Two drifters off to see the world. . .

We had a good time in Singapore but it was way too hot and humid. On our first day there we decided to take the Singapore airlines hop-on, hop-off tour bus, but after waiting an hour for it, it was overflowing with people so we got off after about 1 stop at the Raffles Hotel. Sarah got some teppanyaki-style ice cream at the Raffles Creamery. The teppanyaki-style ice cream is created by blending ice cream with toppings on a cold marble slab. We shared a delicious chocolate ice cream with oreo cookies and fresh strawberries blended in. instead of ice cream, Eero opted for a famous Singapore Sling from the Raffles Long Bar. We knew the Singapore Slings were pricey but we didn’t expect them to be about $25. At least we can say we tried an authentic Raffles Sling and got some free peanuts out of it.

After our expensive ice cream and Sling we headed over to see the Fountain of Wealth. The fountain is supposed to be the biggest in the world and is supposed to symbolize good fortune the way the water flows inwards or something like that. We were hoping if we walked around it we would have some good fortune, but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance so we couldn’t see it in action. By this point we were really hungry since it was mid-afternoon so we headed to a hawker food market for some cheap eats. There was a sweet potato stall so we decided to try their sweet potato smoothie…it tasted like sweet potato, which we like, but we wouldn’t recommend it as a smoothie.

Next we wandered into Chinatown where we went into the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. It was a beautiful temple and we learned a bit about Buddha in the museum. For supper we went to one of the many hawker food markets where Eero had some Indian food and Sarah had fried carrot cake. Fried carrot cake is not actually carrot cake that has been fried but white radish cut into pieces and stir fried with soy sauce, eggs, garlic, and spring onion…it was tasty.

On our second day in Singapore we went out to the Zoo. We saw lots of interesting animals, including white tigers, elephants, orangotangs, chimps, baboons, mongoose, otters, a polar bear, saltwater crocodiles, giant tortises, hippos, proboscis monkeys, manatees, white rhinos, etc.

After the zoo we went to the Haw Par Villa, otherwise known as Tiger Balm Garden. it was built by one of the Tiger Balm brothers for the other. It is a bizarre place. The description of it from the Singapore tourism website is “Twenty-five clusters of original statues and figurines replicate Chinese mythology characters like the Laughing Buddha and the Fu Lu Shou (Taoist deities). A must-see exhibit is the Ten Courts of Hell, featuring the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. Literal and leaving nothing to the imagination, the statues and sets immortalise moral values and Chinese cultural heritage for generations to come.”

On our way back to our hostel in Little India we stopped at Vivo City, a giant mall, and checked out the view of Sentosa Island from the roof.

While in Melbourne we were lucky enough to stay with Kim and Jim and their 2 Border Collies, Mellon and Brock, who live in Rosanna, a suburb of Melbourne. Kim is Eero’s godfather Dave’s cousin. We had a nice dinner with them on the first night we arrived.
On our first day in Melbourne we went downtown and to the Queen Victoria Market, then took the tourist shuttle for a ride. The tourist shuttle took us past the Shrine of Rembrance, the Botanic Gardens, Federation square, the Sports precinct which has about 9 sports venues (including Olympic Park), the 88-floor residential Eureka tower amongst other sights of the city.
Kim and Jim took us to see an AFL game (Aussie Rules Football) between the St Kilda Saints and Essendon Bombers. We picked up on the rules of the game pretty quick and we both really enjoyed watching the game. The final score was 123-87 for St Kilda. They should bring the sport to Canada!
The next day we took the train back downtown and went back to the market to get some crocodile sausages for supper. They were pretty good. We also went out to St Kilda Beach and walked out the pier where there is a protected little penguin colony as well as a water rat colony.
On our last day in the Melbourne area, Kim and Jim took us for a scenic drive through the Yarra Valley. We stopped at two (Warramate Wines and Domaine Chandon) of the many wineries in the Yarra Valley and sampled some good wines. On the drive back we stopped in Healesville for some delicious meat pies at the Beechworth bakery.

Flying into Sydney, we were picked up by Eero's relatives on his father's side, Peter and June Raengel. We were driven down to their city of Wollongong, and met their son Peter, and grandchildren Peter and Bonnie for a delicious meal. The next day ... [Continue reading this entry]

We decided to take a week long tour to check out what the East Cape offers. We first drove up to Havelock North. We spent the next two days traveling the area between there, Hastings, and Napier. Luckily, there was ... [Continue reading this entry]

After the rain and the west coast, we drove up through Richmond and up towards the Golden Bay area. During the drive inland towards Richmond it dried up a bit. The drive up to Golden Bay was really scenic and the sun was finally out until ... [Continue reading this entry]

We spent our last day in Greece in Athens wandering around until we had to go catch our flight to Venice in the evening. We managed to catch the changing of the guards at the Parliament buildings which was something ... [Continue reading this entry]

After Italy, we took a ferry from Bari, Italy to Patras, Greece. The ferry ride was fun, as we met up with a couple of Vancouverites the day before. We hung out with Devon and Tom playing card games on ... [Continue reading this entry]