D'Resort at Downtown East by NTUC. The website is here - www.dresort.com.sg
This resort is Singapore's first nature-inspired resort with an integrated waterpark experience. It is built right next to the lush Pasir Ris Park.
The website looks attractive. Book online and book early to get the best rates. It is close to the sea, though the resort is not a beachfront resort.
I visited the resort and took a look at several of their rooms. Let's first check out their premier products, the Rainforest Suite and the Rainforest Premier Suite.
Here is the video of Rainforest Suite and Premier Suite. The suites were very nice, as you can see in this video.
Next, I visited the Rainforest Family room. The room we visited was of the Amazon theme. It came with a bunk bed plus a double bed. It can sleep four.
Here is a video of the Rainforest Family Room. It comes with a Nestle Gusto coffee machine.
The resort was very new and the key feature, the Wild Wild Wet expansion, hasn't been completed yet. When that part of the resort is completed, it would be a fun place for the family, if you like the very large water theme park!
Today, the ship will dock in Barcelona and we will spend some time to view the Sagrada Familia and La Rambla. As I was going through my videos and pictures for the trip report, I came across this video footage which I had forgotten about. This was taken as we walked along La Rambla, in the direction of the cruise port. Suddenly, these illegal hawkers packed up their wares and disappeared into the side alleys.
Why? I figured that a police patrol or some law enforcement was approach. They obviously had a good early warning system. Which makes you wonder - in this day and age, shouldn't there be video cameras along such a busy and touristy street to assist law enforcement? Anyway, here is the short clip.
We sailed on the MSC Preziosa, on a 7N cruise out of Genoa. Today was a sea day. In this blog post, I show you the food we ate while on board. We sailed in the Yacht Club, which is a ship within a ship concept by MSC. One of the wonderful perk of this product was to be able to wine and dine in the Yacht Club restaurant. Lovely.
BREAKFAST - Here is the video I made for breakfast. All the stuff you see us eating in this blog post was included as part of the cruise fare, including the coffee and the wines. Needless to say, you have to pay a premium to cruise in the Yacht Club.
Some pictures of breakfast. This would have been my cappuccino. I usually consume two cups at breakfast.
First time we ordered this dish. What was this all about I think we wanted boiled eggs.
LUNCH - Now it was time for lunch. This is the video I made for the lunch experience.
The sight that greeted us when we entered the restaurant for lunch. Pretty neat.
This was the House White for lunch. If you watch the video, I also had some of the House red. Ok, I loved to try all these House wines. All good!
A small piece of bread on the side. I like the size of the bread - small. Just a bite, not too much. Already, too much to eat on the cruise. If you had a larger appetite, you could take as many pieces as you cared for. No issues at all.
These were pieces of scallops. Refreshing starter.
Veal Chop. A main course. Kids loved the fries.
A nice piece of freshly grilled fish. Felt very healthy eating this. Certainly a good option if you were minimizing calories.
A photo of the cheese table, where they prepare the cheese plate. I didn't ask for one today. Cool.
This was Lunar New Year 2016 season and I chanced upon this Wu Shu demonstration at a local shopping mall. It was very interesting because this is the first time that I was watching such a demonstration!
In the first video, the display starts with an energetic performance by a few fine young mean. Full of energy and vigour. Then, what was very surprising was when the emcee announced that a 10 year old Taijiquan exponent would come show his moves. Ten? Wow. Look at that chap. The moves look easy, but they are awfully hard. You have to keep balance, keep posture, focus, breathe... don't believe you try it yourself! Impressive patience for a 10 year old.
After that, we resume the more energetic performance with this young boy using a double sword. Very fast movements. He could probably slice his opponent into a thousand pieces, with a few swishes of this nimble arms. Awesome. I enjoyed it.
The next performance was another surprise. A young lady, looking fairly lean (and mean to a certain extent), came on stage and started her Taiqiquan moves. Her performance was clearly very polished. Just look at the movement, the rhythm, the harmony, the balance! Then she accelerated her motions (from about 1:45 of the video below) to show you that she has the swift moves too. I am sure in a real life battle situation, she could go even faster. I wouldn't mess with this young lady.
Next, the two young men demonstrated their sword fighting skills. I thought that I was seeing double but it turned out that they were twins!
After the official demonstration routine was completed, the male Wushu exponents showed off a few basic self defense techniques for ladies. Had quite a good laugh. They made it look easy, but I think these slick moves require some practice.
Overall, very pleased to have caught this performance. It was a very good show by the young Wu Shu exponents. Impressive display of skills. Well done boys and girls!
3 Feb 2016 COE Bidding. This is the second time I would be bidding for the COE myself, so this time I'm more seasoned already. I put the bid in one day before, at the ATM. Here is the video. I bidded for Category A.
I put in a serious bid and I thought I had a decent chance, given that the number of COEs for Cat A in this bidding cycle is significantly higher than 2 weeks ago. But alas, I did not get the COE. Here is the bidding action.
Plenty of action in Cat A but Cat B hardly moved until very close to the bid closing time. Ironically, had I placed the same bid for Cat B, I would have gotten a Cat B COE!
As it turns out, the Cat B COE is approx $8,000 less than Cat A COE for this bidding. Strange isn't it? Small car COE cost more than big car COE!
Very soon, it was time to head back to Singapore. A short but fun trip to Langkawi. I flew here on Air Asia but I am flying home on Silk Air, which is Singapore Airlines regional subsidiary. I don't fly Silk Air very often, so this would be interesting. SilkAir operates a short-haul fleet, currently a mix of Airbus A319, A320 and Boeing 737.
However, I think they have ordered the upcoming Boeing 737-MAX and will phase out their Airbus fleet over time. Before the fight, here is a video of the Langkawi international airport. We had some time at the airport, but it was a small airport. There was time for a meal (some dinner) before the flight.
The departures from Langkawi airport this evening.
A Malaysian flag hanging from the roof of the terminal. Malaysia Boleh!
Check in counters.
Starbucks at the Langkawi International airport. Quite well patronized.
This was my Kampung style Fried Rice from a restaurant on the 2nd floor of the airport terminal.
A view of the terminal from the 2nd floor.
After security. This airport did not have any aero-bridges. We would need to walk on the tarmac to the plane, just like when we arrived.
Let me proceed to the flight itself. It was on a Silk Air Airbus A320. A short flight, just 1hr 15 minutes. Here is the video flight review.
In the review, I show you the snack as well as the inflight enterntainment studio system that requires you to use your own device to stream the movies. I used my iphone to try some movies, just to see whether it worked, and it did. SilkAir planes are not fitted with any IFE screens so if you want to watch any movies, you would have to use your own device. Anyway, the selection wasn't great.
At my seat in Economy.
Cabin crew at the back galley. Only the front door of the aircraft was opened. The crew would have flown in from Singapore earlier, since Silk Air does not have a change of crew in Langkawi.
On board an Airbus A320 aircraft.
Obligatory legroom photo.
The flight back to Singapore was short and uneventful, which wasn't a bad thing. Immigration control at Changi was quite empty, which was a relief. I wanted to get home quickly.
As I did not have any check-in luggage, after immigration, I got out to the public area quickly and headed to the taxi stand. The line was not too long and it moved quite fast. Within 5 minutes, I was in a taxi on the way home. Thank God for safe travels. Thanks for reading!
