Part 1: Seven Hours in ORD
Part 2: Cathay Pacific – First Class (CLE > ORD > HKG)
Part 3: Cathay Pacific – Business Class (HKG > BKK)
Part 4: Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel and Bangkok Airways Economy (BKK > USM)
Part 5: Conrad Koh Samui
Part 6: Thai Business Class (USM > BKK) & Singapore Business Class (BKK > SIN)
Part 7: Singapore & The Marina Bay Sands Casino & Hotel
We landed at 4pm. Sunset was around 7pm and our goal was single-minded: The Skypark and 150m infinity pool that sits atop the 55-story hotel. Someone must have been looking down from above, as our luggage came out as the #1 and #2 bags! We zipped through customs and headed to the taxi-line. A quick ride into town, and we checked into the hotel.
This was not a “points” hotel. In fact, it was the most expensive room I’ve ever booked, coming in at roughly USD $475 after the conversion rate. While the hotel was nice, I’m not sure it was as nice as the Park Hyatt in Buenos Aires or the Conrad Koh Samui, which can at times also go for similar rates. Given that all other hotels (and flights for that matter) were booked for pennies on the dollar with points, we decided to splurge.
NSPfiance is not a gambler. She doesn’t enjoy slots, table games or poker…a vast contrast to yours truly. Imagine my surprise then, when NSPfiance said as we entered our room: “I want to gamble tonight.” YES…those are the best five words she has ever muttered to me. We quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed up to the infinity pool.
The Skypark did not let us down:
The Skypark at the Marina Bay Sands
Edge of the Infinity Pool
View of the Skypark
View of the Infinity Pool
View of Downtown Singapore from the top of the Marina Bay Sands
View of a Park from the top of the Marina Bay Sands
After a couple drinks, as the sun began to set, we headed back to our room, and got ready to hit the tables. The casino is, stunning. It was a Wednesday night, around 7:30pm, and 575 of their 600 tables were open, and packed. Given that $50 blackjack and $25 3-card-poker were a little rich for our blood, we decided to try our luck at roulette. Little did I know that the $5 minimums meant that each chip was, at minimum, worth $5. Whoops. But a funny thing happened. Our numbers hit. And hit again. And again. After two hours, we had won enough to cover our room, our taxis and our meals! So we called it a night for the casino and headed to grab some dinner.
On our previous trip to Singapore, we fell in love with chili-crab. So that was the only requirement. We decided to hit Newton Circus, as while it is a rather popular tourist destination, we had not been and wanted to see it. We found our chili-crab, black-pepper crab, and about 3-4 other dishes. It was glutenous, wholly unnecessary, and utterly delicious. Well worth the pain we experienced for hours after we had finished.
The rooms at the Marina Bay Sands were nice, and they gave us a room with a wonderful view:
Standard Room at the Marina Bay Sands
Standard Room at the Marina Bay Sands
View of Downtown Singapore from the Marina Bay Sands
We called it a night, as we had to get up at 5am to catch our flight. After a short taxi ride back to the airport, we made our way to the Singapore Airlines Business Lounge. Funny how the entrance to the First Class Lounge had a Christmas Tree, but the Business Class entrance did not:
Sinagpore Airlines Lounge Entrance
Still, it was a very nice lounge:
Morning Mimosa
Large Beverage Selection
Large Food Selection
Nice Restrooms and Showers
Silver Dollar Pancakes and Mini French Toast
NSPfiance Roughin’ It Halfway Across the World
You might be wondering why we chose only to spend 22 hours in Singapore. There were really two reasons: First, we loved our time there on our previous trip but also wanted to spend as much time as possible in Bali. Second, any stop on an international trip of under 24-hours is considered a lay-over. So our flight from Koh Samui > Bangkok > Singapore > Bali was treated as a single, one-way trip, totaling only 10,000 miles in economy or 17,500 in business. Not bad 🙂