Throwing the Dice at the Presidential Suite

It's that time of the year again when the moon is at its fullest, Chinese families will give each other boxes of mooncake and relatives and friends gather around the table throwing 6 pieces of dice into a glass bowl to test their luck.

Last September 22, it was the 15th day of August in the Lunar Calendar and for all Chinese families in the world, this marks the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Next to our birthdays and Christmas, we all look forward to this particular festival as our family gets ready for the annual Mooncake Dice Game. This year, it was I, my sister and Paul's turn to host the much-awaited event. Sharing our luck for winning an overnight stay at Dusit Thani's Presidential Suite, Paul and I invited both families (his and mine) to have dinner and to play the game in the suite. This got everyone excited as we normally would just have it at home.

A room meant for Royalty

Just a couple of months ago, I swooned and raved about our stay at the Swissotel Stamford Hotel in Singapore where service was at its best and the room was just very comfortable. Our one week stay simply made me feel like a princess right on our Honeymoon. This was before I actually walked in and experience staying at Dusit Thani Manila's Presidential Suite.

Entering our suite, there was once again that warm welcome with my full name on the screen. I love how they make me feel specially welcomed in their signature Dusit Thani way. I was amazed at the size of our room!

Inside was a huge sitting area where our entire family can watch TV while chatting with one another. Even little Julia had a blast running around, stopping once in a while to smell the potpourri.

Should our guests want a cup of coffee, we even have our very own Nespresso machine to enjoy freshly brewed espresso coffee in an instant. My dad was overjoyed as he enjoyed his cup of Italian Roast coffee. Mmm...

Initially I was worried that the suite might not be big enough to fit all 20 of us. I worry where will my relative sit while enjoying dinner. Being in a cramped room can just ruin one's festive mood and I prayed really hard that we will have ample space to seat everyone. I'm glad He heard my prayers and our lovely dining table can sit at least 10 people. The others gladly carried their plates to the living room to be able to watch their favorite show on the LCD TV.

Moving on to the bedroom, I was immediately drawn towards the comfy-looking king-size bed. Talk about letting their guests feel at home, you can actually have the option to choose your pillows based on your preference. We were perfectly fine with the pillows prepared for us and so we didn't call housekeeping anymore to change them for us. How I wish I can have a king-size bed. :)

From the bedroom, we enter the bathroom and I stopped for a while to take in all of the details in our marbled bathroom. In front of me is a white bathtub that looks very inviting calling out to me to take a dip.

I love the automated toilet that has a sensor that lifts the cover when you walk in front of it and the seat warms itself too! It flushes with the push of a button and it has a very high-tech bidet installed as well. My cousins all tried it with delight. It reminded us of those automated toilet bowls found in high-end Japanese restaurants.

Lastly, I couldn't help but swoon over the L'Occitane bath products that smells so good and works well on my hair! I truly had a good night sleep as my face was enveloped by my good smelling hair.

Let the (Dice) Game begin!

After enjoying our delicious dinner consisting of Cha Misua, Fried Rice and Bagoong Chicken brought by my in laws, Green Mango and Catfish Salad from Benjarong from me and Paul, Fish Tofu and Steamed Shrimps from Mommy and Fried Springrolls and Meatballs from Kongkong (Grandpa); we cleared out the long dining table and brought out the prizes to prepare for our Mooncake Dice Game.

The rule of the game is to throw 6 piece of dice into a glass bowl. You have to throw it with care so as not to let the dice jump out of the bowl. Doing so will disqualify you for that round. Certain combinations will allow you to win prizes!

6th prize : You need to get ONE (1) dice with the #4. There are 64 pieces of normally the lower-valued item in this category.

5th prize : You need to get TWO (2) pieces of dice with the #4. There are 32 items up for grab in this category.

4th prize : You need to get FOUR of any kind except the #4 (eg: 3-3-3-3-1-2). There are 16 pieces of prizes that may be won in this category.

3rd prize : You need to get THREE (3) pieces of dice with the #4. We normally allocated 8 prizes in this category.

2nd prize : This is my favorite category as your dice should have this combination --> 1-2-3-4-5-6. We have 2 pieces up for grabs in this category.

1st prize : There are various options to get the Xiong Wan such as the--
a) FOUR (4) pieces of dice with the #4 + any 2 number.
b) FIVE (5) pieces of dice of the same number + any number
c) FIVE (5) pieces of dice with the #4 + any number

To determine the winner, it will be dependent on the sum of the remaining number.

The order of throwing the dice differs per family. For us we normally do draw lots on our order or we go from youngest to oldest and vice versa. However, since we are quite a big group this year, we just all sat around the table and starting from Kongkong we went clockwise from him.

There's no time limit as to how long the game should be played, basically for as long as there are still prizes left then everyone will play until all the prizes have been won and the one with the highest Xiong Wan combination gets the grand prize. This year, it was Kuku who bagged the grand prize and even Auntie Rosie and Abigail won quite a lot of items too! What a lucky family! Note, they were all in red! :)

It was a fun bonding moment with the family and we're glad to have both sides with us for the first time. We hope that this won't only be a one time thing but a beginning of years and years of playing the Dice Game together.

Happy Mooncake Festival everyone! Zhu Ni Zhong Jiu Jie Kuai Le! :)