*Scape. Where the youths hang out

Hiding at a corner of Orchard road is a secret hangout place for the youth.
Known as *Scape (yes with the star), I often go there for shopping as things there are more affordable and trendy!

To get to this place, you have to locate Orchard Cineleisure first, which is the building on the left in the photo bellow. The building on the right is one end of Mandarin Gallery. I came from somerset MRT, which is nearer than orchard mrt.

(do note that the total time needed to walk from ion orchard/orchard mrt to 313 somerset/somerset mrt is a mere 15 minutes. So if you're at,.. say takashimaya, there is NO NEED to go back to orchard mrt and then take a train to somerset in order to come here)

Walk towards Orchard Cineleisure, then walk straight past it to see this sight below!

Ah... so sad and empty. Because I came on a weekday! Come on friday to sunday and be amazed at how many more shops there would be!

 If you walk up the very first flight of stairs you see on the right, you'll enter the mall itself and spot this shop on the left. I love this nail shop.
China Glaze ail polish is sold here for $6 a bottle, while Essie and O.P.I nail polishes are sold for $10. I have not found any other shop that sells such high quality polishes at a low price!!

But if nail polishes are not for you, explore the first floor of this mall a bit more and you'll find other shops selling clothes, dog clothes, shoes, accessories, handphone covers etc. I usually don't explore the higher floors, where there is a Sakae Sushi, Kbox (karaoke) and some dance studios.

This place is a bit odd, as the basement of the mall is only accessible via two staircases. 

*Scape underground holds is another level of shopping at affordable prices! A handphone case may cost you just $3, while a dress may cost you $25.

If you're not in the orchard road area, I would not recommend you to come all the way just for this mall, lest you be disappointed. But if you are staying at a hotel along Orchard Road and you're bored of all the other malls, do come by and visit this place!

While you are in the area, consider having a more local meal at either Toast Box or Old Town Coffee, or go eat my favourite PONTIAN (wan ton) noodles at Orchard Cineleisure just next door! :D Read more about it here.

DFS Orchard (Duty Free Singapore), T Galleria

This 4 story mall is located near Isetan along Scotts road, which is very near Orchard Road.

Just a quick post to let you see all the stores that are inside. Although I am not eligible for the discounts as I am a local, this is quite a quiet place to do all your shopping because not many people visit this place. Come during the weekdays or Sunday for a relaxing experience.

Do note the opening hours

Sunday -Thursday 11:00am – 8:00pm
Friday - Saturday 11:00am – 9:00pm

4 Fingers at ION Orchard

This is as close as I can get to Kyochon Chicken in Seoul.
Argh I miss it so much haha so I had to settle for something similar...

4 FINGERS!

Sorry I was so excited for this I totally forgot to get a picture of the store front.

The food

I'll let the pictures do the talking

18 piece meal with Kimchi Coleslaw (that was really nice omy tian) and seaweed fries.

Honestly I was only here for the chicken because the fries are kinda meh, but the kimchi coleslaw was amazingly good :O:O:O Surprise surprise.

You can have a mix of flavours soy garlic and hot. I personally don't like the hot flavour so I'll stick to the salty soy garlic one nom nom nom. Chicken is considerably smaller than what you'd get from popeyes or KFC but I still think flavour wise this is the best and the closest I have found to taste as good as Kyochon Chicken!!

The Price

This meal cost us $19.95 after a DBS card discount. Kimchi Coleslaw (that tiny container!!) cost us $3.50. So price wise this is really expensive in my opinion but I really like it argh

Waiting time

Queue for food took about 10 minutes, slightly longer coz the people immediately in front of us never ate at 4 fingers before and were blur like sotongs lolx.

Food was came really quickly. Our buzzer rang within 4 minutes O_O Last time I had to wait considerably longer, almost 10-15 minutes. 

The Venue

We braved the Saturday dinner crowd and there was a long queue to buy food and a number of people waiting for seats. If you come alone or in a pair you would probably be able to squeeze and share tables with others coz all the tables are 4 seaters. For a 3-person group like us, I had to wait a little longer and act a little faster in order to grab a seat. 

So if you don't like the crowd, come at a less crowded time! Otherwise, the music they were blasting made my dad really happy. Michael Jackson sia. ahaha

The Visuals

Ahhh my appreciation for good packaging must be mentioned. From the use of red white and black... and the decor of the place... yup I really like it here.

And did you notice the mess tins they served the chicken in? Haha wonder why. 

Details

The branch I visited was at ION Orchard B4, which opens 11am-10pm on Sun to thurs and 11am-11pm on Fri and Sat.

There are outlets at Plaza Singapura, Westgate and Changi Airport Terminal 3 :>

Getting to Bugis Street

Alrighty! You've probably heard of Bugis street as the one place teenagers go to for shopping and accessories buying. This place has improved a lot over the years especially by installing air conditioning!! 

But first, may I please emphasize that Singapore IMPORTS A LOT OF THINGS. Please don't be surprised if you're noticing clothes from your home country selling for a much higher price here in Bugis Street. Itzliddat. :/ So if you don't want to buy items made in China, made in Thailand, I don't recommend coming here, because a large number of shops sell these items!

Then again, I'm not complaining as a singaporean, there are good steals at Bugis Street, although I would avoid spending more than $20 for any single piece of clothing there..

Ok enough rambling, let's go!!!

Tap out of the station and you'll straight away see this sign.

Bugis street is not clearly mentioned, so just head right!

ah... our favourite guardian where everyone waits for everyone

After turning right, walk a little and then you'll see this are with two escalators again on your right. Take those escalators!

If you decide to go straight, you will see this instead, and this heads towards the basement of Bugis Junction the shopping mall. It's characterised by the staircase at the centre. 

You'll see the street after taking the escalators. Walk straight toward the nearest traffic light 

Cross the road, and you'll reach bugis street!

There is a side entrance to Bugis Street as well, on the left side facing Bugis+, another shopping mall

Some of the items sold here~

You'll find a number of nail parlors too

Haha hi luhan!

Do walk around and check out the items before buying them. But unless you're familiar with how the shops are organised, it can be really hard to go back to the shop where you found an item.

Try haggling and barganing a little once you see something you like, BUT do not bargain half price omigosh NO.

Asking for $2 off is quite common especially if you bought more than 1 item, but do it quietly at the counter and very likely the staff would give it to you. 

ALSO sometimes the third floor tends to sell their items more cheaply than the first 2 floors o.o 

Rough Price Guide (the max you should pay): 

Tote Bags $5

I Love SG shirts $10

Dresses $35

Cotton Shirts $10

Dressy Shirts $20

Caps $15

Most items are labelled with their prices, so that it really helpful!

There are some toilets within bugis street itself on the second and third floors.

If you're going back, go in the same direction as from how you came, and look out for this sign!

Enjoy shopping :]

and if you're hungry and looking for food, do head over to the top floors of Bugis+ for restaurants or to the food junction at Bugis Junction for local food!