Tai Tai for a day

"You need money?" asks the husband this morning and offers me his wallet. Very fitting start to the day, for today is "Tai Tai" day!!! Charm, Jan and I would be ladies of leisure, doing Tai Tai things like visiting the spa and chit-chatting over hi-tea.

On a typical weekday, I would barely have time for breakfast, but today I had 2 breakfasts. The first with KK at Chin Mei Chin at Katong. We love the nostalgic charm of this old confectionary and the food is very good too - half boiled eggs half boiled to perfection, good balance of kaya and butter on the toast, yummy luncheon meat bun, etc. Later in the morning, I had breakfast with Charm at Moomba Tuckshop located at the Bank of China Building. I'd been wanting to have breakfast there for the longest time. The Tuckshop is inspired by Bill's Cafe in Sydney, said to serve the best scrambled eggs in the world. I had scrambled eggs with roasted mushrooms and tomato on toasted brioche, and a glass of Earl Grey - only $4, very good value (but of course we Tai Tais don't concern ourselves too much with price, ahem). The food was pretty good and the place unpretentious and quite charming.

After breakfast, Charm and I went around the banks to see if there were any interesting investment products, but we didn't find anything to excite us big time investors (where oh where to park our millions?).

Then it was off for some shopping. We stepped into a luxury watch shop and the sales staff behind the counters all rose from their seats. Wah, like I was royalty or a First Lady or something!!! Charm, with her big hair, looks more the part of a Tai Tai, so she assumes the lead actress role and asks to see a Chopard Happy Diamonds watch. She puts it on her wrist and shakes it about so that the diamonds dance and spin about. The happy diamonds work their magic on Charm. She looks happy; she has a lustful look in her eyes; I sense a longing growing in her. The salesman offers her a 20% discount and she asks if they carry the oval face model. Aww, they don't have the oval face model so we walk out empty-handed.

And now for the main event - a visit to Amrita Spa. This is supposed to be quite a high class spa so I was eager to see how good it really is. The reception counter looks like an over-staffed hotel front desk; why do they need so many people there?! And after we sign in and settle the bill, there is no one to lead us into the spa - not very high class leh! Charm and I are early so we make use of the hot and cold pools, the steam room and sauna. Jan joins us later at the relaxation lounge and then we have our massages. I had the hot stone treatment; quite good. Overall, I would say Amrita Spa is not as good as my regular spa at the Laguna National Golf & Country Club in terms of ambiance and service.

My stomach was growling during the massage so I was very glad that there was a hi-tea buffet to look forward to. The buffet spread at Orchard Hotel was alright and with a credit card promotion, we only paid the price for two (not that we Tai Tais are concerned about price, ahem). But what we were really there for was the chocolate fountain. Yum!!!

After all that pampering and indulgence, I was feeling tired. So after a little bit more window shopping, we parted ways. I made my way home in a most unglam, un-Tai Tai way - by MRT. What was even more unglam - I forgot to suck in my tummy and got offered a seat. Urgh!!! I have got to remember to use the Trimax!!!