"one day i slowly floated away" is the name and concept of room 211 at New Majestic Hotel designed by artist, Safaruddin Abdul Hamid.
"One Day I Slowly Floated Away is inspired by the carefree, languid nature of stray cats in the city area, the artist seeks to enthuse guests in the room to unwind and just take it easy."
In this "one day i slowly floated away" album, you will find images in room 211. This "Premium Garden" room was the room that we have booked and chosen to stay in. Though earlier on the day of our wedding solemnization, New Majestic Hotel was very kind to offer to us as a complimentary upgrade to "untitled", where had our day preparations done. However, we decided not to opt for the upgrade as we (or rather William) preferred "one day i slowly floated away". The reason why he loves this room is because firstly, it is Red in colour, secondly, it has Cats! Despite it being a much smaller room than the earlier, this room does have an interestingly unique feature: outdoor bathtub in the balcony. Nevertheless, we got a very good discount for this "Premium Garden" room. Note that New Majestic Hotel being a reputed design hotel, never gives discount, hence we were very pleased that we were given this 'very special gift' from the hotel (by large attributed to Fiona's excellent PR skills).
In room 211, every tile and wall is in Red with Cats sprawled all over the walls. While four or five stars hotels do not pay emphasis and continue to provide guests with generic toiletries, New Majestic Hotel takes the extra step to pamper the guests with body soap, shampoo, conditioner and bath foam from "Kiehl's". On top of this, the hotel management welcomed and congratulated us with a complimentary bottle of white wine and greeting card. While most hotels have lousy in-room entertainment with bulky box TVs, rooms in New Majestic Hotel are equipped with LCD TVs and even iPod docks. Enjoying a whole range of chilled beverages from the bar, teas or a hot cuppa from the chic Nespresso, all on-the-house! These are what I call "value-added services"!
Schematic diagram of room 211 "one day I slowly floated away".
While all these are already making it worth it to stay in New Majestic Hotel, the unique feature of this "Premium Garden" puts most major hotels down. Nothing is more relaxing than enjoying a soak in a bathtub or shower, in the outdoor 'garden'! While the "untitled" has a bathtub in a 'fishtank', this outdoor bathtub also adds sensuality along with a tinge of kinky for guests. All these unique touches to a hotel room are what it takes to put New Majestic Hotel in a prominent spot among a finer league of luxury hotels.
An undoubtedly acme of luxury in a nouveau hotel where two worlds of post-modernism and heritage meet!
On this day, 9th of August 2008, we check-out from New Majestic Hotel and remind ourselves that we will certainly be returning to this lovely designer hotel!
New Majestic Bar is a chic and cool bar located beside New Majestic Hotel. Hip people who loves chilling out in pubs and in style, will adore the New Majestic Bar. The bar is a cosy three-storey narrow building with a different theme at each level. The different themes follow an identical "fairy-tale" concept inspired by writer Enid Blyton. The three levels are accessible via the stair well by the main entrance, or via a lift in the building. The top level has a charming night sky setting where patrons can to climb up a short ladder to relax on a loft.
The Wedding Solemnization was held at the ground level of New Majestic Bar. The theme of the first level is "Trunks & Roots". You will not find trees and roots strewn all over the bar, but you find the interior design and objects that re-creates a scene of a mythical forest. An observant eye will notice the brown columns on the walls which represent the trunks and metallic artefacts made to look like insects of the forests. While the green sofa spanning across the bar represents the undergrowth along with boulder-like round bean-bags, the colourful panels of the ceiling lights gives an impression of light rays penetrating through the leaves in the canopy.
When we were still hunting for our venue, we considered a few places. I have an affinity with the Bukit Pasoh precint, and fell in love with New Majestic Hotel when I discovered this gem. Then when Fiona learnt about this place from the magazines, she told me about the New Majestic Hotel & Bar. It came as such coincidence that we independently discovered and fell in love with this place, hence we were certain that New Majestic Hotel would be our venue. Following that, everything simply fell in place.
We were delighted to be offered complimentary use of the New Majestic Bar for the Wedding Solemnization, since we were holding their lunch reception at New Majestic Restaurant. Thanks to Grace for facilitating to our requests.
I had intended to do up the basic decorations earlier, however, I was only able to enter the bar from 11:30 a.m. onwards. In the end, I came down at 12 noon and some guests were already at the bar. Nevertheless, it did not take me long to get the table set up.
Everything on the table (except the centre-piece) for the Solemnization was specially conceptualized and decorated by me to match the theme of the New Majestic Bar with our "Corpse Bride" theme. All materials are sourced locally and overseas to work with the lowest budget ever. Though the traditional thinking will be to avoid anything that is possibly inauspicious, such as the "Corpse Bride", on such a day. We loved the "Corpse Bride" movie and long thought of unravelling my mint 12-inch "Victor and Emily" figurines and having them share our limelight on the 8th of August (It is probably an excuse to finally open up one my treasured collection piece).
Despite 08.08.08 is the eigth day of the Lunar Seventh Month, we have researched and concluded that the day of 08.08.08 is an auspicious day for wedding solemnization. Furthermore, the time we have chosen was the most auspicious time of that day. Though we were not at all particular and superstitious, it is good to know that we have got our timing right! Most importantly, 08.08.08 is one day that occursonly once in our lifetime. Marking this date with three lucky numbers '8' as our wedding day, is our ultimate blessing. Coincidently, 08.08.08 is also the opening day of the Beijing Olympics 2008. This way, we can never forget our anniversary date! :p
Let us now join our families and friends as we revisit the moments of our Wedding Solemnization. Invited guests (randomly arranged)are: William's Dad & Mum Fiona's Dad & Mum Victor and wife Floria Kelvin Lester Fiona's aunt Violet William's aunt Laurens Benny Mak Elizabeth Xiao Yun Vivien Michele and husband Puay Sim Agnes Angeline Christie Nicole and daughter Saphire Anngie Donny Ahmed Bernard and wife Sze Wai Jason Jane Shufen Cedric
By 12:30 p.m., all our guests had already arrived at the bar. We sincerely apologize for any slack in hospitality. Others could also tell that I was very excited. Indeed I was. Dr. Ang Beng Choo, our Solemnizer came shortly around 1 p.m.. We were very honored to have Dr. Ang to be our solemnizer. She is a well-learnt and wise lady who is a retired Professor in established foreign Universities. Till today, she still gives back to the society by supervising PhD students in Linguistics and Psychology. In Singapore, she is a respected person in the Ministry of Education. Despite all her great achievements, she is a very humble lady, attributed to her practise in Buddhism. A big "Thanks" to my brother, Victor and wife Floria, for helping me fetch Dr. Ang to our venue. Also a huge "Thanks" to Cedric, for helping me send Dr. Ang back after the event.
Without much delay, Dr. Ang began the solemnization. We were both made to take our standard solemnization oaths. Jokingly, Dr. Ang praised me for listening to her questions and answering them appropiately. Following that, we exchanged our rings. We did a little customization to this procedure by putting the rings and ring pillow into a small lamp. We will each then have to retrieve the ring from inside the lamp.
Starting with the groom then bride, we recited our customized vows before slipping the ring onto each other's ring finger. For those who didn't know what we were talking about, our vows came about from the movie "Corpse Bride". The last sentence was added in by us.
Our Vows "With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine. Do you accept this ring and be my lawfully wedded wife/husband?"
A video clip from the movie "Corpse Bride" where Victor Everglot recites his vows in a forest and accidentally asked Emily, the Corpse Bride, to be his wife.
At the end of the solemnization, Dr. Ang tested us on a lesson that she had given us earlier on. This lesson was about the "Four Investments in a Marriage". Though our minds completely blanked out, Dr. Ang was very kind to remind us once again and also to share with everyone, this important lesson. The "Four Investments in a Marriage" include: (1) Invest in books to enrich our knowledge and upgrading of our skills. (2) Invest in our parents and parents-in-laws, to show our appreciation and love for them, such as buying them the food that they love. (3) Invest in our love by occasionally giving each other gifts, irregardless of monetary value, praising each other in both good and bad situations (4) Invest for monetary benefits in event of any 'rainy' days.
Dr. Ang also reminded us that we should always say the three words to each other everyday. The three words, "I Love You", should be said to each other in the morning, afternoon and in the night.
Lastly, Dr. Ang advised us to be charitable and generous to the needy whenever we can.
We appreciate her wise words (some are adapted from the teachings of the Dharma) to us and we will keep them in mind.
With our ROM day drawing near, here is an update to set you on the right directions to our ROM venue. I have highlighted the routes from Pearl's Centre. Those who wish to get there by a shorter route is to cross the junction along Cantonment Road. Getting There
Here are the directions you need to get the New Majestic Hotel/Bar.
By Bus (RED arrow):
Walk along Eu Tong Sen Street and cross at the traffic lights at Pearl's Centre,
then walk along New Bridge Road,
turn in at the first junction Teo HongRoad into Bukit Pasoh Road.
By MRT (BLUE arrow):
Take the MRT or NEL to Outram Park Station,
exit via the EXIT H (near the NEL station),
then walk along Teo Hong Road to Bukit Pasoh Road. Click on above map to enlarge and download
1. Along Eu Tong Sen Street, looking towards Cantonment Police Headquarters. 2. Crossing the traffic lights from Pearl Centre, Eu Tong Sen Street to New Bridge Road. 3. Take a right turn before Duxton Plain Park. 4. Walk along New Bridge Road in the direction towards Cantonment Road. 5. Two routes are available at this first junction where the Outram Park MRT/NEL Station EXIT H. Route A takes Teo Hong Road Route B takes Bukit Pasoh Road ROUTE A: Teo Hong Road A-6. Walk along Teo Hong Road and follow the row of conserved shophouses. A- 7. Towards the end of the short Teo Hong Road. A-8. New Majestic Hotel/Bar ROUTE B: Bukit Pasoh Road B-6. From the station EXIT H, continue along New Bridge Road and the public carpark can be located. B-7. Take a left turn from the carpark which leads to Bukit Pasoh Road and eventually New Majestic Hotel/Bar. DESTINATION REACHED! Our venue for our Wedding Solemnization is at New Majestic Bar, enter via the small little door.
A boutique hotel set in Bukit Pasoh, a part of Chinatown where ethnic Chinese heritage is well preserved with a touch of art. New Majestic Hotel puts together vintage and modern art into their design concept. New Majestic Hotel is a remarkeably beautiful boutique hotel which is also featured in DesignHotels.com. Truely a gem and pride of Singapore.
We have a very special affinity for this area and place, particularly myself. I love this area a lot, and so when I mentioned to Fiona about this place, she told me that she had learned about this cool place as well. We then found ourselves falling in love with this place. So we decided that why no make this lovely place as part of memory when we make our vows on ...
"Fiona, my dear, you know that I am a sentimental person filled with emotions. I have been through too, too much to eventually have you beside me and soon, your hand as my wife. This is the greatest thing that is happening to my life. As I have promised, you will always be put before myself for I will give you the best I can provide."
