Singapore
Both Marc and I had been to Singapore before, even once with each other (recounted here). It's my favourite stopover linking Australia with the rest of the world for several reasons. Firstly, Singapore Airlines is one of the best in terms of service, food and comfort. Next, Changi Airport is a delight to roam through if you choose not to check out the rest of the country. Finally, if you plan an overnight stopover or even better, 3-4 days, the country is so compact that you can fit a lot of touristy business in.
Bar Stories
We only had a one night stay on this occasion so we kept it simple. Marc has a couple of good friends in Singapore who took us around. Something that left a really strong impression on me was the menu-less cocktail bars. We went to two, one called Bar Stories and the other called Maison Ikkoku. The two varied in terms of style and layout but the concept carried through. Rather than leafing through a booklet of cocktail options, the bartender asks you for input:
Do you like sweet or sour?
Fresh or creamy?
What kind of fruit do you like?
Maison Ikkoku
I always search through cocktail menus looking for light and fruity options that are sweet but not too sweet so this was PERFECT for me. I sang out my preferences and waited for the goods.
Marc got experimental and suggested he liked spicy, very spicy. The resultant drink was so potent I didn't even want to smell it. Marc managed to down the whole thing but he kept his next order much more conventional.
Our second day in Singapore, Marc took me to Sentosa Island. It was interesting in a very, themepark/artificial way. We wandered around to the Southern most point of Singapore/Malaysia before heading back. I can see how local Singaporeans would like to come here to hang on the beach. It's a bit like Southbank Parklands but on a much larger scale.
Hong Kong
View from the gym at Hotel ICON
I wanted a 4 night stay in Hong Kong because although my family has a HK connection in our past, I had never been there for a proper stay. This time round, we stayed in the Hotel ICON in Tsim Sha Tsui (it was perfect) and didn't have much on our agenda besides walk and explore.
Breakfast from The Market at Hotel ICON
I didn't want to put pressure on ourselves by booking any fancy restaurants that would require commitment and then searching and sticking to times/dates. I'm a planned traveller but I hate locking in things so the majority of our food excursions were of the walk-in variety.
Dim Sum Bar - bottom left is the signature abalone pastry
In Hong Kong, I attempted some last minute bookings to Michelin star yum cha restaurants but alas it was too short notice. We still managed to get some excellent yum cha from Dim Sum Bar (Shop G103, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong).
Macau
Hey Geronimo!
We had a day trip to Macau that served not only to add yet another country to our itinerary but also provided the site of my first, and Marc's second bungy jumping experiece. This was from the highest bungy jump in the world, no less, and I'm proud to say I wasn't even nervous until the last second! Wow it was amazing. Free-falling was scary as anything but on the rebound, I could pull a lever to upright myself and I got a few moments to savour the amazing casino night view. I highly recommend this jump (AJ Hackett Macau Tower). Afterwards, we traversed through the casinos and filled our tummies before heading back to Hong Kong.
Perfect warm, flaky tender custard egg tarts from Macau
Note: the low res photos throughout this post have been lifted from my own Instagram account @tularip
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