Capella reminds me of The Royal Palms in Bermuda, a staycation of a kind before moving to Singapore in 2006. I had resigned from the Bank of Bermuda/HSBC, ready to start a new phase in life. Staying at The Royal Palms, as at Capella, I walked Lou on the sidewalk-less streets around the hotel. It is a lot easier here. No traffic to worry about and back then, Lou was such a pain to walk. She’s an extremely strong dog with equally strong opinions on where to go.
Here in Capella, different paths take you around the grounds, giving a good variety of walks with Lou and Abby. I don’t even have to venture outside of the hotel, though I could and we did.
Walking the Dogs
We started our morning walk through the same stretch of grass as yesterday, just outside the fitness centre. It was such a beautiful day so we continued down the Capella driveway, trailing a couple of peacocks, and onto the main road. Both dogs were instantly interested, seeing these large colourful birds for the first time. Ears perked and the body attentive. This is the same reaction I observed in Lou when she first saw a horse in Bermuda.
We walked towards Imbiah Point and turned around at the Merlion, passing Resort World. I hope they will let the wild dolphins return home.
The Merlion is a symbol of Singapore. A mythical creature, it has the head of a lion, a link to the city-nation’s previous name, Singapura or “lion city” and the body of a fish for the fishing village origins of Singapore. When we stayed in the CBD area, I walked Lou and Abby down to the Merlion early morning. So quiet and empty, before the start of the business day. And lots of photographers head to the Merlion in those early morning hours.
Aside from the original statue at Merlion Park, there are several official ones around Singapore. The Sentosa Merlion (30 Imbiah Road) was built in 1995 and was shut down in 2019. The area is being devloped.
Lou and Abby love exploring new territory. They strained to sniff every blade of grass and saw their third peacock. It was such an easy walk I wondered if I should have moved to Sentosa instead of Bukit Timah. This is what we could be doing everyday.
My friend Gin and her two boys were stopping over in Singapore en route to Australia and we synced up the end of our walk with her arrival. While the kids watched TV, the two of us went for breakfast to catch up. We talk/text daily though I miss hanging out with her in person.
Capella Breakfast Buffet
The breakfast buffet was a Western and Eastern spread of omelettes, shrimp dumplings, congee, and meats. The pastry station had tiers of almond croissants, chocolate croissants, apple turnovers, sugar doughnuts, and an extraordinary sugar feast. At 10AM the restaurant was surprisingly full. By the time we sat down, many of the tables had, however, cleared out. With the kids back in the room, we had one pass for ourselves and filled up a plate with croissants for the boys and sausages for the girls.
In the afternoon we moved to one of the villas. Room 508 is above the fitness centre and the spa on the ground floor. Villa #12 is on the other side of the hotel grounds, on the path to the beach and near the adult-only lap pool. Capella has three pools, which are often empty. Maybe because of the overcast and threatening skies during my stay.
It was great when we finally got to the villa. The boys were excited about the plunge pool, perfect for them to jump in and out of, something they did with seemingly unending zeal. The girls were happy to explore inside. Because one part of the patio isn’t walled off, it is not a secure place to let the dogs roam unsupervised. Especially with free-roaming peacocks and cats.
I wouldn’t really say Capella is for kids in general. However, the villa plunge pool is a great feature for families.
Cassia : Chinese for Dinner
For dinner, we went to Cassia, the Chinese restaurant at Capella. Gin was hankering for some good Chinese food and as a Centurion member, a set dinner for two was included in my stay.
True to its reputation, Cassia’s food was well-presented and delicious. We started with an appetizer trio followed by double-boiled soup, seafood fried rice, sea bass, and a dessert trio.
The honey cake was very interesting. The honeycomb pattern made the brown lump more appealing. The taste was strangely addictive. Between all that, plus the scallops and broccoli and the sparkling wine, I was more than 80% full.
That night, we sat under the Super Moon. Drinking, eating, laughing, catching up, sussing things out…
Highlights of Day 2 at Capella (in no order) – the villa itself, seeing the peacocks free roaming and the dogs’ reaction, having my friend Gin and her boys visit, hanging out with our friend Julie who dropped by and we ended the night around 1:30AM. I was so tired and I had to fight to keep my eyes open, shifting positions to keep awake. I really wanted to stay up and keep chatting with Gin who was polishing off the last bit of the champagne.
Good friends. Good times. A full moon.