December 2015
Now this trip had been planned almost before we’d even left the UK. One of our very thoughtful leaving/Christmas gifts had been a gift card from Jay’s family for Raffles hotel in Singapore. Yes the expiry date was something like 2018 but with my lack of patience and Jay’s love of exploring, we decided we’d use it as a Christmas treat for ourselves!
Again we booked up some cheap Air Asia flights and decided to turn this into a longer weekend, taking the Friday off work and travelling Thursday night. Given we badged this as a Christmas treat (and were again kindly given some Christmas help towards a bit of Christmas luxury from my family) we booked up a fancy hotel on Orchard Road and were not disappointed on arrival!
Not only did the lobby look amazing with its huge Christmas tree and decorations but on arriving at reception we were given a free upgrade to a suite (and this was no shabby suite Jay would later find out as he insisted on posing in every room!)
The next day we planned to visit USS (Universal Studios Singapore). I’d been in the USA before and loved it, so with it now just on the doorstep we decided to go and see what the SNG sibling offered. It was easy to get there from where we were staying on Orchard road (we found SNG to be pretty well connected by public transport). We hopped on our nearest MRT station (Orchard Road), changed at Dhoby Ghaut which took us straight to Harbour Front (i.e beginning of Sentosa Resort where USS is -15/20 minutes ish). Here you then have a choice how you actually get over to the park – cable car, monorail or walk. We decided we’d be walking all day anyway so crossed that off and opted to save our money on the cable car (think it was about GBP10/15 each) so we plumped for the monorail for around GBP1/2. This got us there swiftly and before we knew it, we’d spotted the infamous universal globe 😀
We’d bought our tickets online in advance so saved a few pounds and some queuing. Once we were in we were pleased to see that Singapore really did go all out on the Christmas festivities as we’d been promised (I mean KL was pretty good -especially the decorations in the malls but SNG was looking bigger and better). On entry to the park we were greeted by a giant tree (where I would later crush poor santa by hopping on his knee) and there was even fake snow at one point!
After gazing at the Christmas decs for long enough, we decided to crack on with the rides. I can’t possibly list them all out but will pick a couple of our favourites (I won’t spoil what actually happens though). Overall, the park was slightly smaller than its US equivalent (to be expected) but was still definitely worth the trip – you can’t beat the movie theming 🙂
- Transformers – simulator of epic proportions
- Jurassic park (Jay’s favourite) – river rapids (look out for the life-like dinosaur lurking around outside the entrance to this ride too).
- Battlestar Galactia – dualling rollercoasters
After an action packed day at USS, we decided to head back into the city for dinner and an evening exploring. Having seen so many pictures of Marina Bay Sands online, we’d decided that we would treat ourselves to dinner there to enjoy the spectacular view from the top of the boat. We’d reserved our table at Ce la vi restaurant on level 57 a few weeks beforehand anticipating we’d struggle to get in on a Saturday night without doing so and indeed the place was packed.
As we were all dressed up we decided to grab a taxi (we actually did use the grab app – it works in SNG too) and it was only 10 minutes down to the river.
We walked into the impressive lobby and were whisked straight up in the lift to the restaurant. We were shown our table (right at the edge of the terrace with an amazing view over SNG – very distracting when trying to pick food haha). Next up was cocktail ordering and soaking up the sights/taking pictures before choosing our food.
Whilst the food was really good and beautifully presented (see yummy desert below), it really was expensive so be prepared BUT we didn’t have to pay to go onto the observatory deck as this was free from the restaurant so a small saving there and in honesty the view/ambience made it totally worth the price.
After a hectic day, we called it a night ready for our special afternoon tea treat the following day (our initial reason for visiting SNG after all).
We spent the next morning exploring Orchard road; wandering in and out of the MANY exclusive shops and taking in all of the gorgeous Christmas decorations people had told us about (a great time of year to visit SNG). Then it was time to head back to the hotel and don our finest gear for our special Christmas afternoon tea @ raffles.
I was full of excitement as we queued up (yes we’d reserved again but so had everybody else). The queue moved quickly though and we were soon seated wondering where to begin.
As well as the traditional afternoon tea (choice of flavoured teas and silver tea tray of sandwiches/cakes) there was also an entire buffet full of exquisite Christmas cakes and local cuisine too! The food was absolutely delicious and we stuffed ourselves to bursting having been deprived of all the choices of Christmas cake on offer here throughout December in KL.
We took a wander around the hotel and grounds and then decided to spend the last of our gift card at the infamous Long Bar – the birth place of the singapore sling 🙂
Obviously we had to try them for ourselves (and good they were!) but I was almost just as excited about the peanut throwing tradition (you get a huge sack of peanuts on your table and just throw the shells on the floor – made for a lot of sweeping up but great fun!)
Not being able to eat another bite, we skipped a proper dinner and instead spent our evening at Gardens by the bay. The lights are always there (that’s the main attraction) but as it was Christmas there was also a winter market and various events going on. We wandered around the beautifully lit trees and wanted to go up on the walkway but tickets for the day had already sold out (tip – get there in the morning to buy your tickets for the day as you can’t book in advance). After watching the local children enjoy the fake snow bubbles (and thinking how sad they’ve probably never seen real snow!) we headed back via the musical fountain show/lion fish fountain and once again called it a night after an action packed day.
Sunday was our last day (the weather was a bit rubbish but we were just pleased it had held out for USS a few days before). We enjoyed the hotel pool (although one of us didn’t get inside quick enough and got caught in the storm doh!) and then waited to see what the weather would do….
We got lucky enough that it cleared up and so we were about to go on the Singapore flyer before heading back to KL – a final treat (note that this closes during storms due to lighting). We took our turn around the flyer (aka London eye) and looked out over the sights we had explored the past few days. This wasn’t too expensive (about GBP 15) and a nice way to round up the trip.
Having seen as much as we could in 3 days, we headed back to KL content but promising to return to explore some more (we still really want to see the botanical gardens and go to the famous night zoo next time).
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