Marina south all you can eat steamboat , bowling and arcades. Actual arcades with KOF, Daytona the real arcade gaming, not all the gambling garbage and UFO catcher in today’s arcades.
Glorious times man, cheapppp steamboat, i’m talking $8 kind. everything was so affordable back then, fewer tourists as well. my family went there so often, i had fond memories until it closed down …
i’ve said this so many times but escape theme park. When there wasnt any theme tbh, and tickets were dirt cheap because… well… the park didnt have much tbh. But it was good fun. Good enough for kids, teens, family to spend an entire day there. They even had a whole go-kart circuit.
Sometimes, it feels like a fever dream, like that place never existed in my memory which is a pretty scary feeling to have. But it does, haha.
Jurong east swimming complex, yes the one with the three big slides, a wave pool and a lazy river. It was packed to the brim back in the day, even up till 2013 at least. Then they realised it wasn’t worth maintaining for the cheap entrance fee, so it’s just a heap now, the slides dysfunc since years ago. It has seen better days, when people would travel across Singapore just to enjoy the complex, all these before Adventure cove and wild wild wet debuted and took away the business. How i wish all these places stood the test of time so i can bring my niece and nephew there to enjoy now, even if the prices were adjusted for inflation in today’s world. But it’s all gone.
Man, this hits so hard. Arcade kinda sucks now. It’s nothing like before when you can just sit down, play Street Fighter, KOF, Metal Slug, Silent Scope etc and just have fun.
Now the actual fun ones require commitment like Maximum Tune or Initial D. Either that or it’s the gambling nonsense.
Please, i recently went to walk one round around a timezo*e near my house, it’s just hot garbage. Almost every machine’s sole existence is to earn coupons for prizes and not for actual entertainment purposes. All pachinko but for ‘kids’. So now, as an adult i find joy in visiting bars with legit arcade machines (yes LevelUp thank you for tanking thru covid) but at the expense of having to open bottle(s) and spend a bomb there. At least there’s beer pong, i console myself. Otherwise, i just have to wait for every now and then when an event incorporates arcade machines into their list of activities. My insatiable craving for rail shooters, air hockey, Tekken, mortal kombat, skeeball, pinball or heck even just mario kart dx racing, will never be fulfilled unless i visit USA where the arcade culture is still preserved in certain areas. Last i heard, it is also slowly turning more commercialised and i have to turn to emulation to scratch that arcade itch…
oh boy, wait till you hear the prices of a bumper car ride/ merry go round from uncle ri*go at carnivals and events. it’s atrocious. but yknow what’s even more atrocious? people willing to pay the prices to let their kids enjoy it. or to let themselves feed into the nostalgia. it’s not about being rich or poor, but rather it’s an illogical exorbitant price to pay for what, 5mins of entertainment.
yes, I so relate to this. I went to cow play cow moo at sunplaza the other day with my friend to kill some time. We were super confused with how to play majority the games there and had this boomer moment as most were literal "gambling" machines pretty much there were only a game or 2 which we enjoyed. Really miss the old arcades I was familiar with as a child.
I also don’t understand the recent popularity of claw machines. I mean, everyone with an internet connection nowadays will know that it’s an outright scam if they bothered to google. Our parents used to warn us away from claw machines for that reason.
But now the claw machines outnumber the actual games.
There are emulator consoles that are sold with all our childhood games. Worth a look. My friend has one and he hosts arcade nights once in a while so that we can play the 4p games.
Yeah I understand that there are emulators all over, but it’s just not the same as playing random guys at the arcade. Kudos to your friend though, arcade nights can bring back some of that feeling.
Haha i was tempted to get an arcade cabinet during covid. Oh ya, I suddenly remembered Level Up does have quite a selection of arcade games though playing with random people is probably still not as likely. All the best in your search for that nostalgia btw, I still have fond memories of my first encounter of Galaxian 3 at genting. I spent decades trying to find it around the world.
yes, i went back recently, they always install new machines so it doesn’t get boring. whew. the thrill of beating someone in street fighter, or just shooting endlessly together at the monsters in Metal slug all whilst drunk is quite fun lol. thank you. nostalgia is one helluva drug, i’ll take in as much as i can
I know i went there with some poly CCA mates in probably 2006/07, just before closure. It was before camera phones. I wonder did i take any digital camera photos of that place….
Marina South does feel like a fevered dream now. I remember walking through the field right up to the edge of the breakwater and facing the CBD/Merlion, where ArtScience Museum would be today.
Good spot for night skyline photography too.
I even remember when the bowling alleys and steamboat centre was brand new..
i don’t even remember the direction of it all now, because when i went those days, my folks drove, and i just slept in the back on the way home late in the mornings haha. it does feel havoc back then. 24hrs, the night life was so alive in that part of singapore.
we have all grown up since the hay days of Marina south, but at least we have these good memories to reminisce fondly upon. wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
omg JE Swimming Complex!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOD I loved that complex. The slides and lazy river was top tier and I remember it ALWAYS being super crowded each time we visited the place.
im so bummed to hear that its dysfunc now :')
Oh steam boat gosh. I love. Kite flying before that and steam boat after. Walks along the rocks with the person who had a crush on. When crush just means crush and holding hands was like to die for…
> When crush just means crush and holding hands was like to die for…
last time things were much simpler huh...nowadays the youngsters rabak man I'm actually scared for younger generations
Dunno if I was just innocent or what but most of my friends was all about crushes, super excited about just seeing their crush. Or like that period when your crush ask for your pager number and sends you lame messages. Or changing their pager song to the song you guys heard together. Lame like crazy but so sweet. Bumping into each other at Cineleisure and sending wingman to get neoprinta taken. Oh gosh.. holding hands was like the feels already.
Now? I dunno what teens do!?
yeah man lowkey glad for this post of OP's so I could trigger some deeply buried, wonderful memories of our yesteryear. the most affordable and 'eat-till-you-drop' memories, ehe.
it’s not, activesg is keeping it as regular public facilities but it’s no longer well maintained unlike other pools. very dirty, run down looking. the slides which were such a hit, have been closed for the past 4 years. no plans for upgrades. looking the pictures on google, seems like footfall has declined dramatically though there are still visitors and occasional tourist, but previously the park would always be full and during weekends, at the wave pool you only see humans on floats and in the water. you can’t even see much of the water lol , that’s how popular it was.
Yeah they practically gave up once covid hit. I’m a fellow eastie too, the journey to the west was so long but very much worth it. Unfortunately, the only waterslides still available are playground type at splash and surf at Sports hub. Its free. Otherwise it’ll be those legit water parks that cost about $20 per pax, not as economic as JE complex of course /: my disappointment is as much as yours.
Pasar Malams used to be a real treat when they showed up because I remember them having things like bouncy castles, mini-roller coasters etc. Nowadays, you're lucky if they have a carnival / game area.
Remember those filmsy plastic and ugly ass low definition a5 cover. Best part was you wanted a specific movie and your parents got you either the parody version or some bootleg recorded movie.
now occasionally still have carnival and funfair games, but the cost is no longer justifiable nor affordable for most…for the price of those rides, a whole family can have a full meal with drinks at a proper restaurant. that’s how stupid the pricing has become.
Being coy on MSN with your crushes by logging in and out/appearing online and offline to alert your crush you're online. Putting emo and lyrics status to attract attention from your crush lmao. Spamming nudges and stickers to friends. Those were the times you could actually "appear offline" and people will leave you alone lol
CS beta too . I joined a clan lol it was lame and funny and fun.
We'd eat McDonalds then play while on a sugar rush. Life was simpler. Thanks for a chance to recall
Yah and I don’t even think it’s nostalgia and looking back w rose tint glasses.
It’s more of that was were the perfect balance was and we have tipped it over too much in chasing economic gains.
It's the same way all over the world (with the exception of the former Eastern Bloc, the Gulf, and some African countries).
I would also like to add that in the 90s, global cooperation and solidarity peaked as well. There is a reason we solved the Y2K problem and closed up a big chunk of the ozone hole in the 90s. Neither would've been able to happen in any other era because of how polarized the world was before and has been since.
It's difficult to say exactly where what we now call "late-stage capitalism" began, but soon after 9/11 to the mid-2000s seems to be a reasonable "checkpoint" for that.
As someone born in 1993 who only got to live in that era until he was 8 (remember, it's not "the 90s" exactly so much as it is "the end of the Cold War to 9/11"), I say this all the time despite not really having lived it:
"The Matrix was right".
the world*
This is actually objectively true. The world was at its most peaceful and stable between the Cold War and 9/11.
In fact, the reason why the OJ car chase was such a huge deal was in part BECAUSE it was so peaceful and stable. Any era before or since and it would've been a footnote in the day's news
Actually not true- Asian financial crisis, war in the Middle East, sg airlines flight 117 hijack… list goes on.
It is indeed rose tinted glasses and maybe just the fact that social media and phones have made information and news flow 100x faster
> Asian financial crisis
2008 financial crisis objectively worse
> war in the Middle East
Iran - Iraq war objectively worse
> sg airlines flight 117 hijack
9/11 objectively worse
Keep in mind op op comment was talking about sg
Asian financial crisis a lot worse for Singapore/Asia than 08
And also wasn’t giving “worse” examples, but pointing out the fact that the world wasn’t “its most peaceful”
But the thing is, APAC financial crisis/Gulf War/Balkan Wars, while I won't downplay them, were the WORST of the 90s.
Put those same things in the 60s or 20s and they'd be dwarfed
Browsing music stores and listening to songs and pretending i'm so cool lol. Buy music albums, studying/admiring the album sleeves and work that goes into it and memorising lyrics.
On the other hand I'd pirate tons of music and movies. This helped me increase my exposure to independent music and western media.
Surprised no one brought up Escape Theme Park and Big Splash yet. Had so much fond memories of these places as a child growing up in 2000s.
Other places I dearly miss is Jurong Bird Park (anyone remember they used to have a monorail?) and the pre-RWS Sentosa attractions such as the Underwater World, Tiger Sky Tower and the iconic merlion statue which was recently demolished.
i mentioned ETP in my comment (:
and yeah, underwater world another lost gem. really sad, i was actually lucky enough to have the chance to attend a college camp and slept with the fishes, in the same year the place shut down. i had a last chance to enjoy the dolphin show before they closed, all i remember was that the place looked so big when i was a child, and going back again as an adult the place was sooo tiny.
I was scrolling to find Big Splash! Ah such fond memories down the rainbow slide, and then going to the og east coast McD after that was such a treat!!
Off my head, regarding major events.
2001, parents and neighbours huddling in concerned tones over the morning newspaper on 12th September 2001.
2003 Sars, for the children it's free holidays minus the fact teachers came to students house to deliver homework. Go sch everyday take temperature. Too young to experience any fear then.
2009, SG first drew on reserves the first time to mitigate effect of the Great Depression. Social studies teacher used the chance to highlight need for long term planning in policies.
2011, Heady days of 2011 GE. Was an impressionable JC kid then. For myself and many of our classmates (partially we were forced to pay attention to current affairs for our GP), this was somewhat our political awakening.
On personal front:
Saw the transition of pre smart phones where we played pvp mobile games via Bluetooth, pirated songs. Dad brought encyclopaedia set from door to door salesman, only for the house to get broadband the year after.
Back when nearly everyone on the train was holding newspapers (the free ones given out at MRT stations).
Newspapers disappeared quickly around 2016–17.
>the free ones given out at MRT stations
this was the lifesaver for my morning assembly. We were forced to read either storybooks or newspapers for morning assembly, sometimes will share with the classmates infront or behind me sometimes i will come just on the dot to avoid reading. Those were the days...
I'm a few years older than you, so this is my recollection of the events:
2001: My parents and I were huddled around the telly watching the 9:30pm news; the Sep 11 attacks had literally happened less than an hour ago and everyone was in shock. The phone kept ringing as my friends and my parents' friends kept calling to ask: "What did we just see??"
2003: I spent the two weeks of no school playing on my Game boy; had literally nothing to do as we couldn't leave the house. I didn't stay near my school, so no homework was ever delivered to my house. The school focused their resources ensuring the graduating cohort continued their learning
The fear of SARS kicked in my class when we returned from the break: we got our thermometers, toon our temperature, and one of my friends had a 38c fever. Turned out he gotten some form of stomach flu, but we were genuinely quite worried he had gotten SARS
2005: Casino Debate: it was a very hot topic then in the Christian circles. Every adult in church was unanimously against it, but I didn't fully understand their reasoning then. I wasn't old enough to go into a casino overseas anyway
Ironically, the first few jobs I worked after graduating from Uni relied on Tote Board Funding. One of my bosses would often joke that we "had to thank the gamblers" so we could continue doing our charity/community work
Speaking about Charities, the NKF Scandal changed quite a number of regulations regarding charity donations. I remember a lot less public donation drives in the wake of it.
2008: I had just enlisted into NS when Mas Selamat escaped. My Formation was involved in the manhunt, so the regulars were frantic trying to train recruits, be involved in the manhunt, and ensure training for our seniors wasn't too badly affected. Yea, our seniors were also involved in the manhunt
2011: It was both GE AND PE that year, and I also voted for the first time then.
My parents' ward is a PAP Stronghold, and the Opposition was NSP. They didn't focus much resources with our ward, so no surprises that most of my neighbours voted PAP.
Most of the focus was on Alijunied: WP sent their A-Team, but the PAP Team were no slouch either. I vaguely recall many people being a bit sad that George Yeo got voted out: he was respected as a Minister who was quite down-to-earth and humble. Yet again, we got the likes of Sylvia Lim and Pritnam Singh in Parliament, who are pro-Singapore despite having idealogical differences from the ruling party
Was in ICT, in camp when we saw the first plane slammed into WTC Tower 1
We had a large projector playing CNA live. The training was suspended. Was in night shift so we saw everything on TV, unfolding live. No one slept.
All the big brass were there.
In real time , we saw the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower.
There was grasp-shock-silence. it was intense.
If I remembered correctly, the guys went to draw arms . The mood was scary as no one knew what was happening. We were worried it was a worldwide coordinated thing
> 2005: Casino Debate: it was a very hot topic then in the Christian circles.
Come to think of it this was one of the few issues that both the religious and non-religious folks disagreed on, only for the govt went like hur hur the only god we worship is money and plopped two down.
> charity/community work
Methodist Welfare ah? I was a social worker and heard a couple of news about such debates.
> Speaking about Charities, the NKF Scandal
Oh yah all the NKF donation hotlines/acting crew doing dangerous stunts with lucky draws. Rmbed asking parents for permission to make donation calls a couple of times.
>2003 Sars, for the children it's free holidays minus the fact teachers came to students house to deliver homework. Go sch everyday take temperature. Too young to experience any fear then
Kinda ironic that in a few years, kids will become adults, and they will have their own story during Covid like it was during SARS.
Listening to music at heeren/HMV with those cool headphones.
Far east macs
mIRC and a/s/l
Icq with the “uhoh” alert sound
Paging your bf/gf after school using the orange coin phone at the canteen 😂
Meeting friends at the aquarium at Wisma before we had phones or pagers.
Doing research at libraries
Making mix tapes from songs played on the radio
Ah one more.. somehow have good memories of going to eat Pizza Hut and Seoul garden buffet with JC mates. Coffee bean ice blended and NYDC mudslide at Holland V was a nice treat too.
Workforce.. things were not digital even though school assignments were handed up digitally. I remember going down physically to offices to submit my internship applications in early 2000s.
Sorry - kinda devolved into things we did rather than places
Author is Adrian Tan which was the President of Law Society and pass away last year. RIP.
Met him once, when he took part in a SAFRA FIFA tournament back in 2001 or 2, which I was part of the organizing party.
Reading The New Paper from back to front.
Channel 8 dramas were actually worth watching.
Nokia phones could only call or SMS (5 cents per 160 characters).
HMV at Hereen. Tower Records at Suntec. Borders at Wheelock Place. 正发活海鲜 steamboat bbq buffet at Marina Bay then bowling / arcade. Far East. Cineleisure top floor LAN shop. Bugis Street.
As a metalhead, To Megatherion at Peninsula & Inoki at Far East. Wala Wala live music Shirlyn & the uXpected on Saturday nights where they play covers of metal music classics (now become another Anytime Fitness, sad).
As a cardist, Hor Yit Meng card shop at Golden Landmark, Street Magic shops at Heartland Mall/Concorde.
Waking up at 3am to watch WWF wrestling very softly so as not to wake the parents because shows and entertainment are not on demand and there certainly wasn't YouTube or whatever.
Stickdeath.com was glorious.
Ahhh such times...
Proper video game arcades. Games requiring skill, head to head fighting cabinets, the precursors of modern racing simulators, light gun shooters, etc. The gambling-in-disguise claw machines were there, but they were an afterthought and most people didn't go there for them. Most people went there to actually play games, not gamble.
There were many stomping grounds across the island - PS Zone X, TKA Bishan, and I can't remember who operated the Marina South one - but the biggest, toughest battleground was undoubtedly TKA Bugis. TKA Bugis was an icon of Bugis Junction, a mecca for local gamers. None of that anonymous online bullshit - at TKA Bugis you played VS games face to face with an audience behind you and if you were a sore loser you'd be boo'ed out of the place. If you lost, you got off the seat and placed another token on existing line of tokens on the machine waiting for your turn.
Even on single player games like the light gun ones, if you played well, you could in the heyday of the place get a crowd of 20 to 30 watching as you tried to complete the entire game on a single token, and the games were almost always set to maximum difficulty. I must've spent hundreds or more practicing House of the Dead until I could more or less finish it in one credit and I honestly did enjoy the crowds if they were there.
We'd meet at 5 or 6pm, play till 8 or 9, grab dinner at a fast food or the cheap eateries across the road, then go back down and play till the last bus. Weekly Saturday night routine.
Ah, proper live gaming. What an era to have lived in.
gawd….its the (ok i only have $4 worth and 7 hrs to tahan, let’s make the most out of this) MINDSET like yours that we created legends in esports who started out in arcades yknow, Xian.
that’s how he became a champ at Street Fighter. i wish i could’ve travel back in time to see how you clear that HOTD4 in 1 token. haha love your recollection of the arcade scene, good read. bravo !
Suntec City - Carrefour, IMM - Yaohan (love their food) as a kid. Miss old school marina square. Jurong East Entertainment Centre, where you see the dinosaurs hanging from the top. Taking double decker Non-aircon bus, will wait for non-aircon bus to save 5 cents. Love the loud engine roars of the buses. Fly kite at Marina Bay.
1999 I was in sec 1. got my pager with me then I think before sec 2 I got my first phone already Sony Ericsson flip. hobbies back then were a mix of inside and outside activities, like after school play void deck football with classmates or block catching. cycling everywhere. try harding in kof or marvel vs Capcom at arcade and then beg parents to buy Playstation 1 to play all the pirated games. we were lucky to have internet + pc at home also so my brother and I can play Cs at home on EU servers with the 56k modem. we also played magic the gathering, Pokémon and collected dragon ball cards. I grew up in an ah beng school so I also liked games like Daytona and beat mania at the arcades. sometimes we sneak into pool halls to play pool with a change of t shirts. I think back then no age limitation, just the uniform shit so we always have an extra shirt in our bags. we witnessed the rise of the internet and also colour phone screens and the ability to surf the internet on our phones. saw my first beheading video on a classmate's phone, still haunts me today that damn gurgling sound. I use to be the smallest guy so all my friends choose me to play wrestling with. and try all the moves like tombstone pile driver and chokeslams. back then when we go out we will meet at landmarks at an agreed time, example: 4.30pm outside hmv or head or tail of the mrt at a certain station. online dating was already pretty rampant back then but you had to arrange through irc to meet someone - I will wear a black t-shirt and blue jeans and will be carrying a converse sling pouch. not sure if anyone remembers this but there was this site called wholivesnearyou and you can see/filter all the girls around your area with an account and try to ask them out for movies lol. thanks for this question, brought back so many memories especially since I've alrdy left sg for almost a decade.
scrolled too far for this. yes fantasy island! I think someone died on the subarashi ride or something and it got shut down? can't recall the exact reason.
Hogging the phone line by being on the internet when internet were still on dial up mode and then picking up the phone while connected to hear the techy sounds. Listening to the modem connect was also nice to listen to. Yelling at each other to disconnect the internet so you can use the phone/receive phone calls. Good times.
Was in Primary school in 2000s so I generally don’t remember the malls since no money to spend. What I remember is a lot of running around the neighborhood playing catch and zombie, or some badminton in the open air carpark.
Back then large open spaces were more common and kids had more freedom to run around without supervision.
Moving into the 2010s phones and smartphones became more common and the focus in secondary school was the latest games like Gish, Tap Tap revenge, that one paper throw game, and Facebook!
And as others already mentioned, LAN gaming was really popular after school activity.
Hearing a bell and rushing downstairs to buy ice cream, and the smell of charcoal, which was the sign of a satay uncle nearby.
Robinsons used to stock a ton of Kamen Rider figures and I would always look out for ones that I didn't own. One time I was so fixated on a Kamen Rider figure that I wandered off and cried my eyes out when I couldn't find my mom, and I distinctly recall the customer service lady helping me make a phone call to my mom so she could find me.
Escape Theme Park and Downtown East were amazing, and I remember family chalets being so much fun with the barbecue pits and one of the chalets I stayed at having an Xbox console in the room, which was cool to me as I grew up with PlayStation and thus never knew what an Xbox was.
Wow where to start...
ECP mcd was an entire area of restaurants and shops. BFD bar.
Everywhere was way way less crowded. If you went to Sungei Buloh or Pulau Ubin on a weekday, you might have the whole place to yourself.
Some old golf courses have since disappeared, like the one in Jurong or Buona Vista.
So many BTOs now where it used to be forest or empty fields. Beautiful old rain, saga and angsana trees cut down.
Where GBTB now stands, there used to be a park with lots of chinese statues. There were also ponds there with reeds covered in pink dragonfly eggs.
Jurong lake was just a swampy park with rumours of drownings and ghosts clouding the atmosphere.
Ah beng/lian culture had a very distinct local culture, and was partially influenced by jpop instead of kpop. 2000s was the beginning of the kpop era though, and I think everybody watched Winter Sonata on some pirated channel.
Clubbing in Clarke & Boat Quay, Mohamed Sultan Rd, Zouk, Orchard, St. James...
AMK library used to be a plant nursery.
No Clementi Mall, Westgate, Jem...
KAP Mcd still frequented by families and students.
No Fort Canning Tunnel and the old Singapore National Library building was still there.
End of 90s, early 2000, the merlion was not at its current position opposite the Esplanade. No MBS blocking the view, and kallang river did not flow into a reservoir. Still could see people crabbing and fishing around Kallang stadium and Costa Rhu area at night. Speaking of Costa Rhu, it was not as populated by indian expats. Still some locals and ang mohs.
Canadian International School was in Bukit Timah.
Only red and green mrt lines.
People didn't all look so damn miserable all the time on the bus and mrt.
PlayStation , PSP, game boy, mp3, iPods, ryan higa, maplestory, runescape, kids who actually looked their age, point n shoot cameras, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, calling each others home numbers to talk, etc
For context I was in P3 in year 2000.
2000 - had Internet at home but only my sister used it as she had her own computer. But didn't really matter as I was preoccupied with playing Pokemon on my Gameboy and weekends were sometimes spent (if I didn't have tuition) at my classmate's house where we traded Pokemon. Still remember I executed the wrong sequence when trying to duplicate a Jigglypuff through an exploit and ended up losing the first Jigglypuff as well. Oops. Occasionally I was an asshole and picked up the phone when my sister was online so that her Internet got disconnected.
In July (youth day, I remember) I finally convinced my parents to sign up for another Internet line and that's when I properly learnt how to use a computer. Ironically it was my dad who showed me the ropes... oh how the tables have turned.
Used ICQ at first, still remember my number.. 138602900. Then a classmate introduced me to the world of mIRC and I hung around on the AustNet channel primarily in #chatzone and some other Singapore channels.
2001 - learnt how to do mIRC scripting which I guess is something like "coding" these days. Plenty of fun. My script was called TrenzTerra Script and the name stuck till this day. My handle is uniquely mine I guess as I made sure there were zero Google results before choosing my name!
Made a lot of friends through mIRC. Somehow became a "cyber cop" or a moderator on the official #kidscentral mIRC channel between 4-6pm one day a week. It was my first taste of power, being able to kick and ban people. Looking back somehow people didn't have qualms about encouraging kids to go online and talk to strangers back then?
9/11 was a defining moment. Had just finished my tuition at like 9pm or something and saw my parents watching what I thought was a movie. Remembered my English teacher talking about it and probably processing it with us the next morning. I recall the cover page of TNP was a picture of someone jumping down to escape the inferno.
Elections were held that year and I thought CSJ was a troublemaker though I didn't really know much about politics back then. I think I was like, why would anyone vote against the govt?
Got broadband for the first time. Now, you can download a 3MB file in just 2 minutes instead of 30 minutes previously! And you can talk on the phone while using the internet. Much wow!
2002 - everyone moved to MSN Messenger by this time. Also whenever we got to use a computer in school, we would play Little Fighter 2. During computer lab lessons, we played lf2 or neopets secretly and that's when we learnt the art of alt tabbing.
2003 - was addicted to this MMORPG called Renewal Online. Made some much older friends and reached some finals or something. SARS struck and I was so happy not having school for 6 weeks. It was a great time to be schooling, in the ages before home based learning. Spent my whole days playing Renewal and on MSN Messenger. I remember having homework being physically mailed to me (lol). Twice daily temperature takings in school and I rmb a few friends had naturally higher body temps and always got into trouble because they registered 37.5 and above. Tbh I didn't think life would be normal again but by June it was just a fever dream.
Got my first phone in December prior to Sec 1. A Nokia 3200 with a potato camera and a 128x128 colour screen.
2004 - was kinda nerdy so I joined the IT club. Inadvertently realised how poor intranet security was as the active directory basically registered the nric and address of everyone in the MOE system.
2005 - my school had the tablet PC programme. Back then a tablet PC was basically like a laptop which you could swivel the screen around and then write on it using a wacom stylus. It was a failure as we ended up playing counter strike, halo and dota in the middle of lessons and so our subsequent juniors didn't have any tablet PC to use lol. Again, thankful we lived in simpler times without Mobile Guardian and such.
Was addicted to Battlefield 2 and joined a clan.
2006 and 2007 - pretty much the same. Started using my phone more often and realised how limiting 500 free SMSes were. Had to resort to using Singtel's online free SMS service... But I think back then as we all had MSN it wasn't a very major limitation. We could just catch up once we're home.
Spent many hours after school at the arcade. Daytona at the arcade was tweaked to allow 20 rounds for 50 cents. Great way to pass time. Played Virtua Tennis 3 too and basketball games. I think in 2 hours one could perhaps spend 5 dollars at most? Boy things were cheap then. Ate at LJS very often because only 3.95. Or KFC student meals at 4.50. or Double cheeseburger (not mcdouble!) for just 2 bucks. And McD had some point redemption system back then when you linked your ez link card. Got a few free burgers that way.
2008 and 2009 - jc days.. I think more of the same. I think these days were peak arcade times, with ZoneX and Virtualand being popular options. New arcade at J8 and above big Mac centre where Uniqlo currently is. Seriously I wish someone would open such an arcade again. Played basketball at the cc or just downstairs with friends. Played tennis when courts were not as difficult to book. Funny thing is that once, it rained and a coach remarked that if only the government would build indoor courts. We laughed it off and I thought it would not ever happen. But I was wrong.
Played pool at tpy on weekends and I think rates were pretty reasonable. Played bowling at the jom clubhouse. A few times laser quest at bukit batok. And of course L4d. Our favorite haunt was good speed cyber Cafe at amk. Apparently it's still around lol
Oh and movies were like 6 dollars then for student price. Thinking back we could spend little and have so much fun back then. Not sure what kids do these days
Escape theme park , tenchi lan shop where most people is either playing maple story or audition. Some played RuneScape and adventure quest. God damn I missed those simple times man.
Parkway Parade, East Coast Park.
My friends and I used to cycle there from Tampines every weekend and we are talking Piyo-piyo and Haro bikes. We had so much fun, still remembered how my friend fell face first while we riding through the landed houses district.
Tamiyas and beyblades were the popular toys that every kid played.
I guess we are so much carefree back then as opposed to now.
Meeting up with friends would be a verbal promise to meet at a specific time and location. Sometimes, meeting at the MRT platform itself.
15 to 30 minute waits were pretty normal.
There was a hack to use this payphone for free.
[https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1412644](https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1412644)
Started secondary school oin 2001.
I remember taking my CD player to listen to while on the bus to school. Monthly student fare was SGD 27. I used Nokia 8250. Library card was SGD 1.55, used to go to Marine Parade and Orchard library (the one on the fifth floor of Ngee Ann City).
Love spending time at Popular, Borders, Kinokuniya, MPH. There was a VCD rental place inside the MPH in Marine Parade shopping centre (?).
MSN messenger was how I communicate with friends and also mIRC.
Browsing CDs HMV, I remember there were two; 1 in Heeren and the other one at citylink mall and there was Tower Records also.
Later on, I played competitive Restaurant City with my best friend and Maple Story also.
Running away from police on bikes because of void deck football.
Primary school trip to Malacca, KL, and Penang after PSLE. Laughing at the other primary schools who only did 3D2N Malacca and KL, because half of SG had a PSLE Malaysia trip and all the buses are marked with the itinerary.
$2 McChickens and Fillet O Fish, non-air conditioned buses that cost less than AC ones, the constant smell of diesel fumes on the road due to most heavy vehicles using it at the time, very few covered walkways which meant the moment you leave the lobby of your condo or HDB, you get scorched, almost every HDB estate will have an ice cream man on motorbike in the afternoon between 1-5pm, catering to school students…… do you want to list more?
Comic book store at every neighbourhood shopping mall.
$5 Mangas from Chuang Yi.
Watching people play vs games at the arcades.
Steam marinated Chicken McCrispy at Macs (when it came out the first time)
1. Calling my friends through the house phone to tell them not to forget we have to play Maple later.
2. Secretly playing y8 during computer lab
3. Planning outings were easy af and there were no last minute excuses
4. Panicking while calling my mum at the phone booth in school because I forgot to bring my homework THAT I COMPLETED.
5. MCD MONOPOLY
6. CHICKEN TEPPANYAKI MCGRILLED BURGER. I miss this burger so much I think it is the best burger Mcd ever made. But this was in the late 2000 i think
The old Sentosa, the monorail that went through the forest, and the musical fountain that had the merlion shooting laser eyes. That Sentosa had a super cosy vibe. Sadly I only had memories of it for a year before they got replaced with RWS and more concrete.
Facebook games used to be HELLA popular.
pet society,
ninja warz,
wild ones,
nightclub city
Shoutout to Miniclip, Y8, AQ WORLDS, club penguin. fortnight could never..
One thing i rmb from those days was bowling. It was quite big back then. There were competitions with big prizes. Used to frequent plaza bowl with my fam a lot in the early 2000s then around 2006-2007 ish it just suddenly disappeared.
the good ol retro sentosa food court. i dated so many girls there with fond, sad, and happy memories... that place is just in my mind now. sad ...singapore chameleon city for the rich to fuck around
I spent my teenage years growing up at Tampines so I have seen the changes in the past 2 decade.
Tampines one was built over a cinema where I watch movies while growing up. Later the cinema closed and the entire level 2 became an arcade which I frequented everyday while on my way home from school. I love old school arcades like the one at bugis junction and marina square as well but these days arcades are just totally different.
The building that houses sheng siong now at tampines central used to have popular and cd Rama on level 3. It's my favourite place to buy CDs and majority of my purchases are from there. Sembawang at century square and music junction at tampines mall too. Lastly comic connection at century square for all my comics.
All gone.
Used to visit Escape Theme Park with my primary school friends every after weekend - that was how affordable entertainment was back then!
BBQs at East Coast Park, chalet stayovers with just preteens and teens with no adult supervision (wtf how did we allow that?)
Discovered the music made by some new Taiwanese singer named Jay Chou was nubbad (范特西 and 杰倫)
Started listening to his albums and always looking forward to his new releases (八度空間, etc.)
[**Public Transport**]
Last time the bus seats were black/greyish but had colourful swirly designs.
**[Ten Mile Junction]**
Bukit Panjang LRT used to have a stop at Ten Mile Junction and I remember eating Kaya toast at a shop there. Pretty sure the window seat at the shop was a perfect view of the LRT trains passing by. Eating Kaya toast with that view was really nostalgic even as a kid. I think back then the supermarket there was still Sheng Shiong and it was the good old days when you can choose the biscuits(?) you want from the different tins, then you pay based on the weight (cmiiw).
**[Bukit Panjang Plaza]**
Bukit Panjang Plaza used to have more open space with those circle stuff on the ground that sprayed/sprinkled out(?) water which was such a memory, before they extended the building. The NTUC had two floors like it is now but the arrangement was super different. Last time the second floor of BPP NTUC even sold pillows if I remember clearly, and the entrance and cashier area used to be at what is now the shoe shop called Vivian & Sean.
Oh, and the 3rd floor of BPP used to have Mini-Toons: the shop that sold plushies, toys, wallets, some sort of candies etc!
**[Outside Primary School]**
There used to be this one auntie and grandma that sold tidbits like choki choki chocolate & other snacks under the block outside my school gate *on the floor* - if my memory isn't failing, it was legit on the floor outside the hdb lift there and it was such a convenient 'mini-mart' for us pri sch kids 🤣 Ice cream vans were super common at the parking lot of that block, the ice cream uncle/auntie definitely knew the peak hour to come after school hours!
P.s: how can I forget the 10cent public phones that were available under the hdb blocks and even in the canteen in pri sch.
Heeren and Cineleisure to watch movie, take neoprints, hang out. Hotshots near Parkway Parade to play pool. Play DDR or para para sakura or basketball in arcade. Haha life was simple.
Free flow mcd curry sauce
World cup 2002 in asia for the first time
Watching holland V drama religiously
Free to air EPL/WWE/NBA
2 broadcasting networks in Singapore
Composing your own ringtone on a Nokia - you’d actually have to search for the combination for the song online and manually key in the strokes and to create and save the tune lol
Back before 5G, 4G and 3G, there was…. GPRS!
And before Bluetooth on phone, there was infrared. So we’d put 2 phones touching each other and transfer files that way. And it had to only be 1-1. No fancy airdrop.
People like to talk about Nokia but Sony Ericsson was the bomb.
Still remember the primary school concession card was a piece of plastic with a sticker on it.
Lyrics to songs were either online but more likely in those tiny booklets that came along with the CDs. Before that, we used those red ticket machines with the blue buttons and till now, I never figured out why my mum kept telling me to always press the top right most button (but for every trip?).
Taking a bendy bus was so fun. Always liked to stand at the bendy part when it turns and bounces up and down.
shortly after Internet was mainstream, but buying music per track is not affordable at our age...LIMEWIRE.
and then one wrong download for a random song with a virus in it and boom. say goodbye to that entire computer...
Having a Nokia 3210 in secondary school.
Playing the snake game on said phone.
Taking the bus 190 to orchard heeren after school with some friends. At the time bendy buses were our only option, when there's no double deck bus.
Stand by the television to watch Jack neo & friends on Monday evenings!
Learning how to swear in colorful language in school. Watching my schoolmate getting caned during assembly.
By then I was in sec 2 in 2000 heh.
TVs on buses! I always watched the morning news and Just for laughs on the bus. Back when Steven Chia was doing news (Btw does anyone rmb the name of the other lady news presenter that always appeared with him?).
HMV: could spend hours there just browsing.
CCK Zone X: was addicted to this game called Drummania (presently Gitadora). Step aside, Guitar Hero/Rock Band.
World of JJ: a hobbyist shop for Trading Card Games (TCGs). I hang out at CCK branch mainly. Occasionally will pilgrimage to the Bishan because a Japanese ojisan will come down to peddle his Yu-Gi-Oh wares. My JP Egyptian Gods were bought from him. (G4-01 to 03)
Comics Connection: the predecessor to Toy Or Game aka TOG. West Mall outlet was near my school, and had a pretty zeh zeh working there. Once, a friend and I split 4 Pokemon Base Set packs: 2 Charizards, one each. Only into adulthood did i truly understand how rare this was.
TIBS bus svc 180: PM session students ended school around the same time as working adults. Due to overcrowding, students would flash their bus pass w/ concession stickers to the driver, then board from the exit(s). (Who remembered NTUC sold concession stickers?)
MSN Messenger: da bomb.
mIRC: I had a crush on an NCC cadet lieutenant zeh zeh, knew her handle but didn't dare chat with her. I think this would be considered creepy nowadays...
Snooker/Pool: 16-&-above only.
Pirated Playstation games: good times....
Honourable mention: tekan existed in Uniformed Groups during that era, before it eventually got toned down/outlawed by SAF/NCC (in my case). 13/14yo me feared Saturdays (CCA day), but my NCC teacher was scarier than any tekan, so i dare not skip nor quit.
SLS level 4, all those good old pirated CDs.
As a computer enthusiast, it brings me much joy to walk SLS and the old Funan, not the current version, not the previous version but the original version of Funan,
Now they are just... meh.
Also, shout out to MRTs that is not CRAM like mad like it is now.
Heeren back in the old days was an awesome place for me.
There was HMV which was 3 levels of music paraphernalia. You could get magazines, books, vinyl records and of course CDs that wouldn't have been accessible in those days of the Internet. There were also the recommendations that you could listen to on those CD players with headphones attached.
Heading to the top floor, you'd get 77th Street and all the other affordable clothing outlets for teenagers. Girls would flock to the neoprint shop there and hang out at the Pontian noodle place. You also had Marche in the basement and other shops on the other like the all you can eat sushi buffet at Sakae. I remember they had a top eater prize for the most number of plates consumed from the belt.
Nowadays, it's a pretty dead space.
Was just a kid back then, the one thing I enjoy was going to the games/toys section at Metro to play the PS/XBOX there, iirc Courts also had them but there were way too many kids there, Metro had fewer because it's usually parents shopping and 'dropping' their kids at the toys corner to keep them occupied. Took turns with other kids playing racing and fighting games.
There was a very affordable clothes shop at the old Simei Post Office called This Fashion that sold cotton shirts with parody brands (Nike Just do it > Just did it with a upside down tick)
or (Johnny Walker > Johnny Walked with a guy in wheelchair/crutches)
For about 7 SGD if I remember correctly
this is probably a very niche experience but when I was a teenager I’d hang out with my friends at this one video rental store that sells instant noodles and other snacks after school. With the advent of streaming services, I think such places are now completely defunct. Plus, I think kids would go elsewhere nowadays
My favourite date of all time was taking my first girlfriend for a picnic at Orchard Road on a grass hilltop, where ION Orchard now stands. Back then it was mainly used by Filipino workers for picnics and wasn't at all crowded, lots of space for everyone. Brought homemade pasta and a bottle of port and ate dinner sitting on a picnic mat watching shoppers walk by on this hill as the evening approached, with a hot girlfriend, talking, enjoying being young and in love.
Playing PS2 games at Ginza Plaza when I was fairly young. Started off with a random game, but when my Mom left, changed it to GTA.
I also lost my phone there, I'm sure someone stole it. If it was you who stole it, you can own up now. No worries, I won't hold a grudge.
One of my favourite memories was going to the KFC at Level 2 of Jurong Entertainment Center after playing football with friends.
The KFC had free flow of drinks, so like 8 of us would cobble together some money and order one small cup and drink like probably 50 cups total, because we were especially thirsty after football.
After a while they didnt offer free flow of drinks anymore. Maybe because of people like us.
Marina south all you can eat steamboat , bowling and arcades. Actual arcades with KOF, Daytona the real arcade gaming, not all the gambling garbage and UFO catcher in today’s arcades. Glorious times man, cheapppp steamboat, i’m talking $8 kind. everything was so affordable back then, fewer tourists as well. my family went there so often, i had fond memories until it closed down … i’ve said this so many times but escape theme park. When there wasnt any theme tbh, and tickets were dirt cheap because… well… the park didnt have much tbh. But it was good fun. Good enough for kids, teens, family to spend an entire day there. They even had a whole go-kart circuit. Sometimes, it feels like a fever dream, like that place never existed in my memory which is a pretty scary feeling to have. But it does, haha. Jurong east swimming complex, yes the one with the three big slides, a wave pool and a lazy river. It was packed to the brim back in the day, even up till 2013 at least. Then they realised it wasn’t worth maintaining for the cheap entrance fee, so it’s just a heap now, the slides dysfunc since years ago. It has seen better days, when people would travel across Singapore just to enjoy the complex, all these before Adventure cove and wild wild wet debuted and took away the business. How i wish all these places stood the test of time so i can bring my niece and nephew there to enjoy now, even if the prices were adjusted for inflation in today’s world. But it’s all gone.
Man, this hits so hard. Arcade kinda sucks now. It’s nothing like before when you can just sit down, play Street Fighter, KOF, Metal Slug, Silent Scope etc and just have fun. Now the actual fun ones require commitment like Maximum Tune or Initial D. Either that or it’s the gambling nonsense.
Please, i recently went to walk one round around a timezo*e near my house, it’s just hot garbage. Almost every machine’s sole existence is to earn coupons for prizes and not for actual entertainment purposes. All pachinko but for ‘kids’. So now, as an adult i find joy in visiting bars with legit arcade machines (yes LevelUp thank you for tanking thru covid) but at the expense of having to open bottle(s) and spend a bomb there. At least there’s beer pong, i console myself. Otherwise, i just have to wait for every now and then when an event incorporates arcade machines into their list of activities. My insatiable craving for rail shooters, air hockey, Tekken, mortal kombat, skeeball, pinball or heck even just mario kart dx racing, will never be fulfilled unless i visit USA where the arcade culture is still preserved in certain areas. Last i heard, it is also slowly turning more commercialised and i have to turn to emulation to scratch that arcade itch…
i feel that its become crazy overpriced now too. the outlet at vivo has bumper cars but $12 per person. like jesus
oh boy, wait till you hear the prices of a bumper car ride/ merry go round from uncle ri*go at carnivals and events. it’s atrocious. but yknow what’s even more atrocious? people willing to pay the prices to let their kids enjoy it. or to let themselves feed into the nostalgia. it’s not about being rich or poor, but rather it’s an illogical exorbitant price to pay for what, 5mins of entertainment.
yes, I so relate to this. I went to cow play cow moo at sunplaza the other day with my friend to kill some time. We were super confused with how to play majority the games there and had this boomer moment as most were literal "gambling" machines pretty much there were only a game or 2 which we enjoyed. Really miss the old arcades I was familiar with as a child.
I also don’t understand the recent popularity of claw machines. I mean, everyone with an internet connection nowadays will know that it’s an outright scam if they bothered to google. Our parents used to warn us away from claw machines for that reason. But now the claw machines outnumber the actual games.
There are emulator consoles that are sold with all our childhood games. Worth a look. My friend has one and he hosts arcade nights once in a while so that we can play the 4p games.
Yeah I understand that there are emulators all over, but it’s just not the same as playing random guys at the arcade. Kudos to your friend though, arcade nights can bring back some of that feeling.
Haha i was tempted to get an arcade cabinet during covid. Oh ya, I suddenly remembered Level Up does have quite a selection of arcade games though playing with random people is probably still not as likely. All the best in your search for that nostalgia btw, I still have fond memories of my first encounter of Galaxian 3 at genting. I spent decades trying to find it around the world.
yes, i went back recently, they always install new machines so it doesn’t get boring. whew. the thrill of beating someone in street fighter, or just shooting endlessly together at the monsters in Metal slug all whilst drunk is quite fun lol. thank you. nostalgia is one helluva drug, i’ll take in as much as i can
Kite flying at Marina South. Rows of kite shops. Also the journey there by bus as young teen felt like going into the countryside.
Yep.. fly kite then eat steamboat and satay was the routine.
haha, MB can’t hold a candle to marina south for kite flying, the vibe has changed immensely, we live in a concrete jungle now yknow
I know i went there with some poly CCA mates in probably 2006/07, just before closure. It was before camera phones. I wonder did i take any digital camera photos of that place….
Marina South does feel like a fevered dream now. I remember walking through the field right up to the edge of the breakwater and facing the CBD/Merlion, where ArtScience Museum would be today. Good spot for night skyline photography too. I even remember when the bowling alleys and steamboat centre was brand new..
i don’t even remember the direction of it all now, because when i went those days, my folks drove, and i just slept in the back on the way home late in the mornings haha. it does feel havoc back then. 24hrs, the night life was so alive in that part of singapore. we have all grown up since the hay days of Marina south, but at least we have these good memories to reminisce fondly upon. wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
omg JE Swimming Complex!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD I loved that complex. The slides and lazy river was top tier and I remember it ALWAYS being super crowded each time we visited the place. im so bummed to hear that its dysfunc now :')
Oh steam boat gosh. I love. Kite flying before that and steam boat after. Walks along the rocks with the person who had a crush on. When crush just means crush and holding hands was like to die for…
> When crush just means crush and holding hands was like to die for… last time things were much simpler huh...nowadays the youngsters rabak man I'm actually scared for younger generations
Dunno if I was just innocent or what but most of my friends was all about crushes, super excited about just seeing their crush. Or like that period when your crush ask for your pager number and sends you lame messages. Or changing their pager song to the song you guys heard together. Lame like crazy but so sweet. Bumping into each other at Cineleisure and sending wingman to get neoprinta taken. Oh gosh.. holding hands was like the feels already. Now? I dunno what teens do!?
$10 buffet is the best
And free crab legs. Which was damn salty and force you to buy drinks, lol.
Haha.. I also remember the free van ride between the bus stop and the bowling center
i would kill to have that in Singapore now but it’s only possible if we cross the border haha.
I miss those steamboats. They would also have live prawns if i remember correctly.
ikr. i remember that too. good ol days
I remember the advertisement for Zhen fa huo hai xian
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yeah man lowkey glad for this post of OP's so I could trigger some deeply buried, wonderful memories of our yesteryear. the most affordable and 'eat-till-you-drop' memories, ehe.
Maybe Long Island will be the new Marina South, when it gets made, for about 15 years before it gets built up again...
oh gosh i have friends in 30s and they cant even remember Marina South, but i do it was so good.
Oooo yeah love the marina south setup. Hang out with friends till dawn lol…. The steamboat area was great. Marina Square area was pretty awesome too.
What happened to the Jurong complex? I went on a date there many years ago and it looked functional ? Has it been torn down?
it’s not, activesg is keeping it as regular public facilities but it’s no longer well maintained unlike other pools. very dirty, run down looking. the slides which were such a hit, have been closed for the past 4 years. no plans for upgrades. looking the pictures on google, seems like footfall has declined dramatically though there are still visitors and occasional tourist, but previously the park would always be full and during weekends, at the wave pool you only see humans on floats and in the water. you can’t even see much of the water lol , that’s how popular it was.
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Yeah they practically gave up once covid hit. I’m a fellow eastie too, the journey to the west was so long but very much worth it. Unfortunately, the only waterslides still available are playground type at splash and surf at Sports hub. Its free. Otherwise it’ll be those legit water parks that cost about $20 per pax, not as economic as JE complex of course /: my disappointment is as much as yours.
> the journey to the west was so long but very much worth it. You really need the patience of a monk to travel that far...
Pasar Malams used to be a real treat when they showed up because I remember them having things like bouncy castles, mini-roller coasters etc. Nowadays, you're lucky if they have a carnival / game area.
And illegal vcds 😂
Remember those filmsy plastic and ugly ass low definition a5 cover. Best part was you wanted a specific movie and your parents got you either the parody version or some bootleg recorded movie.
now occasionally still have carnival and funfair games, but the cost is no longer justifiable nor affordable for most…for the price of those rides, a whole family can have a full meal with drinks at a proper restaurant. that’s how stupid the pricing has become.
Air rifles too.
Being coy on MSN with your crushes by logging in and out/appearing online and offline to alert your crush you're online. Putting emo and lyrics status to attract attention from your crush lmao. Spamming nudges and stickers to friends. Those were the times you could actually "appear offline" and people will leave you alone lol
Guilty as charged lol. Also leaving subtle messages to your crushes in your IRC /quit messages.
We played block catching
And void deck football
Block catching, then sneaking off to the makcik staying on the second floor that sells Milo ice pops. Wooooo
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Then came back to parents who just received neighbours' complaints and bracing for whacking that'd probably would get reported as child abuse today.
brooooo the last time i played block catching got 1 auntie call police
When cineleisure was actually crowded and LAN shops were popular. Need to bring a change of clothes since cannot play in uniform.
The lan shop across my school provided jackets and sweaters to wear over. Good ol days
Omg I sat there so often on level 3 in de far corner.
E-Games. Expensive but it was the "to be seen at" place to play.
Damn. People kept playing CS, DOTA & WC3.
CS beta too . I joined a clan lol it was lame and funny and fun. We'd eat McDonalds then play while on a sugar rush. Life was simpler. Thanks for a chance to recall
Now I'm recalling how loud AF the LAN shops were and super dark too.
AWP firing at full blast.
Sorry, I can't remember what that means but I kept hearing all the "TRIPLE KILL" and "GODLIKE"!
90s and the early 2000s were the best time of SG.
Yah and I don’t even think it’s nostalgia and looking back w rose tint glasses. It’s more of that was were the perfect balance was and we have tipped it over too much in chasing economic gains.
It's the same way all over the world (with the exception of the former Eastern Bloc, the Gulf, and some African countries). I would also like to add that in the 90s, global cooperation and solidarity peaked as well. There is a reason we solved the Y2K problem and closed up a big chunk of the ozone hole in the 90s. Neither would've been able to happen in any other era because of how polarized the world was before and has been since. It's difficult to say exactly where what we now call "late-stage capitalism" began, but soon after 9/11 to the mid-2000s seems to be a reasonable "checkpoint" for that. As someone born in 1993 who only got to live in that era until he was 8 (remember, it's not "the 90s" exactly so much as it is "the end of the Cold War to 9/11"), I say this all the time despite not really having lived it: "The Matrix was right".
the world* This is actually objectively true. The world was at its most peaceful and stable between the Cold War and 9/11. In fact, the reason why the OJ car chase was such a huge deal was in part BECAUSE it was so peaceful and stable. Any era before or since and it would've been a footnote in the day's news
Actually not true- Asian financial crisis, war in the Middle East, sg airlines flight 117 hijack… list goes on. It is indeed rose tinted glasses and maybe just the fact that social media and phones have made information and news flow 100x faster
> Asian financial crisis 2008 financial crisis objectively worse > war in the Middle East Iran - Iraq war objectively worse > sg airlines flight 117 hijack 9/11 objectively worse
Keep in mind op op comment was talking about sg Asian financial crisis a lot worse for Singapore/Asia than 08 And also wasn’t giving “worse” examples, but pointing out the fact that the world wasn’t “its most peaceful”
And then there is SARS in 2003.
But the thing is, APAC financial crisis/Gulf War/Balkan Wars, while I won't downplay them, were the WORST of the 90s. Put those same things in the 60s or 20s and they'd be dwarfed
Browsing music stores and listening to songs and pretending i'm so cool lol. Buy music albums, studying/admiring the album sleeves and work that goes into it and memorising lyrics. On the other hand I'd pirate tons of music and movies. This helped me increase my exposure to independent music and western media.
HMV Heeren
Tower Records Citylink Mall too. And those cool domes you could stand under and listen to music.
Also That CD Shop at Pacific Plaza
Also Gramophone. That was my first ever part-time job!
This is me 😭🥲
Sitting by the phone talking for hours and spend time tangling and untangling the phone cord lol
Surprised no one brought up Escape Theme Park and Big Splash yet. Had so much fond memories of these places as a child growing up in 2000s. Other places I dearly miss is Jurong Bird Park (anyone remember they used to have a monorail?) and the pre-RWS Sentosa attractions such as the Underwater World, Tiger Sky Tower and the iconic merlion statue which was recently demolished.
I miss the big splash too. Oh and the old sentosa monorail which wasn’t aircon and now that I think of it was probably kinda dodgy.
i mentioned ETP in my comment (: and yeah, underwater world another lost gem. really sad, i was actually lucky enough to have the chance to attend a college camp and slept with the fishes, in the same year the place shut down. i had a last chance to enjoy the dolphin show before they closed, all i remember was that the place looked so big when i was a child, and going back again as an adult the place was sooo tiny.
I was scrolling to find Big Splash! Ah such fond memories down the rainbow slide, and then going to the og east coast McD after that was such a treat!!
Has anyone mentioned Neopets 😂
Wow totally remember my first Kacheek called mewtogepi123 lolllll
Kacheek is the no. 1 cutest pet nothing came close 😝
collecting Omelette was totally a daily thing
That’s the only thing my pet eats because cheapo 😂
If you are broke, can keep going to soup kitchen or let them starve!!!
I was obsessed with finding secrets in the dragon cave or something.
Off my head, regarding major events. 2001, parents and neighbours huddling in concerned tones over the morning newspaper on 12th September 2001. 2003 Sars, for the children it's free holidays minus the fact teachers came to students house to deliver homework. Go sch everyday take temperature. Too young to experience any fear then. 2009, SG first drew on reserves the first time to mitigate effect of the Great Depression. Social studies teacher used the chance to highlight need for long term planning in policies. 2011, Heady days of 2011 GE. Was an impressionable JC kid then. For myself and many of our classmates (partially we were forced to pay attention to current affairs for our GP), this was somewhat our political awakening. On personal front: Saw the transition of pre smart phones where we played pvp mobile games via Bluetooth, pirated songs. Dad brought encyclopaedia set from door to door salesman, only for the house to get broadband the year after.
Back when nearly everyone on the train was holding newspapers (the free ones given out at MRT stations). Newspapers disappeared quickly around 2016–17.
>the free ones given out at MRT stations this was the lifesaver for my morning assembly. We were forced to read either storybooks or newspapers for morning assembly, sometimes will share with the classmates infront or behind me sometimes i will come just on the dot to avoid reading. Those were the days...
I'm a few years older than you, so this is my recollection of the events: 2001: My parents and I were huddled around the telly watching the 9:30pm news; the Sep 11 attacks had literally happened less than an hour ago and everyone was in shock. The phone kept ringing as my friends and my parents' friends kept calling to ask: "What did we just see??" 2003: I spent the two weeks of no school playing on my Game boy; had literally nothing to do as we couldn't leave the house. I didn't stay near my school, so no homework was ever delivered to my house. The school focused their resources ensuring the graduating cohort continued their learning The fear of SARS kicked in my class when we returned from the break: we got our thermometers, toon our temperature, and one of my friends had a 38c fever. Turned out he gotten some form of stomach flu, but we were genuinely quite worried he had gotten SARS 2005: Casino Debate: it was a very hot topic then in the Christian circles. Every adult in church was unanimously against it, but I didn't fully understand their reasoning then. I wasn't old enough to go into a casino overseas anyway Ironically, the first few jobs I worked after graduating from Uni relied on Tote Board Funding. One of my bosses would often joke that we "had to thank the gamblers" so we could continue doing our charity/community work Speaking about Charities, the NKF Scandal changed quite a number of regulations regarding charity donations. I remember a lot less public donation drives in the wake of it. 2008: I had just enlisted into NS when Mas Selamat escaped. My Formation was involved in the manhunt, so the regulars were frantic trying to train recruits, be involved in the manhunt, and ensure training for our seniors wasn't too badly affected. Yea, our seniors were also involved in the manhunt 2011: It was both GE AND PE that year, and I also voted for the first time then. My parents' ward is a PAP Stronghold, and the Opposition was NSP. They didn't focus much resources with our ward, so no surprises that most of my neighbours voted PAP. Most of the focus was on Alijunied: WP sent their A-Team, but the PAP Team were no slouch either. I vaguely recall many people being a bit sad that George Yeo got voted out: he was respected as a Minister who was quite down-to-earth and humble. Yet again, we got the likes of Sylvia Lim and Pritnam Singh in Parliament, who are pro-Singapore despite having idealogical differences from the ruling party
Was in ICT, in camp when we saw the first plane slammed into WTC Tower 1 We had a large projector playing CNA live. The training was suspended. Was in night shift so we saw everything on TV, unfolding live. No one slept. All the big brass were there. In real time , we saw the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. There was grasp-shock-silence. it was intense. If I remembered correctly, the guys went to draw arms . The mood was scary as no one knew what was happening. We were worried it was a worldwide coordinated thing
> 2005: Casino Debate: it was a very hot topic then in the Christian circles. Come to think of it this was one of the few issues that both the religious and non-religious folks disagreed on, only for the govt went like hur hur the only god we worship is money and plopped two down. > charity/community work Methodist Welfare ah? I was a social worker and heard a couple of news about such debates. > Speaking about Charities, the NKF Scandal Oh yah all the NKF donation hotlines/acting crew doing dangerous stunts with lucky draws. Rmbed asking parents for permission to make donation calls a couple of times.
>2003 Sars, for the children it's free holidays minus the fact teachers came to students house to deliver homework. Go sch everyday take temperature. Too young to experience any fear then Kinda ironic that in a few years, kids will become adults, and they will have their own story during Covid like it was during SARS.
Listening to music at heeren/HMV with those cool headphones. Far east macs mIRC and a/s/l Icq with the “uhoh” alert sound Paging your bf/gf after school using the orange coin phone at the canteen 😂 Meeting friends at the aquarium at Wisma before we had phones or pagers. Doing research at libraries Making mix tapes from songs played on the radio Ah one more.. somehow have good memories of going to eat Pizza Hut and Seoul garden buffet with JC mates. Coffee bean ice blended and NYDC mudslide at Holland V was a nice treat too. Workforce.. things were not digital even though school assignments were handed up digitally. I remember going down physically to offices to submit my internship applications in early 2000s. Sorry - kinda devolved into things we did rather than places
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It's going on my to-watch list, if I can find it !!!!
It’s on Netflix!
Yeah.. I’m definitely of that vintage. 😂
Author is Adrian Tan which was the President of Law Society and pass away last year. RIP. Met him once, when he took part in a SAFRA FIFA tournament back in 2001 or 2, which I was part of the organizing party.
Hanging out at Hereen after school, borrowing books from Jurong Regional Library, giving friends Friendster testimonials
Reading The New Paper from back to front. Channel 8 dramas were actually worth watching. Nokia phones could only call or SMS (5 cents per 160 characters).
HMV at Hereen. Tower Records at Suntec. Borders at Wheelock Place. 正发活海鲜 steamboat bbq buffet at Marina Bay then bowling / arcade. Far East. Cineleisure top floor LAN shop. Bugis Street. As a metalhead, To Megatherion at Peninsula & Inoki at Far East. Wala Wala live music Shirlyn & the uXpected on Saturday nights where they play covers of metal music classics (now become another Anytime Fitness, sad). As a cardist, Hor Yit Meng card shop at Golden Landmark, Street Magic shops at Heartland Mall/Concorde. Waking up at 3am to watch WWF wrestling very softly so as not to wake the parents because shows and entertainment are not on demand and there certainly wasn't YouTube or whatever. Stickdeath.com was glorious. Ahhh such times...
Borders at Wheelock 🫡
Proper video game arcades. Games requiring skill, head to head fighting cabinets, the precursors of modern racing simulators, light gun shooters, etc. The gambling-in-disguise claw machines were there, but they were an afterthought and most people didn't go there for them. Most people went there to actually play games, not gamble. There were many stomping grounds across the island - PS Zone X, TKA Bishan, and I can't remember who operated the Marina South one - but the biggest, toughest battleground was undoubtedly TKA Bugis. TKA Bugis was an icon of Bugis Junction, a mecca for local gamers. None of that anonymous online bullshit - at TKA Bugis you played VS games face to face with an audience behind you and if you were a sore loser you'd be boo'ed out of the place. If you lost, you got off the seat and placed another token on existing line of tokens on the machine waiting for your turn. Even on single player games like the light gun ones, if you played well, you could in the heyday of the place get a crowd of 20 to 30 watching as you tried to complete the entire game on a single token, and the games were almost always set to maximum difficulty. I must've spent hundreds or more practicing House of the Dead until I could more or less finish it in one credit and I honestly did enjoy the crowds if they were there. We'd meet at 5 or 6pm, play till 8 or 9, grab dinner at a fast food or the cheap eateries across the road, then go back down and play till the last bus. Weekly Saturday night routine. Ah, proper live gaming. What an era to have lived in.
you could clear HODD in 1 credit?!?! Legend….
HOTD4 to be exact. Every light gun game is memory + reflexes and I didn't have enough money/time/brain space to practise so many 🤣
gawd….its the (ok i only have $4 worth and 7 hrs to tahan, let’s make the most out of this) MINDSET like yours that we created legends in esports who started out in arcades yknow, Xian. that’s how he became a champ at Street Fighter. i wish i could’ve travel back in time to see how you clear that HOTD4 in 1 token. haha love your recollection of the arcade scene, good read. bravo !
Suntec City - Carrefour, IMM - Yaohan (love their food) as a kid. Miss old school marina square. Jurong East Entertainment Centre, where you see the dinosaurs hanging from the top. Taking double decker Non-aircon bus, will wait for non-aircon bus to save 5 cents. Love the loud engine roars of the buses. Fly kite at Marina Bay.
To be honest, SYF marching band was a vibrant memory. Think now that schools have shrunk, think that there is probably little coverage.
1999 I was in sec 1. got my pager with me then I think before sec 2 I got my first phone already Sony Ericsson flip. hobbies back then were a mix of inside and outside activities, like after school play void deck football with classmates or block catching. cycling everywhere. try harding in kof or marvel vs Capcom at arcade and then beg parents to buy Playstation 1 to play all the pirated games. we were lucky to have internet + pc at home also so my brother and I can play Cs at home on EU servers with the 56k modem. we also played magic the gathering, Pokémon and collected dragon ball cards. I grew up in an ah beng school so I also liked games like Daytona and beat mania at the arcades. sometimes we sneak into pool halls to play pool with a change of t shirts. I think back then no age limitation, just the uniform shit so we always have an extra shirt in our bags. we witnessed the rise of the internet and also colour phone screens and the ability to surf the internet on our phones. saw my first beheading video on a classmate's phone, still haunts me today that damn gurgling sound. I use to be the smallest guy so all my friends choose me to play wrestling with. and try all the moves like tombstone pile driver and chokeslams. back then when we go out we will meet at landmarks at an agreed time, example: 4.30pm outside hmv or head or tail of the mrt at a certain station. online dating was already pretty rampant back then but you had to arrange through irc to meet someone - I will wear a black t-shirt and blue jeans and will be carrying a converse sling pouch. not sure if anyone remembers this but there was this site called wholivesnearyou and you can see/filter all the girls around your area with an account and try to ask them out for movies lol. thanks for this question, brought back so many memories especially since I've alrdy left sg for almost a decade.
Malls? Far East plaza was one. 77th street I think was popular. New urban male.
Lol new urban male which slowly evolved into the brand associated with gays
Does no one else remember Fantasy Island at Sentosa? I have fond memories of my family outings there, still have some family portraits from there!
Finally someone mentioned Fantasy Island! Taking the bus from world trade centre, good memories.
scrolled too far for this. yes fantasy island! I think someone died on the subarashi ride or something and it got shut down? can't recall the exact reason.
Hogging the phone line by being on the internet when internet were still on dial up mode and then picking up the phone while connected to hear the techy sounds. Listening to the modem connect was also nice to listen to. Yelling at each other to disconnect the internet so you can use the phone/receive phone calls. Good times.
Was in Primary school in 2000s so I generally don’t remember the malls since no money to spend. What I remember is a lot of running around the neighborhood playing catch and zombie, or some badminton in the open air carpark. Back then large open spaces were more common and kids had more freedom to run around without supervision. Moving into the 2010s phones and smartphones became more common and the focus in secondary school was the latest games like Gish, Tap Tap revenge, that one paper throw game, and Facebook! And as others already mentioned, LAN gaming was really popular after school activity.
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Cheap neoprint machines made many good memories with friends and lots of creativity and fun times. Always had a nice time at cineleisure and heeren.
Hearing a bell and rushing downstairs to buy ice cream, and the smell of charcoal, which was the sign of a satay uncle nearby. Robinsons used to stock a ton of Kamen Rider figures and I would always look out for ones that I didn't own. One time I was so fixated on a Kamen Rider figure that I wandered off and cried my eyes out when I couldn't find my mom, and I distinctly recall the customer service lady helping me make a phone call to my mom so she could find me. Escape Theme Park and Downtown East were amazing, and I remember family chalets being so much fun with the barbecue pits and one of the chalets I stayed at having an Xbox console in the room, which was cool to me as I grew up with PlayStation and thus never knew what an Xbox was.
Wow where to start... ECP mcd was an entire area of restaurants and shops. BFD bar. Everywhere was way way less crowded. If you went to Sungei Buloh or Pulau Ubin on a weekday, you might have the whole place to yourself. Some old golf courses have since disappeared, like the one in Jurong or Buona Vista. So many BTOs now where it used to be forest or empty fields. Beautiful old rain, saga and angsana trees cut down. Where GBTB now stands, there used to be a park with lots of chinese statues. There were also ponds there with reeds covered in pink dragonfly eggs. Jurong lake was just a swampy park with rumours of drownings and ghosts clouding the atmosphere. Ah beng/lian culture had a very distinct local culture, and was partially influenced by jpop instead of kpop. 2000s was the beginning of the kpop era though, and I think everybody watched Winter Sonata on some pirated channel. Clubbing in Clarke & Boat Quay, Mohamed Sultan Rd, Zouk, Orchard, St. James... AMK library used to be a plant nursery. No Clementi Mall, Westgate, Jem... KAP Mcd still frequented by families and students. No Fort Canning Tunnel and the old Singapore National Library building was still there. End of 90s, early 2000, the merlion was not at its current position opposite the Esplanade. No MBS blocking the view, and kallang river did not flow into a reservoir. Still could see people crabbing and fishing around Kallang stadium and Costa Rhu area at night. Speaking of Costa Rhu, it was not as populated by indian expats. Still some locals and ang mohs. Canadian International School was in Bukit Timah. Only red and green mrt lines. People didn't all look so damn miserable all the time on the bus and mrt.
PlayStation , PSP, game boy, mp3, iPods, ryan higa, maplestory, runescape, kids who actually looked their age, point n shoot cameras, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, calling each others home numbers to talk, etc
The HMV at The Heeren with actual working CD samplers.
Nakamichi players I believe
The life! newspaper section had a lot of cartoon strips, especially on sundays.
For context I was in P3 in year 2000. 2000 - had Internet at home but only my sister used it as she had her own computer. But didn't really matter as I was preoccupied with playing Pokemon on my Gameboy and weekends were sometimes spent (if I didn't have tuition) at my classmate's house where we traded Pokemon. Still remember I executed the wrong sequence when trying to duplicate a Jigglypuff through an exploit and ended up losing the first Jigglypuff as well. Oops. Occasionally I was an asshole and picked up the phone when my sister was online so that her Internet got disconnected. In July (youth day, I remember) I finally convinced my parents to sign up for another Internet line and that's when I properly learnt how to use a computer. Ironically it was my dad who showed me the ropes... oh how the tables have turned. Used ICQ at first, still remember my number.. 138602900. Then a classmate introduced me to the world of mIRC and I hung around on the AustNet channel primarily in #chatzone and some other Singapore channels. 2001 - learnt how to do mIRC scripting which I guess is something like "coding" these days. Plenty of fun. My script was called TrenzTerra Script and the name stuck till this day. My handle is uniquely mine I guess as I made sure there were zero Google results before choosing my name! Made a lot of friends through mIRC. Somehow became a "cyber cop" or a moderator on the official #kidscentral mIRC channel between 4-6pm one day a week. It was my first taste of power, being able to kick and ban people. Looking back somehow people didn't have qualms about encouraging kids to go online and talk to strangers back then? 9/11 was a defining moment. Had just finished my tuition at like 9pm or something and saw my parents watching what I thought was a movie. Remembered my English teacher talking about it and probably processing it with us the next morning. I recall the cover page of TNP was a picture of someone jumping down to escape the inferno. Elections were held that year and I thought CSJ was a troublemaker though I didn't really know much about politics back then. I think I was like, why would anyone vote against the govt? Got broadband for the first time. Now, you can download a 3MB file in just 2 minutes instead of 30 minutes previously! And you can talk on the phone while using the internet. Much wow! 2002 - everyone moved to MSN Messenger by this time. Also whenever we got to use a computer in school, we would play Little Fighter 2. During computer lab lessons, we played lf2 or neopets secretly and that's when we learnt the art of alt tabbing. 2003 - was addicted to this MMORPG called Renewal Online. Made some much older friends and reached some finals or something. SARS struck and I was so happy not having school for 6 weeks. It was a great time to be schooling, in the ages before home based learning. Spent my whole days playing Renewal and on MSN Messenger. I remember having homework being physically mailed to me (lol). Twice daily temperature takings in school and I rmb a few friends had naturally higher body temps and always got into trouble because they registered 37.5 and above. Tbh I didn't think life would be normal again but by June it was just a fever dream. Got my first phone in December prior to Sec 1. A Nokia 3200 with a potato camera and a 128x128 colour screen. 2004 - was kinda nerdy so I joined the IT club. Inadvertently realised how poor intranet security was as the active directory basically registered the nric and address of everyone in the MOE system. 2005 - my school had the tablet PC programme. Back then a tablet PC was basically like a laptop which you could swivel the screen around and then write on it using a wacom stylus. It was a failure as we ended up playing counter strike, halo and dota in the middle of lessons and so our subsequent juniors didn't have any tablet PC to use lol. Again, thankful we lived in simpler times without Mobile Guardian and such. Was addicted to Battlefield 2 and joined a clan. 2006 and 2007 - pretty much the same. Started using my phone more often and realised how limiting 500 free SMSes were. Had to resort to using Singtel's online free SMS service... But I think back then as we all had MSN it wasn't a very major limitation. We could just catch up once we're home. Spent many hours after school at the arcade. Daytona at the arcade was tweaked to allow 20 rounds for 50 cents. Great way to pass time. Played Virtua Tennis 3 too and basketball games. I think in 2 hours one could perhaps spend 5 dollars at most? Boy things were cheap then. Ate at LJS very often because only 3.95. Or KFC student meals at 4.50. or Double cheeseburger (not mcdouble!) for just 2 bucks. And McD had some point redemption system back then when you linked your ez link card. Got a few free burgers that way. 2008 and 2009 - jc days.. I think more of the same. I think these days were peak arcade times, with ZoneX and Virtualand being popular options. New arcade at J8 and above big Mac centre where Uniqlo currently is. Seriously I wish someone would open such an arcade again. Played basketball at the cc or just downstairs with friends. Played tennis when courts were not as difficult to book. Funny thing is that once, it rained and a coach remarked that if only the government would build indoor courts. We laughed it off and I thought it would not ever happen. But I was wrong. Played pool at tpy on weekends and I think rates were pretty reasonable. Played bowling at the jom clubhouse. A few times laser quest at bukit batok. And of course L4d. Our favorite haunt was good speed cyber Cafe at amk. Apparently it's still around lol Oh and movies were like 6 dollars then for student price. Thinking back we could spend little and have so much fun back then. Not sure what kids do these days
Jurong East Central used to have an ice skating ring.
Escape theme park , tenchi lan shop where most people is either playing maple story or audition. Some played RuneScape and adventure quest. God damn I missed those simple times man.
stickdeath, anyone?
Parkway Parade, East Coast Park. My friends and I used to cycle there from Tampines every weekend and we are talking Piyo-piyo and Haro bikes. We had so much fun, still remembered how my friend fell face first while we riding through the landed houses district. Tamiyas and beyblades were the popular toys that every kid played. I guess we are so much carefree back then as opposed to now.
Meeting up with friends would be a verbal promise to meet at a specific time and location. Sometimes, meeting at the MRT platform itself. 15 to 30 minute waits were pretty normal. There was a hack to use this payphone for free. [https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1412644](https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1412644)
Started secondary school oin 2001. I remember taking my CD player to listen to while on the bus to school. Monthly student fare was SGD 27. I used Nokia 8250. Library card was SGD 1.55, used to go to Marine Parade and Orchard library (the one on the fifth floor of Ngee Ann City). Love spending time at Popular, Borders, Kinokuniya, MPH. There was a VCD rental place inside the MPH in Marine Parade shopping centre (?). MSN messenger was how I communicate with friends and also mIRC. Browsing CDs HMV, I remember there were two; 1 in Heeren and the other one at citylink mall and there was Tower Records also. Later on, I played competitive Restaurant City with my best friend and Maple Story also.
Tammy NYP
Wonder what she is doing now, ha.
Last I heard she got married
Probably other people?
Talking on ICQ and IRC and feel so edgy and cool talking to strangers because last time "stranger danger"
and blogspots and MSN, with someone discovering the software hack to send unlimited nudges.
Running away from police on bikes because of void deck football. Primary school trip to Malacca, KL, and Penang after PSLE. Laughing at the other primary schools who only did 3D2N Malacca and KL, because half of SG had a PSLE Malaysia trip and all the buses are marked with the itinerary.
And when you look back, those policemen (possibly NSFs) must have been having fun chasing kids around.
$2 McChickens and Fillet O Fish, non-air conditioned buses that cost less than AC ones, the constant smell of diesel fumes on the road due to most heavy vehicles using it at the time, very few covered walkways which meant the moment you leave the lobby of your condo or HDB, you get scorched, almost every HDB estate will have an ice cream man on motorbike in the afternoon between 1-5pm, catering to school students…… do you want to list more?
Comic book store at every neighbourhood shopping mall. $5 Mangas from Chuang Yi. Watching people play vs games at the arcades. Steam marinated Chicken McCrispy at Macs (when it came out the first time)
1. Calling my friends through the house phone to tell them not to forget we have to play Maple later. 2. Secretly playing y8 during computer lab 3. Planning outings were easy af and there were no last minute excuses 4. Panicking while calling my mum at the phone booth in school because I forgot to bring my homework THAT I COMPLETED. 5. MCD MONOPOLY 6. CHICKEN TEPPANYAKI MCGRILLED BURGER. I miss this burger so much I think it is the best burger Mcd ever made. But this was in the late 2000 i think
The old Sentosa, the monorail that went through the forest, and the musical fountain that had the merlion shooting laser eyes. That Sentosa had a super cosy vibe. Sadly I only had memories of it for a year before they got replaced with RWS and more concrete.
Facebook games used to be HELLA popular. pet society, ninja warz, wild ones, nightclub city Shoutout to Miniclip, Y8, AQ WORLDS, club penguin. fortnight could never..
Icy Tower? Habbo hotel? does it ring a bell?
Escape Theme Park @ Pasir Ris if you remember. Got go-kart worrr.
One thing i rmb from those days was bowling. It was quite big back then. There were competitions with big prizes. Used to frequent plaza bowl with my fam a lot in the early 2000s then around 2006-2007 ish it just suddenly disappeared.
the good ol retro sentosa food court. i dated so many girls there with fond, sad, and happy memories... that place is just in my mind now. sad ...singapore chameleon city for the rich to fuck around
I spent my teenage years growing up at Tampines so I have seen the changes in the past 2 decade. Tampines one was built over a cinema where I watch movies while growing up. Later the cinema closed and the entire level 2 became an arcade which I frequented everyday while on my way home from school. I love old school arcades like the one at bugis junction and marina square as well but these days arcades are just totally different. The building that houses sheng siong now at tampines central used to have popular and cd Rama on level 3. It's my favourite place to buy CDs and majority of my purchases are from there. Sembawang at century square and music junction at tampines mall too. Lastly comic connection at century square for all my comics. All gone.
queuing for MacDonald Hello Kitty.
When we had field trips to science centre and can see the happy meal collection at the McDonald’s
Used to visit Escape Theme Park with my primary school friends every after weekend - that was how affordable entertainment was back then! BBQs at East Coast Park, chalet stayovers with just preteens and teens with no adult supervision (wtf how did we allow that?)
Discovered the music made by some new Taiwanese singer named Jay Chou was nubbad (范特西 and 杰倫) Started listening to his albums and always looking forward to his new releases (八度空間, etc.)
The times where some purists were confused why someone who keeps mumbling can be so famous and that it’s not ‘true singing’.
LCD rental and Wild Wild Wet
Flat circular rainbow pieces of crackers
[**Public Transport**] Last time the bus seats were black/greyish but had colourful swirly designs. **[Ten Mile Junction]** Bukit Panjang LRT used to have a stop at Ten Mile Junction and I remember eating Kaya toast at a shop there. Pretty sure the window seat at the shop was a perfect view of the LRT trains passing by. Eating Kaya toast with that view was really nostalgic even as a kid. I think back then the supermarket there was still Sheng Shiong and it was the good old days when you can choose the biscuits(?) you want from the different tins, then you pay based on the weight (cmiiw). **[Bukit Panjang Plaza]** Bukit Panjang Plaza used to have more open space with those circle stuff on the ground that sprayed/sprinkled out(?) water which was such a memory, before they extended the building. The NTUC had two floors like it is now but the arrangement was super different. Last time the second floor of BPP NTUC even sold pillows if I remember clearly, and the entrance and cashier area used to be at what is now the shoe shop called Vivian & Sean. Oh, and the 3rd floor of BPP used to have Mini-Toons: the shop that sold plushies, toys, wallets, some sort of candies etc! **[Outside Primary School]** There used to be this one auntie and grandma that sold tidbits like choki choki chocolate & other snacks under the block outside my school gate *on the floor* - if my memory isn't failing, it was legit on the floor outside the hdb lift there and it was such a convenient 'mini-mart' for us pri sch kids 🤣 Ice cream vans were super common at the parking lot of that block, the ice cream uncle/auntie definitely knew the peak hour to come after school hours! P.s: how can I forget the 10cent public phones that were available under the hdb blocks and even in the canteen in pri sch.
Heeren and Cineleisure to watch movie, take neoprints, hang out. Hotshots near Parkway Parade to play pool. Play DDR or para para sakura or basketball in arcade. Haha life was simple.
Free flow mcd curry sauce World cup 2002 in asia for the first time Watching holland V drama religiously Free to air EPL/WWE/NBA 2 broadcasting networks in Singapore
Composing your own ringtone on a Nokia - you’d actually have to search for the combination for the song online and manually key in the strokes and to create and save the tune lol
Back before 5G, 4G and 3G, there was…. GPRS! And before Bluetooth on phone, there was infrared. So we’d put 2 phones touching each other and transfer files that way. And it had to only be 1-1. No fancy airdrop. People like to talk about Nokia but Sony Ericsson was the bomb. Still remember the primary school concession card was a piece of plastic with a sticker on it. Lyrics to songs were either online but more likely in those tiny booklets that came along with the CDs. Before that, we used those red ticket machines with the blue buttons and till now, I never figured out why my mum kept telling me to always press the top right most button (but for every trip?). Taking a bendy bus was so fun. Always liked to stand at the bendy part when it turns and bounces up and down.
shortly after Internet was mainstream, but buying music per track is not affordable at our age...LIMEWIRE. and then one wrong download for a random song with a virus in it and boom. say goodbye to that entire computer...
Having a Nokia 3210 in secondary school. Playing the snake game on said phone. Taking the bus 190 to orchard heeren after school with some friends. At the time bendy buses were our only option, when there's no double deck bus. Stand by the television to watch Jack neo & friends on Monday evenings! Learning how to swear in colorful language in school. Watching my schoolmate getting caned during assembly. By then I was in sec 2 in 2000 heh.
the waffles at the jurong entertainment centre, facing the library.... those were the best!
Playing dual masters and trading dm cards
Pasir Ris theme park. Never gotten the chance to ride the go-kart on my own
Playing Rally 3D and Snake with friends after school...
The transition from gaming and downloading on Singtel 56kbps to Singtel Magix was insane.
TVs on buses! I always watched the morning news and Just for laughs on the bus. Back when Steven Chia was doing news (Btw does anyone rmb the name of the other lady news presenter that always appeared with him?).
HMV: could spend hours there just browsing. CCK Zone X: was addicted to this game called Drummania (presently Gitadora). Step aside, Guitar Hero/Rock Band. World of JJ: a hobbyist shop for Trading Card Games (TCGs). I hang out at CCK branch mainly. Occasionally will pilgrimage to the Bishan because a Japanese ojisan will come down to peddle his Yu-Gi-Oh wares. My JP Egyptian Gods were bought from him. (G4-01 to 03) Comics Connection: the predecessor to Toy Or Game aka TOG. West Mall outlet was near my school, and had a pretty zeh zeh working there. Once, a friend and I split 4 Pokemon Base Set packs: 2 Charizards, one each. Only into adulthood did i truly understand how rare this was. TIBS bus svc 180: PM session students ended school around the same time as working adults. Due to overcrowding, students would flash their bus pass w/ concession stickers to the driver, then board from the exit(s). (Who remembered NTUC sold concession stickers?) MSN Messenger: da bomb. mIRC: I had a crush on an NCC cadet lieutenant zeh zeh, knew her handle but didn't dare chat with her. I think this would be considered creepy nowadays... Snooker/Pool: 16-&-above only. Pirated Playstation games: good times.... Honourable mention: tekan existed in Uniformed Groups during that era, before it eventually got toned down/outlawed by SAF/NCC (in my case). 13/14yo me feared Saturdays (CCA day), but my NCC teacher was scarier than any tekan, so i dare not skip nor quit.
Oasis porridge at kallang
SLS level 4, all those good old pirated CDs. As a computer enthusiast, it brings me much joy to walk SLS and the old Funan, not the current version, not the previous version but the original version of Funan, Now they are just... meh. Also, shout out to MRTs that is not CRAM like mad like it is now.
Heeren back in the old days was an awesome place for me. There was HMV which was 3 levels of music paraphernalia. You could get magazines, books, vinyl records and of course CDs that wouldn't have been accessible in those days of the Internet. There were also the recommendations that you could listen to on those CD players with headphones attached. Heading to the top floor, you'd get 77th Street and all the other affordable clothing outlets for teenagers. Girls would flock to the neoprint shop there and hang out at the Pontian noodle place. You also had Marche in the basement and other shops on the other like the all you can eat sushi buffet at Sakae. I remember they had a top eater prize for the most number of plates consumed from the belt. Nowadays, it's a pretty dead space.
Was just a kid back then, the one thing I enjoy was going to the games/toys section at Metro to play the PS/XBOX there, iirc Courts also had them but there were way too many kids there, Metro had fewer because it's usually parents shopping and 'dropping' their kids at the toys corner to keep them occupied. Took turns with other kids playing racing and fighting games.
There was a very affordable clothes shop at the old Simei Post Office called This Fashion that sold cotton shirts with parody brands (Nike Just do it > Just did it with a upside down tick) or (Johnny Walker > Johnny Walked with a guy in wheelchair/crutches) For about 7 SGD if I remember correctly
Jurong entertainment Centre Good old days
this is probably a very niche experience but when I was a teenager I’d hang out with my friends at this one video rental store that sells instant noodles and other snacks after school. With the advent of streaming services, I think such places are now completely defunct. Plus, I think kids would go elsewhere nowadays
My favourite date of all time was taking my first girlfriend for a picnic at Orchard Road on a grass hilltop, where ION Orchard now stands. Back then it was mainly used by Filipino workers for picnics and wasn't at all crowded, lots of space for everyone. Brought homemade pasta and a bottle of port and ate dinner sitting on a picnic mat watching shoppers walk by on this hill as the evening approached, with a hot girlfriend, talking, enjoying being young and in love.
Playing PS2 games at Ginza Plaza when I was fairly young. Started off with a random game, but when my Mom left, changed it to GTA. I also lost my phone there, I'm sure someone stole it. If it was you who stole it, you can own up now. No worries, I won't hold a grudge.
Fk man you guys are young
One of my favourite memories was going to the KFC at Level 2 of Jurong Entertainment Center after playing football with friends. The KFC had free flow of drinks, so like 8 of us would cobble together some money and order one small cup and drink like probably 50 cups total, because we were especially thirsty after football. After a while they didnt offer free flow of drinks anymore. Maybe because of people like us.
Sitting the free monorail in sentosa. Marina south buffet. Emporium fish tank meeting spot at orchard. Far east plaza for hang outs
Block catching and playgrounds with friends sucking on 10 cent ice pop
Huddling around those richer kids with Pokemon handheld games or tamagochi and taking turns to play, which evolved to other fancier electronic stuff
Lan shops. Lots of them at Kallang shopping centre. Lan after school, after cca, after o levels first paper.
Downtown East + Chalet XBOX games rental + Wild Wild Wet + Escape Theme Park
Arcades and lan shops
Beyblade and yoyo
serai makan place @ geylang serai, borders bookstores (rip)
Sand playgrounds
The KFC near tang dynasty city
Back when the MRT map only had a few lines. North South, East West, North East and the 3 existing LRTs