When it was the last time that we stayed here at this hotel, I don't remember now.
It must have been at least a couple of years ago when the stage structure next to the Skate Park was still in planning phase.
The Stage is nearly completed now.
And it only begets to be seen how transformed this place will be.
One of the best things about this place is the spacious, sunny, IG/Tiktok-worthy room.
Hotel Jen Orchard Gateway has one of the sunniest, cheeriest-looking rooms this side of Orchard Road.
It's so sunny, bright and cheerful that even the drawer of hot beverages looks pretty when seen in the bright sunshine.
It's the kind of room that defies what old-school decor used to be, and whilst it isn't minimalist (like some other properties in the area are), it isn't the place to find heavy wooden furniture, carved decorations and structures that belong to the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Everything here in the room gives you a sense of box-like, square-shaped structures.
And it's very obvious.
Whether it be the bedside tables, the work desk, the window seat, the shower stall, and even the toiletries in the shower stall, everything's square square.
We got a view looking across towards Selegie and the Istana, as well as downwards at the rooftop of Orchard Central this time.
I'm not sure if one can consider the view prime but I'm glad that we got a high floor, and the view out our window this time was good enough for me.
From the sunny window seat I could look past the trees of the Istana towards the tall buildings that- from here- appeared to line along the coast. I could also see the skyscrapers of Bugis and South Beach right there in the distance, and, up close, the rooms on the adjacent building belonging to Hotel Jen Orchard Gateway.
For some reason we didn't do a lot this particular weekend.
We didn't feel like it.
But we did take a wander around, going first to the new Taiwanese-inspired eatery at Orchard Cineleisure, then to the brand new Malaysian-style eating place downstairs back at Orchard Central.
The offerings at the Taiwanese-inspired eatery were actually quite good- the snacks in particular- and at another time I'll want to grab a few and munch them along the way.
Today, however, we decided to lunch at the new Malaysian-style eating place, and although I had been keen to try the fried Hokkien noodles (done black sauce style) from one of the stalls, because both of us didn't feel like anything fried this afternoon, we settled for roast duck rice, and a bowl of dumpling soup.
The skin of the dumplings was smooth.
But it is the rice that deserves special mention.
Unlike some stalls that serve the basic white rice (with a lot of soy sauce), this one had been steamed with chicken stock, making an ordinary plate of rice taste vastly different from other stalls.
I'd like to say that we wandered around Orchard Road a wee bit more but somehow I got tired, and so back to the room I went, but, not before heading upstairs to the pool area for a look at the view.
Hotel Jen Orchard Gateway boasts some of the best views from their rooftop swimming pool, no joke.
All at once you get a 180-degree view stretching from Centrepoint, the Istana (all those trees), across all the way towards the east where the presence of tall skyscrapers seemed to line the horizon towards Selegie, Upper Serangoon, and even Victoria Street and Beach Road.
They're like a fluid, clean, smooth line.
Then again one gets a clear view of South Beach, Marina Bay Sands, the Marina Bay Financial Center, and the Raffles Place Downtown Core.
It was interesting, seeing the shiny reflection of the late afternoon sun over the 70-storeyed Swissotel, the shorter Peninsula Plaza next to it, and MBS further up front to the right.
And it wasn't just the Downtown Core that I could see.
There was still the River Valley side, the Clemenceau side, the towering State Courts, and in the distance, Pearl's Hill, and Wallich of Tanjong Pagar.
I'm not sure if the view here in the daytime is as good, or better, than that of the night.
It depends, I suppose, whether you're more interested in twinkling lights, the laser light show from the 'ark' of Marina Bay Sands, or distinctive landmark structures like these that you see.
Me, I preferred the day view.
I guess it has something to do with me being born and bred here.
Because all at once you get to see how this little island had been laid out, how it had been planned, and how rapid our country's development had been.
It's not everywhere that you get to see public housing right next to government offices.
Neither is it everywhere that public housing consists of a few blocks clustered together in so intimate a space that makes you wonder what it was previously, and, if it weren't public housing, what it might have been.
It wasn't that I didn't like the night view from the hotel's poolside.
There were lovely parts to it.
Especially seeing the fireworks of National Day with the rest of the guests whom mostly occupied themselves trying to capture the colorful bursts amidst all the smoke.
I had wondered if the same crowd would be at breakfast the next morning, but fortunately when we got to the restaurant there weren't that many people yet there, and so it was easy getting for both of us a thermos of tea and a thermos of coffee.
There's much to be had at Hotel Jen's breakfast- it's always a full spread to complement different palates and appetites- but for some reason I decided to do local this time by having two fried eggs, a deep fried Chinese snack that I call butterfly bun (and which diet does not always permit me to have), and two siew mais.
I can't remember whether I ate anything else.
There might have been the watermelon and the rock melon.
There might have been the bananas and a bit of toast.
There might have been a small bowl of cereal, or a small bowl of yogurt too.