Singapore Again (Part 5)
As usual, I woke up around 10.30. I spent some time chatting to G2, and then showered and got dressed to go out. I figured by this time the shops would be open, so I gave the shoe shop a call.
The sales girl remembered me, and yes, I had left my bag of underwear there. She had it behind the counter, ready for me to pick up – I told her i’d be in, mid-afternoon.
I was lucky it wasn’t a G-String or some of that dodgy SMA underwear, or I wouldn’t have gone back to claim it. I can just imagine…
“What’s this bag lah, that Ang Moh forgot it what? Ooh, come come look, Ang Moh buying slinky underwear lah! Quite sexy one lor, but no support what. Make him try on jeans when he comes by and check out his package on security camera…”
I accompanied G1 & G2 over to Holland Village, where we ate lunch at the food court. G2 had some dry cleaning to pick up, and I was on the hunt for The Undershop which, according to its’ website, had a branch there.
Without too much trouble we found where they were supposed to be, but weren’t. Surprise surprise, they’re hopeless – can’t even update their own website. Typical.
We dropped into Coffee Bean for awhile, and had a delicious little orange teacake muffin each, and I also ordered a latte. I almost freaked when they served it – I was expecting a small latte glass, but instead got something bigger than what you serve a milkshake in! Value for money alright.
While we were there, G1 looked through the local paper to find some apartments up for rent. Their current landlord gave them notice, so they had to find a new place by June. G1 managed to find 2 places not far from their current place, which would make moving far easier.
We arranged with one of the agents to meet her at the place on our way home.
Some HDB flats have been upgraded, but other have not. This one hadn’t been. The flat was on the 19th (top) floor, but the lift only went to roughly every 4th floor, and only as high as 18. Which meant you’d have to take a flight of stairs, then the lift, every time you’d go out. And the reverse for when you come home.
G2 wasn’t too keen on it – that combined with the fact the agent was asking far too much. The lift thing alone would have been enough to turn me off.
Something else G2 said that I didn’t know – when you rent an apartment, you have to give the agent half a month’s rent! (I think it’s half). I can’t really understand why. For the fuck all effort of putting an ad in the paper, you’re the one contacting them, it’s not like they have to chase around finding people. It’s all inbound. At the most they should get a nominal fee from the owner, out of the owner’s pocket (or a % of monthly rent over the lease term).
Oh, and if you renew a lease of a place you’re already in? They want their cut again! For doing absolutely nothing this time. Fuck that.
We headed home. I changed shoes, then headed out to Orchard Rd again via bus.
The first stop was Wisma, where I picked up my underwear. The security tape was still unbroken, so she hadn’t even peeked to see inside! How nice.
Afterward, I walked to one of the shopping centres I hadn’t been to much. Paragon. From previous visits, most of the shops were overpriced, and others weren’t of much interest. But I made myself walk around, just incase. On the 4th floor (I think) I found a sports shop. And lo and behold, they had my Speedo Sports Chamois! And it was $3 cheaper than another place i’d seen it too. So I bought it.
After that, I wandered into the department store there called Metro. I had a look at the underwear section, and they also had my underwear on sale – but they had more colours! So I bought another pair. I’ll never be caught without clean underwear, that’s for sure. Mum would be proud.
As I hadn’t bought a lot of clothing with me, I needed to look for some pants to wear out clubbing later tonight. I had one pair of shorts in the wash, and another pair on. And my jeans were really heavy (for wearing back home) so I didn’t want to wear those clubbing.
I literally walked all over Orchard Rd again, trying to find something I liked. I almost bought a pair of pants at Topman, but they were nothing special.
I finally found some light jeans in Shaw Plaza Isetan that I liked. The sales guy couldn’t convert UK sizing into S,M,L properly so I couldn’t fit into the first pair he gave me. Second pair fitted really well. So I bought them. Now my outfit for clubbing was complete – (Esprit shirt I bought yesterday and these jeans).
I wandered upto where Gage was working, and said hello. He was having a slow day, not many customers, so I think it broke the boredom a bit.
Then I felt a bit hungry so I grabbed a McSpicy Burger from a nearby Maccas. We don’t have thse little gems back in Oz, but I wish we did. It was breast fillet just like KFC burgers, but it really shits all over KFC’s ‘Hot n Spicy’. Way waaay better/hotter. I doubt your average Ang Moh would be able to handle it.
I went back to Gerards’ to rest for awhile, before going out about 11pm.
Gage recommended I goto Taboo, so I did. I paid my $20 and entered. Big mistake. It seemed to be the narrowest club i’d ever seen (Apart from that crappy Heaven’s Door place back in Melb), and it was just pathetic. Well maybe it wouldn’t suck so much if they didn’t fill it so jam packed with people. Honestly, you could not even move. I squeeeeeezed all the way down to the back so I could get to the bar, so I could order a Coke – which cost $8.00 (mostly ice). Fuck me. Then I stood there for 10 min, more squashed than on a Melbourne Peak Hour Train. Nothing seemed to be happening, the dancefloor seemed to be roped off and everyone was just.. standing there. Fuck it. I squeeeeezed all the way back out, told a couple of guys waiting outside to pay that it was ‘packed like a sardine tin’ (hopefully they didn’t waste their $20’s), and left.
Across the road was Tantric, which looked to be just as full, and I knew it was almost as narrow too. So I didn’t bother with that one.
I wandered down the road to the 7/11, and bought some alcohol for less than what my Coke cost. Then I sat for awhile at the bus stop and drank it, contemplating whether I just go home or give Taboo another try. I got into the city too late to change more cash to SGD, so I didn’t have enough for another entry fee & more (overpriced) drinks, as well as the cab ride home.
I walked up to Taboo again, showed my stamp, and entered. I rounded the corner, and oh, still packed with people… still standing there. I left again.
Walking back toward Play, a group of 4 guys walked past me. One turned around and shouted ‘Hey, you’re cute’, so I smiled and said thanks. I decided to goto Play and ask if they accepted Amex.
At the door of Play they had a big sign, ‘Capacity Full’ or something to that effect. I hoped their idea of full wasn’t like Taboo’s, and then asked the bouncer if they took Amex. They did! In fact, everyone seems to take Amex in Singapore – unlike in Australia, where most places whinge about the extra % processing fee Amex charge them, so they refuse to take it. (Cheapass bastards!)
The atmosphere inside Play was better, but it had a sunken dancefloor. The problem with that was you couldn’t see where the steps were (no reflective stuff), so if you were standing on one and someone bumped you, you could kind of fall over (into people) and look like a tool. I didn’t quite go that far, but I did do a stagger when I found air where I expected floor to be. The music was ok, but I decided i’d goto St James on Sunday night, the previous times i’d been there I really enjoyed it.
About 2.30 I decided to call it a night, and left. I saw the queue of Toyota Crown taxis, and decided against using one. I wanted a nice new cab, so I walked a bit further up the road, and when I saw one of the Mercedes taxis with its’ green light coming along, I signalled to it (Well they’re the same price as an old shit cab, so why not!?).
Cab fee: $13. I’d allocated $30, i’m so used to the insanely expensive prices we get charged for cabs in Oz. In Malaysia it’d probably cost $13 Ringgit, which is half as much again. The driver was quite talkative, and was telling me that there were better places to go clubbing, depending on whether I like Thai girls, Filipinos, etc etc. Amused, I just replied with ‘no, none of those’, and let him read between the lines.
Just after I got home, it started raining. Glad I didn’t hang around any longer, because it was really heavy rain – I would have been soaked.
I headed off to bed. I woke up once during the night, when the rain was really pelting the window and the thunder sounded like it was right next to me. But I drifted back to sleep.
10.May.08 
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Actually, the agent’s cut is 1/2 month per year of tenancy … with a 2 year lease, we ended up coughing up 1 month’s rent plus GST #_#