12490

Today, I went down to The Central to collect my first ever Race Pack for next week's Run Singapore. The pack itself wasn't too exciting, a T-shirt, 2 water bottles and a number tag. But the thought that I will be taking part in my first ever 5km run is quite unebelievable. I think the latest is that the organizers had to change it to about 4.5km for some safety reasons but what the heck, as far as I'm concerned, it's still a 5km run :).

I know a 5km run for most of you will probably be no big deal, but for me, it really is a HUGE deal. I think the last serious thing I ever ran successfully was my 2.4km in JC and that was XX years ago. Some of you know that I have been working hard to achieve my fitness goal and I decided to sign up for the Run Singapore coz I thought it would be an affirmation that I am on the right track. Additionally, I thought it would be really cool to let my first every run to be along the Singapore F1 circuit.

My real goal is the 10km run at the Singapore Marathon at the end of the year. I can't imagine every running 10km... but hey, a year ago, I wouldn't even think of taking part in a 5km. I've been doing regular runs in the last 2 months and I think I should be able to complete the 5km run without having to walk/stop.

I'm pretty excited about next Sunday and a little apprehensive as well. But I think it's going to be memorable and a personal achievement to be able to complete my first every 5km run event. 12490. Sounds like a nice enough number to begin with. :)

O.M.G........

Just take a look at the newly announced Playstation 3 Slim....

There goes my US$300..... enuff said. :P

Shopping at Mustafa

Last night, I was at Vivocity looking for some stuff. Shopped till 10pm when the shops closed and I was a little bummed out coz I didn't feel like going home and I had not found everything I needed. So as I was waiting at the Harbourfront MRT for the train, a thought popped into my mind - why not try Mustafa Centre (MC)? It's open 24hours after all....

So, I hopped on the train and got off at Farrer Park MRT station and began my adventure.

As far as I can understand, there are 3 buildings that make up the whole place (sound bigger than Macy's in New York City). There's a more high-class (ie. atas) MC that faces Serangoon Road. Stuff there are organized fairly neatly like a supermarket/mall. And there's the really massive, cramped, generally messy MC located behind the atas-MC that's made up of two buildings. I found out last nite, that atas-MC is not 24hours... only the messy-MC.

You can really find everything under the sun here. From obsure products of popular brands to obscure brands with wide range of products. If you are shopping for something, you better be prepared to (1) brave the crowds and (2) hunt for the item. It almost feels like a scavenger hunt at times. The layout of the messy-MC is quite confusing. More than once, I had to ask for directions to find out how to get to the basement floors or where to find a certain section. Everything is packed onto the shelves with very little regard for visibility or aesthetics. Essentially, it's a fill-the-shelf-and-let-you-hunt-for-it-yourself system. For eg. shoes are stacked in pairs on top of each other and if you want to find you size... happy digging.

I guess the two big questions are: is there variety and are the goods cheap?

For variety, I guess you can find different brands but I won't say that it's exhaustive. Like I mentioned, there are strange little obscure brands, but not all main popular brands can be found. I looked around for a knee brace and found brands from nike to kettler to something called 90mins. They also had the more 'medical' brands like Futura and 3 or 4 others in their pharmacy section. But when it came to MP3 players, I only found the usual Appele, Samsung, Creative and Philips. Not a bad selection, but being the pseudo-techie that I am, I was hoping for more.

For prices, sure, there are a couple of good buys, but by and large, I don't think they can be considered much cheaper than our super/hyper markets like NTUC, Carrefour, Giant, etc. One great buy I found was almonds... I found a 1kg pack for around $12. It's some strange brand, but since I was looking for raw almonds, I decided to give it a try. Looked fresh anyway. In the usual supermarkets, raw almonds can cost about $3.50 for 100grams. I've not opened the bag, but hope it tastes decent. When I was there, there was also a midnight special for a 42inch 720p Panasonic LCD TV. It was only $999 with another $300 in vouchers! Wow... bloody cheap! At the recent Escapades Fair in Suntec, the same model was going for about S$1200 (without vouchers!) at their hourly special. Clothes and sports goods on the other hand, were quite normally priced, I think. My general impression is that you can get cheaper stuff and better variety in Queensway.

As far as I can guess, Mustafa Centre (MC) is able to be so popular because (1) it's open 24-hours so you can shop any time and (2) it's so massive and messy that after a while, you just buy stuff (not knowing if it's cheap or not) coz... you're so confused. You just lose all inhibition when you are surrounded by so many things. It makes for a good late night shopping but I don't think I will specially go there to get stuff coz I do prefer my supermarkets neater so that the shopping is more relaxing.

When I left MC, I realized it was already 1am. Ended up taking a cab back to Bishan coz there were no night buses that I could find that would bring me home. (Another irritation I have with Singapore.... no night transport!! Trains should be 24hours!). I spent 9 bucks on my taxi fare which almost wiped out the savings I made on the items I bought! So in the end, not that cheap after all...