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J. W. Marriott in Bangkok
I travel to Bangkok a lot. From one of the dirtiest cities in the world 12-13 years ago, it’s cleaned up become fancier, more welcoming, more modern and just a wonderful shopping destination and a quick flight from Mumbai! I have therefore shifted a lot of hotels- hotels close to the malls, hotels out of the city… My new favourite however has to be the J.W. Marriott Bangkok.
Two MTR Stops away from Siam and a single stop away from central, this wonderful hotel gives me a bit of sanity from the frenetic mall culture of Bangkok! Towering gloriously above the fashionable Sukhumvit district, this hotel has a good mix of clientele ranging from long staying guests, businessmen to shopaholics like me!
If you do want to stay at the J.W. – I suggest you stay in the Executive Level rooms. For a very small additional charge you get to use the Lounge.The Lounge in the J.W. is tastefully decorated, spacious and has an indoor and out door sitting area as well as an internet area with a Tv and couches for a more relaxed coffee/ tea. Check-in is done on the 16th floor for Executive Level guests and the check-in is quick and efficient and over a cup of coffee and something to eat.
The Executive Level rooms are nice,though a tad small. You have free internet access everywhere in the hotel and the speeds are wonderful. For a super-connected social networking geek like me…that’s always a big plus!
Why do I like the lounge? Well firstly it’s large and the food is amazing! Unlike usual Hotel Lounges the tapas and hot meals vary every day!You have an incredible breakfast with a live egg station, japanese counter, cereal, cheese and bread counters and of course your customary cold cuts , sausages etc. If there’s something missing and you want it- they’ll make it for you! After breakfast , in case
you get hungry by about 11:30 am or so…there’s always some muffins in the oven or some sandwiches and peanuts for you to grab and go with- along with a takeaway coffee or chilled soft drink/ juice. In the evening The Lounge has an array of drinks and wines. It also has salads, hot and cold tapas and wonderful live stations where burgers are flipped, fish is seared, rolls are made and sushi is rolled. Every night is usually a different theme – so after an American burger night with fries and onion rings (from their New York Steak house downstairs), don’t be surprised to go Japanese (from Tsu the Japanese restaurant) the following evening or Italian… The food is tasty, filling and perfect and after a long day on the streets of Bangkok or in the malls- it’s wonderful to unwind over a drink and fabulous food before you let the Bangkok nightlife draw you in!
Cost-: $260 a night approximately for the Executive Level room!
Best Times To Travel-: For me …any weekend I need to escape… but generally October to Jan are peak months with the weather being significantly cooler…else Bangkok is perfect for those like me who love the heat!
HongKong-ing to some fun sights!
It had been a while since my last trip (when I was a teenager) to Hong Kong. Aditya had visited HongKong last on July 1 , 1997 (his birthday )- the day where the hand over happened of HongKong from the UK to China. We had both had incredibly wonderful and memorable trips to Hong Kong (his more than mine :)) but we had never gone together! It was yet another birthday and we wanted to do HongKong and Macau so off we went on another adventure!
We arrived to the airport and took a train in to the city! They have a wonderful transport system and it was easy to take a quick and comfortable train to the city and then a quick cab ride later we were at the J.W. Marriott! The J.W. Marriott is a wonderful hotel. Calm, statuesque, luxurious and with one of the best Executive Clubs we have ever seen! Incredible views, fabulous food and impeccable service, the gloomy Hong Kong morning had a ray of sunshine for us as we checked in!
The one difference in the Hong Kong that we felt immediately was that Chinese was definitely more spoken and English was a little harder now among the smaller shop workers and in the bazaars. We were given Chinese addresses, for taxi drivers when we did travel and though there was definitely a basic understanding of English- we both felt that the last time we’d traveled to Hong Kong the knowledge of English just seemed a bit more widespread!
I am a Theme-Park junkie and so it was off to Disneyland straight away! The Disneyland though wonderfully colourful and alive is definitely quieter, smaller and milder than Disneylands the world over! There are fewer rides , smaller crowds and more restrained excitement! Not at all comparable to the adrenalin rush you get in California! Still I loved the few roller coasters and made it a point to enjoy every minute of the half day I had allocated for it!
Now if you think I was going to just do a half day theme park and be content- you don’t know me at all. I had people talk about some very scary roller coasters at Ocean Park and so that was where we decided to spend the second half of our day! The roller coasters were definitely more challenging and scary at Ocean Park but the atmosphere less festive and fun! But a mix of the colour of Disney and the adrenalin of Ocean Park made for a fun theme park day!
They should join the two and give us theme-park junkies one unforgettable day!
The next day it was on to the Peak Tram and a trip to the Peak. A misty morning made for a romantic tram ride and a journey back in time in a wonderfully restored , beautifully kept tram to a cloud-kissed peak! Incredible photographs , warm cups of coffee and a view of a bustling city from an Eagle’s eye view made for a memory of Hong Kong that many do not see… From the top of the world, the frenetic activity melds away and all you see is a beautiful city with an incredible history!
More on Hong Kong (a musical experience,cable cars,restauranting and shopping!) and Macau next week… but now off to a flight (in 2 hours) and to more incredible adventures!
Best Times to Travel-: March- April and October- December- the weather is pleasant and warm though November and December will have a slight nip in the air by the evenings !
Cost-:$500-$600 and the choice is to stay in Hong Kong Island or Kowloon… The difference? Well log on next week and here my thoughts on both!
Christmas kisses in Singapore!
Singapore is my quick-break stop. The city with it’s glorious shopping,perfect order and love for tourists always makes me come back again and again and again! Singapore is the only place where an airline executive after checking in with an excess of 32 kgs ( because I just had to shop for an entire room and 20 light fittings) looked at my delighted but now very worried face and charged me an excess of 5 kgs because she ‘understood’ and loved my ‘love for Singapore and it’s incredible shopping!’
Singapore is glorious any time of the year because of its warm weather and it’s vibrant night life! It is also very special because it seems like the city is always celebrating something! From Chinese New Year to Christmas the city is always beautifully decked in lights!
Christmas in Singapore is wonderful….With Xmas trees and more sales than usual Singapore has one of the warmest whitest Christmas’ in Asia! Here are some incredible ideas for your next Singapore trip (if you haven’t done them already!). If you have, like me, maybe you want to do them all over again!
- Go to the zoo! Even if you’ve been to the zoo before! Go to the zoo and breakfast with the chimpanzee…the breakfast is strictly okay- the chimpanzee AWESOME!
- Go the zoo- YES AGAIN! Feed an elephant, pose with birds and even get kissed by a seal if your lucky!
- Go to Sentosa early in the morning and kiss a dolphin and get kissed as well! Yes! Too many kisses! Go on…you know you’d love to get kissed by one! Get kissed by a dolphin!
- Learn how to dive if you haven’t already and sign up to dive with the sharks! It’s amazing the silence and the calm you feel while diving and the incredible marine life at the aquarium takes you back to being a kid again. With wide eyes this experience takes your breath away- quite literally!
- Eat and spend the evening at Clark Quay. With new restaurants and new experiences always opening up, Clark Quay and Boat Quay are always fun places to spend the evening!
- Shop, shop and shop more on Orchard Road ! 22 shopping malls, 5 department stores…over 5000 brands to choose from this is every shopaholics Mecca… And trust me, even if you come to Singapore , not a shopper (like I was)– this city will show you colors and styles that you will want to buy! And so you should!
- Visit Universal Studios! Great fun and you get to be kid for a day …all day!
- Eat at Ku De Ta or get a drink at the Sky Bar!
- Buy a packet of Royce Chocolates…Trust me… there’s nothing in the world like Royce!
- Eat at TWG Tea at high Tea with the sandwiches and the muffins and pastries and definitely, definitely order a Jasmine tea!
My Hotel of Choice is the Marriott!I have stayed at the Four Seasons, the Hyatt and several others but with it’s convenient location at Tangs and it’s large Club rooms and incredible Club lounge with finger licking cocktail snacks and all day service… the Marriott allows me to shop, drop my bags and pick up a cuppa without missing a beat!
Price Factor-: Rooms are between $250- $350! If at the Marriott upgrade to a Club Level suite. The additional amount is definitely well worth it!
Best Times To Travel-: NOW! In fact the weather gets slightly cooler October through to January so expect pleasant evenings with a slight , perfect nip in the air!
Gold Coasting!
It was my first trip to Australia and yet another anniversary. The trip had been planned (like several trips of ours) over a weekend…I realised , one very boring Friday that I’d like to jump off a plane! Australia seemed the safest option and with an anniversary coming up…it seemed poetic! Take a leap (off a plane!) to celebrate another leap! My husband thought it was just an evil way to try and push him off a plane but Coldplay (his favourite band!) had a concert during the time we hoped to be there and it was the day before I wanted to jump off the plane…so what the heck!
We made a decision to leave for Aussie land on Friday, made bookings on Saturday and Sunday and on Sunday evening realised that we’d have to apply for a visa! After all we were leaving in 5 days, right!??!
We went to the VFS Office as it opened on a Monday, submitted our papers and asked when we might be approved…”10-14 days Madam,”I was told…” It has to go to Delhi!”
But we didn’t have that kind of time…and so decided to ring up everyone I knew to help me make my anniversary dream come true! Take a small leap (14000 odd feet), to celebrate our leap!
The Australians have a sense of humour and I think mine must have been the oddest reason to want to go to Australia they had ever read! So despite sending in our forms only on Monday , our visa was home-delivered to us on Wednesday! Guess they wanted us to leap off that plane too! (well maybe just me! ;))
And so we arrived to Gold Coast via Brisbane Airport! Brisbane Airport is about 90 mms/ 55 miles from Gold Coast. The airport is very basic and there is no point in arriving for your Return flight too early as often Check in points are closed and there are very few places to just sit and relax! Any way after a long flight in; we decided to head towards our hotel. There are Hotel shuttles which take you to Gold Coast, which we took as ours was so rushed we’d had no time to confirm anything more than just basic bookings! The next visit we were more prepared and had a car meet us! It takes a little over an hour to get to the Gold Coast!
The first time we went to the Gold Coast( i.e. The Anniversary!); we stayed at the Surfer’s Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa. This hotel came highly recommended. It was young, fun and in the heart of the action at Surfer’s Paradise!
All the areas in the Gold Coast have fun names- Surfer’s Paradise, Mermaid Beach, Nobby Beach, Runaway Bay, Rainbow Bay…! 🙂 You get the hint! It’s fun, it’s a young college town and it’s full of life!
Surfers Paradise has the beach, some wonderful shopping areas and some incredible cafes and some wonderful hotels as well!
I recommend the Q 1 Resort and Spa for a fabulous living experience and a view of the Gold Coast worth dying for!
The next time we came we stayed at the Palazzo Versace. This does not have a beach attached but they have created a small beach patch near their swimming pool…;)! A couple of feet of sand and a beach ball or two and a small mini beach takes shape!
The hotel is a tad too gold and a bit gaudy but with the Versace stamp everywhere you are surrounded in luxury!
What is most beautiful about the hotel is the positioning. Beautifully placed on a marina you can take some fabulous boats from the marina and explore the Gold coast via the ocean or sit at the Marina Mirage shopping center and grab a cup of coffee and chocolate at Max Brenner or pick up some doggie accessories at Posh Pets 😉 like we did!
Must do’s and Must Sees!!!!
- Must do-: The Jet ski safari…It may not sound like anything worth doing …I mean everyone has ridden a jet ski…what’s the big deal?! I mean I totally thought so! But an afternoon plan of ours had fallen thru and this seemed like something we could do…!
Crazy, wild and incredible fun…we went to smaller islands, snorkeled a bit and hit waves at speeds that were do fast 2 Aussie’s fell of their skis
I was super proud that I didn’t and totally exhausted after this ‘lame’ afternoon! IT WAS SO WORTH IT!
- Warner Bros Movie World-: Both os us are Movie Film buffs and we loooved Movie World. With a Superman ride which is supposed to be the fastest in the Southern Hemisphere and a straight free Batman Drop which still haunts my husband it was easily the best half day we spent! I say half-day because if you go on a day that’s little less crowded you can just do your favourites and move to one of the other incredible theme parks all in the same area… My next favourite park was DreamWorld which also had some crazy thrill rides!!! Again you must understand that for me, Theme parks are all about the thrills and roller coasters so the scarier the better!!! There is also Sea World with dolphins, sharks and polar bears, Wet n Wild World, and White Water World! But I preferred the ACTUAL Ocean to water rides….I mean what’s the point of the glorious sea otherwise! 😉
Zorbing-: Quite literally being put into a huge ,plastic ball and being thrown down a hill! Hilarious , funny and absolutely super! S
o we were first pushed through the mouth and aditya and I I faced each other. Aditya started with some wise words of wisdom on how I should try and focus on one side or close my eyes and in between his lecture(barely had Word 2 finished) we were pushed with a high force of water down a hill! Limbs everywhere , lots of laughter and a definite MUST DO!- Currumbin Wild life Sanctuary -: We were not sure what to expect here and expected it to be more like a zoo….but the massing feeling of feeding kangaroos, watching joeys poptheir head out of pouches and pop back in and cuddling koalas was so incredible…we lost track of time! Here the animals are up close and touchable so
whether its a greedy ostrich, a hungry kangaroo or a very sleepy koala , you get to interact with them in their own environment! ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! Remember kangaroos eat anything they can see…so keep the paper out of their way and your handbag well out of sight…unless you want a half eaten passport or well chewed coin purse! 😉 - Have a drink at the Q1 Bar
For adventure junkies like me there’s also the Green Challenge. Climb rope ladders, swing from trees, climb up, rappel down…it’s a wild set of challenges which will work up quite a sweat!
The Gold Coast is absolutely fabulous for families and kids! It was wonderful for us (mostly because I’m still quite a kid!)! There’s lots to do, lots to see and lots to be entertained with!
It’s light, fun and one of the only places in the world where you can actually cuddle a koala…and that makes it WORTH IT!!
Did I sky dive? Did Aditya survive…? More on that next week…! 😉
Price Factor-: $200 to $500 per night approximately in the summer! For theme park tickets look at MyFun to get online deals and discounts!
Best times to travel-: I recommend August – February. We went the first time in end March (Anniversary time) and the weather was tricky! Rain cancelled lots of plans and storms on neighboring islands made the weather quite unpredictable and muggy! The next time we went in October and it was brilliant!
Travel with Divya 