Happy Chinese New Year!
In view of the current restrictions on travel and not being able to head up North Daddy and Mummy must’ve thought what better idea than to book ourselves into a hotel for staycation! To say CNY is a tad different this year would be a bit of an understatement – no fire-crackers, fireworks and the usual festivities!

And so, with a rather scaled down reunion dinner we head home to pack our overnight bags (albeit for 2 nights this time given the nicely timed extended weekend!). Any by the way Daddy says this year is extra special because Valentine’s Day happens on the 2nd day of CNY! 🙂

Having prior to this checked out the options (of burning Daddy’s AMEX $800 travel credits, which he muttered on several occasions was just a down right terrible deal with a staycay over dialed up prices), or Bonvoy/HH or Shangri-la Jade discount, the grown-ups must’ve decided to make a mattress run on Discovery (we do have a firm stay, or so Daddy says at Capella in mid-Mar over Mummy’s birthday) – hence intent to get status matched to Discovery Plat (with HH and Bonvoy Gold, both of which come with Amex Plat).
Refer to our JTwins sign up link here with a current Member-get-Member deal!).

And so we have it, on CNY morning after the JTwins and Daddy have our weekly tennis time, we make sure hammies have sufficient food and water for the long weekend, utter our goodbyes to our pet hamsters Hannah & Harriett of 2 months, and head out to the Parkroyal at Beach Road.

As usual we head in for an early check-in in hopes to avoid the crowds. Check in was a breeze, though at about 1-ish there were already a handful of folks waiting to check-in ahead of us. The check-in staff were relatively efficient (as Daddy made his usual small talk with the staff they purportedly were planning to handle approximately 150 check-ins today! WHOA!

Credit to the staff though the queue actually dispersed fairly quickly, or time flew as we were busy taking pix with the teddies lining up the seats at the lobby!

We landed a room on the 4th which we found was co-located on the same floor as the pool and gym. The layout was a little unconventional versus typical Singapore hotels with a broad and low rise configuration not so commonly seen these days – our room slightly around the west bend around the lift landing and separated by a secure sliding door, a decent stone’s throw from the elevators. Room was nicely lit with a light-coloured modern yet minimalist feel (somewhat a fresh change from the Mandarin Orchard room we had last weekend which looked a little tired), Mommy says was a reminisce of Zurich hotels…

Alas, the room had a nice long bench desk (good for prep work even on holidays!) with a lovely view of Kampung Glam/Arab Street across the road (day and night views!)

Propped on the desk also was a care pack consisting some zappy wipes and masks (how very thoughtful!).

We had a twin deluxe config bed setup which Daddy promptly setout to rejig into our usual 2 x 2 config. Before long we we glued yet again to the screen…

Despite the lure or Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Boomerang, and consistent with our usual prep time away at home, Mommy makes sure we diligently plough through our usual worksheets while she sipped away on her usual Nespresso fix.

After some work and more screen time it was time to hit the pool with Daddy, but not before making sure we stow our valuables away. Interestingly there was a power socket in the safe!

Pool was only a short stroll away on the same floor as we were, past a couple of doors and a few bends, more doors and more passageways…

We had a splashing time but caution though the pool has a very deep ended side – the deepest being 2.4 metres deep. We played tag with Daddy in the water and had him piggy-back Didi (he must sure be getting old as he lamented away all night about neck ache and sore shoulders!

Breakfast over both days was at Ginger, where the by-now mandatory check-in and temperature taking process was fuss free. Though we had never really seen 4 people at the breakfast check in until now! Seriously 2 lounge dragons, 1 at temperature control and 1 Safe Distancing Ambassador decked in his usual red SDA attire (surprisingly also the 1st we’d seen in any breakfast lines at recent stays).

Decor was pretty and somewhat different versus what we could remember in our previous visit for buffet dinner some time back. For obvious reasons now though buffet lines are but a distant memory. The usual order slip process entailed and we settled for Big Breakfast (for the Jtwins) and Waffles for Didi on the 2nd day & the humble Nasi Lemak for Mummy and Daddy on both days, the first which turned out to be a surprise Nasi Lemak + Sambal Lobster with blue butterfly pea rice. Talk about fusion!

Well, there’s always a first, and though the (rock) lobster was a decent surprise the authentic Sambal combination actually made it a pretty good dish.

Note only 1 set of Mains per pax Daddy reminded, unlike the unlimited servings at Mandarin Oriental. That said, the bread and salads/fruits were replenished so we reckon they were free-flow.

(JieJie with her Nasi Lemak on Day2 with sambal and lobster on the side, both of which Daddy walloped and Didi working on his waflles!)

All in we had a fantastic time just cooped up in our room the whole time, somewhat a reminisce of our Circuit Breaker time at home when schools were shut, just chilling with Daddy and Mummy. Apart from just the swims and headin’ out for dinner we pretty much hibernated through out CNY weekend!

FYI Si Chuan Dou Hou‘s conveniently located around the corner!

Oh well, still a very well time spent with Daddy and Mummy!
Thanks for joining us on our little adventure, and till the next time Take Care from T1 and T2!

On our way back we make a pit stop at Great World City to pick up some stuff and have ourselves our favourite Choco Chip frap & Choc+Strawberry shortcake and Passion Mango IB. Phew, Singapolidays can be tiring too…

While heading home eagle-eyed Didi spots something interesting which Daddy promptly latches on and forwards across to Gugu…

Indeed, “Sometimes being a Brother is better than being a SUPERHERO!”

And by the way Happy Valentine’s Day!

TheJTwins overall verdict in under 10 words:
Friendly staff over a well spread-out property. Fancy lobster nasi-lemak!

Seoul, Korea (Dec 2017)

JJ in ICN (22nd -27th Dec 2017)

Type: Private Free and Easy Tour

Aunt J decides we will go on a private tour this time as it would be our 3rd trip to Korea. in our 1st Korea (packaged tour to Seoul/Jeju Island) trip in 2015, we met our then tour guide Mr S. Park, a very nice fatherly chap whose contact we had kept… until now. Though we had been back to Seoul a year after (2014), we went on our little own Free & Easy Trip (alternating between Lotte World and frolicking around Myeongdong for food and fashion!).

I’m attaching the itinerary here for your info, please send me an email if you’d like to learn more and we will be happy to share the contact of Mr S with you.

Day -1
Daddy J comes in with the usual “LIGHTS-OUT-kids-please-sleep-since-you-have-a-long-day-ahead-tomorrow-no-story-time-tonight” yadda yadda; and we try hard to fall asleep, thinking what movies might be screening in the IFE tomorrow (hopefully no more Frozen or Peppa Pig, though Paw Patrol, PJ Masks or Ninjago would be fun) and soon dozing off with Mommy Koa and Elsa.

Day1
We wake up at 5am, get dressed pronto and make our way to the airport to catch our ride to Seoul. We ALWAYS make it a point to go early to the airport – the Holiday really does start at the airport itself! With so much to do at literally the world’s best airport, Changi continues to impress.

Soon we’re airborne on KE648 bound for Incheon!
Kids waste no time on the in flight entertainment but can only last so long and fall asleep soon after.

Arriving at our hotel for the next few days…

Day2 – Gyeongbukgung Palace, Insadong

Annyeong haseyo Uncle S!

Uncle (Mr) S meets us right after breakkie and we load up into his MPV and off we go to Gyeongbukgung Palace and National Folk Museum (oh and we pass by the Blue House* en route)

*Daddy J asks us a riddle – “If the green house is on the left, and the red on the right, where are the white and blue houses? In Washington and Seoul of course!!

We get off the MPV and make a short stroll to the outer court of the Palace where a procession takes place. It was freezing cold but Mummy J whips out some hand and feet warmers which she quickly tucks into our pockets. We didn’t quite like the racket although it was fun to see the colourful traditional hanboks. T2 and T1 lose no time taking some pix with Grandma J, Aunt J and Mummy J.

We walk through the Palace grounds which house some traditional looking cottages and were impressed at how closely these replicas might have resembled the original look and feel of the palace and living quarters.

We find some pinecones and continue walking till we come to a the stone zodiac statues. TJT pose with the dragon symbolising the chinese zodiac of their birth year. Soon it gets cold again for us so we run inside the folk museum building to escape the cold (although momentarily!) and to take some shots with Soohorang and Bandabi-nim to commemorate the upcoming 2018 Seoul Winter Olympics!

Soon we head back out to meet our guide Mr S and take some funky pix on the way before hopping into the MPV for what i recall a 5-10min ride to Insadong.

At the end of the way – The J Twins were just so beat we dozed off on the way back to the hotel…

Day3 – Everland

Was raining cats and dogs all day. Despite the ponchos Mr S prepped for us we pretty much had to stay indoors at the cafe having extended breakfast, lunch and tea, eating sweets, choc, burrowing our heads in the map, taking pix, and more pix.

Oh for the record, Aunt J actually found a lost baby and returned her to the info desk to very VERY concerned and grateful parents. WELL DONE and HIP HIP HOORAY for Gugu J!

A blessing in disguise – because of all the rain, it started to snow as we were leaving the park! OK, maybe not so much snow, just flakes… but still good enough for us equatorial dwellers.

We end the day with another one of our chicken parties – WHAT is a visit to Korea without Kyo Chon???

Day4 – Christmas @ Lotte World!

“Today is best day ever because today is (not moving day – adapted from one of our favourite movies – HOME! but)… Christmas!”

What better way than to spend this day (not with your toys! – separate section) but with your favourite people at Lotte World!

This would be our 3rd time to Lotte – the first 2 years we spent more time at Pororro Park (situated inside Lotte) but this time TJT mutually agreed in one accord (this seldom happens) that they were getting a tad too old for this ‘park’. Daddy J quickly welcomed the idea since he didn’t need to pay extra to go visit Pororro in his abode again!

The J Twins lurveee rides and meats!

At the end of the day, Mr S drives us to our Christmas Dinner reservation Texas de Brazil @ Seocho-gu. By this time, we were so hungry we could literally have eaten a horse each!

The Churrascaria was a great choice since they had a great salad bar (even though you don’t really need that in a meat bar!) and all-the-meat-you-can-eat! T2 signalling with his green chip for MORE meat! Literally, no horse run. Neither was there horse meat. Seriously.

Way to go Mutton!