Mike - Post #5 - Off to the Mall!

Off to the Mall

When I first came here, someone told me that window shopping at the mall is a national past time.  After spending an hour at the mall, I found this was so true.  One doesn’t have to just be interested in shopping to want to go to the mall, because there is plenty to look at.

Too bad I arrived at the end of summer – I’ve been told all the flowers in the ball can be found here in Singapore.

It was my “first” trip to the mall on my own where I learned just prepared one needs to be when they want to “drive” to the mall.  (I didn’t know a majority use either a taxi or take the bus).  There are two floors under the ENTIRE mall, but not knowing better, I chose to come over when there were no parking spaces.  So, after driving around for nearly thirty minutes, I gave up and decided to come back Sunday morning.

This time, I was better prepared – and learned a lot more about what is involved in parking underground.

First, because there are at least six different elevators and escalators which go to the parking, you have to know where you want to end up.  So, the signs list different major stores and you go from there.

In this case, I wanted to go to ‘Golden Village’ – the movie theatre.  One of the great things about the signs, is they tell you how many parking spaces are available in that area.

Lucky me, there are 45 spaces; but instead of having to drive up and down each row, I just have to look at the little Christmas lights – each car spot has a light above it.  Green, the space is open; Red – you’re out of luck.

Because there are many different ways of getting down to the parking garage, each column is painted to match the major area of the mall.  If you are heading to Tangs, you want Purple, if you are heading to the grocery store, you want Blue.  In my case, the movie theatre is Yellow. 

Because there are so many columns, each one has its own individual number, and every other column has little tab sheets for you to put in your purse, so as to remember wich one you want.

Trust me, you don’t want to forget where you park.  Even with a car key that has lock/unlock, it took me a good 15 minutes to find the car with the flashing lights. 

Since then…. I’ve learned to use the camera function on my cell phone.