I spent the morning at Great World City today.
I went to Toast Box for breakfast. It was then that I realised that the people in front of me were Japanese. Yet, they managed to converse in English to the auntie who was serving them in Toast Box. After eating some really great nasi lemak at Toast Box, I proceeded to walk around Great World City.
While I was passing by starbucks, I noticed another pair of Japanese. I looked into starbucks and couldn't help noticed that there were hardly any locals at all.
At Cold Storage, I couldn't help noticing that majority of the people there were expats or foreigners. Even the staff did not look like they were from Singapore.
It felt pretty weird shopping around in a place where I was literally the only local around. (Okay, I must be exaggerating a little). Perhaps there were a few other locals around.
Oh well, with 5 million people in our country, I would expect to bump into some foreigners. But to bump into an entire shopping centre that is filled with them makes me wonder whether we are a segregated society where certain groups of people can only be found at certain places.
the jap community in singapore stays around river valley. so they tend to go to liang court/great world city. the shops also cater to them
ReplyDeleteDo you expect to see in Tekka during weekends?
ReplyDeleteHi Zhao Lin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. I figured that they must be staying around there. Where in particular? Because greatworld only has 2 jap restaurants.
Hi CW8888,
I don't go tekka. Who is there?
Yes to your question.
ReplyDeleteCheck out City Plaza - it's full of foreign workers from Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. For Lucky Plaza, it's a fave hangout for Filipino maids. Look towards UE Square and Liang Court and you will find it filled with Japanese Expats. Ditto for Central too as they have a speciality Japanese Mart and numerous Jap restaurants.
And that's not even counting places like Little India which are exclusively "zoned" for foreigners of a certain race.
Hi FF,
ReplyDeleteThese foreigners are doing a lot of good for our economy. :)
Hi MW,
ReplyDeleteYou seem very knowledgeable about our local geography =)
AK71,
Don't worry. I am not a xenophobe. I know the good that foreigners bring to our country. I am just afraid that we are becoming a fragmented society where the various races just keep to themselves. That might not be healthy in the long run.
It just happened that there is a higher concentration of expats in city area.
ReplyDeleteWent One Jervois on sunday looking for investment properties and the only people i see inside are Angmoh expats enjoying the pool.. The indonesians are the one who bought the apts, the angmohs are the one living in it. :)
Hi WJ,
ReplyDeleteDoing property hunting? Looks like you are not afraid of any property bubble =)
A lot of the better condos are all filled with expats.
Bubble? Don't care. Buy high , sell higher? :p
ReplyDeleteI agree that the mass and mid-tier are more or less saturated in pricing.
It seems now the force is strong with high and luxury types. The asking price keep moving higher and the transacted price closed even higher.
WJ,
ReplyDeleteYou must be very experienced in the property market to talk like that =)
But I guess there must be a day when the prices stop rising yah?
Do keep us updated when you find a good investment property. Hope to learn what are the factors that you consider when investing in a property.