Marina Bay Sins

I've never been to the new Marina Bay Sands before. I've never even been to Genting. So what do these 2 places have in common? That's right, casinos.

Casinos are the reason why I have no interest in going to these places since I detest gambling. However, Genting now has a theme park, so I can go visit it anytime now if I'm so inclined. For the rides, that is. Besides, the weather there is cooler and I get attracted to colder weather. So yeah, think I should give it a go one of these days, dropping by Kuala Lumpur along the way too if possible since I've never been to that city as well. Might as well string up experiences if I can help it.

So I hate gambling. That's not to say that if I somehow end up for whatever reason at a place with a casino, I won't visit the casino if the entrance is free, which was what I actually did when I was at Hotel Venetian in Macau. I will still step inside just for the experience and looking at the pathetic states of gamblers will reinforce my disgust with gambling, which is something beneficial for myself.

But I avoid such places if there is no other good reason for me to go near them.

But it just so happens that I have to go to Marina Bay Sands for work reasons since one of my clients has opened a retail outlet there. So I have to get over there today to service my Pharmacist customer attached there and do some merchandising work (I don't have to work during the weekends except when there is the occasional weekend Pharmaceutical event. But I'm here today to tie up some loose-ends of my work). Since it's the weekend, I'm bringing my Lioness along as she hasn't visited the place herself.

Turns out the place is quite huge. I think it's at least the same size as Vivo City, if not slightly bigger. Whatever. Anyway, the first thing we have to do upon reaching this place is to go to the food court to have our lunch since we are both hungry. My Lioness' brother recommended her the fried Hokkien prawn mee here which he claims is excellent, so we are now hunting that stall down.

While looking for that stall, I came across one of my Pharmacist customers from another outlet who told me she is covering the resident Pharmacist here for today. So I told her I'll go look for her at the store after my lunch with my Lioness later.

Lining up here at the stall selling Hokkien mee, I'm beginning to get suspicious because the Hokkien mee the stall is selling is dark brown in colour. That doesn't seem right because fried Hokkien prawn mee is supposed to be light yellow & white.

Asking the stall staffs about it, it dawned on us that we are at the wrong stall, so we left the queue to continue hunting for the right stall and found it eventually; it's the stall where the staffs wear straw hats. Between Hokkien mee and Hokkien prawn mee is a huge difference.

Turns out the Hokkien prawn mee is only so-so. There's nothing overly fantastic about it and I told my Lioness that the reason why her bro finds it fantastic must be because of the big prawns that come with the meal, since her bro loves seafood. He should have been more accurate and specific.

Having just finished our lunch, we head for the washrooms and since they have full-length mirrors in the gents, I whipped out my phone and camwhored just to see how I look like in a 'classy' place that actually houses a vice which is a potential catalyst for societal ills.

Hmm, the words on the T-shirt I'm wearing reads 'Suicide System', so that means I'm appropriately dressed for the venue. I try to be appropriately relevant for the occasion, you know?

Next, we head to the outside area while I'm having a banana fruit juice. The outside area is ok but as usual, the weather kinda sucks. So after finishing my juice, we head inside the air-conditioned interior again.

So after visiting my customer's store, having a chat with my Pharmacist customer and having finished my work there, we now begin to walk around and check out the place, especially the boutiques. The shopping area is actually floors of looong walkways with shops and boutiques lining both sides facing opposite one another.

Walking around, I'm keeping my eyes peeled for the casino which I know we'll eventually bump into.

And lo & behold, after some walking around, that eyesore graces our eyes. Us locals have to pay a hundred bucks just to enter the casino whereas foreigners can go in for free. That's meant to discourage us from gambling, they say, as if that would deter the local hardcore gamblers.

No way me & my Lioness are gonna pay a hundred bucks each just to go inside. I'd rather give the money to charity or to a hungry beggar. So we decided to leave the area and continue with our walk.

I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of unique stores & boutiques but ho hum, other than a Miss Sixty and a True Religion boutique, there is nothing else that you can't really find in any other heartland mall.

So much for originality but at least Miss Sixty and True Religion have their boutiques here. So ladies, if you are slim and slender enough to squeeze into Miss Sixty clothes, you can come here.

Just do yourself a favour and don't gamble here. Are you taking notes?

Her's & Mine

Now that dusk has fallen, me & my Lioness went outside by the bay to check out the night scenery. Distant lights from distant buildings are being reflected on the water and it's quite a lovely view. Laser shows then begin to play over the body of water further to our left.

For some reason, I cannot help but have the feeling that all these are not meant for us locals & true-blue citizens to enjoy.

As we leave the building to head towards the bus stop opposite to catch the 502 express bus which goes straight back to our place, they begin to play fireworks. I'm finding those fireworks to be rather excessive.

The bus stop is obscenely packed with people of all sorts of nationalities and foreigners & locals try to accommodate one another inside the bus which is nothing quite different from a sardine can.

If you've noticed, other than the 2 boutiques mentioned, I didn't even bother to provide any links to the place. Yup, I don't like it that much. And don't get me started about the issue regarding the dolphins.

And please, refrain from gambling. So what if you win today? You always have tomorrow and the following day to throw away a fortune. Ultimately, you will have everything to lose and nothing to gain in the long run.

And no, I didn't make any unintended typo in the last word of this blog entry's title. Hope you caught my drift regarding it by now.