Dayna.me

Yesterday was our farewell gathering for Huaian before he flies back to Australia this weekend. It’s been a year since our previous farewell for him when he went Australia to further his studies last year. I had to confess I totally forgot to tell Huaian about our meet-up till the morning before we were suppose to meet. I told him our gathering would be on the 3rd but didn’t update him regarding the time again. He thought I was busy with my exams (which I was) and the gathering was rescheduled. I gave him a call immediately and luckily he managed to find some time to meet up with us. I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if I didn’t remember not telling him. All of us will be waiting at Vivo City and he’s not going to appear. I’m pretty sure most of my friends will kill me for it!

We planned to head to the Sentosa island to take our first look at Resort World. All of us haven’t been there and we thought it will be a good idea to tour Huaian around the new sections of Sentosa before he leaves. The place was unusually quiet and empty. I would have expected it to be bursting with activities and music. It wasn’t what I had expected but perhaps with the opening of the Universal Studio, it will be a livelier place. We discovered the Hershey’s chocolate shop beside the entrance to Universal Studios. I love this shop because they sell a huge range of Hershey’s chocolates¹, they even have peanut butter chocolates!

Besides the chocolates, they also carry other things like toys, bags and even ear phones. The first thing I noticed when I entered the store was the trademark silver tear-drop shaped toy of Hershey’s on display. Initially I thought the Bubble Yum ear phones were edible and designed to look like a real one but my buddies have confirmed that it’s a working pair. Looking at the rows and rows of chocolates on display, tell me you aren’t drooling over them? :P

We snapped a photograph at the famous Universal rotating globe. The photo is taken by Huaian’s girlfriend, Ming Xian. Thanks so much for taking the picture so that I can be in there! I love this couple because they always pose at lighting speed when they see my camera. Huaian is still in training so he might be a bit slower.

We took the escalator down to the basement and I’m actually impressed the designers even took the time and effort to add some music and a few Nemos² specially for the escalator’s ride. The only crowds we saw were at the entrance of the Casino. Is it the only attraction of Sentosa that garner that much attention?

A large section is still under construction so there isn’t much to see but we decided to visit the Hard Rock Hotel and that’s our first step into a maze. We were directed into a corridor by the staff who told us that was a shortcut. Staff always know their way around right? How wrong we were. We entered a rather dark hallway with weird looking spotlights and that began our adventure to find the way out.

I love the ceiling’s star lights so much that I took at least a dozen photographs of them. That’s Hotel Michael by the way. It’s one of those lights that’s perfect for Christmas! Don’t ask me why there’s a huge hole on the wall, it’s like a window overlooking the hallway downstairs. It is gorgeous but I thought it was slightly dangerous too. Along our quest, we asked a few of the constructions and renovation workers for directions. We went from the West lobby to the East lobby, from Basement 2 to Basement 1 and did some exercise on the exit stairs. I really think the design of this hotel is simply breathtaking. Green and woody brown looks perfect together, not to mention the high ceilings! I feel like I was touring a castle.

After what seems like hours, we have finally arrived at the lobby of Hard Rock Hotel. My first reaction was “This is it?” so you can safely assume I wasn’t so impressed with what I was seeing. We can see a modern looking bar with blue lights, lots of chairs and a few artistic looking paintings. That’s about it! I think the concept was suppose to be simple, artistic and modern looking and they had it there but maybe it just wasn’t what I had in mind.

We left after that because there wasn’t much to see anyway. I will be back after Universal Studio opens and hopefully by then, more shops will be open. On a random note, check out the last photo we took at the De-Coder’s Cafe. The red wig looks fabulous, no?

1. I am not a huge fan of chocolates but I’ve to admit, Hershey’s chocolates are good! [«]
2. The orange fish with white strips in the movie, Finding Nemo [«]