Tag Archive for Shopping Malls

Paradise Dynasty at ION Orchard

To enjoy a cheapish (sorry I mean ‘cost effective’) pre-Christmas meal with my mum and girlfriend, I decided to take them to ION Orchard and to the Paradise Dynasty restaurant there. We intended to enjoy the fusion xiao long bao that they serve specifically at this restaurant. Paradise’s xiao long bao are quite different – as they serve a mixed plate of 8 xiao long bao of different types: original, szechuan, ginseng, crab roe, cheese, garlic, and the kings-among-kings – foie gras and black truffle. Delicious and very tasty!

We ordered a few dishes and enjoyed the fine and relaxing company – and it was a great meal and experience overall. It wasn’t too expensive and we were able to enjoy it with a nice discount – as I had some vouchers to use up. I think I managed to use $40 of the $50 I had, and provided the difference in cash – something like S$7 – not bad, hey?

Paradise Dynasty at ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#04-12A ION Orchard
Singapore 238801

Mastercard Masterpass – Free $50 Prepaid Card

I never say no to freebies, so it was great to see some companies do some nice gestures as we approach the festive Christmas season…and no, I’m afraid this doesn’t include Amex!

Instead, it is MasterCard’s Wallet solution (called Masterpass) who have partnered with EZ-Link to offer a free $50 prepaid card for registering for their Masterpass service…so why not 🙂 MasterPass by MasterCard is a digital wallet service that makes online shopping safe, easy, and convenient. MasterPass stores all your payment and shipping information in one central, secure location. With MasterPass, you can shop, click, and checkout faster online.

Free $50 EZ-Link Fevo Prepaid Card

Free $50 EZ-Link Fevo Prepaid Card

Masterpass are really blitzing the island, with full-page ads in the various newspapers, billboards and bus-stop advert boards, not to mention these types of expensive promotions. So I managed to sign up and become one of the first 3,500 CMs and registed from 12th November (to 31st December – although I think it will be fully redeemed in a few days!) – and voila, an email confirming that I registered succcessfully, and a few days later, an email to confirm that I was indeed one of the first 3500 new Masterpass registrations! Yay baby! The great thing is that it can be used anywhere in Singapore where there is a Mastercard sign – at a bricks and mortar establishment or online store. I am sure I can buy myself something nice! Ha!

Sunday Lunch at Keisuke Tokyo

A colleague from work was retiring after spending an enjoyable tenure with American Express – mainly around SE Asia. As he was returning to his native US, my mum and I arranged a nice farewell lunch with him and his wife.

He suggested a venue in Suntec – which was called Keisuke, which was a nice no-thrills place serving Japanese Ramen – and it certainly was a yummy meal.

We found the place pretty easily, and tuck into a delicious dish of Ramen – this place was certainly a great find, and we certainly enjoyed the meal.

Keisuke Tokyo
#02-391/392 Suntec City Mall
3 Temasek Boulevard
Singapore 038983
Tel: +65 6337 7919

ROWAS 2014 Event (29th Aug)

ROWAS 2014

ROWAS 2014

Well another year, another Reach Out With A Smile (ROWAS) event – where we intend to visit as many merchants as possible, and refresh the POP and Decals and give the opportunity to re-enforce our Value Prop, obtain any merchant feedback and identify any new merchant leads or issues with merchant suppression.

This year, we meat at the Mapletree Business Centre, and then we registered – mine was at the Marina Square complex, so by 1pm, I made my way there with 2 other peoples, and we blasted the mall with decals, POPs and materials etc.

After finishing, I met up with a colleague and the g/f at the Black Swan – and we enjoyed the Friday evening at this quite pleasant establishment.

Another week finished…and now onto September 🙂

Dentist – Q&M Dental Centre Novena

Well it was that time of year that I should have a quick dental inspection.  I didn’t get around to arrange this when I was in the UK in March, and it has been over a year now, so hopefully there are no problems.

I passed a dentist which was in the nearby Shopping mall a few times, so decided to pop in for an appointment.  The good news is that work will cover the cost of this, as part of the healthy living programme, which is great!

The appointment was scheduled for 2nd April – and I went just after work at around 6pm, which was perfect for me to return from the MBFC office.  The check-up was fine, no fillings or anything, and a quick check and polish came up at around S$96 – I guess that’s the score for dentists these days (that is around £50!)   The only comment the dentist made is that I brush too hard and had damaged the gums around my teeth, even though I told her that I used the automatic toothbrush.  So I guess, I should just brush more gentler, as I know the motor goes pretty fast on those toothbrushes – haha!

Q&M Dental Centre
238 Thomson Road #02-01
Novena Square
Singapore 307683
Tel: +65 6251 3233
URL: http://www.qandm.com.sg

Chinese Massage – Great and Cheap!

Mr Lim Foot Reflexology

Mr Lim Foot Reflexology

I am keen to find a foot massage place somewhere in central Singapore to really help me relax and chill – and someone recommended one in China Town.

It is called “Mr Lim Foot Reflexology” and is located in the People’s Park Complex shopping mall. There seem to have about 3 or 4 shops, and have a lot of demand! Definitely not bad for S$18 for 45 minutes. To help compare , an hour (normal for a foot and shoulder massage) would be S$25 – so yeah that’s pretty good going for Singapore. And it was actually very nice and relaxing.

They do a loyalty card scheme, so each time you visit, you get a stamp, and after 10 I presume you get a free massage or discount – even better 🙂 I will definitely repeat this, definitely feels very relaxing and refreshing!

Mr Lim Foot Reflexology
1 Park Rd #03-54-#03-78
People’s Pk Complex
Singapore, 059108
Tel: +65 6327 4498

New SingTel Phone Upgrade

I had purchased a 2-year phone contract from SingTel, and there was an opportunity to get a free upgrade after 12 months…free in the sense there is no additional contract charge, but the handset would still cost me $$$.

I had ummmed and ahhhed for a couple of months already, as I knew the iPhone 5S would be out soon. I decided to take the plunge (or easy option) and simply upgrade my handset to the new iPhone, rather than switching to an Samsung S4 (which was a strong possibility). The key reason is that everyone I had was on my iPhone, it was working fine, I liked the ecosystem and size overall and I knew it was easy to upgrade (in a few minutes), versus having to configure everything from scratch on the new phone type. I also thing that for me it was actually quite a nice size for my hands 🙂

Anyway, it cost me S$668 (for another 2 years) – which I know is a bit pricey, but I think worth the upgrade. I also set-up my old iPhone 4S for me mum to have – aren’t I nice 🙂

The funny thing is that I actually have gone for the ‘S’ versions for each iPhone…3S, 4S and now 5S. I wonder whether I should wait for the 6S next year, or whether I would be tempted away at that point…well that’s another year to go…so lets see what happens.

Aaron acts as a tour guide

Well what an interesting start of the year, an ex-colleague from the UK office was in town, as she was now working on a project that related to Singapore. It was great that she was able to come out and meet her team, whilst at the same time, we managed to enjoy the sights and sounds of Singapore over the weekend – Aaron became the tour guide for the weekend 🙂

She was in town for about a week, and it was good to see an familiar face and catch-up on the latest happenings from the UK and my old team – it sounded like a lot of change since I left over a year ago. I do kinda miss the UK and Brighton teams, but actually I don’t really miss the work.

So on Saturday, I commenced the tour from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on the north side of Marina Bay, we then walked along the promenade towards Boat Quay and the Fullerton hotel, we headed across towards China Town, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Year of the Horse – as we headed into the Chinese New Year festive period. After that, we took the MRT and went across to Marina Bay Sands, taking the sights and sounds of this landmark. We had a bite to eat at the MBS food court – like any tourist does these days. I then noticed that there was this Ice exhibition on, called 2 Degree Ice Art – in an area just outside of the main MBS facilities. So we went in here, the tickets were a bit pricey at S$32 a ticket, but at least my mum (who was joining us for the tour) was able to register with a Senior ticket (at S$26). The exhibition centre then had the audacity to ask whether we wanted coat and gloves…we asked what temperature was inside, and they said -15oC. I don’t think we had much choice as we were wearing summer-ware!! Anyway, they charged us another S$5 each…making the whole session a total of S$105. Ouch! It was fun inside, and a nice way to see the various monuments of the world calved into Ice Sculptures. We then headed back into MBS, and we decided to do a bit of retail therapy. I got a nice pair of Hush Puppies shoes – very comfortable and reasonable, and a nice selection.

We then had a couple of options, head towards the original Botanic Gardens, or visit the Gardens By the Bay. I decided that we should do this, so we headed there, which is a short walk from the MBS complex. There was a nice Dragon dance within the gardens which was very entertaining (I do wonder what these guys do for the rest of the year!!). We then continued our walk around the gardens until we arrived at the 2 domes, we went to the ticket line. I had my ‘free’ pass, and I then tried to see if there was any ‘senior’ tickets, they said only for local residents, which was a shame. Anyway, I then had this brainwave, and as local / EP-visa holders was slightly cheaper, I pretended to buy one for myself (even though I already had an annual pass entitling me free access), so I got one expensive (S$28), one cheap (S20) and I had my own annual pass …haha! a bit crafty – but that’s me 🙂 If no one tells, I won’t!!

We went into the two domes, I do feel that the flower one is better, as they change the displays to the current themes etc. The first time I went, they had a tulips display, previously it was the horse display, similar to this time. But still nice all the same. The Cloud dome was a bit boring, but was refreshing inside at least.

After this, we headed back towards the hotel across the Helix bridge, just as they were doing some sort of art projection on the ArtsScience museum monument. Very nice indeed, it was like they were throwing paint across it in time with the music. A great show! We then went to the hotel, and relaxed at the bar, and then said our farewells.

On the Sunday, it was more of an Orchard Road tour, so we met up for Brunch at the Wild Honey at Scotts Square location – very nice and tasty indeed. We did a relaxing walk down Orchard Road, being part of the hustle and bustle of the Sunday afternoon. A bit of window shopping and retail therapy throughout the sprawling malls and shops along the road, before we ended up at an interesting wine bar just off Orchard Road – the House of Robert Timms – an interesting spot, as you can watch the world go by and enjoy coffee (or wine, in our case) and chill and relax. We then made on our way, a nice way to end the Singapore tour and the busy weekend 🙂

Free Watch Repair – Thanks Tag Heuer

Original Watch

Original Watch

A couple of months ago, I noticed that there was a problem with my watch, I visited one of the Tag Heuer shops in Orchard Road, and they advised me that it the mechanism could have been damaged – and they asked me whether I had changed the date/time during the ‘freeze’ period between 8pm and 4am – due the risk of damaging the mechanism – I stated that I am aware of this risk, but stated that I did not do this.

The watch itself is still £2,050 from the Tag website, so it isn’t cheap…so anything to keep it going for another year or two would be great for me 🙂

I usually change the date/time when I wake-up at 6.30am, so I knew it couldn’t have been this, but this was the only thing that I could thing off that could have been damaged.  Anyway, after researching the issue (yup on Google), I did feel that this was likely the cause of the issue, I decided to email the Tag Heuer Service Centre in the UK, as I had purchased it from Ernst Young in July 2011.  I knew it had a 2 years warranty, so I could be slightly outside of this, but advised them that I noticed the issued a few months ago, and I know for a fact that I didn’t change the date/time during the freeze period, so am confused why the mechanism was damaged,  They said that I had to take it to the Singapore Service Centre, and so I decided to do this.  I decided to visit the local official Tag Heuer service centre here in Singapore and ask them for their opinion.  It was located in an office block within Ngee Ann City (in Orchard Road), so I finally managed to visit there after work (it closes at 7pm, so I had to be quick).

Anyway, they took the watch in for inspection, and after a week phoned me advising that the mechanism was date/time fine, but the face plate had been damaged, possibly due to a shock (like dropping the watch etc).  I knew I had not dropped or banged the watch, so I explained, I don’t think there was anything I did which could have caused this.  I said to email me a quote for me to review, and then I emailed this to the UK Service Centre complaining, that I cannot believe the watch had been damaged, and noting that the watch condition was like this was a few months already.

I continued to have a few more email exchanges between the 2 Service Centres, and then I eventually caved in and agreed for the watch to be repaired. About 3 weeks later, the Tag Heuer Singapore Service Centre called me stating that the face was out of stock, but they had an alternative face – it was still black, but the hour notches were slightly different.  I said to proceed, as I knew I would have had to wait for another month if they had to wait for the parts from another location.  At least, it will now be a ‘unique’ watch 🙂  They then phoned me back stating that the watch specialist looked at the watch and decided that as a gesture of goodwill, they will repair it free of charge, which was a nice touch from Tag Heuer.

I then received an email SMS on 3rd January advising me that the watch was ready for collection – wow, am so glad that it was free…I now have saved S$510!  Yay!  A happy bunny indeed.

Opticians – Eye Test and New Glasses

Well haven’t suffered a bit of damage on my glasses during a game of Futsal in May, I decided it was time to buy a new pair of glasses.

So I decided to source around for a good opticians, I went to a couple of places, but didn’t see a pair of glasses that I liked, so I finally ended back at Novena Velocity Mall, and didn’t even realise there was one right on my door step. It was called Northern Opticians, and then seemed pretty okay. I know there was a Japanese one that just opened up in Plaza Singpura – called OwnDays, and I also found one on Facebook called GlistVision in The Cathy, Dhoby Ghaut.

I know Singapore is a great health hub – in the medicare arena that is – so I thought eye care would no different. I wasn’t wrong, the eye test was done pretty well, and the good news is that there wasn’t much change to my current prescription. The only concern was my right eye was slightly weaker, and I sense this could have caused by the eye infection I had previously, but apparently they couldn’t say for sure it was linked. I then looked at the array of glasses on offer, and they had quite a nice display – however, the frames and lens were quite expensive, slightly more so than the UK I think. The Optician confirmed the same – that the frames are expensive, although the lens are about the same. Hey-ho, if needs must!

I purchase a nice pair of Guess glasses – half-frames, they were quite light, and they certainly felt very comfortable. Price-wise, it was S$380 all in all – about £190 – that is not too bad, although if I went for some of the other frames, it would have been more expensive indeed.

Anyway, at least I have purchased one. I know there were probably other glasses or Opticians that were probably cheaper, but that will do for a year or so 🙂

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