Day 14: The lounges at HKIA

I know I've mentioned this before, but I really, really like travelling with lounge access. Having to wait outside while waiting for the lounges to open really highlighted the difference - sitting near the food court (which was atleast open), having to deal with annoying noises, and people constantly walking past so you can't even properly rest. I was sooo tempted to just order something to eat. Not really because of hunger (those sandwhiches were surprisingly yummy) but because of sheer boredom. Atleast I was cozy wearing my little wrap/cape.

I'm super glad I held out in terms of ordering something to eat, because the food here in the lounge is fantastic. I'm currently in the Cabin Lounge, which is sort of in the middle of the terminal. My flight doesn't have a gate yet, so I figured centrally located was the way to go. Anyways, foodwise, I started off with having a breakfast shake made of banana, chocolate, milk and espresso, and then ordered a freshly made panini with eggs, tomatoes, bacon and cheese. So far I've also had a yogurt, some fresh fruit, and fresh guava juice. I'm considering going up for more, but I think I'd better pace myself, since I have a few hours to go here before I start lounge hopping - I spent some time in the Pier lounge, but I haven't been to the Wing yet. I might even take a quick shower :) Though I am enjoying lounging in this ergonomically designed Solus chair, complete with a little table, and an outlet. It's pretty much a self-contained little pod :)

Anyways, I should get back to work - have some writing to get done now, before I let myself explore the rest of the lounge. Apparently there's a tech zone where I can borrow an ipad.

Day 13: Singapore trip recap

Day 13: Singapore trip recap.

Currently on the plane to HK, where I stop for a few hours enroute to Toronto. I can't believe this trip went by so quickly. On the one hand, it feels like all I did was lounge about in B's hotel, wander malls, and eat out, but sitting down now to blog about everything I haven't written about yet, I realize how much I've gotten done on this trip.

Anyways, I think I left off blogging on Saturday 4 days ago, when Barbs friends were still with us. It wound up being a pretty chill day - we went to breakfast at Takashimaya, where among other things we enjoyed banana prata (a freshly made roti filled with bananas then fried) and kaya French toast (kaya being yummy coconut custard spread), which might be some of my favourite foods in Singapore, along with laksa. After a bit of wandering around we headed back to the hotel to rest up, we went to a fish spa at Kenko reflexology near the hotel. It was my second time, having gone the last time I was in Singapore, and it was kind of fun watching people try it for the first time. After getting your feet washed, you basically stick your legs into one of three pools, filled with different types of fish that way dead skin - one with really gentle little fish, one with these little aggressive ones (who provide the most exfoliation and are thus my fave), and then this pool with comparatively massive fish that creep me out. At the end of it, I think my feet felt softer, but I didn't check them before hand so it's hard to tell. They certainly look fabulous now, but that's more because they're freshly pedicured :)

Anyways, after that, B's friends headed out to the airport and B and I did tea at TWG at the ION Orchard. The coconut tea that I had was delicious, but the service was atrocious, to the point that I filed a complaint.

The next day B and I went to Sentosa to enjoy the beaches, since we weren't able to book a trip out of the country. We left the planning kind of late, which normally would have been ok, but everything was fully booked because since it was a holiday weekend (Vesak day). The beaches at Sentosa were pretty nice - super clean, accessible by MRT and then a shuttle, and pretty spacious. Some of them have weird views of the container ships going past into the harbour, but B and I went to this little cove where the beach faced the supposed southern most point of continental Asia.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty chill. Monday we met with B's realtor. Her name is Caron, and she's awesome - though the market here is messed up. It's insanely expensive, and also moves super quickly. We also visited Little India stopping by Mustafa's, this massive store complex. It sells pretty much everything and has awesome bargains, and is particularly well known for it's tech stuff. We had dinner with our cousin at a mall nearby where we ate at this Japanese/Italian place (as in a Japanese interpretation of Italian food) that I loved because it had refillable coke, in addition to an all you can drink coffee station.

Tuesday, B and I checked put the high tea at the Rose Veranda at the Shangrila, which was fantastic and more than made up for our crappy experience at TWG. They even served TWG teas - not the coconut one i liked, but there were 128 other teas yo choose from. There are two prices - for about 40 you just choose one tea to enjoy, and then for an extra 10 you can try as many of the teas as you want. They bring the tea to you perfectly brewed and strained, either hot in a pot, or iced in this massive glass.

It was one of those all you can eat tea buffets, and had sooo much good food. My faves were this shrimp and avocado salad served in cocktail glasses, the yummy roast beef, and the entirety of the dessert bar, especially the yummy scones and the chocolate fountain. Ooo, and the bread pudding.

 B went back to work, then we met back up for a quick dinner at Orchard before checking out chinatown - which interestingly includes the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. I was hoping to catch some Vesak day celebrations, but apparently they all mainly happen in the morning.

Today we met with B's realtor again in the morning, and ended up closing on a place before lunch. Though finding a place to live while I was still around to help with the decision and also to figure out what would need to be shipped from Canada was always the plan, it seems incredible that we actually did it. Especially since all the action pretty much happened at the very last minute.

Anyways, those are pretty much the highlights of the past few days. All that's left of my trip now is a few hours in the Hong Kong airport, where I'll try to get the papers I've been meaning to do all week done, and then the final stretch home. Fingers crossed for another upgrade :)

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Posting from HKIA. All three lounges are closed till later in the morning, but I managed to catch one that still had staff in it, and they packed me a little snack bag to tide me over. And there's a new mcCafe that's opened since last summer that's still open. 

Day 7 - 9: Take Jo to work day, fun times with friends, and early morning start.

Currently sitting in B's room. Luckily there's a tv in here. And my laptop. Because B's friends are still sleeping outside, so we're in here for a little while... which is a long story, so I'll start at the beginning.

Anyways, starting back two days ago on Thursday, I went with B to work at Millenia Towers.  Or really outside her work. It's actually a super easy trip, especially in the morning, where there's a shuttle straight from the hotel. While B went to work, I spent the morning in the starbucks near her office finally getting some of my work finished. Starbucks here is really pricy, though they do have a yummy eggwhite breakfast wrap. Also, the service is really good - they even have this wall with pictures of regular customers which really makes me wish I was going to be here longer. Oh, though the one down side is that the menu is identical to the one at home, so no special regional flavours to enjoy.

B would come down for a coffee break, and then at lunch we transferred over to a Mc Donalds at Suntec. Which was cool for two reasons - firstly, again, really good service. And truly fantastic McCafe options, complete with table service. Secondly - I recognized the mall from my last trip - It's actually where I had my first meal when I was here in Singapore the first time around, and the first time I saw the crowds of expat banking types all over the place and thought that this would be a good place for B. The fact that it could actually have been Barbs current coworkers there is totally evidence of my psychic powers :)

The rest of the day was really chill. Another afternoon coffee break with B (again at McDonalds - though I didnt just sit there all afternoon, having wandered the malls for awhile :p ) and then a chill night at the appartment with some take out we picked up on our way home from the MRT. We had been thinking of gogin to the Mustafa centre which came highly recommended - but we were kinda tired, and apparently its mainly known for its electronics and there wasnt really anything we needed.

Yesterday, Friday, was a super long day, and the beginning of the story I brought up at the beginning. We start off the day with an early morning trip to the airport, to meet one of B's friends from the airport who was travelling South East Asia with some of her friends. They were here in Singapore on a long stopover enroute to Thailand. It was kinda fun, because Barbs had the day off, and we hadn't yet had time to do the tourist thing. We spent most of the day wandering downtown near the waterfront, checking out the merlion statue (currently surrounded by a hotel room for an art exhibit), the fullerton, Clarke Quay and some of the other sights. We also ate at both Subway and McDonalds, for a western break to their palate. Apparently Indian food, having just come from Kerala, though good, is heavily spiced and they needed a break for their palate. 

Anyways, we split up in the afternoon with them heading off to the airport, and Barbs and I to get home and get ready to meet one of my friends for dinner. Which is where the story gets interesting - apparently 2 of Barbs friends (luckily the ones she's closest to) got their departure wrong, and are in fact leaving for Thailand today. What follows is a complicated series of events, including a suepr long taxi ride to the mrt, B and I splitting up, Barbs friends getting lost heading to the hotel, and me and my friend killing time before dinner at Raffles Place (yet another mall). Anyways, it ended with a chill dinner with my friend at a cantonese restaurant, who is Singaporean but who did her undergrad with me in Toronto, followed by super yummy desserts at a chocolate place, aswell as a late snack at a kaya toast place - something that I had been wanting to try as its a very singaporean dish, but haven't been sure how to order. Which is really one of the fun parts of having a Singaporean friend :)

So right now, still sitting in our hotel room, as B's friends are still sleeping outside. Luckily, B and I's travel plans fell through, as absolutely everywhere is fully booked - Apparently Tuesday coming up is Vesak day, a Buddhist holiday, so it's a super busy holiday weekend. The plan for the day is to chill out at Sentosa, where the money we would have spent leaving the country will go pretty far in getting me chill spa stuff. Next time I visit we'll plan a proper spree in the surrounding countries - Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia... :) It's going to be fun.

Anyways, getting hungry so am going to leave the room now... more later.

Day 4: The trip so far - shopping and eating :)

Day 4: Shopping and eating in Singapore

Haven't really been in the mood to blog that much this trip. Not because I'm so busy doing things, but because my time so far has been rather uneventful. Partly, because I did all the main sights last time I was here in Singspore, and I'm really not used to spending so much time in one city. That's not to say of course that I haven't been having a fabulous time - most of what there is to do here is shopping and eating, which are two of my favourite things :)

My sister picked me up st the airport just past midnight saturday morning, and we taxid over to the Shangrila Appartments, where she's staying. Its really nice, the notable highlights being a pool I haven't tried out yet, and a fancy espresso machine in the business centre which I go down to use several times a day. Well, usually twice - once for breakfast, and once for after dinner.

After resting up for a few hours, I ended up spending my first two days catching up with some of our contacts here, in between resting and getting through the hunger games trilogy. Saturday, we met up with my cousins husband, having yummy prawns at a restaurant in Clarke Quay, and then picking up take out at hawker stalls to have for a chill dinner at my sisters place - the best part being the fruit salad. Basically you go to these fruit stands where you choose the fruits you want and they chop it up into a salad for you. It's delicious, and super cheap, partly because yummy tropical fruits are local and thus super cheap. You can also get various fresh squeezed juices. Oh, and I also picked up a new unlocked phone to use while traveling. The other unlocked phone I had been using was only dual band, which is fine while I'm going around most of asia, but would have problems when I take it to Europe this summer.

Sunday, Barbs and I meeting up with one if her work friends who had similarly transferred from Toronto to Singapore. We headed over to Toa Payoh, where she lives and wandered the markets and parks before having lunch at this Chinese restaurant in the middle of the gardens. It was an intersting look at a more typical Singaporean lifestyle, rather than the isolated bubble some expats live in.

Ny sister headed back to work today, so I've spent mist of the day relaxing on my own, though she did come back for lunch and to supervise the delivery of one of her shipments of furniturethPerhaps from back home.

Besides eating, and wandering the many malls on Orchard Road, one of the things I'm looking forward tinin this trip is going out for tea. Perhaps not surprising given the British and Chinese influence here, there's a rather strong tea culture, and high tea is really popular. It actually what I'm doing right now at a cafe near my sisters apartment called TCC - standing for either The Connoisseurs Concerto, or The Coffee Conoisseurs. There are signs saying both. It seems to be a rather popular chain here, best known for their coffee, which is what I'm actually enjoying with my high tea set. There's actually a rather long list of tea places I want to try while I'm here, which will give me something to do while my sister is at work. My set included 2 little sandwhiches, 2 scones with clotted cream snd starberry jam and two litle desserts. It's really good value for just over 10CAD.

Anyways, should probably focus on eating my food and coffee before it gets cold - will try to write more soon. Plans for the week include viewing some condos, and a possible weekend trip to either Malaysia or Indonesia which should be fun.

Day 1: Singapore Bound!

Singapore Bound!!!

This trip is off to a really good start. First a relaxed morning, running some last minute errands and packing, which all went so smoothly I kept thinking I was forgetting something. And then got a ride to the airport with a friend, stopping for lunch together on the way. 

As some of you know, one of the reasons I was looking forward to this trip was to use my frequent flyer silver status card before it expired, earned after flying so much last summer. The premium service started with the super speedy checkin process, but what I was really excited about was getting lounge access. I was all set to write about how lovely it is waiting for your flight in a lounge - and it is, what with drinks, and coffee and dimsum (afterall, I am on a flight to Asia). In fact I was so busy trying to take it all in that I didn't have time to blog about it.  But really, it all pales in comparison to unexpectedly being upgraded to business class! 

I've been upgraded before, but never on one of my long haul flights to Asia. I remember walking past these seats with envy last summer. They're like little private pods that turn into beds. It's kind of awesome. And yay for the service! Champagne and fresh squeezed orange juice while waiting. And I'll finally get to try that cool cocktail with rose petals in it that I kept seeing last summer. 

On the down side - no less than three of the dishes on the fancy menu I just received have mango. Including the yummy sounding desserts. Grr to food allergies. 

Anyways, should get started on getting to use all the cool features in my little pod. Starting eith checking out the contents of my Agnes B travel case. 

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Mini update from the plane. Still six hours to go before Hong Kong. I'm really enjoying  the service. The food has been awesome - grilled beef tenderloin, followed by a cheesecake ( specially plated with no mango sauce), pasta with ratatouille. Currently enjoying Haagen Dazs and a cappucino, having just finished a mimosa made with fresh squeezed orange juice. 

The pod has also been great - I laid down for awhile between meals just because I could. Though admittedly it was 8 hours into the flight before I discovered I had arm rests :) They've dimmed the lights again now that the second meal service is over, so I might try napping again in between movies. I've already seen most of the ones I'm interested in, but I'm enjoying the big screen and fancy head phones. 

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Quickie posting from HK lounge - one of three I have access to here, but sadly no time to explore. In fact, barely enough time to post and then finish my soup and drinks before I have to go line up to board. No worries though - I have  hours here on my way home :)