As always in the month of September, we celebrate our wedding anniversary with a treat for ourselves by pampering ourselves to a full body massage and a hotel stay just to get away from reality for a lottle while and relax. While many people may want to sneak away for a short overseas trip, we find that such trips are actually not relaxing at all since one has to deal with the 'stress' of planning, going about the trip etc. Going for a short local hotel stay where you just slack away mentally and physically is pure relaxation in our opinion. For our 3rd anniversary, we booked a swedish massage for Gayle and a retreat signature message for myself plus mineral sea salt detox body wrap for the both of us at our usual spa - The Retreat Spa @ Changi Village Hotel. What we like about the spa that it is private,secluded with well trained discrete massage therapists who don't try to hard sell packages to you but just focus on your treatment. We also like that for couples, they will give you a private room for your privacy and convenience.
(Above) When we arrive at the Retreat Spa, we are usually ushered to one of the waiting rooms for a short health survey, confirmation of the treatment and a welcome tea.
(Above) We were welcomed to the spa with a soothing ginger tea.
(ABove) The pamphlet on why Ginger tea is good for you.
(Above) Gayle happy in the spa couple treatment room
After the treatment which lasted about 2hrs, we left for the Fullerton Hotel for a night's stay there under their $288 weekend escapade promotion.
(Above) We took a browse inside Fullerton before checking in. The Fullerton hotel still exludes a prestigious grand dame serenity that is still unmatched by many hotels and we were still impressed by the exceptional courtesy, refinement and service standards in our earlier stay in 2007 and now in 2010.
(Above) On our way to our room, we took a photo together at the hotel's interior skybridge.
(Above) Gayle opening the door to our Courtyard room at the Fullerton. Since it was in celebration of our wedding anniversary, the hotel informed us that they were giving us the room with a balcony.
(Above) Upon entering the room, we appreciated the personalised welcome message on the TV in the room.
(Above)Our cozy Courtyard room with glass doors leading to the balcony.
(Above) Nice view of Marina downtown from our room balcony
(Above) Nice view of Marina Bay Sands from our room balcony
(Above)Menthol sweets in the room which were listed at 50 cents each from the snack bar. We nearly thought they were complimentary since they were laid out on the table until we checked out the prices in the room snack bar list.
(Above)Mineral Water at $16 a bottle. Now that's a measure of richness and sinfulness if you can make yourself spend that kind of money without a thought.
(Above) $10 for a cup of milo or hot chocolate so unless you feel very rich or are very rich, do bring your own beverage for a hotel stay. For us, we brought our own Hershey Hot Chocolate drink.
(Above and below) The luxurious washroom. What we like to do is to take note of good features in hotel bathrooms so that in future if we do renovate our apartment or get a new one, we can incoporate ideas we like.
(Above) Entering the washroom, we saw something familiar, the Hansgrohe Axor tap we are using in our master washbasin.
(Above)From Clifford Pier, we could pick out our hotel room, the room with the balcony on the left end.Gayle is pointing towards our room.
(Avove) We took a walk around Marina downtown to see the latest changes to Singapore's skyline.
(Above) Close up to The Sail apartments at Marina.
(Above) Customs House, now a heartbeat for a unique dining experience.
(Above)Customs House line of restaurants including Kinki.
(Above)Admiring the Fullerton Bay Hotel. We promised ourselves to try out the bayfront room in the near future which promises wonderful views,so close to the water.It should be a good place to watch fireworks.Rooms start from $750 a night but with promotion,it should be cheaper slightly.The F1 promotion has rooms going for about $1250 a night.
(Above) We joined in the photography mood by taking a nice picture with the Marina Bay Sands behind us. Initially, we had wanted to book a room there but the service and hassle of booking the room was so atrocious ( calls not answered, no confirmation given, when confirmation given, it was found to be non-existent after i decided to check once again a week before the confirmation date and very bad reviews about the hotel service on Tripadvisor by Singaporeans and foreigners who stayed there)As it started drizzling, we headed back to our room for tea break.
Just as we got back into our room and settled down, there wasa knock on our door and to our pleasant surprise, there were Fullerton staff carrying a greeting card,a tray of chocolates and a bottle of wine at our doorstep who wished us a happy wedding anniversary on behalf of the hotel management and presented them as a token of their well wishes. Now this is what we call customer service! Doing your extra mile when the guest least expects it.
(Above) Well wishes from Fullerton
(Above)So intricate, the black choclate bar carved to the design of the Fullerton Hotel.
(Above)Closeup of the chocolates presented to us by the Fullerton Guest Recognition Team.
(Above) Back in our room, we had a nice cup of Hershey's chocolate and complimentary chocolates from the hotel's chocolate buffet.
(Above)Chocolate Queen!
In search of dinner, we decided to take a stroll down Boat Quay, something which we had not done for years to soak up the atmosphere. What we were really amaze were just how much foreigners seem to dominate the area, more than SIngaporeans, perhaps it was the public holidays and SIngaporeans were more prevalent in the shopping malls? We ended up at the Central and decided to have our favorite Ramen at Kusabi, which we both agreed was on par with the authentic ones we tried at Hokkaido and Sapporo. Moreover, the service there is impeccable , obviously alot has gone into the training of the staff to make them so refined and courteous.
(Above) Our Ramen noodles - really whets up one's appetite. The noodles is just nice and springy and the soup, sinfully rich and addictive. We liked the soft char siew pork(below) that really melts in your mouth.
(Above) On our way back, we saw the mooncake festival celebration at Boat Quay with the lightups displays.
(Above) A nice picture of downtown skyline
(Above) Taking a shot in front of Fullerton on our way back from dinner.
(Above) Back in our room, we decided to make ourselves a cuppa of TWG tea. First time that we have seen tea leaves encased in a hand sewn 100% cotton bag - very atas. We liked the mint infused Alexandria tea best of all.When we unwrapped the tea bag from it's packaging, the aroma really filled up our whole room. Apparently, the cotton TWG teabags allow their whole leaf teas to develop their full and unique aroma and give them ample room to expand during infusion.Apparently, this has it's roots in the days of the early tea tasters, when visiting illustrious tea gardens, who used small squares of cotton to carry their tea samples, later infusing them to select the most excellent harvests. In this manner, each tea revealed its character and surrendered its full flavour to the teacup.TWG is surprisingly a Singapore company and has a tea salon at ION Orchard and has just opened a tea boutique in Tokyo.
(Above) We went out to our balcony to have our tea and enjoy the night views and the sea breeze.
(Above)Enjoying the two night views from our balcony of Marina downtown and Marina Bay Sands.
(Above) Next morning, we had a nice leisurely complimentary continental breakfast.
We do recommend having your breakfast alfesco along the Singapore river just for the experience but for us, aircon comfort was the way to go since the weather was quite humid that day.
(Above)Room Service Menu
With a $88 dining credit given to us, we treated ourselves to a room service luncheon with wagyu and beef patty mains.
(Above) French Onion Soup, enough for two.
(Above) A patty so soft and tender, juicy and fragrant
(Above) Enjoying my burger!
(Above) Gayle ordered the Wagyu beef which was succulent and tender and juicy.
(Above) Assorted bread basket for the soup.
(Above) Accompanying Salad bowl.
(Above)Really a nice romantic quiet affair having lunch in our room, just the two of us.
After lunch, we just relaxed until the check out time at 3pm. Indeed we really relaxed and rejuvenated ourselves and plan to do this every year once. The Fullerton weekend package is really value for money given that for $288 for a night's stay, you get free breakfast for two and a $88 dining credit plus late check out so for those thinking of a quick and easy gateaway, this is a good deal for your consideration.
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