Australian Adventure: Week 29, February 5-11, 2023

This week we spent time exploring more of Chiang Mai, Thailand before heading to Singapore!

On Sunday, we spent the morning exploring Chiang Mai and the local Flower Festival that was in the city centre. The festival was huge, spanning multiple streets and parks. Later in the morning, we went to get a local delicacy … civet coffee. Civet coffee is made from coffee beans eaten by a civet, then pooped out, cleaned, and roasted for coffee.

That evening, we headed to Zabb E Lee Cooking School for a Thai cooking class. We made an appetizer (spring rolls, fresh spring rolls, and papaya salad), a stir fried dish (cashew chicken, pad thai), a soup (coconut chicken, sour soup, or thai chicken), a curry (red curry, green curry, or khao soi) and a dessert (mango sticky rice). It was a fun evening, with a lot of delicious food!

On Monday, we had an early start with a local area temple tour. Our first stop was Wat Phra That Doi Suthep - a mountain top temple surrounded by beautiful sculptures and artwork. Our second stop was Wat Phra That Doi Kham - a series of small temples with Buddha’s in each of them. Our third stop was at Wat Chedi Luang - temple with lots of history. This is the temple used by the royal family on their visits to Chiang Mai. At the temple we spent time chatting to monks who were training and improving their English skills. We talked about life as a monk, Buddhism and Thailand. Our fourth, and last, stop of the day was at Wat Phra Singh Woramhawihan with a huge Buddha overlooking the city. It was amazing!

That night, we went to the House by Ginger in Chiang Mai to celebrate our last night in Thailand. We had delicious food, with a Thai flare, and a cool environment.

On Tuesday, we flew from Thailand to Singapore. The flight was about 2 hours and very uneventful. We landed in Singapore with all our luggage and headed to the Jewel terminal to check out the indoor waterfall.

That evening, we headed to Atico Lounge for drinks overlooking the city. We met up with Marshall, a friend from Ontario.

To finish off our day, we headed to Newton Food Centre for dinner. Newton Food Centre is most popular because the characters from Crazy Rich Asians, the popular movie, ate at the location in one of the first scenes. Newton is a Hawker Centre. Singapore is known for its Hawker Centres - outdoor food courts offering cheap, locally made, meals. Everyone got something different from a local stand.

On Wednesday, we explored Singapore via the Hop on Hop off bus. We drove through the metropolitan area and past Little India, Chinatown, Marina Bay and Kampong Glam - all popular neighbourhoods for their distinct historic significance. This was a good chance for us to see what we wanted to do while in the city.

Later in the day we rode the Singapore Flyer - a large viewing wheel, similar to the London Eye. This gave us a great view over the Bay, city, and into the ocean.

That night we went to the Raffles Hotel to have a Singapore Sling, in the first place they were invented.

On Thursday, we spent some time exploring Chinatown in the morning. We walked past unique buildings, temples, and store fronts. For lunch, we stopped at Hawker Chan, the worlds cheapest Michelin Star meal. The chicken and rice dish is world famous for its Michelin star win!

That afternoon, we went to Sentosa Island, an integrated resort built on man made land off the coast of Singapore. On Sentosa there are various resorts, a universal studios theme park, shops, restaurants, attractions and beaches. The highlight of our afternoon was watching Andrew and Selina go bungy jumping!

That evening we spent some time at the pool before heading to a fancy dinner at estate.

On Friday, we started our day in Kampong Glam, the Malaysian neighbourhood in Singapore. We walked past golden temples and beautiful buildings.

Then, we checked into the Marina Bay Sands hotel - iconic! Our rooms overlooked the Gardens By The Bay super trees. We spent the evening enjoying the 57th floor infinity pool and a delicious dinner at Lavo.

On Saturday, we started our day back on the roof with morning yoga at the SkyPark Observatory.

Then, we headed to Gardens By The Bay, Singapore’s number one attraction. Gardens By the Bay cost over $750 million to develop and is made up of huge gardens along the ocean. We explored three components within the gardens - the Floral Fantasy dome, the Cloud Forest dome, and the Supertree Grove. It was so well kept that Mom said it reminded her of Disney World!

For lunch, we headed back to Chinatown to the Maxwell Hawker Centre. Everyone got their own thing, but we all fell in love with Coffee Queen - delicious iced coffee for $2! In the afternoon we walked around Marina Bay for a great view of the hotel, the mall and the Merlion. We enjoyed an evening at the pool watching the sunset.

That night we went back for one last night time swim, with all the lights lit across the skyline. Then, we headed to the Marina Bay Casino to finish off our night!

This week, we are heading to Bali! We are exploring two parts of the island, one area on the beach, and another in the forest/rice terraces.

Thanks for following along with our adventures! See you next week!