131030-31 Hotel RE

Back at Singapore, we checked in at Hotel RE at Outram Park, a very interesting and colorful boutique hotel.

We had single beds with pink background for the first night and double bed with yellow background as they kindly changed for us.

there was also free snacks and drinks on the first day of your stay. but because we changed rooms, we got to enjoy it twice... haha!

we had dinner at a nearby cafe, after searching around and there was not much restaurants in sight. the downside of the hotel is you need to climb a mini hill to reach it =_= though there was shuttle bus to take you to Outram MRT, it only took you down, and not up, and service ends around 8pm (i think).

unfortunately, the night at the cafe, i lost my wallet and had to make a report at the police box. i must have either left it at the cafe, or while fooling around it fell out of my jacket T_T

thankfully, around 2am, the police actually called and said they retrieved it!! but when i tried to collect it, it was already moved to the police box at geylang =_= and they took a few days to call back to confirm that it was moved, so that i can collect it. by then i had already cancelled all my cards though. losing one's wallet is the worst nightmare ever...

the next day, we walked around chinatown to eat but crayfish wasn't opened T_T the bad thing was 00 was having problems with his credit card cos it was maxed out, and since i couldn't get my wallet back, we were both basically moving around without any $$. OMG. good thing is you can quickly make a card at a local DBS, and i could get a new card and withdraw money out. phew...!!!!

131029 – 30 Melaka @ Hotel Equatorial

Melaka may be the best thing for the entire trip for 00, starting with the hotel! 

I bought the deal off Alldeals again, at about $98 per person with bus and hotel included. It was for an executive suite and we were totally given business class treatment! The room is like an apartment, with living room and 2 toilets. AWESOME.

Before we enjoy the hotel, we had to get out for some Melaka tour. There was a shopping centre just next to the hotel so we checked that one out. Had a very good lunch at a place that looks like a pub, and we were just in time for their 40% discount. Glorious good!

Didn’t know our way around, so we boarded one of those fancy looking trishaws and got taken around the city. 

Turns out it was actually all within walking distance (even the historic Melaka site is just next to the hotel =_=) but the ride was pretty fun anyway. 

The driver seems pretty tired cycling us around though, whoops.

Then stopped at the Charlie Baba house for some Melaka goodies, as my sis recommended. It was quite a distance away. 00 wasn’t interested in all the kuehs, so I had to eat them alone. And it seems that it couldn’t be kept  long too (it spoilt the next day, boohoo).

Our driver dropped us at Chinatown, and here’s a memorial pic he helped take with his fancy trishaw. Heh.

The glaring heat made it uncomfortable to walk the streets, but we bore it anyway. 

Stopped at a cute café managed by an elderly couple, and drank the yam coconut bikini shakes. Not sure why 00 didn’t want to eat anything there, but the café looks about the cleanest thing around. It’s just no fun when you have to eat/drink everything by yourself…

Some more sightseeing before we went back to the hotel. this was some cannon fortress remains.

And we got a nice surprise!

Ate our little surprise by the moonlight and city scenes. Mmmmmmmmmmm….

And breakfast was awesome, the next day, as usual. We rested till it was time to check out and was super sad to leave T_____________T

Since there’s still time before the bus comes to pick us up, we went to the nearby shopping malls to have lunch and walk around. Ended up eating Papa Johns pizza, and it was one of the pizzas that tasted bad to me… it was waaaay too salty..!!! eeks. And 00 was convinced Papa John is gay because of his name. Don’t ask me why. And the restaurant was overstaffed with people who can't calculate the discounts for nuts. jeez.

We found a Toys’R’Us there and upheld the cosplay spirit too.

Then it was time to leave. Boohoo goodbye Melaka…!!

131023 – 26 Malaysia JB

23^rd

We went shopping some more and eventually managed to find the liquor at Raffles place cold storage. Had Menya for lunch too.

Also managed to go Orchard to book the trip for Melaka. After that we returned home to pack a bit, before we headed off to Woodlands and the Malaysia custom. The thing is, 00 was having exams these few days, and he needed to get a spot with good connection so he could do his test. So we ended up at starbucks…

I had my dinner there, which asn’t too bad anyway.

Our hotel was 5 star Grand Paragon, which is pretty near the customs.

It’s big!! And comfortable!!

And there’s a nice scenic view from the top.

The funny thing about booking at these JB hotels is that they require at least $50-$100 deposit in SGD. The price of the room was about $100/night so you might as well pay the full amount. =_=

24^th

The reason why we spent so many days here is actually mainly because the hotels here are big. And cheap. 

The buffet breakfast is also marvelous.

Our hotel was near KSL mall, so we walked over and shopped for the day. There was actually not much to do except eating and shopping. We had a  good meal at this place called Tang Shifu. 

Then dessert at Seasons (previously known as Swenson). 00 fell in love with the hot pan ice cream apple pie. It was having a 50% promotion for some anniversary too so it was well worth the price.

25^th

Breakfast was great as usual! We stayed 2 days at the same hotel. But don’t ever eat the paos when you see them. The meat sucks… 

We then checked out and took a taxi to Grand Bluewave, for free.

The thing is the driver quoted a ridiculous price and wouldn’t turn on the meter, so I had to argue with him to turn it on as I didn’t believe in the price he quoted. When we reached the hotel, it was actually about 60% of the price he quoted. Because he thought we were stingy foreigners, he decided to save his face and tell us not to pay, as he will get angry if we do. Tsk. Hate it when taxi drivers try to cheat me. Pui.

Anyway our room this time was kind of like a studio suite, so there was a kitchenette inside. It wasn’t spotless clean but it was good enough. I read reviews that there were baby roaches, but thank goodness I didn’t encounter them.

The bed is big and there’s a tub in the bathroom~ yaaay

Headed off to City Square, as it was just within walking distance. We ate Ayam Panggang for lunch… but it was not as good as expected, and pretty pricey. Bleahs.

We also watched an animated movie called Cloudy with Meatballs or something (difficult name to remember). There was a nice waffle place near it.

Since there wasn’t much to do, we went exploring the hotel. There’s a nice pool at the top but too bad we didn’t have our swimming costumes… and then we retired for the night.

and we ran around the hotel corridors. yes, we're that bored. but mainly it was because 00 kept complaining about the poor wifi speed and how his roaming couldn’t work properly. And it was all  because of the stupid game Devil Maker he was on that he needed the mobile plan. God it gets on my nerves, terribly. He purposely scouted around the hotel to find the best spot where roaming works. Talk about getting obsessed…

26^th-28^th

And breakfast!

We’re supposed to meet up with my parents and have dinner together, but they reached so super late, and it was super rainy. We went over to City Square in the day, then waited for them to come pick us up. It seemed to be a difficult place to find and neither me nor the hotel staff could explain properly, but thank goodness they found it anyway.

We had bah kut the at the place with red wine chicken, and the famed curry chee Cheong fun the next morning, after a night at my JB house. Since there was a car this time, dad could send us to the Wu Fu Cheng shopping centre too. I think by then poor 00 was already sick of shopping bt there’s really not much we can do in Malaysia!!

After another night, we decided to get back to Singapore and also to prepare for our Melaka trip the following day, so dad sent us to the customs to go back. 

Back in Singapore, we checked in at a hotel in Bugis called Hotel Marrison - which looked promising in pictures, but was really not a good deal for the price. It was about $110 or so, but the room was awfully small with no windows!

They also didn’t provide toothbrushes, and I had to complain to them to get one. What’s with hotels that don’t provide the essentials!? Wifi was also not available, you had to pay like $10/hr to use it. Really ridiculous. The bathroom was also super small, just fitting 2 person with no room to move, barely. The shower head is just above the toilet bowl from the picture here.

We missed the breakfast but I read reviews that it sucked anyway, so not too sad about it.