View from our Space Zone room at Baiyoke Sky Hotel

We took the trains in Bangkok for the first time, and it sure did help speed up on transportation time; skipping the heavy traffic jams on the roads. If only they will soon figure out a way to have one standard ticket for tourists to use on all the different trains instead of having to buy tickets at every single interchange.

Single trip token for train ride in Bangkok

Highlight of this trip was to visit their newest shopping mall at Asok (right at the foot of the train station), Terminal 21. The shopping mall is HUGEEEE! The stalls at every level matches the country that level is themed after. There’s Rome, Paris, Tokyo, London, Istanbul, San Francisco and Hollywood all in one mall! Even the toilet (and its cleaners) were furnished and dressed as themed! Every corner you go to (yes toilets too) you’ll see shoppers taking photos and camwhoring. Great mall for photo opportunities if you’re heading there. Sharing some shots I took with iPhone 4s at Terminal 21.

Japan themed level - Fortune cat

Japan themed level

Terminal 21 at Bangkok

Istanbul themed level at Terminal 21

London themed level at Terminal 21

The mall though big and very pretty, the shops in there were almost like those found at Platinum Mall, just nicer and more pricey. There are couple of local designers stores which sells pretty interesting stuff. Don’t expect to find good bargains here. We spent almost half a day exploring every level and we walked out with only photos in our phones and our tummy filled with Mexican food. Still quite an experience.

If you’ve been following my tweets or updates during my staycation and like what you see, quick book your slot with the form below. (If you’re having problem loading the form on this post, its also accessible here.) Book a Qool Weekend staycation for your love one and yourself.

Promotion updated with even Qooler activities and even a lucky draw! Find out more after the video!

Updates!

On top of Yoga and Cupcake classes, Quincy have introduced Happy Feet – Learn Foot Massage! Also, Friday and Sunday check-in guests are now welcomed to join us for some fun as Quincy have opened up more available time slots for you.

Here are the available activities:
Friday Check-ins
Happy Feet – Learn Foot Massage! (9pm-10.30pm)
Cupcake Baking class (2.30pm-4pm, Saturday Afternoon)
Saturday Check-ins
Cupcake Baking class (4.30pm-6pm)
Movie Nights by/in pool (9pm)
Sunday Check-ins
Happy Feet – Learn Foot Massage! (3.30pm-5pm)
Movie Nights Nights by/in pool (9pm)

Prior registration is required and activities are subject to availability/a minimum group size. Interested guests are encouraged to confirm the activities availability from the hotel at +65 6738 5888.

There’s even an Exclusive Lucky Draw for Qool Weekend Guests!! 1 night stay = 1 entry. Increase your chances of winning by booking more nights at Quincy!

Weekly Draw

• Win a 6″ Cold Stone Ice Cream Cake worth $44 with 5 flavors to choose from!
• 1 winner each week. Check out Quincy Facebook Page for the results! First draw starts on 18th November 2011.

Overal Draw (4 winners)

• Top Prize : OCHRE Dining Voucher worth $200 (1 Winner)
• Runner Up: Orchard Central Vouchers worth $100 (3 Winners)
• Results will be announced on 10 February 2012 at our Facebook Page

With so many goodies, what are you waiting for?

Let me share why I love Quincy Hotel! (Purely my personal opinions)

Love #1 – The chic room, comfy King size bed and in-room amenities

King Size Bed with very comfy mattress and comforter

Complimentary Mini Bar! Just stretch out your hand anytime to grab a drink. Love it!

Everything in here are complimentary too! Lays chips I like!

This was the first that caught my eyes when I entered the room. Next time I should bring PS3 or DVDs to watch! Ultimate pig-out staycation!

Don't remember seeing complimentary copies of magazine in a hotel room before. This is the first! Nice touch Quincy!

Lovely shampoo and shower amenities in the toilet! From Molten Brown

Love #2 – Full board staycation

Buffet Breakfast included

Set Lunch included too!

Set lunch and dinner comes with free-flow salad, soup, drinks, juices, coffee, tea and biscuits for nibbles.

Set dinner! All three meals included in the package! How cool is that!

Set dinner thats filling and satisfying. It tastes better than it looks!

Besides three meals, there’s also free-flow coffee or tea and a free fall zone aka Ice cream with strawberry or chocolate sauce for topping! Love this! I had like three cups during my stay that weekend! Great chilling off in this hot weather.

Complimentary cocktail is also served daily from 6pm to 8pm at the restaurant. Think free flow beer, wine, liquor, mixer and more! Drink drank drunk anyone?

Love #3 – Hotel facilities and things we get to do

Lovely pool on the 12th floor. Floats are for Saturday's movie night use! Don't miss this unique experience while you're at the hotel!

Popcorn anyone? This I heard will be served every Saturday night for movie goers. And the chiller next to it, filled with drinks are complimentary too! Grab some and chill out by the pool with your favorite book or your iPad! Ultimate relaxation can?

The hotel gym is very well equipped and its accessible 24-hrs! This is only one side of it. More muscle toning machines on the other end!

Sweat it out in the sauna room

Or get a steam bath! Great for clearing off the stress from a day's work

There's lockers too on the 12th floor. Great for pre/post check-in guests.

There's also complimentary classes for weekend stay guests! Choose from Yoga (8am on Sat) or Baking (3pm on Sat). Booking is required as there's limited slot per session. Lovely idea for weekend staycation isn't it?

More photos from my stay…

Last weekend we took a short break at the eastern part of Singapore at Changi Village Hotel.

Feels good to be away from the buzz and crowd in town. And with the hotel near the beach, it gives us a resort style feel to it, with sighting of planes landing towards Changi Airport, from the pool deck.

The rooftop, level 8

Chill out and relax by the pool watching planes landing is quite a nice way to waste time and rest

Take a dip in the pool at the rooftop or relax tiring muscles in the jacuzzi

We stayed on the Executive Club floor as the other rooms were fully booked. (Lesson learnt, don’t do last minute booking!) Good thing about paying premium for a room on the Executive Club floor is the unlimited access to the Club Lounge where you get free flow drinks, juices, coffee and tea; with place to chill beside the room.

The Room at 661, Executive Club Floor

Spacious room with King size bed

LCD TV in room

Well maintained toilet with rain shower which we love!

The rather sad looking mini fridge which is complimentary in Executive Club rooms

In-room coffee and tea choices

The Executive Club Lounge

Executive Club Lounge at Changi Village Hotel Singapore

iMac stations for guests at the Executive Club Lounge

Outdoor (Smoking) area at the Executive Club Lounge

Wide variety of coffee and tea

Drink all you want at the Executive Club Lounge or bring it back to your room to enjoy

Complimentary Cocktail Daily from 6pm to 8pm for Executive Club Guests

And this comes with free-flow alcohol – beer, liquor, wine, mixer and other drinks. There are finger food, desserts and cheese station too. Sadly we didn’t touch any of the alcohol. I think my dad and bro will enjoy this.

Desserts and finger food available for guests

Cheese, salad, ham and more

Buffet Breakfast at Saltwater Cafe

That day, we were the second couple to arrive at the cafe, food were all fresh out from the kitchen and everything look so appetizing! From 4.45am to 5.20am, we had the most fulfilling breakfast ever. Love the variety and quality of food.

Buffet Breakfast Spread at Saltwater Cafe is great!

Porridge station is my favorite

Bread station

Fruits, juices, cereals and yogurt

The stay at Changi Village Hotel was recharging and we love it. The only not good was the soft pillows provided. Hope they’ll provide other choices of pillows for their guests in the future.

Wish for more staycations! Perhaps once at Capella Sentosa. *wish harder*

A 3D2N staycation at Meritus Mandarin Singapore started on Friday, 10 June. When we were planning this, we did not check the event schedule and not sure if its good or bad, that’s the PC show weekend at Suntec! We had to battle with the crowd around the hotel. The stay could have been better if the shopping crowd wasn’t so crazy then.

One thing that got me quite upset was the room we were given. Upon check-in, we were upgraded to an executive deluxe room (we booked a deluxe room) and when we entered the room, stayed for awhile, we realized the air-conditioning wasn’t working. The room was warm even after like 20minutes of cooling. We called the reception and the technician came to check, he insisted that we didn’t turn-on the aircon hence its not cooling. Truth is, the first thing he did upon entering our room was to touch the aircon control next to the bed and HE turned it off! Not wanting to argue, we let the matter past and he said the aircon was working fine, left and we waited.

After 30 minutes, the room was still as warm, we requested for a change of room. Wasted more than an hour of our precious staycation trying to solve the aircon problem. This was the first time we encountered such problem. Quite a disappointment since Meritus Mandarin is an established hotel. Hope it’ll never happen again.

We spent both nights chilling in the mineral pool. First time we got into one and we love it! No chlorine smell! The pool is viewable from our hotel room and the view by the pool at night is pretty good too.

We didn’t have any meals at the hotel as our package didn’t come with breakfast; rather sleep in till late instead of waking up to catch the breakfast serving hours.

Overall the hotel stay was alright, the mineral pool was the main attraction for us; room and toilet were spacious and that’s about all I’ve to say about our experience at Meritus Mandarin hotel. Hope our next staycation will be a better one.

Where should we try next?

Tokyo Bananas

Fluffy & Spongy Tokyo Bananas

Inside filled with real banana

Shiroi Koibito Chocolate (白い恋人)

Packs individually and sealed for freshness

This is heaven! ♥ ♥ ♥

So… who’s coming back from Tokyo soon?

On 29 April, Diana and I took a day off and soaked ourselves wet (Yes! Wet!!) at the most exciting attractions to date in Singapore. We captured fun memories at Universal Studio Singapore with Canon digital cameras. Thanks to Canon of course!

Castle Far Far Away

On adventures like such, you wouldn’t want to carry big bulky DSLR with you right? So we were given the challenge to try out Canon latest cameras and the oh-so-fun new shooting modes! Personally I had more fun playing with these shooting modes than the rides at USS! (I’m serious!)

So what are the fun and new shooting modes I used? Check these photos out and you’ll be able to guess! Okay, no need to guess, its tag below the photos!

Fish-eye (Low) on Castle Far Far Away

Fish-eye (Med) on Castle Far Far Away

Fish-eye (High) on Castle Far Far Away

Can you see the differences in the above three photos taken with the new mode, Fish-eye Effect? On the latest Canon cameras, you’ll be able to capture such shots easily and you get to decide how much “fishy” of your photo by setting the intensity of the effect.

Next, this is one of my favorite! This one can get a little tricky, but if you have the right scene waiting for you to capture, its real cool! You see the photos first and I’ll tell you more after…

Do these look like miniature buildings to you?

And this! Looks like a model placable in your living room!

Cool right? I love it! This is the Miniature effect, new in the latest Canon digital cameras! This ultra cool effect is done by gradually blurring the top and bottom to emphasize perspective so as to make the main object in your shot stand out. Sounds complex right? But thanks to Canon technology, this is made possible with just press and turn of the button/dial! It works in both landscape and portrait mode. And you get to set how wide you want the emphasize area to be! So fun can! Abang saw my shots and he’s loving it! Hoho!! New camera to play soon? Hmm…

Besides testing these two new shooting mode, we revisited some of the existing ones too! Not my first time playing with it, but I’ve to admit, having owned quite a number of Canon digital cameras before, these modes were rarely used. But then, after that day at USS with Diana, I found a new and fun way for them!

Let me show you some magic!

This is us in our bright blue and green top that day…

Me and Babe Molemole!

I got tired of wearing my green t-shirt that day, so I decided to turn it blue like Molemole’s!

Ohhh… magic!! LOL!

And then, there’s this super cute yellow taxi along Hollywood so I decided to turn my t-shirt color to yellow too!

Waaaaa!! So cool right! It’s magic! LOL!

Hang on… I don’t like the yellow on me! Still prefers my original green! So let’s turn the taxi green! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Yeah! Matching me and Taxi!

So fun right? LOL! With the Color Swap shooting mode, you can change most of the things around you to whatever color you wish! An idea came to mind that day, the next time I bring out my Canon camera, I’m going to bring along a color wheel too! Wahahahahaha! Then I can change almost everything to whatever color I want! Without touching Photoshop!

Lastly, this one is great for “emo” shots imo.

This is done with the Color Accent mode. You pick a color from an object in the shot, and when you capture the shot, all the other non-choosen color will turn to grey tone while the picked color will be shown. You’ll often see this kind of photos in wedding albums right? Where the ring lah, roses lah or red packets are highlighted. Now you can shoot like a pro too!

Alright, so you can take very fun and cool and pro-like photos with these cameras, what about HD videos? I shall let this short montage I created speak for itself… *coughs*

Watch HD version at WaterWorld with Canon PowerShot SX210 IS from claudia on Vimeo. CORRECTION! This video is shot on the SX 210 IS! The titles in the video has got major typo! It’ll take another 2 hours for the video to be rendered and uploaded and processed. So… :(

We had so much fun shooting with the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS and Canon Digital IXUS 130, Diana and I only managed to get onto three rides. All the rest were boring to us. LOL! So my take on USS? Don’t go now! Wait till all the rides are operational first! Else you’ll be wasting your money on that very expensive piece of paper (the entrance ticket lah!).

Ending this post off with more photos from that day…

So many warnings yet we took the ride!

Diana at start of ride (shot taken at risk of camera falling into water!)

Diana at end of ride – *soaked* LOL!

Turning the Mummy castle blue!

Fish-eye on Canon PowerShot SX210 IS with the IXUS 130

Rounder Noel! (LOL!) aka August Man A-Listers

That’s all folk! If you like these cool features, go check out the latest range of Canon cameras yio!

While we planned this trip, we didn’t know that it was also the soft opening for Universal Studio. When we knew about it, we thought we’ll be stuck in major jam going into Sentosa. Glad that didn’t happen. Traffic was smooth and the place wasn’t as packed as we thought.

We didn’t get chance on the first day to dip into the cool pool at Siloso Beach Resort. The waterfall is enticing us to get in there quick.

And our initial plan to go on a mini-adventure with rides on the Luge and Segway wasn’t fulfilled since the sky didn’t give us the chance to. It rained the entire day while we were there. Most part of the day was spent watching cables in the room and short walk along the beach when we thought the rain stopped. But it poured shortly after we started our walk. *sobz*

Not wanting to go back to the room and watch boring cables, we took the Sentosa Express to Resort World in the late noon. That was when our exploration started! If you’d missed my previous post, check what we did at RWS that night!

With just a few hours on day 2, we woke up as early as we could, had our breakfast and met a cute friend…

Then the rest of the morning was spent in the cold cold pool.

Just a one day getaway was too too short. I want to wake up with view of the beach more often. When will our next getaway be?

Universal Studio Singapore

There was a long queue outside the entrance in the late noon. Wonder if those folks got to go on all the rides before the theme park closes at 6pm. (Which we didn’t know when we were there.) We hang around nearby and visited Hershey’s Chocolate World, had our dinner at Chili’s and was about to leave the place. This was when we saw no queue at the entrance and people were going in and out of Universal Studio without showing any tickets! Oh! It’s open to public after 6pm! (At least that was what happened that night!) Hope this is how they roll! Everyone can then enter to shop and dine and check out the interesting buildings in there.

Shrek the Star Character

The Darkroom

Here’s where you can get your photos printed. I think here’s also the place where you can buy and pick up shots of you taken around the theme park by their official photographers. I like the big camera which is cleverly integrated as the window display!

Universal Studio Store

In here you’ll be able to buy gifts and stuff from Universal Studio. Was expecting the prices to be non-pocket friendly, but true is, the items sold in there are very affordable! No wonder every shopper in there went crazy that day!

I’ve got my eyes on three items from there, but didn’t get them in the end. First is this t-shirt…

If it was “2-4-7″ printed on it, I would have gotten it immediately! You know why don’t you? :P The other thing I wanted was this Betty Boop comb. Cute right?

Lastly its this zodiac pin. I’m sucker for such pins, but from my memory, all the pins I bought over the years had just recently ended up in the trash bin. So I’m controlling my impulse buying behavior! Its a bad bad habit I MUST kick!

Other building I caught on my camera was this…

Can’t recall what’s inside though. But it looks like a theatre or sort. Anyone know?

Just before we left the place after the fireworks display, I saw these and wished I can put them in my house! I like these retro looking display! If you think you can buy newspaper off these, then sorry, these are fakes.

Here’s the fireworks display we waited 30minutes for…

Well it was worth the wait. We almost missed the show cause we didn’t know about it till we exited the place and was on the way to the sentosa express station when we saw the sign with show details! It’s the one and only one that’ll be happening. So well, at least I witnessed a piece of history at Universal Studio Singapore! LOL!

Can’t wait to go to the theme park for the rides!

Just a quick post to remember the food I had during my December 09 trip to Bangkok with family and friends...

At an old restaurant near Asia Hotel. The food is pretty good and its cheap!

At Central World. Eat all you can Shabu Shabu.

Dessert from i-Gemelli at Central World.

Lunch at Fuji Japanese Restaurant. There are 60 outlets of these in Bangkok. I was at Fuji 55, the one located on 6F of The Platinum Fashion Mall.

That’s my mini food trail during my visit to Bangkok. Perhaps I should save up for even more food trail and shopping in June or December! Wahahahaha! I <3 Bangkok!

What am I talking about?

Its the first and only full butler sky dining in the World! Ya lah! That one where you sit in the capsule for an hour and dine with your lover. To be honest, I was a little skeptical about the quality of food before I boarded the flyer, but when the appertiser was served, my taste bud thinks otherwise!

Before I continue, I must first say ah, if you are looking forward to photos of the food and scenery from above, I’m sorry but you’ll not find them here. Because I didn’t want to spoil my romantic date that night and had conveniently forget to bring any camera with flash. So all photos here are taken with my iPhone. If you want to see photos of the type of food served in the sky, head over to Ladyironchef’s blog.

Starting from the guest receiving area on the ground floor, guests will have to “take attendance” with the reception and then they will tag us with a sticker. This resembles those that’s used at clinic especially during the SARS and H1N1 period. Ya! That kind of green sticker loh! Can you spot it on Abang’s jacket?

Seriously, if the guests are paying $199++ for the dining experience, at least a proper wristband or sort should be used right? Can be kept as memorable also mah! But green round sticker? By the way, this sticker is to allow their staff to identify you when you walk around the flyer, so that they know you’re there for the Sky Dining package. On second thought, if they continue to use these stickers, will one day someone just fake it with their own stickers to gain access to the VIP Lounge? Hmmm… Sorry I digress… back to my flyer sky dining experience.

Having been on the flyer couple of times before, that night if on an ordinary night, the scenery wouldn’t have attracted my attention. But because it was the Singapore Grand Prix F1 night race season, I got to see the track from above. At least something different from the usual stuff.

Besides the complimentary sky juice (a.k.a. ice water), each of us were given a glass of ginger ale with fresh summer berries (a.k.a. 1/4 of a strawberry). This is your one and only glass of drink besides the free flow of sky juice, so drink slowly! You’ve got an hour to spend up there!

The appertiser that night was my favorite fresh prawn (a.k.a. crystal prawn as written on the menu). Seriously my photo above does no justice AT ALL to the fresh crunch prawns on my plate! There were if my memory is right, four decent looking fresh prawn accompanied with fresh mesclun salad with herb citrus salsa.

There were three entrees to choose from, and we had the baked cod glazed with honey miso and seasoned vegetables and roasted roulade of chicken wrapped with turkey bacon and accompanied with sweet potato mash and garlic baked zucchini. Ok, the name of the entrees sure is a mouthful! No wonder the butler (I presume his first few flight on the job) was having a tough time going round the four tables explaining the menu. Poor guy! Can see that he was very stressed out as a senior staff was with him monitoring his service.

During the first rotation, all the food and drink was served from within the capsule, so I was wondering how they managed to hide the entrees too at the small corner of the capsule. Then when the first rotation reached the foot of the wheel, the doors opened and suddenly waiters came from behind with our entrees. It gave me a shocked lah! Thought our capsule got invaded or something. ROFL! The waiters were already told which table and which person ordered what entrees. So each of the four waiters just have to get to the right table and serve the man and lady their orders. Nicely executed.

Being the hungry me, I finished the entree before the second rotation ended. So I spent some time snapping photos. Which all turned out black black one loh! Only got this to share…

After an hour in the flight, we then proceeded to the VIP lounge for desserts and tea. Desserts for that night was Panacotta with fresh fruits. Instead of dessert spoon, we were given entree cutlery for our dessert. Its not that I’m being atas or picky lah, but dessert with big spoon not easy to eat wor.

The night ended with a big lightbulb behind Abang and me at the VIP Lounge…

Overall the dining experience was enjoyable and nice. If only the ginger ale with summer berries was free flow! It’ll be even better!

If you’re planning something nice for your girlfriend or wife, and feel that your wallet is able to tahan the $199++ for dinner, then go give Sky Dining at the Singapore Flyer a try. Maybe your girlfriend/ wife will treat you extra nicely that night. *coughs*