The world is still in the midst of a pandemic.
And even though many industries have adjusted, pivoted and established new protocols (just in case it goes long term), some industries have found themselves facing more of a challenge than others.
Local hotels, in particular, have, quite unexpectedly, found themselves in a quandary between visitors on quarantine orders and local walk-in visitors like ourselves.
Nowhere is this more apparent than at the front counters.
I don't know about other hotels- I haven't been to many since the pandemic began- but I was over at Marriott Tang Plaza a couple of months ago, and may I say that their coordination at the counters left an impression on me.
There was no discrimination between the overseas visitors and the local ones. Had not the family in front of me asked each other who it was that incurred local telephone charges from the room's phone, I'd not even have known they were from overseas.
They were checking out.
I was checking in.
Marriott's room decor has hardly changed since last Christmas when I was here. The notepad and pen on the desk is no more, the chips, nuts and alcohol offerings in the mini bar are also no more, and the Granny Smith green apples on top of the cabinet below the TV haven't yet made their return.
You still get the dressing table, the furry robe, the furry slippers, the Thann toiletries and the little black wooden box where they place all the toiletries in.
What differed this time was the view.
Where most of the time we often overlook either ION or Wheelock, this time we got a view that faced Lucky Plaza, the terrace houses below, the apartment blocks behind them, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, and in the distance, the Marina Bay Sands.
I didn't quite pay attention to the view in the distance- it was something I'd seen before.
But I was quite interested in the houses and the apartment blocks below.
I'd never seen them from this height before.
It also surprised me to see just how near Far East Plaza was from this angle- literally it felt like it were next door.
Much of my time was spent within the property this round.
Other than a single walkabout to the 70s(?) looking block behind the terrace houses whilst heading out for basics, I was too lazy to go anywhere.
Not to the pool (you had to make a pre-book and I was lazy but i did take a picture the next day because the light was good)
Not even for dinner, because included in the package were dining credits which we used for a very late dinner at the cafe downstairs. On hindsight we should have been kiasu and made reservations by phone or online, but we didn't, and so got pushed back to the hour of 9pm.
That wouldn't have been so bad had we been able to start eating immediately, but order taking and kitchen prep took 45 minutes thereabouts so in reality it was almost 10pm when we actually began our meal.
The mushroom soup was good, but let's just say that instead of buttermilk chicken sandwich I shall stick to stuff like pastas next time.
It was a pleasant (if hungry) time we had that evening.
But that experience taught us well.
Next morning we were an hour earlier in the queue than we usually would have been and so the wait was shorter, we were shown a table faster, and, having known what we wanted, ordered everything in one go.
Breakfast at Marriott Tang Plaza used to be a bit of a show kitchen with an egg station and a Chinese noodles/laksa side, and where their offerings were arranged in these huge colorful heavy pots that guests could help themselves.
That arrangement, of course, has altered and now the servers bring everything you've ordered right to your table.
It isn't a bad thing, except that if you did it the way we did, you end up getting a lot of plates on your table and you have to figure out which one to eat first and which to keep for afterward.
I think I had the scrambled eggs, the waffles (with blueberry jam!), the smoked salmon and the Danish pastries first. The sausage, the bacon, the potatoes, the cereal, and the laksa came after.
We also ordered a second serving of bacon, which we regretted afterward, because the portion was huge and we couldn't tapao....
I'll have to be candid here: I can't quite recall whether I ordered the croissants (those used to be really huge and good) but I hope I'll remember to order them next time.
I've missed them.
Same thing with the ice cream.
Because what's the fun of a staycay if you can't have ice cream for a morning meal?