5 Things You Only Know If You Go to NEX

1. Broken escalators, and 3. the human traffic jam

There is always one escalator under maintenance at NEX. Not sometimes. Always. You will be on level 2 needing to get down and the nearest escalator will be wrapped in a grey tarp, so you walk to the other end of the floor and take that one. The comments on our post were the best part: "the escalators especially the past year got worse", "there is always an escalator that is not in use", and one person simply asking how a mall is allowed to have this problem.

The human traffic jam is the MRT exit at the wrong hour. NEX sits on top of Serangoon, which is the interchange between the North East Line and the Circle Line, so at 6pm it is not shoppers, it is two train lines emptying into one mall basement. The photo we used is a normal weekday. If you are meeting someone, meet upstairs.

2. Meiji protein milk, iykyk

Slide three was a chest freezer packed with Meiji protein milk bottles and the words "iykyk". Two people in the comments asked us to explain it, so, honestly, if you do not know, you do not know, and the joke has already done its job on the people who do. We will leave it there.

4. The rooftop is a poly camp, and 5. Pet Safari

NEX's rooftop is never empty. It is where the poly and JC kids eat after school, in groups of eight, on the benches by the playground, and on a weekday evening it is the most crowded outdoor space in Serangoon. One commenter put it as "rooftops are always crowded especially during the evening with students eating". Correct.

Pet Safari is the test. If you have never been to Pet Safari at NEX, do you even know NEX? It is at #04-03 and #04-71, open 10am to 10pm daily, done up as a Wild West town called Bow Wow West, and it sits next to the rooftop dog park. You have walked past the dog statue at the entrance even if you have never owned a pet. That is the point.

Part 3 is Hougang Mall

The last slide promised Hougang Mall next, and the comments have already started asking for a Virtualand review. The series so far: Jurong, then this one. If you have a NEX-specific one we missed, the comments are open.