A paradise called Shangri-la : Dine and Play

Here's the third and final installment for our amazing weekend staycation at Shangri-la Hotel, Singapore. Throughout our 3 days, 2 nights stay, Paul and I actually decided to just stay in the hotel and to make the most of the amenities and dining establishments found inside instead of joining the busy weekend shopping crowd of Orchard Road. Well, that's what staycation are for anyway. We really enjoyed every moment of it and for once, I even didn't bother checking my watch so I was totally clueless of the time.

For those who needs to go to Orchard Road, the hotel actually has an hourly shuttle service that can take you to various drop-off points: Traders Hotel, Orchard MRT Station and Takashimaya Shopping Centre to name a few. This is available everyday including weekends. For the business travelers though who's coming to Singapore and will be having a couple of meetings in the CBD area for instance, Shangri-la also has a weekday morning shuttle that will take guests to the Central Business District area (Shenton Way) and even to the Harbourfront/Alexandra Road area.

Whenever we're staying at a hotel, I'm most excited for breakfast. This is probably the only time wherein I don't mind waking up early just to be able to make it to the buffet line with ample time to enjoy the food. For guests of Shangri-la Hotel's Valley Wing, we had two options to have our breakfast in. First was at the Summit Room, a private dining lounge for Valley Wing guests only. Given that this wing caters to mostly the business travellers and guests, there's a dress code of no shorts, slippers and sports attire when dining here.

They serve a small buffet spread of grains, nuts, fruits, cheese and some desserts then guests can order a la carte should they want some omelette or a full breakfast platter.



For our first day, we opted to head over to The Line which is the International buffet restaurant of the hotel. This was because the Summit Room was packed and not wanting to sit outside, we tried to check if there's a nice table for two at The Line which luckily was readily available for us. I just love how varied the choices are at The Line. Here are some of the stations : Noodles/Congee, Indian, Chinese/Asian, Eggs, Breakfast choices, Japanese, Bread, Local Drinks, Fruits and Juices, Salads/Cheese and lastly my newest favorite -- the Yogurt and Muesli station.

Knowing that I will be eating a lot, I thought of starting my day right with a bowl of yummy Strawberry Yogurt with Muesli and Fruits. It was sooo refreshingly good. I was so happy with it that the lady beside us was eyeing me as I was literally polishing my bowl.

After a hearty lunch, Paul and I went back to our room and waited for the afternoon sun before we headed down to the pool for some more R&R. Guess everyone else in the hotel had the same idea as the entire poolside was packed! Almost all lounge chairs were taken but thankfully, my hubby was very persistent and patient that he finally got us two chairs right by the pool. Hooray!

We stuffed our faces with a bag of Kettle Chips Maple Bacon in between doing laps at the pool. No guilt at all there! :)

At 5pm, the Summit Room began offering a couple of hot snacks which were very good. I filled my plate with more cheese slices and crackers, fruits and some salmon gravlax on toast. The cocktail hour ends at 7pm yet I noticed that the server just keeps on refilling the buffet table even up until 630pm. Wow! Together with the snacks, we have the option to have any drink we fancy.

Look at Paul's dessert plate. The Raspberry Panna Cotta (center) was really yummy!

Finally, get a massage. A stay at Shangri-la Hotel is not complete without visiting Chi. We've heard of Chi back in Manila and it has been regarded as one of the best spas in the world. Paul was fortunate enough to have a massage here a year ago and this time, we got a 120min body scrub and massage treatment.

Having been a big fan of body massages and having had close to a hundred massages in Manila, I have to say that I really do miss pampering myself on a regular basis. The reason why I don't normally get a massage or even a mani/pedi here isn't because of the price but it's more like I haven't found one that I trust enough to take care of my hands, feet or whole body. These treatments, to me, are very personal and just like how I would still have my haircut with my long-time hair stylist back home, the same goes for these treatments too.

Then I met Carmela. She was my therapist at Chi that evening and after chatting with her, telling her how I like my massage to be, she truly made sure that I truly had a relaxing 120 minutes. First, she scrubbed my body with their homemade sugar scrub and after a quick 10 minutes shower, she proceeded to kneading out all those stress knots that I've accumulated on my shoulder and back through this one year of no massage. She took note of the points where I specifically requested to go light on and the same goes for the ones that I gave her the go signal to add more pressure on. In other words, she was amazing.

Here's a peek at their couple's room. Unfortunately since Paul and I got the body scrub and massage treatment that evening, we had to go to separate rooms since the couple's room do not have a shower.

So that basically sums up our weekend. We were able to catch up with sleep, eat to our heart's content and to just relax. I guess now you know why I've been wishing for the weekend to last forever.

I ♥ you, Shangri-la Hotel!

Shangri-la Hotel is located at 22 Orange Grove Road, Singapore. Call them at 6737-3644.