One Day Wonderland

Whilst this blog has seldom seen a post about a single day our 23hr layover in Singapore was something to behold earning it’s own chapter!

Our first time turning left on a plane certainly didn’t disappoint and despite the clock reading 12.05am local time in Singapore we stepped off the perfect amount of tired/rested. Our bags already checked through to Amsterdam and a late hotel change to an in terminal hotel meant we were in bed heads on pillows just 20 minutes later. A record for us.

As we drifted off, our plans for the day really were all up in the air but as he so often does on holidays Doug wouldn’t allow that to be the case for long!

Very comfortable in my bed after an 8 hour flight I was woken very early by Doug insisting it was up time. At the time I thought it was stupidly early but as the day unfolded I quickly learnt we needed every spare minute if we were to squeeze a week’s worth of activity into barely 12 hours.

Begrudgingly we were up and on our way!

Singapore joined every single other country we have travelled to with a better train system than Melbourne and we were quickly whisked to the island paradise of Sentosa, but Doug being Doug the plan wasn’t a lovely breakfast looking over the forest… No we were going Lugeing!!!

With the attraction opening at 10am we of course arrived at 10.01…

After a quick demo akin to a drivers license test in some of the subcontinent, “forward-break-left- right- OK GO!”

We were off hurtling down the hill, Doug doing his best trying to end his trip on Day 1 me blaming my significantly less mass for my slower speed!

Luge 1 done and dusted Doug promptly informed me that we had booked a further 3 trips down the hill which meant another favourite pasttime of mine was required… Dangling in an open seat from a wire… yes the journey back up the hill was via rudimentary cable car.

Fearing the car more than the Luge itself all bets were off and in no surprise i won all 3 of the next races.

With the Singaporean tropical heat starting to really rear its head and stomach’s rumbling it was time to retreat back to the mainland for lunch!

Given it was Day 1 of the Honeymoon only a Michelin Starred restaurant would do!

However given we we both love a deal this particular Michelin Star restaurant didn’t not serve caviar & crayfish - it served soybean chicken for the princely sum of $8 Aussie dollars….

Whilst amazing, given the restaurant was based in Chinatown, Doug had already shifted his focus to one of his absolute faves, satay skewers (a meal which incidentally Doug has ordered for his breakfast on our next flight!)

So off we set to Lau Pa Sat’s famous “Satay Street”

Lau Pa Sat is an enormous rotunder like structure boasting hawker style food from all over the world…. aside from satay skewers…. The signs pointing to “satay street” were everywhere but not a single vendor selling the peanut delights!

After multiple laps of the building it dawned on Doug that Satay Street was in fact, a street nearby, and only operated a night. Despondent, and with no sweet n sour backup Doug settled for a Thai replacement but vowed he’d be back for dinner!

After being on the go and in stinking heat now for almost 5 hours I needed to cool off, so it was back to the hotel for a swim!

As I sipped on my Coke Light (far superior to Diet Coke) pool side just metres from our eventual departure gate I was very content for this to be the rest of my day. But alas this is holidaying with Doug so that wasn’t to be, no, he had other plans for the remainder of our LAYOVER!

Told there was no time even for an outfit change the clothes went straight back on over my bikini and we were on the train and headed back into Singapore once more!

As if often the case when holidaying with Doug it’s easier to just follow along, he’s fastidious in planning so it means I can quite easily zone out (and as it were chew through my entire data plan scrolling instagram)

After popping out of the station into a shopping centre/ casino unparalleled by anything we have at home I found myself  in a lift shooting 60 floors into the sky.

And before I knew it I was, sipping a lychee matrini on top of the Marina Bay Sands, arguably the most famous building in Singapore if not Asia and if I’m honest I had no idea thats where I was… so much so I had to ask Doug as the afternoon progressed where exactly were we!?! I was completely taken a back when shown a picture of the building I had wanted to go up for years was in fact exactly where I was haha…

Once again a feeling of “what a way to end the day” crept in only for Doug to abruptly announce “time to go” in an immediate fashion and we raced to the very distinct lotus shaped building in front of a Marina Bay Sands which houses the Art Science museum and again Doug had already booked us into 2 of their more… out there experiences.

The first a virtual reality experience which I must admit I still can’t understand what was going on, some form of history meets advanced life forms and whilst the novelty of it provided some good moments it was largely just a confusing story told with uncomfortable googles on! I did however get a great video of Doug swinging on his chair looking like a loser!

The next exhibit though was actually really quite a bit of fun, a crossover where art meats technology, full of colour where you also create the art yourself! yes you wind the clock back, take out the crayons colour a shape ( in our case squid) for it then to be scanned in and projected on a giant installation.

Despite a prescribed 1-2 hours to complete the exhibit we were done on 20 minutes and in this time the heavens had opened as only they can do in tropical Asia!

Undeterred though it was back to China Town to track down “Satay Street” after a thorough drenching we were met largely with a disappointing tourist trap, the rain didn’t help but it was just a host of sellers throwing laminated menus in your face, we left empty handed…

Quite despondent at the satay let down, incredibly Doug still had one more thing he hoped to do. It was at this point I must admit I was pretty much done, and had the satay’s not proved a failure i think we would have been.

But not wanting to end on that note it was back on the metro, a system we now knew like the back of our hands.

We were off to Gardens by the Bay, Doug had tried to explain what was there but I really didn’t understand his excitement. All I knew was we had to be at a certain place by 7.45

After walking, then jogging, then sprinting across these enormous gardens we finally made it to this attraction only to be met with a sign “Due to thunderstorms this attraction is closed”

It was 7.44, I was still unaware of what the rush was but Doug just started confidently walking past the attendant on the door and they didn’t stop him so I raced behind him too.

As we ran further down the path we entered yet another lift and found ourselves on a raised skywalk, looking over Singapore and their Christmas Wonderland inspired gardens all to ourselves.

Well this “thing“ Doug had repeatedly mentioned but i paid little attention to turned out to be one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had (yes, I cried).

For 15 glorious minutes we were treated to a wonderous light display choreographed to a host of my favourite Christmas carols all alone on a skywalk which would usually be boating hundreds of people.

As the step counter the ticked past 25,000 and the last song reached it’s crescendo I couldn’t help but feel we really had just had one of our most taxing yet wonderful days, bring on the next 48!

K x

Hải Vân Pass

 

Insipired by Top Gear we decided the best use of our last day was to motorcycle from Hoi An to Hue along the Hai Van Pass - one of the most beautiful roads in the world. I was petrified, convinced I was going to fall off and hurt myself. We got on the bikes and rode north through Da Nang to Marble Mountain. We went up and saw the most amazing sculptures from 1,000 years ago and hiked to the highest vantage point (not fun in 38 degrees and 80% humidity!). 

We then set off around the Hai Van Pass which was an hour of amazing scenery and stops. It was VERY hot and time for a cool off at the waterfall which was amazing. Another half an hour later and we were at lunch, fresh lobster on the beach for only $50! Finally we drove through a tiny fishing town and as the clouds rolled in arrived at Hue airport. 

Time to fly, stay a night in Ho Chi Minh and fly home to Australia now.... 

Hoi An - City of Lanterns

 

We arrived at Da Nang airport eventually, along with our bags, and were picked up by our hotel and driven the 40 minutes to Hoi An. After checking into the hotel, we decided a drink and snack was in order as it was SWELTERING and we hadn't eaten all day. We wandered over to the hotel restaurant and ordered a Mango Caprioska and Pina Colada of course as well as some spring rolls. The spring rolls were incredible, they were triangle shaped and had a whole prawn. Doug of course HAD to know how to make them. We already had an offsite cooking class booked in for the next day, but after some chatting, we also had a cooking class booked in with the hotels executive chef! 

Always the talker, somehow Doug got chatting further to the waitress and she ended up reccomending we get some clothes made. No less than 2 minutes later, Doug was on the phone, chatting to her uncle, who offered to pick us up and keep the shop open late!

We ended up doing the Hotels "street food" banquet that night before heading into central Hoi An to meet Doug's new tailor, Moon from Rubin's Tailor. Doug ended up settling on a peacock velvet smoking jacket and a shirt and I, a copy of a Viktoria Woods coat. We walked through the streets back to our hotel and settled into the room, ready for a 8am start to our day of cooking!

We woke up and ate very light before crossing town to Miss Vy's cooking school. As Vietnam is really struggling for tourists, we ended up on a private tour for the huge sum of $45 each! We wandered around the local markets, and let me tell you, it is a genuine shock we didn't get sick all trip despite the questionable food storage solutions! After spending an hour learning about the market (women work there, while the men are at the cafe!) and walking around, we were ready to start cooking! Clearly not my forte as I struggled to chop, boil or do any other basic skills but we learnt how to make a cabbage soup, rice paper rolls, vietnamese pancakes and spicy chicken! All were amazing! 

Hoi An was by FAR the hottest place we'd been so after our self cooked lunch we headed back for a quick dip before visitng our tailor! A few alterations here and there and we were back at the hotel for our second cooking class of the day.

Doug has been desperate to learn how to cook a good satacy sauce so we learnt that, our special spring rolls and another version of vietnamese pancakes. Once again, I struggled and was asked to step aside! 

After a few chill hours we headed back into the city to finally pick up our finished pieces from the tailor. They were amazing and we were both so happy with the finished products. We were struggling to get home, so Moon offered to drive us on the back of his bike. Probably by far the least responsible thing I've ever done! 

After we dropped off our goods we headed into the Ancient Town to see all of the lanterns. It was so magical just walking around, however was acousted by a small girl and her Mum to take photos with me! It never ends!

Off on a motorbike tour tomorrow through to Hue and then hometime! 

Nha Trang

After a 6.30 check in to our Clifftop villa at Mia resort we headed down to the hotel restaurant, which also happens to be the #1 restaurant in Nha Trang. We had a very quiet dinner where we debated the differences and benefits of Coke Light vs Diet Coke and had an early night in.

As it was dark when we checked in, we really didn't know what we were in for. Waking up on Monday morning to our view was magical. We headed down to brekky and checked out the beach. This was one of my two allocated R&R days so I did just that. A morning of reading, followed by a light lunch (calamari and prawn salad - yum!) and an afternoon of reading. We had a few cocktails at Mojito Bar, drank the champagne they left in our room and then went to the "Italian" restaurant at the resort (we were staying about 40 minutes out of Nha Trang so not alot around). Turns out due to COVID they only operate one menu across the entire resort (which would have been max 15% full) which was totally understandable. We shared a few things and had another early night.

It was an early start the next morning as we were off to Vin World, Nha Trang's very own theme park! It's actually an island off Nha Trang that used to be accessible by cable car but since COVID only by boat. It was SO EMPTY, like most things have been to be honest. We didn't wait once for a ride or even to get on the boat or into the theme park. There couldn't have been more than a few hundred people at the movie world sized park. We went on a few roller-coasters and it was nearing 11.30 and getting unbearably hot so we changed into our bathers and went to the water side of the park. Lots of water slides and obstacle courses (both in and out of the water) and we didn't have to wait once! By about 1.30 we were both exhausted so headed into Nha Trang for the first real time. We ended up having a late lunch at the Sailing Club which was a trendy restaurant/bar on the beach before catching the 3.30 courtesy bus (runs 3 times a day) back home for a swim. We both were feeling average (too much sun) so popped a movie on and had room service pizza in bed.

A 6.30 start on Wednesday morning meant only one thing, diving! We got a quick but filling brekky in and were picked up at 7.30 from the Hotel and driven to the Nha Trang Marina. The boat drove about an hour to our first site where we went down 18m and spent 50 minutes under the water. We saw alot more than we were expecting, bright purple and orange coral and lots of little nemo hiding. We then drove to our second site which was far shallower but we got to navigate through rock formations and I made a few fish friends along the way. Afterwards we were exhausted so made our way back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon before heading back into town for dinner. We ended up accidentally going to the opening of a very nice Thai restaurant! Not as good as Brighton's Thaicoon but still very good haha. Afterwards we walked back to the Sailing Cub and crashed some tech company's event which was funny. We hung around as the next bus back to the resort was at 9pm.

Our final day was another negotiated Katie R&R day. I had my biggest sleep in of the trip and woke up at 8am! We then had a lazy morning and had a late breakfast at 9am, hoping it would get us through until dinner. I finished a book and started another while Doug tried to read (he's on page 177 which isn't bad!) until it was happy hour! A few Mango Mojitos later and it was time for dinner. We ended up having dessert in bed in front of a movie.

Our last morning we both woke up at 6am, not ready to leave so we had an early swim as the sun was rising. A very sad and quiet brekky followed, with us vowing to visit again and prepping eachother for the big day of travel ahead. A quick cab ride to the airport and our plane was delayed by 40 minutes. We only had a 1hr45min transfer in Ho Chi Minh enroute to Da Nang so we were getting anxious. The flight was only 50 minutes but we were late and counting the seconds until our checkin gate closed. We split up, as Doug ran for the checked luggage, I sprinted up and around to departures trying to check in 5 minutes past the due time. After a well placed argument with the poor man at Viet Jet and what we were pretty certain was a $25 bribe we somehow were checked into our flight in "Sky Boss" class no less. Although I've never had to carry my checkin case through airport security and onto the plane.... at least we knew it was going to arrive on the flight to Hoi An with us!

Saigon

Feels a little odd to be writing this when the only person who read this no longer can but anyway.

After a surprisingly easy flight and immigration process despite COVID, we arrived into Saigon at around 9.30pm on Saturday. After being harassed for 45 minutes by dodgy taxi drivers we finally got a real one (with a working meter) and were checked into the Hotel des Arts with room service in belly by 11.30.

Sunday morning we woke up, had one of the most amazing hotel breakfasts and walked down to the Saigon Notre Damme. It was built by the French, entirely from French materials in the same design and interestingly also covered in scaffold - although it didn't burn down! We couldn't go in as Sunday mass was running but it was quite amazing to hear all the voices from the choir singing.

Doug was insistant that we went to the central post office across the road which was really nothing special, but some people were taking their wedding photos there and they had 14 bridesmaids! Seems excessive if you ask me!

We then walked down to the reunification palace which was the HQ for the south. And where the famous picture of a viet cong tank crushing the gates to end the war. I particularly liked the 'interestingly worded' captions and information making it sound like the South never did anything wrong, definitely didn't engage in any bombing and it was all just 'extremist groups' haha. As Doug always says, history is written by those who won.

We were clearly in a "war mood" so started to walk to the War Remmants Museum. On the way we met a lovely gentleman who let Doug carry his coconut "stall" for a photo... Doug tried to give him some money to say thank you but the guy wanted to give us something in return, some coconuts.... which somehow Doug was tricked into paying for haha.

The war museum was good but quite confronting, particularly seeing all of the images of the Agent Orange victims and their children.

It was getting REALLY hot so after a stop in the park it was time for some very cold drinks and some lunch at a rooftop restaurant.

We couldn't handle the heat any longer so it was time for a swim and cocktails at our rooftop pool before dinner at Anan (which had been recommended to us a few times).

Anan was amazing, the prawn tacos were so good we ordered two servings! We tried to head to the night markets afterwards but they were closed, a COVID casualty I think. We headed back to the hotel but there was a massive commotion out front and we couldn't figure it out. Turns out Vietnam were winning the soccer final in the SEA Games (like the Commonwealth Games - but for South East Asia). D and I watched the last few minutes while googling the weird and wonderful rules of the SEA Games, like for example the host country can choose ANY sport, no matter how niche and it will be played. This often is a massive advantage as they will choose sports that are only popular in their country!

Vietnam ended up winning and the streets went crazy! People were riding around on their motorbikes and honking until the early hours of the morning. Lucky we were tired so getting to sleep was easy!

Sunday we had a few hours in the morning to explore so went down to the markets and looked around Chinatown (is there a Chinatown in the world that I've not visited?). Our flight out was delayed but we finally touched down in Nha Trang around 5.30 Sunday night.

Rottnest Island

How can you go to WA and NOT visit Rottnest Island! We only had 1 day in Perth so we decided to make the most of it... by leaving Perth.

We had booked a dive in, as Doug is really trying to encourage me to scuba dive as much as possible! Turns out that Rottnest Island has the second best diving in WA (behind the Ningaloo Reef) due to an odd warm front that comes through. We jumped on the boat and got all kitted up. It had been almost a year since my last dive so I was pretty nervous. I had a minor freak out in the water due to not being able to equalize properly, my leg cramping and feeling like it was hard to breathe but Doug calmed me down and away I went. The first dive site was quite deep so we were only in the water for 45mins. It was also really rough water which made the dive quite exhausting! We then sailed into a secluded cove and had lunch. As the water was getting rougher the crew decided on this cove as our second dive site - which I was more than happy about! It was far calmer and shallower which meant the water was warmer, it was easier to swim and the coral and fish were very colourful. I felt like Ariel in the Little Mermaid!

The dive boat then dropped us off at Rottnest Island around 3pm. We went straight to the bike hire, then got some maps and planned out our day. We did a quick circuit of the main pretty beaches before deciding that the most important thing to do was obviously secure our Quokka Selfies.... well, my Quokka selfie - Doug wasn't really that interested. We spent over 2 hours cycling around the island and hunting down Quokkas. Turns out they love the pines that fall off the trees so they were good Quokka bait - not that we really needed it, Quokka's are so friendly and inquisitive they'll just come up and sit next to you regardless!

After finally getting multiple Quokka selfies we settled on a beach nearby and chilled out until the sun went down (which is really early in WA!). Our ferry back wasn't until 7.45pm so we had an early dinner at the pub on the island. We then took a very rough ferry home and packed up our stuff :(

Home time first thing in the morning! Our flight is at 9.15am, but then we're driving straight down to Sorrento for New Years Eve! Happy 2020!

- K x

Margaret River

After a big Christmas Day we threw whatever we thought we needed in a bag and drove to the airport. Our flight was the last one out at 11.15pm and the terminal was pretty quiet with nothing but McDonalds open – lucky we were full from Christmas Lunch! Doug and I boarded the plane for a largely un-eventful flight. We then jumped in our hire car (12.30am Perth time, 3.30am Melbourne time) and drove 3.5hrs down to Margaret River. By the time we got there (4am Perth time 7am Melbourne time!!) we were exhausted and just collapsed.

Day 1 officially started with a biiiiggg sleep in, we then headed to a café just down the road from our accommodation on the beach for brekky. We then ventured 40 minutes south to Hamelin Bay, the beach was beautiful but the main attraction is the wild stingrays. They're so friendly and come up right to the shoreline so I even got to pat a few of them! We then had a very quiet night at the local pub and an early night.

Day 2 we decided to go on a food & wine tour. The bus picked us up at 10am sharp and by 10.30am we had already had 3 glasses of wine! We ended up going to 4 wineries in total. We also had a lunch of locally made cheese, crocodile meat, smoked kangaroo (sooo yum) and other bushtucker berries etc. We then went to the dairy factory - with amazing cheese and icecream and finally a brewery for Doug. By the time we got home we were exhausted so Doug just made some lamb cutlets and we watched a movie.

Day 3 - the weather was PERFECT so we got ready for a beach day. We drove 40mins north to Smith's beach for a few hours and then decided to go to Eagle Bay Brewery for a yummy lunch. Doug then took us to one of the most spectacular beaches I've ever seen, being Castle Rock Beach. The water was sooo blue and the rocks were this amazing red colour. I sat down and read for a few hours and sent Doug off with a snorkel. He came back and advised me that he'd found a secret beach with no-one on it. We walked over what felt like 1,000 rocks and managed to get there. It was even more beautiful than the beach before it and we sat there until the sun went down

Day 4 - Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and we needed to check out at 10am. After a quick stop at the Margaret River Fudge Factory and Bussleton Jetty we made our way to Port Bouvard to see Brian's brother Colin and his wife Mandy - as we were going to be staying at their house in Perth for the next few days. We got there at 2.30pm, fully intending on it being a quick stop to pick up the keys and ended up staying there till 9pm before heading back to Perth.

- K x