Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Rush Hour

I've just moved to a new office at One Raffles Quay. One Raffles Quay is an office building located right at the edge of Raffles Place, near the new Marina Bay Financial Centre.

And this is the view that I see out of the window everyday.

Photo taken with iPhone... 
Hm... it was a little gloomy when I took this picture, huh?

Beautiful, isn't it?

Sadly, that's about all I like about my new office.

Great views but getting to and from work, as well as having lunch, is erm... for lack of a better word, quite scary.

You see, Raffles Place is at the heart of the downtown business and financial district of Singapore. Throngs and throngs of people work in Raffles Place. Getting to work in the morning is like struggling your way through a somewhat aggressive and desperate crowd during the post-Christmas sales.

The walk from the subway station to One Raffles Quay is a pretty long one.. and every morning, I feel like I'm part of a march to war, with the loud clacking of high heels almost like a rhythmic march to the battle fields. I sometimes almost think that they will blasting military songs through the long tunnel I make my way through to work.

Lunch is an equally frantic affair. There are queues everyone and people seem to be jostling their ways out of the offices to invade into all the food courts and restaurants nearby. It reminds me sometimes of a documentary that I saw where a swamp of locusts landed on a field and ate up everything in its path. Sends a chill down my spine at times.

It's pretty much the same after work, except in a way, the crowd is a lot less scary in the evenings. Maybe it is because everyone is feeling fatigued and drained by work.. Maybe it's because I do leave rather late compared to your normal office worker. I'm not quite sure. But the trains are still rather crowded, although not fully packed. And everything seems less frantic than in the day.

In any case, I have to get used to the rush hour crowd now, there is no escape really.

Although a bit late, but I now really appreciate my previous office location at the Marina Square/ Suntec area - with all the shopping and restaurants nearby.. and a calmer, more amiable crowd in the weekdays.

13 comments:

africanaussie said...

I can't even imagine the crowds, but I will be going to Malaysia in December with my two daughters, so very interested. It will be a culture shock for me coming from the tiny town I now live in.

Blur Ting said...

The view is nice but I don't envy everything else you've mentioned. I also realise the ladies in that district are dressed to the nines, I would feel like a frump next to them. Gosh, rushing to work each day sounds like such a stressful exercise, I shall never complain about going to work in Yio Chu Kang again.

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Hi AA, oh.. You will be going to Malaysia! It should be good fun. Do let us all know how the trip goes! I think the local food is Malaysia is great!

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Hi Ting, I would love to work in Yio Chu Kang.. Actually one of the departments that I work closely with is located in YCK, and I love it when I get to go there for meetings because it's so near my place! As for the ladies... Not everyone dresses well - i have seen people dress like they are going to party, which is really odd. Hm... I have always seen you dress very appropriately.. So i don't think you would look like a frump at all! :)

petite nyonya said...

i think singapore is so crowded now. my friends there have been complaining about it. but i still do miss singapore though. i used to work at robinson road area, and raffles quay was under construction when i was there.

Anonymous said...

I understand what you mean. I get off at Raffles Place to get to school, and I feel very claustrophobic and stressed out whenever I see the working crowd there...

Sky

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Hehe, Petite Nonya.. I worked in KL for a few months a few months back.. and I also miss the place a lot.. esp the food.. :)

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Oh Sky.. ya.. I think it has a very gloomy feel.. Raffles Place. I don't like it much..

Malar said...

Sound so much similar to my work place! So hectic place and the traffic can make up run up the wall! ....sigh...
The view is really very beautiful regardless of gloomy day!

Petunia Lee said...

The view is stunning... but not the prospect of having to wear proper clothes to work.

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Thanks Malar, this is a very new part of Singapore and frankly, I still sometimes think its like seeing another country outside the window :p

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Petunia, heehee. I can understand what you mean!

Dianne Lim said...

Hi I had much the same thoughts while working in a bank. Such a waste of time queueing for food and rushing everywhere. So I started a healthy lunch delivery business. Do check out my www.facebook.com/EverythingYouWant2Be and www.everythingyouwant2be.com. Hope you try out this lunch solutions ;)