BFF Staycation at St Giles Southkey, JB

Like many Millennials, the BFFs and I had a lot of difficulty making our first trip a reality. So far we've only done staycations in One 15 Marina in 2015 and Siloso Beach Resort Sentosa in 2019 (both in Sentosa) and wanted to get out of Singapore post-COVID. Plans for 4D3N became 2D1N when we simply couldn't align our busy schedules! 😭 In the end we decided on JB, which is technically still a staycation, just across the border! 😅 I suppose we'd at least get to use our passport! 😄

DAY 1

I took bus 160 from Jurong East to our meeting point, Woodlands Checkpoint, for the first time (I usually travel by car)! 😄 The journey was about 50 minutes, which meant I was slightly early (we agreed to meet 10.30am). Once the rest arrived, we crossed the Woodlands Causeway together.

Selfie while waiting for the bus between Woodlands Checkpoint and JB CIQ

We patiently braved the usual weekend crowd into Malaysia and cleared customs via the e-gates very quickly (such a game changer)!

Once at City Square Mall, we hailed a Grab to St Giles Southkey, our accommodation for the night.

Group photo at the hotel's lobby

After checking in early and leaving our bags at the concierge, we took a Grab to Flame and Fern for lunch.

Flame and Fern

Semi-alfresco dining

Fried calamari

I liked my beef and eggs with toast (left) and the salad (top right),
but the others did not like their fried softshell crab with toast (bottom right) 

Overall, we don't think that we'll be back as the food wasn't worth the price we paid. I would have much rather ate at a restaurant with air-conditioning for that price (it was too hot for alfresco *laughs*). 

We headed back to our hotel and got our keys to our two Urban Twin rooms, which we had booked via Agoda at S$153 per room per night, inclusive of breakfast.

Relatively large twin beds

Relatively small bathroom with no bathtub

Toiletries (left) and wardrobe (right)

Kitchenette

Window seat to admire the view

We were given coupons to redeem our complimentary welcome drinks at The View Bar & Lounge.

Enjoying the company and the view

Swimming pool next to the lounge, which we didn't have time to use! Super sad!

We didn't stay long at the lounge as we had to head to Tang Retreat to make it for our appointment. I chose 90-minute Aroma Massage for MYR 186.80.

Washing our feet before our massages

The massage was good but I felt some parts were a bit harder than the 'gentle' mode I had requested! I did not want to pay to get tortured! *laughs*

Dessert and tea after massage

Feeling totally relaxed!

When we were done, we took a Grab to 5pm Lalapot (next to Sutera Mall) for our dinner. I found the concept to be very similar to Lala Boy at Eco Botanic.

The menu

Huge fire 🔥 in the pot over charcoal

Yummy soup!

After dinner, we popped by Four Beans, located just next door, for dessert! 

Four Beans shop near Sutera Mall

We ordered their famous soyabean curd with various toppings of our choice

You get to choose your sugar and mine was osmanthus honey (so so good!!!)

I gotta say that I loved the soyabean curd so much that it is a must for me to have it every time I'm in JB! Not even kidding! I've become a big fan! 🤭😄 

After all the eating, I had to exercise in the hotel room before we retired for the night! Gotta burn off all the extra calories! 😅

DAY 2

We were supposed to wake up super early to go for a swim that morning but I decided not to as I didn't sleep well the night before!

Managed to catch the sunrise

We went for breakfast at Causeway Cafe instead.

Buffet breakfast

Teh tarik (left) and our table by the window (right)

My breakfast
(Love that they had the classic half-boiled eggs!)

We checked out at 10am after breakfast as we had an appointment for manicure/pedicure at Fairy Nails in Holiday Plaza. I did the classic cat eye pedicure as I had never done it before. It costs MYR 90, which was very affordable!

There were many to colours to choose from! I chose a light pink one!

Next, we returned to Tang Retreat for a 60-minute foot massage at MYR 90! We just love massages!

Getting our foot massages together

However, just 30 minutes into the massage and I was already regretting it as the massage was very torturous! I honestly did not enjoy it at all 😞 I should have gotten a manicure instead 😮‍💨

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We took a Grab to City Square Mall for shopping before we returned to Singapore. We decided to have an early dinner together at Dragon-i.

Buns and vegetables

Xiao long bao, sheng jian bao (so so) and spicy fried chicken

It was a good end to a wonderful trip together! We had an amazing time! Looking forward to the next one!

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SH-Hangzhou Day 5-6: Train to Grand Central Hotel Shanghai, Nanjinglu & Flight Home

DAY 5

I woke up at 6.45am (I'm used to waking up early to prep my kids for school) and we proceeded to Coffee Garden Restaurant for breakfast.

My choice of breakfast 😋

We checked out of our hotel by 10.20am and hailed a DiDi (CN¥15) to the station to catch our train to Shanghai. 

We had booked our tickets via Klook about 2.5 months in advance, with actual tickets confirmed only 15 days prior to travel (same as our train to Hangzhou). There were many routes to choose from but we chose the 12.17pm train, which would take 1 hour 45 minutes and cost S$9.88 per adult. Although the journey was significantly longer, it was the best timing we could find and cost 50% less.

Saying goodbye to Shangri-La Hangzhou!

After approximately 25 minutes, we arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station, which looked much older than Hangzhou East Station. The train we took was also much older!

Waiting at the station for our turn to board our train

A visibly older train

The journey was very smooth

On arrival at Shanghai South Railway Station at 2pm, we hailed a DiDi (CN¥33) to our final accommodation for this trip.

Heading to the ride-hailing pick up point

The journey to Grand Central Hotel Shanghai was about 30 minutes. We liked that it was value-for-money and conveniently located close to the famous Nanjing Pedestrian Street (Nanjinglu), where my family and I had enjoyed shopping previously.

Grand Central Hotel Shanghai

Old school atas vibes

We booked the Deluxe Twin Room at S$186 per room per night. The room and twin beds were super spacious and luxurious!

Love the huge beds and spacious room

Small kitchenette

Wardrobe and office table with the usual amenities

Bathroom had twin sinks and additional toiletries like mouthwash and L'occitane lotion  

Spacious bathtub and separate shower

Hotel facilities

For the level of luxury we experienced, I felt the hotel was worth what we paid! 😁

We walked to Nanjinglu for shopping since we were located just behind Minisoland.

Busy Nanjinglu

Huge racket at the Fila store (left) and Minisoland (right)

We walked down the street to Hongyi Plaza and decided to have a late lunch at Yang's Sheng Jian 小杨生煎.

I spotted the advertisement outside of the mall (left) and looked for the small restaurant at B1

We ordered dumplings, spicy noodles, soup and two servings of their famous shengjian bao because they were soooo good!

Despite ordering a whole table of food and eating until we were too full, the bill was only CN¥85.50 (S$16)! 😄🤩

We were so full that we had to walk it off by heading to the end of the street to see Shanghai's most famous skyline, The Bund!

Selfie with the Oriental Pearl TV Tower

The Bund in the day

Bank of Shanghai and other cool buildings

We were too early for the Bund light up so we continued shopping at Nanjinglu while waiting! When the sun finally set, we headed back to the Bund for the famous night view! 😄

The Bund at night

We were super hungry from all our walking and decided to get beef skewers for supper 🤭

Yummy beef skewers

Spotted this bubble tea shop and decided to satisfy my craving

We found really good butterfly cookies here! 😋

We headed back to our hotel and enjoyed some time in the lounge.

Having a drink in the lounge

View from our hotel room 

I can't believe that it was our last night of the trip! Time flies when you're having fun! 😄😆

DAY 6

The next morning, I woke up at 7am and went for a swim at 8am (while the Twin went to the gym). There was only one other person at the pool so I was able to do laps for half an hour without distractions.

Indoor swimming pool with a comfortable temperature

After our exercise, we headed to Chua Lam's Dim Sum at Yuehui Mosaic mall for breakfast when they opened at 10am. My family loved the food when we first tried it in Guangzhou and though the Twin and I had a little taster at Disney Town, we knew we had to eat a full meal before returning to Singapore!

Chua Lam's Dim Sum at Nanjing Road

We wanted to order so many things on the menu but since it was only 2 of us, we had to prioritise our must-tries! 🤭😋

Sponge cake and prawn dumplings

Their famous pork buns and red rolls! 😋

We were so full and satisfied from our meal! Super happy! 😆

We did some last minute shopping before heading back to check out. Thankfully we managed to get late check-out till 1pm.

It was time to head to Pudong International Airport Terminal 2 via DiDi (cost CN¥134). The journey took close to an hour and we arrived at 2pm. Can't believe that our trip was ending! 😭

Arrival at the airport

Using the self check-in kiosk

After clearing customs, we had a late lunch at Canton 8. We just love Cantonese food! 😄

Canton 8

My favourite Hong Kong milk tea, spicy dumplings and beef soup. So yummy! 😋🤤

Our flight was slightly delayed and departed at 4.40pm.

Our meal on board, including an ice cream!

After flying for 5.5 hours, we arrived in Singapore at 10.15pm. Thank God for an uneventful trip! It's good to be home! 🥰

My Reflections

As a first time visitor to Hangzhou, I really loved the beautiful West Lake! I can honestly see why millions of people flock there every year to experience the culture and see the sights! It's also only a short 1-hour train ride from Shanghai, hence I highly recommend it!

I saw a lot of 老夫老妻 (older married couples) at Westlake, enjoying a nice vacation by themselves. I told the Hubby that we should return without the kids and do the same! 😆 Until next time!

<< Back to Shanghai-Hangzhou Day 4: Hangzhou Museum, Taiziwan Park & Su Causeway

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