24-hours in Singapore: Part 2

Lots of catching up to do..

After a hearty meal courtesy of Dr Peter Chua, Stanley and I walked back to the Camper's Corner. 
There, we met up with Sesh Anthony, a good buddy of mine who is also one of Singapore's premier knife collectors.
We shared a mutual case where a Permanent Resident dude had taken many of the Singapore knife collector's for a ride.
The straw that broke the camel's back was Conman using a signature line on his profile in an on-line board in bad taste.
It is sad to hear that the guy who was implicated in this case was so nice to the bugger.
We had a few beers at Camper's courtesy of Calvin Tay, the outlet's owner.

Coming a long way....

I've know Calvin since 1989.
His shop was at the Paradiz Centre in Selegie Road.
My first purchase from him was a Teva sandal. Since then, I've been frequenting his outfitter's store which is now located at Waterloo Street.
Calvin has been in business for more than 23 years, so, I think he's been doing a lot of things right.
His flagship outlet is the Arcteryx store in Chinatown.

Calvin, having a go at my book..

Cool stuff: Gregory backpacks at the store

The store's interior

A staff at the payment counter

And so they say...

Over the years, I heard a lot of people bitching about shopping for outdoor goods in Singapore.
"Expensive" is a word that I never grow tired of hearing.
Camper's Corner survived on providing their customers the best names in the outdoors business like MSR, Arcteryx, Chaco and Gregory packs.
I wish there were outfitters in Malaysia who could do the same, but having seen the cost factor in terms of freight and taxes, we are way behind..

Meeting the knifenuts..

Singapore's knife collectors are low-profile people.
I met a few guys a couple of years ago and kept in touch with them and man, these guys have real purchasing power.
We went to a mall somewhere in the outskirts of town to have dinner.
Stanley forked the bill and we indulged in a decent conversation until it was time to call it a day.

Good company: The Singapore knifenuts

Sesh and his companion Adeline

We talked a bit about setting up a forum for the Singapore collectors.
But its up to Sesh and Eugene, his friend to lead the way.
Pumped-up full of beers, I staggered back to hotel to catch some sleep.
Man, those strong Belgian beers do knock you out!