Staying at Mandarin Oriental on Saturday for 1 Night

I have to wake up at 5:15am tomorrow in order to leave the place by 6:00am to catch a flight with boarding time at 7:35am to Kuala Lumpur. My partner has an interview with an architect and on Saturday, we will head off to Mandarin Oriental Hotel to stay using the last 50% Elite Club Voucher that expires in February 2017. My spouse has already renewed the Elite Club membership for $888 for another year. After checking out, we will head to my small condo in Rhythm Avenue to rest before catching a plane back to Penang in the evening. I just pray for journey mercies and that the interview would be successful.

Orchids Odyssey at Gurney Plaza Penang

Orchids decorations have been splendidly displayed in an aisle along the new block of Gurney Plaza Penang building. Above is a shot of pretty orange orchids odyssey in a pot to spruce up the place with pizzazz and pomp. Chinese New Year is just around the corner, less than a month away, falling on the 28th and 29th January 2017 on a weekend. Since M Mall was set up early this year, I guess there has been silent competition amongst premier malls to decorate their place with nothing but the best attractions to pull in customers and tourists dollars.

The purple orchids above are more commonly seen in various places, especially Singapore where the orchid is their national flower. These flowers and plants need lots of sunshine and tender loving care with watering every day as the roots are exposed and normally placed in a pot of charcoal to hold the plants. One can never go wrong with orchids as these flowers are unique and takes more effort to plant and tend to.

Above is a full blossom of yellow orchids as part of the decoration which seems to compete for attention this year in Penang amongst the different malls. Tourist dollars are very lucrative and they are big spenders. Having changed to the country's currency, they will spend all of it and splurge on expensive souvenirs to bring back as momentos.

Here is a myriad of colours of the various orchid species placed together in this odyssey along the aisle. They look refreshing and gorgeous with a bursting display of colours. The green leaves are long and hard, succulent with water and photosynthesizes with the sun light and oxygen to make food needed for the orchid plants to grow healthily. If you love to see orchid flowers, then take a trip down to Penang’s Gurney Plaza Mall to digest in the beautiful sights specially arranged prior to Chinese New Year 2017.

1 Night Cruise on SuperStar Libra

On Christmas Eve, 24th December 2016, I spend a night cruise to the high seas on Genting's SuperStar Libra which departed from Swettenhem Pier, Penang. You can park your car nearby the private carpark and the counters were opened at 5:30pm in the evening for checking in to the ship. You have to surrender your NRIC and they will give you a card for all payment transactions on board the ship.

This was taken from deck 5 where the Christmas decorations were with Santa in a sleigh pulled by a reindeer in the center of the ship on deck 4 where you enter after scanning your bags for security reasons. Bright sparkling ornaments were used to decorate the atrium.

This was the entrance to the Chinese Restaurant which was heavily carpeted for a luxe feel and ambiance. Again, you had to scan your card given in exchange for your NRIC and a table number will be assigned based on the number of people. You could also request for window seat or center table where all the food were placed.

Since it was Christmas Eve, a nice gingerbread house with white icing and colourful candies was offered. A turkey with a plethora of vegetables on the side was also part of the food for the evening. It was semi-buffet with unlimited helping of Christmas chocolate log cake, salad, drinks, etc.

As it was Chinese set meal, we had vegetables with mushrooms and small abalones, fried prawns, steamed chicken, braised beancurd, soup and rice. You could also request for extra helping of the vegetables at no extra charge. The idea is to make you happy to come back and gamble; but for us, it was pure holiday on Christmas Eve and gambling was a no-no, so that we don't lose money unnecessarily and spoil the cruise which cost RM 868 for 2 persons. The price was hiked up on a peak season like during Christmas eve; otherwise, it would normally be around RM 500++ including port tax of RM 100.

This christmas tree was placed in the atrium where the counter are. It stands majestically and bedecked with sparkling baubles, tinsels and other groovy ornaments with the star of Bethlehem right at the top.

This was the duty free shop selling branded women's handbags, perfume, cosmetics, etc.

Above was my partner and myself in a casual chic blouse and pants.



Above was the video I took for the late night Christmas Eve performance by the crew. The ship captain gave a short speech followed by cake cutting for the crew. Thereafter, this was followed by caroling choir by a local church with a pastor and finally the lively performance by young foreigners. The spectators were given Christmas toys to blow and Santa hats of various designs much earlier, especially for the children.

We enjoyed our cruise to the high seas on Christmas eve till Christmas where we departed at around 11:00am after a buffet breakfast at the same Chinese restaurant. There were several other restaurants with one on the top deck with open air and swimming pool to cater to the larger than expected crowd. It was pure fun and joy and a Christmas that I will remember.