Melbourne....first stop in Oz!

G'day from Melbourne! I have to say the Australians are the nicest, friendliest people and exceptionally helpful! In order to better cope with their slightly different English accent I watched Offspring and Sisters on Netflix, both filmed in Melbourne, which it looked great with a mix of Victorian buildings and modern architecture. Hasn't helped too much with the accent, which, in terms of full disclosure, I actually really like!
My flight Sydney to Melbourne flew over an extremely dangerous bushfire near Canberra and the smoke from it was very obvious......

Despite the unexpected rain on arrival in Melbourne I was not about to waste any of my time in the city...... so off I went in search of a tram! Their trams are great and in the central part of the city completely free!!

First stop would be the Queen Victoria Market,opened in 1878......I had heard it is closed on Sundays!  No longer! It is huge! With an amazing range of stuff! I did not notice the No Photos!!

And of course food.....

Evening meal was in a super local restaurant Higher Ground. Can throughly recommend!

No rain the following day so on to exploring!
First off down Flinders Lane in search of small graffiti lanes.... updated regularly!
Amazing!

Then on to check out St Paul's Anglican cathedral.......

Emphasis seemed to be on the Coronovirus......no touching hands in the usual sign of peace!

Its sign outside was a little more welcoming than that received on the US/Mexican border!

Across the street from the cathedral is Flinders Street Station....

Then on to explore more remnants of the  British......
There are two covered arcades from the 19th century.....
The Block Arcade from 1892......

And then next door there is the Royal arcade.... a little more austere...

Nice architecture........

Coops Shot tower which was preserved ......

And then on to Chinatown..... it was th Lunar New Year...Year of the Rat!

Then on to the National Gallery of Victoria.......

which had a Keith Haring exhibition.........

And then to end the day watched a little tennis! The Australian Open was in its last day in Melbourne and everyone could watch in Federation Square.......that is Thiem..... but not the end game with Djokovic!

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!