Raffles Hotel

I marveled around the grace of Raffles Hotel, Singapore. It's colonial-styled architecture exudes no less than timeless elegance.



Dominated by whites and splashed with rich golds, the luxurious hotel is pleasantly balanced with greens. It has a number of courtyards which could easily be translated as lush tropical gardens.



You could easily forget that the hotel spans in the middle of cosmopolitan area. Well, where else in Singapore is not cosmo anyway.

It reminds me so much of our own Manila Hotel, only in so much grander scale.



We were supposed to have a high/afternoon tea at Tiffin Room but it required a prior reservation which we failed to do, about which we were offered to come back after two hours. Besides, I was in jeans and not sure if I would be allowed. As usual, we were always running after time, so we dropped the idea of the high tea at the Raffles, maybe next time.



Raffles Hotel Arcade houses nothing short of luxurious international brands like Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton. Definitely not my brands, maybe in my next life, haha.



Here's a glimpse of how royal the suites of the Raffles can get. Again, maybe in my next life, haha.



The timeless look of the facade of the hotel goes against the modernist hotels around the metro. The history being restored way back from 1887 when it was opened. The grand hotel is being favored by known celebrities, royalty and writers.

Swiss Club

I was sitting by the side. .

. . of this huge pool, so big I couldn't grab the whole of it by just one shot. So this is the center. .

this is the left side, facing it. .

and the right side. Ah, maybe not exceptionally big, but I think it's relatively huge cos it's in a private club.

The water was so inviting and I decided to take a plunge. ( no panic*, had my swimsuit beneath my shirt :)



But before I could do that, the rain poured in. Now I didn't want to get wet! haha. Nah, it was that the water turned so cold cos of the rain.

So I joined back to our table to savor these scrumptious dishes (later you go and visit my food blog for them) .

We were at the super exclusive Swiss Club in Singapore. My ticket to there was ofcourse my Swiss girlfriend. It's tucked away inside a Swiss village and needless to say for members only, and their guest : me? haha. There's that big lap pool, a gym and other fitness and health facilities. I saw right beside the pool a walk through to a mini forest garden.

When the rain stopped, we walked around and my friend's daughters invited me to take a look of their school.

So their school is in the same vicinity.

Take notice of the school logo - looks so familiar right? Looks like the Red Cross. If you're keen about the flags, Switzerland's flag is exactly that white cross on a red cross. Red Cross, the organization that's all over the world to help humanity, actually had originated from this awesome country of the Swiss.

Inside the campus, I noticed how the single - floored buildings were built to blend well with the nature.

For instance, this particular giant tree stands in the center, circled by school buildings. The girls shared to me that this tree has been there ( as small as them when they were in pre-school) ever since they started their school here.

The Swiss red dominates the entire school as well as white. .


which both compliment well the greens surrounding the school.

Apart from the awesome physical property of this school , just by merely talking to my friend's daughters (  a walking product of this school), I could sense the high standard of this Swiss School. The girls are smart and trilingual (they speak English, Swiss and German).
One of the perks of being an expat in one of the most modern cities in Asia. haaay. . wish,wish,wish*

Louis Vuitton Island Maison

I went to visit Singapore again last week and as usual amazed by the constant flowing of new establishments/attractions around the city. Before last week, I was there last February of this year too and prior to that a year gap before it and was surprised to find Universal Studios , Singapore already in full swing and the Marina Bay Sands with its stunning Marina Sky Park in full glory. I mean. .well, they weren't there yet on my last visit. The newest attraction then was the Singapore Flyer.

Exactly, why (however small Singapore is) I don't get tired of frequenting this city_ it always has something new to offer.

This time around_ I found the Louis Vuitton Island Maison floating at the waterfront of Marina Bay Sands promenade. It had its grand opening less than a month ago prior to my visit and therefore one of the newest establishments to date.It's not the first LV store in the city thu', it is actually the fifth. Needless to say_ it wasn't there yet 8 months ago during my visit before this.




looks more stunning at night.




I only made up to here, intentionally, haha. I heard how it's prettier inside..but hey I didn't want to torture myself by tearing my eyes looking on those LVs. I was 100% sure not buying and will not in the next 4 years, so why enter when not purchasing? bitter! haha.

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Husband breaths easy whenever I make trips to our neighbor shopping cities ( like SG and HK), cos I don't shop. . yes not at all. 

Expensive brands don't blind me a bit. . .not anymore at this age.  Temptation can't work on me in this category. First of all I don't have the money. I rarely go window shopping either. I do more of sight seeing of the place, of the architectural structures of the malls which are really awesome in these cities.

Second of all, if  I did have money. . I'd rather put it in a less materialistic experiences. Motherhood totally changed my perspective on this matter. If you knew me when I was single and young, I could hear you now saying : " you're a changed person! " and I would reply : " you are sooo right! "

So when we made a side trip to Johor Bahru, the capital city of southern Malaysia and found nothing but malls, malls, and malls, I wasn't so pleased.

Ok, I stand corrected. . JB,  by the way is the second largest urban area in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur  ( click here  to see my KL visit),  there are ofcouse commercial/office  buildings. .




. . more colorful commercial buildings. .

. . older commercial buildings.  ( looking more like our own Cebu City). . .

. . side walk with vendors. . (very Manila)

. . old public telephone unit.. (so cute ) .. .

. . international hotels. .




. . historical building _ the Sultan Ibrahim Building, can you spot it? that one at the  far end, the brown building. It actually caught my eyes easily cos it's the only unique structure I had seen from the circle of modern buildings around.

Can you spot me with my travel buddies? We were actually heading to that Sultan Ibrahim building which was formerly the state-secretariat building and was constructed between 1936 and 1939, but didn't get thru cos my buddies were madly blocked by the series of malls on the way which were on sale!!! Music to their ears_ on sale!! haaaay. . .

Ok, majority won. If you can't beat them. . join them, haha. So I did buy. .only because it was super sale and college daughter needed a shoe for school.



I only bought these two items, nothing else. Look how cheap_ 70% off. I love those jelly bracelets. I use them oftenly this summer in the beach.

anyone? - translate please. .

We did pass in a district which looked so similar to SG's Little India ( see here ), only much bigger.

Exact merchandises could be seen in the sidewalks.




The rest of the short visit was spent feeding my palate with soulful dishes of the country which in a way compensated for the bareness of cultural  experience of my side trip. The food trips are randomly posted in my food blog ( My 3rd & 7th Sense ), some are coming soon.