This will be my last post on this trip. We are leaving this cruise that we thought was so wonderful. Today we had burnt toast and scratchy towels. Last night the entertainment was not that funny or good. And on top of that, one of the crew didn’t say “excellent” when we asked him how he was. He just said he was OK. So, who needs this! We can’t take this any more!!
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APRIL FOOLS!!!!!
It’s hard to believe this is the last day of March and that next month this adventure will be over. We are not ready for that quite yet!
Today was a day of “classes” for the most part. Started with bridge (after a mandatory temperature check before getting off in Shanghai) and then Sam Donaldson’s talk about Leadership. It was interesting as he gave examples of strong leaders both in politics and other arenas of life. He really is keen on Reagan. He discussed him both in last night’s talk and again today – in a very positive way. I had to miss Paulette’s slideshow on Food Markets of China because it was slated at the same time as Donaldson’s talk.
Doug and I had lunch for two in the Lido and then this afternoon was the speaker, Peter McGugan, who spoke on consciousness and how it can affect the energy around you. It was a little “out there” but still interesting. He even commented that he is not the typical Holland America guest speaker, but he commended them for being open enough to have him make several presentations. It’s all about having an open mind and learning about all kinds of ideas whether or not you agree with them. That is basically what the whole cruise is about anyway.
Today it was so foggy, the ship’s fog horn blew most of the day. Also, we noticed that the water was more littered with debris than we had previously seen. We are closer to China’s shore line and probably could have seen land had it not been for the fog.
For the first time in almost a week, we had dinner with our whole table tonight. It was fun to catch up with everyone about what they had been doing and seeing.
Since tomorrow is a long day on a tour and we leave fairly early in the morning, we decided to skip the show and movie tonight. Plus, for whatever reason, we haven’t been getting as much sleep as we were, so decided to pack it in early tonight!
We are sailing between Taiwan and mainland China today on route to Shanghai. It is getting cooler on this part of the trip, so it’s time to put away the shorts! Last night when we returned to our cabin after the show, we found another Holland America gift – two giant rolling duffle bags. Had we known this, we would not have bought our extra suitcase in Hong Kong! Is this a sign we need to make more purchases!?!?!?!
It was a bit hard to get up this morning after two big and long days in Hong Kong, but if there is a bridge lesson, I’m up! Doug went to the lecture about living and coping with change in your life and in the world. This was given by a new speaker on board, Peter McGugan. He said the auditorium was packed, and it was an interesting lecture. One of the main messages was the key to happiness – finding it within rather than outside possessions. Studies show that the US is among the least happy whereas Bangladesh is among the most happy.
Afterwards, I went to Paulette’s last cooking demonstration where she made two healthy Asian dishes – a soup and an appetizer.
Look for this very healthy appetizer at my next cocktail party! I love the garnish!!
I stayed afterwards because she found these necklaces I had been searching for since Cape Town. She had found some and picked some up for me in Hong Kong. We got to talking and ended up having lunch together (Doug joined us.) It was fun and an interesting conversation. She makes videos (in addition to writing cookbooks) for learningexpress.com They are related to food in other countries. She is also working on a book about markets around the world.
After lunch, did some organizing of all the stuff that is starting to accumulate in our room while Doug was downloading on the computer. I also went to the lecture on tea, but only stayed a little while since I was falling asleep sitting there!
Tonight’s dinner is another theme night in the Pinnacle Grill – Indonesian food! We are eating with Diane and Craig, so if the food is not good, at least the company will be!
THE BEST themed dinner in the Pinnacle – that is what many others are saying and we totally agree. We started with a sweet cocktail with fruit in the glass. Then we began the five course dinner itself. While I’m not a big tofu fan, our first course was their version of slightly fried tofu pieces. I could become a tofu fan with a dish like that! This was followed by a chicken broth with tomatoes, chicken pieces, bean sprouts, egg, and lettuce. It doesn’t sound so good, but it was delicious. [I have the menu with the official Indonesian names for all these dishes!] Our salad was a plate of warm vegetables with a peanut sauce. I could have made a meal of all of the above before the main course was even served.
The main dish, called Rijsttafel, is a Dutch term for rice table. While it is a Dutch idea, its origins are clearly Indonesian. The main thing about this is you get a plate with rice (we had two styles) in the center of the plate. Then you get lots of little dishes to go around it, like beef, chicken, veggies, etc. They are little pieces in different sauces or spices, etc. It was very interesting.
Everyone's favorite was the chicken that was slowly cooked in a banana leaf for at least twelve hours with an array of spices – on the right on this plate.
Dessert was a crepe with grated and cooked coconut and palm sugar.
The rich vanilla ice cream scoop was a great compliment to the warm crepe.
We tried Indonesian tea, and that had a great flavor as well. They always give guests a little gift at the end of these themed dinners. Tonight’s was the most interesting of all – a small Indonesian musical instrument made out of wood called an Angklung. I don’t know if you will see what it looks like if you google it.
After dinner we went to hear the keynote speaker for this section of the trip – Sam Donaldson, a veteran journalist who was the co-anchor of This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts as well as ABC’s chief White House correspondent covering Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton. He talked about politics in Washington in general and then opened the floor for questions. He would have continued on long past his hour slot had the ship’s cruise director not ended the presentation. Donaldson was just getting on a great roll! But he speaks tomorrow morning, so we have another chance to hear him. It was a great way to end a wonderful evening.
We got another early start today so that we could make a couple of the calls we hadn’t been able to make yesterday. It was really fun to talk to family! That has been the hardest part of the trip so far for me – only being in touch by e-mail.
I hate to say that since we had missed breakfast on the ship, and knew we had a long day in front of us, we stopped at the nearby McDonald’s for breakfast. And I hate even more to say – it tasted mighty good!
We then took the metro to the flower market and bird market – on the outskirts of where we were docked. It took a while and a lot of questions to the locals, but we made it.
The flower market is really a couple of streets of stores and stalls that sell fresh flowers at really good prices.
Not only did it look so colorful, it smelled wonderful to walk down these streets.
Near this is the bird market where mainly men sell their birds and bird food and supplies. It is a thriving business here because there birds are supposed to bring good luck.
The men give their birds “fresh” food which means they have large supplies of live worms, crickets and bugs!
We didn’t find the size bird cage we were looking for (for decoration only) although there were many made out of beautiful woods. But it was fun just walking around this area – very different from anything we have ever seen.
It was the middle of the afternoon, and we thought it would be fun to have tea at the Peninsula Hotel - a fine old established hotel known for its afternoon teas. There must have been 30-50 people waiting in line, so we skipped and had a snack at the Art Museum cafe.
Last time we were here, we walked along the waterfront outside the Intercontinental Hotel where the “Walk of Stars” is. So, we decided to do that again.
It was a cloudy day and starting to get cold, so we didn’t walk as long as we had hoped to, but it was fun being on the waterfront.
The highlight of the day was the dinner we had planned at the Peking Garden restaurant. The guest chef, Paulette, told us about this place and what to order. It’s called “Beggar’s Chicken.” The story is that a very poor man was given a chicken, but he had not pot to cook it in, so he wrapped it in lotus leaves, put clay around it and baked it in fire pit. This restaurant has a similar way of cooking it – they need a 24 hour advance notice since it takes a long time to cook!
They give you a heavy hammer to break the clay (hard bread really) pot around the chicken.
Then they cut away the leaves (and foil) away from the chicken and lift it out of the pot (bread!)
After they cut it up a little, they serve it (bones and all) on the leaves on a platter.
It was very tasty, and it was so tender it literally did fall off the bone. However, you had to be careful because there were bones in almost every bite! It was a great experience. Afterwards they gave you a picture of your hammering the chicken and a little brass hammer as a momento of the dinner. We shared this with Barb and Charlie (one of our tablemates), and so all of us enjoyed it. In addition to the chicken, we had soup and dumplings before the main course, and then banana fritters for dessert – where they put the sugar glazed bananas in ice water at your table before serving them.
While we were eating, they also had a noodle maker preparing fresh noodles near by. It starts off as one big thick hunk of pastry, and as he throws it back and forth, it separates into very thin stands. Very amazing!
We were able to enjoy this dinner in Hong Kong because the captain gave everyone an extra 4 hours in this port so we had the chance for a 2nd dinner out. It was quite an experience – and one I would recommend if you get to Hong Kong!
Back on the ship, we went to the Hong Kong Cultural show they brought on board. It was done very well with lots of colorful costumes and traditional Chinese music. They did the Dragon Dance (the costume glowed in the dark!) followed by the “Changing Faces” – a performance art technique where the performer changes his masks so quickly the audience barely notices! It was rather astounding!
Sail away was around 11 p.m. It was fun to see the harbor at night with all the lights as we left. We really enjoyed our two days in Hong Kong and could have stayed two weeks. We didn’t even have time to take the ferry across to the Hong Kong Island side (although we did all of that the last time we were here.)
I’ll end with a bit of Hong Kong superstition – the belief in the power in numbers. 3 is life; 9 is eternity; and 8 is prosperity. The bad number is 4 which is death. As for food, the long strands of noodles symbolize longevity. That is why they never cut their long strands of noodles before cooking or serving them!
Hong Kong consists of a mainland on China’s southeastern coast and about 235 islands. It is bordered on the east, west, and south by the South China Sea. Hong Kong was a British dependency from the mid 8140s until July 1, 1997, when it passed to Chinese sovereignty as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Doug and I had been to Hong Kong before when we were on our land China trip. We loved it then and looked forward to returning. It was everything we remembered it to be. We arrived into port very early on Sunday morning. We had great views (although a bit foggy) of both the island of Hong Kong and the other side where we were docked – the Kowloon side, separated by Victoria Harbor.
The Hong Kong side from our ship in Victoria Harbor as we came to port.
After arriving, the first thing we did was to make as many calls to family as we could because of the 12 hour time difference between Hong Kong and New York. It was fun to catch up with almost everyone.
We are docked in the best location possible – Ocean Terminal which is attached to Harbor City which has 4 levels of shops and restaurants, which is linked to the Star Center with an equal amount of shops, etc. It is where you get the Star ferry to get back and forth between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. You would never have to go out of those two complexes to buy everything you’d want – and it’s all on the waterfront!
We spent the rest of the morning in this complex getting a new hard drive for our laptop since we have used almost all our picture capacity – and we still have a month of pictures to go! We also spent a lot of time in the Chinese Arts and Crafts store. It had beautiful Chinese things – not a “craft” store like a Michael’s, etc. We bought material to have some pillows made for our new sofas.
We had a Dim Sum lunch at the Jade restaurant in this huge complex. It was a Sunday, after church, so there were tons of Asian families dining as well. The service was slow and the food just fair.
In the hunt for buying for our new house, we went to the Art Museum’s gift shop and found some Chinese prints we liked. Then headed down Nathan Rd. (the big shopping street) and found a piece of luggage for all our new purchases.
Met Diane and Craig back at the ship to go our to dinner and watch the light show at 8 p.m. We walked around the town and could not find anything (it was only 6p.m.) and we needed reservations for most of the spots. So, we walked back closer to where the night show was going to be and ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant in the complex close to the ship called Rice Paper. We were a bit concerned that it was not crowded, but had to eat so as not to miss the light/music show. Were we ever surprised when we were able to eat outside (didn’t know that it had an outside!) overlooking the harbor. The food was good, but the service was slow. So, we had to rush to get to the viewing area to see the light show.
At 8 p.m. every evening near the Clock Tower, there is a viewing platform so that you can see the light show on the Hong Kong island side, but also has the music playing there that coordinates with the lights. We had seen the light show the last time we were here, but didn’t know about the music that goes with it. So, this time we were able to see and hear it!!! It was really good – lasts about 15 minutes. On many of the buildings, they have lights that move around the building and change colors. We didn’t get very good pictures of it, but I did get a good one afterwards with just the lights of the city at night.
This picture is only one very small part of the Hong Kong skyline. It goes forever!
Normally, about this time we’d be heading back to the cabin to call it a night, but not in Hong Kong which is a 24 hour city! So the four of us headed off to one of the Night Markets in Kowloon called the Temple Street Market. We took the metro which was an experience in itself! It is basically one long street with little stalls (on wheels) that are set up just for the evening.
The aisle is very narrow so that two people side by side is very crowded. And crowded it was!
We saw lots of crew and passengers from our ship there – as well as lots of locals. It was great fun! We picked up a few fun things. My favorite was finding the “flower tea” packets. You put this little brown packet into a glass tea pot, and when you pour hot water in it, the flower opens up. It looks like it would be very pretty.
Took the metro back to the cruise terminal and decided to call it a night around midnight!
Not much to say today, so will sum it up in a paragraph or two. In order to get off the ship in Hong Kong, all the passengers had to have their temperatures taken this morning. I guess anyone with a fever might not be able to get off the ship.
Bridge, our 3rd talk on DNA and how it exonerates the innocent, an Indonesian buffet for lunch, lost an hour this afternoon, read and worked on computer, and a murder mystery dinner this evening.
The dinner was fun and held in the Pinnacle Grill. Our cruise director, Bruce, actually writes the scripts for them – and he is very good at what he does. We had a lot of fun, and got most of the clues! The dinner was also very good. The “suspects” and “victim” were cruise staff members everyone knew. They really played their parts well and kept in character. The names they had were hilarious. Example: the food critic’s name was Tomas P. Tomaine and the busty soap opera actress was Grace Gotsum. Maybe you had to be there!
Halong Bay in northern Vietnam consists of 1,969 isles, covering an area of about 600 square miles. Because of the stunning beauty of the bay, which features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes, it has been made a UNESCO World Heritage site.
History shows that Halong Bay has been the setting for local naval battles against Vietnam’s coastal neighbors. The Chinese were kept from landing on three different occasions. During the Vietnam War, many of the channels between the islands were heavily mined by the U.S. navy, some of which pose a threat to shipping to this day.
There are legends about how the islands were made. All have to do with a dragon(s) coming from the heavens to protect the land that is now Vietnam. Some say the dragons spit out jewels which became the islands forming a protection against invaders. Other say it was a dragon’s tail that created the islands. Ha Long means “descending dragon.”
We were later than expected getting to this port due to rough seas the night before. Also, it seemed to take the authority hours to clear the ship for disembarkation. But we did get off late morning and had time to take the tender to the little town lined with stalls for an hour’s worth of shopping. We bought a wooden dragon carving as a remembrance of this magical place! Doug also found a t-shirt with red print that said Good Morning Vietnam.
We had a quick lunch and then took our afternoon tour of the islands. It lasted about 4 hours. We boarded these small wooden boats that held about 30 people.
We boarded these small wooden boats that held about 30 people.
The pilot of the boat actually lives on it – his bed is behind the steering wheel, and his kitchen is at the back of the boat. The rest was set up with lots of tables on the main floor, and then an open space on top. We spent most of the time on top to get a great view of all the islands.
We made a stop at one of the larger islands where there was one of the largest and most beautiful caves. It is called Ho Cung Thien meaning “fairy lake cave.” It is named for its enclosed shallow lake. It is there that the fairies swim when no one is looking, of course!
The lights inside the cave make it easier to see the details in the limestone.
The cave was only discovered in 1993 (the natives knew about it long before then) and since then was made accessible to visitors. To get in, you have to climb up many steps made of the limestone. Inside, lights have been put in so you can better see the many detailed designs in the stalagmites and stalactites. It was a beautiful cave.
Back on our wooden boat, we made our way in and around many of the islands – some covered with lush vegetation while others are bare. Some have tiny beaches. They are all beautiful.
On one part of the bay area, there is a floating fishing village. There are even two floating banks!
It is hard to believe that people really live on these floating platforms in the middle of the bay.
Several times during our cruising, smaller boats came up and sold fresh fruit.
We bought and sampled some of the local fruit. The small bananas were very sweet!
Our little wooden boat delivered us back to the Amsterdam just in time before we were to sail away. We had dinner with our table and then decided to get another good night’s sleep – knowing that two long days in Hong Kong are coming up and we don’t want to miss a minute of that fun.
We are between the southern part and northern part of Vietnam today. For me, another opportunity for a bridge lesson, time to play in the afternoon, and a cooking class with Paulette Mitchell. I really liked what we made today – an Asian soup with shrimp, a stir-fry chicken over rice, and my favorite – spring rolls in rice paper (so very healthy!) Also, Doug and I went to the second talk about Forensic DNA. We really enjoyed it and learned that animals and plants have their own individual DNA, and they have been used to solve murder crimes. Very interesting topic.
All day (and for weeks) we have had nothing but calm seas – which has been rather amazing. This afternoon, in a matter of 10-15 minutes we went from smooth seas to this:
While it may not look like it, we had 14 foot waves and lots of rockin’ and rollin’ all afternoon and evening! Captain said there were even 50 mph winds.
Dinner was another formal night, but there were lots of empty seats because passengers were a bit too “green” to eat – and some left in the middle of the meal! Fortunately, we have our sea legs, so we enjoyed our dinner. We are now back in the room to cozy up in bed and let the waves rock us to sleep!
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!! Today was our visit to Ho Chi Minh City although we arrived in the port of Phu My, about a two hour drive each way from the city. Fortunately we had a nice, air conditioned bus because it was about 92 degrees outside, and most of the buildings we were in had only fans---no AC.
Our guide, whose name was Tuan, started with what we thought was a little humor and soon realized was the truth. He said that the Americans drive on the right side of the road, the English on the left, and the Vietnamese on both sides!!
Some quick facts: Vietnam has a population of 88 million; 40% are Buddhists and 60% other religions; Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam (formerly Saigon until it was renamed after the Vietnam War); it is a Communist government ;French influence still evident – including colonial housing style; Nguyen popular family name in Vietnam.
There are 8 a/2 million people in Ho Chi Minh City (from now on referred to as HCM) and 4 million scooters. That was easy to believe on our drive in to and around the city. Helmets are required by law. We have lots of pictures of how these people transport their items on these scooters – very ingenious. Note tires around the 2nd guy’s waist! And these are just a few we took!
Also, on the way into the city there are lots of little cafes for people to stop in, cool off their engines, and have a coffee – plus they have lots of hammocks for people to relax in while they are there.
In the rural area, rice is grown. The soil is better in S. Vietnam where they can grow rice 3 times a year (each season lasting 2 months). The North can only grow two seasons of rice. Rice is eaten at each meal. In the rural areas, they eat only two meals a day, while in HCM they eat three meals a day. Because these farmers get up early, work hard in the fields, eat so little – they are not fat. Their diet is healthy – even with less food. However, they do make rice wine which is 45% alcohol. The men drink a lot of this after work.
Fifteen years ago, the people didn’t have electricity.
Doesn’t seem to be a problem now! But there might be other problems that need attention!
Now almost everyone has a TV in their home. However, up until five years ago, they only had black and white TV.
Our first stop was the former Presidential Palace now known as Unification Hall.
This shows the distance from the gates to the front of the palace.
This building was made famous when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the front gates in 1975, signaling the end of the Vietnam War. Apparently, when the N. Vietnamese generals went into the Palace to the cabinet meeting room, the S. Vietnamese said they were waiting to hand over the power to the North. The North replied, “You can’t turn over something you don’t have.”
This building is now a museum. On our tour inside we were able to see the reception and dining rooms of the President’s quarters and the basement with its ancient American-made telecommunications equipment still in place and strategic military maps lining the walls. Outside, we saw the tank that crashed the gates.
Our next stop was just a 10 minute photo stop at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office. They were both built by the Frenchman who built the Eiffel Tower. The twin spires on the Cathedral have long welcomed arrival in Saigon to passenger liners that traveled the winding Saigon River. The post office was interesting with its high, vaulted ceiling and old fashioned wooden telephone booths.
We then went to the History Museum which shows the evolution of the cultures of Vietnam, from bronze-aged Dong Son civilization to modern day Vietnam. We didn’t get to explore this museum – just saw a few artifacts. The main reason for being here was to see a short performance of traditional water puppetry, a unique art form that was once staged as entertainment for kings and emperors.
Had lunch at the Renaissance Hotel – it was a buffet of American and Asian food. Doug liked it better than I did. There were not many Vietnamese dishes on the buffet. Bought a couple of scarves in the hotel gift shop that were interesting.
We then went to another shop around the corner from the hotel that served us traditional Vietnamese coffee as we browsed the gift items. We are sure our guide is related to the owner since none of the other tours made this stop!! Vietnamese people drink a lot of coffee, and they are the 2nd largest exporter of it (after Brazil.) In southern Vietnam, where it is warmer, they mainly drink iced coffee. We sampled the coffee (hot and strong), thought it was good, and ended up buying some, of course! Story on some Vietnamese coffee, called weasel coffee: the Vietnamese think some of their best coffee is made from when the weasel eats the coffee beans in the fields, gets so “jangled” after so much coffee that they throw it up, and then the people take that and process it into coffee. We are not sure if that is the coffee we sampled/bought or not!
Then we went to a shop where all the other Amsterdam tourists also went. There they demonstrated how they make their lacquer ware. It is a very time consuming process if done correctly. They had a huge gift shop of nothing but items that were lacquered. There were huge items such as room dividers and large pictures to small boxes and trays. We bought a few things there as well.
Fortunately for our wallets, the rest of the tour was just a “ride around” showing us the Opera House and the Town Hall (which used to be the Hotel de Ville.) It is an ornate beautiful building. We also passed by the historic Rex Hotel where every day during the Vietnam war press briefings were held on the roof of this building.
Ho Chi Minh City is one of old and new. There are very new modern buildings and some from the early 1900s. There are business people in suits and then some like this:
An interesting contrast between the old and new. Many rural women wore this type of hat.
We returned by the same route back to the ship after a full day of sightseeing. The other tour that would have been interesting to take was the one to the tunnels where the Vietnamese lived and fought from these during the war. They are now open to the public, so have been expanded and lit so visitors can experience the vastness of these tunnels. Our friends who went on this tour told us about it and said that the guides there referred to the war as the American War and were shown pits that were designed to trap and/or kill the enemies who fell into them. They were also shown a movie that was very anti-American before the tour of the tunnels. On our tour, we experienced only a neutral tone from our guide about the war years.
When we returned to the ship, we watched the sail away and then enjoyed the special Asian BBQ on the Lido Deck. We met up with Craig and Diane and shared stories about this interesting and informative day.
I think I was totally worn out. Went to bed last night before 8:30 p.m. and didn’t wake up until 8:45 a.m. today!!!
Of course, if it’s a sea day, it’s a bridge lesson day!!! So, that was fun and learned some more.
The most interesting part of the day was the new speaker on board and his talk on Forensic DNA. George “Woody” Clarke is a Judge of the Superior Court for the county of San Diego. His schooling is law and he was an attorney who specialized in introducing into court scientific evidence, particularly DNA testing results. He will be speaking a couple of more times about this issue. Today was an introduction and explanation of how and why DNA is used in court cases. It was really interesting, especially in the fact that in 1995, he presented DNA evidence to the jury in the prosecution of O.J. Simpson. After his talk, he answered some questions from the audience. The first question . . . you guessed it . . . was there enough evidence to prove O.J. was guilty? He didn’t answer with a yes or no – but did say basically in a bit of a round about way that he was guilty.
For lunch, the ship had a fruit and coconut buffet in the Lido. They had coconuts prepared so you could drink the milk out of them (I have tasted that before, and without the pina colada extras, I wasn’t much interested!) as well as some exotic fruits from this part of the world. My favorite was the dragon fruit because of the way it looked both on the outside and inside. It was also pretty tasty!
You eat the white with the little black seeds that are kinda crunchy like a nut rather than like a seed in a berry. Wish we could get these in Sarasota!
Enjoyed the afternoon reading on deck – then dinner – and now getting ready for another early bed time.
Sihanoukville is a coastal village – a fishing port with beautiful beaches. It was named to honor King Sihanoukville. It is the only developed port in Cambodia.
About 13 million people live in Cambodia, with 200,000 of those in Sihanoukville. 95% of the people are Buddhist. The government is a constitutional monarchy and the main language is Khmer.
When we woke up and looked out our window, we were surprised to see hundreds and hundreds of little fishing boats all heading back into port. And this was about 6:30 a.m. There were usually two people in each boat – one driving and the other pulling in the nets. Their motors make a fairly loud noise, so when you hear that many all together, it gets your attention.
We took a tour today (with about 300 plus passengers) that showed us this city and its surrounding area. It was 95 degrees here today, so we were glad it was only a morning tour!
Our first stop was the Intra Ngean Pagoda – the city’s prominent religious site. The temple is the key structure, but it is surrounded by many other smaller shrines to Budhha.
Inside is a huge shrine to Buddha. The ceilings and walls are covered with ornate paintings.
Also, there is a huge burial area (all above ground). These people have great respect for the dead and honor them with all kinds of shrines. You can see these all along the roadside outside homes, businesses, etc.
Our next stop was one of the best beaches in this area – Ochheuteal Beach. It is in a cove and has a big, beautiful sandy beach and wonderful water.
It has many trees lining the beach so there is plenty of shade – plus all the thatched sitting areas.
For $5 I had a twenty minute foot and shoulder massage while I sipped the local beer (Angkol) under one of these thatched areas and watched the waves roll in. There was a nice, cool breeze, so it was a pleasant 45 minutes here.
Well, pleasant except for this! There is a reason not everyone should wear a Speedo at the beach. (Thankfully, this guy is not from our ship.) Trust me, the front and back view aren’t any better!
Next stop was the local marketplace. It was huge and had so many aisles with so many things for sale, it was overwhelming – and hot.
They had everything from fruits and veggies, to fresh and dried fish (they eat more dried than fresh here), to home goods, souvenirs, jewelry, etc. It was very colorful and crowded. It was an experience.
Our last stop was the fishing village, Tumnuk Rolok. This is where all the boats came this morning after their night of fishing. It too was an experience.
Rack for drying their fish in front with the piers leading to where all the fishing boats are docked.
It was a very poor area – and very dirty. Trash was just dumped into the water. But, for all the poverty, we saw lots of happy, laughing children who had leaned to say “hello” – which they repeated over and over!! We saw all the little fishing boats, the homes the fishermen live in, the recreation areas with their pool tables, the place where they repair boats, the area where the fish is processed and steamed,and the little stores in which they sell food and hardware items for their small village.
We were glad to experience this fishing port and glad to have had the guide we did. He gave us lots of information, not only about his country and city, but about his family. He has had a very hard life. He had four children and recently lost one in a motorcyle accident. His father was taken away from his village and murdered back in the time of Pol Pot, the radical Communist leader who took over Cambodia and had all “learned” people put to death. Our guide’s father was a professor.
In the very small glimpse of a town we saw today, we found the people to be friendly. However, at every stop (except the fishing village), we were harassed by children mainly, begging for money or trying to sell you something. We might have gone back to a beach in the afternoon except we didn’t want to have to deal with all the hassling. Also, the people in this area have no problem with litter. It is everywhere – by the roadside, in the streets, in the water. In some ways, it felt a bit like Mumbai.
After seeing the town, we gave up the idea of having an ethnic lunch there, so we came back to the ship. It was good to catch up on my Blog so I have my evening and tomorrow free. After one day at sea, we have a very long day in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). We have been told that it will take at least 1 1/2 hours from the port to get there (and same coming back) and that is without traffic – which there is always a huge amount! So, tonight and tomorrow we will rest up for the next adventure.
This was a busy day at sea with lots going on. I went to the coffee chat at 9:30 to hear the interview with our guest chef, Paulette Mitchell. We were on the bus with her (and her son) for the Night Safari and enjoyed talking to her.
Bridge at 10 – learned a lot! Doug went to hear the port lecture talk. At 11:15, I went to the cooking demo with Paulette. She made gingered chicken and pineapple stir-fry, Chinese firecracker noodles, and ginger chip cookies.
I finally got to join Doug for the Mongolian BBQ cook out on the Lido deck. I’ve always had cooking classes before. We really enjoyed it.
At 2 we went to hear the guest lecturer we have enjoyed talk about the Hong Kong the tourist doesn’t see. It was interesting with her talk and slides.
At 4, I went to Book Club to discuss Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Our book discussions in Sarasota are much better!!!
Dinner with our table and then back to the room to catch up on Blog entries! Had to skip the evening entertainment show to get it all done.
We had very bad news today. We had become friends with Bill and Lourie – a couple who split there time between Ohio and FL – and I had done a lot with Lourie – cooking classes and book club. This was the couple we spent time with in S. America. Bill had gotten sick right before Kaula Lumpur and ended up in the ship’s hospital. He had been throwing up non-stop. So, they ended up taking him to the hospital in KL when we got there. That night he died – apparently of a heart attack. His body could not handle all the stress. He was kinda sickly in general – before coming on the cruise. But this caught everyone off guard. It was very sad. What a terrible way to end a cruise.
But I don’t want to end on such a sad note, so I will share two funny pictures.
This is our group getting back on the bus after a stop to see the harbor. Notice the shorts and tall black socks, and how can you miss the “wedgie!”
This was a sign we saw on a street in Singapore. It sure applies for this cruise!
We were really dragging when we got up this morning with only about 6 hours of sleep and a long day yesterday. But we had a great tour today – The Mysteries of the Orient. This was basically about Feng Shui and how it has influenced Singapore. It was fascinating.
Our guide told us that 4,000 years ago only the Imperial family in China used feng shui to guide their lives. Now in Singapore, it is a very important element in the construction of many of its buildings. And it is not limited to the buildings. Singapore did not want to become a “concrete city,” so it took extra steps to make sure there was a balance of green garden areas along with its tall buildings. It was obvious as we drove around this city for two days that this balance was created. Trees line streets, there are parks everywhere, and as part of the government housing, there is a neighborhood park and play area for children for every building. Feng Shui is considered to be a calculated science rather than a religion.
Feng Shui is based on the concept of balance. Female and male balance can be found in the Yin (black) and Yang (white). In the physical world, balance is sought between the 5 elements of fire, water, metal, wood, and earth.
At our first stop we looked at a building that
each. It is a very prosperous bank. While you can’t see it in this picture, it has a huge entrance (to allow lots of money to come in.)
The 2nd building we saw was another bank. In front of it was the river and the bank was on the curve of this river. (Curves, not straight lines, are important to let energy flow.) The building itself had lots of symbols for balance, but the metal bird in front of it was the most interesting. The bank paid $1,000,000 for it! 
The tail is an open palm (to receive money). The legs are sturdy and won’t fly away (so you can be confident about putting money in the bank.)
Those are just a couple of examples. It is easier to understand it when you can see the whole picture in front of you. But I wanted to try to give a sample of what we saw.
We stopped at Mr. Yong’s shop where we all received red fans with our names written on them in Chinese. We also went to a Feng Shui gallery in a big mall in which everything is related to Feng Shui! There we learned more about this science and were shown the compass which is used to calculate auspicious days, the placement of items in your home to create harmony and balance, etc. And this changes every year based on the movement of the earth. Doug saw this as a professional decorator’s nirvana since colors and placement needs yearly updating and changes!
Our last stop was Suntec City, Singapore’s main exhibition and convention center and home to the largest fountain in the world, the fountain of wealth. The center was built to resemble your left hand. All five elements are included in this center. Supposedly, you need to walk around the fountain 9 times to absorb its energy.
We left the tour at this point and had lunch in the HUGE food court in this building. There were food cuisines I had never heard of before. We ended up with Thai food. We then took a taxi to China Town so we could take more time to explore all the little stalls. It was lots of fun. We took a taxi back to the cruise terminal and learned more about the negative side of Singapore from our driver (one of its residents). He didn’t like the restrictions on freedom of speech the most. He enjoyed his visit to the USA where we had so many more freedoms.
With only about 45 minutes before we had to be back on the ship, I spent about 10 minutes in a special spa. Here you put your feet in this tank with lots of little fish in it, and they eat the calluses on your feet
This tickled so much as they nibbled away that I didn’t think I’d last the whole 10 minutes. But I got used to it and enjoyed it – and my feet felt so smooth and soft afterwards!
Back on the ship we went to the sail away festivities and had the Singapore Sling we missed at the Raffles Hotel. Then had an enjoyable dinner with our regular table – probably because we all has so many stories to share about our two days in Singapore.
We really liked this city and would enjoy coming back because there is still so much to do and see. We felt like we really maxed out our time here – it’s just a fun city with lots to explore. In fact, it was our favorite city so far on this trip.
We were so tired that we were both asleep by 8 p.m. And luckily for us, we gained an hour during the night, so we got a really good night’s sleep!
In Tamil, a language of Singapore, “singam” means lion and “puram” means city, hence Singapore is known at the Lion City. This name comes from folklore where a prince, after a huge sea storm, landed on the island and the first animal he saw was a lion. However, studies indicate that lions have never lived there, so he probably saw a Malayan Tiger.
Singapore is an island, a city, and a country. Its symbol is a “merlion” which is half lion and half fish (similar to a mermaid.) The symbol represents the lion (from story above) plus a fish for water since this country depends so much on the water surrounding it.
The Merlion now sits at the harbor to welcome visitors.
While the country is small (about 224 sq. miles) it has a population of almost 5 million people. The country itself is the large island of Singapore and some 63 surrounding islands. It is a parliamentary republic, but in reality it is a benevolent dictatorship.
It has VERY strict laws, and severe consequences. You cannot chew gum or litter. Drug lords can expect the death sentence if caught. Media is censored and “inappropriate” websites are blocked. However, it is a very safe place to live, and you can walk fearlessly any time during the day or night. It is the cleanest city we’ve ever seen.
Because immigrants were brought in by the British when they were setting up a trading post, there is a multi-racial population. The majority are Chinese (74%.) There are other ethnic neighborhoods as well, each with their various religions and places of worship.
We took a morning tour which featured the highlights of Singapore. Our first stop was the National Orchid Garden. We have seen many botanical gardens and none compared to the beauty and interest of this one. It is mainly the way it is laid out – a feng shui influence to be sure. The orchid is the national flower of Singapore, and in these gardens there are over 60,000 orchid plants. They were beautiful.
Since you’ve seen an orchid, here is just one of the many water displays in the gardens.
While driving to our next stop, we passed some beautiful private homes. Most of the people here live in high rises (because of the scarcity of land.) 83% live in government housing (all high rises) which can be rented or bought.
If you work, the government takes out a 20%compulsory savings for you. The only thing you can use it for is to either buy a home – the down payment – or for medical needs. Otherwise, it is like our social security that you get at age 62 or 65.
Our next stop was the Sultan Mosque.
Underneath the gold dome, there is a black band – they are the bottom of soda bottles. Poor people who could not contribute money, donated bottles!
We only had a photo stop at the Raffles Hotel. It is a beautiful all-suite hotel ($1000 for a small room up to 8,000 for a larger one – per night!) They have a long bar where they serve their famous drinks for about $15 each!
Famous for inventing the drink – the Singapore Sling!
We then drove to our next stop at the harbor area. On the way we passed the new Supreme Court Building that looks like a round spaceship. We also saw the pretty white church – St. Andrews Cathedral near a large field they now use for sports. When the British ruled, it was called “scandal point” because the people would meet their to gossip. We also saw the Swiss Hotel which is the tallest hotel in Singapore.
At the harbor (where the Merlion stands) we learned that back in 1977 the Singapore river was so dirty the city decided to clean it up. It took 10 years. They added 1 million fish to make sure they could survive. Now, within 2 years, it will be drinkable water.
We saw the Singapore Flier – a new addition to the waterfront area. It is like the London Eye, only higher. On a clear day you can see not only Singapore, but also Malaysia and Indonesia. It takes about an hour to go around.
Chinatown was our last stop. Before exploring the little alleyways full of shops, we went to a Buddhist Temple (We were supposed to go to Sri Mariamman, a Hindu temple, but it was under rennovation.)
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple ornately decorated in mostly red and gold – very beautiful. We were lucky because there was a service going on with lots of chanting.
We were given about 30 minutes to shop in Chinatown before heading back to the ship.
After dropping off our stuff in the room, we headed back to the terminal where there were two attached shopping malls. We had a quick Vietnamese lunch and then looked around all the stores. It was a good thing to do in the afternoon because it poured rain all afternoon.
That night our tour started at about 6:30 when we had our Night Safari. In Singapore, they have a regular day time zoo – and then one you go to at night and see the nocturnal activities. The traffic was terrible because of the earlier rain, so it took almost an hour to get there. Once there, we boarded an electric powered open tram that took us around the area. Some parts were lit up to better see the animals. Other parts were totally dark. We saw all kinds of animals – Asian elephants, white rhinos, giraffe, tapirs, lots of different kinds of deer, flamingoes, crocodile, water buffalo, etc. After the tram, we took a night walk to see more animals - some we had never seen before like “fish cats”. These were big cats that hunted for fish in the water. They patiently walked on logs in the water to stalk the fish. We also saw the smallest deer ever – about the size of a little dog. We saw adorable otters playing in the water. There were lots more too. Doug took pictures, but it was mainly too dark to take good ones. After the walk, we watched an animal show that started with a coyote howling on top of a rock outcroping. It ended with trained otters cleaning up trash as an environmental demonstration – even separating the plastic from the paper in different bins! It was a fun show.
We didn’t get back until nearly 11 p.m. and had to get to bed because we had another tour early the next morning. It was a LONG, but very fun day.
Yesterday we left the Indian Ocean and went into the Strait of Malacca to Malaysia and its capital, Kuala Lumpar (from now on referred to as KL) We continue to have our security officers on duty 24/7 because the risk in this Strait is still substantial (not as much as the Seychelles.) The Strait is also narrow and has a lot of ship traffic. KL is inland, so we docked in Port Klang – which is about an hour plus drive from KL.
A few quick facts: population of Malaysia is 27 million; population of KL is 2 million; currency is the ringgit; heterogeneous society with substantial Chinese and Indian minorities; majority are Muslims and this influence was seen in much of the architecture we saw in KL.
150 years ago, KL was a tin prospector’s hovel in the jungle. The Chinese came in 1857 looking for tin and found rich deposits. But of the original 87 who came, only 17 survived the diseases such as malaria cholera, and the bites from poisonous snakes (they have over 140 varieties of snakes here.) In 1957, Malaysia declared its independence from the British.
Today KL is a modern metropolis and is the city of skyscrapers. And it is continuing to grow. We were amazed at how clean the whole city is – and how modern. What a contrast to Mumbai and Goa. We saw little poverty.
Oil was discovered in the S. China Sea and now KL produces 750,000 barrels a day. As we left the port, we saw all the oil tanks and refineries along the shore. They also have natural gas. People from Thailand and Singapore come to buy their gas because it is so inexpensive here. Now there is a new law that their gas tanks have to be 3/4 full or they get a big fine when filling up.
The biggest exports are microchips, room air conditioners, and loud speakers! Unemployment is around 2%. If people fall below the poverty income level, the government provides low-cost housing for them. Because of the lifestyle changes that came with modernization, their biggest medical problems are similar to ours – cancer, heart disease, and now diabetes.
Schools are free, and when a child is 6, his/her parent write the ministry requesting a school (kind, not location) It can be a Hindu, Indian, etc. school, but it will be the one nearest the child’s home. A minimum of 2 to 3 languages must be learned. Math and science are taught only in English. When they take the national test, all the 900,000 students take it on the same day, starting at the same time. If they fail the exam, they are out of the free school. Parents have the option of paying for a private school.
There are a variety of religions in KL. The only thing a person can’t do (by law) is to deny God. If you don’t believe in God, you just don’t discuss it.
Today we took “the best of Kuala Lumpur” tour offered through the ship. Most of the passengers also took this tour! We had a great guide and a very nice and comfortable bus. Kuala Lumpur means “muddy confluence,” and it got its name because the Klang and Gombak rivers meet in the center of the city.
Our tour began at the King’s Palace. It was built in 1928 and was originally the home of a rich Chinese tin miner who had 16 concubines. After Malaysia became independent from the British, it became the palace for the Sultan. There are 9 sultans in 9 states in Malaysia. They decide who among them will be the King of Malaysia. That king stays for five years, and then a new one is chosen. There are 350 people working for the king and queen at the palace. The only duties the king has is to open and close parliament, announces when the Ramadon (sp!) feasting begins and ends, and can pardon a death sentence. Also, the king’s birthday becomes a national holiday – which is the only time the palace is open to the public.
We were lucky enough to be there for the changing of the guard (who are on horseback – horses have to be imported to KL.) and the yellow flag flew which meant the king was in residence today.
There are two guards – one on each side of the main gate. When they switch, the old come forward, and new guards on horses enter and when in position, raise their swords.
The next stop was the National Museum (Muzium Negara) which traces the nation’s development and also its rich heritage. It was an excellent museum with many fine and unusual exhibits.
We had a long stop at Independence Square (also known as Merdeka Square.) It is the heart of old colonial KL. It is surrounded by the country’s most famous landmarks – the Royal Selangor Club, St. Mary’s Anglican Church, and the former British Secretariat , now known as the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. As we strolled around it, we saw the very large and modern glass library. A few of us stopped in the Textile Museum with our guide. He helped explain the displays of how batiks are made since so many are made and sold here.
With so many modern buildings, it was a surprise to see so much green in the city as well. There are many parks and gardens, as well as street lined plants and trees. We passed the largest of these, called Lake Gardens, which includes a butterfly park, orchid garden, and a bird park with thousands of birds.
The last stop before lunch were the famous Petronas Twin Towers in the Golden Triangle area of the city (the upscale business, shopping and entertainment area of KL.)
The towers stand 1,483 feet high and have an “air bridge” linking them. From the observation bridge, you have a stunning 360 degree view of the entire city.
They are the tallest twin towers in the world. After 9-11 in the USA, the occupancy of these offices in the towers reduced to now only 70%. One couldn’t help but think of the World Trade Center looking at these towers. While we weren’t able to go up to the observation deck, our guide did take us inside the main floor to show us how the truly upscale shops and the fountains in the back as well as the front.
We stopped for lunch at the Federal Hotel and had a buffet lunch that was just fair. We had to wait 20 minutes for our bus to pick us up after lunch because of the traffic. From there we went to China Town. We walked through the covered bazaar of Petaling Street which has everything from food to t-shirts to all kinds of souvenirs. We didn’t have time to shop or stop there, because we were going to do that in Central Market – an air conditioned building with lots of arts and crafts markets inside. It was very colorful, and they had lots of of souvenirs as well as handicrafts. We only had 30 minutes, so it was hard to really “shop” so we just mainly looked around.
By this time in the late afternoon, it was very hot and we were all grateful when we got back to the bus and were on our way back to the ship. We got back about 10 minutes before the “all aboard” and dinner!!
We wanted a light dinner, so went to the dining room – only Elaine and Lavor were there. But it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be with just the four of us.
Spent the evening doing this Blog entry and taking pictures of the sunset and waterway before it got dark. Doug was so wiped out, he couldn’t even do his nightly walk! We have a big day tomorrow in Singapore with two excursions!! Singapore is only about 150 miles from KL so we’ll be there bright and early!
