Noodles, Dim Sum, and tacos!

Towards the end of September, Travers and I realized that our time in Geneva was unfortunately coming to an end. I had a work trip coming up to Singapore, so in an effort to travel as much as possible before we had to leave, we decided to have Travers come meet me in Singapore and then continue on to Thailand and Cambodia.

I arrived in Singapore the night before the rest of my colleagues, so I had some time to myself to explore the city. I was staying at the new PARKROYAL on Pickering hotel and had wonderful views of the city from my room.

Feeling inspired by the views, I quickly unpacked and then headed out for a walk to explore the city and grab some dinner. I headed towards the Clarke Quay, which is an area along the river that is lined with restaurants and was just a short 10 minute walk from the hotel. As I got closer, I realized this area was filled with people, eating, drinking, and just enjoying themselves. There were locals hanging out on one of the bridges, having their own picnics, and just people watching. I walked around the entire area, checking out all the restaurants where I could eat. I was tempted by the hooters and the mexican restaurant, but decided since I was in Asia, I should eat some local cuisine.  So I opted for a chinese restaurant, where I had a couple eggrolls, a delicious, slightly spicy, beef noodle dish, and a nice glass of wine to wash it all down.





















The next few days were filled with meetings and preparing for the work event coming up, but at night, I was able to go out and continue exploring. I walked through part of Chinatown the next night, enjoying some more Asian food, then had dinner with my colleagues the third night at an Indian restaurant where we ate really spicy foods off of banana leaves. My breakfasts and lunches were spent eating a combination of standard breakfast buffet of eggs and pastries, and delicious dim sum and other Asian delights.  My goal while in Singapore was to eat as much food as possible that we just can't get in Geneva.










By the fourth night, Travers had arrived (yay!) so we were able to explore some more of the city together!  We enjoyed views from the top of the hotel, and watched the sun set, then we headed out to a nice modern restaurant, called East 8, where we shared some Asian fusion tapas.





















From there, we walked towards the well-known Raffles hotel, saw some beautiful churches and buildings, then found a complex nearby that had lots of shops, restaurants and bars. We grabbed a drink, watching people passing by, then eventually headed back to the hotel as I had several long days of meetings ahead of me.

The next few days, Travers explored Singapore on his own, taking a hop on hop off bus, seeing parts of Singapore like Chinatown, Indiatown, and the Islamic area. Meanwhile, I was given a tour of the Pan Pacific Singapore hotel, where my work event was taking place, and was able to catch some views of the city during the car ride over, like the large carousel and the casino in the shape of a cruise ship.












That evening, I took Travers back to Clarke Quay where we found an outdoor taco stand, where we enjoyed several small tacos and some refreshing Mexican beer.Yumm!  










The next day was my final day of working, so Travers explored a bit more then lounged by the pool in the afternoon. After my event was finished, we joined the group for a final cocktail party, then we walked to Chinatown to see a temple and eat some dinner at an outdoor restaurant Travers found earlier where the food was cheap and delicious and the staff was friendly. We ordered several plates of food, enjoying every bite, before heading to a local pub to watch a rubgy match with some of my local colleagues.

The next morning, we packed our things up, said goodbye to everyone and headed to the airport to continue our Asian excursion in Chiang Mai, Thailand!

German Road Trip Part 3: Castles, Breweries, and a Concentration Camp

Our 2nd to last day in Germany was spent seeing two well-known castles, the Hohenschwangau Castle and the Neuschwanstein Castle. Both castles are in a village called Hohenschwangau near Fussen. The Hohenschwangau Castle was where King Ludwig II of Bavaria grew up and the Neuschwanstein Castle was built by the King as an homage to Richard Wagner, a famous German composer, and was the inspiration for the castle in Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

As we approached the castles, we couldn't help but notice the massive mountains that were surrounding us. The castles themselves were large, but the mountains dwarfed them by comparison.










There was a small village at the base of both castles, so we strolled around as we waited for our guided tours to start. Then we headed up to the Hohenschwangau Castle first. We weren't allowed to take photos while inside, but we were able to see all the private rooms of King Ludwig II and his parents, King Maximillian II and Princess Marie of Prussia, and were able to take a few photos of the spectacular views surrounding the castle.

 After the hour long tour of the castle, we headed directly over to the Neuschwanstein Castle for another tour. The hike up the hill was long and it started to rain, but we were surrounded by some beautiful trees and views, and were able to make it inside before we were too soaked. Once inside, we, again, weren't allowed to take photos, but we saw a lot of the banquet rooms and bedrooms, and at the end saw a short film about the potential plans King Ludwig II had for the castle, but was unable to complete before his death. Then as we were leaving, we saw the Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge), which provides spectacular panoramic views of the Neuschwanstein Castle and the surrounding mountains.

 After our tour, it was still raining, so we bought two ponchos and decided to head to the Marienbrucke to get some more views of the castle.  The hike was long and uphill again, but well worth it for the views. We didn't spend too much time on it though as the drop to the river below was stomach-lurching and the tons of tourists and rain made it a very shaky experience.

Thoroughly soaked, we said goodbye to the castles, got back to our car, and drove to a brewery called Kloster Andechs Brewery & Monastery. We sat in the traditional German beer hall, ordered two of their Doppleback Dunkel beers and shared a large pretzel. The warmth of the beer hall, the rich taste of the beer and the salty pretzel was perfect after a day in the cold rainy weather.

We walked around the rest of the property, seeing parts of the monastery and posing with some of the unique statues on the grounds.

We eventually headed back to the car and drove to the town of Aying and checked into our final hotel of the trip, Brauerigasthof Hotel. This hotel was very welcoming, in a charming white house, and had a great restaurant on the main level where we celebrated Travers' birthday one night early. We had a fancy dinner with a french-speaking waiter (he apparently thought since we said we were from Geneva, that we could understand everything he said in French, but he slowly realized we only understood a few words here and there and eventually switched to English).The Ayinger beer was just as tasty as the other breweries we had been to, and coupled with good food, it was a great birthday dinner. And the next morning we were able to check out more of the property and some neighboring goats and geese!

Leaving the countryside behind, we headed to the Dachau concentration camp just outside of Munich. We signed up for a two hour tour of the grounds, and lucked out with a really good tour guide that gave us a ton of history of the camp, of Hitler and of the war.  It was a sobering part of our trip, but we left feeling like we learned a lot and would definitely recommend others to go there.
























To brighten the mood and end our trip on a happier note, we headed into Munich city center, to the famous Hofbrauhaus to have our final German beer and food.





















Getting our fill, we finally headed to the airport to fly back to Geneva. It was a successful road trip, with lots of history, castles, food, and beer.  Now that we're back in the states, we get really excited when we see beer menus that have German beers from the Andechs and Irsee!