A New Decade. Staycation @ Hotel Fort Canning

As the time nears to the day my cells aging another year, I decided to congratulate myself for crossing a milestone. Once every 10 years.

I'm generally thrifty by nature and agonize over spending SGD100. Ahh, tis' the life of a bachelorette (a better word than being called a spinster) living in one of the most expensive cities in the world with too many commitments.

The check-in manager kindly informed me that I could mingle with the other in-house guests at cocktail hour at 6pm. Complimentary wines, juices, coffee, tea and light snacks would be served. Perhaps I looked like a sad case, holidaying on my own.

My room was on the ground floor. I really liked my room (except for the see-through toilets) with the high ceilings with verdant green tones.

My dark green room

 I wished I had a verandah to open out to but my windows opened to gardeners working on the lawn in some corner of the building.

Kept my verandah closed. Could hear them moving the lawn right outside.

The room comes with a Nespresso machine (yay!), TwG tea, touch panel controls for lighting, curtains and aircon. (took me a while to figure these out) and complimentary wi-fi. The downside to the room was that the Bowers & Wilkins iPod docking station did not work. After fiddling with it, and worrying that I might short-circuit the blasted device, I decided to charge my iPod the usual way.

Room control for the aircon and lighting

One thing that struck me as odd was that I was faced with transparent toilet and bathroom. Luckily I had the room to myself. I don't know how couples would feel looking at their other halves doing a No.2 right in front of them. How is that supposed to be romantic?

The door slides either way. So you cannot take a shower AND take a leak at the same time. ALERT: This is definitely not a room for friends nor family! I am still not quite sure why couples would like this.

 If you really need to take a shower, there is a tub right outside the "toilet". It's built facing the room's TV, so I guess a lil' movie while you soak? It seems like good idea but it fell a little short for me. I lurve bath tubs. Used to use them as swimming pools during my kindy days. With this bath tub, you can reenact any chick flick scene where you soak with a champagne in hand.

But... *gasp* the horrors! Where are are my freakin' bath salts?! It's such a nice tub with absent bath salts. So for all those planning to stay at Hotel Fort Canning, bring your own bath salts if you want to soak up the chichiness. Psst... Muji sells them in little packs.

Before dinner, I walked around the park enjoying the setting sun. It gets pretty quiet towards the end of the day(if there are no events going on) so I would suggest not to wander around too late.

Pool next to Glass House

Sunset from the patio

Gothic Gates

In Fort Canning Park

Dinner at Gattopardo Italian Restaurant by myself with a glass of wine. I think some diners there thought I was a person nursing a broken heart with alcohol or something. I didn't take any photos for dinner as I did not want to draw too much attention to myself. Being away from documenting your food is good, you get to really focus and enjoy it instead of wondering which angle would make the ravioli look better. It was way too dark for the photos anyway.

I returned to my room for a night of Discovery channel marathon and tea. Midnight came and passed. Did I feel different? Nope but the stillness of the night on this bustling tiny island gave me time to think about days to come.

If you want a tranquil break from it all but still remain down the road from the shopping? Try a night at Hotel Fort Canning. It's good for self-contemplation too.

Fax: +65 6338 8915
Price: $$$
Website:http://www.hfcsingapore.com/