My Chinatown Singapore Adventure

I had to buy a gift for our new year's exchange of gifts for our team at work and so I went to Chinatown. My Indonesian friend went with me in going there as he knew the place and he will be checking some gifts too.

Our plan was to meet at Outram Park interchange at around 3PM. I arrived 1o minutes earlier and since I was wearing my new top-sider shoes, I felt that my feet won't survive for long walks. I can feel that I will have blisters after long walks. Moren sent an SMS to me that he will be a little late so I decided to locate the exit and asked the security staff as to where is the nearest shopping center. I got out of the station and hurriedly looked for the nearest shopping center. I did not bother what was the name of the mall because my primary concern then was where to buy a pair of foot socks. Well I walked around and felt lost again. At the far side end of the mall I saw a Giordano branch. I did not care even if the socks were priced at 7SG dollars a pair. After buying a pair, I looked for a corner where I could wear the socks and then walked towards the MRT station. This time it felt better.

I went to the Outram Park interchange and waited for another few minutes and Moren arrived. We then went to another station and rode a train going to Chinatown. Initially, we actually planned to go to Little India to visit the tourist center for maps but decided to just go directly to Chinatown.

We first visited the Handicrafts mall to look for some good buys. You see there were many choices but then nothing suits. There were beautiful crafts and interesting ones yet expensive and there were not too expensive but won't qualify as a gift. Anyway we both end up not buying anything in that mall. So we got out of the mall and went to the other one which was on the other side of the street. We went there and check things out and found nothing though the displays in the mall were very interesting - from ancient furnitures to beautiful porcelains and they are expensive. Moren bought some candies and some snacks in the mall in our way out and I didn't. We proceeded to another mall and found nothing. But the good thing was I found a queue of travels and tours centers. I just had an idea where to book my future travels to Bali or Phuket or Tokyo. Anyways, enough of those day dreams and we walked again and went to the Chinatown streets. There lots of goodies to feast your eyes. It's really great walking through the streets seeing interesting people and interesting goods. But none would qualify again as a gift. It's a little difficult because we would know who will receive the gifts minutes before the exchange of gifts would start. Anyway I just enjoyed the sights. We were getting thirsty so we bought fresh coconut juice. It was a real thirst quencher for 1.50 SG dollars.

Anyway, we continued to walk and took some pictures of the place. The gift hunting turned out to be site seeing and having fun walking the streets. Anyway we went to another mall and I bought a pillow since I don't have one yet. Moren bought a pair of gloves since he was allergic to soap. After we paid our bills, we decided to go home.

On our way home, Moren alighted at the Commonwealth station and I will be alighting at the next station. I was kind of daydreaming again about the food to eat for dinner and if there were people at home. I am supposed to alight at Buona Vista but, I just was not able to pay attention and was not able to get out of the train. It was funny and thank God I did not make a huge scene when my body reflex sent me towards the door. So I just alighted at the next station which is Dover then went to the opposite side of the platform and rode the train going to Buona Vista. I just bought dumpling noodle at the neared hawker for my dinner and also bought fresh orange juice. I got home at around 9PM already and had my simple dinner.