Grade levels: Adult

As Valerie says, Singapore is a fine city….that is you can get fined for everything from spitting to chewing gum. So why go? Valerie explains squeaky clean city of Singapore is not only home of the Singapore Sling, but is the gateway to the wonderful Eastern and Orient Express, the world famous colonial era train. We join Valerie as she boards the classic train and snakes her way north-west through the Malay peninsula, through the jungles, past the towering Petrona Towers of Kuala Lumpur, to a stop at the Bridge on the River. There she visits a World War II military cemetery. The trip concludes as the Eastern and Orient pulls into Bangkok’s Central Station.

Here, in the city that straddles two continents Valerie discovers the aromatic joys of a Hookah, the magnificence of the Sultans’ palaces, and the true meaning of Turkish Delight. As Valerie rides across the Bosphorous from Asia to Europe and back she takes us through some of the most beautiful buildings ever made, the Topkapi Palace, home to the Sultans for four centuries – and the centre of the Ottoman empire. After guiding us through the maze of rooms, the grandeur of the vaulted arches, the giant domes, and multiplying minarets, Valerie finds her holy grail – not the Blue Mosque or Hagia Sophia – but the Grand Bazaar. Here she takes tea with carpet salesperson who is looking to ease many million of Turkish Lire out of Valerie’s pocket book. Not quite sure who got the best of who in this exchange.

The legendary lake district of north-western Italy has for many years been a place Valerie has always wanted to visit. Since the Roman Empire this area has attracted visitors and tourists, and now it has hosted Valerie Pringle and crew. Just half an hour from noisy, bustling Milan, Lake Como is a jewel-like oasis of tranquillity, a magical combination of lush Mediterranean foliage and snowy alpine peaks. And as Valerie shows us, tucked into the hills and overlooking the lake are some of the classic grand hotels of Europe. In the hills near Milan Valerie goes to the Bicycle Shrine before descending into Milan, the most important city of northern Italy – especially important if, like Valerie, you wish to go shopping.

Between Brazil and Argentina, this small country on the east coast of South America is often ignored by North American tourists, but not by Valerie. Here she rides with the gauchos of the Pampas herding cows like a pro. She tours the Uruguayan Riviera and has an unexpected lunch with sea lions on the beach in Punta del Este. Valerie strolls the neo-colonial capital city of Montevideo where architecture of colonial Spanish, classic Italian, and Art Deco mix freely. And directly across the from the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires is the only World Heritage site in Uruguay, the City of Colonia del Sacramento, the five hundred year old former Portuguese colonial city which maintains an old world charm that Valerie brings outs in ways that only Valerie can.

Valerie takes us to the Rose of the North, Chiang Mai, the second city of Thailand. There, Valerie rides the whitewater rapids of the Mae Taeng River. She joins a local hilltop tribe for a corn whiskey toast. And she climbs aboard a giant working elephant in the exotic forests surrounding Chiang Mai.

Valerie Pringle gets down and dirty – She hikes down to the base of the magnificent Grand Canyon of north-west Arizona, and in the process gets covered in red dust and dirt that seems omnipresent. But don’t feel sorry for her as she makes the ten mile hike to the campsite beside Havasu Creek. The hundred foot cliffs and the three waterfalls flowing over them makes this area the gem of the Grand Canyon. It is a true paradise, so long as you don’t have to hike back out. And Valerie doesn’t – Five hours down, five minutes up. A helicopter takes Valerie from the lost world of the canyon floor to an aromatherapy taco wrap and massage at a famous Scottsdale resort. Only in America.