A Majestic Getaway

When I was a teenager, my parents would sometimes leave me in charge of my two brothers while they checked into a hotel for the night. Back then, my brothers and I were just excited about having the place to ourselves, watching as much TV as we wanted and sleeping as late as possible. We didn’t really think about why my parents needed a night to themselves…we just savoured the night of “freedom”.

However, since I’ve been with HP (we’re at 5 years and 4 months now) I’ve begun to realize how important it is to get out of our home and check into a new environment, even if it’s just for one night. Life really gets to you sometimes. The monotony of work, the commute to and from work, the daily chores and to-do lists that seem never ending, can get you down and anything that reminds you of that immediately seems to be unromantic and not conducive for nurturing a relationship.

But, when we go somewhere new and experience something different together, we remember what it was like when we first started dating. We would actually spend the time to talk about things other than work and chores. We connect more and as a result, come home feeling refreshed and invigorated, our hearts filled with hope and a desire to live each day to the fullest.

Now, obviously we can’t be checking into a new hotel every month…we’d be very broke, very quick. I usually like to set a weekend aside that coincides with a special event. A few months back, HP and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary and that proved to be the perfect opportunity for us to book a weekend getaway at the recently reopened  Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur. The weekend getaway package included a night in a deluxe room, a buffet dinner for two at Contango and breakfast for two the next morning.

The very spacious bedroom

We checked in on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and were brought to our room by one of their staff, a sweet lady who asked us about our stay. I really wish I had taken down her name because she was amazing to us throughout our stay. She arranged our dinner reservations at Contango and even prepared a surprise for us (more on that later).

The gorgeous bathroom

Complimentary Nyonya Sweets in our room

As soon as we were settled in, we started getting ready for Anna-Rina, our wedding photographer, whom we had arranged to do a anniversary shoot with. Once she arrived, we took some pictures and had a look around the hotel, before having a drink at The Bar. Anna, as always, did an amazing job in capturing us at our best. Check out her pictures of our session on her blog.

At 7pm, we went down for dinner and were given a table in a quieter section thanks to the reservation made by the sweet lady. We had the time to enjoy dinner, talk and just relax while watching the cars go by. Dinner at Contango was really nice. There was a good variety and lots of live stations so you could request for food to be cooked the way you like. We added on the unlimited wine option and were able to try most of the wines they had that night which made the night all the more enjoyable.

When we returned to our room, we found it completely changed.

Tuxedo strawberries and chocolate truffles

A romantic turndown

In such a intimate setting, it was not difficult to just sit back and take the time to embrace the moment. We have never really had such a romantic stay before so we really took this opportunity to savour it. We ended up staying up late just talking and watching TV…perfect way to end a beautiful day, I think.

The next morning, we took our time getting up and going down to breakfast. We made sure to not make any plans so that we could truly enjoy every minute of Sunday. When it came time to check out, I was reluctant to leave such a beautiful experience behind. But all good things must come to an end and I was comforted knowing we left more connected and a little more in love than when we checked in.

The perfect gift..beautiful memories with the one you love

If you’re interested in finding out more about The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur and it’s offers, check out http://www.majestickl.com/

 

The Paper Anniversary

May is a very special month for me. 5 years ago, HP took me out for our first date on the 3rd of May and we’ve been celebrating that date as our dating anniversary. In May 2012, we got married twice! Once on the 19th of May in Ipoh, Malaysia, following the Sikh/Punjabi traditions and then once again in Moura, Portugal, following the Portuguese traditions.

So, when May came around this year, I had to make it special. We celebrated with a weekend at the Hotel Majestic Kuala Lumpur, an anniversary photo shoot with our wedding photographer, Anna-Rina, and also went away for a holiday in Bali. It was indulgent, romantic, and relaxing…exactly what we needed. I will definitely write about these experiences but at a later date.

For our first wedding anniversary though, we did a couple of things that I had planned a year back. Firstly, we had our wedding cake. I’d read about this tradition before and thought it was perfect for us. Partly because we had so much cake leftover from our reception in Ipoh, and also because it seemed like a sweet way to relive that special night.

We were really lucky that my mum cut the leftover cake into sections, wrapped it in foil and froze them. Some were defrosted after we got back from our honeymoon, but I made sure to keep one section specially for our first anniversary. When the day was around the corner, I took it from the freezer and let it start defrosting in the refrigerator. And when we were ready to have it, I took it out and let it come to room temperature for about an hour.

The result was a cake that tasted just as good as that beautiful night, a year back.

The next thing we did was pop open a bottle of white wine we bought on our honeymoon in Santorini. Before getting to Santorini, we didn’t know that they had a huge wine culture. Turns out the hotel we stayed at, The Vedema, was right next to some lovely wineries. We were recommended to try out this winery by the hotel’s F&B Manager and while we were there, we got this bottle.

I’m really glad we had these little celebrations in addition to the other bigger ones. Sometimes with work and life in general, we forget to just stop and live in the moment and appreciate all the wonderful blessings we have. Little things like these…a cake, some wine…they remind us to always cherish the good times.