The Mandarin Orchard

I must admit that I have a soft spot for old hotels. In Malaysia, we do not have many of those, and if there were, they were all still relatively new. That was why I was always keen on E&O, Smokehouse and similar colonial-like establishment.

In KL, there were not that many of those. So, I tended to gravitate toward hotels established since the 70s. Shangri-La in KL, Hilton PJ to name a few. The service tended to be more established although I was detecting a decline in the service at the PJ hotel mentioned.

The rather understated main lobby, located on the fifth floorAdorning the ceiling of the lobby was this rather unique detailWhen I was in Singapore recently, I stayed at Mandarin Orchard. Not exactly a new hotel, but certainly they offered modern amenities. The hotel was originally opened in 1971, and since then, they have added new wings. I stayed at one of the newer wing during my overnight stay and the service was excellent. Food was nice as well.

Only before I left that I realised that there was a boutique mall at the ground floor of the hotel, which included outlet from Tumi, Bell and Ross as well as a Leica. I asked for a grip for my Q, but they didn’t have it in stock ….

The hotel was located near a few of the major shopping outlets in Orchard Road, and an Apple outlet was only 5 minutes away. Managed to get a nice case for Anita’s phone during that trip. There was a couple of MRT stations right around the corner and a McDonald’s outlet behind my block. Certainly was a great location.

The Leica store at the hotel lobbyOne of the exit from my hotel. Straight from the lift from my floor.All the guests also had access to a mobile phone for them to take around from the room. It allowed me to make free phone calls to Malaysia in fact to 15 countries. A neat system and it had a free internet SIM at LTE speed. All free, unlimited internet. Shame that you couldn’t use it to tether!

The hotel also has free wifi, which is quite fast and all the things you would expect in a modern hotel ….

The hotel official website is here.

The Meeting Venue

Typically, the meeting venue I have been to were a long room with chairs and tables arranged in rows. So, when I attended the talk in Singapore this week, I was quite surprised by the arrangement. It was a rectangular room, but rather than the screen being at the long-end, it was at one of the sides.

The seats were then arranged in semi-circle, appearing as if I was attending a lecture at university or a meeting at the United Nations. They had screens on either sides of the stage, but during the video conference, you might have to strain your eyes to look at the projection at the opposite end while looking at the other screen at the presenter.

A bit strain to the neck as the screen and the video was a a different ends of the hallAlmost wrapped upThe venue itself was great. And since the arrangement were as such, I suspect that the room was purpose-built for small conferences such as this. I think the maximum they could fit into the hall was 100.

The other novelty about the place was it was located on the 35th floor of the hotel I stayed in, the Mandarin Orchard. Interesting.

Overnight in Singapore

I was invited to attend a forum in Singapore. The problem was, the meeting was sandwiched in the middle of my week, with clinic being opened tomorrow. Flying in on the evening before the meeting then flying home right after. No real time to rest.

But I would prefer to do that rather than spend another day. It would interrupt my work flow otherwise, and considering I was off a couple of weeks back, may be it was time to sit down and work ....

Cosy chairNot much of a view from my roomAll packed upI had the chance to do a bit of walking around the hotel I stayed in right after I arrived. And the first order of business would be to get Anita her iPhone cover. Still tricky to get covers for iPhone 7 in KL at the moment, but there plenty of them here in Singapore.

After that was done, it was time get some rest. Early start tomorrow morning.