I could hardly believe it. IKEA is now not a tiring 4 hours’ drive away, but instead, it is only a short 20-minute drive away from our home. In a way, the convenience kind of scares us because it offers a temptation that is so hard to resist. What’s more, some of the items we were eyeing are even cheaper than those in Malaysia! Yeah, I kid you not.
Last Sunday was our second visit to IKEA in a month, and we only went there that day because they were having a 2-day promotion where the sales tax of 8.25% would be waived! There were slightly more people than usual, I would say, but there was no pushing or shoving around. Check out the escalators leading to the living room section of IKEA. Doesn’t it look oddly familiar, like you’ve seen it before somewhere, like in Mutiara Damansara? The East Palo Alto IKEA we went too consists of two storeys too, much like what we have in Malaysia, and the sections were pretty much similar, so it is quite easy to navigate around.
See, even the kids’ play area had a similar-looking slide. It was VERY hard to get Ethan to leave the play area, by the way.
In order to take advantage of the no-sales-tax promo, we bought a few items, like a bathtub for baby, a chair for Ethan, and an additional 17 gallon Samla box, which only cost $9.99. Compared to the price of RM45 in Malaysia for that same item, this one was a steal! We know it will come in handy because we used it when we were shipping our stuff to the US when we relocated here.
Well, too bad we could not buy the Billy bookcase too, as I had wanted. It just would not fit into our car! SIGH.
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Our Journey of Love
haha very malaysian! all the way in the US also must shop at ikea 🙂
The Giddy Tigress says: It has some of the cheapest stuff around!
It is weird and comforting at the same time isn’t it?
The Giddy Tigress says: Yes it is…
I went through the 4 hours drive to IKEA last weekend. 🙁
I thought the Billy Bookcase should be packaged flat as most of the IKEA stuffs?
The Giddy Tigress says: Yes, it is flatpacked, but the main part of it is way too long to fit into our car, even though it is packed as such.
Most Americans like bulky chunky solid wood, IKEA is considered the cheaper furniture, popular for apartment dwellers who have limited space.
Haven’t visited an IKEA store yet as the nearest IKEA is about 2 hours drive from us. We bought a few used IKEA furniture off craiglist.com, they are almost new and for a fraction of the retailed price!
The Giddy Tigress says: But I saw a lot of Americans shopping there too! hehehe…
Woot! I think some Ikea stuff may be cheaper there actually. Nice time to stock up. But how would you bring back the Billy when you return?! 🙂
The Giddy Tigress says: If we could somehow get it back to our apartment here in San Jose, we can get the movers to ship it back to Malaysia for us, provided it’s not too big.
Wow shopping at Ikea already. Becareful not to over buy stuff. Wonder how you going to transport your collection back to Malaysia.
The Giddy Tigress says: As long as we do not exceed our shipment allocation, we can definitely bring the stuff back 🙂
heehee. your title made me smile.
You can’t be missing home yet. Probably still giddy from all the exploring?
Have a great time in the states and looking forward to reading all about your stay !
The Giddy Tigress says: haha…no la, not homesick yet…
Didn’t know you were a great fan of Ikea. You would love staying where I do, a mere 3mins drive away. Weirdly, when you’re near it, you don’t go there!
The Giddy Tigress says: Oh you didn’t know I was a fan? Why do you think I always stay near The Curve when I am there? hehe
Aiya…I thought you found nasi lemak, char koay teow or roti canai LOL
I love IKEA too but how are you going to bring them back???
The Giddy Tigress says: Haha…well, actually we do know where to find all of the food you mentioned, but aitelyu, one roti canai here costs $2.95 (plus tax!!!). As for bringing the stuff back, as long as it is within our shipment allocation, the movers will be able to ship them back for us.
hey.. do you know they now implemented a new rule that the shipment must meet certain dimension to ship back? I wanted to buy the Billy bookcase too, but we were worried that it would exceed the dimension guidelines.
If you got more info on dimensions, let me know ya?
The Giddy Tigress says: Yes, apparently the Billy bookcase exceeds the dimension guidelines. So we can’t buy it here 🙁