A week has gone by since Japan and I’m already going through “the feels”. The three weeks with Chris was nothing but a workout for our legs. Everything we ate, we worked off because there was THAT much walking involved. It’s Japan, you’ll find yourself constantly walking to shops, walking while you shop, walking to the market, walking to find something to eat, walking while you eat, walking to the subway, walking through the fluffy snow, walking 382563457 sets of stairs, walking to 7-11, walking to the toilet (it was winter and we pee’d a lot), running for the shinkansen, and walking to get lost. We’re relieved we got our bucket list items out of the way and loved experiencing every bit of it, INCLUDING the walking. Coming back I noticed we captured plenty of footage, especially in moments where I even forgot I held the GoPro.
It’s gigabytes worth of film so I’ve decided to shorten it. I’m no filmmaker, but I do make videos as a hobby. Thanks Adobe Premiere for sorting out our film 😀
PS: The last bit of footage we were playing immersive gundam and I was communicating with Chris from a separate capsule. Got too distracted.
2 years – that’s how long one of my local shopping malls took to renovate a new block within the complex. Now that the 1st phase is completed I’m already starting to hear these common remarks: “Chadstone competes with the shopping malls in Asia”, “it’s better”,”it’s bigger”. Why Asia? Shanghai, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, and Saigon— are crazy about developing and expanding new urban landscapes influenced by the malls in America. They serve as the global hub for multiple mega complexes.
Asia’s economy in this 21st century thrives on the ability to consume at levels at or near those of the US or Europe. Shopping is like a sporting culture to them, the influence of Sex and the City and the New York fifth avenue shopping fantasies appeal to them on many levels. Their malls are meeting spaces, glossy, air-conditioned indoor parks – a place to ignore the air pollution, poverty, and heat of the real world. So yes, for you folks travelling to South East and East Asia for the first time, now you know.
So how does Chaddy compare? In terms of variety and being able to cater to everyone, yes Chaddy is a massive win. From the top of my head here’s what Chadstone has to offer that the malls in Asia don’t have all under the one roof:
Kmart, Target, The Reject Shop and Daiso – perfect for anyone who wants to shop for everyday items. Art Riot, Stuff n Nonsense (costume shop), Kikki.K, Muji, Typo, and Lincraft shops – for the creatives. Bath and Body Works, Crabtree & Evelyn, The Body Shop, Kiehl’s and Aesop – for skincare and body products. Two leading Australian department stores Myer and David Jones situated next to the luxury district, and of course the luxury district itself: Fendi, Prada, Gucci, Valentino, Givenchy etc. A section of the lower level for kids; Armani Junior, Pumpkin Patch, Build a Bear, Bardot Junior, Toys R Us and a Legoland to be opened next year.
Coles, Aldi and Woolworths, seafood shops, premium butchers, an Asian grocer, a market for fresh food – all conveniently located near each other for those who do grocery shopping (I’ve never seen more than one supermarket in a mall overseas!). Two major food courts as well as private eateries and cafes scattered throughout the building – the favorites being Ladurée (Parisian cafe), Royal Stacks (burgers), Fonda (Mexican restaurant), Marae Izakaya (Sushi Train), Nene Chicken, Yokozuna (Ramen restaurant with green tea sweets) and of course, Hungry Jacks burgers (yum).
There’s already a Burberry across the road, this may be an extension?
Apple, Samsung and JB Hifi are there to accomodate the tech department and Nike, Adidas, Under Armor, Converse and Rebel Sport accomodate your sporting needs. A random Tesla showroom. Hoyts cinema complex. Watch repair, shoe polishing and key fitting services. A mini playground for kids. Sneakerboy, Platypus, Hype, Footlocker and Adidas Originals for you sneaker heads. And finally: Sephora, Uniqlo, H&M, Mecca Maxima, and Zara.
It is the Fashion Capital, but it’s more like the Variety Capital!
Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, Jakarta’s Plaza Indonesia, Philippine’s Mall of Asia, Macau’s Venetian hotel and mall, Chengdu’s New Century Global Center: every one of them has their own target market, with each shopping experience differing to one another including Chadstone. In the Philippines you have an indoor ice skating rink and a theme park next door, Chengdu has an artificial indoor beach, Singapore and Jakarta houses more luxury brands and the Venetian in Macau has a huge mix of branded fashion and a casino/hotel complex. So in a way, you can’t compare any of them with Chadstone.
Venetian, Macau
Taipei 101, Taipei
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
I think Chaddy is still a win. Yes the size draws similarities with the mega malls in Asia but it depends on experiences shoppers want that define the word “better”. Perhaps shopping with family is ideal for you and you’ll probably find Chengdu or Philippines the better spot. Or if you solely want to shop for everything luxury in one spot then Singapore and Macau is your pick (they have Vertu phones, Richard Mille watches and Hermes bags – the most expensive brands in their specialty).
Chaddy just caters to everyone’s shopping needs – and even eating needs!
It’s always in my family’s agenda to travel whenever we could. When we first came to Australia, my Dad used to play senior badminton tournaments interstate and in New Zealand and we’d road trip together with his teammates and their families.
Badminton isn’t the reason why we travel to this day, it was only the first few times experiencing traveling together as a family that we’ve grown to love it. Singapore, Jakarta and Bali became our main destinations of travel, right after my Dad stopped playing tournaments. These cities particularly were of great convenience given that most of our family live there. Overtime my Dad’s work got more and more demanding, so my Mom, sister and I flew to other cities in Asia and would usually find ourselves getting lost in the middle of these busy cities and end up somewhere on the outskirts – that’s the beauty of travelling. There’s not much of a difference between a life on the road and everyday life. The lessons I learned while travelling have always applied to everyday life, therefore I think it’s healthy to travel!
Welcome to my travel gallery (hit the refresh button if the photos don’t load properly).
These shots were taken from my Canon 500D. Prior to my Year 12 Photography classes, I was well equipped with a standard 8 megapixel digital camera. It was compact and whenever I go travelling I would never leave this baby behind – I made sure it was first thing I packed.
Obviously the quality of smartphone cameras almost exceed the quality of digital cameras today. As a result, I stopped carrying my digital camera since my iPhone is equally as good, the only exception is the storage which my phone doesn’t have much of compared to the camera’s SD card. But still, phone and digital cameras didn’t fully capture the right photos I wanted. I’m talking about fiddling with Depth of field, aperture speeds and exposure times. I was still on the hunt for something that allowed me to do this.
Catching up with my uncle in Taiwan a couple years back, I discovered his Canon 5D Mark II DSLR camera. I visited him with Mom and he allowed me to use his DSLR to take a few snaps while we were holidaying in Taipei. I played around with its settings and manually adjusted the focus, it felt like a device that knew exactly what I wanted. Going forward, I’m only a hobbyist and thought about an entry level DSLR. Keep in mind that it doesn’t always matter how good the actual camera is, but it’s the lenses that affect the result of a photo (big time!).
That’s pretty much the birth of my Canon 500D camera, which isn’t compact but certainly a lot more portable and affordable than my uncle’s camera. Some programs I use for editing and organizing my own photos is Adobe Lightroom and sometimes if I want to make quick edits on the phone, VSCO is a great app to edit photos on the go. There is also a link to see some videos I made using Adobe Premiere and iMovie.
Another one of my hobbies lie in videography, I’ve never had a specific device for this in the past as I only usually recorded on my phone or camera. My bestie’s good at this stuff and sometimes our friends would get annoyed at her for holding the camera too much. I get why, because nothing’s more satisfying than rewatching a hilarious video of your friends playing drinking games or even sober board games. Until the GoPro trend hit the market, I was invested in the world of videography and was amazed at how well it recorded footage on a small camera. To those reading this, get one, please, and never look back!
Catch my photos here and my videos here.
A right-brainer by day and occasional blogger by night, you've landed on a place where I live and breathe all things art, design, culture and fashion. You'll find me documenting my life in the creative field, endless travels with friends and family and a bit of food.