The High Life at High Tea

As I was preparing my "Should Do" list for Singapore, both of my parents recommended that I experience High Tea at Raffles Hotel. High Tea is something my mom and I have done together before--once at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong and once at a hotel in downtown Tokyo. They're fond memories--dressing up, eating little cakes, and (in the case of the Tokyo experience) giggling our way through an adventurous train ride home with our friends.

There weren't too many things that I "had" to do while I was in Singapore, but this was one of those things. Taking heed of the hotel's website, S. Gabriel and I took our time getting ready, finishing the Bollywood film Dhoom 2 (starring Hrithisk Roshan and Aishwarya Rai) while we donned our finest.

Sanna went for a modern take on the Gibson Girl look.

While I went for comfortable style

 After getting off the bus, we wandered the halls of the hotel, trying to make ourselves at home in the impressive marble hallways.

We've arrived!

As excited as we were, however, we couldn't match the excitement of a younger visitor:

A little Superman in training, that one.

We finally found ourselves in the tea room and, despite our lack of a reservation, they decided that we were too well dressed to be riff-raff off the mean streets and seated us anyway.

When most people think of tea, they think of dainty food--finger sandwiches, little cakes, and scones. Raffles also served fresh fruit, various kinds of dumplings, and even berries steeped in (what else?) tea. I left filled to the brim with delicious, tiny food.

The running joke between my mom and I is my choice of "unconventional" beverages at high tea. My previous experiences had taken place while I was in middle school, before I became a tea drinker. In Hong Kong, I had the most delicious chocolate milkshake I've ever had. Ever. In Tokyo, apparently I drank hot chocolate rather than experiment with the then-suspicious liquid known as "tea."  In the past ten years, however, I've grown to like this strange brew known as tea in many of its forms--green, black, iced, and most of all, sweet. Still, my mom's first question upon hearing I'd made it to Raffles: "Tea or hot chocolate???"

Good thing I had photographic proof that I had, in fact, had tea during High Tea:

I also had a Singapore Sling, Singapore's signature cocktail, to keep up with my non-traditional beverage habit.

 

 

  

 In keeping with the classy atmosphere, there was a harp player. At first, I paid little attention to the airy notes, focused more on the fascinating spread of food and drink (I was hungry). Soon, however, I began picking out familiar tunes. The two most distinct were "Someone Like You" by Adele and "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" by none other than my childhood favorite boy band, the Backstreet Boys. I found the song choices rather funny, and, inspired, I penned a brief aside I hope to include in Paladin:

With a smile, Lia noticed that the chamber musicians were playing an instrumentation of an old drinking song; one so lowbrow, however, that none of the present company would admit to knowing it as a matter of course.

After finishing our tea, we explored more of the hotel, including the Writer's Bar, where one day, perhaps, our names will join those of Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad as literary types who once graced the hotel.

We (read: S. Gabriel) took some more selfies to document our fun in finery.

As in the Botanical Gardens, we couldn't resist the siren song of beautiful surroundings to take some more demure portraits.

Finally, we quit the luxurious confines of the hotel. We briefly explored Chijmes across the street, where the restaurants and shops fill the rooms and corridors of a former Catholic convent. But, wearied by maintaining our elegant appearance, we quickly called it an evening and returned home fashionably early.