the way, I like Sandra Bullock the actress) admitted Cesc may stay at Arsenal after all. Having been in that same situation, Henry was unsurprisingly not envious of Cesc’s situation; the differences are that Cesc is from Barcelona suburbs after all and Henry would love to return to Arsenal one day. Wenger being much more classier than anyone from Nou Camp (well, he manages classy Arsenal after all) is more eloquent about the whole issue when queried but stressed the speculation has to stop as it is just unpleasant to read about it on a daily basis (imagine me having to agonise about it).
For the rest of the Gunners, it was back to business (in their new kit if I may add) with a traditional pre-season visit to Barnet on Saturday which the visitors won 4-0. New signings Koscielny and Chamakh played in either half. Here are some pictures of new boy Chamakh.
For more pictures of the old boys and new kids on the block in their new kit and banner of the day, go here and here. And watch the new New York Red Bulls striker, Titi, take shots against Jimmy Fallon here (the latter actually played in the movie Fever Pitch which is loosely based on the novel by Nick Hornby, a Gooner. What a coincidence, eh).
|