Bishan – A Short Stay

We got up quite early on the 8^th of March. My Mum was convinced that shops still open early in Chinatown. So we went looking for food among the old shops. Very few shops were opened. We had breakfast at a place serving Dim Sum and then we were on our way. I was wondering why the Singaporean authorities could maintain old buildings when I heard the noise of an expensive engine on the road. I looked up and saw a Maserati. Before I finished telling my Mum about Maseratis, another one appeared. 2 Maseratis in a matter of minutes! I was in heaven. LOL.

By 10 am, we were on our way to Bishan on the MRT. I tried not to laugh at the announcement calling people to be on the lookout for suspicious looking people. My Mum walks with a slight limp due to a botched hip replacement ages ago. I tried not to laugh that she could be mistaken to be that person in women’s attire. ROFL. From Bishan (Junction 8), we took a bus to our friend’s flat. The bus was very similar to the ones in Melbourne. Bishan, like the rest of Singapore is very neat and clean. This old friend we were visiting used to live at a larger multi-level apartment and she used to look after my brother when he was a wee boy studying in Singapore. Today, Aunty P is a widow. She had downsized to a HDB flat with 3 bedrooms. The flat seemed pretty spacious. It has a full sized kitchen.

On the first day of our stay in Bishan, we returned to the city to visit Mint – Museum of Toys. We had lunch at a clean food court at Raffles Place that reminded me of Melbourne before walking to the museum. I was the only person who actually visited the museum. The two ladies went shopping nearby. When we got there, I immediately recognized the distinctive shopfront and saw the café (Mr. Punch) but we kept on going almost to the end of that block looking for the entrance. It turned out that the entrance was via the café. The two ladies welcoming us were super friendly. I really enjoyed looking at all the toys on display. I initially thought that I would be the only visitor that day because most Asians do not have the time for toys after the age of about 5. Other visitors trickled in after me. Except for 1 Japanese dude, the rest were almost all Caucasians. The collection of Star Wars stuff was smaller than expected. My brother’s collection could at least be 8x bigger. Even I have a few pieces that would look good on display inside the cabinet. The wall of flasks and lunchboxes took me right back to my primary school years. Although I hardly ever brought bento to school, I had Japanese lunch boxes and water bottles. I would ask for Thermos brand/Aladdin flasks with Snoopy/Incredible Hulk printed on them but my Mum would always come home with another Japanese bottle. It was fun visiting the little museum and would recommend it to my brother.

After the museum, we went to look for a shop on Orchard Rd. It is a toyshop inside Ngee Ann City but the two ladies thought that I meant the toy department at Takashimaya. Both ladies knew how much I used to love Takashimaya. When I was young, I used to arrive just before the shop opens in the morning and leave when it closes its doors at night. The toys at Takashimaya were pretty good but it was the electrical appliances department that really caught my eye. Although Breville (my favourite brand) was no way to be seen, there were plenty of Tiger and Zojirushi. The kitchen department also had Le Creuset. After a quick look around the toy department of Takashimaya, I eventually managed to convince the ladies that the shop I was after is outside Takashimaya and within Ngee Ann City. I asked the people at the information counter and they gave us the directions. The Better Toy Store is hidden behind some restaurants on level 4. I do admit that I am young at heart but I had wanted to visit the place only to show the products to my Mum. I had wanted my Mum to see German made toys (think HABA). We didn’t only find HABA but Papo, Steiff, Plan Toys and even wooden Thomas by Learning Curve as well. The Better Toy Store is different from Toys ‘R’ Us. Next to it is The Better Kids Décor Store. It has beautiful furniture pieces for a child’s bedroom or play area. I was dying to visit but the ladies needed a rest.  

On the next day, we spent the morning at Junction North before going in search of the biggest Harvey Norman in Singapore. I was hoping to buy Breville products there. I had the address but we couldn’t find it. We probably got off the MRT too early because we were told that it is located quite far away. We somehow found another Harvey Norman store tucked inside a shopping centre we ventured in to avoid the heat. All that running around was almost for nothing. There were no Breville products to be found. So, I chose the next best thing to do. I showed my Mum how to develop photos at the Photo Centre. As there were no photos from this trip to be developed because my camera is still waiting to get repaired, I developed photos taken of my Mum and her helper when they were in Melbourne. I have got to say that I was super happy to have found this Harvey Norman store (Suntec City) even though I was after the flagship store @ Millenia Walk. Why? I got to sit there and adjust/crop my photos just like how the X and I used to when I was in Melbourne. I don’t think such photo centres exist in Kota Kinabalu. After I leave Singapore and KL, it will be a long time before I step foot in a Harvey Norman store again. Oh but I do get to listen to its jingle from time to time on the radio.

After dinner at Junction North that night, I was given one good and one bad news. The good news was that we were moving the next day to somewhere super comfy for the rest of the trip. The bad news was that Aunty P had arranged for me to go shopping with her grandson at Junction 8. Aunty P has a tendency to arrange such things for me. She knew that I lack social skills and had attempted to arrange surprises like that many times in the past but I didn’t expect to still be on the receiving end in 2013.

This post is already very long. I will write another post about my shopping trip with Tris next time.