I was in Queensbay Mall recently and took the liberty to capture lovely winter theme decorations with furry lifelike reindeers, soft toy penguins, a giant Christmas tree with white flakes, and more. The 4th picture captured was a giant balloon with other hand-assembled colorful balloons for posterity. I also posted the pictures on Toluna, a survey app, and a website to earn a little moolah. The ambiance was cool with the winter environment and many patrons and visitors like myself took the splendid pictures.
They are so lovely and any decorations by Capital Mall owned by Singapore will surely be unrivaled anywhere. Except it is on a smaller scale here in Penang as compare to prosperous Singapore. Anyway, I would like to wish you all Merry Christmas for there is a Reason for this Season. And that is the birth of Jesus Christ as a Saviour to the whole world, born in Bethlehem. Enjoy your Christmas holidays, whatever your plans may be, and I shall go to a mountaintop resort in Malaysia for my short break.
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.
