Singapore Day 3

Our day began at the beautiful and luscious Gardens by the Bay, a nature park covering over 250 acres. Comprised of two glass domes, the conservatories replicate a Mediterranean climate and a cool moist climate of the Tropical Montane region.

from the flower dome

Two of my favorite things, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet and the Traveling Family art piece

We were lucky enough to be there for the Christmas exhibit

Including this adorable tree snowman

Last stop before heading to the airport for a 1:20am flight was practically mandatory when in Singapore… the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar where it was invented in the 1920s.

Very last stop before we go was at The Jewel, across the street from the airport. It has the Rain Vortex, the worlds largest and tallest indoor waterfall at 130 feet high.

Singapore airport has been voted the nicest in the world 7 years in a row. I can see why. It’s incredibly organize an efficient. And has art exhibits like this one that are intoxicating and relaxing.

And just like that, my first trip to the Far East is in the books. Thank you for coming along on my journey. I very much hope you enjoyed the ride ❤️

Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha

Our next stop after lunch was Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha. The Reclining Buddha was built by Rama III in 1832. A reclining Buddha represents the entry of Buddha into nirvana and the end of all reincarnations. The statue is almost 50 feet high and over 150 feet long. The figure has a brick core that is covered in plaster and then gilded in gold.

The soles of the Buddha’s feet are inlaid with mother of pearl displaying symbols such as elephants, flowers and tigers

There are also 108 bronze bowls visitors drop coins into for good luck. The 108 represents the 108 auspicious characters of Buddha.

Lots more really cool and fun statues

And ancient acupuncture paintings

Yoga statues

Street food

Singapore Day 2

Our first full day of touring Singapore required sustenance. Luckily, this incredible full spread buffet was included (good thing too as lunch was literally a sandwich each and a bottled water and it was $108! Singapore is expensive) Ice cream at a breakfast buffet? Don’t mind if I do!

Fueled, rested and ready to go, we first took the elevator up 57 floors to the top of the iconic Marina Bay Sands. Opened only in 2010, it’s hard to imagine the Singapore skyline without it as it seems no matter where you are, this three towers with the boat on top is your background.

The ground floor is shops and restaurants and these giant potted trees are actually an art exhibit called, “Rising Forest”

The elevator goes one floor a second so in less than a minute, you are at the top. I was disappointed nothing happens in the elevator. I was surprised there wasn’t video like you find in the elevators for 30 Rock or the new World Trade Center in NYC that tell the time lapse story of each building.

Views from the top are lovely and on clear days you can see Indonesia

The world’s only floating stadium and the seats are individually cooled

The Helix Bridge or DNA bridge because, wait for it… it looks like strands of DNA

The Singapore Flyer wasn’t working while we were there. Our tour guide said it had been down for about two weeks. Fun fact: the wheel originally turned counter clockwise but Feng Shui masters convinced the owners that the wheel was bringing fortune out of the land, instead of towards it, because it faces the financial district and then turns around towards the east and open sea.

The company reversed the wheel and made it rise up on the eastern side and then turn towards the financial district – supposedly a sign of bringing fortune inwards and flowing to the city.

The SkyPark of Marina Bay Sands (the boat part) has an infinity pool that is over 600 above ground. The SkyPark is accessible only to hotel guests for security reasons.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Gardens By The Bay. Here is an aerial view

Overlooking all of Singapore

Our tour guide, Jeremy. He was with us all three days and was one of the best tour guide I’ve ever had. Very personable and fun and really knew his city.

Up next was a trishaw ride through Little India

Followed by a scenic cruise on the Singapore River where we went from a bird’s eye view to a water view and our guide had some fun taking pictures with me.

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One of my favorite things to see was the Merlion. A Merlion is half lion and half fish and is the official mascot of Singapore. The fish body represents Singapore’s origin as a fishing village and the lion head represents Singapore’s original name, Singapura, meaning “lion city”.

A cub was later added that you cannot see from the water but you can see on land in Merlion Park

We were on our own for the aforementioned expensive lunch and we checked out the mall adjacent to our hotel. Singapore seems to be endless malls and shopping is a sport here and could definitely be called the national pastime. I’m not a big shopper myself but I do always enjoy seeing how locals spend their time. I don’t know how anyone affords to live in Singapore and I’m used to NYC prices! This mall had a whole section of high end stores including Ferrari Junior, Gucci and Dior that were just children’s clothes. The adult versions were at the other end.

I loved this adorable Tiffany’s little mouse Christmas display

And I could have lived in this tea shop

Starbucks is everywhere but my local Starbucks doesn’t carry prawn mayo chia seeds sandwiches

You can see from the crowds in the food court, the malls are a popular spots

We went back to the hotel to clean up for our dinner at the members only China Club. Located at the top of the Capital Tower, the China Club serves traditional Chinese food in a tea house setting

The menu

Mandarin Oriental Singapore

We left the ship around 9am and checked in to the Mandarin Oriental Singapore for three days post cruise. The Mandarin is beautiful, as to be expected. It is supposed to be shaped like a fan and you can kind of see that from the shape of the hallway.

They were decorated for Christmas starting with this beautiful anchor tree underneath a gorgeous endlessly draping chandelier in the elevator lobby.

Even the public bathrooms are filled with orchids and little touches of beauty

Our room wasn’t ready yet so we decided to check out the rooftop pool. There are worse ways to kill time.

This is the kiddie pool area. Pretty darn nice for wee ones

Originally we set up shop in chairs just under an umbrella

But a cabana opened up and I did not pass go nor collect $200 in my mission to get to it. My pale, easily burned Irish skin prefers complete protection from the sun 😜 Not having to reapply sunblock constantly is a total Yahtzee!

The cabana also had a refreshing ceiling fan and a speaker you could connect your iPhone to to play your own music.

The wonderful cabana boy brought us drinks and food. I got the Hibiscus Margarita and Patra got the Mandarin Sling. We then shared a caprese sandwich and truffle fries

I waited my 20 minutes after eating (okay, no I didn’t) loaded up on sunblock and took a dip in the pool. And by dip I mean I was obsessed with just soaking on these leaves. Sooooo relaxing and serene

One last walk around the rooftop pool before heading down as our rooms should be ready. The pool has great views of the Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Flyer. Turns out our hotel was in a fabulous location. We could walk almost anywhere we wanted to go.

The room was a basic room with two beds and a pretty nice bathroom

It did include these nice local drinks. They both tasted great but I really loved the apple

Turned on the TV and good God, they’re everywhere! Now with mandarin subtitles.

What Does A Typical Sea Day Look Like?

Most mornings I wake up and ring our awesome butler, Dhiraj to please bring me a pot of coffee. He always did with a big smile

Once fully awake, I’d hit the gym and use the bike. I eat a lot on these cruises so I have to move a lot!

Breakfast for me is usually at the Coffee Connection coffee bar. I like to grab a yogurt and some nuts/seeds and berries but there’s quite a few other options for a quick breakfast and a full coffee menu.

On one day they did a nice brunch in the main dining room, Compass Rose

And every Sunday morning, Regent does a Champagne and Caviar Breakfast in La Veranda where the daily breakfast and lunch buffets are served

Noon on sea days means Bingo, which is held in the Horizon Lounge

I don’t usually play Bingo but wait for my friends who play on the back deck right off the Horizon Lounge

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Lunch is either a sit down in Compass Rose or a buffet at La Veranda and the Pool Grill. Today was a liquid lunch in the form of this glorious and refreshing frozen margarita and this gorgeous blueberry tartlet because… I’m on vacation!

I then lounged around for a while and took a dip in the pool and hot tub.

While not very exciting, I like to pack light and take advantage of the free laundry on Regent

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Mind you, I’d rather be here but my knickers weren’t going to wash themselves

4pm begins my favorite hour on board. It starts with daily afternoon tea, many with themes. The two best on this cruise were donut and brownie. In addition to the themes, every afternoon tea also included fruit, cookies, finger sandwiches and scones The pastry chef was great and creative.

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Trivia is immediately following in the observation lounge

Regent passengers take their trivia VERY seriously and to place is hotly contended. Mensa follows and you can earn points for both to win prizes like T-shirt’s and hats at the end of the cruise. Sample Mensa quiz below. You can pick these up in the morning in the Library to work on them throughout the day.

After trivia I get a quick walk in on the top deck. Deck 12 is sports deck. There is a jogging track (7 times around is a mile), shuffle board, croquet, tennis courts and a putting range.

And a little time relaxing on our private balcony before getting ready for dinner

Because we haven’t eaten in 10 seconds, our butler also brings us daily canapés before dinner. They ranged from prosciutto wrapped melon to cheese plates. We requested potato chips and mixed nuts daily.

This evening was an exciting one for us because we were asked to dine with the ship’s chief engineer and hotel engineer, whom it turned out couldn’t not have been lovelier or more engaging.

The service, food and company could not have been better and the Chef even came out to meet us

We really made some great memories that dinner

There is nighttime activity on board but we usually just go back to our room. There is a casino on board we occasionally hit and every now and then we’ll go to a lounge for an after dinner drink and some music or occasionally shop at the stores on “Main Street” (the main corridor on deck 5. The full days activities available are listed in the Passages. We are not show people but some on board love them.

Overall, I love a nice mix of sea days and ports. I love to see the world but I don’t want to come home exhausted

Connoisseur’s Wine Lunch

Our last day on the Regent Seven Seas Voyager was a sea day and we opted to do the Connoisseur’s Wine Lunch. Almost everything is included on Regent from most alcohol to excursions to business class airfare but this was an extra fee and well worth the $169 (especially since we used our cruise credits to pay for it!) We’ve done a number of these on past cruises and they are always a highlight. The pairings are excellent and the head sommelier is always informative.

The reds were breathing and the whites were chilling

The lunch was paired and organized by the Voyager’s Head Sommelier, Rajesh. He is a level three master sommelier which is very impressive

Upon entering Chartreuse, the Voyager’s specialty French restaurant, we were greeted with champagne with Kir Royale. So sweet and tasty.

They then brought out the really good champs, a 2009 Dom Perignon paired with a ceviche of scallops and lobster with mango salad and orange vanilla syrup

The whites came first and I’m not a huge white wine drinker but this Sauvignon Blanc (Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Edmond 2017) was fantastic and my top two of the day. It was especially divine paired with the warm goat cheese and raspberry tomato salad

Next up was a Chardonnay I did not like at all but the banana bread pairing was unexpected but delicious

Yay! The reds are coming…

My hands down favorite combo was next. The Tommasi Amarone Della Valpolocella with the roasted beef tenderloin. The tenderloin was a perfect match and was literally like butter. No knife needed. The carrots were like candy!

Last, but definitely not least (for me anyway) was the Inniskillin Ice Wine. I loves me some ice wine and may, or may not, have had mine and my neighbors. Paired with a delicious fig cake with red berry sauce and vanilla ice cream.

While everything was perfection, nothing came close to our Chateau Margaux in Chartreuse a few nights before. Margaux is my all time favorite. We had it with a delicious meal and some scrumptious desserts. The French know what they’re doing!

Kuching, Malaysia

We had a serene sail in to Malaysia

We watched these beautiful dancers and listened to these wonderful musicians from our balcony

We received this lovely and warm welcome from the locals once we got off the ship

As a crazy cat lady, I really looked forward to visiting Kuching, which means “cat” in Malaysia and our first stop was to the Kuching Cat Museum, the world’s largest cat museum with over 4,000 insanely quirky cat related artifacts.

You start at this adorable entrance

Then work your way through the four galleries with everything from cat statues, posters, other artwork and even a cat food display

Next we drove passed some cool architecture on our way to the Orchid Park dripping with gorgeous flowers everywhere!

One Night in Bangkok (technically two but…)

We hired a private driver and tour guide we booked through our travel agent before we left home. It turned out to be a great idea. Birt really knows his homeland and Noon was great driver.

Our first stop was The Grand Palace

There were beautiful etchings built in to the walls that if you brought charcoal and paper you could do them

A 2000 baht fine equals about $66 US

And they take the dress code and no Buddha tattoos very seriously. My knees and ankles were covered and I still had to buy a skirt for $3 US to cover the little bit of skin that was showing.

A few more videos around the Grand Palace and outside of it

Sailing Away from Saigon

Sailing away from Saigon and towards Nha Trang was surreal. Looked like something out of a movie with all the cargo ships in the distance first in the fog

And then day turned in to night with the sky still burning

Rough weather is expected overnight but that’s good sleeping weather. When the ship rocks like that it feels like you’re being rocked to sleep in a comforting way. For me at least.