After traveling for over a month we made it to our last stop on this journey: Singapore. Singapore was another incredible, bustling and growing city which reminded me again a lot of New York City. Singapore, an island city-state off southern Malaysia, is a global financial center with a tropical climate and multicultural population. I prefer walking around cities instead of taking an underground subway system and since there was no Hop-on-Hop-Off bus tour available walking was the best way to explore a few different areas. We visited Chinatown and Little India and later that day the Waterfront Promenade. When in Singapore I highly recommend spending at least one night at the famous Marina Bay Sands. We stayed the whole time there and it was a different experience for us as well. I usually prefer small hotels, after Bali I felt ready for a huge hotel complex. Marina Bay Sands is unique and different compared to other big hotels but in my opinion worth the money. The views are incredible and it is the only hotel with an infinity pool at that height which offers breathtaking views over the city. The restaurants are excellent and the cocktail bars are unique. We enjoyed the last few days of our trip and sipped the first night on a Singapore Sling overlooking the city.

Peaches are another favorite fruit of mine. Like most orange fruit and vegetables, peaches are abundant in catenoid nutrients, the antioxidants that protect fatty areas of the body – e.g. the liver, skin and heart, including the brain, which is 60 percent. Peaches are rich in potassium, vitamin C and iron. If you haven’t I would recommend adding them into your diet. If you buy peaches at the farmers market or your local grocery store I recommend choosing a fruit which is still firm and only a little bit soft with a yellowish, crem color in-between the red areas and don’t get the one with bruises – they spread quickly.

Gedang Mekuah is a traditional Indonesian green papaya soup. During our stay at Munduk Moding Plantation in Gobleg, Bali, we got the chance to cook this soup the traditional way. It was a completely different experience and I highly recommend doing it. You get another chance to dive deeper into another culture and learn more about their background.

Ingredients:

• • 1 large, unripe green papaya (1½ lb)
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 6 shallots
  • ½ cup natural/unsalted peanuts
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 4 stalks of lemongrass, bruised
  • 4 large or 6 medium bay leafs

After our stay in Ubud we went farther north to Gobleg. Our next destination was Munduk Moding Plantation where Bali’s skies blend with the water of their infinity pool, the Bali sea and the towering volcanoes in Java where nature creates art. Incomparable views serenaded by birdsong and a choir of crickets. A hideaway nestled in a working coffee plantation surrounded by jungle. Here the real Bali is alive. I’m so glad we decided to go to this hidden place and I got to explore another side of Bali. The location was just breathtaking, the food incredible and the staff very friendly. We stayed at a villa, nestled into the jungle and surrounded by the resorts’ own coffee plants. This atmosphere changed my mind and I felt finally welcomed on the island.