We slept in and had a late breakfast at the hotel cafe.
A couple of days ago, we had booked a massage at 12 noon today in the hotel's Japanese massage centre. They were running a special for 30 minutes of lavender body scrub followed by 45 minutes of aromatherapy massage. We booked in for a joint session for both of us at the same time. Although Suzy had experienced such massage session before, it was my first time and I wasn't too sure what to expect.
They greeted us with cups of tea and then invited us into the room. There were two benches, a shower and a change area. They gave each of us a little plastic package which they described in broken English as underwear. Mine contained very thin (didn't hide much) pants whereas Suzy got similar pants and a shower cap. This seemed to me to be looking better all the time.
In the scrub massage, they rub you down with crystals all over your body - well, almost all over your body. Apparently it is designed to get rid of dead skin. Until today, I hadn't realised that I had dead skin but I was quite happy for a young Japanese lady to rub it all off for me.
After the body scrub, they invited us to have a shower (Suzy and me together) to wash off the crystals. I thought this was definitely getting better all the time. As we washed the crystals off, they became quite creamy.
In the aromatherapy session, they rubbed and massaged oil over (almost) all of your body. It was very relaxing. After we got dressed, they gave us more Japanese tea while they got us to sign the bill. I'd be more than happy if we did this again sometime.
While we had been in the massage session, it had changed from a bright sunny day to heavy rain. We waited a little while until it cleared to walk back to the main building.
Back in our room, we packed up and checked out. We asked the porter to hold our bags for us for a couple of hours.
A couple of days ago, we had booked a massage at 12 noon today in the hotel's Japanese massage centre. They were running a special for 30 minutes of lavender body scrub followed by 45 minutes of aromatherapy massage. We booked in for a joint session for both of us at the same time. Although Suzy had experienced such massage session before, it was my first time and I wasn't too sure what to expect.
They greeted us with cups of tea and then invited us into the room. There were two benches, a shower and a change area. They gave each of us a little plastic package which they described in broken English as underwear. Mine contained very thin (didn't hide much) pants whereas Suzy got similar pants and a shower cap. This seemed to me to be looking better all the time.
In the scrub massage, they rub you down with crystals all over your body - well, almost all over your body. Apparently it is designed to get rid of dead skin. Until today, I hadn't realised that I had dead skin but I was quite happy for a young Japanese lady to rub it all off for me.
After the body scrub, they invited us to have a shower (Suzy and me together) to wash off the crystals. I thought this was definitely getting better all the time. As we washed the crystals off, they became quite creamy.
In the aromatherapy session, they rubbed and massaged oil over (almost) all of your body. It was very relaxing. After we got dressed, they gave us more Japanese tea while they got us to sign the bill. I'd be more than happy if we did this again sometime.
While we had been in the massage session, it had changed from a bright sunny day to heavy rain. We waited a little while until it cleared to walk back to the main building.
Back in our room, we packed up and checked out. We asked the porter to hold our bags for us for a couple of hours.
Suzy had bought some perfume last night in Chinatown and she wanted to go back for more. It started to rain again during our taxi trip and by the time we reached Chinatown it was teeming. We dashed from one arcade to another to find the shop. Suzy found the perfumes she wanted and bargained with them for a good price.
Next, we caught another taxi to Raffles Hotel. People say that you haven't been to Singapore until you have been to Raffles and so we thought we should at least pay a token visit. We did go to the Long Bar but we didn't have a Singapore Sling because we didn't feel like alcohol. Instead we had coffee and scones at the coffee shop downstairs.
We caught a taxi back to our hotel, collected our bags and caught another taxi to the airport. It was a quick trip to the airport and even quicker at the airport. There was no need to line up to check in. We went to the Premium Desk for business class passengers where a man looked after our bags for us and invited us to take a seat for a minute or two until one of the clerks was ready for us. She then offered us a seat while she processed the check-in.
After going through customs, we went to the Qantas/BA lounge which was almost empty. There was a long row of PCs for people to us for internet access. The total time from leaving our hotel to sitting in the business lounge was only 40 minutes.
It was all very impressive. The service in Singapore was exceptional - at the hotel, airport, taxis, etc. They are clearly keen to make a good impression and convince you come back again.
The BA flight was a Boeing 777 which wasn't as comfortable as the previous BA flights. It landed soon after 5am and we got through customs very quickly. We arrived home before 6:30am.
Next, we caught another taxi to Raffles Hotel. People say that you haven't been to Singapore until you have been to Raffles and so we thought we should at least pay a token visit. We did go to the Long Bar but we didn't have a Singapore Sling because we didn't feel like alcohol. Instead we had coffee and scones at the coffee shop downstairs.
We caught a taxi back to our hotel, collected our bags and caught another taxi to the airport. It was a quick trip to the airport and even quicker at the airport. There was no need to line up to check in. We went to the Premium Desk for business class passengers where a man looked after our bags for us and invited us to take a seat for a minute or two until one of the clerks was ready for us. She then offered us a seat while she processed the check-in.
After going through customs, we went to the Qantas/BA lounge which was almost empty. There was a long row of PCs for people to us for internet access. The total time from leaving our hotel to sitting in the business lounge was only 40 minutes.
It was all very impressive. The service in Singapore was exceptional - at the hotel, airport, taxis, etc. They are clearly keen to make a good impression and convince you come back again.
The BA flight was a Boeing 777 which wasn't as comfortable as the previous BA flights. It landed soon after 5am and we got through customs very quickly. We arrived home before 6:30am.
Click here to see my photos for this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment