Chinatown and Mustafa

Today, we explored the North East line, which opened at 10am. We took the MRT from Tanjong Pagar to Outram, crossed over to the new Chinatown station, and made it to Bheema Villas at South Bridge Road for a scrumptious, spicy Indian lunch.

This evening, after dinner with my old friend Isabel, we roamed about Centrepoint, a favourite haunt of SCGS girls before our school moved to Whitley Road. We had a good chat and I am glad that God is working in both of our lives right now, in amazing ways. Praise Him!
Later that evening, I hitched a lift to Mustafa to check out the new 24-hour shopping scene.
At around 11pm on a Friday night, it was at about one-third of its full capacity, meaning that I had enough space to move about but occasionally had to squeeze past the odd family in between the tight aisles. Whatever the case, it was definitely better than going on a Sunday!
Price-wise, for those of you who haven’t visited the centre, it is reasonable, but not necessarily the cheapest. For instance, CDs are priced at about S$18.90. Their range is limited to the more popular titles, but if you’re looking for Bhangra or Bollywood, I’m sure this is the place to go.
My HP Laserjet 1000, which I purchased at the IT Fair earlier this year at only $299, was going at Mustafa for $450 (to be fair, I got a trade-in price, but without having to trade anything in!). My Olympus C5050 digital camera, which I purchased at John 3:16 for $1300, was going for $1365. The latest Canon Ixus v400 was somewhere in the mid-$800 range, cheaper than Challenger’s price of $899, but still dearer than the $799 quoted on Hardwarezone.com.
I nearly bought another CD rack (black, plastic, holds 32 CDs and costs only $5.70) but the queue in the computers department was rather long and I didn’t need it urgently. The other long queue was at the men’s clothing department, consisting entirely of Indian nationals buying shirts and trousers.
The service at Mustapha was fairly attentive, comprising a mix of Chinese and Indian assistants. Spirits were generally high, and even the security guards at the entrance were jiggling around a little to the funky dance music played in the store.
The basement is newly (?) renovated, housing its massive electronics department – stereo systems, fridges, stoves, washing machines … and I felt like I was standing in some high-class shopping centre like Paragon because the place was all white, shiny and well spaced-out, unlike the upper floors.
I didn’t have time to explore the other sections fully. Looks like I have to go back again sometime 😛
Photos will be posted in the gallery section.