In case anyone was wondering what a McDonald's in Singapore looks like. I would guess pretty much the same as anywhere else in the world.
Nobody paid any attention to the camera because I didn't lift it up to my eye. I held it in my hands and shot blind. I realize now that I could have switched on the live view, but I'm not used to using it and didn't think of it at the time.
Note the green Iced Milo drinks machine in the middle. Maybe that's unique. Milo is Nestle's chocolate drink, equivalent to Ovaltine and Swiss Miss. Has been the dominant chocolate drink here (and in Malaysia) since when the British were in charge. You can order a cup at any local coffee shop.
This is 6:30am, breakfast. You can see the sign for the $4.00 Sausage McMuffin With Egg Meal, at the top. They recently started this special, where you get the breakfast meals for 2/3 the normal price ($4.00 for Sausage McMuffin With Egg Meal, usual price $5.85) between 6am and 9am.
The red tag with the yellow arrow over the cash register, says "Order Here." When the cash register is closed, they flip the tag around and it becomes yellow, can't remember the words. "Next Counter Please" or something. Rightmost cash register doesn't have a tag. I think it's permanently closed.
This is a small McDonald's, only three cash registers, with two operational. It's in the middle of a HDB public housing estate. McDonald's used to be in the city center only, but they decided to blanket Singapore with branches, about 20 years ago. They started going 24-hours on some branches, a few years back. This is one of them.
The illuminated signs at the top are easily changed to the lunch/dinner menu. They rotate, so you just turn them. I remember when the flat panels had to be manually swapped out.
First McDonald's in Singapore opened in Liat Towers, along Orchard Road, in the 1970s. My sisters and I were fascinated by their straws. They were the thickest straws that we had ever seen, because they had to deal with the thick McDonald's milkshakes. We took the straws home, washed them, and played with them.
McDonald's discontinued milkshakes here a few years ago, but they're back now.
I read their corporate hagiography many years ago, John Love's McDonald's: Behind the Arches. Fascinating stuff. Total soap opera.
- Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8.
- At f4, 1/60 seconds, ISO 200.
- Aperture priority, auto white balance, center weighted metering, auto ISO.
- Picasa: Cropped, boosted fill light 3 stops (metering was thrown off by the bright signs, didn't catch it on the LCD because the D7000's display is quite bright, ISO 200 so could boost it a lot without adding too much noise).
