ION Orchard. Positive or Negative?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Has my blog become a heap of shambles? I see cobwebs hanging precariously at the corners of the widgets! I don't mean to abandon you, it's just that I'm trying to catch my breath! It's the exam period and salvation for the students comes early this year. Every year in fact, things seem to be moving faster than ever. In fact, one girl just told me her EOY is a mth from now! I find it utterly ridiculous as the common test has just passed! Give the child a break! It angers me to no end to see that children are not in fact, learning from school. Swimming in the sea of unknowns and memorising the plethora of facts in order to pass the examination can be really tiring for them.

Most, however, do not realise the significance and the detrimental effects of failing ANY of their exams. I get exceptionally edgy and worried towards the end of the year when students sit for major exams. It's a report card for me. I envision that all of them will be posted to the most pretigious schools and garner respect from those around them. However, as fate would dictate, only those who sincerely push themselves will sow the rewards.

On with MY life.....yes i do have one in case you are wondering.....

My eyelids are heavy and my body certainly is pleading for rest. But I can't afford to pause. I need to endure it all if not for the sake of them, it's for my future. Need to have a sustained level of income. Soon I'd be hitting the books big time and facing the exams. I need to do what I preach and score! The additional certification and possibly diploma would do my career good. The books around me serve as a motivation. A reminder of why I am working so hard.

The first rays of the sun penetrated the curtains, waking me from my slumber. Looking at my clock it's 930am and sweetie and I were still enjoying the comforts of our SERTA mattress. It's a lazy Sunday. Hobbling out of bed, we were ready by 10 and zipped off to Far East Plaza for breakie. It's weird to be hanging around that place at such hours on a Sunday. There were only a few souls, namely the maids who were on their wkly breaks. A sense of eerie-ness lingered in the air if you ask me.
Saw this quaint little shop selling Chee Cheong Fun and decided to give it a try. Ordered two sets. One with prawn fillings and the other with Char Siew (BBQ pork). Presentation wasn't that enticing. They were placed in paper boxes. However, taste wise, not too bad. The dough could be smoother though. Price wise -- $3.50 per box. Sweetie needed his daily dose of coffee thus we hopped over to the next store -- YA KUN for some beverage.

Was reading how Ya Kun all started and I must say people in olden times do have their share of entrepreneurial sense. I guess it's their "do or die" and "I need to survive" attitude which people lack these days.

THe whole purpose of going down to Orchard was to visit the newly opened ION ORCHARD. It's reminence of SIAM PARAGON in Bangkok. Seriously I felt like I was in Bangkok for a moment. Feasted my eyes on an array of brands......from LV to Dior, it's a dream waiting to be realised! But feast was all I could do, for it's insane to have such moolas to shop at such an atas place! In fact, the place was patronised by mainly Koreans and Thais...I felt oddly out of place. Guess sample sales online suit me more! haha


THe interior wasn't too appealing (albeit the brand names!) the whole layout got me all groggy. Was pretty lost and had to look at the directory to figure out which part of the maze I was at. Could tell that the developer wanted to maximise space coz the layout wasn't very clean. At the basement, there were interestingly "express shops". I guess it's a nicer way of saying "cheapo shops". The prices there were very affordable but quality had to be discounted. There was even an ION jewellery street. Wonder how long can these stores survive. People are not always susceptible to marketing gimmicks.

Ohhhhhhhhh..IT"S EVERY GIRL'S DREAM!!!! *SWOON*

Like bees to honey, sweetie was drawn into this shop. Instantly recognising the brand "NESPRESSO", he badgered me to enter.
Not a coffee lover myself, but the waft from the aroma struck a cord with me. The decor was also very interesting. Neatly sleeves of coffee capsules are stacked behind the main counter. They even had a little bar and island where people could test coffee. This would never be offered in France! It was really intriguing how the machine worked. A capsule filled with high end coffee powder is placed in the machine and at the touch of a button, it gets punctured and together with the hot water comes a pipping aromatic cup of expresso! The different coloured capsules represented different intensity. Sweetie really loved it. Many hotels are using this machines and the sales assistant mentioned that if we visit LV, they would serve us coffee using Nespresso machine too! Was so "afraid" sweetie would make yet another impulse buy (It's not cheap ok!!!) but fortunately, my sanity was kept at bay when he said he'd consider. I know he really wants it and I honestly think it's a good investment though I don't drink coffee!


Price ranges from $518 to $648..there was a $44 discount that day to celebrate the nation's bday. Hmm wonder why can't they have a 44% discount! haha

After 4 hours at Orchard (a whopping feat for sweetie!), my aching feet were calling out to me. Clever me wore wedges and ended up having muscle ache on my calves! Well, you can't be wearing flip flops to ION right? So unglam! it's a respect for others as well as yourself. The day went by so quickly. Dinner was simple ==> Salted Fish Fried Rice and Tokyo Chicken stew from Soup Spoon...oh how i love their soups!!!! Though I make quite awesome soup, I can't help but drool over those uneconomical stews (ie. it's $7.90 per pack/ bowl.....why do you think I say they are uneconomical!?)

2 comments:

  1. great post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did you guys hear that some chinese hacker had hacked twitter yesterday again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The information here is great. I will invite my friends here.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete

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