Stay @Amara Sanctuary Sentosa

@Amara Sanctuary Sentosa
http://sentosa.amarahotels.com/

It was a lucky draw we won when we were there for the wedding show.

Amara Sanctuary really has much to offer, be it for tourists who wish to explore the shores of Sentosa or Singaporeans who love a good getaway from home, studies, work... all the terrible stuff you hate when you are at the certain age.
We arrived early and unfortunately, there was a solemnisation that day and the carpark, both sheltered and open carparks were filled. We settled for a little space that we could squeeze at a side curb, but thought Amara could do with expanding the open carpark further.. it looks like the only area to increase its space to me.
I like how Amara spreads out its rooms, facilities, with clever use of the slopes it lies on. It was a bit confusing the first day, but after completing the walk around its vicinity, we more or less knew the direction. (I just followed Wen.)
We were given a Premier room with garden facing on the 4th floor, its highest floor. The rooms are slightly bigger in terms of the bathroom for garden facing as sea facing has a little balcony for you to enjoy the breeze.



Looking out of our window is the glass pavilion. Amara sure has good business, it was one solemnisation after another. Quite a turnout for the wedding couples. Interesting to watch.





We knew the purpose of the buggy, for VIPs staying at its Villas or Suites (quite a walking distance away from the reception), and for wedding couples from room to ballroom. But what we didn't know was this: it can take you to Palawan Beach, through a short cut route from the back of Amara. We happened to query with the Concierge on how to go to Palawan Beach as we thought of having a snack at Koufu foodcourt, if we need to take the blue line to change to a beach tram etc... And the guy at the Concierge offered to take us there on the buggy! What a treat! And guess what, they handed me the reception number to call anytime if we need a ride back! :) That was really fun.
The location of Amara is really good at Sentosa, close to the beach, and close to the entrance of Sentosa, and close to Resort World. We decided to walk to Resort World for dinner, where Wen treated me at Chili's. A fun Mexican sort of restaurant, Chili's has very spontaneous & friendly servers, without the service charge. We were led to a high table and I like the casual feel of Chilis. Great burgers and soft drinks were free-flow. Sweet. We saw tables ordering the chocolate cake with ice cream which I had wanted to try, but the fries and burger, and Wen's sweet corn took pretty much every space left in my tummy. Got to skip this til next time.


We took a nice stroll in Resort World, with its X'mas display and 'snowing' time, I was really in a great holiday mood, almost forgot that I was still very much in Singapore.

The room had almost everything we need, iron, dryer, bathrobes, Wen's fave peppermint tea, lavendar soap and lemongrass shampoo, comfortable bed with pillows (and a bolster!), we need not ask for anything more.
Breakfast @ Shutters was good. I love the cute bite sized waffles! It had the usuals - salads, ham & cheese, yoghurt & fruits, noodles, prata, veg, dim sum, chawanmushi, bacon, omelette, hash browns & udon. They even had a counter for fruit juices, just name what you want. I had my fave apple & carrot. A great morning to start our day. But of course, it was our check out day. Nevertheless, we made full use of the facility and went for a dip at the infinity pool after breakfast. There is another dream pool at the ground level, we weren't too interested.




Overall we had a great time at Amara, good service, amenities and facilities.
Like its name says, it was indeed a sanctuary. :)

Gunung Ledang @Johor

Gunung Ledang (or more commonly known as Mount Ophir)

Johor
64th highest mountain in Malaysia, and arguably the most climbed mountain in the country.

It was one of those rare weekends that Wen gets his off days.
He decided to take his Honda st11 for a ride to Malaysia and we were choosing between shopping (@Malacca) or sightseeing (waterfall@GL).
Since we had been to Malacca a couple of times, we thought it would be refreshing to pay some attention to nature's wonders. Took us approx 2hours from SG with between stops to reach Gunung Ledang. As his bike was kind of big, he did not want to park it at the bikers lot where it was rocky and it was some way down a slope. The guy at the entrance kindly signalled us to ride into the compound and we got to park at the Gunung Ledang Resort itself.


I thought it would be quiet, apparently there were many people heading into the 'park', especially children with floats hanging around their waists and young adults.
Here's the map at the entrance of GL.
Reaching the summit would take a toll on us, we planned to visit the Puteri Falls, where my foot was at.

It may look simple to reach, but the stairs and slopes were not easy.
We were sweating by the time we reached the fall, it felt like a great workout.


And then we reached Puteri Waterfall.
It was a pretty sight, and the water was freezing cold.
We took a long rest by the waterfall, enjoying the burgers we bought for lunch.
The experience was exciting and fun, on Wen's bike and the visit to GL.

Pampered Lunch at Melt ~ The Whole World (Mandarin Oriental Singapore)

Melt ~ The Whole World Cafe

Mandarin Oriental Singapore

5 Raffles Avenue, Singapore 039797

Reservation: 6885 3082

This is by far the most top notch buffet I have tried in Singapore. The moment I made the reservation call, I was impressed. The usual details were given, and then the polite receiver asked if it was for a special occasion. I was taken aback by the question but replied a yes. "Certainly, we could arrange a mini cake that day." Even before I needed to ask for anything.

Before we were shown to our seats, the friendly waitress asked if it was our first time there and we nodded. Much to our delight, she explained and showed us the way to the various food stations. It was not crowded when we arrived, and I began snapping pictures before the lunchtime crowd arrived minutes later.

The Cold Station - breads, all sorts of cheese ((I like camembert!), salads, sushis, sobas. A must try is the duck rillet spread on toasted bread. It was vvv good!

A Centre Table of mussels, and prawns

The Cooked Station - pastas, noodles soup, kebabs and lamb chops

Indian cuisine - naans, masala chicken, there were so many kinds of curries, I had a bit of everything on my naans.

Western and Asian Cuisine - the cod fish was good, scallop in tomato sauce, beef, jumbo fresh prawns

The Desserts Corner - Waffles, Chocolate fondue, fruits, jellies and cakes

The stations were spaced far apart and they might looked 'little' at first, but we were surprised we ate so much after the whole thing. And to add, every dish was cooked very well and ingredients used were very fresh.

I like the fact that tables were spaced well apart and the food stations were at different locations of the room, allowing guests to eat at ease without having to queue/start from one end to the other or difficulty walking between tables to their seats.

Wen's cake came at the time we were settling for desserts (thanks to the attentive staff). Two waitresses came, and guess what. They asked if we would like them to sing the Happy Birthday song! Before I responded to Wen's waving hands, "please do!" was what I said to them! Haha...

We ate the dark mousse chocolate cake with our Tea (you can choose Chamomile, Peppermint and English Breakfast - complimentary from the buffet) and it was so relaxing.

We enjoyed the lunch very much and even though it was pricey (buffet prices have gone up everywhere else anyway), I felt it was worth it.

Happy Birthday, Wen.