22-Jul-2025
I like malls. There, I've said it...
For a start, in the tropics, malls are -- literally -- cool places to be. If you've been walking in the heat and the dust, a mall constitutes a great opportunity to bring down your temperature with a drink and an air-conditioned stroll.
And also, malls are quirky. People often say they despise malls because they're artificial to the nth degree, and the same everywhere.
But on that latter point, I definitely don't agree. Yes, it's primarily the chains that flock there, but the mall we've lived next door to for the last week or so is definitely very individual. I don't really recall one quite like it. And not just because of the gorilla...
The gorilla obviously goes walkabout from time to time, as you're specifically warned to watch out for him in town...
This mall, for example, unlike many I know, really goes in for seating:
There's entertainment:
There's even a walk-in horror show featuring the "red bride"...
The aesthetics are interesting:
And, oh yes, the shopping is good... The mall supermarket supplies better yogurt than we can get back home, not to mention delicious dragonfruit and enormous avocados (and the guy on the end till now knows us and our funny foreign card very well).
Oh, so very true...
Matahari (the good old stalwart from our former Indonesia days) proved its worth by supplying me with a replacement bag, and Nigel with replacement sandals. And there's a wonderful shop that not only sells beautifully displayed instant noodles, but also quality packs of nuts:
There's even a small bookshop:
Don't let the covers deceive you. Indonesian publishers often put the English title on the front, even though the texts are in Indonesian
And, needless to say, there's food and drink...
Pempek! I love these, and they're really only available in Indonesia
Up Coffee. Again, the guys here got to know us well
Avocado coffee frappe from JCo... Delicious. Turned out they came with free doughnuts... Sometimes our best intentions are defeated...
This trip has been a great way back into Indonesia, after an absence of more than six years. And it has been very enjoyable.
But in some ways I feel we haven't even scratched the surface with Singkawang. Because our main objectives were A) to get away from yet more building repairs; and B) to just be somewhere new, we've very much gone with the flow, walking and Grabbing and photographing, but definitely not pushing any boundaries, and taking lots of time out to do the kinds of things we do wherever we are.
A little motorbike would open up lots more possibilities; there are many little points of interest just a little further out... Next time...
In the meantime, I'll leave you with a couple of photos from the area just down the road from the mall: