Hilton KL Rocks! (19 Mar)

I went KL for a conference and I was staying at Trader's Hotel. Decided that we should extend one more night on the final day of my conference and so we hotel hopped to Hilton Central KL (with hubby in case you wonder..). It didn't cost us an arm and leg cos we got it at RM300 per night inclusive of breakfast. Very good rate right??? Heheh!! How we got the deal? Cannot tell you hahahah!! ;p We only stayed for a night and regretted not staying for two instead.. hehe.. Hope the promotion comes round again!

The only "disadvantage"to staying at Hilton Sentral is that it is in the outskirt of the KL city centre. There are also no shopping centres within close proximity. The nearest is Mega Mall, which is about 15min taxi ride away. The other reason why we chose Hilton was also because we were going to take Air Asia flight back to Singapore. So, Hilton was a convenient hotel as we could hop on a coach from the KL Sentral which is a stone's throw away from the hotel.

Speaking of Air Asia! Another long story but in summary, it wasn't a pleasant experience. We will (probably) never go on Air Asia again! Why "probably"? Cos we each received RM200 voucher from the unpleasant incident, and has to be used within three months... We have yet to decide if we want to use the voucher.

View from our room.

The luxurious comfy king-size bed.

Another view of the room with the tea/coffee facilities beside it.

The TV and working desk. Unfortunately, the TV reception wasn't working well but we didn't call the technician cos it was just a night stay. I did feedback on the form and received from the management an email acknowledging the areas of feedback I've given. First time ever! Certainly a nice touch of excellent customer service!

Closer view of the tea/coffee making facilities.

The bathroom.

Spot the rectangular screen on the left. It's a mini-TV screen, so you'll never miss your favourite TV programme while brushing your teeth. It can be turned around and you can watch it while bathing from the standing shower too!! Hahaha!!

Very comprehensive Evelyn & Crabtree vanity items.

Breakfast venue. That's the fruits and fruit juice stall. You can order freshly squeezed juices of the day. On the day we had breakfast, we could choose to have either one of these; apples, carrots or celery, or all three! Absolutely a healthy way to start the day!

Another view of breakfast venue

More breakfast items. The range and quality were unbeatable!

Variety of yoghurt available.

What you will get on your table.

They also have on each table a "health chart" which you can refer to according to the food you will be consuming. There's a mini chart accompanying each food type they serve which will tell you if the food was of "High/Low Energy", "High/Low Carbohydrates", "High Fibre" etc. Perfect for the health-conscious!

Hilton KL Rocks! Super duper highly recommended!

Staycation @ Conrad Hotel Singapore (12 Feb)

Our birthdays this year happened to fall on the first day of the Lunar New Year.. so boring! Ha! So, we decided to celebrate it just before the new year and do a staycation @ Conrad Hotel Singapore. According to hubby, the room rate was about S$150/night inclusive breakfast.

We also asked our CDD gang friends to join us for dinner then have fun in the room. We didn't tell them the occasion of course, but they know!! Hahaha!! They brought cakes as well as red wine and sang us birthday song in the room hhaha! Speaking of which, ZH, where are the photos we took???

View from our room - overseeing Suntec Convention and Mandarin Oriental

Pool view from our room

The little bear and welcome fruits in the room. Wasn't sure if the soft toy was complimentary so didn't take it haha!

View of room with working desk and don't-know-how-many-inch TV. I should have taken a photo of the TV remote control - very high-class one ok?!!!

Our king-size bed. Super comfy!

The tea/coffee making facilities

Very spacious toilet! Comes with digital weighing machine hehe...

The room rate we paid included breakfast but strangely, instead of hosting breakfast at the usual dining venues, they set the seating area in their ballroom instead...

... while the food were served outside the ballroom. So strange...

NZ (22 Dec): Auckland

Weather: Sunny

Skipped breakfast and went for the buffet lunch (from 11.30am) at the Observatory, Sky Tower – NZD42/pax. The range was reasonably sufficient but we didn’t think the quality was worth boasting. In fact, we were glad we didn’t choose to do dinner as they served the same type of food but for NZD20/pax more. I wouldn’t recommend dining at the Observatory unless you are desperately dying to get an Auckland city view ;p

Sky Tower

Observatory

Dessert station

Savoury station

Starters/salads station

View from the Obtservatory

Bread served to all tables. Very tasty when warm!

Food..

Foood...

Fooood....

Foooood.....

Desserts.. forgettable

Ice-creams/sorbet

Did some last minute shopping – manuka and kiwi shortbread for colleagues. Sorry friends, there really wasn’t anything unique that I could buy as souvenirs for you all. In any case, I’ve more or less stopped buying souvenirs for friends – very stressful! Hahaa!!

Concluding the trip:
1. Most kiwi service staff was unfriendly, if not rude. Many just gave you a straight face, and were not sincere when they greet people. For this reason, my hubby said he doesn’t like NZ hahah!

2. NZ F&B was very expensive (more so than in Australia)! The cheapest and most decent meal one could get by would be Subway 6-inch “Sub of the Day” which cost NZD3.90. However, only the major cities offered “Sub of the Day”. Any other meal (whether western or asian cuisine) including fastfood cost minimum NZD10! Even a whole roast chicken in the supermarket easily cost an average NZD14!... See More

3. I’ve driven more windy mountainous roads in NZ than in Australia. Driving along their lakes was like driving along Australia's Great Ocean Road.

4. There were more road kills in South Island (mainly rabbits) than in the North Island (kiwis or possums).

5. Though Queenstown was buzzling mainly due to the varied range of activities offered, Auckland would be the best place for one to do shopping. Again, they weren't exactly cheaper than in Singapore.

NZ (21 Dec): Auckland

Weather: Sunny

We board the free shuttle to the factory outlet (20min drive away) and once again, returned empty-handed hahaha!! Frankly, there wasn’t anything particularly cheap that one couldn’t find in Singapore, so it wasn’t really worth carrying them all the way back ;p

Back in the city centre, we took the free City Circuit bus to the Sky City Tower, and made a reservation for buffet lunch on its Observatory. It was a treat for ourselves before we go back Singapore haha!!

Free City Circuit bus

Some Korean pancake stall we found in some alley haaha! Errr... taste like think yet soft roti prata.. filling - cheese, beef and can't remember what else ha! ;p

NZ (20 Dec): Christchurch-Auckland

Weather: Sunny & windy

We asked for late check-out and were given till 11.30am. After breakfast, we drove to Dress Smart, a factory outlet in Hornsby on the suburb of Christchurch. Unfortunately, we went away empty-handed.

Breakfast @ Hotel SO: Bagel with eggs, cheese and salmon. I love it!

Crispy bacon, bread and eggs

After we checked out, we returned the car at Apex Christchurch (near airport) and were given free shuttle to the airport terminal. Then we flew to our last destination, Auckland on Jetstar – NZD99/pax.

From the Auckland airport, one could purchase Airbus ticket (NZD23 return) which would bring passengers to city centre. The bus driver gave short commentaries when it reached city centre, as well as inform passengers the various stops to drop-off depending on where the passengers were going. We dropped off at Stop no. 5, at the end of Queen St and just walked 5min to our accommodation.

Accommodation:
Mercure Hotel (Customs St) – NZD79/night through wotif “Secret Deal”. Location was great! The harbour was just behind the hotel, the Westfield Shopping Centre (can give it a miss) was a stone’s throw away while the buzzling Queen St was round the corner. The Sky Tower was about 10min leisure walk from the hotel. The (free) City Circuit bus stop was on the next street (besides Britomart), while the (free) shuttle to Dress Smart (yes, another factory outlet in Auckland) was right in front of the hotel’s doorstep. Note that Mercure Hotel was the 2nd last stop for the Dress Smart shuttle bus and it could be full when it came by. Unfortunately, the Dress Smart shuttle ran only four return trips per day. The nearest supermarket called Countdown (24hrs) would need a little more walking – about 15-20min walk away.

We were in room 1107 which had street view. Room was spacious but furnishing looked a bit tired (slightly better than Kingsgate in Queenstown though). There was a guest lounge on the 1st floor of the hotel where guests could enjoy complimentary coffee/tea 24hrs a day. Hotel internet was not cheap – NZD10 for 2 hours, whereas the internet cafés around the area usually offered only NZD2 or NZD3 for an hour.

Exterior view

Room

King bed (actually combination of 2 super singles)

Bathroom

View from our room

Dinner:
Japanese food again ;p @ Daikoku, just across the street where Britomart was – we ordered Tonkontsu Ramen while hubby ordered the Spicy Ramen and Curry Don combo (thinking the ramen and rice portion would be small). The portion of the ramen was humongous! I was surprised I could finish it + half the curry rice. Jia lart, I’d definitely put on weight when I return home!! The food was quite delicious but we were thirsty after that ;( Anyway, those dishes cost NZD27.

Inside the restauant; open kitchen

Spicy ramen

Curry don

NZ (19 Dec): Tekapo-Christchurch

Weather: Sunny and windy

Left Tekapo for Christchurch and witness the awesome works of nature!

As mentioned earlier, enroute to Christchurch, we went to the quaint little town called Geraldine. It was a much bigger town compared to Lake Tekapo, much more vibrant especially with the presence of a weekend market ;) There, we bought the local jam products called Barker’s. The shop offered free tasting, not just for its jam products, but also sauces, juices and curds. Yummy!

Barker's @ Geraldine, where we got our jam products

Weekend market in Geraldine. I bought a scarf from one of the stalls.. hehe..

Back @ Christchurch:
Guess which hotel we stayed when we reached Christchurch? Hotel SO again hahaha!! No doubt the room was small, we were happy with the cosy space, free wireless internet and convenient location.

Best thing was, through wotif (I swear by it!), Hotel SO offered "SO Festive Package" at NZD99/night which included 2 cocktail drinks and 2 breakfasts. Couldn’t ask for more! The cocktail drinks we ordered were worth NZD21, while the breakfast cost NZD35. We ordered coffee which wasn’t part of the package but upon check-out, as the beverages weren’t recorded in the system as yet, the reception staff offered the beverages complimentary! That was another NZD7 worth. So, NZD99 was well worth it! But we risked parking our car on the street (it was free mah hahaha!!). Otherwise, Hotel SO’s parking arrangement would cost NZD16 for 24hours.

Our cocktail drinks