Iconic 132-Year-Old Raffles Hotel Restored in Singapore

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Hotels, opening, Raffles, Singapore, travel

First opened in 1887 and declared a National Monument by the government on its centennial, the grand old dame has reopened today after an extensive 2-year restoration that began in 2017.

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The 132-year-old Raffles Hotel just reopened on Thursday (1 Aug) after a 2-year restoration that began in 2017. Had a chance to walk through the charming grand dame of 1887 vintage on the Sunday prior to its reopening before the hordes descended. #tech4tea #ttm #ttmRafflesHotel #ttmSingapore @RafflesHotelSingapore #ttmPreviews

A post shared by John Tan (@thetravelmemoir) on Aug 3, 2019 at 7:26pm PDT

The hotel now offers 115 suites in nine categories, including the Grand Hotel Suites and Presidential Suites.

The Long Bar – where the Singapore Sling cocktail was invented – has also been refreshed.

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At 132 years old, the newly reopened Raffles Hotel has certainly seen a large part of Singapore's 200-year old history after founder Sir Stamford Raffles colonised the island. This statue of Raffles sits in the Raffles Arcade and will observe the progress of the nation going forward into the next 200 years. #tech4tea #ttm #ttmRafflesHotel #ttmSingapore @RafflesHotelSingapore #ttmPreviews

A post shared by John Tan (@tech4tea) on Aug 3, 2019 at 7:22pm PDT

A night at the hotel ranges from slightly less than S$1,000 for its cheapest suite, to almost S$12,000 for one night in a two-bed President Suite.

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Holiday greetings: Happy Lunar New Year 2019

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Chinese New Year, Flowers, greetings, Holidays, Lunar New Year, photography, photos, potd

Happy New Year to all the people from cultures that celebrate this traditional festival! And to all Chinese around the world, Happy Chinese New Year!

祝大家：新年快乐，万事如意。身体健康，心想事成！ 明けましておめでとうございます。

It’s the first day of the Lunar New Year. This year, it’s the year of the Pig, according to the Chinese zodiac.

May you and your family enjoy a healthy and prosperous Lunar New Year, and a blessed 2019!

Holiday greetings: Happy New Year 2019

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Canon, Ella, EOS, EOS R Travel, Holidays, New Year, photography, photos, potd, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka 2018, vacation

It’s 2019. Happy New Year!

White flowers at the Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka. Photo taken with Canon EOS R with RF24-105mm f/4L IS USM kit lens.

Best Wishes for the New Year.

May 2019 bring new hope, great joy and fulfillment to you and your loved ones!

Ramen Revolution in Singapore Sentosa (27-29 July)

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Event forecast, Events, Ramen, Ramen Revolution, RWS, Sentosa, Singapore, SOZO, WATTENTION

Attention, Ramen lovers – Ramen Revolution reprises its large-scale outdoor ramen event at Resorts World Sentosa. The event is jointly organised by WATTENTION Singapore and SOZO.

Highlights of Ramen Revolution 2018 include Kajiken offering a limited-run Okinawa Mazesoba and Men-Men Tei with their Jiro Style Aburi Chashu Ramen.

Get ready to tuck into 10 limited-edition bowls from your favourite ramen restaurants.

• Date:
  27 – 29 Jul’18
  (Fri – Sun)
• Time:
  Fri 5pm – 10pm,
  Sat & Sun 11am – 9pm
• Venue:
  Resorts World Sentosa,
  The Forum B1

Each bowl of ramen goes for S$10 or more, and you can pay a little extra to top up with additional ingredients.

Participating brands will offer special dishes that are exclusive to Ramen Revolution 2018.

They will also be offering some of their ramen dishes from their regular a la carte menus.

Also, joining us all the way from Japan for the three-day event are Junk Story from Osaka and Men Dokoro Wakamusha from Saitama.

Participating brands at Ramen Revolution 2018.

Singapore: Zero Latency – free-roam, multiplayer VR gaming venue

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Entertainment, Fun, gaming, OSVR, Razer, Singapore, Suntec, Virtual Reality, VR, Zero Latency

Immersive virtual reality gaming for groups of up to 8 gamers (13+ years old) per 30min session, at S$69 per pax.

Zero Latency Singapore is brought in by Tomorrow Entertainment, the company that also brought BOUNCE to Singapore. Photo: Zero Latency Singapore.

There are three VR gaming scenarios of increasing difficulty, from basic orientation (Engineerium, 15min), to zombie shooting (Zombie Survival, 15min), to hardcore gun fights at simulated zero gravity VR scenarios (Singularity, 30min).

The 30min game play for each session can be one of three combinations:

1. Engineerium + Zombie Survival
2. Zombie Survival + Zombie Survival
3. Singularity

The 4,200sqft (390sqm) Zero Latency Singapore is located at #03-346/347 Suntec City Mall, between Suntec Towers 2 & 3.

Singapore: Wireless virtual reality competition @ Bugis+ & Bugis Junction

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Bugis Junction, Bugis+, Capitaland, competition, Entertainment, gaming, Shopping, Singapore, Time Zombies, Virtual Reality, VR, zombies

With Halloween drawing near, Bugis Junction & Bugis+ are daring shoppers to face their fears with an immersive virtual reality (VR) gaming experience.

We were invited to try out the VR games for this competition at Bugis+ & Bugis Junction in Singapore – it was great fun!

This is the first time a mall in Singapore is hosting a VR experience of this scale.

Three thrilling games are available for shoppers to test their courage: Time Zombies, Walk the Plank and Arizona Sunshine Zombie.

The Time Zombies competition uses the latest Arctic Fox wireless technology, which allows a fully immersive gaming experience without the the burden of cumbersome cables or backpack computers that hinder physical movement.

Using Arctic Fox VR technology, players don only a wireless headset that features a high definition screen and gaming headphones for an immersive surround sound experience.

The VR gaming showcase at Bugis Junction and Bugis+ this Halloween will mark Arctic Fox’s debut in Southeast Asia, to the delight of VR gaming enthusiasts in the region.

More details from the press release below.

Singapore: Golden Village opens new multiplex at Singpost Retail Mall in Paya Lebar

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AV, cinemas, cineplexes, Golden Village, GV, laser, multiplexes, opening, Paya Lebar, projectors, Singapore

Golden Village Multiplex (GV) opens Paya Lebar multiplex to the public on 6 October, fully equipped with laser projection and deluxe seats.

* This story first appeared in tech4tea.com.

All the auditoriums will be equipped with laser projection systems from Barco.

Located at the new Singpost Centre retail mall, the new mulitplex is located in the heart of Paya Lebar, in the east of Singapore.

The 756-seat GV Paya Lebar, will be equipped with 20,000-lumens Barco Smart Laser Projection which offers better picture quality over traditional digital projections.

The new Golden Village Paya Lebar has 8 auditoriums with a total of 756 seats.

Carnival: Open House – Riding for the Disabled Association

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carnival, charity, Events, Open House, RDA, Singapore

The “Riding for the Disabled Association” (RDA) of Singapore is holding their annual Open House this Sunday. The fund-raising drive will have games & food stalls, pony rides for children as well as activities stations such as handicraft & horseshoe decorating and more. Details below.

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#ProjectRDAShowcase #update: our vollies will be going to various MRT stations these 3 weekends until the 18th to advertise #rdasg 's Open House! Mark your calendars and make sure to come on down on 23 July to see the horses 🐎 and meet some of the beneficiaries in person 💪// #horse #ridingforthedisabledassociationofsingapore #ridingforthedisabledassociation #youthforcauses #yfc #rdashowcase17 #openhouse

A post shared by Project RDA Showcase (@projectrdashowcase) on Jun 1, 2017 at 4:43am PDT

Help someone with disabilities and have some fun with your families at the same time.

RDA is a registered charity which conducts all of its equine-assisted therapy sessions free of charge for children and adults  with physical and/or cognitive disabilities.

Disabilities include cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome and Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

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#projectrdashowcase #meetthehorses: Meet Amorcita! A sweet mare who is the only horse to have done flaming tenpegging in Singapore during her days as a polo pony. Amorcita is a dark bay mare with a blaze on her face, standing at 15 hands high. She was born in 2001 in Argentina and has met famed RDA supporter, HRH Princess Anne! #horses #singapore #ridingforthedisabled #rda #horse #rdasg #ridingforthedisabledassociationofsingapore #ridingforthedisabledassociation #youthforcauses #yfc #rdashowcase17 #hippotherapy photo credit: Riding for the Disabled Association of Singapore

A post shared by Project RDA Showcase (@projectrdashowcase) on Jun 11, 2017 at 7:12am PDT

At the open house, children pony rides will be conducted between 10-11am and 1:30-3pm.

The money raised through its various fundraisers throughout the year, including this Open House Carnival, goes into the cost of maintaining RDA facilities, running the therapy program and the upkeep of their therapy horses.

Wine & Dine in Singapore: Hotdogs Inc with Beer Garden

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Food, hotdogs, Hotdogs Inc, Singapore, tasting, Wine & Dine

If you’re a hotdog lover in Singapore, here’s a restaurant where you can hang out and enjoy some delightful hotdogs with beer.

Hotdogs Inc is in PoMo Mall, where many adult students attend classes at schools such as Kaplan in the vicinity.

Hotdogs Inc doles out high-quality sausages paired with freshly made buns.

Since its inception last year, mainstays such as Wagyu Beef Roll; Soft Shell Crab; and Pork Cheese Sausage have won the hearts of gourmands.

My Favourite

I tried out the new menu dishes at Hotdogs Inc and was delighted with the variety of hotdogs on offer.

My favourite was the Kurobuta Pork Roll which is made from the juicy, tender and high-end meat culled from Berkshire pigs, which boasts delectable marbling.

You can have it with either Asian, German or Japanese topping – I was partial to the German one.

The Kurobuta went down well with the Great White Beer by the New Zealand-based Mac’s Brewery.

New additions to the A La Carte menu include (clockwise from bottom rightt) Truffle Fries (S$5.80), Kurobuta Pork Roll (S$8.80), Man’s Jumbo Special (S$14.80), and Lady’s Secret Delight (S$9.80).

The restaurant also serves up delectable side dishes such as Cheeky Spicy Wings and Premium Squid Balls.

From Singapore to Lisbon, Portugal in 24 hours for IFA GPC 2017

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Airlines, Airports, Changi Airport, Changi Recommends, DBX, Dubai International Airport, Emirates, Events, exhibitions, Hotels, Huawei, IFA, IFA GPC, IFA GPC 2017, Lisbon, P10+, Portugal, S8, Samsung, travel

IFA GPC 2017 commences from 20-23 April so we spent most of today in the air, flying 8 hours from Singapore to Dubai in UAE; and another 8 hours onwards to Lisbon, Portugal; with a 6-hour transit in the Dubai International Airport.

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Glad to be flying #Emirates for the long flight to Lisbon, Portugal. One stop at Dubai. Checking in at #ChangiAirport in Singapore. ___ #t4tIFAgpc2017 #ifaGPC2017 #tech4tea #ttm #ttmWP #IFAgpc17 ___ Photo taken using a #Samsung #Galaxy #S8 smartphone. #SamsungGalaxyS8 #t4tSamsung #t4tSamsungGalaxyS8

A post shared by John Tan (@thetravelmemoir) on Apr 19, 2017 at 5:57am PDT

So the entire journey took around 24 hours, if you include the 2 hours earlier you got to turn up at the airport to check in.

I flew Emirates Airlines and the check-in and transit was smooth.

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First stop at #ChangiAirport before departure: collect #WiFiRouter from #ChangiRecommends shop for #WiFi access while overseas. Prices start at S$5 per day, depending on destination. ___ For my trip to Portugal, it's S$12 per day. Free unlimited data but throttled after first 500MB each day. ___ #t4tIFAgpc2017 #ifaGPC2017 #tech4tea #ttm #ttmWP #devices #gadgets #travelfromsg #changiWiFi #IFAgpc17 Photo taken using a #Samsung #Galaxy #S8 smartphone. #SamsungGalaxyS8 #t4tSamsung #t4tSamsungGalaxyS8

A post shared by John Tan (@thetravelmemoir) on Apr 19, 2017 at 5:46am PDT

The first leg from Singapore to Dubai was in an Airbus A380-800 and the seats in coach were relatively spacious and comfortable.