2nd - 5th January 2012
A classy vintage Daimler limousine, complete with Raffles hotel flag, was certainly the way to travel following our flight from the UK to Singapore. Complete with cold towels and iced water, we pretended that this way of travelling was really what we were used to but I'm pretty sure the chauffeur cottoned on straight away that we were new to it all as we were quite excited about the car and the fact we were staying in the prestigious Raffles hotel for 3 nights. My clumsy falling out of the limo at the other end probably didn't help either. We were greeted at the door and shown to a seat whilst our check in was taken care of - we had been upgraded to a suite and our room was just being prepared as we waited. Sure enough, we entered a room the size of the flat in Cadiz Street, complete with double basins, sunken bath, super king size bed (two stacked mattresses no less), a living area, a dining area with champagne, chocolates and red roses and a service button for our butler! There were original features that had been preserved during the recent refurbishment and I must admit to never having stayed in a hotel room quite like it. It was very old fashioned and grand and the butler service was something I found hard to get used to! I've also never been called Madame Barr before but I rather liked it!
First stop, the Long Bar for a Singapore Sling or two. Our lovely friends Gillian and Stephen had kindly bought us some slings for a wedding present and so we took the opportunity to work through the 7 different varieties on the menu - Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Original, Courthouse and Tropical - with the joint favourite being the original. We never thought we would enjoy drinking Gin in a cocktail, but we were both asking the waitress for a second sling not too long after the first! Having waded through peanut shells to get to our table, we felt obliged to eat some nuts and contribute to the shells on the floor. It was about 8.30pm in the evening and we were feeling a little on the hungry side, so off we trooped past some Hawker centres and parked our behinds in a street cafe for some duck ramen and Heineken. We were particularly sleepy and so we didn't make it a late one - we were ready to start the next day with a little more energy!
With the weather being a humid 30C, it was a perfect opportunity to take a early morning dip in the pool on the rooftop. Not only did the pool guy show us to our sun loungers, we went to the trouble of actually make a bed with the towels. Danger, danger, I could get comfortable here. We would definitely be coming back later for beer o'clock by the pool. Early morning dip lasted approximately 7 minutes before we felt we could justify our 8 feeble lengths and a bit of a splash and were allowed to return to our room having done a workout (we were trying to make ourselves feel better) Shall we ask our butler to bring breakfast to our room? Yes we shall! And 20 minutes later, here we have a bread basket selection from the on-site baker complete with pastries and croissants, laid out on a white table cloth complete with tea and coffee. Splendid. Bob looked quite the part, sitting at his own private dining table, reading the morning paper. A happy husband!
The rest of the day we spent lounging around, going for a wander around Raffles hotel - there was a lot to see, with the 15 restaurants and various bars and shops. We weren't too sure where to go for dinner so our butler came in handy again - a quick buzz of the service button and our butler appears, happy to recommend the Tiffin room for the North Indian curry buffet. He knows us so well!! Ha. Splendid splendid. Booked in for 730. Now, for afternoon nibbles? The famous Afternoon Tea of course! We had a good laugh with the waitress Edith, who simply could not do enough for us. Edith, and all the staff at Raffles, were very good at finding out our names via the room number and really did make us feel welcome. So we merrily tucked into our tea and scones and salmon sandwiches along with numerous pastries and cakes and deliciously yummy sweet things. Now, we hadn't planned this very well......let's just say we were snoozing for most of the day and by the time we woke up, it was 4.45. Only 45 minutes until the end of Afternoon tea so off we scuttled. Full of scones and tea etc, we headed back to the room, only for a 1.5 hour respite before the curry buffet. Not even hungry but we couldn't let ourselves down by declining the most delicious sounding meal. So we gave ourselves some 'man up' prep talk, got ourselves dolled up and off we went for some Indian cuisine. I make it sound like a struggle but from what I remember, we weren't shy with trying all the different curries. Absolutely devine. More Slings? I think so!!
Due to the vast amount of eating and drinking we did on our first full day in Singapore, we decided to hit the gym on the morning of our second day, and believe it or not, we were actually putting in the effort! The gym in Raffles is fairly small but had everything needed to sweat out some curry. A turn on the bike, a run on the treadmill and some water and green apple later, we were feeling rather pleased with ourselves and, understandably, managed to justify another full day of eating and drinking and lazing by the pool. However, we felt we should go exploring today and, as much as Bob hates going on a bus tour, I knew walking around was an even worse option for the poor lad. Having done little preparation about bus stops and times, and armed only with a map of the CBD in hand, off we trekked in the hope that the tourist bus would appear just before our eyes. After an hour or so of traipsing round looking for signs or bus stops for this ridiculous bus tour, we spied the bus! It was stopped at traffic lights and about to turn a corner. If we ran, we could probably catch it. And so we ran, and the bus drove off. Then it stopped again and we ran some more. Then it drove off. This probably happened another couple of times before we pulled ourselves together, gave up and had a look around Clarke's Quay instead. This is a rather colourful region by the river, just across from the Royal Botanic gardens. We slowed our heart rates down by sipping a coffee and doing a spot of people watching. If any of you reading this had seen us sprinting after a tourist bus, you would have been in stitches. It was definitely a comedy moment. I took a photo of Bob on Clarke's Quay by the river, pretending to drive a bus. Memorable!
We headed back to the hotel via the Botanics. A swift walk up a steep hill got us to the top of the gardens and what a lovely view we had of the city. Not much else to see other than Raffles Place, a government house and a swing which we of course had to play on. The baker's for lunch before nap time, pool time and beer o'clock time. Loving the holidays! At the pool, not only did we get our towel beds made for us, we ordered some beers and got little fruit kebab sticks along with it. Out comes the book, sunglasses and bikini/boardies and we were definitely beginning to feel in holiday mode.
That evening we decided to order room service and check out that evening as we were departing the hotel at 6am the next day. Our butler had already prepared our early morning call and had booked our limo for the return trip to the airport. Breakfast had been ordered too. I told Bob not to get any ideas that all this arranging and organising would be continuing when we got back home!! Maybe we could just get a butler? Anyhoo, checking out after dinner merited a swift couple of drinks in the martini lounge and billiard room! We can't really say we were shocked as we had lived like king and queen for the best part of 3 days. Let's just say we'll have fond memories of Raffles but were feeling sorry for our credit card! A few Singapore Slings, (the final Wintery one was sampled) and a few games of snooker later, it was time for bed before our early departure.
A relaxing and expensive way to end the first part of our honeymoon. Bring on slumming it in the beach house! Hope you enjoy the photos, part II coming soon! Lots of Love, Mo and Bob xx
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