Singapore highlights!

It seemed like a great idea to visit Singapore after a visit to Nepal and Bhutan........ it is however a 6 hour flight! Sort of like flying across the US! But the only choice was an overnight flight so it actually worked out OK.

We arrived early morning  to our hotel  the Parkroyal on Pickering ....which was a great hotel....

our room on the 14th floor looked out on greenery.... amazing!

The pool area was also fantastic.....

and we had access to a private lounge on the top floor......with a great view!

 Chinatown was on our doorstep...........

...we spent our first  afternoon on a bumboat....

to give the lay of the land......and see where we would afterwards check out by foot.

The top of the Marina Sands hotel gives an amazing view of the city...

however I am not sure I would feel comfortable in the pool.........

The Gardens by the Bay, with its iconic Supertrees, is fabulous..

Any visit to Singapore should include a visit to  the old colonial area of the city.....
particularly a visit to Raffles hotel ...........

and its historic bar and their famous  gin sling......

There are lots of interesting museums.....giving the history of Singapore.....

and a visit to the National Gallery in the original City Hall building, is not to be missed
in particular the rooftop bar....

 with its amazing view...possibly the best in the city!.

Bhutan continued.......

Before leaving Bhutan we had a few other places to visit!
Paro Dzong  was  visited........as beautiful as the others we had previously seen.....

Entry is through a beautiful painted hall...

.........with its Mandala

We visited the National Museum.......

 which had a great view of the Paro valley with its rice fields........

...and overlooked the Dzong......

After placing prayer flags on a bridge........

we visited a family farm where 17 generations of the same family have continuously lived........

.... several generations still there at the moment......

.....we had seen some of this basketwork at the museum... no photos allowed there!

The produce of the farm was rice...... easy to attend to out their backdoor!

....finally we had an early morning flight out  .... passing by the illuminated Dzong..... en route to the airport.......

and with fairly close contact once again with the mountains.......easy to believe that it is a land of around 75% mountains!

......and from our plane we also had great views of Mount Everest...... not quite as close!

Ultimate challenge.....climbing to the Tigers Nest, Bhutan

Just about every travel guide book to Bhutan has the iconic Tiger's Nest on its cover!

How could we resist!

We knew it would be a challenge going from the Paro Valley up to the monastery at 10,200 ft.
Looking up from our approach from the valley it did look daunting......

Its the small white square on the cliff face....definitely more than a little daunting!

One has the option of taking a mule half way up.... but no further! and one needs to walk down.

We opted to definitely hike up!
One needed to stop every now and again to adjust to the altitude......
The path initially was relatively easy......

However it changed fairly rapidly and indeed the path became a little treacherous in parts.....

and one was sharing at times with the mules!

We were told to stay put on the hill side to allow them to pass.......
was the alternative  that one might fall/be pushed down on the valley side  by a startled mule??!

The half way marker was a welcome sight..the drop off area for the mules..

followed but the prayer wheels.......

and then followed by a welcome stop at a tea room......

The view of the monastery was a little closer....but still a little way off!

....at this point we were definitely getting closer.......

and were able to get a great view of the valley below........

BUT......we still had to go down.......

cross a bridge over a waterfall.......

...and then up again on the other side to reach the monastery......

Entrance to the temples of the monastery is restricted and all belongings needed to be checked before going past guard..........so No Photos!

We were very happy to stop once again on the way down at the tea house and noticed that the rose had bloomed while we climbed!

We were very happy to get back to our beautiful hotel, the Zhiwa Ling........
to a welcome massage and a hot stone bath!