Cruise Life - A Week at Sea!

All Aboard the Royal Caribbean: Mariner of the Seas!

I've been contemplating how to do this blog post. As this was the most 'relaxing' time of the holiday I wasn't always taking photos -however, I did film a lot and it am trying to put it into a video so please stay posted for that- but I'll dedicate this post to the time on the ship. It was astounding, the ship was absolutely stunning and it was hard to believe that all of it was floating. 

With Singapore (and hopefully the humidity) behind us it was time to sit back and relax and live the lavish life of what I like to call 'A Cruiser'. No this is not a sugary vodka premix drink that 15 year olds drink. This is someone who enjoys being waited on hand and foot and likes to spend lush amounts of money at the bar drinking cocktails and discussing all the travel they've done in their life.

Our ship was 'The Mariner of the Seas' and I cant say that without thinking of it being said in a generic American accent. That aside, the ship was gorgeous. I honestly can't even explain it all so if you're interested in it, give it a quick google search and prepare to be amazed.

Here she is in all her glory. It looks impressive from the outside but just wait until you see inside. There are two separate pool areas. One more for families and young children and the other you have to be 16+, not because it is more difficult, but its a place where you can relax without screaming children. It was also more private. 

Our room was on deck 6 and it was one of the rooms with a little balcony which was quite nice. Kris sat out there and read a lot. 

The view from the bed out to the balcony. Kris reading and open water.

The first afternoon / evening on the ship we mainly explored and I tried to get my head around what direction was what. I got so confused wether I was heading to the front or back of the ship and what side I was on. At least the elevators had what day of the week it was so, I can be thankful for that. 

We were starving when we first got on the ship and our rooms wouldn't be ready until 13:00 so we wandered down to the Royal Promenade (the place with all the cafe's and shops) to see what was on offer. We ran into some others from our group at a cafe and had a bite to eat and just chilled out until it was time to go to our rooms. We purchased a drinks package too, there were a few you could get we decided to get the bottled water, softdrink, juice, coffee, mocktails etc one, the alcohol/all inclusive one was just that bit too expensive and we couldn't see ourselves really taking advantage of it on such a short cruise. When we wanted an alcoholic drink, we just paid for it. It wasn't too much. So with out new drinks package in hand, we chilled at the cafe. With our package we got a complimentary travel cup. (little did I know this would be the first in a long line of Royal Caribbean merchandise) 

We were now able to go and check out our rooms. Ours was really easy to get to from where we were sitting at the cafe, the cafe was the floor below us. 

Once putting the rest of our luggage in our room we decided to find where the 'lunch room' was. This place is basically a buffet from 06:00 to 10:30 for breakfast 11:30 - 16:30 for lunch and then 18:00 - 21:00 for dinner and then opened up later for 'late night snacks'. It had a whole heap of different foods, a huge Asian selection, an Indian selection, and a large Western selection. It was heavenly. The place was called 'The Windjammer' Cafe. Kris and I kept reading it in a German accent and calling it the 'Vind-yammah'. This became a long running joke throughout the whole cruise. We bumped into mum and Lindsay up there having lunch and we made plans to meet back here for lunch at 18:00ish..

We were hanging out in our room when a voice over alerted us that we would have a practice emergency drill. So that happened, there were different check out points to go to, ours (Kris' and mine) was A03 which turned out to be the Lotus Lounge.

We now went to wander and explore the ship some more and on our way out of our room we were introduced to our (what I liked to call) Room Nanny. This guy was basically in charge of our section of the deck and if we needed something we were to contact him and he'd go out and get it. It was pretty good, but I wasn't used to having someone run down the hallway for me just to open my door when I was already standing at it, so at times it got a bit annoying. My bag had just been delivered and Kris' had not so we were wondering where it was. Nevertheless we set out to see just how much grander this ship had. When we came back to the room we were informed that Kris' bag had been taken down to security. We got a little lost on our way there but we soon found the room to find that there were a heap of other people coming and going so I didn't feel so much like a criminal. I saw that someones iron had been confiscated so I was a lot more at ease. It turned out that we weren't allowed to use our power board and a heap of other people had theirs taken as well. We would get it returned to us on our way off the boat, it was all catalogued and stored away safely so that was nice. We think that it is because they don't want to overload the circuits with a power serge or something like that. 

FOOD TIME! We met up with Mum and Lindsay in the 'Vind-yammah- for dinner and then discussed what we'd do afterwards, everyone is given a 'daily planner' thing with everything that is offered on board for that day, we saw that there was: Karaoke at 20:15 on Deck 3 in the Dragons Lair so we decided we'd go to that after dinner to see what it was like. It was pretty cool, there was another group of Australians there having a go and some other too. I got up and sang one song (I was nervous as hell) I sang Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and P!nk. It was really fun and I've never sung in front of my mum before (except for choir) so that was nice (we went back to karaoke on the second night with our whole group and I sang again, this time I did 'All That Jazz from Chicago and I got asked to be in the finals on the last night - that was exciting and terrifying). After that we wandered around the ship some more before heading to the cafe and having a drink and snack. By the end of it, it was about 22:30 so we decided to go to back to our rooms (mums room is on the other end of the ship) and chill out and we'd meet up for breakfast in the Vind-yammah in the morning. That was Day One and the rest of the days basically went like that. Breakfast in the Vind-yammah then the whole day doing activities on the ship and then dinner at the restaurant. The restaurant was apart of our booking package. It was basically a free silver service restaurant. Our two waiters were lovely and we had heaps of little jokes with them each night. The food here was exquisite, obviously not the buffet style we have breakfast and (most times) lunch at. 

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Every night there is a new menu and the food is so delicious and the best part is that we didn't have to pay for it, it was all included in our package. YAY! The first time we ate here though was on the second night. Kris and I didn't read that it was one of the 'Formal' nights so we felt a little under dressed but there were quite a few other people who obviously didn't get the memo and that made me feel better. 

This is what I ate on the first night. Starter, Entree, Main and Dessert. 

Top Left: Bay Scallop Gratin; Melted garlic-herb butter and olive breadstick.

Top Right: Chicken Breast with Seasonal Herbs; Grilled breast of chicken with rosemary, served with assorted vegetables.

Bottom Left: Carved Filet of Beef Tenderloin; Morel-crimini mushroom sauce and creamy whipped potatoes.

Bottom Right: Lemon Meringue Tart; Individual tart with lemon curd and perfect soft meringue.

Now, I'm not one to usually take photos of my food, and I felt a little strange doing it in a place so beautiful as this, but I had to, and obviously I didn't do it every night but the first night I did and this is what I ate. Everything was cooked to perfection. I am sad to have to come home and cook for myself now.

Cruise life is great, there are always activities offered on board, such as shows, talks, classes being held, demonstrations, movies, events and more. I went to as many as I could but also made sure I relaxed by the pool because it was so lovely, and also, FREE FROZEN YOGURT! What more could you want out of life.

We spent the next few days enjoying what was on offer. The ship had docked in Vietnam but Kris and I decided to stay on board. I kind of felt a little bit regretty because I felt like I should get off the ship and see everything, but we had a really good day on board, when we met up with mum and Lindsay (who went into Vietnam) they said that the tour was alright but we didn't really miss anything, that made me feel so much better. Kris and I played mini golf on the top deck of the ship and got an awesome view of the area we were in, in Vietnam. We spent the day by the pool and then hung out in one of the bars later that night.

The ship was amazing. It is hard to believe that so much could fit. One of the nights we went to see a show in one of the theatres. It was a magician doing some slight of hand tricks and at the end he was suspended in the air and escaped from a straight jacket, the guy was australian and it was a really cool show. He made some jokes, pulled people up from the audience and everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

When we got back to our room that night there was a little pig on our bed. The people who make up our rooms at night leave little animals made out of towels on the bed. Its so cute, there is a course held on one of the days that teaches you how to make some of the animals and me, Kris, mum and Lindsay went to it. We learnt how to make so many things, make sure you watch the vlog to see that. We also went to some napkin folding classes, the one below is the Sydney Opera House. I made that and I'm so proud of it. I feel like I need to go out and buy some linen napkins and have extravagant dinner parties just to show off my skills in napkin folding.

Floppy ear dog            ~            Rabbit            ~            Elephant            ~            Turtle

When I'm putting it in writing it doesn't seem like we did much, and to be honest it doesn't matter if we did or didn't because even just being on the ship was doing something, though every day we did do 3 - 5 activities plus down time and three meals. 

The next stop off was Hong Kong and we did get off the ship here to spend the day exploring. To read that Click Here.

We were at sea for another day and then stopped off in Xiao Man, it didn't matter if you were staying on the ship or not, everyone had to get off at some point of the day and get checked by Chinese Customs. We didn't have any tours booked, but went off and went through the immigration anyway (as we had to) we wandered through the docks and took a few photos. This was the first real taste of "no english" I encountered. Even in Hong Kong some signs were still written in English along with the characters. The only English I saw was underneath the characters and that was telling us which entrance was ours to return to the boat. 

It was a lovely and sunny day in Xiao Man not rainy like Hong Kong but certainly on the cooler side. The buildings glistened in the sun and you could hear the hustle and bustle from the nearby markets. I would have liked to go to the markets but we didn't have any Chinese currency. Mum and Lindsay went though and they picked up a few little things. 

I spent the afternoon at the pool. As it was colder, I was definitely more keen for the hot tub than the pool. I loved the atmosphere by the pool, there are so many people of so many different walks of life and different shapes and sizes and not one of them had any fucks to give about their 'bikini body'. It was a place that made me feel at comfort rather than making me want to sit in a dark corner and hide my shame. 

The last few days from Xiao Man to Shanghai were pretty easy. Mum and I went to a heap of the classes, I took some Mandarin lessons (its difficult) and we even saw an ice show, yep on board along with all the other cool bits and pieces there is an ice arena. We saw the show and it was spectacular. We were in the front row and I had a grin across my face the whole time. 

The show was called "Ice Under the Big Top" (circus themed) and it was fantastic. It makes me want to go see more ice shows because the amount of talent these people have is phenomenal. 

There was a scene? skit? whatever they call it, it was like the scene from Moulin Rouge the 'Spectacular Spectacular' scene and it was great. Mum and I were super excited. 

After one of the big scenes a girl came out and then they lowered a hoop down and she did a gymnastic performance full of lifts and swirls and amazing spinning on the ice. She would be spinning so fast on the ice and then the hoop would lift her into the air and she'd still be spinning. It was so beautiful because there were only a few spotlights on her and the music was so peaceful. 

They did other stunts in the air wherein which large ropes would drop down and the girls would climb them and then some of the guys would spin them around. I kept thinking to myself "I hope their skates are on tight" I just kept panicking that someone would lose a body part. It seemed like there were some close calls and some near misses but these guys are professionals I'm sure they knew what they were doing. 

To fit in the theme of 'Under the Big Top' they had a scene where they were all clowns and they came racing in and out of the audience and everyone got involved. It was truly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

One thing that annoyed me though, while yes I was taking pictures I was also clapping and cheering when stunts were done. People seemed to be too involved in trying to get the perfect shot they didn't bother giving credit to the performance that was going on right before their eyes. After every flip, twist and spin I was clapping and wooing and in utter amazement (as were other people, don't get me wrong)  but there were so many others who had their iPads up in front of their face or something like that just not giving the performers what they deserve. It was quite sad to see really, but I cheered and yelled whenever I could and I always got the bigger smiles and winks from the performers and that made me happy (mum and I even got some high fives from one of the guys). 

It was coming down to the last few nights on board. There was another 'formal dinner' event in which yes, we did get the memo. It was nice to dress up and put some effort into our appearance. We all had dinner as a group. All ten of us. Me, Kris, Mum and Lindsay, Sue and Steve, Roz and Drew and Zelma and Max. It was nice eating dinner with a big group, but I did miss our table staff.

Our last night on board had me with mixed emotions. I love the 'cruise life' and the people on board are lovely however I was really excited to experience Shanghai, and I was a little bit ready to be home - not that I was wishing my time away, that is the worst thing you can do on holiday / while you're traveling. I was just excited for new things but really happy to stay on the ship with the amazing people I've met.

The dinner staff on the staircase

We had dinner at our usual table and it was delicious, as always. When we arrived in the dining room there was a speech happening, all of the wait staff were on the staircase they'd just finished singing a song and they were thanking everyone for a lovely time etc, it was really nice.

Its hard to see them all (and some weren't there as they were waiting tables etc) as the columns block out some of the view. The dinner guests all came up to the railing to hear the speech and the song.

Huge chandelier and all three levels of dining rooms.

This is the dining room we ate in every night. We were on the top level, this one was called 'The Sound of Music', the middle level (which I didn't go in) was 'Top and Tails' and the bottom level was 'Rhapsody and Blues' (or something similar). They were all colour themed differently, but all united by the grand chandelier and winding staircase that went through all three levels. 

The Rhapsody, was a dark royal/navy blue and white theme. It was lovely in there, we ate lunch there one of the days. Top and Tails was red and gold themed and The Sound of Music which to be honest was my favourite was purple and white themed. The chairs were white/cream wood with purple velvet cushions. It was just so fancy and nice. It had golden accents and beautiful columns. 

I was actually a little upset to have to say goodbye to these two. To the left is Lu and the right is Anwar. They were our waiters. They joked with us the entire time we were on board and made our dining experience exceptional. Mum and I were 'showing off' with our napkin folding skills and that caught the attention of Lu, so he grabbed one of the napkins and made a tiny little boot, it looked like an elf shoe (it will be in the video) and then he made a little baby swan and drew eyes and a little tuft of hair on it and gave it to me. It may seem like something silly but it was actually so nice. I took them both home with me and they're sitting proudly in my dining room. 

The last night on board meant the karaoke finals. I was not expecting so many people to be there, because whenever it was run as an activity hardly anyone was there but for this they changed venue to a larger one and it was packed. I was the last one to go up, I was a little nervous but didn't really worry that much about it. No, I didn't win, an older gentleman did, he sang New York, New York and did a great job of it. Everyone else came second. (but if you wanna get tricky and put a place on things I came third because my name was the second to last called out (; )

Once karaoke was done, we made our way back to our rooms and started to pack. I think I could get very used to cruise life, if only I had the money. If anyone wants to sponsor me. Please feel free to do so. (;

When we got back to our room, we found this on our bed. This is Moe (see Singapore blogs for his origin story). The night staff had made a brontosaurus out of towels and placed Moe on top and put it in the middle of the bed. This makes me want to set up a guest room and have people over all the time so I can impress them with my towel folding and napkin skills. 

We had an early start yet again in the morning, and with that I leave it here. I'll be dedicating another blog post to the time in Shanghai. Thanks for reading. 

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Hong Kong Adventure!

Time to get out and explore!

So far Kris and I have stayed on the boat the whole time, we didn't get off in Vietnam for a few reasons, but Hong Kong is something I've been excited for since I found out it was one of our destinations. We were spending the most time docked in Hong Kong and I had hoped we could go to Disneyland, we had planned for it but when we were on board and talked to the 'help desk' people, it was made clear that we wouldn't be able to go, basically because of the time the ship gets in we spend a whole night in Hong Kong but only half the day, so we do have the most time there but not beneficial to us to go to Disneyland, nevertheless we were going to get off and explore it anyway.

We got in to Hong Kong at approx 21:00 and seeing the city lights float by was beautiful. 

Hong Kong from the view of my balcony.

At dinner our waiters were all busy with excitement because a lot of them love Hong Kong or are from here they were excited to get off the ship and have a good night, it was really nice to see them excited for something, even though this is their job, they get some downtime in a place they love and it was really nice to see. 

We had booked a tour for 07:30 in the morning which meant we had to be up and have breakfast by 07:15 at the latest. I'm not a morning person at all so this was kind of difficult. I was pleased however to notice a definite change in the weather. No longer was it hot, sticky and humid. It was now quite chilly and I was able to wear jeans, and boots and a big warm coat - what I like to call my travel attire. 

Our tour was a hop on; hop off tour. When we were left the boat we were taken to a long line of coaches and we were then stuffed in and whisked off to our meeting point. It was about a half our coach ride to our meeting point,  I was fighting to stay awake. When we stepped off the coach we were promptly ushered to a new bus - one of the hop on hop off tour buses - a giant double decker bus -we got on board and made our way to the 2nd story. We were all given a super sexy yellow rain poncho. 

 It was really windy on the top of the bus but it gave us the best views and I was all cozy and wrapped up in my coat that I didn't care. When it started to rain however. I did care. 

Kris and I took this chance to take some great couple photos. The one on the left is a nice one and the one on the right is our 'Its so damn windy' photo.

We did however happen to get a good couple photo at one of our destinations so that made me happy. Our first stop was called 'The Peak'. It involves a tram ride up a basically vertical hill that gives you the best views of Hong Kong. The tram ride was kind of scary, it started off ok but then went very steep. there were no seat belts and the seats were just wood. Not very comfortable. You could actually feel gravity pulling you back. What made me worry is that there were people standing!
The tram ride felt old and rickety and it honestly didn't feel like it was going to make it all the way up. About half way up we jolted to a stop and I freaked out, we rolled backwards for a bit and then stopped. After a few seconds I realised that this is intentional as we were stopped at a beautiful clearing so you could see the city of Hong Kong.

Just look at the angle of the rails. That is what angle we were on, on the tram. That is how steep the hill was that we were going up. Even though the seats were uncomfortable and it felt like my head was going to roll off my shoulders due to the gravity, I would highly recommend 'The Peak' tram ride. It is a massive tourist attraction in Hong Kong and totally worth it.

The views from the way up were lovely, but when you reached 'The Peak' it was gorgeous.

The View of Hong Kong from The Peak.

Even thought the wether was cold and rainy, it was still clear enough for us to get a good shot. Just imagine if it was a blue sky sunny day. I'd love to come back to Hong Kong. 

Pinky also enjoyed The Peak. I pretended that he was Godzilla until I remembered that Godzilla terrorised Japan and not Hong Kong. ): 

This little guy is more traveled that some people I know. 

I'm not scared of heights, like I've mentioned before in my travel blogs, but being up this high did for a second make me a little nervous - mainly worried about dropping something. 

I was super proud of my mum for being up here and looking around, I know she's scared of heights but she did this anyway.

It got quite a bit more cloudier after this photo was taken and started to rain a bit, it got quite slippery so we didn't stay up here for long.

There was a section at the top where you could write little love notes. I couldn't really read what it was for because it was in a language I don't speak. It reminded me of the 'lock bridge' in Paris. Because this doesn't seem like its going to weigh the whole building down and collapse I decided to write mine and Kris' name on a card and hang it up.

We then managed to take a pretty decent selfie. 

We then walked back down to the tram. Going up the hill was scary, but going down was even worse. In stead of facing down the hill, we wen't down backwards. It was unnerving but obviously we made it out alive. When we were waiting for the tram I noticed the cables used to pull it up the hill, the were as thick as my arm, massive industrial cables and a huge pulley system. Once I saw this I felt a little bit better about going back down.

From the platform you cant even see where the tram line goes it, it looks like it just drops off the planet. and when you're going down, it kind of feels that way. We only had to wait about 10ish minutes for the next hop on hop off bus to arrive, so we hopped on the bus and continued our tour, this time it went down into the sea-side section of Hong Kong. Unfortunately it started to rain and we got soaked, I ended up wrapping myself up in the ponchos so it wasn't so bad. The area we went to was beautiful though. Unfortunately because we were wet from the rain and on the top level of the bus kind of freezing from the wind I did develop a cold, it hit me when we came home so at least I could enjoy the rest of the trip without coughing up a lung. (:

The guid said that in summer the beaches are packed with people and there are often sea-side markets. The markets happen all year round, but are more popular in the nicer weather. We didn't get off at the markets like we were thinking because we were fast running out of time. We caught this bus back to the drop off point and this is when mum and Lindsay left Kris and I. 

We wanted to explore some of the city more and we wanted to try and do some shopping. So we caught a bus back into the hustle and bustle of the city. It was so overwhelming. The buildings and the stores were crazy. We got some of our money exchanged and set off. 

We didn't end up buying anything which is ok, but we had a little trouble getting back to the ship. We had intended on taking a taxi. We had only seen one ATM the whole time we were walking around and that made me a little nervous. When we went to ask how much it was to get to where we wanted we realised we didn't have enough cash and taxis didn't take card. So we were now in a bit of a pickle and a race against time we new it would take us a half hour to get back to the ship and we knew that there weren't many ATMs so we set off on a hunt and as we didn't know where we were, we just walked in every which way. We found one after 10-15 mins of walking about, but when we got to it, it was bank specific we were a little worried now, but then at the end of the same street there was another ATM that we say that would take our card. We walked to a hotel at the other end of the street and caught a cab from there to the ship and the day was saved!

It might be super tricky to see, but this is the shot of the ship from in the taxi on the way back. 

Once we got back, we chilled out in our room for a bit let mum know that we were back on board so they didn't worry about us missing the 'On Board' time. We wen't up to the lunch buffet and had a bite to eat, we hadn't eaten since breakfast earlier that morning and it was now mid to late afternoon. We had a small lunch because we knew dinner would be soonish and delicious. 

Dinner was exquisite yet again and afterwards we decided to go down to one of the bars and get a cocktail. We usually get 'The Drink of the Day' which changes daily, but you get to keep the glass. We came home with 8 of these glasses, it would have been more but to start with we didn't know we could keep the glasses so we left some behind. ): 

There is going to be a heap of footage of Hong Kong in a video so keep a look out for that on my YouTube Chanel for that. I hope you're enjoying these holiday posts as much as I enjoy writing them. 

There will be one coming out soon of the rest of the cruise time and then another one dedicated to Shanghai. 

Thanks for reading about my little Hong Kong adventure. (:

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Singapore Day Three: at the S.E.A Aquarium

Woo! This is one of the things I've been most looking forward to! Sentosa Island! 

We did the usual breakfast ordeal then back to our rooms to get ready. We usually meet down stairs at 9ish. 

We organised our tickets for the day. We were getting a cable car to the island, going to 'Madame Toussauds' and then the aquarium. We didn't like the ticket guy he was too salesy so if we wanted to buy more tickets we'd do so on the island. 

We caught a taxi to the top of a mountain thing to get the cable car to the island. It was great. I loved it. Mum had a little issue with the heights and so did Kris, I inky felt a little queasy when we were over the water. But after two seconds. I was fine. 

Madame Toussauds was basically in front of the cable car station so we went there first. It's only a new attraction (to my knowledge) on the island and wasn't very busy. We went through a section about the history of Singapore which I found really cool it was kind of a skit with actors and stuff. They called upon people in the audience and of course I got targeted first. It was fine. We had fun. Actually, the only people to be called upon were people in our group. We then went on to the wax figurines and posed with some celebs. I am not at all ashamed of the fact I groped Leonardo Di Caprio. There weren't as many figurines in this one as the one in London but it was still cool. Most of the photos are on my camera so I'll upload them later. 

The aquarium was next. We walked down to 'Merlion' plaza. The Merlion is the simbol of Singapore. It's pretty cool. 

Head if a lion tail of a fish = MERLION! He's my fave. 

Now in to the aquarium! 

I may have taken this photo at the same time others were posing for theirs. 

The aquarium was amazing. This is my favourite one I've been to. Then Melbourne and Barcelona. The lighting was Amazing so you cod actually see the sea creatures and everything was so clean. We were in one of the tunnels where you can see the sharks etc swim over you, and a man was posin for a photo I kept trying to dodge it but he kept coming over to the area I was for a better opportunity so he asked if I wanted to be in a photo. So I said sure. Haha. I posed with him and then a little while later he asked Kris and I to be in a photo with his friend. We did. Thank you elderly Chinese men for making this experience super duper fun! We were walking through and we were pretty amazed by what we'd seen so far. But then we came to an entire wall of aquarium. Kris and walked up to it and just sat there for 15-20 minutes watching the sea life. I could have stayed all day and not got bored. 

It was absolutely massive and so beautiful. There was a big blue groper fish whose eyeball was the size of a Ping Pong ball who kept looking directly at me. I felt like he was looking into my soul. After another 5 minutes staring at this beautiful place we started to wander off and look at some more pretty things. One of my favourite creatures to look at are the jelly fish. They're so peaceful to watch and usually glow or have some defining feature that makes them pretty. 

I love this photo so much. It doesn't even look like there is glass separating us. 

Once we finally finished wandering through the ocean we came to the end and of course the gift shop and also our weird tradition to get a fur baby souvenir this time we adopted into the family...

Jenny!

Why Jenny? Well do you remember that JLo song? Jenny from the block? Well... We were singing that in the taxi for some reason and when we got home I was singing it about the octopus but with some slightly modified words (those who hate puns look away now) "don't be fooled by the rock-pool I got, I'm still (I'm still) Jenny with the spots."  

So yeah. That's how she got her name. 

After the aquarium it was time for food. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now time for a late lunch. On the way to the aquarium Kris saw a place where you make your own pancakes and this was intriguing so we decided we'd go there. We were sitting on a bench after exiting the aquarium just relaxing in the humidity, when a bunch of women say down next to us. I shimmied over to give them more room. They were all taking photos and I jokingly slid over and smiled next to an elderly woman they all laughed so I slid back over to let them take their photos, but they asked me to come back. It was the elderly Chinese men all over again, but this time in a group photo, a single of me and the original woman and then one lady on either side of me. It was all in good fun and we were all laughing. She showed me the photo at the end to get my approval. I wish I had taken a photo with them on my camera. ):

Lunch time! Time for the pancake place. It was called 'slappy cakes' I kept reading it as sloppy cakes. Haha. It was so cool! 

This is almost like the places where they cook the food at your table. Instead you do it yourself! There is a menu you order what kind of batter and toppings you want and then cook them on the hot plate that is built into the table! It was so cook! I had buttermilk batter and strawberries and whipped cream, Kris had whole grain batter (he wanted zucchini but there were sold out) and mushrooms and bacon bits. Making the pancakes was so much fun!

Top left: my drink, lavender lemonade. It was delicious. Lavender infused syrup mixed into lemonade. Was very sweet at first bit once mixed in. It was perfect! I want to try and make it when I get home. 

Too right: the table set up! Hot plate, batters and toppings! 

Bottom left: Maturity levels through the roof. Both our batter bottles together to make the word butthole. Yep. 

Bottom right: one of the pancakes I made "I should be at uni" we made some other ones too I'll have to add them later. 

I totally think the pancake kitchen should have something like this. It'll make it so much cooler! 

The last place for the day was the butterfly and insect house. It was so beautiful. We just walked through and there were butterflies everywhere. The 'guide' just picked them up and put them on our hands. It was so lovely. 

The butterflies are huge! Some as big as my palm others bigger! 

The insect part of this was actually pretty cool. They had an 'Australian' section. Which there were like all the beetles. I'm like... Yay?

We trundled our way through the rest of that and then went to the cable cars to go back to the hotel. We caught a taxi back (it look a little while to get one but we managed). 

Back at the hotel we caught up with everyone and just chilled out for the night. Kris and I ordered room service for dinner. Because we didn't feel like going out again. We had burgers. But the buns were black. Not burnt but, just how they're made. With bamboo charcoal. Wicked huh. 

We just hung out in the room and went to bed. We had a busy day. But tomorrow we leve Singapore to get on our cruise! Yay I can't wait. Internet might be a birch patchy so I'll update when I can!

Singapore Day Two: Gardens and Markets

Today was packed to the brim with activities. After a full day yesterday of flying and the night safari. We went to bed at 11:30 ish at night, but Adelaide time.. That is approx 2:00am so we were knackered. We woke up at 6:30 to go down and have breakfast at 7:00. Something that we're not doing tomorrow. Haha breakfast can be at 8:00! But on the topic of breakfast. Oh my lord. It was beautiful. It was a full buffet breakfast, the price was included in our room fee so that was something we didn't even have to think about. The breakfast restaurant was beautiful and Kris and I were seated at a window view (we later moved to have breakfast with everyone once we noticed they were there too). 

Breakfast is on level two. We catch the elevator down from our rooms. But from the ground floor you take this beautiful staircase up. It reminds me of beauty and the beast. Just imagine Belle coming down the stairs in her beautiful yellow gown.

We filled up on breakfast. I had a very multicultural dish, because there was just so much on offer. They had some steamed dumplings etc which I didn't go for but Kris did and he liked them. I had some steamed noodle salad, a hash brown some scrambled eggs and I thought "Yep, this is awesome, doesn't get much better than this". Then I saw some fried rice so I had a spoon of that. I got my glass and sat down. When going up to get my juice I noticed they had an Indian section. (Died and gone to heaven) I had a scoop of chicken curry. (All scoops were half the size of my palm). So I had a multicultural tasting platter. I was so happy. When I went to get toast. I noticed an entire section dedicated to different breads. I came back with a croissant and the intentions for a pain au chocolat. I finally got my fruit juice and set out to conquer my plate. 

Today was Lindsay's birthday. Which is basically the reason we're on this holiday. So it was his choice of activities for the day. There were a few things that everyone wanted to do and so we all decided that today we'd do the gardens and tomorrow the aquarium. We finished breakfast and then went back to our rooms to get ready for the day. 

Destination: Gardens by the bay.

Mode of transport: Taxi

We arrived after a short taxi ride and the driver was really nice. So that put me in a good mood haha. We walked around and decided to do both of the domes. We started of with the 'Cloud Forest' and make sure you watch the vlog later on because I filmed most of it. We walked through the doors to a dramatic temp change (for the better; trust me) and a huge waterfall covered in tropical plants with a path the spiraled up around the 'mountain'. 

As we climbed up and around the structure, the mist being sprayed on the plants made it look like fog. Hence cloud forest. I won't spam you with pictures of flowers but I'll share a few. 

This is the mist that makes the 'clouds' it was so great. The railing you seen is how high the walk goes. You get a great view of the entire dome and at the top there is a really peaceful infinity pool garden. It was quite slippery at the top and while there was the main path, on either side there was more path but it was see through grates that made me a little uneasy when walking in them but then I realised I'm not scared of heights. So I was fine. Mum was a little sketchy though, but she did great. She's iffy with heights but still made it. Yay mumma.

This is the peaceful pond on the top. It was so pretty. 

On our way down we stopped off at the other floors and saw some of the other 'exhibitions'. There was one dedicated crystals and cave structures etc. 

we spent a good hour and a half I think in the cloud forest area. We entered though a gift shop (as per the usual) and we had a look around but didn't really buy anything. Although I really want to buy a nice fan. I hope I can get one that I can bring through customs. 

Now it was time for an ice cream break! It was so refreshing because it was so hot outside but also so disgustingly humid. I've never felt so refreshed by ice cream, ever. I had choc mint, Kris had Belgium chocolate, mum had mixed berry and Lindsay had a coffee thick shake thing. 

After the delicious ice cream it was time for the 'flower dome' this place was incredible. They had themed gardens from around the world with native plants to those areas. There were driftwood statues of the Chinese zodiac including a majestic dragon and more varieties of flowers than I've ever seen in one place before.

This is the dragon. Just check out the size of it. It's amazing. 

When we first walk in to the dome, we're ushered to our right. I didn't really understand why until I reached the point with the dragon. To the right was just a small section (and by small it was still pretty big) of baobab trees and succulents in a gazillion varieties. It isn't until you reach the high point lookout area where the dragon is, do you see the sheer size of the dome and how many levels there are to explore. 

When going through the rest of the place and all the themed gardens, we found the Australian section. The first plant was a massive bottle brush tree and I felt right at home. They had some pretty unique plants. Some from other states of Australia so that was actually kinda cool. We wandered around aimlessly just taking in all the colour. 

They have a huge section dedicated to the Chinese zodiac and it was one of my favourite places. There was a huge disk with what animal it was with a plaque underneath giving facts about that zodiac sign. Kris is year of the horse, I'm year of the monkey and mum is year of the dog. 

I could have easily spent all day there. But we had to get moving. 

We were going to go to china town and get some lunch then retire back to the hotel until dinner, but we decided to go to the 'Singapore Flyer' instead. Basically the London eye of Singapore. I didn't really care much for it but went along anyway. We were going to take a taxi, but couldn't get one. So we decided to walk. Bad idea. We ended up walking along side the freeway on a small pedestrian strip. We had to 'off road' it by 'sliding' down a steep hill where in which I rolled my ankle and my mood was instantly annoyed. Anyway there were some awesome views on the way. 

That big wheel in the distance; that's where we walked. It was ok. I was just annoyed because I didn't want to go up in big wheel thing and I thought we were taking a quick trip there then we'd take a quick trip back. But oh well we're all good now. Kris and I got a cab back. My ankle is sore and I hope it'll be better tomorrow. I'll just take it easy. 

When we made it back to the hotel we hung out for a bit. Looked over the photos then Kris went out on a little adventure, mainly to have some water and snacks for the room because 'no thank you' to the minibar prices. He came back with some juice, water, home brand Pringles, pocky and these bad boys:

Kris came back into the room and said: "Why have Doritos when you can have chachos!" They were actually pretty good. 

He also got some 'Mi Goreng' but halfway back to the hotel he realised we don't have a microwave. Upon discussion of this we realised we have no forks or bowls either. So, we made it in the coffee cups in our room, we used the tray the cups were on as a lid, boiled the kettle and did this thing old school - cup-o-noodle style. We ate them with tea spoons, and all is well with the world. 

Soon after that the others got back from the Singapore Flyer and we all kinda made arrangements for dinner then hung out. We were gonna go into China Town and see what was there. It was awesome. We caught a bus in then when we reached our destination (a few stops into the hustle and bustle) the streets were alive with activity and culture. 

We wandered around and I instantly got immersed in the street life. The streets were full of lanterns and coins because of the Chinese New Year. As it's year of the goat, there were so many statues and lanterns about; it was stunning. 

We crossed the road and walked down an ally full of stalls and restaurants we found a place to eat but as there were now ten of us, we thought it would be difficult. Nope. They actually rolled out a new table and placed it In the street, set it up with chairs and we were good to go. I had sweet and sour pork with steamed rice. Kris had the same. To drink I had a Singapore Sling cocktail and Kris had a giant bottle of beer, 633ml I think. 

Dinner was great but I couldn't finish it. We all wanted to do separate things after so we kinda spit up after food. Kris and I did a little shopping then walked around the streets of china town before hopping on a bus and walking back to the hotel. We had such a great night and I can't wait for island exploring tomorrow. 

Flight day and First day!

Background: The reason for this little cruise and holiday: It is my mothers' partner Lindsay's birthday this week, and they are going on a cruise around some of aisa with his two sisters (and their husbands) and his mother and her partner. We (Kris and I) were also extended an invitation along with a few other people etc, and we decided that we'd go, because… why not?

Our flight out of Adelaide was for approx 12:00pm which meant I had all morning to freak out and think I've forgotten everything. My sister and her boyfriend picked us (Kris and I) up in the morning early enough for us to get to the airport at 10ish, so we could check in get out stuff sorted and then fill out a few customs forms. We went through one of many checkpoints of scanning and metal detectors wherein which I was randomly explosive tested. That was fun.

 -_-

We met up with my mum and Lindsay (her partner) once we'd checked our luggage. To my surprise my brother had come along for the ride to see us all (Kris, mum, Lindsay and I) off. 

As a snack we had a doughnut. Mine was cookies and cream and it was delicious. I highly recommend 'Delicious Doughnuts' if you're ever at Adelaide airport. Yum!

Soon enough it came time to go through customs and say goodbye to our entourage. I always panic when I have to go through a metal detector or something like that because I think I've forgotten how to do life and think I'll just leave my phone or something in my pocket, set off the alarm, panic, run and then become black listed from travel.

When we finally made it through. We met up with the entourage again, however they were on the other side of a big glass divider. This is when we spent out final moments snap chatting and saying our goodbyes until we were promptly called to take our spot in line and board the plane. I was starting to get super excited now. My nervousness isn't about flying. It's about being late. Now there is nothing more that has to be done. Except get on board and sit for approx 6.5 hours. Awesome. 

Pre flight selfie & Bonnie's artistic talent. 

Once on the plane, Kris and I get to our seats then get as comfy as possible. I got the window seat and Kris got aisle. Mum and Lindsay are a few rows opposite us. But still in waving distance.

Last snapchat sent from Adelaide. The caption says it all. Haha. 

I'm excited for this flight. Because most of the long distance flying I've done has been at night or I've not had window seat. Here are some snaps from my flight!

This photo looks like it's from a magazine. 

On board and tired. But only two more hours to go!

Some form of civilisation underneath us. I have no idea where we are. Haha

So far I've watched 'Whiplash' and 'Paddington' they're great movies. 

The plane food isn't that bad. Lunch was pretty good. I has fish with mushroom rice. It was really good. Kris had the beef in thyme sauce with mash potato. It looked an smelled good. I forgot to take a photo of that meal. But I got one of the next one! This time we had quiche! And omg it was actually so delicious. It may not look like much but it was some if the best damn quiche I've had. 

It was a decent portion size too. 

There was a tiny amount of turbulence during eating time. But I don't really get worried by it and it was so mild. 

Instead of watching another movie. Kris and I played some of the multi-player games. 

I don't know the reason behind this but it seems Kris is some sort of a commodity? I hope for a Simpsons 'Mr Sparkle' situation and Kris is actually a celebrity. 

So fast forward to now. We landed in Singapore hopped in a taxi to our hotel (it wasn't that far) where we met up with Lindsay's sister and her husband (also going on the cruise). 

We checked into our room and then had an hour to just chillax and freshen up because Lindsay's sister had organised our entertainment for the night... NIGHT SAFARI! 

The logo for the night safari is a pair of cat eyes. Which I think is kinda cute.

A coach picked us up from our hotel and took us to the meeting point. We went all through the city and got to see some of the incredible buildings and also some of the china town area. Then we were on our way to the safari park! Shanghai has a separate zoo, lake safari and a night safari. The first two are day time attractions and the last (obviously) is a night time one. I tried to film some but I couldn't take many photos because strictly no flash as it would harm the animals eyes as they're nocturnal etc. and we didn't want to startle them because the majority of the safari is in an open vehicle and there were no fences on the animal enclosures. They were free to roam about which worried me especially when we went past the lions and heyenas. But I'm sure how their enclosures were set up, they couldn't get out or anything. Going past the elephants was amazing. One was less than two metres away and I wanted to have an ET moment with my hand and it's trunk but we weren't allowed to touch.  

After the safari part was done. We went an explored the rest of the park. It was all lit up with lanterns and fairy lights and it was beautiful. I felt like I was in the market place in Aladdin!

We got some food and then while we were eating there was a fire breathing / twirling show. That was pretty cool. After all that we had approximately half an our left so we went around to all the shops and stalls etc. whenever kris and I go to an animal park be it a zoo or wild life sanctuary or aquarium we always buy a little fur baby souvenir. (Our fur baby family is getting quite large). On the safari our favourite animals to see were the wolves. But sadly they didn't have a plush wild toy which I was a little bit sad about. But instead, we saw these really cute heyenas and I instantly named it. His name is 'Moe' because of his little moehawk. 

And on that cuddly note. I'm gonna call it. This has been a fantastic first day!