Singapore Works - 2
The anchor of Capella Singapore is the Tanah Merah UK officers’ club, dating back to the 1880s – see above. To this colonial-style building Norman Foster added – Dolder Grand style – what look like rusted metal arms that here wrap-around to become a bracelet. The ground behind, landscaped by Bent Colllins – with lushest tropical greenery and cascading pools – falls steeply. Bordering a succession of 1.5m-wide tarmacked lanes are the 38 villas with convex metal roofs.
Wake up, and at seven it's just beginning to get light, if you call a non-stop grey haze light. It's been like this for weeks because of Indonesia forest fires. The space inside a single-bedroom villa is a 32 x 7.5m rectangle divided crosswise into three: enter to the living room, open plan to the bedroom, and then the bathroom. The two day rooms have wood flooring with big grey carpets and mushroom walls with deeper mushroom curtains, electronically controlled from a tablet. The ceiling, of course, has an attractive curve. The only notable decoration, other than looking out through all-wall windows along one side onto my terrace, is a forest print, could be fabric, could be painted, at one end of the living room, under which there's a long desk that stretches more or less the entire width of the room. There's a bulbous wood, dark wood minibar entertainment cabinet next to a zigzag fake screen. Furniture is dominated by an angled oatmeal sofa. There are equally solid wood chairs, three, one of which is a rocker. The bedroom has the bed with fabulous pale grey Frette linens, a Capella norm. The bedroom opens to the terrace and directly to the pool, 2.5 by 2.5 meters. There's no support to help you get in or out. The bathroom has an end extension with an outdoor shower and an outdoor bathtub. One side of the bathroom leads back into a narrow but long closet. Either side are glass toilet with washlet and an easy walk shower with freestanding Bamford toiletries. Wash basins are dark marble on matching big vanity stands and tall lights over. Bits and pieces and rubbish bins are all mustard-coloured leather, very stylish, with decorative stitching on the corner. There's a Dyson and Aesop mouthwash in a very large bottle.
Every Capella has a ritual, an evening event for hotel guests. Here, it works around inhalation salts. You sit with an elegant cut glass bowl containing crystals of bergamot, lavender, yang-yang, and breathe these stones in to alleviate stress and fatigue, improve sleep quality, encourage relaxation and well-being. It's also relaxing and well-being enhancing to have information at your fingertips. There's a fourfold booklet, the size of a credit card which doubles as guest services directory with details of the half-hourly shuttle between the hotel and Vivo City, which operates from 10 a.m. until 21:45. There's a map and there's information on all the opening hours, including the restaurants Fiamma, Bob's Bar, Cassia, the Living Room, and the Pineapple Room.
Wake up, and at seven it's just beginning to get light, if you call a non-stop grey haze light (it's been like this for weeks because of deliberate Indonesia forest fires). The space inside Villa 23 is a rectangle 32 x7.5m, divided lengthwise into three. Enter to the living room, open-plan to the bedroom, and then the bathroom. The two day rooms have wood flooring with big grey carpets and mushroom walls with deeper mushroom curtains, electronically controlled from a tablet. The ceiling, of course, has an attractive curve. The only notable decoration, other than looking out through all-wall windows along one side onto the terrace, is a forest print, could be fabric, could be painted, at one end of the living room, under which there's a long desk that stretches more or less the entire width of the room. There's a bulbous dark wood minibar entertainment cabinet next to a zigzag fake screen. Furniture is dominated by an angled oatmeal sofa. There are equally solid wood chairs, three, one of which is a rocker.
The bed is made up with fabulous pale grey Frette linens. The bedroom opens to the terrace and directly to the pool, 2.5 by 2.5m.The bathroom has an end extension with an outdoor shower and an outdoor bathtub. One side of the interior bathroom leads back into a narrow but long closet. Either side are glass toilet with washlet and an easy walk shower with freestanding Bamford toiletries. Wash basins are dark marble on matching big vanity stands and tall lights over, just too far back for contacts. Bits and pieces and rubbish bins are all mustard-coloured leather, very stylish, with decorative stitching on the corner. There's Dyson, and Aesop mouthwash in a very large bottle.
It's also relaxing and well-being enhancing to have information at your fingertips. A fourfold booklet, the size of a credit card, is actually the guest services directory, detailing, inter alia, the half-hourly shuttle between the hotel and Vivo City, which operates from 10 a.m. until 21:45. There's a map and there's information on all the opening hours, including the restaurants Fiamma, Bob's Bar, Cassia, the Living Room, and the Pineapple Room.
Main Fiamma meals were mostly outside (locals avoid the terrace because of the temperature, but Girlahead wanted to avoid the debilitating air conditioning). Breakfast is a fantastic buffet with multi-stations. At lunch, she was tasting dishes for Seamus Smith, an Isle of Lewis lad: a highlight was triangles of bluefin tuna marinated in Menton lemon, topped with tiny tomatoes. Over this is poured a delicious green sauce, absolutely addictive. Cassia dinner, by contrast, was a formal Chinese set meal preceded by a melon tea. Dishes, personally served by the executive chef Eric, started with a chef's platter of crispy ducking egg and shrimp and a spinach dumpling and finished with the entire brigade farewelling and bringing over a card they’ve all signed. That’s style.
