LEGOLAND MALAYSIA - APRIL 2013

This post is indeed a long overdue post. Legoland Malaysia opened its door around November 2012 and since then many flocked there expected it to be a theme park comparable with that from Denmark.or Windsor UK. It is all about managed expectation in my opinion. Similar to Hong Kong Disneyland, we only hear complaints about how small it is compared with other Disneyland around the world but to be honest, I think we shouldn't really compared to that extend and give the benefit of the doubt. Yes the park is quite small I have to admit but given the open space and fierce heat, one actually wants to complete the visit sooner than later perhaps haha. In any case, I actually enjoyed my visit to Legoland Malaysia perhaps because I am a huge fan of Lego!

Clarisonic Plus Body Extension

The Clarisonic Plus is not just designed for face but your body as well. As shown in my first post on Clarisonic Plus, the device comes with a body brush as well. The body brush is slightly larger in side and by default the cleansing cycle once you plugged the brush into the device would be 3 minutes. Too short for your whole body? Just click again to give it another go if you ask me for more of the sonic movement cleansing in your shower!  

Clarisonic Plus - A Promising Two Weeks Affair

After using the Clarisonic Plus for about 2 weeks, I have to admit I am fairly impressed with the results, so far at least. As mentioned, my main concerns have been excess facial oil during the summer humid days and the built up of dirt / dust particles resulting in unwanted pimples. Daily facial cleansing has been part of my grooming routines but needless to say I wanted to try something different perhaps. Clarisonice has been on the market for quite some time but I just didn’t have the chance try it until now given the opportunities. During the course of the past 2 weeks trial (or affair), I used one of my favourite bliss’ fabulous foaming face wash together with the Clarisonic Plus and they worked well as a combination for me and my gentle skin. Of course you can use your own cleansing products but make sure it foams in order to get the best results. For some reasons I found it quite fun perhaps because I am a guy and I like to play with all sort of gadgets for fun or in this case for my personal grommig. 

Intimate Moments with Clarisonic Plus

Who said guys do not care about personal grooming!?! If you ask me, all guys do just the fact that not many are willing to admit so. I am here to admit that I am more than just a fan of personal grooming, I am quite anal about it as well. Believe it of now, I have 2 shelves full of various hair, skin and facial / body cleansing products for different occasions and weather. I am currently hooked onto "bliss" line of product including their "blood orange+white pepper soapy suds," "blood orange+white pepper body butter" and  "blood orange+white pepper hand cream." I am also trying out Korres Natural Products and their line of shower products as well. Never heard of it? It's from Greece and I bought it from ASOS. Yes, I am that serious about my grooming products and continuously trying out new brands for the sake of better skins.

Insight Vacations 2013 - Paris / Luzern / Munich

I know, it has been a long while since I last posted but my job as a travel consultant with Flight Centre Hong Kong has been both rewarding and busy at the same time. Writing blog post seems to be a luxury nowadays but I am trying my best to post and at the same time tweet and ido Instagram as often as possible. Traveling is now my favourite pass time and a great way to relax along with the culinary delights that I am going to enjoy along the way as well. Recently I went on a 7-day escorted with Insight Vacations and I loved it! Cities I visited include Paris, Luzern and Munich! I am usually not the  the type that would join a tour but this trip changed my view. I think for those who wanted to explore more than 2 countries and more than 3 cities in a single trip and wanted everything to be organised, it is the best way to go around indeed. You may question the comfort-ness of the coach I was travelling on but to my surprised, Insight Vacations is very proud with the fact that their coaches have one of the most leg room and I can personally say that it is true! I think it is even better than many regional business classes on flights! Here I have attached some of the pictures I have taken and hope you would enjoy them as much as I did. Next post? It will be my trip (March 2013) to Singapore and the newly opened Legoland in Malaysia.   

Sheraton Macao Cotai - Part 1 / 3

I talked about Macau (Macao) in quite a lengthy post previously, mainly about the city as a gaming capital in south east Asia. This time I am going to talk more about it in a slightly different perspective I suppose. I have been to Macau many times but most if not always just day trips because of the convenience of the 24 hours ferry services running between Hong Kong and Macau. I was lucky enough to be invited by the newly opened Sheraton Macao hotel in the Cotai area. What's in the Cotai area? I think it is basically the Macau version of the Vegas strip with countless hotels and casino establishment in the area.  A quick look around you will see countless construction sites nearby with other major hotels planning their new openings in the next few years. The Sheraton Macao Cotai hotel is the largest in terms of number of rooms within the entire Sheraton chain worldwide, with a total of room count of 3,896 rooms situated in its Sky and Earth Tower. With that large number of rooms, there are pros and cons obviously which I will talk about later.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the hotel was the sheer scale of it. The lobby wasn't the largest I have seen but it was the check-in area that truly shocked me! Look at that queuing setup! I suppose if 20% of guests check in together, it would be quite a scene! Imagine if the occupancy rate was about 80% that means 3,896 rooms x 0.80 ~ 3200 rooms ~ 2pax per room ~ 6,400 guests .... okay, yes, a proper queue system is required!!! Oh wait, apparently the weekend we checked in, the occupancy rate was almost 98% !!! (Note: 1,948 rooms of the Earth Tower is yet to be opened, likely in Feb2013, but still ...)

Then again, I was glad and happy for the 98% occupancy rate because without that I would not be upgraded from a Club Deluxe room to ... one of the only 8 Presidential Suites!!!!!! How does it feel staying in the Presidential Suite all by myself? Of course it was ... NICE ... but to be honest, even if I am traveling with my girlfriend, this is a bit too much, too big to a point I feel slightly lonely and overly quiet in that huge suite with 2 en suite bedrooms + living room + media room + meeting room + kitchen and .... a treatment room!!!! if you are traveling as a couple, I suggest to go for the Club Deluxe Suite which you can check out on Dorothy Ma's post. I was too lone and hungry that night I went to her room to order room service at 2am! Her room was much more cozy for couples! If you are traveling as a family, of course Presidential Suite is an option! :) Or perhaps the Ambassador Suite which is slightly smaller but enough for a family. Let me show you what I mean. My DSLR lens was not wide enough to take interior images so I used my iPhone instead so please excuse the lower resolution for the following interior shots. :)

Living Room(s)? 

Media Room (controlled by Crestron central remote control) 

Meeting Room? Dining Room? 

Treatment Room! yes a treatment room! 

Master Ensuite Bedroom with OSIM foot massage device!!!

Master En suite Bathroom with Bathtub and .... waterproof Crestron remote for TV in bathroom! (shower room on the side as well)

Guest Room

Guest Room Ensuite Bathroom 

 Now you can imagine how big the suite was right? It took me 15 mins to decide which room I should sleep in, the master bedroom or the guest room closer to the entrance? Oh and I did take a bubble bath! they have everything for the guests!

Most of the other rooms of different categories are quite spacious but my favourite is still the Club Executive Suite. Again, check our Dorothy Ma's post for more details. Other than that, one of the room categories I really liked was the Family Room! Not many hotels nowadays would offer family room  and even if they do it would simply be like connecting rooms and similar. However, here at Sheraton, they put some efforts into making a family room a truly family room in my opinion.

I was  quite surprised to see very cute bunk beds as well as little potty for kids in the bathroom!

    

They also provide kids amenities as well. I didn't show the image here but they also have bathrobes for kids!

Even in the 3 different pool areas, they have special facilitates for kids!

For those into exercises, their gym is quite large with the usual equipment as well. 

I mentioned about the sheer scale of this hotel in terms of room numbers, one thing worth noting is that even if you are staying at the Club level, having Club access for daily breakfast  there can be a chance that you have to wait in a queue in the morning depending on the occupancy rate during your stay I suppose. However, no worries, you have the option of heading to one of their restaurants as an option. We picked the Feast which is basically a buffet restaurant. I will cover more on that in my next few posts. Enough to digest for now right? :)