Orchard

Inside Ngee Ann City
This Wednesday I went to Kinokuniya Bookshop with my sister to hunt for good ones. It is my first time to step into such a grand bookshop here, with purpose, especially. The outing was awe-striking and soothing. This is not hard to understand because Thanksgiving and Christmas are drawing near. You can feel the festive mood almost everywhere----indeed a season of giving.

A season of indulgence.

So for once my sister and I went to indulge in the bookshop. We were born bookworms. Since I was capable of reading, I have been developed a rooted love for books. Just like someone whose saliva flows when he sees food, we find the temptation of books almost irresistable. At about age four, I could make good use of my tree-climbing skills to scramble up my parents' cupboard and search for books. Our discovery was a disappointing story book, quite thick, though. We kept reading days after days, and when we finished, we turned to the prologue and reread all over again. At that time I was too familiar with the plots that I could memorise some pieces word by word.

I also put a science FAQ book in my treasure trove. The book have been reread so many times that that bookspine was broken. My mother had to sew the book pages together like sewing clothes. Of course we were reluctant to throw any books away, books were not cheap at that time. For now, one of my most regrettable things was that I sold two collections of detective stories in a random flea market for eight RMB to buy snacks and drinks. We found those rotten-to-the-core stories unattractive. But later, we almost went mad to procure them.

Back to the book store. Lingering in a book store is such an indulgence for us that when our parents went shopping in some exclusive mansions, we invariably argued for a place in a book store. We could kneel there reading for hours while they went on bargain-hunting or drolling in front of Armarni Suit, Jeans West, Ballide, etc, etc. The longer they lingered, the merrier we became. When they finally came to fetch us, we were always in a state of glueing to the pages. It took them much trouble to break the adhesion.

Indeed, a book store is the ultimate "getaway" for us. Just imagine losing yourself in the pages! It is better escapade from reality than eye-soring computer games.

And it makes you "feel something" when you are in some place like Kinokuniya.

"Next station, Orchard!"

We began to barge our way towards the door.

"Doors opening, please mind the platform gap."

We merrily alighted and swam forward with the human tide. Almost all well-heeled people in the train poured out like scurrying ants, and we found ourselves involuntorily pushed towards the outlet leading to the Orchard Road.

Fine. That was where we were going.

Unfortunately, we went in the wrong direction towards Shaw Centre which led us away from Ngee Ann City. We realised our mistake at the end of the Orchard Road( so blunt!) and made a U-turn before merrily walking up again.

We entered Ngee Ann City through the glass door of Takashimaya and went headlong to the escalator which took us to the book store in no time. The next three hours, we were swimming in it with other trouts, eels, salmons and octupuses before finally paying for our treasure at the counter. It was soothing to see our carefully chosen books being wrapped for us in a delicate manner. It was great to purchase in such a classy place.

To spice up our date, we went to Wisma Atria to have dinner. The top-level Foodrepublic was nicely decorated to fit the Yuletide ambience. Sitting in a quiet corner with someone special is a real treat, a real enjoyment of solitude away from civilasation.

And don't forget, Christmas light-up is on now:)

I want to say "Hi" to Father Christmas!