Singapore Birthday Trip - Marina Bay Sands Day Monday/Tuesday

The fifteen minute cab ride from the IHG to the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) is disappointing. The last few times the road has been lined with gorgeous flowers of all colors. We are between seasons.

We take afternoon tea at Rise where today the steamed dumplings are the star of the show. Carol loves the scones on offer.

There were orchids throughout the IHG. The same is true here at MBS.

This hydrangea has amazing colour.

We take aperitif hour at Wakuda where Carol is met on entry with a huge bear hug from the bartender to the astonished glares of nearby customers. Clearly, they wonder who we are when CJ also gets a hug from James.

The next two hours we enjoy their complimentary aperitif hour offerings of sushi, fried chicken (really good), edamame, and a mango desert.

Each of us has one complimentary drink as part of the aperitif package. CJ has his and Carol's glass of wine while James pours her the special nonalcoholic wine from Denmark she loves. The sommelier, Sammy, also a friend recommends a carafe of special autumn sake. It seems it is a bottomless carafe. Carol's glass is also topped off endlessly. 

We present Sammy with a gift of a 375ml bottle of Classe Azul Reposado. The bar serves it.

We chat with both of them most of the two hours. Fortunately, James is the bar manager and has assistants to deal with other customers. Sammy's services are only sporadically required this evening.

Back in the room, the hotel has delivered a welcome and birthday gift.

The next day is a typical day at MBS without leaving. CJ is up early waiting for sunrise. Carol's ships are still there. We call them Carol's ships because since our first visit, she has always loved looking at the ships in the Straits. It is one of the things that brings her back.

At daybreak, we can see lights on inside of the Cloud Forrest pavilion.

From this years room in Tower 2, we look down on the elevated walkway to Gardens By The Bay.

There are two cruise ships in this morning.

We breakfast at Rise where one of the staff recognizes us and informs us we should be sitting in the adjacent The Club area instead of the general restaurant. We've had nine brekkies and now we discover we should be sitting in the less crowded club area. It is also much closer to the buffet stations.

We hang out in the room until afternoon tea which we now take at 3p. Instead of reserving aperitif hour at 5p, we book Koma for 6p.

Koma is our favorite location (staff of Wakuda excepted) for aperitif hour. This program enters the pictures backwards. So first up is the complimentary birthday cake. That hole is where the candle was.

This is a great sake carafe and chilling stand. The search for one begins afresh.

The sake cocktail was very good if not a bit miniscule.

Carol selected the Pescatarian option. She mistakenly ate it backwards believing it to be served in the same order as CJ's selection. It would have been if she had been sitting on the other side of the table.

CJ aperitif hour selection.

Aperitif serving with sake cocktail.

CJ's on top row, Pescatarian option on the bottom row.

The famous Koma bell. We can't help wonder what it is made of. It's certainly not cast iron as an original would be.

We sat or slept through the previous evening's Gardens By The Bay light show. 

Singapore Birthday Trip - IHG Changi

The flight to Singapore is direct, a little over six hours, and in the morning and early afternoon. We're surprised to see them pouring a Cairanne. It is the appellation of Laurant Brusset's home, he being the maker of a cracker of a Gigondas. They are neighboring appellations.

We've booked into a room at the IHG Crowne Plaza at Changi Airport for the first day. CJ swears he had a good reason but it eludes him now. He surmises that originally the Singapore flight was scheduled to get us in much later in the day.

The first afternoon the weather is unseasonably cold, windy, and lacking Singapore's famous humidity. How cold is it? Children are complaining the pool water is too cold.

We enjoy watching the people react to the cold sitting outside of our room.

The hotel is adjacent to the terminal of our arrival and across the road from one of the others. There are currently four terminals at this gorgeous airport with another under construction. There is no curfew here and planes depart 24/7 near continuously.

Why did this suddenly appear in our room?

CJ calls housekeeping and informs him that at our ages we have no great grandchildren in need of this and soon a very embarrassed man arrives to remove it.

The concierge lounge used to be overlooking the pool on this floor. They have not converted it into the more expensive pool access rooms and moved it to the next lower floor. We visit and call it dinner. Service is excellent and they are serving pizza, Laksa noodles, and enough other stuff to satisfy. The alcoholic beverages leave a lot to be desired. Their red wine offering, a cabernet from Tempus Two in the Australian Hunter Valley is best left to be served at a concert on their grounds. The last time we were forced to drink Tempus Two was at an Elton John concert at Tempus Two.

We pass on brekkie in the lounge and opt for it in the restaurant where reception informed us there were more selections. CJ begins with an Asian brekkie selection.

There is a fruit we do not know. It is purple and covered with prickers like a sea urchin. The fruit inside is delicious, but its cut and break open your own.

The dragon fruit is also "open your own". It's the first time we've seen whole dragon fruit served like this.

CJ spends the morning on the computer fixing the mess he created being inattentive to our trip to Finland and Norway next week. He must book two nights of hotel on the front end and four nights on the back end in Oslo. With this much time he also books a winter train trip through the mountains and to a fjord on the coast to fill break up the four unplanned days.

He decides to take a refreshing dip. The children were correct. The water is cold!

The Christmas tree in the lobby is one of the most beautiful we've ever seen.

We're off to the Marina Bay Sands.