10/25 Bangkok Day 4

Today we are going to see Vimanmek Palace if it kills us! We’re up, breakfasted (pancakes and pan egg this morning, along with vegetable salad, dragon fruit and watermelon juice –it’s way too much to eat!!), out the door before 9. At least we know where we are going!

It’s a little on the overcast side, which helps with the heat, but that doesn’t last long. By the time we are halfway to the Palace, the sun is out and its heating up. We arrive a little before 9:30, and the place is deserted. We use our Grand Palace tickets to get in the door, then proceed to the Palace. You have to dress “properly” here as well, so Ed has come prepared in long pants, I have on my longer capri’s and a light top over my sleeveless shirt. Unfortunately though, my pants don’t cut the mustard and I have to borrow a lovely serape for 200b deposit! Oh well – I look cute! Kind of….

She did look cute: Ed

We then have to get rid of our cameras, bags, purses, and put them into a locker. Ok – so no pictures. Bummer. We’re finally ready to enter the palace – and even though it’s a hassle, it’s all worthwhile. This is the largest golden teakwood palace in the world – and it’s gorgeous. We make it in time for the first English tour. We’re so early, that there are only 5 of us on the tour – one other gentleman from Nebraska and two girls from France. You only had the option of English or Thai, so they trundled along with us, asking questions occasionally when they could. The tour takes about an hour and it’s fascinating to see the architecture and learn how the King lived. Built in 1900, and completed in 1901, King Rama V lived there for only 5 years before moving to another villa until his death. The Palace was renovated a few times, then shut down entirely for 50 years. For many years it was used as storage for the Royal Family. In 1986, the Palace was reopened as a museum.

The house is shaped in a large L configuration with 72 different rooms. It is divided into sections according to color: Pink, green, blue, orange, yellow. Each color corresponded to the person living in the area or for what the area was used. The King’s quarters were blue, his queens (yes, plural, he had 4) were different colors. Interesting little facts – there were tea sets for each day of the week –and each day had it’s own color. The King’s favorite was pink because it was for Tuesday, the day he was born.

We got to view all the china, the different rooms, the bathroom with the first ever shower, all the while walking in our stocking feet along the teakwood floors. A magnificent example of architecture. After the tour we were going to go see the throne room and tour some other exhibits, but decided we didn’t want to go through the storage/serape/shoe thing every time so we headed back to the hotel to prepare for our afternoon outing: The Chatuchak Market.

On our way back we couldn't resist taking this picture! Ronald giving the wai sign! Too much.

Better known as the J J market, this weekend only market consists of 10,000 vendors over 25 acres. It’s mammoth – and is supposed to be where you can find tons of bargains. We catch the ferry to the skytrain, then take it all the way to the end. Once again, we simply follow the crowds. Oh my gosh – it’s pure bedlam here! I don’t know how many people – but it’s critical mass! And the vendors! Geez – you name it, it’s here: used clothes, new clothes, shoes, t-shirts, trendy fashions, bags, beads, jewelry, silk, traditional craft products, sunglasses, ceramics, housewares, plants…..the list goes on and on. And the prices are astonishing. We spent a couple hours just roaming up and down the alleyways and stalls – didn’t buy a thing – but oh if we had empty suitcases! Dress sandals for under $3 US – cute well made sandals – I’m not talking flip flops here! Shirts, blouses, for a couple bucks. It makes your mind spin.

The crowds just surge all over the place, so you just have to patiently walk or push your way through. We browsed through the street food stalls, then decided to sit down at Toh Plue restaurant so we could rest and strategize. Had a beer and a water – then stuck off again through the shops – window shopping and preparing for Chiang Mai which is supposed to be even better! After another hour we decide we want some snacks, so we head back to Toh Plue – it’s the best place to sit and get real food (that and we can read the menu!).

Ended up with three plates: a pineapple stuffed with fried rice, chicken and chunks of pineapple – delicious!, Fried catfish with cashews and chicken and rice soup. All excellent and totally filling. Rice! Oy!

We walked the food off heading out toward the skytrain. Vendors everywhere, even outside the gates. Skytrain, ferry, back to the hotel to cool off! Had grand plans for either street food or another little restaurant we saw – but the skies opened up once again – monsoon city! So we just stayed here at the hotel and shared a plate of Pad Thai and a huge salad (with a very good Asian vinaigrette) sitting outside under the palms and shrubs around the garden.

Another good day in Bangkok.

10/24 Bangkok – day 3

Today is our Siam Winery tour, the floating vineyards an hour or so outside of Bangkok. The driver is supposed to pick us up at 8:30, so we are up and ready to go early as usual. Breakfast – rice salad with pineapple juice – hit the ATM and we’re good to go. Unfortunately, the driver wasn’t. Never showed. Bummer! After waiting for him for about 45 minutes – we decided to just forget about the whole thing and do more sightseeing around Bangkok instead. We also decided to ship a bunch of stuff home so we wouldn’t be overweight on the BA flight to London. So now we had time to do that.

Tracked down the Post Office, bought a box for $1 US, stuffed it with clothes and our Sea View restaurant pictures, crossed our fingers and mailed it off! We’ll see if it shows up! We then struck out for Wat Pho – home to the reclining Buddha. Traditional Thai massage was also first taught here, and Wat Pho is considered the University of massage. Took the ferry boat, and walked through the market with the tut tut touts. Found the entrance to Wat Pho without a problem, no need to dress “appropriately” here, so we have on our shorts with no need to “borrow” clothing. The reclining Buddha is amazingly large – and amazingly golden! Seeing pictures just doesn’t do it justice. The thing towers over you – and it’s lying down! The entire Buddah is nearly 150 feet long and 50 feet high. The rest of the temple that houses the Buddha is beautiful, again with the ornate ceramic tiles and gold leaf. It’s just wild to wander around these places – and to know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, all across the city!

It’s hot, and it’s about noon, so we decide we’ll take a break and head back to the Rubar Roon café (our rainstorm shelter from two days before) for some snacks. It’s a cute little place with decent food and not terribly expensive, considering it’s location. We ordered a Pork omelet and spring rolls with a couple of beers. All excellent – and just right for a snack/lunch. The restaurant used to be an old pharmacy, and they have left the glass doors up on the cabinets against the walls. Now they display crafts and gifts. It’s really a cute little place – made even cuter by the bathroom rhetoric posted on the wall:

A story about a little boy who loses his temper. His father gives him a bag full of nails and tells him to pound a nail in the fence post every time he loses his temper. The first day the boy loses his temper 12 times and pounds in 12 nails. It’s hard work, and little by little the boy controls his temper until tone day he proudly reports to his father that he hasn’t lost his temper all day. The father tells the boy to start taking one nail out for every day he controls his temper. After a while the boy reports to his father that all the nails have been removed. The father promptly takes the boy to the fence and shows him the nail holes, tells the boy he is proud of him, but the boy must always remember that the nails have left scars on the wood that will never heal – and that is what his angry words will do as well. What is said in anger will remain like a scar, it is like sticking a knife into someone. You can say you are sorry, but the wound will still remain.

Great story to think about and remember time and time again!

So after our food and fable, we head back to the ferry boat, on the way stopping to get fried bananas! 10b (about 30 cents US) for 4 bananas. There were two types so we tried them both. Great dessert! One I’m looking for again! Hopped the ferry to Central Pier where we picked up the skytrain to Pat Pong – the red light district. It’s broad daylight, so we don’t expect a lot of action, but we want to see it at least.

As we had expected, there isn’t anything going on in the two short streets that run off of major avenues. But there are lots of bars and signs advertising the main draw of the area! It’s sleazy – a lot more sleazy than I was expecting for some reason. Glad we came here during the day though, I think I would have been freaked out at night with all the touts and hustlers out trying to get you in the doors! We kind of wander around, look at the map and decide to try to find Jim Thompson’s house (he was a US businessman who came to Bangkok, loved it and moved here – then mysteriously disappeared in 1967 in the Congo or somewhere like that). Well, we didn’t find it – we found the factory store, but not the house. Turns out the house is way far away – and it’s still nasty hot and humid – so we gave up the ghost – hit the skytrain, the ferry and headed back to our side of town.

Bangkok is a city of contrasts. We’re living in the Old City – where the buildings aren’t more than 4 or 5 stories tall and it’s the old way of life. Down in the Pat Pong area and the hotel zone – it’s a different world. Except for the seediness of the red light district, the rest of the area are glass and chrome high rises, with busy, crazy bustling streets. Malls, shops, bars, restaurants, parks and green areas, too, but it’s a wholly different environment than what we are experiencing on our side of town.

Decided to explore Khao San a little more, so we got off at that stop and just followed the crowds! Wandered the back streets and have to say it’s a charming little area if you like backpackers and never seeing a Thai person except for the owners of the bars and shops! It’s definitely tourist central. Not that that’s a bad thing – it’s kind of fun! All the bars show American movies, so you can pick the bar by the movie schedule. We ended up stopping at O’ Hungry for fried cashews, chicken satays and beers, while watching The Beach. Not so great a movie, but really fun atmosphere!

Walked home from Khao San checking out the little local restaurants and bars on the way. Laid on the bed under the a/c at the hotel to cool off – then decided to go to the In Love restaurant, which is right on the river at the ferry dock. It has 2 levels, the upstairs open air and overlooking the Rama V bridge, which is lit up nicely at night. What a great night! It cooled down a bit, and there was a little breeze, plus there was a storm across the river so we got to watch our own lightening show. There was a band playing some great jazzy kind of tunes, plus a combination of American and Thai songs – including an Elvis song in Thai! Couldn’t put our finger on exactly which song, but it was definitely Elvis!

Fantastic atmosphere – and best of all….they had white wine….good white wine! Although it cost more than our food, I decided to go for it and have wine for the first time off the ship! Isn’t that amazing? It’s just not popular here – at least not in the little places we’ve been frequenting. We had Hot & Spicy soup with seafood which I couldn’t eat – no way! It was that spicy! Then we had a couple of small plates – one deep fried sun dried pork – which were crispy little pork fingerlings – and fried chicken with lemongrass. Ed is in 7^th heaven! I’m not far behind! We stretch out our drinks as long as possible, and then reluctantly make our way back to the hotel. What a wonderful day, evening, trip!

10/23 Bangkok - Don Wai Market and Seaview restaurant

We have a morning at leisure (LOL) before our 12 noon tour.  After a very filling breakfast of waffles and scrambled eggs with all sorts of Thai herbs in the peaceful garden, we decide to trust the lady at the Grand Palace and try to use our tickets for the Vimanmek Palace – even though the sign out side the ticket booth clearly stated that it was closed on 10/23 for the holiday (the ticket lady kept saying it was open). It’s a really hot, humid and worst of all, sunny day today. We trek off up the street trying to follow our map (which is only so useful) to find the Palace/museum. Long story short (but very long and sweaty walk later), we get to the entrance – and lo and behold – it’s closed. Yeah, we should have known.

So we hoof it back past the other side of the Palace and the National Assembly. It’s Chulalongkorn day (the day memorializing King Rama V – one of the most important king’s in Thailand’s history), so most people are off work and celebrating. We run into a parade of sorts in front of the Rama V horse statue, where people lay wreaths in honor of the king. There’s a marching band playing and marching down the street and a ton of people at the statue. We follow the band until they stop, then continue on down the avenue, past the Government House and the PAD encampments out side. It’s all peaceful – but there are an absolute ton of tents set up and 100’s of 1000’s of pallets of bottled water. They’re obviously in this for the long haul!

After making it through the demonstration area, we head on down toward the Khao San area. This is traditionally where the backpackers stay – although lately it’s turned into a little more hip and trendy now. We somehow wandered off our trek – and ended up just at the very end of Khoa San road – stopped and had a coffee and water at a hotel – got directions, then wandered a bit through the stalls and shops selling all sorts of “hippie” type attire and accoutrements. After an hour in the brutal heat, we headed back to the hotel to cool off a bit before our tour.

Nook, our guide, showed up right on time and off we went for a foodie adventure. Our first stop was the Don Wai floating market, about an hour outside of Bangkok. It’s not floating anymore, but now in a huge complex that snakes around forever inside the buildings. Nook expertly guided us through the throngs of people – it’s crazy and jammed packed because of the holiday. It was so crazy we couldn’t even take pictures. We were jammed in 4 or 5 deep in places, just trying to walk and see things! This market is made up entirely of street food – Thai snacks, tons of sweets, main meals such as fried fish balls, fish and duck – they are famous for their duck. All the stalls let you sample things- so we had a blast. It’s like the Thai version of Costco – snacking your way through the place!

We had sweet sticky rice – two varieties – the original made with tomato, and another version that was green. Have no idea what it was made of! We liked the tomato so Nook bought us some to take home (which, btw, wasn’t as good at all as the fresh stuff – we ended up just throwing it away). We also had coconut ice cream with peanuts on top, some to die for sweet rolls you dipped in something that looked suspiciously like avocado, but wasn't!  And these excellent fried fish balls with cucumbers. We also got to  watch duck be prepared – boiled/fried, then cut up and sold (one  of the few pictures we took). And we watched this lollipop maker – who is really a sculptor – make these intricate lollipops by hand. Just amazing. Too much for the senses!

Next stop, the main event - a floating seafood restaurant. We drove about an hour past the market, in the southern most part of Bangkok, where there was nothing but fields and fish/shrimp farms. For miles, the only thing you could see were these large ponds used to harvest prawns and fish. Very country – little lanes that were no more than dirt roads (and totally bumpy with pot holes everywhere) along with fisherman’s shacks dotting the horizon. We finally pulled up to a dock where we were to wait for our long tail boat to take us to the restaurant: The Sea View Restaurant. Nook ordered our food from the dock so it would be waiting for us when we arrived. The boat arrived and we hopped on with about 30 other folks (all Thai – we were the only round eyes there!) and off we went. After a 25 minute ride down the canals, past houses and fishermen shacks, around poles with ropes for the fishing nets, we finally arrived at the restaurant. It  was incredible! Basically a series of piers built out in the middle of the water in the middle of nowhere.  We walked toward the very end of one of the piers, found a table (Thai style – sitting on the floor on pillows) and waited while our feast was  delivered. In the meantime, the skies opened up – so we got to sit under cover and watch the storm cross the river – we were so happy we timed it right and weren’t’ in the little long-tail boat when the rain started.

 

 

 

 

 

The food didn’t disappoint, and matched the view and the atmosphere perfectly – just incredible! It was the freshest seafood we had ever had – and what a feast! Mixed seafood grill, with prawns the size of my hand, crab, mussels, and squid all grilled to perfection.  Sautéed shrimp with local vegetables that were supposed to be good for our digestion – they were really yummy and really spicy – being good for us was an added bonus!. Next, fried fish with mango salad on top – similar to the street food we had the first night, only bigger and the mango salad was a great addition. Then finally spicy seafood soup that was truly spicy! I could only eat a bit of it, but Ed enjoyed it immensely.

After we could no longer stuff our faces, we strolled around taking pictures. It was a great local experience we won’t soon forget. Hopped back in the boat and they toured us through the canals and waterways showing us little fishing villages and different lifestyles out on the water. Landed back at the dock, bought the cute picture they took of us as we were leaving for our meal (99b or less than $3 US – including the wooden frame!), then spent the next hour and a half watching the farmland change back into the hectic Bangkok lifestyle.

Back at the hotel, we hung out, had some beers and crashed after stuffing ourselves silly all day!

10/22 Bangkok – first day

We are a little sad to be leaving our home for the last 30+ days, but we’re excited to start our new adventure. We don’t have to leave until 9:30, so we’ve got tons of time to kill. We say goodbye to Florin – the best cabin steward ever!!! – and hang out in Club Fusion until our appointed time. Of course, we leave before our appointed time because it’s just taking too long!

Our driver was right outside –and so was Murray and Ro’s! They found our driver's sign and we found theirs.  We said goodbye to them one last time, grabbed our luggage and hopped in the car. We had been warned about traffic, but on the way out of Laem Chebang, we flew. 120Km + all the way – took about an hour to get to the outskirts of the city, then it took an hour to hour and a half just to go a few Km to get to our hotel. Welcome to Bangkok!

Not a big deal –as I said, we were warned. But as we sat in traffic, I discovered the car was infested with ants! Lovely! Nowhere to go – so I just kept swatting at them for the remainder of the trip and almost broke my leg getting out at the end! Yikes!

We pull up to the Phranakorn Nornlen – and again – we’d been warned you could barely find it. The gate is down an alley way and hidden from the other alley we just drove down! Once inside the multi-color slats of the gate a whole new world opened up. We’re in the heart of old Bangkok – little city streets, tons of traffic, street food heaven – and inside these gates is a cool, quiet and lush respite. The garden area is beautiful with huge trees and palms, tables and chairs are set around a patio  with a fabulous collection of antique toys, sodas, signs and phones. Eclectic is definitely the word!

We check in and have our welcome drink of papaya juice (or something that is really, really sweet!). the adorable girls at the front desk show us to our room on the 2^nd floor and give us all shorts of good information about exploring the city. The room is precious. This hotel used to be a “cat house” in it’s early days, and had been closed for about 20 years before the current owners found it and renovated it 3 years ago. Now all the rooms are very sweetly decorated with recycled items (mirrors, shelves, etc.). the bed is on a platform, shower is in the corner of the bath – a rain shower head – and the sink is a round stone kilned bowl. Just adorable. Every night at 8 we get tea – every morning a macro-biotic breakfast. There’s a rooftop organic garden with great views – and the bottled water is free! Too nice!

We dump our stuff and off we go. Decide to head down to the grand palace first and maybe Wat Pho. We were going to walk, but the girls tell us to take the river boats instead – much better. Boy are we glad we listened to their advice. This city is big! Even in the old district. The boats are cheap as dirt (15b each way which is less than 50 cents US) and the walk to the pier fabulous! All along the road we pass street food vendors, little local shops and the big Thewet Flower market that lines the opposite side of the road from the pier. It’s really a great people watching place here.

Grab the local boat (orange flag) and cruise down the Chao Phraya river to our stop, all along the way watching the riverside slip by –with it’s mix of old decrepit hovels and Wats dotting the landscape (every where you turn there is a Wat – or temple – it’s incredible how many, and how grand they all are). We hop out at the Grand Palace stop (and hop is right – you better move fast our you’ll be watching your stop receding in the distance!), and head through a market (street food, bags, trinkets, you name it!) to get to the main street. After a wrong turn and a million Touts coming after us (touts are the guys trying to sell you taxi or tuk tuk rides – when in essence they just want to take you on tours or to jewelry shops –their bad – and they lie all the time – like telling you places are closed when they aren’t) we find the palace entrance. Only Ed can’t go in dressed in shorts! Ay yi yi!

So we have to “borrow” clothes for him! 100b deposit and he gets to wear these stretch elastic waste pants over his shorts. Trendy! I manage in my capris so I don’t need a sarong. Off we go following the hordes….but once inside….oh my gosh, this place is magnificent! Built in 1782 as the royal residence, the palace grounds now hold the throne halls and also government offices. The temples inside the grounds are astonishing – so much gold and ceramic tiles – ornate like nothing you’ve ever seen. And it’s huge! We spent an hour just wandering around with our mouths hanging open – every where we turned another opportunity to take more pictures. Just stunning.

As we were leaving we noticed an area that was cordoned off with no entry. A sign said “Lying in state” – found out later it was the King’s sister (who died in like January or something) still lying in state. Tons of people were flowing in to pay their respects still. They will have a cremation ceremony in November. Long time to be lying in state…..but….they love their royal family here!

Turned in Ed’s pants and headed to Wat Pho, the home of the reclining Buddha. By this time we were really feeling the heat. It’s brutal here – hot, humid – just ungodly – and it’s not even their summer! We wandered down the outside gates to the Wat, but decided to blow off visiting today and cool off somewhere. Found a great little café on the street and sat under a fan drinking beers. Turned out to be an excellent decision because not more than 10 minutes after we sat down, the skies opened up. A monsoon like you’ve never seen! It was amazing – thunder, lightening, basically flash flooding. We just sat there nice and dry, waiting for it to blow over.

Once we were safe, we headed back to the river boat and up to Thewet. Back at the hotel, we cooled off a bit, had another beer. this time, we went up to the 4th floor garden area where there were great views of the Rama V bridge and a huge flat buddha statue.  I’m kind of screwed with the wine here – doesn’t exist! I’ll be coming home with a beer belly the way I’m going. Of course Ed’s in heaven – 50 cent beers – and good too! Good enough for me to drink them!

So anyway – we decide to do the street food thing. First night out – go for it! The girls at the desk said their favorite street food stand was across the street with the best salted fish. So we said ok – we’re game! Thank heavens one of the girl’s there spoke English as we were the only non-Thai’s there. Didn’t have a clue what to do. They have all these tables set up on the sidewalk and little stools. Didn’t know if we ordered then sat, or what. We obviously looked confused enough, so she showed us to the table, then asked what we wanted. Yeah! Right! I got up and pointed –and we ended up with Salted fish – a big old fish stuffed with herbs and a thick salt crust, some sort of barbecued chicken, papaya salad and sticky rice. The lady cooking everything, who we called mama, came over and showed us how to get into the fish by peeling back the skin.

Have to tell you – it was one of the best meals we’ve had. So fresh and so good – along with 2 beers and a huge water – 240 b – or about 7.25 US. You want to talk about cheap? This place is it baby!

Back home – another 2 beers from the girls at the bar/café here – and up to the room to cool off and get ready for our next adventure….the Seafood party!!

10/20 Singapore--Last Port of Call

We’re in the tropics – that’s for sure. Hot, humid and rainy today. Our plans were to go to a nature preserve and hike, but the weather looks like it’s going to literally rain on our parade. Not that we can complain, we’ve had such fantastic weather the whole trip – one day isn’t going to kill us.

We hop off the ship early – and even though Princess has said the shuttles aren’t starting until 8:45, past experience has taught us they aren’t always right. Sure enough – we find the shuttle buses and are on our way to the “shopping” district in Singapore before 8am. It’s a 30 minute ride through the heart of a very beautiful city. This is a more sophisticated stop than what we’ve seen with the exception of Hong Kong. It’s all high rises and nice buildings, high end shops and lush tropical plants. For a city – it really is beautiful – landscaping everywhere, huge palms frame the base of most buildings, flowering plants run along bridges. It’s lovely.

But – it’s a city – and it’s also “sterile” (how Ed refers to it). They have laws against chewing gum (or they did), you will be put to death for drugs. It’s hard core. We decide to just walk around the city today. We head for the Raffles hotel just to take pictures of the place that invented the Singapore Sling. The Long bar upstairs isn’t open until 11 am – we’re there so early it doesn’t make sense to hang around. And good thing too – later we found out Joel and Susan went there and ordered 2 Singapore Slings – they almost choked when they got the bill: 51 Singapore dollars! That’s $32 US! Wow!

From Raffles we head down to the river and cross over into the Quay area walking past tons of restaurants and little food stalls. There’s a brewery there – but again, we’re very early, and they’re not even thinking about opening yet. We trudge on (soaked to the bone with sweat – it’s HOT! What the heck is Bangkok going to be like?), finding China town without a problem. It’s the end of the firewalking festival, so it’s packed with participants ending their celebration.

All the little stalls in the market are open, hawking their Chinese wares. It’s just as cheap as China! We get Ed a great shirt – Singapore, a fine city – that lists all the fines that are levied against crimes! We’re still wandering when the skies open up and the downpour begins. We manage to find the food stall market and wander around looking at all the great food on display and the really cheap prices! 30 SGD cents per piece at some places. That’s like 20 cents US each. Wild!

We waste enough time that it’s just sprinkling when we leave. Since we don’t have many Singapore dollars, we decide we need to find someplace that takes credit cards. We find just the place at Yum Cha, a great little restaurant upstairs in a building. They take credit cards….and bonus! It’s air conditioned! Yea! We ordered Dim Sum – little plates of food – by marking what we wanted on an order sheet. The food was great! The best soft shell crab we’ve ever had – fried with garlic. Some steamed buns with bbq pork – the buns were sweet with this one – very interesting taste. Congee – which was sort of like rice porridge with fish strips in it. Excellent – and still cheap!

After filling our tummies, we began our trek back to the shuttle stop. It took a little over an hour of walking. We still had 19 SGD burning a hole in our pockets so we stocked up on beverages at the 7-11, but when I tried to buy a candy bar with the last 1.50, it wasn’t enough. As we were walking down the street we saw an ice cream vendor and for 1 SGD we got street ice cream! It was great – a personally made little ice cream sandwich. The guy takes a slab of ice cream (flavor of your choice), cuts off a chunk, grabs 2 little cone like biscuits, slaps them on the side of the ice cream, then peels off the paper and hands it to you. How fun!

Back on the shuttle, back on the ship – we’re a little sad the cruise portion is almost over, but we’re really looking forward to the next land-based phase of our adventure.

10/18 – Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

It’s still hot! And muggy and just brutal! We’re off the ship first thing because we know we have a very short time to spend here today. And we are about 2 to 2.5 hours from the city – depending on traffic. Yikes!

We’ve booked a private tour through Smile Tours. Had the option to have others with us for a lower price, but we had our own agenda and it didn’t include the water puppet show (go to youtube and search on water puppets Saigon – you’ll see why we weren’t too crazy about wasting our time there). So we’re off, just the 2 of us and Kate – our guide – and driver (who’s name we never did find out!).

We left the port at 8 – right on time and head to Saigon on what they would call a motorway. We’d call it Route 1 without traffic lights (which btw barely exist here!). We make our way through little ramshackle towns, with markets and shops, and tons of activity on the side of the divided (by jersey barriers which people are crawling over to cross the road! Dear Lord!) highway.

And the scooters! They are back – and in numbers like you wouldn’t believe! On the road – they stay in the left lane, but then we come over there in the car to pass slower cars and trucks, and the driver just blows his horn a lot to let them know we’re coming. It’s a mess. And that’s not all! They use those darn scooters to haul stuff – we’re talking doors, windows, piles of crates, Styrofoam crates – even live chickens, stacked 5 feet high. Then there are the families – 4 to a scooter – Mom, Dad, and 2 little kids! I only wish I could have taken pictures of all this as we were speeding by in our little encapsulated world!

We navigate through the traffic, the little towns and the scooters, soon passing very lush farmland with water buffalo grazing on the side of the road. You can see though, why it takes 2 to 2.5 hours to go a little over 70 km – between the sl0ow trucks in the left lane, the scooters, and then the carts pulled by water buffalo. It’s not exactly fast going there. Not to mention the traffic circles from hell! These people just drive – there is no rhyme or reason, no right of way. We couldn’t believe that we didn’t see more accidents on the way. It’s too wild.

All along the way, Kate (who’s Vietnamese name is Khahn – she just uses Kate because it’s easier for us to say), fills us with all sorts of information about Vietnam. The name of the country comes from the Chinese refugees who came “south” (the word nam) to this area to settle. She explained the Chinese New year (Tet) which is still celebrated here, and how Vietnam has incorporated so many traditions of the different nationalities that settled here. Among all the interesting facts she doled out, one of the most fascinating is that they are all one year older than we would be. They consider themselves 1 year old when they are born (counting the time in the womb) – so Kate is 24 – but to us she would only be 23. Hmmm….that’s something we could sell in the US, don’t you think?

Today is a good day for traffic and we buzz into Saigon by 9:30. We’re so early, Kate’s a little off her schedule. We go by the Handicraft center first –and we’re literally the first people there. They have to turn on the lights for us! This is the place where they hire disabled people (“the ones hurt by Agent Orange” – a direct quote) to create the beautiful lacquer pieces you see all over Vietnam. It’s an “official” shopping stop on every tour (Princess tours included). And while you can’t really tell the difference from the cheaper pieces in the market (hell, they probably come from here) it still makes an impact to see these people doing the work.

Plus, it’s really amazing how they make the pieces. They use egg shell for a lot of the designs so there are thousands of baskets of egg shells laying around waiting to be used. Then they go through this huge process to lacquer, place the egg shell, lacquer it again, then polish it and finish it. They use mother of pearl and other materials as well. It’s kind of a cool stop –and we did decide to go ahead and buy some things there – did we overpay? Yeah, probably, but it’s the whole idea that we bought into – even if it’s the “sanctioned” shopping stop. So – as my sister would say – whatever!

Next stop the Emperor Jade Pagoda. Only we have a problem, we get lost! The driver missed the street and it’s only a one way street so we spend the next 30 minutes cruising around Saigon – through back streets and markets and dead ends. It’s wild. And a little funny except the driver’s getting really kind of ticked off because he’s lost! Ok – so change of plans. We’re going to the War Remnants Museum. Sure – whatever – we’re in Saigon! Take us anywhere – we don’t care!

We spent 20 minutes of our allotted 30 minutes wandering through absolutely horrid displays of the outcome of the war here. Not a pleasant place, but then again, a very good reminder of just why diplomacy should always be the first and hopefully effective tactic. Phew! Got out of the picture area quickly and just focused on the cool planes and Huey’s that were left over and on display. Photo op’s- an we’re outta there.

Next up – the Notre Dame Cathedral and the General Post office. Nice buildings – great architecture. What’s next?

We’re running early, but Kate calls ahead and we head straight to Ngon – the Restaurant we want to go to for lunch. It’s one of the biggest and best in Saigon. Ed’s read all about it – and it’s another reason we’re on our own – because this was a priority for us in Saigon. Heck, even our Vietnamese hairdresser told us to go there when she found out we were visiting.

Our reserved table is waiting for us, under the canopy of trees in the courtyard (and the big umbrella that helps with the sun and the heat). Ngon is a great place. Basically a huge courtyard built around a large one room building, tables are placed strategically about, with big fans blowing mist to help keep the heat at bay. The beauty of Ngon is that all the food comes from these individual cooking stalls situated on the perimeter of the courtyard. There are tons of different selections and you just order what you want, and keep ordering for as long as you like. It’s terribly fun – and TOTALLY, SINFULLY cheap. I’ll get to that in a minute!

We sit – try to decipher the menu – which is in English, but there’s just so much we don’t know where to begin. We finally settle on Fried Chicken wings (very small portion, but very good), Grilled squid (huge portion), chicken skewer (2 – one for each of us), steamed bread with beef and onions (my choice!) and 3 beers. The food was excellent – the atmosphere fantastic – and well worth the reservations and the eating early to get a seat (no way will you get a table after 12 noon – they are packed!!!). The conversion rate in Vietnam is worth a math major – it’s 16,500 Vietnam money to $1 US. Not an easy thing to compute. So, we’re trying to add up the bill, but figure, the heck with it. Since we’re trying to conserve our US dollars for the market, we’ll pay with a credit card. No problem. Ngon takes them. We get the bill…..are you ready for this? $13.50. That’s just sick. We’re stuffed and it’s less than the price of drinks in other countries. Wow!

So, now that we’re full and contented our whirlwind tour of Saigon continues. We drive past Reunification Palace where the gates were breached by North Vietnamese tanks in the fall of Saigon, hit the Ben Thanh market where we buy Cashews and see the site where the old American Embassy was (drats! That’s the one thing I wanted to see – last chopper out and all that – yeah – it’s a hole in the ground where they are building something else), the Rex Hotel (photo op) and the Opera house. Next, we finally do visit the Emperor Jade pagoda, which is worth seeing and get a lesson in Buddhist temples.

We’re done –we’ve seen all we want and head back to ship. Since we’re so early, Kate makes an unscheduled stop at the Milk market. A big market where they sell local milk that is famous for the area. We don’t drink milk –but splurge on ice cream cones. Really good ice milk at less than 30 cents US each. Food costs….amazing. Kate gets these pancakes filled with bean curds. Not my cup of tea, but Ed manages to finish one! The market also sells all sorts of vegetables, candies, cookies and dried beef jerky – well some are beef, some is pork, and some are deer. The little pictures on the signs let us know which is which!

Next, we’re driving along and Kate has another idea – she has pointed out these “coffee shops” on the side of the highway for scooter riders to relax. Since it takes up to 3.5 hours to drive from Saigon to the beach on a scooter, all these little shops have set up on the road where you can stop and rest. She thinks it will be great to experience one – so we stop – unfortunately a little further down the road than we should – so- yeah – we back up on the highway and turn into the “shop”. These places are little more than lean to shacks with tarps strung between trees and hammocks hung all over so you can rest and nap for a while. Great pit stop! We hang out in the hammocks with all the local scooter drivers, drink coconut juice out of fresh coconuts and chat with Kate about life in Vietnam, things she’d like to do, you name it, just shooting the breeze. How fun! A totally local experience.

After our refreshing rest stop – we hopped back in the car and headed to the ship. Got back early enough that we were in time for trivia (which today was hysterically funny because we were so pathetic, all we could do was laugh). Typical evening routine – and then we dropped into bed exhausted from a very eye opening day.

So what’s my parting comment about Saigon? I can only explain the place in one word: CRAZY! It was a great day, some real adventures and sights. A look into city culture, vs. our countryside visit the day before. It’s similar, yet different. The hustle, the bustle – yet similar living conditions and business atmosphere. So many people pour into Saigon for the chance at making more money – it’s crazy crowded and insanely chaotic. Bottom line: a fantastic experience, but no way, no how could we ever stay here for any length of time. It’s just crazy to the n^th degree!

10/17 Nha Trang Vietnam

Dear Bleaders – the abbreviated blog has been suspended for this entry. A couple of reasons: 1) I’m just so amazed that we are here, in Vietnam of all places (don’t ask me why – it’s the same as the Russia thing I think), and 2) we just had an incredible day that I really wanted to get down on paper – or at least in cyber-bits! So enjoy……

It’s hot! Hot and humid. And while we are saying, oh, Richmond is hot and humid, we’ll be used to it. Unh uh. This is way different – the type of humidity that makes you soaking wet in a few minutes. Brutal. We’re up early and walking the deck anyway. We’re on a tour of the Nha Trang countryside today with 6 of Cruise Critic friends – it is in a mini-bus, so we know we won’t be getting too much exercise in port.

As we sail into port, we are really surprised by the beauty of the landscape. Very lush and tropical with hills surrounding the bay. There is a cable car that runs from one side of the bay to the other – ending at what looks like a resort under development. We can’t go directly into port because of the cable car, so we’re anchored in the bay with a great view of Nha Trang and it’s surroundings. All the literature says that Nha Trang is a developing resort town, and we can see some high rise buildings in the distance. Should be an interesting day. Our first in Vietnam! Wow!

We meet downstairs at 8 and managed to get on the first tender all together. A quick 10 minute ride (way better than Hong Kong!) puts us ashore early. We head outside the port and after a few minutes of confusion – with about 20 girls/ladies pestering us with t-shirts, ball caps, postcards or whistles all for only $1 – we find our guide and off we go.

We have a modern 16 passenger van for 8 people –which is fabulous. Tons of room to stretch out and get comfy while we are riding around. Our tour starts off down the main road in Nha Trang along the waterfront and beachfront promenade. Hotels on the left (Best Western and another one just being built), parks and restaurants/cafes on the beach side. It reminds us a lot of Hawaii –except for the traffic. Holy cow! The scooters and bikes! They are everywhere – scooters buzzing by inches away, bicycle riders pedaling along sedately right out there with them. It’s pretty incredible! But supposedly nothing like what Saigon will be like!

Our first stop is the Historical Village (the shopping stop for the tour – guess everyone’s got to have them!). Here we are shown the embroidery “factory” where 50 or 60 women are bent over their needlepoint masterpieces sewing away. They create the most amazing things – the artwork is phenomenal. Landscape scenes, portraits, animals, florals….it is all just stunning work. Some larger pieces can take up to a year to finish. You can see why, when you see some of the detail! While I’d love to take a ton home – the prices – and the sheer logistics stop me from buying anything. But boy was it fun to look at everything.

Next up – we’re off to see the Long Son Pagoda with its accompanying huge Buddha sitting up on a hill. We drive through city streets with endless small shops set up on the ground floor of every building. You name it, you can buy it in any one of these little places. There are food stalls, hardware, convenience foods, clothing, bike repair, scooter repair. The list just goes on endlessly. There isn’t one big business or chain here that we can tell. It’s all these individual people selling their wares. It’s hard to explain – and these pictures don’t do it justice – but the visuals were pretty amazing.

The temple was beautiful with ornate carvings and the requisite dragons protecting the entrance. To go inside the Pagoda, you needed to remove your shoes. Fine – but there were 20 little Vietnamese ladies there to help you – even when you continually shooed them away. I took my own shoes off thank you – but made the mistake of not taking them with me! We looked through the Pagoda, took our photos, then went back out for our shoes – which had been moved and were being protected by a couple of shoe “helpers”. Needless to say we “donated” $1 to each of the ladies who helped us put our shoes back on.

We marched up the 155 steps to the big Buddha (being followed by all sorts of young girls this time, selling postcards and drinks). We had a great view of Nha Trang from atop the hill – and a close up look at the Buddha – which was really quite breathtaking. (Just as breathtaking as the stairs in the humidity!) By the time we got to the top, Ed had picked up a little friend who had accompanied us up the stairs trying to sell us water and postcards. Ed said he’d buy water on the way down, and she kept us company the whole way – because there was another vendor at the top that wasn’t hers – and she wanted to make sure we bought her water!

Inside the base of the big Buddha was another temple, and we went through the same ritual with the shoes. Inside was incredible with wooden carvings all over – panels on the walls as well as a large column in the center of the temple. Back out side to be helped on with our shoes, only this time it was a younger girl who couldn’t really tie shoes – and was being given quite a lot of grief from the other kids up there selling cards and whistles!

Back down we went – stopping to buy water from our “guide’s” stand, buying her postcards – and then another girls’ cards that were “different, different!”. They’re quite the little sales folks – this lot!

Back on the bus, we head for a traditional house so we can see how the Vietnamese live here, and taste some of their local fruit and tea. As we arrive, who is there to greet us, but the same postcard, hat and sunglasses vendors that were at the Historic village and Buddha stops. Great! Those scooters go fast! The house is traditional in the sense that it has 3 main rooms – the shrine/altar room that all houses have with the incense for the gods, the bedroom at one side for the parents and the living area at the other side. If there are children, there will be another wing built off the side of the house for the kids. Everything is basic, except the altar. The bedroom area is very small with only a bed, no other real furniture. The entire house is open air – to allow the “fresh air” to circulate. The kitchen is outside, out back, under a roof, but completely open air. The bathrooms are now converted for tourists, so we have no idea how or what they would do in a true “traditional” house.

After our short tour, we sit down at a little round table and sample green tea (in a “cozy” made out of a coconut), and 5 kinds of fruit. We had pineapple, mango, dragon fruit, papaya and another variety that was good, but we had no idea what it was! The garden where we ate (surrounding by about 30 other tables – thankfully empty of other tourist when we were there) was beautiful with lush green foliage, fountain/ponds and interesting plants and trees.

After our little respite, and walking the gauntlet through our trailing vendors, off we go, out to the country for the rice paper factories. I was thinking we were going to see some large industrial complex. Oh no…we’re going to a village area where everyone makes rice paper, in the back streets of Nha Trang, through country lanes (read “dirt paths”) and in between alleys. We’re let off in this derelict part of town and led through an open shed like area where they are cooking some sort of food, then out and down an alleyway between houses and past the pig pen (hey, did you know pigs are nasty? I think they were trying to charge us. Yeah, I’m glad they’re in a concrete pen!). We’re corralled into a walled off courtyard area with a roof, where a family is making rice paper. There are huge buckets filled with rice soaking in water, then other buckets with the “sludge” looking product that results from the soaking. A huge industrial size mixer is then mixing the sludge into a batter of sorts which is poured into some scary looking machine that hoses out the “batter” onto bamboo mats for drying. Since it’s been raining, they aren’t drying these outside (like the ones we saw on the side of the road), they are putting them in a huge kiln fired with sawdust. And we thought it was hot before! And they’re in there with long sleeve shirts! Argh!

The work is divided into mixing, setting the batter, then cooking/drying in the kilns. It’s all outdoors, under a tin roof, but with ¾ cinder block walls. It’s just amazing the work and the production. And there are little “factories” like this all over this area.

Next we head toward the Noodle “factory”, this time we drive along farmland and back through little streets with villages of people riding their bikes in the pouring rain. Also tons of “Billards” places, little more than tarps over lean to’s with pool tables. One of them quite big – they had about 6 tables in there! How do they keep them level and right? We finally go off road (in the 16 passenger bus, mind you!) and drive across a field to stop in front of a house with a little front yard and fountain/pond. We trundle up the beaten path, look at a very nice little pond area with the bonsai tree (which our cute guide Hui says everyone has), then walk around the side of the house to the factory. Up three steps to the covered porch and then to the open area at the rear of the house – where here again – the whole family is soaking the rice, mixing it into a thicker batter, then pouring it into this big sieve where it is placed into a smaller little canister and then pressed out in the form of thin noodles over boiling water. Again, long sleeves in this heat – and they just keep soaking, mixing, pressing and boiling all day long. They produce 1 kilo mounds of noodles that sell for about 50cents US. People will come to the factory and purchase them for personal use, or for restaurants or special occasions. Just wild!

We’ve one more factory to go – the conical hat factory –which we are all looking forward to visiting. We drive past bucolic farmland on small narrow lanes, blowing the horn every time we reach a corner or see another vehicle, bicycle or scooter. At one intersection we get to take pictures of a water buffalo and it’s baby, next to the road. Oh, and let’s not forget the postcard, hat and sunglasses vendors that are still following the bus! Persistent is a word they know very well here!

The first conical hat factory we try to visit is closed, so Hui has a quick conversation on the cell phone and off we go. We find another location quickly and again are escorted down a mud packed alley, to this little 2 room house where the women set up little stools for us to sit on, then proceeded to plop on the ground and literally weave and sew the hats by hand. The hats sell for $1.50US each, and the women can make 4 a day.  Geez!  Of course  we bought some – how could we not? This little house has a TV and stereo (hey – at least there are some amenities!), the every present altar, a little dining area and a bedroom lean to – that’s it. And this is their profession. It is simply astonishing to see this type of environment.

And the kids! Of course they want to see the “tourists” (I won’t call us what they do!). So here they come. Precious little ones of all ages, just coming for a look. Murray and Ro always bring treats – lollipops, candy from the ship – so when Murray starts handing it out, the kids just multiply. They are so cute – and you just have to wonder what will happen to them over the years. What a life.

We’re all a little quiet as we head to lunch at a floating restaurant. The drive is beautiful, along the river and through the fields. We arrive and are escorted onto a large open air deck, with just one other tour group and a table of locals there. Sitting out on the deck over the water, we sampled some fabulous Vietnamese dishes. Tofu with Shrimp in a spicy sauce, Grilled squid, Chinese broccoli cooked with garlic, soup, spring rolls (probably with that darn rice paper we saw being made!) and tons of rice. Beer and soda were extra - $1 each – who’s complaining!

We finished our meal and were relaxing when we noticed the locals had two bags of something writhing at their feet. Snakes! Oh boy! They took one up to the preparation area and began to get it ready for cooking. I was fascinated! So much so that I forgot to take pictures! But basically, they cut the head off, sliced it open (if anyone is interested, the answer is yes, it still wriggles when it’s being skinned), then – are you ready? Drained it’s blood into a big glass, set out 6 little shot glasses next to it – and took it over to the table to drink. It’s a delicacy and tradition to drink the blood. Glad I already ate thank you!

They continue to prepare this thing, disemboweling it, skinning it, then just as we are leaving, they take out the heart and the liver. The heart is still beating – I kid you not! We can see I there in the bowl. They say it’s good for a man’s “power” (read: virility) to eat the beating heart and liver. Oh my gosh! This is better than snake alley! The rest of the group is already trundling off to the bus, so I have to run to catch up – but man – what an experience to  watch….and to think about!

So – after that highlight we head to a mat factory where the women make woven mats and sell in the market.  Same scenario - we just stop on the side of the road at this open air house where women are weaving.  A couple of us got to try our hands at weaving.  Then we headed off for more temples.

Next up, the Ponagar Cham Tower, dedicated to the goddess Uroja (the symbol of weaving and agriculture). It’s a very picturesque temple – sitting above the river with great views. And bonus! No shoe helpers! You have to pay to get in here, so the little helpers are absent. We take a ton of photos and head back to the bus.

Last stop is the market where we wander, buy a Tiger Beer shirt for Ed and promptly lose Murray and Ro. After we’ve searched for them for about 10 minutes, we find them back at the bus (smart people!). We are all about whipped, so we enjoy the scenery on the way back to the port and join the huge line to get the tenders back to the ship. They went very quickly and we were back in our air conditioned luxury quickly, all the while thinking how lucky we are to be where we are, with what we have and doing what we do.

Have to say today was just really amazing.  And really eye opening in so many different ways.

Saigon tomorrow………

Interim Post

Hi everyone!  Last night on the Diamond Princess and we are sad! But looking forward to starting our new land based adventure in Thailand and Cambodia.

Just a quick update to let you know that we'll post the rest of the cruise portion from Bangkok when we have more internet access.  We're trying to add the photos now - and will hopefully get everything loaded soon.

Thanks to everyone who's reading and keeping up with us from across the world!  We miss you all!

We'll blog later....now it's time to go enjoy our balcony for one last night......

10-15 Hong Kong Day 2

We’re up early and out on the 7:30 tender. Don’t need tickets today (yippee!) so we just hop on and off we go. We ended up missing the 8:40 fast ferry to Cheung Chau, but got the 9:00 slow ferry. It’s about a 45 minute ride to the island, and we sat on the very back of the ferry watching the water and other boats in the harbor the whole way. Very peaceful back there!

We reached Cheung Chau a little before 10 and were immediately struck by the total contrast to Lamma. This place is busy, crowded, commercial, filled with little electric carts hauling construction materials and other things, tons of people and tons of bikes! What a difference! There’s still a walk and hike we can do – so we take off down the promenade by the waterfront and window shop at all the restaurants and little shops that line the walkway. Our first stop is the Pak Tai Temple – a very ornate building sitting at the top of a small rise, presiding over basketball courts (of all things!). The temple carvings are all  beautifully colored and intricate, shining atop the roof in the morning sun. We stop for a few moments and pictures, then head off through the jumble of alley/streets to find the beach on the other side of the narrow island.

The beach is a nice strip of sand, but deserted at this time of year. There are still lifeguards on duty, but not a single other person around. After walking down to view the abstract sculpture honoring Lee Lai-san, the Cheung Chau native who won a sailing medal in the Olympics, we head back into town.

Managing to get lost in the warren of narrow alleys – we finally break free and find the waterfront where we follow the seaside promenade around the island to the Cheung Po Tsai caves and Tin Hau Temple. Along the way, the people watching is just out of this world. Everyone is on bikes – and a lot of adults are on bikes with training wheels! No worries about falling down here! Then of course a lot of the women on the bikes are also carrying umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. These people are deathly afraid of the sun and will do anything to cover themselves!

The walk is nice, not as strenuous as yesterday, but a good way to stretch our legs, and views of the harbor are good. We head back to town and scope out the grocery stores for supplies and restaurants for food. We finally settle on the first restaurant to the north of the ferry pier. The hawker is really insistent, and we figure what the heck – we’re ready to eat. We have to run to the ATM for more cash, but we’re good! End up with another 2 San Miguel’s, fried crab with garlic (which is a regular old crab, fried – with no batter – so crisply you can just crack it in your hands!), steamed fish with vegetables, and salted shrimp. Yum!

When we first sat down at the restaurant, it was totally empty, and by the time we left it was full up. And not another restaurant down the strip had a single customer! Pays to be a) the first restaurant on the strip, and b) have at least one customer (us)! Even though we didn’t follow the old adage – other people do – if someone is already eating there – it must be good!

Speed walked back through the town trying to find the grocery store we wanted for supplies, one wrong turn and we finally found it, made our purchases and made it back to the ferry pier with time to spare before getting the 1:15 slow ferry back to the central piers.

Back on Hong Kong we looked for places to spend our few remaining Hong Kong dollars. Ended up buying a package of corn nuts! Yea! And a beer and soda for the road! Back on the ferry tender, back aboard to sail away at 5.  Another great couple of days, but only a very few left. Don’t know where the time has gone!

10/14 Hong Kong Day 1

We sailed into the Hong Kong Harbor right on schedule. Of course, we’re not really in the harbor proper, more like on the outskirts. We’re too big to dock at the Kowloon Ocean Terminal and because of the schedule change, we can’t even dock at the container port as usual. So we’re hanging out in the middle of the water and tendering into Hong Kong.

It’s not the prettiest day in the world. It’s very hazy and beginning to heat up. From our perch here, south of Hong Kong, we can barely see the buildings that make up the harbor front. There are high rises closer to us on shore that we can make out, but distance viewing is not an option. We’re hoping the skies will clear as the day goes on – but we’re equipped for anything, rain or shine.

There are 3 things we want to do while we’re here for our overnight stay: 1) hike Lamma Island, 2) hike Cheung Chau island, and 3) hike Victoria Peak (is anyone surprised?). We’re trying to determine the order in which to do each hike. The islands require ferry rides, while the Peak will be easily accessible once we are off the tender. Ed, being his usual organized and prepared self, has all the ferry schedules, the costs and the hikes mapped out. We decide we’ll do an island first, which island will just depend on the time we hit the pier and which ferry leaves the soonest.

The tendering is a pain, but it actually may turn out better than being docked at the container port. If we were at the port, we’d be on the Kowloon side and have to take a shuttle to the ocean terminal. Then we’d have to take a ferry across the harbor to Hong Kong to get the ferry to the islands. This way we arrive right at the same pier as the Lamma ferry and one down from Cheung Chau. So – we may be in better shape. Of course that depends on the tendering! But we know the drill – supposedly they will start giving out tender tickets at 8:30. Since we aren’t Elite yet (they go on whenever they want to by just flashing their key card) or in a suite (they get priority tender tickets), we’ll have to stand in line. We’re prepared – and arrive at 7:30 to wait our turn. We’re about 50^th in line then, and by the time they start handing out the tickets it’s mass bedlam behind us.

We are just about last on the first tender. This is actually a very good thing in a couple of ways: 1) we’ll be one of the first off because we’re actually upstairs by the doors, and 2) we didn’t have to sit on the ferry tender (we’re not using our own boats, but hired big ferry boats as tenders) because it’s WAY rough out there and that ferry tender is bobbing around like a cork. We finally take off, and it’s actually better once we start moving. We hit the ferry pier at about 9:25 and haul you know what around the corner to the Lamma ferry which leaves at 9:30. Amazing Race moment!: We get to the ticket taker and she says we need exact change – we have to run around the corner, change our paper money for coins, then run back and give her the exact amount. The ticket taker is great – she picks out the coins she needs from my open palm – and waves us through. We run down the ramp and get at the very back of the queue, just in time to make the ferry. The alarm sounds, the gates close and it takes off before we’re even in our seats!

It’s only a little under a 30 minute ride to Lamma – and it’s very relaxing. We sail through the harbor and hug the coastline of Hong Kong island before pulling around and mooring in the little harbor at Lamma. The island is the third biggest island in the area, but one of the least populated with only about 6,000 residents. There is a big ex-pat community here and the town is known for its artisans and musicians. There are no automobiles allowed on the island, just little emergency vehicles, so it’s very relaxing and tranquil.

There are two main towns on Lamma: Yung Shue Wan, where the ferry docks is the bigger of the two, and Sok Kwu Wan which appears to be little more than village of restaurants along the harbor waterfront. In between the two towns is a concrete path about 1.5 miles long that takes you past the little beach and into the hills. We’ve read about the trek and are prepared to walk between the two towns.

We make a pit stop in Lamma to mail our absentee ballots for the November election (we figure the mail from Hong Kong should be the most reliable on the whole trip), then strike out through the sleepy little village with it’s winding alley like lanes lined with storefronts. We’re too early for much to be open, but we can imagine what it will look like in a few hours when all the stores and restaurants are open and the hustle and bustle of the day begins. For now, it’s nice to peacefully walk along the little lanes, looking at the architecture, the temples and shrines, and enjoying the day before it gets too hot. It takes about 15 or so minutes to get to the  little beach of Hung Shing Ye. Just a nice strip of sand with a BBQ pit at one side, where you could imagine hanging out all day. Restaurants and some shops line the walkway on the other side of the tree dotted beach.

We stop to enjoy the view and also to make a phone call (work is never very far away!!!). Once that task is handled, we head out into the hills for Sok Kwu Wan. The path is nice and even, but none of the articles we read prepared us for hiking Pike’s peak! This thing gets steep! By the time we reach the summit of the path (and it’s not even the summit of the highest hill, Mount Stenhouse at 1,076 feet. We purposely avoided that hike when one of the guidebooks said it was “grueling” – ha!) we’re soaked with sweat and have the muscle burn going! Oh well – in for a penny, in for a pound (of lost water weight that is!).

The views are very nice from up top – if you can just crop out the power plant that sits right at then end of the harbor. It’s the plant for the whole of hong Kong we think, and it’s not attractive. But, if you just turn your head and look at the Yung Shue Wan harbor, it’s a very pleasant view.

Continuing on, we cross the summit and head down around the other side of the hills to get our first view of Sok Kwu Wan. A very cute, miniature village wrapped around a harbor filled with fishing junks. There are great photo op’s as we continue down the path overlooking a Chinese pagoda on the hillside, and get closer to the village. We’ve timed our hike to allow for lunch and still make the 12:40 ferry out of Sok back to Hong Kong.

Not a problem with lunch spots! That’s all there seems to be in Sok Kwu Wan! We settle on the Lamma Mandarin Seafood restaurant, mostly because the hawker/owner was the only one who talked to us as we walked past the many restaurants set up by the water. After checking to make sure we knew where the ferry dock was located and confirmed our 12:40 departure, we plopped ourselves down at our own waterfront table.

2 beers – San Miguel beer no less - and food! That’s what we want! (I’m getting quite used to drinking beer, since wine is not really an option over here. It’s not that good, and when you can get it, it’s either 1) expensive or 2) expensive and red!) We ended up ordering the special meal – where it’s one price and you get a whole bunch of dishes. Our “special” meal today included Fried squid, Garlic/salt roasted shrimp (yes, with the heads on – they don’t come any other way!), scallops with garlic and rice noodles, fried rice, and a plate of local vegetables, in this instance, bok choy. Everything was incredible tasty and we all (Pietro included) thoroughly enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and tranquility of the harbor and village.

Back to the ferry pier, board the 12;40 right on time and off we go. I’ve gotten smart and figured out to use the ferry bathrooms because they are all western. No toilet paper, but I’ve come equipped for that! Back on Hong Kong island a little after 1:00 and we decide we’ll hike Victoria peak today. It looks like the haze has cleared a bit, so we’ll give it a go now and then save Cheung Chau for tomorrow.

We figured we’d walk to the Peak tram, an ancient incline that goes up the mountain at incredible angles. It looks within walking distance on the map, and the city information guy on the ship said it was. But, as we are leaving the ferry pier we see a free city shuttle to the tram and Stanley market. We hop on – and are very glad we did! It’s a long walk to that tram station – and it was really confusing the way the bus got there! Up we go on the tram – it’s totally cool. Almost at a 50+ degree angle at times, with some really wild perspectives on the city. You get to see just how Hong Kong is built up – and how the high rises are built on all these different levels. From sea level, it just looks like a nightmare mish mash of high rise buildings – too many to conceive or even count. But as you ride up this tram you get to see them at different angles, levels and plateaus – not to say it isn’t a nightmare mish mash – but it just seems a little more organized from the tram!

At the top of the Peak, we’re let off in the “Tower” – a shopping and restaurant complex with a viewing platform. We dutifully pay our dollars to go to the viewing platform so we can look out over the glistening steel and glass that make up Hong Kong. It is a huge,  bewildering, but pretty in its own way, city. The haze hasn’t completely cleared but it’s enough to take some semi-decent pictures.

After the scenic views, we strike out on the Peak circuit path and walk all the way around the top of Victoria Peak. Another pretty walk, on a paved road with lots of trees and shrubs for shade This is where the British elite built their villas in the 1800s when they wanted to live in cooler temperatures. Now the Peak has multi-million dollar homes and fancy, expensive apartments to lease. The houses are all hidden away from the path, only rarely glimpsed from our vantage points. You can see why someone  would want to live up here. It’s quiet, cool and lush. With fantastic views looking down on the steel jungle of Hong Kong city.

The walk takes us a little over an hour. We wanted to hike down the back of the peak, but the trails are closed due to the recent rain – so we decide to take the old Peak road down. Oh man – talk about exercise! Our thighs and knees are burning for sure. There are some sections of the switchback trail that had to be at least 45 degrees. Talk about grueling! And as we were coming down, there were actually a few hardy soles walking UP! And one guy running – I was astonished!

Don’t know how long it took to get down from the peak, and while it was really hard walking, it was still fun to see how far up/down we were. First above the top of the buildings, then level with them, then below them and right in the middle of the heart of Hong Kong. We navigated our way down, down, down through residential areas and past the botanical gardens and zoo. We ended up in the shopping district on Queens Road and after about 2 blocks of Gucci, Rolex, Chanel and assorted other high line stores and complexes we ditched that scene for the harbor! Not only were we sweaty and hot, in our capri’s and shorts – we just wanted out of the frenzy and back to quiet. Not likely in the midst of Hong Kong, but we definitely weren’t into all that upscale trendiness!

So we headed to the piers, stocked up in a 7-11 (they are all over the place here) and grabbed the next tender. We hopped on the top deck, outside rail and waited to sail off to the ship. I had great hopes of seeing the 8 pm light show from the upper decks – I was hoping we were close enough to make it out. As the ferry left the pier, we started wondering what was going on. We were going in the exact opposite direction from the ship. We kept sailing and sailing, right past Hong Kong and away from where we had anchored. As it turns out, the ship had moved! The waters were so rough where we initially anchored that the captain had to move. And move he did! Wow! Instead of our 15 minute tender ride, it ended up being 30 minutes – and then another 30 to disembark the tender (our mistake for being up top and in the back!). My hopes of seeing any lights were completely dashed – heck – we’re practically in Vietnam at this anchor point! And going back in to see the show was totally out of the question, not with that long a tender ride. Oh well – nothing to do about it. We just cleaned up, went to dinner and said – what the heck! It’s just another light show after all!

10/12 Taiwan

Today is the day we are doing Taiwan on our own! We dock a little early, and head down to the gangway at about 8:30. Didn’t think we could get off yet, but they’re letting us go – so we’re outta here! Head across the street to the Post to use the ATM and it won’t give us any money. Tried 2 of the machines and they went all the way through the transaction, even gave us a receipt, but no cash. A message pops up saying the system is down or something. Crap! So did it really debit our account for 2000 Taiwan dollars? Twice? Guess we’ll find out. This has not been a good trip for ATM usage that’s for sure!

Headed off to the train station hoping they take credit cards. They do – and we’re on the 9:25 train to Tapei. A local that takes 45 minutes, but gets us to the main train station without much fuss. Clean, nice trains that look more like subway cars, than passenger trains. The main station is right in the middle of town – near the shopping areas and a little ways from Peace Park.

After getting thoroughly confused getting out of the train station, we finally got our bearings and headed off to find Lungshan Temple. The girl at the information counter told us to take the subway – too long a walk. But we don’t have any Taiwan dollars, so taking the subway isn’t happening. Plus, we really wanted to walk so we could see the city and experience the culture a bit.

Surprisingly enough, all the street signs are in Chinese and English, so it’s relatively easy enough to find your way around – if you can figure out the English version of the street name. The spelling isn’t consistent on anything – so you have to guess a lot! But – we make it through the melee outside the train station, and head down the road toward Lungshan. Along the way we find an ATM that actually works and get 2000 TD (at 36 TD to the dollar, it’s probably too much – but better safe than sorry).

We walk for about an hour (now we know why the girl said it’s too long), but it’s so worth it. We went through the business district, and made a detour through 2-28 Peace Park, so named for the Taiwanese who were killed in the uprising against Chinese Nationalist rule in 1947. The park is a very pretty piece of greenery in an otherwise crowded and hectic city. But it does have some bizarre sculpture and “memorial” art in there. The main memorial is a bizarre cubist type structure with a spire behind concrete cubes. Very odd as there are also traditional temples, pagodas and fish ponds in the park as well. It’s a pretty place to walk through and not too far off our path as we head through the city.

Next up, past the Presidential Palace which is a beautiful – and huge – red brick building, we enter into the Wanhau district, a very traditional Taiwanese area. This place is wild! It’s early on a Sunday, so a lot of the stores and restaurants aren’t open, but the ones that are open are teeming with people. The sidewalks are all covered in a portico type structure and jammed with either a) motor scooters parked all in a row, or b) restaurants with tables jamming the sidewalk, or c) fruit markets. It’s hyper Taiwan! People slurping down unidentifiable foods, bargaining over the produce, walking home with bags laden with fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and food. A great view into real city living.

As we near the temple, we stumble into a parade on one of the main streets. Probably 1000 people marching, complete with the dragon, marching band, odd sounding instruments and other strange looking characters in costume. We stand and watch for a while until we think it’s clear to run across the road. Then head on to the temple.

The Lungshan Temple was built in 1738 by immigrants from 3 counties in China who moved to Taiwan. It began life as a Buddhist temple, but over time has had Taoist deities added into it’s design. Today, it is teeming with people –and I mean teeming. We can’t decide if it’s a special holiday or just a normal Sunday happening – but there are probably 500 or 600 people in there with incense praying to the deities, and making offerings of fruit, flowers and food. But the weirdest thing is that people are coming in and putting the offerings on these tables all over the temple,  but then they are taking the food too. We can’t quite figure that our. Everyone has these little plates that look like Frisbees, and they’ll lay down their “offering” of say apples. They bow, they wave their incense, then they take their apples back, put them in their bag, and take other apples on the table along with the Frisbee/plate. It’s too bizarre. And there isn’t a sole there that speaks English enough to explain it to us! Trust me, we tried to ask!

So, we just wandered around, looking at all the different deities and trying to be as respectful as possible to the worshipers. The architecture and the detail of the woodcarvings and sculptures is just astonishing. It takes your breath away. We know the pictures just won’t do it justice, you’ve really got to see it in the flesh.

After soaking in all the worship we could manage, we headed off to find Snake Alley! This is the place with all the restaurants serving up snake. Yuck! Well unfortunately (or fortunately) only one of the restaurants is open – with the requisite snakes in cages out front. But no one is eating there so we could only walk by and look at the snakes waiting to be chosen for dinner. But there were tons of other seafood restaurants – cooking up lobster and huge prawns right in front of us. And nestled in between all these restaurants are tons of massage stores – basically storefronts with tons of chairs – selling massages beginning at 800 TD (about $22US). Quite the contrast!

We headed back toward Peace Park on our way to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial, when we stumbled on another temple on a side street. We think it was the Cingshan Temple, jammed between two traditional city buildings. We were peering into the temple from the front gate, not wanting to disturb any worshipers, when a man told us we should really come in, that it was a beautiful temple. That was all we needed, and we’re so glad he invited us – it was extraordinary! Gold everywhere, huge figurines of the deities (that we now really have to research to figure out what it’s all about).

 Back tracking through the city, we eventually wound up at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial hall. This place is big! A huge plaza with massive entrance gates, beautiful gardens and a huge memorial hall with a bronze statue of Chiang Kai-Shek. The statue in his likeness is massive – as is the hall surrounding it. We looked around, took the obligatory pictures, but then decided not to tour the museum. We were getting a little tired and hungry – so we decided we’d strike off back toward the train station to see where we could spend our Taiwan dollars.

Back through Peace Park and out into the financial/shopping district, we looked for a bar or café to rest and have a beer. Those types of palaces don’t really exist here. Lots of coffee places, but they don’t sell alcohol, so we ended up at a restaurant – a Thai restaurant of all things! Like we won’t be eating enough Thai food in the coming weeks. But it was convenient – had a/c (a blessing!) and cold beer. That was all we needed.

Oh, and they spoke pretty decent English. Always a plus! We ended up ordering food as well as beer – kind of like a sushi menu – you choose what you want from the menu, then mark it on an order form. The waiter (owner) helped us, but we were pretty good at matching the Chinese symbols and placement with what we wanted. Ended up with some sort of chicken, some pork in lemon sauce and the beers. All pretty reasonable.

We left the restaurant and made it back to the train station much easier than when we arrived! We made the 3:15 train – but barely. We were down on the platform in plenty of time waiting for the train, but our mistake was to not pay attention to the boarding platform areas. We were way at the back of the platform, and the train roared past us and stopped a good 200 yards up the tracks. Another Amazing Race moment! We ran like hell to make the last car of the train. Phew! More exercise than we needed at that point in the day! But we made it and thanked our lucky stars for the 45 minute ride back to Keelung port.

Back aboard, safe and sound, cooling off in the A/C. Watched the sail away from our balcony (which is totally the primo balcony on the ship – this cabin is the best!), then did our norm! After dinner – managed to listen to a few songs at the island party, watched a totally wasted young lady be taken back to her cabin by a couple of her friends, then retired ourselves (not half so in bag!). Looking forward to a relaxing day at sea tomorrow!