A Sojourn at Lone Pine (Part 1)

The Chinese New Year break was a good excuse for me to head off to Batu Ferringhi for a four-day R&R. This time round I chose to stay at the Lone Pine, the sister hotel of the E & O. I’d never stayed at this recently refurbished hotel before, so I decided to give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed—I had a nice and comfortable room in the new wing, the staff were very cordial, and all in all it was a very relaxing stay for me. As usual I lugged my camera gear along—my faithful Canon EOS 550D, 18-135mm and 55-250mm Canon IS zoom lenses, plus my Speedlite 580EX II and the 320EX. The icing on the cake was my heavy Slik tripod; considering that I’m still recovering from tennis elbow I thought I was asking for trouble bringing that heavy beast along. However, I’m glad I brought it because it would have been impossible to take the self-portrait and night shots without it. The Lone Pine seems to have adopted orange as its primary color—I for one am glad. I like bright colors. Here’s my room number.

I forgot to request for a queen-sized bed, so tsk tsk, I had two singles instead. I like the décor and again, orange was evident. Here I am, sitting on one of the beds. Thank you, Mr. Slik.

My balcony overlooked the pool area. It had a very comfortable couch with four huge cushions. I spent a lot of time here reading, napping, and people-watching.

Not only that, I had my own private tub! It could easily accommodate two people but that’s another story.

Here’s the view of the pool area from my balcony. Just look at those trees and lovely blue skies. I’m so glad I had my polarizer with me.

I decided to go to Ferringhi Garden for dinner on my first night. I’d been to this establishment once before and I liked the food and staff. These red dragons in the vicinity (it’s the Year of the Dragon) were just pleading to be photographed. Bounce flash from my Speedlite 320EX preserves all the glorious reds without giving a “I used flash here” feel.