The Pool High Up There.

It's the pool up there. However if your hotel room is higher up, it's the pool down there.



The view of the Infinity Pool at the new Westin Singapore.
For those who are bored, you can always come for a swim here.


(Viewing on a retina display, this photo will look clearer if you click on the photo and view it on Flickr)

Fullerton Santa Bear

The Fullerton Santa Bear Tree!



This tree can be found at the Lobby of The Fullerton Hotel Singapore.

Each bear retails for $22 nett each and $10 from the sale of their bears goes to the Singapore General Hospital Needy Patients Fund.

Swimming at Night under the Singapore Skies

It was not me swimming, but I was at the new swimming pool of Parkroyal on Beach Road.
Two persons were swimming though.



A nice view isn't it? The other famous swimming pool at MBS is right behind, but that's always full of people. This one is all for yourself.
 

Botero By The Pool @ St Regis Singapore

Singapore has become quite artsy these few years, if you look around, it really has!



Do you know that the St Regis Singapore hotel is like a Art Museum by itself?
By the pool you can see this and a few other Fernando Botero sculptures.

If you dine at their restaurants, you can see art work of Singapore artists too. I was wondering and I asked! ;-)

I heard the rooms are the same too. You can sleep in the room that has quite an expensive art piece!
From what I heard, it's not for sale though. (Not that I can afford it.)

Quincy Hotel @ Mount Elizabeth (Off Orchard Road)

I am having a Staycation Friday/Saturday right here in Singapore.

Got off work and check-in into the hotel, a swanky hotel called Quincy Hotel at Mount Elizabeth, which is just off Orchard Road!



It's the Top 10 Trendiest Hotel in Asia according to TripAdvisor.

Truth be told, I did not know the existence of this hotel until last week! It's an interesting hotel that with the rate you pay, everything's included, wifi/internet, breakfast, lunch, dinner, mini bar in the room!

Will blog more about it after my stay is over....
Have a great weekend!

hotel 1929

I should one day check in to stay in this hotel for the fun of it! All because I saw this comment on Lonely Plant:
http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/singapore/singapore-city-r2103929/hotel-1929-p1060135/

But I am taking it with a pinch of salt. It's retro and quirky for the writer, but I can just imagine many people from Singapore exclaiming, "Aiyo, this kind of chairs also can use for hotels. My house used to have that, we threw them away because it's so antique." hehe... 



For the fun of it, I read reviews about hotels on the different hotel booking website. Trip Advisor usually have interesting very contrasting views. Do you trust what people say?

How do you pick whose comment to trust? 

St Regis

I was having a meal with Momo at the restaurant in St Regis the other day.
On the way there, I looked up and I suddenly wished I was staying there.
I wished someone would sponsor me a week's stay there. LOL



When you go on holiday, which hotel chain is your hotel chain or choice?
I used to stay loyal to hotel chains, but nowadays, I just book the ones that offers the overall best deal.

Do you realise something? If you book a cheapo no name hotel, wifi is usually provided free or charge. But if you book those high end hotels, you have to pay for wifi and it does not come cheap.

Gingerbread House Shop

I was attending a wedding at Pan Pacific and saw this after the dinner!
It's a huge Gingerbread House!



Everyone was posing together with the drummer boy.




I could not resist not taking a photo of it, so here it is!



I am sure you wan to see the cookies up close!
They are cookies, but not sure if they are edible after being used to make the house.



Doesn't it look so so so delicious?

Goodwood Park Hotel

This is Goodwood Park Hotel. I was on a bus when I took this photo. It's another building that has the very fairy tale look ya?

I thought of Rapunzel. LOL.



The other thing that this hotel is famous for is their durian puffs and desserts. Used to serve some porridge buffet here too, but not sure if it's still on.

Park Hotel Renovation

One of the hotels that are being renovated in Orchard Road. Closed for renovation since 1 April, it will reopen in second quarter in 2010.



It's so rare to see the windows open in this building. In fact I have never seen it! During the normal operation, I doubt any guests in the hotel will open the windows. It's so so so so hot these few weeks in Singapore.

Naumi Hotel from a far...

Naumi Hotel from a far...



Why from a far? Because I don't think I can afford to stay there. So I can only look from a far.
Their website: www.naumihotel.com

Link Hotel

A few days ago, our family had dinner at one of the restaurant in this building. This building was Singapore's earliest public housing many years ago.

Two of the buildings in this area have been converted into a hotel.



Have you wondered why it's called Link Hotel?
We can't really find the answer from their website, but we think it's because there's a bridge that LINKS the two blocks together? Is that why it is called Link Hotel? ;-p



You can find out more about this hotel at: http://www.linkhotel.com.sg

$8 hotel room at Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen.

The other day, my colleague (shall call him ZS) came into my office room with such excitement. He asked me to go visit http://paywhatyouwant.com.sg and pay any amount you want for the hotel room. He said he put in $10 for his bid and got it.

I asked him why not lower? Well, the website seems to suggest $30 and so he thought $10 was low enough.

I thought why not try $8? So I registered and bid for a $8 room and I got it. He was like 'hey, that's lower than my bid'. Then another colleague (shall call him Yippie) wanted to lower the bar, and bid for a $1 room. He got it! Ya, Yippie for him and ZS was like "hey, how can?"

So, he waited for the next contest timing and he got a room for $1. He is happier now. LOL...

I booked the room for today and here's some photos of it. ZS and Yippie said I should put them up, so that it might be the first few photos of these place that's not created by Ibis PR people.

It's at 170 Bencoolen Street, Singapore 189657.
Brand new building that was recently completed.
(Just beside Fortune Centre, if your taxi driver does not know where it is)



A very elegant and modern building. If you have been to Ibis in another country, you have seen this sign too :-)



Here's my $8 room. Bright and clean. Nice timber laminate flooring.
The spring's mattress is ok, but I will miss my Tempur Bed and Pillow at home.

But the view's outside the window's errrr. It's Singapore CBD so don't expect much. hehe...



Two colleagues during lunch time to check out the room. They felt claustrophobic. But the other colleague says it is much bigger than Tokyo hotels. To maximise space, everything's very minimalistic in design. Beside this shelf with the mini safe, mini coffee set and micro fridge, is where you hang your clothes.

For the normal price you pay (I overheard the receptionist saying to another customer that the walk in rate is $148 today) it's still big enough, clean and comfortable.



Yup, I said micro fridge. It's not a mini fridge.



Micro, because it only fits two bottles of mineral water. LOL



The flat screen TV is mounted on this mini wall piece and it's also where they put the Ibis related brochures. Saves space this way.



They must have bought more than 500 sets (I assume each room has a set and this hotel has 500 over rooms) of these TV, that they will put in the hotelibis.com label on it :-)
You get the local TV channels plus a few cable TV channels like ESPN, CNN, NHK etc.




Toilet's clean too.



Not grohe taps, but it's ok.



That's it. My short review of the $8 hotel room at Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen.
Hey, if you want to try the hotel yourself, quick go to http://paywhatyouwant.com.sg/ and bid for a room! :-)

They need instructions on how to turn on their air conditioned unit in the rooms. :-)
(Yeah, it's so hi tech, 3 guys who work in IT can't figure it out!)

(No, this is not a sponsored post, I paid for the $8 room.)

Across the park connector.... there's a hotel...

Where my colleagues and I had lunch yesterday.

Crown Plaza Changi Airport

This is the new US$60 million (S$84 million) hotel that is opening in Changi Airport's Terminal 3.



Heard that it offers in-house guests an iPod loaded with a variety of music designed to soothe travellers that have just landed. The iPod can be slotted into the iPod docking station in every guest room.

Sounds cool huh...

Another Pan Pacific coming up...

This is a new Pan Pacific chain in Singapore. It is called the Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Singapore.

What caught my eye was the capsule shape of the building. I guess it does not show really well on this photo. This is the 'back' of the hotel.



But I guess you can get a better view from their website. I should take a few extra steps to walk to the other side to take a photo. :-)

Pan Pac Roof

A unique structure that has a part of it protruding. It's the Pan Pacific Hotel at Marina.



If I am not mistaken, there's a famous Cantonese Restaurant there. Heard that it has got good views and good food!

Holiday Inn Atrium

Yesterday, it was looking up, today it is looking down. You can see some people are avoiding the sun, yet others sit where the sun rays are..



What was I doing here? I was having lunch. It was two days of training held at this hotel. Have you recently gone for training of any sorts?

was raffles the plaza.. now fairmont singapore.

Another view from The Padang.

• The left is the 42 storey office block at Raffles City.
• The middle is the tallest hotel in Singapore (73 storey, also the 6th tallest hotel in the world), Swissôtel The Stamford.
• The right is the twin tower hotel, Fairmont Singapore.

Fairmont was known as Swissôtel The Stamford until 12 December 2007.
I had a peep at the rooms when friend's parents stopped over. So comfortable!

Hope you have recharge yourself! It's the 2nd work week of 2008 tomorrow!
Are you back at work since your year end break?

Conrad Centennial Singapore Bear Tree

Was at Conrad Centernnial Singapore for a farewell lunch. Colleague's leaving us, after 9.5 years. We will miss him. All the best KP!

These bears looks so cuddly ya?



If you were a kid, would you love this tree?



Are you a teddy bear collector?