Make Oasia Hotel Singapore Your Oasis

Oasia Hotel Singapore is the maiden hotel of Oasia, a new hospitality brand by Far East Organization. Located in the charming enclave of the Novena district, this premier business hotel offers distinctively elegant accommodation and warm service characterised by refreshing Asian hospitality. From the moment you arrive, you will experience personal touches that enable you to relax and rejuvenate in a tranquil setting. At Oasia, our service is both welcoming and intuitive, making you feel cared for and pampered like no other. Discover your oasis in Oasia. Situated in the prime district of Novena, we are only minutes away from Orchard Road, a world-renowned shopping and leisure destination where you can enjoy a wide selection of retail, dining and entertainment facilities. You can also choose to shop to your heart’s content at Square 2, which is conveniently located right next to Oasia.

The published price for the weekend package is from $300++. SHIMWORLD readers enjoy a special 10% discount by clicking this link http://bit.ly/oasiawk-jan when making a reservation (valid till Dec 31, 2012).

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Created by award-winning Japanese interior designer, Takashi Sugimoto, our Club Rooms are inspired by the refreshing elements of nature that promise to soothe your senses. Here, you can take pleasure in the panoramic view of the cityscape from within the comforts of your room and enjoy top-notch amenities such as a 46” LCD television, a superior Martello® coffee-making facility, and an elegant bathroom that is equipped with a delightful rain shower and fine touches.

My room — an Oasia Club Room — located right below the Oasia Club on 22nd floor overlooks Singapore’s newest medical hub, comprising Novena Specialist Centre, Novena Medical Centre, National Skin Centre and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

With its minimalistic chic and comfortably furnished rooms, new business hotel, Oasia Hotel has managed to give justice to, and find a balance between the words “fuss-free” and “luxurious”.

Creative use of drinking glasses back-lit by a network of bright LED seen at Zaffron.

So much salmon so little time.

Traditional cured fish.

My breakfast at Oasia Club where sumptuous breakfast is served exclusively to Club guests. All others dine at Zaffron. Here, I have croissant, wild mushrooms, raw salmon, fried rice to start the morning on the day I’m due to leave Singapore.

Located on the eighth floor, our 20-metre pool and pleasurable jacuzzi facilities allow you to soak in the surrounding spectacular views of the cityscape while you relax in complete serenity.

The same pool at a different angle at night.

Enjoy a workout at our Fitness Centre on the eighth floor to feel energized all day long. Equipped with sophisticated cardiovascular and weight training equipment, even tired business travellers can stretch their limbs after long flights.

The Oasia Club Located on the 22nd fl oor, our Oasia Club off ers all club floor guests total privacy from the rest of the world. With a lavish spread of international breakfast served daily, you can lounge at the club fl oor pool deck and also stay connected to the outside world via the complimentary Wi-Fi service. Evening cocktails and canapés are served daily from 6pm to 8pm to round-off your day on a high note.

I balanced the 5D Mark II on the skinny rail on the 22nd floor to capture the illuminated Oasia Club and to its left below, Tan Tock Seng Hospital

You can even enjoy a wide variety of local food delights such as chicken rice, laksa, satay, mee goreng and tropical fruits like mangosteens, papayas, and pineapples at the nearby Newton Food Centre or the local eateries around. With Singapore’s newest medical hub, comprising Novena Specialist Centre, Novena Medical Centre, National Skin Centre and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, you will have excellent medical expertise close at hand.

PENANG’S HERITAGE BOUTIQUE HOME-STAY: THE CHEONG FATT TZE MANSION

Legendary in the annals of the history of Penang is the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, Leith Street. Dubbed “La Maison Bleu”, this flamboyant masterpiece of 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 windows took a very special man to create.  Arriving penniless from Guandong province, China, to this part of the world at the age of 16, Cheong Fatt Tze grew to become one of the most historic and colourful personalities of the era, “One of China’s last Mandarins and 1st Capitalists”, such was his aura and fame that Dutch and British authorities ordered that flags be flown at half mast throughout their colonies when he passed away in 1916.

As a 16 year-old Hakka in 1856, Cheong followed the route of many Chinese fortune seekers, heading to the Southeast Asian region known as Nanyang, or ‘Land of Opportunity’. Penniless, armed only with determination and a driving need to prove himself, Cheong struggled through sheer hard work and enterprise to epitomize the typical rags-to-riches story. Rising from being a ‘bearer of river water’ in his early years to a ‘one-man multinational conglomerate’, Cheong’s ascent was aided by a merchant father-in-law who perceived potential in the young man, whom he helped establish in the business world.

Hello, I am Jan Shim, a Hakka like Cheong Fatt Tze. Welcome to my home, SHIMWORLD! 8-)

Visit the official website of Cheong Fatt Tze for more information
See more photos of the legendary Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion on my Facebook Page

A bookmark measuring 7.5cm x 19.5cm a prized memento of my visit to the awe-inspiring, award winning Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Georgetown, Penang.

Of his vast empire, Cheong Fatt Tze chose Penang to build the most elaborate of his homes and to raise his sons. It is reputed to be only one of two such buildings of this size, outside China and certainly the most perfected. While the Mansion’s floor-plan is essentially Chinese, the overall effect is eclectic and typical of 19th Century Straits Settlements architecture. Gothic louvered windows, Chinese cut-&-paste porcelain work, Stoke-on-Trent floor tiles, Scottish cast iron works and Art Nouveau stained glass are among the features to be found in this inspired work of art.

The Cheong Fatt Tze “Blue” Mansion has been perfectly poised for over a century on firm foundations of architectural, cultural and historic superlatives.

Though the lavish doors to the venerable Blue Mansion were first thrown open in as early as the 19th Century, the tradition of architecture and craftsmanship applied to the building’s construction dates much further back – a precipitous 3000 years to the Su Chow dynasty, to be exact. Built in the Hakka – Teochew style on sturdy foundations of Southern Chinese building typologies and materials, the Blue Mansion commissioned by Cheong Fatt Tze in the face of a trend in the construction of modern Anglo-indian abodes – stands today as a model of the traditional paradigm Chinese courtyard house. — CheongFattTzeMansion.com

While the Mansion's floor-plan is essentially Chinese, the overall effect is eclectic and typical of 19th Century Straits Settlements architecture.

One version of the origin of the rickshaw is a European missionary to Japan named Jonathan Scobie invented rickshaws around 1869 to transport his invalid wife through the streets of Yokohama. The word “rickshaw” comes from the Japanese jinrikisha (人力車) which literally means “human-powered vehicle”. 

I am not certain if these rickshaws at the front entrance are the real deal or very good replica.

Authentic 18th century featured timber spokes and later replaced with steel spokes.

Decades in planning and six years in execution, the tedious restoration process was driven by the aims of preserving, conserving and restoring as much of the original fabric of the Mansion as possible. The principal approach was to retain the total integrity of the Mansion with the application of traditional methods, with very minor modern intervention, such as waterproofing. — CheongFattTzeMansion.com | Restoration

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion received the 2000 UNESCO Asia-Pacific "Most Excellent Project" Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation

The start of our tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion premise by a very entertaining guide who kept our stay interesting especially the bit where she identified me as Hakka — a spoken dialect I have in common with Cheong Fatt Tze. Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end :)

Visitors proceed to the open air atrium for a second part of the guided tour. The stream of light is better appreciated in this B/W photo.

When was the last time you saw one of these antique foot-pedalled sewing machine? We have a Singer at home that my mom uses till today but it's one that has been rigged with a motor drive.

A local resident at the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang, Malaysia. The restoration work of the Mansion received… fb.me/1dH8oh81j—
JAN SHIM (@janshim) August 27, 2011

One of the more adorable local residents at the Mansion. Judging from the comments left by Zatty and Hamidah, it would appear that this one didn't fancy being handled.

My female colleagues have a softspot for the furry residents. Here's a shot of the puss illuminated by Georgina's hand phone LED. In the absence of flash in a dimly lit venue, you gotta improvise.

The Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) sometimes called Mother-in-Law's Tongue is considered a bad feng shui plant. However, this is not true, because the the Snake Plant can bring very helpful feng shui energy when needed in specific areas of a home or office; this plant has strong protective energies.

Details of the Mansion’s master-builder and his team of artisans (shipped in with tools in hand from Southern China) are sketchy – but their proudly standing work is testament to their collective architectural genius. As for the man who commissioned their work: the Mansion served to demonstrate both Cheong Fatt Tze’s fascination with Western artisanship and his rising stature as a Chinese official. The house is indeed cosmopolitan in design, bearing an eclectic architecture which exemplified the times at the end of the 19th Century, when the myths and magic of the Chinese Kingdom attempted to embrace the glory of the British Empire within the Malay world. — CheongFattTzeMansion.com

The open air atrium not only lets in light but also rain as seen here. I love the rain and I can only imagine the naturally therapeutic sound of water spashing against the concrete floor on days of heavy rainfall.

See more photos of the legendary Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion on my Facebook Page

This artistic rendition of the spiral straircase at the Mansion photographed from the first floor is the same stairs I shot on the ground floor (pictured immediately below).

A simple change of vantage point of a subject dramatically alters its perceived reality.