Part 2, Week 23: June 24-30
- Katie and Webster
- Jun 30, 2019
- 6 min read
This week we finished exams and made our way up to Asia to start our summer of adventure!
On Monday Webster had his second exam in the afternoon, so I spent the day studying at UTS. I managed to sit in the same spot for six hours without getting distracted! Webster was relieved to have his second exam done so in the evening we headed back to our AirBnB for some relaxation.
On Tuesday I had two exams back to back. I spent the day studying at school. Webster ran some errands, watched Hawaii Five-0 and began to pack up for our departure.
In the evening we spent a few hours playing with baby Gabriel. Our AirBnB hosts have a baby who is now 10 months old. He has grown so much since we last saw him in March. He was moving very quickly and singing along to songs.
On Wednesday Webster had his last exam, yippee! He celebrated with a new pair of running shoes since he had worn out the pair he brought. I spent the day studying for my last exam.
In the evening we had our favourite, Spice Alley, one last time. We got it to go so we could get some laundry done and I could keep reviewing. It was just as good as always! We spent the evening celebrating Webster’s birthday a little bit early before our busy Thursday.
On Thursday, it was Webster’s 22nd Birthday! Yay Webster! We woke up super early to head to Circular Quay to see it one last time. We took the train down to the water and had the whole Opera House to ourselves! We took some photos and enjoyed the view. It was a great way to start off our last day in Sydney.
Then I headed to school for my last exam, yippee! Webster spent the morning doing some last minute laundry, errands and packing everything else up. I got back from my exam at 1pm and we immediately headed to the airport for our flight out of Australia. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the place we have called home for 5 months but, we were so excited to explore the world some more which made it a bit easier. We spent the afternoon and evening on a six and a half hour flight from Sydney to Bali, Indonesia. Bali was our first stop in Asia and one of our quickest. We only spent two days in Bali, but made the most of it all. Webster slept the ENTIRE flight and I watched the new Netflix series called “When They See Us”.
When we arrived in Bali we quickly made our way through immigration (got another passport stamp!) and then grabbed our bags. We had scheduled a pickup through our hotel and met our wonderful driver at the arrivals lounge. We couldn’t believe how busy the roads were at 11:30pm! There were cars and motorcycles everywhere doing their own thing! On the way to the hotel we were chatting about life in Bali and I mentioned that I collected Starbucks mugs. He was nice enough to make a pit stop on the way to the hotel for me to buy two mugs at a local Starbucks.
Once we got the hotel we were amazed at how beautiful it was, even in the dark! Everything we designed with cultural influence and beautifully kept. We were greeted with a cold towel (much needed) and refreshing coconut upon arrival. We got to our room and were amazed at how beautiful and big it was! It was like an apartment! Our balcony was as big as our room, had a full couch, table and TV on it! They definitely wanted to create spaces where you could live outside during your stay. We unpacked a bit and finally got to sleep around 11:30.
On Friday we woke up bright and early to explore the hotel. We stayed at the Fairmont Sanur Beach Bali and we would highly recommend it. The hotel is surrounded with beautiful gardens, temples, and of course the beach. We explored for a little bit and then headed back to our room for some breakfast. We were celebrating Webster’s birthday so we ordered some room service and enjoyed some eggs on the balcony!
Afterwards we got some bikes from the lobby and headed to the beach for a ride down the boardwalk. The beach in Sanur has a well maintained path along the sand. It was nice to have a path to follow while on our ride. We stopped to watch boats going out, people parasailing, and fishing!
In the afternoon we soaked up the sun by the pool! The hotel had a huge infinity pool overlooking the ocean. We lounged by the pool, went for a dip and just enjoyed the sun! It was 32 degrees, much different from windy Sydney earlier this week.
We spent our evening watching the sunset on the beach and then going for Webster’s birthday dinner on the pool deck at dusk.
On Saturday we woke up at 5:30am for a sunrise breakfast on the beach. We took our shoes off and enjoyed breakfast at a table in the sand. We started with coffee, fresh squeezed juice, fruit and pastries. Then we ordered eggs, bacon, toast, all the breakfast specialties. It was amazing to be on the beach, enjoying the view and breakfast!
After our early start we stayed on the beach and played catch for a few hours, laid in the sun and watched the fisherman catch nothing.
In the early afternoon I headed to the spa for my Balinese massage - it was spectacular! Webster spent some time walking down the boardwalk and had a traditional Balinese meal at a little beach shack. He was in heaven!
We spent the rest of our afternoon by the pool relaxing and enjoying the view! At 6pm we headed for the airport in preparation for our flight to Singapore. We were again amazed by all the motorcycles and how quickly they weave in and out of traffic - so different from home!
We can’t say enough good things about the Indonesian people and the Fairmont Sanur Beach hotel. The resort was impeccably clean, the service was phenomenal and the beach/pool amenities were great too! We are so glad we made the choice to spend a quick 48 hours here on our way to Singapore.
We got on the plane at 8:30 pm and flew three hours to Singapore. When we landed there were tons of fans for some famous K-Pop stars arriving in Singapore - we followed along with the crowd and Googled the stars afterwards.
Once we cleared customs we collected our things and headed to the Jewel - the world’s largest indoor waterfall in the arrivals terminal. The Singapore airport is amazing. There are tons of shops, restaurants, and displays (waterfalls, botanical gardens, fish ponds etc.) Since it was past midnight we decided we would come back early before our departing flight to spend some more time exploring the airport. We arrived at our hotel at 1:30am and had a much deserved sleep before exploring on Sunday.
On Sunday we woke up bright and early to call the Canada Day party happening at Gmoms. She had a full house of guests and we wanted to be apart of the fun. It was nice to chat with everyone at home.
We started our morning early with the Hop-On-Hop Off bus around the city. We rode the red and yellow lines to get a good overview of the city. We saw the Singapore Flyer, Orchard Road Shopping, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Botanical Gardens, Raffles Hotel, Little India, Kampong Glam, Supreme Court, and City Hall.
After the Hop-On-Hop-Off the clouds weren’t looking to good so we decided to check out the National Museum of Singapore. We spent a few hours reading about the history of Singapore and the Asian and British influences on society here. It was a great crash course of the city and we found it really interesting.
For lunch we checked out the Liao Fan Hawker Centre, the world’s cheapest Michelin Star restaurant. The meal which cost $5 SGD = $5 CAD, was white chicken breast coated in a soya type sauce, rice, and some garnishes. Yes, if you can believe it, we both tried it (that includes me)! While it was a fine meal for $5, we didn’t really think it deserved a Michelin Star.
After lunch we spent the afternoon exploring the Marina Bay Sands mall. The mall sits on the bay, under the Marina Sands hotel, and is over the top luxurious! We enjoyed browsing the shops and people watching. We treated ourselves to a luxury milkshake I had seen on Instagram, and oh boy…it was delicious! We ordered a Cookie Shake from CrazyShakes. It was obviously designed for the picture and they had tons of other cool looking shakes too!
In the evening we spent a few hours walking around the Bay and taking in all the sights. The bay is the main “tourist” area in the city. The Marina Bay Sands hotel, mall, casino, sits above everything with the three towers, all connected at the top. We walked across the helix bridge, past the ArtScience museum and past all the tall office buildings.
We finished our night with a swim at our hotel before relaxing and watching some national ping-pong on TV!
This week we are spending most of our time in Singapore before heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this weekend. We are going to visit a total of 9 Asian countries this summer and we are really looking forward to sharing our adventures with you! Thanks for following along!
Comentarios