Life.Culture.Discovery.

Travellers' ChecksSingapore’s Raffles hotel finally reopens after a major makeover

The revamped heritage property will feature three new restaurants, which are yet to open, and is running promotional offers

Plus, Cathay Dragon launches flights to Niigata, Japan, from where the picturesque island of Sado is two hours away

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Raffles Hotel Singapore, which reopened this month.

Published: 8:45am, 16 Aug 2019Updated: 8:47am, 16 Aug 2019

Singapore’s Raffles Hotel has finally reopened this month after an extensive renovation that was originally due to be completed sometime in the middle of last year. With 115 suites and three new restaurants (which are yet to open) joining the restored Long Bar and Tiffin Room, the hotel is offering a Raffles Opening Package that adds a few extras, such as breakfast in the Tiffin Lounge, a 3pm checkout and a S$100 (US$72) “experiential credit”, for an additional S$120 on room rates. Visit rafflessingapore.com for full details.

Cathay Dragon to launch seasonal twice-weekly flights to Niigata, Japan

Just a couple of hours from Niigata, Sado Island is well worth a visit. Photo: Shutterstock

Cathay Dragon is due to launch twice-weekly flights to Niigata at the end of October. This will be the only non-stop service between Hong Kong and the Japanese city, and apparently also the first. It will, however, be discontinued in late March, at the end of the winter-sports season, which attracts many domestic tourists to the area.

If skiing and snowboarding don’t appeal, the island of Sado, which is a couple of hours by shuttle bus and ferry from Niigata Airport, is well worth a visit. As well as being unusually picturesque, it is also very friendly, as the civilian passengers and crew of a British military transport plane flying from Shanghai to Tokyo discovered when they crash-landed near the small coastal village of Takachi, in January 1946.

It is said that, despite their country having been at war with Britain just a few months earlier (a war from which many of their menfolk had not returned), the hospitable villagers dragged the partially submerged aircraft from the sea using ropes, and put the passengers and crew up in a local inn. They then spent the next 40 days transporting and arranging stones to build a rough, half-kilometre-long runway on the beach, before waving a tearful goodbye.

The curious series of events leading up to the crash-landing were featured in the film The Night My Number Came Up (1955), but this subsequent story was only brought to the screen in 2013, in the Japanese film Tobe! Dakota. Titled Fly, Dakota, Fly! in English, it was largely filmed on Sado with help from many islanders and a Dakota aircraft similar to the original. The plane was shipped over from Thailand, and left on the beach as a monument to the incident after filming ended.

You can discover more about Sado, its striking scenery, its famous rice, seafood and signature sake (Hollywood actor Robert De Niro is a fan), and find out how to get there and where to stay, at visitsado.com.