Goodbye Singapore

Sigh...it was our last day in Singapore. How did time go by so quickly!We tried our best to savour every last bite of a breakfast where we didn't have to lift a finger to prepare or clean up after. We managed to squeeze in another round of last minute shopping, and enjoyed some delicious dim sum before we had to check out of our hotel at 4pm.

Sob...I love you buffet breakfast. Until we meet again

Yes I need to try this

Chilled jellyfish

Salted egg custard bun

We had one last thing to look forward to, a business class flight back home. It was on British Airways but it was better than economy! The journey to the airport was quick and cheap. A bargain at $15. There was a dedicated check in loung in Terminal 1 for first and business class passengers. It was a rather set up with comfortable lounges that you can sit on whilst you check in. Much better than lines! Immigration lines were non-existent. After breezing through we headed straight for the British Airways lounge which was surprisingly nice. The seats were plentiful and comfortable and universal charging outlets readily accessible. They were certainly more comfortable than the seats in the Singapore Airlines lounge! The bar area was spacious. Food was adequte without being brilliant but it was good enough.

Unfortunately we would all have to return to "duties" shortly. Other than eating and drinking, we took the opportunity to catch up on news, chat with loved ones, give instructions to said loved ones, and finishing this blog post! We will sign out here and hopefully have another installment when we go on our next "weekend away"! If time permits, will also update the post with photos of our on-plane experience :)

The obligatory Changi Jewel photo

British Airways Lounge

Bar area

Cheers!

Tv area

Roger

I will keep today's post brief. There is only so much one can expand on shopping, eating and eating. 

The women split up today. Elaine had elected to utilise our 25% discount off spa treatments and stayed behind at the Hotel. The other three had specific items to shop for and returned to Orchard Rd to complete their necessary purchases. We got sucked in by Uniqlo again!

Lunchtime saw the return of the parents for some bak kut teh. Yummm! My mother took it upon herself to proclaim that it was to hot for Heather and proceeded to declare that Serena can cook bak kut teh and invite everyone over for dinner. The declaration came with a gift of ready made ba kut teh stock. Love you mum!

The rest of the afternoon was more shopping. Half day entertainment came in the form of Heather coming face to face with rojak for the first time.

"Roger?" 

"No rojak"

"Roger?!?!"

"NO. RojaKKK"

"There is no K in Roger"

"It is spelt R-O-J-A-K"

"Rojack"

"No! Say Roger with a K at the end"

Once we got Roger sorted....we returned to the hotel for some pool time. We had food and drink credit to chew up. We attempted to eat indian for dinner but we could not understand the vendor selling the food explaining the difference between chapati and prata. We moved on. 

And there endeth our day.

Bak kut teh time

Because shopping is SO tiring

Pool and cocktails are what good afternoons are made of

23,500 Steps

The iconic Raffles Hotel

Today we lived up to our whatsapp group name of "Walkin' Women"...mostly.

By now, we were buffet breakfast pros. We went about gathering our preferred foods with purpose. We had important business to attend to. Suntec City was calling our name. Alas, we were sucked into the first shop we encountered and stayed there for some time. Darn you Uniqlo!!! By the time lunch time rolled around we had wandered as far as City Hall and took the opportunity to gawk at the famous Raffles Hotel. We parted ways with Serena who was meeting up with a friend. She later informed that only "residents" were allowed into the establishment with the only exception being a visitor to their bar. Gah...we have credits to use at the Conrad anyway. Boo to you Raffles!

The rest of us seemingly walked around in circles necessitating an emergency call to the parentals for directions to have some Hainanese Chicken rice. We did make it to the restaurant and it was worth the effort! We were so hungry and the food was so good that no one remembered to take a photo of the chicken. More shopping tied us over to our next food encounter, high tea at the famous National Kitchen by Violet Oon at the National Gallery. For the uninitiated, the blurb about Violet Oon on wikipedia states "Violet Oon is a Singaporean chef, restaurateur, and food writer known for her food columns, cookbooks, and restaurants specializing in Peranakan cuisine." Heather says "I enjoyed the fusion of flavours that seemed regional". Serena thought "the setting is quite decadent". Elaine "liked it". Belinda enjoyed it but prefers a more traditional high tea.

Hainanese chicken rice without a picture of the chicken

The opulent setting of National Kitchen by Violet Oon

Beautifully presented high tea

The "sweet" tray

This is the way to be ladies of leisure!

Tea in proper tea cups

We had to motor along. Gardens By the Bay was next on the agenda. Tired legs saw us ditching the planned walk to the Gardens. This was our momentary moment of shame. We had 3 "conservatories" and a Supergrove to tour, including the light show at 7:45pm. Something had to give. Even the lady selling tickets told us to hurry up! Sheesh! In chronological order, we visited the Flower Dome, Cloud Forest, Floral Fantasy and finally the Supergrove. In between, we had gift shops to peruse. Thank goodness for the included shuttle rides with the "bundle" tickets! By the time, we hit the light and laser show at 7:45pm, we were more than ready to sit/lie to the relaxing sounds of opera music while watching the lights and lasers.

But our walking was not over. We needed one last oomph of energy to make it to Satay by the bay. We partook in over 60 sticks of satay chicken, beef and squid. The squid was a winner! We were grateful for the constant sea breeze. It made the ambient temperature pleasant whilst also blowing away the satay smoke. We went home smoke smelling like satay...

The year of the rat!

Flower Dome

Gorgeous dahlias

Intense colours

Very big sizes....

Belated Chinese new year celebrations!

Cloud Forest waterfall

It "mists" every couple of hours

We love you shuttle bus!

Flower Fantasy. Beautiful but perhaps a touch over rated

Orchids of unusual colours

The famous "trees" of Gardens By the Bay

Just after the light show

3 of my favourite people!

Dinner venue!!

Satay time!

The winning squid

Ice Kachang and cendol

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.

Serena found her local style coffee!

Time for our high tea!

The theme is "pink" and the food looked absolutely beautiful

Raspberry almont tart at the front, rose chantilly choux puff at the back

Pink grapefruit and white chocolate whip. Just visible to the right is the cherry blossom (guava flavoured)

We can't remember what this was...

Pool time!!!