Staycation at Pan Pacific - Singapore Special

We booked a staycation at Pan Pacific Marina during a July weekend.

It was the preview of the National Day parade and we were hoping to catch the fireworks! Boy, did we catch it, we even had a fantastic view of the fireworks, thanks to the room upgrade!

Our package deal:
Staycation! Singapore Special Book by 29 Dec 2013
Stay through 30 Dec 2013 Exclusively for Singaporeans, Singapore PRs, employment pass or S-pass holders residing in Singapore,
Deluxe Room S$218 per room per night
City Suite S$298 per room per night (single or double occupancy) Third-person charge at an additional S$40 per room per night
Room rate includes:
•Breakfast for two
•Complimentary Internet access
•Two complimentary parking coupons daily
•Includes S$40 hotel credit per night of stay (excluding In-room dining, Rang Mahal, Mink and Royal Room)
•Complimentary late check-out until 3:00pm

Check in was swift, as there were sufficient counters and hotel staff around to guide. I just asked if we would be able to see the fireworks from our room, and the staff so very kindly upgraded me to the Harbour Studio room, which had windows on the whole wall! That made it the perfect place to view the fireworks, in the comfort of aircon.

Another highlight was the pool. The boy and I arrived early and were taking our time choosing our 'feng-shui' spot, not knowing the staff had saw us, and when we finally sat down, the staff delivered towels and iced bottled water to our chairs.
Excellent Service!

Breakfast was at The Edge. Guess we went at a popular time, about 9am, so it wa full-house. The staff asked if we wanted to dine at other locations instead (eg, poolside or atrium area) but we decided to wait.

The S$40 dining vouchers came in handy, we had our lunch at the atrium before checking out.

It was a very enjoyable stay, made special by the perfect view to enjoy the fireworks!

P/S There seems to be some problems uploading photos, will add photos another time!

Dining at Santouka Ramen

The boy and I are a big fan of ramen and visited Santouka Ramen branch at Central as we had an appointment in Central. This was also a good opportunity to use our vouchers from deal.com.sg. The vouchers could only be used on Mon - Thurs.

1 set of Hiyashi Chuka with Spain Iberiko Tokusen Toroniku at $9.90!

I read up on reviews and was eagerly looking forward to trying the famous egg and pork cheek!

I reached early, at about 6pm, and the restaurant was half-full. That was the start to the not-so-pleasant dining experience. Told the waitress that my friend was coming and she pointed rudely to the chairs outside, and muttered WAIT HERE. Asked nicely if I could order first, as my friend is coming, and we were in a rush. She took my order and snapped WAIT HERE again. (The idea was to have the food served and ready for the bf as we had 30mins to eat before our appointment.)

The "HERE" was a few chairs against the glass windows with the sun baking the chairs! :(

Finally, we were seated and served (had to wait for about 10mins before the food was served, which defeated the purpose of having the food ready for bf to gulp down and run.)

The egg was wonderful, and the pork cheek was delicious. However, the not-so-pleasant encounter with the waitress marred the whole dining experience. Understand that it was prob just the management policy that all diners must be present before seating, but the way it was communicated could use alot more improvement..Dont't think I will be back anytime soon. Will pop by my usual haunt Marutama Raman (also at Central) for my ramen cravings instead.

Kith Cafe Park Mall

The ladies and I dropped by Kith Cafe for a brunch birthday celebration.
When we arrived at 11am, all the tables were full, and we had to put our name on the waiting list, which had a few people in front of us.

The cafe is small, with maybe 20 pax max for indoor seating. Considering the hot weather, we made a special request to sit indoors.  We were then free to roam the place and wait for their call. Luckily, the call came quite soon as there was nothing much at Park Mall to interest us.

Menu page 1

Menu page 2

Menu page 3

We were seated at a corner, and it was a little difficult trying to get the wait staff attention, they seemed to be hurrying around.

Fresh juice at $5.50 a glass

Kith Macchiato at $4, (smaller than expected)

Ever popular Big Breakfast at $15.50

The big breakfast was very filling, couldn't finish my 4 pieces of bread. I had the multi-grain, scrambled eggs and vegemite. My friends had their toast with nutella, better choice! It comes with home-made strawberry jam, so if you order nutella, you'll get both the jam and nutella. Me thinks its better to order nutella, since you're going to be given the jam too. I like my bread with lots of spreads. ;)

We also had a Banana and Caramel Toasties (2 pieces of 'sandwich' maker bread) with grapes on the side. I thought the grapes was a nice touch!

A cheaper brunch place in town, if you're willing to wait. When we left at 1plus, the wait list was a couple of pages long. The big breakfast was tasty, but nothing really spectacular, maybe I was expecting more after reading lots of good reviews about it. Will be back if I'm in the area and looking for breakfast food.

Avalon Organics Shampoo

New Avalon Organics shampoo I bought from Mustafa over the weekend. Switching to organic shampoo after hearing the benefits. I wanted to get the Hair Thickening range for both shampoo and conditioner, but didn't see the shampoo at Mustafa. Will try it and review later! 

It was selling for $22.90 per bottle, as there was a 25% off, so at $17 each, it was cheaper than Watsons at $20.90.

Afternote:

The shampoo gave a very clean feel and smelt great (a mix of tea-tree eucalyptus). I needed to use the conditioner with it, otherwise my hair would be tangled. Conditioner works well. Thumbs up!

Gardens by the Bay

The boy and I made our way to Gardens by the Bay in consecutive weekends!

You must be wondering what's so attractive about it that brought us there, twice... well, we had free tickets. hehe

The first time we went, it was massively crowded! Queues and queues just to enter the two domes, I guess that was mainly due to it being the school holiday week in September. All the families were out in full force! We parked at the open air carpark as the signs showed that the covered carpark was full. 

*Beware though, the open air carpark is a distance from the main attractions!

Pathway to Gardens

We made our way to the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome and along the way there were flowers and pavilions making for nice photo opportunities. Interestingly, it was rather quiet at this section of the park, perhaps visitors were all aiming for the two domes.

In the flower dome! A picture says a thousand words, so let the photos speak for themselves!

Cactus greeting us at entrance

More cactus

Pretty colours!

If only I could hang this in my house

Nice spot for photo taking

Next stop was Cloud Forest, we had to queue to take the lift to the top level. Heard many people complaining about the long queues for the lift, and as usual there were many queue-jumpers and that irked those who guai guai waited in line. 

Massive waterfall greeted us

 It was kind of chilly here, so bring along a sweater, especially if you get wet from the waterfall.

Photos here all turned out misty...

Lastly, do try the flower ice-cream stall (Seventh Heaven) outside the two domes. Salty caramel was the nicest. If I remember correctly, each cup was about $4. No photos though, ate up before I could snap. We were hungry after the walk.

Speaking of food, I saw Bakerzin which was packed. I think more restaurants will only open in the later part of the year. Some visitors packed beehoon etc and had their own picnic there! 

We visited the SkyWalk the following week. At 22m, the scenery was great, windy too. We could see the flyer, and MBS. The MIL was a little scared of the heights, especially when she saw the 'mesh-like' floor. Before she looked down, she was happily enjoying the view! So do note if you bring along older folks/kids.

the ball by nightfall

and to end off with the supertrees!

Club Med - Bintan

The boyfriend and I decided to take a relaxing holiday (for once) over the December 2010 holidays (yes, i know this post is super belated!)

We took advantage of the Adults Travel for Kids Promo and travelled to Club Med - Bintan!

A first Club Med experience for the both of us, the beach was splendid, food great, well let's the photos do the talking shall we..

Arrived at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal birght and early, we cabbed there as its not really accessible by public transport.  Nothing much to see or do there, so no photos of the Ferry Terminal.

On board the ferry- we chose a seat near the exit for easy exiting later!

Lots of legroom even for the 1.8++m tall bf

Christmas decorations on board added to the festive mood!

Vast ocean view from the ferry

The pool from the lobby

Arrived in Bintan, the Club Med booth was one of the 'shops' after clearing customs. More atas ones like Banyan Tree had staff greeting them before the checkpoint.

The busy lobby with GOs and guests checking in

Our room was a long walk from the lobby, and on the top floor too! Not for the faint hearted. The bf and I took it as our exercise from eating so much good food during mealtimes.

King size bed

Big washroom with shower, toilet is separate

Complimentary 

Day bed

Usual tea/coffee with 2 bottles of water. Kept the bottles to replenish.

Free flow drinks by the bar

After settling down, we went for a tour by the GOs, good for an overview, but the resort is not that big actually.

Our exploring took us to the main restaurant to book the candle light dinner at The Terrace, the earlier timeslot was full so we agreed to have a late dinner instead. All drinks alcoholic included were free flow at the restaurants and bars.

We had white wine and rose wine with dinner

Another day's dinner at the main restaurant - Seafood night

Yummy!

The main restaurant

One of our fav tables

 More photos of the very relaxing beach!

We tried many more activities such as golf, sailing etc but our favourite activity was still lazing on the beach. White sand blue sky, what more could we ask for.

Try to avoid monsoon season if you're one to get seasick easily as sea was quite choppy on the way back. Some water activities were not available during this time too, but no worries as there are alot more other things to try!

A short relaxing trip, signing off with a photo of a monkey right outside our room!