FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Staying Awake, Cool & Dry

Friday, 21 February 2020

Staying Awake, Cool & Dry

5 hours of sleep later we were ready to tackle Singapore. An intense battering of our windows from a storm roused us from slumber briefly at 0530am but we managed to get ourselves ready for an 8am breakfast. The early breakfast was necesary as we had lunch and afternoon tea were already scheduled and our digective tract needed time to do its work. Excitement was high. Hotel buffet breakfast rates highly on my list of likes, especially high end Asian Hotels. The Conrad didn't disappoint. Our sense were overwhelmed with choice of Asian and Western delights. Throw in some foods from fond childhood memories and we got ourselves a winning breakfast.

The view of Suntec City from our room. There was still evidence of the very loud overnight storm

One of best juice bars I've seen. Great combination of flavours, on top of freshly squeezed favourites like guava and orange

Kaya toast! Yes!

Didn't expect to see chawanmushi. The filling rotated daily.

There was no rest for the wicked. Elaine wanted to visit the Botanical Gardens and so off we went. I took the opportunity to visit my parents as our old apartment was right next to the entrance. The showers that woke us up briefly earlier in the morning continued to make its presence felt on and off. The other 3 were unfortunately at the mercy of the rains, having to seek shelter in the pavillions. By all accounts, they seem to have still enjoyed the gardens.

We rendezvoused post garden visit and my parents took us out for lunch. It was their way of saying thank you to Serena for agreeing to carry a suitcase home for them 😂 The cuisine of choice was Hakka. Don't ask me where it was because I wasn't paying attention...all I know was that the food was good! As usual, they couldn't help over-ordering....

Still smiling and dry! At the entrance of the Botanical Gardens

Ahh...my mother still loves me. I love bak kwa!

Hakka cuisine with the parents!

Their signature bee hoon dish. The broth was so delicious

Hakka dumplings

My parents left us to our devices post lunch but not before giving detailed advice about where to shop and our transport options. They even provided us with preloaded transport cards. Yay for parents! The heat and the rains combined made walking up top unbearable. We stayed indoors and utilised the much appreciated air-conditioned underground linking of the shopping malls along Orchard Road. The pause button had to be hit on the shopping at around 245pm as we returned to the Conrad. Part of our hotel deal gave us USD200 food and beverage credit to spend. Our deal also included a compimentary room upgrade which saw us receiving a 20% discount off food and drink at the hotel, AND a daily $20 laundry credit. To bargain loving Asians (Heather was now an Asian) this deal just got better and better. The Conrad's "pink afternoon tea" Valentine's Day special looked enticing and we booked ourselves a 3pm slot. The value-seeking Asian in us didn't see the need to pay double to experience the same thing on a weekend...this meant we had to do it today despite the fact that we were still stuffed from breakfast and lunch. We needn't have worried about making a reservation and rushing back to the Hotel. There was no one else at the lounge! That was one of the benefits of the recent Coronavirus outbreak. The usually vibrant Singapore was somewhat dead.

We oohed and ahhed at the marvellous pink creations before rolling our way towards the pool. None of us could move much by this point but we figured we probably could still float. Once again, the pool area was quiet. That translated to us having the whole pool area to ourselves. By 6pm the broken sleep and uncomfortable flight had caught up with most of us. We ventured into the bowels of the adjacent Suntec City. Luckily the food court was the first thing we encoutered upon entering the enormous complex. My delicious $5.50 childhood favourite mee pok was a fitting way to end what was a lovely first day in Singapore.