I took the day off from work yesterday to catch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and also to roam around Orchard Road and explore some of the new malls that sprang up over the past few months. It’s probably my last chance to rest and relax a little before things start getting crazy at work.
The day started early with a trip to the dentist. Not the best way to celebrate a belated birthday. Indeed. I ended up with 5 fillings and a total bill of S$360.55. Ouch! 
At least the dentist was pretty. Luckily, the company is co-paying S$100, but I’ll still have to fork up the remaining amount myself. 
I quickly made my way to the nearest cinema, ended up at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Remember I mentioned in my last post that I could get movie tickets for just S$6.50 on Tuesdays? That was for another cinema. Over here, I can get movie tickets for just S$6.00 on weekdays when I pay with my UOB credit card. After redeem the rebate points I had on my card, the ticket only cost me S$4.83. Sweet!
As I patiently wait for the Harry Potter movie to begin, while seated comfortably in my row of seats (I had the row all to myself as there was no one else seated on my row), I watched a couple of movie trailers:
2012 looks interesting. Apparently it’s produced by the same people who produced Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, so it’s probably worth watching.
I personnally quite enjoyed the Harry Potter movie, which I watched in digital format. But somehow I think I preferred Order of the Phoenix. Perhaps it’s because I’ve already read the final book, so by now I already can tie much of the loose ends together with regards to each character’s actions and motives. But still, I think it’s still worth a watch for all Harry Potter fans. I’m looking forward to the upcoming 2-part finale.
After the movie, I went sightseeing. More accurately, I went “mall-seeing”. First stop, Singapore’s first “Vertical Mall”, Orchard Central. Orchard Central is 12-storeys high, easily making it the “tallest” shopping mall along Orchard Road, in terms of the number of retail levels. The shops are grouped into clusters, which is a totally new concept to shopping in Singapore. I think I only made it up to the open-air veranda on level 7. There was just so much to see, and I had so little time. Not all the shops were opened either. So I’m quite sure I’ll be back again to see Orchard Central in its full splendor.
One special feature of Orchard Central is the abundance of escalators within and outside the mall, coolest of which had to be the one that took you from ground floor to level 4, and the corresponding one which went from level 4 to the afore-mentioned veranda on level 7. I checked out the latter, and it was quite a breath-taking experience, especially for someone with a fear of heights like me. Here’s a panoramic view of Orchard Road from L7, if you’ll excuse my lousy “stitching”. The sun was burning bright, and my knees were wobbling. 
Next, I made my way to my next destination. ION Orchard. It was opening day yesterday, so the mall was bustling with visitors. As in the case of Orchard Central, the mall has not been completely leased out, and many of the shops weren’t open yet. It was a pretty intimidating experience to step into the main halls of ION, since almost all the occupants I spotted were of major international designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, Christian Dior, etc. Not quite my retail cup of tea, but it was a good place to window-shop and people-watch.
This one particular shop caught my eye. It sells various assortments of wooden-crafts, presumably from Germany. I couldn’t stop snapping pictures with my camera phone, until the pretty store assistant told me that photographing is not allowed. Oops!
An interesting feature of ION Orchard is the interactive shop directories. They’re operated by touching the screens, and you can search through shop listings by category, level, and name. There’s always a friendly member of staff around to assist you should you need any help.
Although much of ION Orchard is occupied by expensive brands, the basement portion of the mall were filled with more “approachable” brands. There are a handful of food outlets there too. One fine day, I’m gonna come back and check them out. Maybe I’ll try to come back for a visit at night, when the building literally lights up. Same goes for Orchard Central.
Finally, I left Orchard Road and ended up at Vivocity. Happened to pass by the National Geographic store and noticed that they finally updated the main display window. Cool!
Didn’t stay here for too long, since my main purpose in coming was to get a new pair of earphones from one of the gadget stores there. After a few quick rounds, I made my move to get dinner and headed home. Whew! What a busy day indeed!
Tags: life, movies, musings, Personal, shopping, videos, youtube
Actually, I had some birthday privileges that had to be redeemed within a week of my birthday. So we decided to make good use of the special member + birthday discounts available.
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