Seriously Fun Thymes 34 Hawker Centre Reimagined 35 A Jewel Like No Other

SCENTOPIA

36 Siloso Beach Walk, Sentosa 099007 Open daily: 11am-7pm

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SERIOUSLY FUN THYMES

Once you finish rolling your eyes at my puns, allow me to say welcome to Scentopia everyone, the newest arrival on the Sentosa scene wherein I made my very own bespoke perfume, and so can you! The city-state’s first ever augmented reality perfume making experience, this clever venture will have your nose perking up dead quick as you exercise your olfactory senses to the max. Filling in a questionnaire reveals aspects of your personality type as well as the individual fragrant oils that you should focus on using – because that is right, you guessed it – you now get to play mad scientist.

Combining up to 10 different oils results in a unique scent that is from top to bottom essentially you. I had available to me roughly 300 oils for women, and 300 oils for men, all of which are split into 5 categories

Reserve your tickets at:

Scentopia-singapore.com IG: @Scentopia_singapore FB: Scentopia

– Citrus, Fresh, Floral, Woody, and Oriental – and stored within vibrant colour coded cabinets. I recommend you set some time aside for this wonderfully fun experiment. Trust me on this, you are going to be here a while, especially if you decide to be extra creative and mix in scents based not just on the questionnaire but also your own preference. Top tip: make use of the coffee beans to clear out your sinuses often so you can appreciate the oils more accurately.

Alternatively, you can also make your own room fragrances, reed diffuser or bath oils, and even scented candles! However, if this is a quick stop and you would still like a good memory then you can always purchase the bespoke scents that define different aspects of life in Singapore, such as The Wonders of Bugis, Nyonya’s Home, and Straits Settlement. Technically, this world of fragrances has over 6,000 scents on its belt which yields over a trillion possible combinations. That means that you could create a scent that no other person on Earth uses.

Life is a mix of the theoretical as well as the practical, and Scentopia is no exception as the physical mixing up of perfume is balanced by rich and detailed information in 2 other sections of the store. Presented as a 300-strong AR exhibit that can be scanned by your smart device, the resulting holographic images than regale you with information on the tile’s topic. Animals vs Humans, who has the better sense of smell? What aromas do men prefer? What do mums like? Scan and find out. Top tip: make sure your Facebook app is up to date as the software in play works in tandem with FB's metaverse.

With friendly and informative staff on hand to help out, you need to add this locale to your Sentosa bucket list. Fun thymes guaranteed, seriouslily.

Hawker Centre

Reimagined

FOOD FOLK @LAU PA SAT

100 Loewen Road, Dempsey, Singapore Open daily: 10am-10pm Tuesday closed

laupasat.sg IG: @foodfolks.sg FB: Food Folks

Food centres and hawkers’ stalls are the life blood of any community – the melting pot where old, young, rich and poor, come to take part in the most important activity of any society. The Food Folks retail store in Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre sits in the middle of Singapore’s central business district as a architectural anomaly in the midst of a modern concrete jungle. The building itself was formerly a fish market by the water, until the whole building was relocated to its current address in Raffles Quay due to land reclamation efforts; its Victorian accents and details like the iron boy who tolls an actual bell every half hour, hint at its colourful history. The octagonal structure that is there today, was originally designed in 1836 by George D. Coleman, and further adapted by the Municipal Engineer, James MacRitchie, who is responsible for the skyreaching iron pillars that make Lau Pa Sat so recognisable. Today, this airy space can easily host up to 150 people, with plans to revive their live entertainment platform as part of post-Covid recovery efforts.

Here at Food Folks, the trips down memory lane continue in the experience. A large display of the White Rabbit candy and related merchandise sends my colleague and I into fits of disbelief and reminiscing. “We have a lot of old favourites, things that people would recognise and be reminded of their childhood growing up,” Pauline Ong (pictured above) tells me as my eyes wander across the stacked walls of snacks and treats in their retail section. All part of their ‘purpose-driven’ retail initiative, Food Folks has an admirable track record and motive. Almost 70% of the brands on shelves are Singaporean owned and all of the stalls in the food hall are managed by local founders who have a Modern Singaporeaninspired menu. In all sense of the word, there is an atmosphere of community. Vendors and participating businesses get amazing support from the Food Folk team, to help ensure that their businesses not only thrive but have the ability to progress beyond the space. To date, Food Folks now carries a specially curated selection of over 1,500 food-related items (many of which are almost exclusive to Food Folks!).

Their five retail zones (Grab & Go; Love Healthy; Love Singapore; Local Delights and World Favourites) in the Food Folks retail halls cater to almost any heart’s desire. It is very hard work to walk away without seeing something you want to buy or eat; the sheer ingenuity and quality behind some of these brands and products were very inspiring to see. Search the shelves and you’ll come across items like the Duck Shit Dancong Tea Chocolate from awardwinning chocolatier, FOSSA. Crusty’s potato chips which are made by Royale International Enterprise, feature unique flavors like Singapore Chicken Rice or Seafood BBQ Fiesta. Did we mention White Rabbit candies in Chocolate or Banana flavour? And we haven’t even gotten to the hawker stalls yet!

A Jewel Like No Other

It is unnervingly quiet in the Jewel building; having been dropped off early for our departing flight back to Brunei, I was relishing the chance to explore the vast expanse of this ingenious architectural feat. And shop, of course. It is just shy of 9am by the time we are checked in and my previous night’s research showed that many of the stores in the Jewel at Changi Airport don’t typically open till 10am. The lack of activity this early isn’t surprising – the Asian travel industry has only just made it’s first steps into normal operations – but it is interesting to experience in comparison to our first introduction a few days ago where crowds of people, both travelers and Singaporeans, thronged the Jewel and I finally realised that your girl was not in Kansas anymore.

The sheer size of the building, all 1,460,663 square feet of it, exists as a connector between the three current terminals of the Changi Airport complex. Most people would be familiar with at least the centerpiece of the building, the HSBC Rain Vortex. This five-story indoor waterfall is the highest of its kind in the world, transforming the huge channel of water into a dazzling light show come nightfall. Looking through the architect’s brief on the design aspects of the building, it is mind-boggling to think that the five basement floors were carved out of reclaimed land, or that the shape of the building was inspired by the circularity of the torus (in laymen terms, a 3D donut) allowing the 10,000 gallons of rainwater at the vortex to be recycled and redistributed to where it is needed in the building.

The expanse of almost 1,000 types of tropical plants framing the walls of the dome are actually walkable paths coined the ‘Shiseido Forest Valley’ that flank the higher floors of the Jewel. Here, they have somehow managed to fit a cinema, topiary garden, a hedge maze, play areas that are attractive to kids of all ages, amongst a long list of attractions open to both the public and travelers. It would take days, if not weeks to fully experience everything here at the Jewel, and that is perhaps the backhanded beauty of this new location.

It can be easy to forget the architectural mastery if you’re entering the Jewel from within the airport. I was quickly distracted by the circular maze of retail and restaurants looping to the sky and below - brands from all over the world and Singapore that have come to make this place their new home. Cult favourite Shake Shack gave me enough energy for a second round of roaming – or should I have saved space for the nostalgic feels of A&W that I just noticed around the corner? The unique offering of artisan saucier and retailer, Sauce Legend (pictured above), also intrigued me; at first glance the rows of dark liquid seem normal enough. I find myself tasting a number of the artisan sauces and realize that all sauce is really not equal. Organic Yu Kee oyster sauce tastes like 100 fresh oysters have been jam packed into the bottle, with all their briny goodness; Nanyang 12-year aged soy has a surprising citrusy and deeply savory flavor unlike any commercially available brand. I want to buy everything in the store, but my sad single carry-on tells me no. Thankfully, Singapore is just a quick flight away and at this rate, I won’t even have to leave the airport!