GV Gold Class Cinemas

GV's Gold Class cinema may be expensive, but it was worth every cent. We went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Gold Class Cinema at VivoCity last week. The plush red La-Z-Boy-style seats recline to just the right angle, and the blankets are perfect for keeping warm in the cold theater.

Since we were watching during off-peak times, we paid just S$25 for each ticket instead of the regular S$30. Our Gold Class experience started downstairs at the Golden Village ticket counter, where a separate area is roped off (complete with red carpet) for Gold Class viewers. We were handed our tickets in a glossy Gold Class envelope, and then directed to the lounge upstairs to wait for our screening to start.

The lounge is essentially a bar and cafe just outside the Gold Class theaters. The lounge staff welcomed us, then handed us a menu and a glossy little envelope containing feedback cards. While waiting in the lounge, you can watch TV, flip through a stack of Vanity Fair issues and other magazines, and pore over the menu. You can pre-order food to be served inside the theater. The set dinner looked yummy and was reasonably priced - S$25 for an appetizer, a main course, dessert, and coffee or tea. We'd already had dinner so we decided to go straight to dessert, but in any case I imagine it must be difficult eating an entire meal inside a dark theater. Plus, the cinema tables are a tad small for a full meal. So you may be better off having your appetizer and main course in the lounge, and then asking them to serve your dessert during the movie (as we did!).

We pre-ordered the warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, a couple of drinks, and a bucket of popcorn, then settled in with a couple of film magazines until the movie was ready to start. They handed us our credit card slip and receipt in yet another glossy envelope - by now we were accumulating quite a stack of them.

Once inside, we had fun playing with the motorized reclining seats and finding just the right viewing angle as trailers flashed on the screen. As usual, we booked late and ended up with center seats in the very first row! That would normally be a painful, neck-stiffening experience in any other theater, but at Gold Class it was made bearable by reclining our seats almost all the way down. The whole experience was a bit like being on an airline - complete with a little concierge button to call someone over in case you want to order more food.

The theaters are pretty cozy, with maximum capacity ranging from 24 to 48 seats. Seats are arranged in groups of two, which makes it a bit awkward if you're a family of five or a group of three friends - I guess Golden Village is primarily catering to the couple crowd. Spacious aisles and low seating capacity eliminate the mad rush to the exit that happens at the end of each screening in regular theaters.

The sound quality wasn't so great in the particular theater we tried (GV Gold Class 3 at Vivocity), but picture quality was excellent. I wonder if the sound would have been better if we'd sat a little further back.

Overall, the extremely comfortable seats and blanket more than made up for any hiccups in the experience. While I don't think we can afford to catch films at Gold Class every week, we will definitely be back.

Contact Information and More Details

• Golden Village's website is at www.gv.com.sg - you can check showtimes, reserve seats, and buy tickets online.
  
• Gold Class cinemas are available at GV VivoCity (Harbourfront MRT) and at GV Grand (Great World City, 1 Kim Seng Promenade)
  
• Ticket prices for Gold Class films generally range from S$25 for weekday and off-peak screenings to S$30 for weekends.
  

What others are blogging about GV Gold Class cinemas

• "So comfortable and accommodating" - Momo Land
  
• "I even took off my shoes and snuggled up" - MiCHEING iN ACTioN
  
• "Made me almost fall asleep" - Jaschocolate
  

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Chocolate Tasting

A small box of Laurent Bernard chocolates was waiting for me at the office when I returned from Ko Phi Phi - a token of appreciation for a good quarter.

I liked the chocolates at Laurent Bernard's Chocolate Factory when it opened (although the service was another story), and this box was as good as the first one.

My home's nowhere near a good chocolatier, so I have to ration my goodies carefully - which is tough when there's two of you raiding the fridge! The orange-and-marzipan Alhambra nearly seduced me into eating the whole box at one go, but the strong cinnamon flavor of the Balthazar choc abruptly restored my self-discipline. Call me uncultured, but I like my cinnamon in hints - not heaps.

Speaking of chocolate, the National Museum is holding a Know Your Chocolate lecture on September 15, 2007:

Can you tell the difference between a good chocolate bar and a great one? Does having a higher percentage of cocoa in a chocolate bar necessarily translate into a superior taste experience? Is single estate chocolate merely a marketing ploy?

This lecture traces the origins of our favourite deep, dark indulgence and teaches you how to tell the difference between different kinds of chocolates. As part of this sinfully rich course, participants will be treated to a chocolate tasting.

The lecture starts at 3 pm at the National Museum, and admission is S$35 per person.

The Food and Culture series runs from July to December and includes talks on local herbs and spices, the art of the high tea, and classic cocktails. Participants can book online at the National Museum web site.

I'm still a little skeptical about this one - I'd rather spend my S$35 on chocolate - but will think about going with some chocoholic friends.

What others are blogging about the Food and Culture lecture series

• "A really fun project that S has been spearheading is the development of a new series of public programmes for the National Museum of Singapore." - Chubby Hubby
  
  
• "despite of what i said about the NM in an earlier entry, i am actually a fan of it after its revamp!" - faizis
  

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Tom Yum Goong and Phad Thai on Phi Phi

When we arrived at Ko Phi Phi, we had lunch at Jasmine's on Laem Tong beach, where we were surprised with an interesting variation on tom yum goong – it had coconut milk. The food was good, but the addition of coconut milk was a bit unsettling. If you're ever there, try the deep fried banana fritters with honey. Yum.

Dinner was at posh Zeavola's beachfront restaurant, with elegant votive candles and perplexing but delicious octopus ink bread. Steph had a gorgeous glass of strawberry-topped house iced tea. Of course, this luxury came at a price – tom yum goong here cost about four times what it did at Jasmine's. Zeavola's tom yum was a tourist-oriented version, low on chili but made flavorful by galangal and lemongrass. The shrimp were huge!

We had grand plans for the next day. We would work up an appetite snorkeling, have a leisurely lunch at Ruen Thai restaurant up on the hill, and then relax with a massage at Wana Spa. The snorkeling worked fine, but we hit a snag when we disembarked at Phi Phi Island Village and walked up to the bar to make a reservation for Ruen Thai.

"What time would you like to book, ma'am?" the bartender asked, consulting a large reservations book.

"At 12," said Steph.

All she got in reply was a blank, puzzled look.

"12," she repeated, pointing to her watch. "Now. Can we go now?"

It turned out Ruen Thai is only open for dinner. The bartender must have thought we were crazy, wanting to eat at midnight!

So instead we had phad thai and tom yum goong at Marlin restaurant. The food was good enough, but I felt it was overpriced. When the menu quotes you prices in euros along with baht, that's generally not a good sign.


Our next new find was our cheapest, and in my opinion, the best. On our last full day on Ko Phi Phi, we took a longtail boat to see Ko Phi Phi Ley and stopped in Ton Sai on the way back for lunch. The phad thai at Leon restaurant was packed full of flavor and had just the right level of chili for me. Okay, so it's a stretch to call it a restaurant – it's a bunch of folding tables and plastic chairs in the middle of the souvenir market. The place might also have been called Sammy or Mr. Soda – the menus had all three names so I can't be sure what its real name was, but you can't miss it: look for the billboard full of scrawled backpacker recommendations, the large "thank you" sign, and a handwritten sign advertising "the BEST papaya salad!".

The tom yum goong woke us up and cleared our sinuses, a sharp contrast to the cool refreshing fruit shakes. We had a filling meal for three, two perfect fruit shakes and a cool glass of orange juice – for about 50 baht per dish.

Now if I can only find someplace in Singapore that serves great phad thai for 50 baht…

Contact information and more details

• Jasmine is on Laem Tong beach, Ko Phi Phi – sandwiched between Erawan Palms and the Holiday Inn. Price range: 70 to 80 baht per dish. Rating: 3 out of 5, because of the coconut milk in the tom yum.
  
  
• Zeavola is also on Laem Tong beach. Their Tacada restaurant is most definitely a date place. If your budget doesn't extend to dinner at Zeavola, wander over for an after-dinner drink and soak in the ambience. Price range: 300 to 400 baht per dish. Rating: 4 out of 5, for the atmosphere, the excellent service, and the deliciously unusual bread.
  
  
• Marlin and Ruen Thai are at Phi Phi Island Village at Ao Loh Ba-kao. Price range: 350 to 450 baht per dish. Rating: 2 out of 5, didn't think it was worth the price.
  
  
• Leon eatery (or Sammy, or Mr. Soda) is at the open-air market in Ton Sai, a short walk from the pier. Wander among the stalls until you see the big "Thank You" sign. Price range: 50 to 60 baht per dish. Rating: 5 out of 5 – best value and best flavor, how can you beat that?

Read the previous post or check out the rest of this Krabi and Ko Phi Phi trip series.

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Loving Ko Phi Phi's Low Season

With tourism bringing crowds to ever more remote places, low season is today's version of 'the less traveled road'. And it’s a blessing to the cash-strapped - if you don’t mind a little rain now and then, you can enjoy many beautiful parts of the world at very reasonable prices, with no crowds.


May through October marks low season on the Andaman coast. At Ko Phi Phi, we stayed at Phi Phi Erawan Palms resort, which offered double rooms for 1,800 baht (when booked through Sawadee.com) – this goes up to a whopping 4,500 baht at the height of peak season.

We had the beaches at Laem Tong and Ao Loh Ba-Kao all to ourselves.


Hin Klang Reef, Bamboo Island, and Mosquito Island were pretty much deserted when we got there – it was just us, dozens of parrotfish, and a small but menacing community of black sea urchins. Our sole human contact, other than with our boatman, was with a family of three Americans who briefly gushed "beautiful reef, beautiful fish!" before setting off... once again leaving us to the silence of the Andaman sea.

The wind was blowing too strongly for us to see Ao Maya, a magnet for day-trippers from Phuket anxious to see where The Beach was filmed. Ah, the sacrifices one must make to enjoy the low season. We swam for a while in the lagoon at Ao Pileh before distant lightning strikes and arriving day-trippers prompted us to scramble out of the water.


After crossing the inter-island swells in a tiny longtail boat, the ominous grey clouds on the horizon were enough to make us flee to our favorite rainy-day pastimes: eating and shopping. Note to self: low season water travel requires a strong stomach!

Ton Sai was backpacker central even in the off season; I can just imagine how packed it must be during peak. I stood for ten minutes on the main alley and watched wave after wave of Caucasian shoppers and backpackers walk by, with few Thais or even other Asian tourists in the mix. While cheap rooms were available in Ton Sai for a fraction of what we were paying at Erawan Palms, the hustle and bustle of "downtown" just didn't fit with our idea of a relaxing vacation.


Back at Laem Tong, we scouted around for evening activities. Even at low season prices, I can’t afford to stay at luxury resorts like Zeavola, with rates ranging from 5,500 to 11,000 baht a night. But for the price of a cold cocktail, we were able to indulge ourselves, lounging on cushioned beach beds that would otherwise go unused. Staff are at their friendliest when there’s no one else waiting to be served, and instead of rushing us at dinner they cheerfully brought us a second serving of their delicious octopus ink bread and let us soak in the relaxed ambience of their romantic beachfront restaurant. If we weren’t so perplexed by the bread’s color, I would never have guessed its ingredients included anything more exotic than toasted cheese.

The other benefit of low season is discounts on the ultimate in pampering – spa treatments. At Wana Spa at Phi Phi Island Village, we booked a two-and-a-half hour package that included a milky jacuzzi soak, a scented body scrub, and a relaxing aromatherapy massage for about 2,700 baht per person. Okay, so it was an indulgence that was over ten times more expensive than the humble Thai massage we got in Krabi town for 250 baht, but I consoled myself with the thought that the same spa package in Singapore would probably set me back at least 6,000 baht, if not more.

Tourism authorities all over the world are doing their darnedest to market rainy season tourism, quoting euphemisms like "fruit season" or "green season" to dress up the cold, wet truth. I’m half-hoping they’re unsuccessful, so that we can keep low season the exclusive province of knowing travelers with a penchant for cut-rate trips.

Low season optimists know that weather forecasts that predict a 50% chance of rain can be flipped around and read as a 50% chance of, well, no rain. Here’s hoping we continue to stay lucky.

Contact information and more details

• Sawadee.com hotel reviews and bookings - www.sawadee.com
  
• Phi Phi Erawan Palms resort - www.pperawanpalms.com
  
• Phi Phi Island Village resort - www.ppisland.com
  
• Zeavola resort - www.zeavola.com
  
• Longtail boats can be booked by trip or by the hour with the Chao Ley (sea gypsy) cooperative, which sets standard fees. You can also book through resorts at a slightly higher rate.

Read more about Ko Phi Phi

• "swam for 45 minutes with three 15-20ft manta rays swooping around us" - Schiavoni Files
  
• "tonnes of farangs running around but somehow, the whole place doesn't seem as shamelessly touristy as say Patong" - unkster
  
• Rock climbing at Ton Sai tower: "At the top of the routes, you overlook Ao Ton Sai and Ao Lo Dalam, which are the two bays in the skinny part of Ko Phi Phi." - All Thai-ed Up
  
• Post-tsunami cleanup report by Project Aware

Read the previous entry or check out the rest of this Krabi and Ko Phi Phi trip series.

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