ION Orchard

This is ION Orchard, the latest new mall that opened recently in Singapore. ION Orchard comes from the phrase "I on orchard". Orchard is the name of the road - Orchard Road. Orchard Road used to be a Orchard that grows fruits, that's how the name of Orchard Road comes about.

ION Orchard is a mall that sells mainly branded goods but there's still hope for budget shopping. From B1 to B4 (i.e. the basement), there are shops that are affordable for the average shoppers. But from the ground floor up to the upper floors, are all shops that sell branded goods.

In a supermarket in one of the upper floors, I saw half a water melon selling for about $25 (faints*) and a rock melon for $29. OMG, it costs only a few dollars for these melons in the markets and local supermarkets. It looked the same to me, wondered if the melons are tastier.

I like this photo very much, this is the entrance to the Orchard MRT Station. Looked at the beautiful architectural designs of ION Orchard. I like the way the glass reflected all the images.

The entrance of the MRT Station looked like people going into a spaceship.

These red long benches are so cute and striking but not many are sitting during the daytime cause it is quite hot. I think it would be occupied during the night. I cannot imagine how beautiful this place would be during christmas time.

A short video of ION Orchard. Looked at the sculpture on the right, it is a fruit sculpture.

This video is nice. I like the reflection on the moving vehicles on the glass panels.

There are more new places of attractions coming up in Singapore in the next couple of years.

Singapore is going to be like a wonderland for people having fun and leisure and eat and shop.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Shophouses in Tanjong Pagar

More photos of shophouses in Tanjong Pagar. Shophouses are usually shops or office on the ground floor and the upper floors are living quarters for the owners.
These shophouses are restored and preserved, they are over 100 years old.
Love the beautiful architectural designs especially the windows.

Housing from the past, present and future

Continuing from yesterday's post. Today, I will talk about the future, present and past housing all in one district.

The background of the new flats in Tanjong Pagar are really very beautiful and expensive and they are government's flats (HDB) built by private developers. The bridge (circled) are heavier than an aeroplane and they are built as roof gardens. These HDB flats are even more expensive than some private condominiums.

And these flats are all taken up (if I am not mistaken), the flats should be ready by next year. I wondered if the roof garden are open to anyone besides residents there, then I can go up and take photo of the garden. It must be quite scary to be high up there.

The high rise flats are symbols of our future housing, builting upwards in land scared Singapore. The lower block of flats are present flats build at least 30 years ago.

Oh I like these old shophouses, they are restored and preserved. These old shophouses are at least more than 100 years old. They even survived the world war II. My late grandmother used to live in one of these shophouses and it was so old and infested with rats as huge as a cat. I remembered having to put my legs up the sofa cause the rats are running under the sofa...hahaha...very scary.

After all the restoring and preservation, these shophouses are now worth more than a million dollars.

You can read more about the history of these shophouses in wikipedia.

Although we are progressing very quickly, we dont forget our past and histories.

What type of housing do you like?

Skywatch Friday-Tanjong Pagar

Saw some cute sculptures in front of the building. Hope you can see the reflection of the sky on the glass panels.

In the background you can see few blocks of HDB Flats (government flats) still under construction. They are HDB Flats build by private developers. They are the most expensive HDB Flats so far. Gone are the days where HDB flats are considered alternative cheap housing. Nowadays HDB Flats can cost more expensive than private condominiums. As land is scare in tiny Singapore, properties over here are so expensive. You can no longer find any flats that are in the five figure sum, they are all over six figure sum for a decent flat. If you are interested to see how an HDB Flat look like, you can view the virtual showroom in here.

Noticed the bridge linking each block, they are supposed to be roof gardens. These bridge are so heavy and each weighed heavier than an aeroplane.

These flats are known as The Pinnacle @ Duxton, Singapore. I will tell you more in later post about these flats.

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.

Shenton Way - Financial Business District

This is CPF Building where most Singaporeans would come when they retired. CPF Board stands for Central Provident Fund Board. The board was created to safeguard Singaporean's money.

Every month, we need to deduct a certain percentage of our salary and our employers has to contribute a certain percentage of our salary to our account. The percentage varies for different age group.

Our CPF Account operates with three accounts i.e. Ordinary Account, Medisave Account and Special/Retirement Account.

We can used money from the CPF ordinary Account to purchase our home or investment (only those approved by the government), Medisave Account are used to pay part of our hospital bills and Retirement Account can only be used when we retired.

It used to be we can withdraw all the money in our ordinary account when we reach 55 years old but there are many who spend all the money they withdrawn on holidays, gambling and some even get a mistress in a neighbouring country. Some man even get cheated of their CPF money by pretty young lass from other country.

These are real news that we get to read daily in the papers.

So the government do not want this to be a social problem to the nation and now there is limit to how much we can withdraw from the ordinary account and the balance will be transferred to the Retirement Account and when we reach 62 years old, we get a monthly allowance of few hundred dollars (more for those who earn higher salary) for the next twenty years. Not many are happy with this rule but in long term, I think it is good so that retirees wont spend their hard earned savings of their CPF unwisely nor would they be cheated by young pretty lass from other country.

So dont expect a windfall when we reach 55 years old...sigh...our money are locked up. :( Either you like this new rule or you hate it.

A short video showing a small part of the financial district in Shenton Way.