Singapore - JimDecember 2, 2013
Dear Sirs,
Thanks for the well wishes over the last couple weeks. Robin and I had a great time on the honeymoon. Everything went really smoothly and the service in both countries was unparalleled. Seriously… in Langkawi, it was the best overall service I’ve ever had at a hotel.
Singapore was scorching hot, but we used the metro to jump all over town, and it was really easy. We had the most fun in Chinatown, eating weird unnamed foods and meeting random people. The street food is SO good. Hard on the system but really really tasty. We had one nice dinner at Rang Mahal (Indian restaurant at the Pan Pacific Hotel, I think?) and it was excellent.
Both the Andaman and the Datai were amazing properties. The service, as I said above, was more than excellent. Everyone was prompt and courteous. Smiles everywhere. It was weird… the staff was invisible and yet doted on us the whole time. We were so happy with it.
It rained pretty much non-stop while we were there, which actually worked out nicely, because you could really only take an hour or two of sun at a time. We saw a ton of wildlife, which is one of my personal favorites. We got chased by a monkey… it was special. The spas were great, but not really worth raving about. The food at the Andaman was pretty mediocre, with the weird exception of the beach bar. The food was much better at the Datai, especially at the Thai Pavillion restaurant.
We also had dinner at the Four Seasons’ Ikan Ikan restaurant, which was excellent. Besides that, we ate at the street markets and a traditional Chinese seafood restaurant in town, and both were great and a lot of fun.
Pacific World did a great job with all of the transfers. Out of the six drivers, five couldn’t have been friendlier. That’s pretty good odds. The company checked in with us at each stop and they coordinated well with hotels.
Side note… Robin and I want to thank whoever set up the six o’clock checkout at the Datai over and over again. That made our traveling so much easier, so thank you very very much.
Cathay Pacific wasn’t the most comfortable, but coach never is, and I think we just got a bad draw in terms of older planes. We got stuck with the electrical box seats a couple times, but we switched back and forth and made do. Silk Air was great.
What else am I missing?
The cost of everything was really pricey, but I expected that. There were basically no Americans anywhere, only English and Russian tourists, which we thought was fun. The beach was great, but the water was really dark, so I think snorkeling and diving was pretty non-existent. We didn’t rent a car, we just used the hotel car service, and it was really easy. Pricey, but they wait around for you, so you can change your schedule on the fly. We took a cooking class at the Andaman, which I highly recommend. Worst meal: Japanese Restaurant at the Andaman. Best Meals: Ikan Ikan at the Four Seasons, The Pavillion Restaurant at the Datai, and Din Tai Fung at the Paragon Shopping Center in Singapore.
Anyway, thank you for all of your help. Robin and I had a wonderful trip and we appreciate all your work in making it go so smoothly. It’s funny… Robin made a comment about four days in, while we were sitting by the pool: “You know… I don’t think I want to travel anywhere but southeast Asia again.” She was a little nervous about it before we left, so it’s a testament to how well things went. Thank you again.
