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!