Another continent, more wonderful sights and sites. This trip presented the longest leg of a flight we have ever flown to date: 14.5 hours from San Francisco to Hong Kong and then another 3 hours to Singapore. The return trip was similar, but the adjustment to 16 hours of time zone change was a bit difficult; probably took us four days to get back into some semblance of synch.
11/30/17
We left the home at 7:45 PM, with our now usual car service. Our flight was from San Francisco at 10:50 PM, to Hong Kong, with a 2 hour layover there (at 6 AM on Saturday 12/2), and then a 4 hour flight to Singapore. We spent the time before departure in the Cathay Pacific First/Business Class Lounge. Very nice. The flight was great, business class seats in a sleeping pod and dozens of free and very current movies. Sleep may have been somewhat elusive, but everything went smoothly.
12/2/17
Where did December first go? It happened briefly somewhere over the Pacific, before Hong Kong, and then vanished with the International Date Line. The Cathay Pacific lounge in Hong Kong is even nicer. More food choices, but what is the hot soy milk for? Seeing more of Hong Kong will have to wait for our return in a couple of weeks. The flight to Singapore was much like the first leg, only shorter. Sleep pod, good movies. The food on both flights was OK. We specified no lactose and low fat/low calorie. The items met our requirements, but were not of the same luxury we have experienced on other flights.
We were met at the Singapore extremely clean airport by Regent and taken to the Four Seasons for our one night stay before leaving for Cambodia at the crack of dawn (5 AM wake up) tomorrow. We were early for check-in, but still had to wait extra long for our room. It may have been complicated by the fact that our requested king bed dissolved into two single beds (!), which was unacceptable. They kept saying they had no rooms; I said I would pay for an upgrade. They kept looking and looking. Finally when I told them that old joke about the Queen of England would have a room if she came, but she’s not so we’ll take her room, we got our king suite. Maybe was even a free upgrade since it is on a high floor with a nice view.
We are both a bit on the tired side and after waiting until almost 4:00 for our room, resting is our first priority. Too bad we may not get to see too much of Singapore this time.
12/3/17
An early rise today to catch our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. This was more like hurry up and wait. Even after going through security, we stood around the airport waiting and waiting for our charter flight. In the interim we had a chance to talk with some very nice couples who will be on the cruise with us. But the short Silkair 2-hour flight was uneventful, almost. We were served a hot meal in economy class! Doesn’t this small airline know you can’t do this?! But wait, it gets even better. They served ice cream to everyone! Or at least a frozen, chocolate covered, individually wrapped dairy dessert. Amazing.
We arrived at Cambodia International Airport and de-olaned a la Burbank Airport style; that is, we went down a stairway ramp and walked outside from the plane to the terminal, which was clean and not too crowded, except for our group of about 135 people. We drove to the hotel in downtown Siem Reap, a very nice hotel and spa—Borei Angkor—owned by the provincial governor. The rooms are lushly decorated in a style reminiscent of 18th century (?) Cambodia; lots of dark woods and plush fabrics; nice and comfortable.
After settling in we were taken to the first of the large temple areas, Angor Thom. This is not a temple itself, but an ancient, large (“Thom”), walled city encompassing many temples. The sandstone walls are intricately carved and adorned by sculpted Buddas and elephants. Within the 400 square kilometer grounds are numerous temples, all in some stage of disrepair, ruin or renovation. Even so, the size and artistic components are amazing. We are allowed to walk through pretty much all of them, despite safety and falling hazards that would have this place shut down immediately in the U.S. Our guide was quite knowledgable and informative, and the past glory days of Khmer could be appreciated. Our site also included the temple that was used in the movie with Angelina Jolie, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”. It is one of the more overrun by forest temples, but the trees have massive root structures that wrap around many of the buildings and walls. Very interesting and cool looking.
We had dinner at the hotel multicultural buffet. Good local beer, everything else looked real nice, tasted OK, but not great. Most importantly, we are all well. Our sleep habits were still a few time zones off, so we were awaking around 3 AM local time, the last couple of days. We did that again early this morning but then fell asleep again for a decent amount of time. Maybe by the time we get on the ship we will be synchronized more locally. Tomorrow, the temple of temples, Angor Wat.
12/4/17
Angor Wat is very impressive, to say the least, but I found it to be a larger version of what we had seen previously. There is a steep 200 foot staircase climb that takes you to the top of the central tower, and there are pretty magnificent views of the countryside and it gives you a perspective of the scale of the temple complex.
Afterwards we went to lunch at this great Cambodian restaurant. Lots of fresh dishes, very flavorful, wonderful fresh mangos, etc. We then drove around downtown Siem Reap, stopped in a cultural craft center (beautiful but expensive [although cheaper than elsewhere] items) and got a better feel for where we are. That night the hotel put on a cultural dance show and buffet dinner. The food is good but not anything great; lots of variety and cultural variations, just doesn’t pop. We did have a good time at lunch and dinner talking with our cruise mates. Lots of doctors and probably more Jews than on all our other cruises combined (at least that we have run into). So far, so very nice people.
Earlier we spent time with our guide. Very interesting man in his late 30s, who had never seen a car or a motorcycle until he was a teenager. He grew up in the countryside and experienced firsthand with his parents and his village the devastation of the Khmer Rouge. He pushed for his own education, somehow learned English, went to school to be a tour guide, and is now learning German so that he can give tours to that group of people.
12/5
We flew back to Singapore from Siem Reap today. While I was not stripped searched going through Customs and Immigration, at the first control station my fingerprints would not scan, so I was pulled aside and given a more thorough examination. When they finally escorted me down the long corridor, I wasn’t certain if it was going to be to the heavy duty interrogation room or to the duty free shop.
We boarded the ship and our suite was ready for us. The usual nice, comfortable setup. A very nice rear facing veranda with beautiful views. The rest of today and tomorrow we are at sea, heading towards Thailand.
At dinner tonight we made our food allergies known and of course, they are very accommodating. And of course, the food was excellent.
12/6
An at-sea day. We heard a very good talk by the Smithsonian lecturer on the riparian countries of the Mekong Delta.
Spent the rest of the day at leisure; Luanne was feeling under the weather (sea sick? leftover Cambodia discomfort?). We did have massages in the evening, which always helps. A time zone change helped to make an early bed time and just maybe, we are back on a somewhat normal sleep schedule.
12/7
We reached the island off the coast of Thailand, Ko Samui. This is primarily a beach resort island, but it contains some Buddist temples with amazing giant statues. It is all quite colorful and exotic, to say the least.
There is a 50 km. road that circumnavigates the island and we drove around it all. It reminds me of the roads around many other third world countries—a complete mix of impoverished roadside businesses of all types, interspersed with some residences. Along the way we stopped to see the trained monkeys that are used to harvest coconuts, which is a big business in Thailand.
Weird footnote to the day: Luanne developed a nearly complete body rash, red and hot. Good news is within an hour after taking a Benadryl it vanished and has not come back. Don’t know if it was a reaction to something she ate or something she touched.
12/8
Bangkok = Traffic
12 million people—>8 million cars
Traffic on the highways worse than Southern California. A two hour return trip ended up taking 3 hours.
Even so, a very interesting and informative day. The drive from the port is about 2 hours, all of it on highways or expressways. We left early enough but still did not avoid traffic. It is an interesting drive with sights of very mixed business and residential structures, shrimp farms and lots of automotive related industries; Bangkok is the Detroit of Southeast Asia. We had an excellent guide whose real name is Saran Wrap.
Our first stop was at the famous Golden Buddha, a 5 ton statue of solid gold (about $200,000,000 at $1200/oz.). Up until about 70 years ago it was covered in concrete and not known to be gold underneath. When it cracked upon relocation, the truth was known. The other temple we visited that day only had a gold-plated Buddha, but it is one of only 4 temples in Thailand that is supported by the royal family. We did a lot of sightseeing around Bangkok, which surprisingly is not too modern in many places, yet has skyscrapers that mimic those in other parts of the world (e.g., Empire State Building, Pickle in London). The stringing of electrical wires is so bizarre and jumbled it is funny and unbelievable to see. And of course there was a lot of traffic.
Our last stop was a nod to the tourist trade, a stop at the largest jewelry store in the world. If not physically the largest (although it may be), it certainly had the most number of items on display ever seen in one place. The place was mobbed, with almost as many service people as customers.
12/9
Another long drive today, but this time we started at 6 AM! Our itinerary is the Summer Palace (of the Thai royal family), the ruins of the old capital of Siam at Ayutthaya and a royal temple. Our guide today was the same as yesterday; she is very good.
We did avoid traffic on the way out, and our drive was ultimately different than the previous day. Slightly more cosmopolitan (for Thailand) than industrial, and more scenic, which makes sense for the location of a summer palace. It is just an hour from Bangkok (3 hours from the port). We did not go into any of the buildings (other than the mountain tower; great views, the rest are under renovation), but the grounds are absolutely beautiful and immaculately maintained. There are numerous canals throughout and if you climb 4 stories of winding wooden stairs up the tower that represents a feng shui mountain, you are rewarded with 360 degree views of the grounds. There is also a gazebo memorial to the son of the king who was the subject (the father, not the son) of the movie “The King and I”.
Not far from the palace are the ruins of the walled city of Ayutthaya. This was the capital of Thailand from about the 14th century into the 18th century. It was constructed primarily of red brick and the ruins are very beautiful for this reason. The number of bricks in what remains is overwhelming; just imagine the original. Despite the number of people at both our stops today, it never felt crowded; there was always an air of serenity.
We made a final stop at a royal temple (i.e., supported by the monarchy) to see a standing Buddha. Yes, also gold-leaf sitting ones. Our guide explained the meaning of the different poses of Buddha and how they relate to the days of the week and certain numerology.
We did hit traffic on the way back, but we returned on schedule, unlike yesterday where we were 45 minutes late and lost our reservation at one of the specialty restaurants onboard.
12/10
An at-sea day, so massages and relaxing. Good to have a break after the very early and long travel days we had in Thailand. We head to Viet Nam.
12/11
We dock right outside Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, about a 20 minute drive. The countryside looks more developed than Thailand. And guess what: Saigon is 12 million people and 7 million motor scooters. They are everywhere, more than in any country we have seen so far. Everyone seems to drive well, they just don’t always follow obvious rules of the road, like red lights, traffic flow, staying off the sidewalks, etc.
As a city, Saigon seems more modern than Bangkok. More stores that look like stores and not sheds along the roadside (although there are some of those, too). You can see the influence of Western development, although many shops are still very Vietnamese in nature. Our guide was quite informative and wiling to share his political and cultural opinions. His family came from the north in 1954 when the country was divided. His uncle remains a Communist, his father not. He himself was raised Buddist, doesn’t really practice and married a Catholic.
Our first stop was at the presidential palace, the same one that was crashed into by NVA tanks in 1975 that effectively brought the unification of Vietnam. We toured the grounds and saw the rooms where Nixon met with the South Vietnamese to discuss his plan to end the war. And related to the war, we saw the apartment building (CIA building?) that is in the iconic photo showing the line of Vietnamese people trying to board a helicopter that had landed on the roof of the building.
We drove around the city and stopped at the Museum of Vietnamese history. The history covers the multiple cultures of early Viet Nam (mostly up until the early 1900’s). We also saw there a very weird water puppet show. Puppets swim around in a small pool, telling a story, but in Vietnamese, so a lot got lost in non-translation. We stopped at a lacquer craft factory where we saw how the items were made and could then buy (of course) lacquer items of all types. They were very pretty, many unusual ones, but not cheap. We toured the city further. Saw the Notre Dame church, built by the French and being restored; the post office, a very French colonial building designed by Eiffel (of Tower fame); city hall, another colonial building; Chinatown; the “Rodeo Drive” area, although a large section of it was labeled “Unionsquare”; a temple of Confucian practice (heavy on the incense); and a very large marketplace that probably had anything you could imagine, but in stalls jammed into many, many aisles, so unless you knew what and where, you could not really find anything. All in all, a nice overview of the city.
12/12
Today our excursion was to the Mekong River. The drive over took us through a more rural part of Viet Nam, with a countryside covered in rice fields. The towns looked more like the poorer roadside versions we have seen elsewhere, although the large gateway city of 300,000 people was quite modern.
Along the way we stopped at a temple famous for its giant Buddhas and gardens. They are large and the gardens are nice.
Apparently the Mekong River has islands on which live thousands of families. They make a living through fishing, raising bees for honey and making coconut candies. We got on a boat that sailed to one of the islands and were able to see the making of coconut candy, hold a tray of bees, and taste the honey and royal jelly. The time on the island ended with a 2 kilometer sampan ride through a tropical forest along one of the canals on the island. It was a very serene trip.
We ended our trip with lunch in a massive touristy restaurant/hotel, but the meal was supposedly (wealthy) traditional Vietnamese food: elephant ear fish (very good) wrapped in rice paper and lettuce with noodles, spring rolls, soup and a beef and noodle dish. They were also very accommodating to ours and other people’s dietary requirements. They brought Luanne a few alternative dishes, which meant there were some on the table that unsuspectingly had sugar in them.
12/13
Nha Trang, a seaside city of about 700,000 people half way up the coast of Viet Nam. As we pulled into port we are greeted by a giant ferris wheel and a string of aerial gondolas overhead, traversing the waterway below. Apparently this is all part of a huge amusement park (Vinpearl) on the opposite shore, and there are dozens of boats shuttling passengers back and forth between the shores. Communism in action.
We drove into town, a scenic ride along the shore. Lots of beaches, clean. We stopped at the site of the old Champa temple ruins. These are interesting, and unless you have seen Angor Wat, majestic. The Champa culture did sacrificing (produce, not people) and dancing on the temple grounds, and we were treated to a re-enactment of some of the dances.
We strolled along the seashore and stopped at a beachside restaurant for beverages; whole coconuts tapped for their pure water. Afterwards we went to an embroidery gallery to see this form of art. A-mazing! The pictures look like photographs, or lacquer art or… . But they are all hand-stitched, with who knows how many stitches per inch. If they were not in the thousands of dollars, we would have brought one home.
A last stop at another giant white Buddha, but this one in town and at the top of a about a 250 step climb. Interesting, a photo op, and a good climb.
12/14
Sailing day, spa day. I had a Thai massage that was wonderful! The masseuse jumps on the table, does wonderful stretches (of me). Wouldn’t mind this type more regularly. :)
Just a note that last night we ate in one of the specialty restaurants, Prime 7. It specializes in prime beef, lobster and crab. Of course the shellfish are available in the main dining room, as are all cuts of beef, but it is not clear if they are prime in the dining room. Regardless, the meats were very good, but did not strike me as great. Luanne had New Zealand lamb chops that were very good, but no better than what we have at home (barbecued) We’ll have to compare to the main dining room to see if this seemingly hard to get reservation is worth it.
12/15
Arrived in China today, specifically Sanya on the island of Hai Nan. The island has a population of 9 million (small by China standards) and the city of Sanya is about 300,000. The island is on the same latitude as Hawaii and is called the Chinese Hawaii. It is known for five qualities: sun, beach, ocean, greenery, fresh air. It is a resort town and a haven for retirees. There are huge apartment/condo complexes all over, and they are comparatively expensive by mainland standards.
We took a bus to the main attraction on the island, the resort/park/temples of Nanshan Cultural Center. Tourists from all over China and the world flock to this location. It is famous for its taller-than-the-Statue of Liberty 3-sided Buddha. The place is really more like a park and you get around in trams. There are beautiful gardens, temples, restaurants and hotels on the property and it is all by the ocean. Because of its strong Buddhist orientation, the restaurants are all vegetarian. We were treated to an 11 course vegetarian meal, with numerous pseudo-meats (e.g., shrimp, lamb, chicken) that was interesting and fairly good, if you like tofu/seitan.
12/16
This is a partial sea day in that we are scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong at 4:00 PM. So—spa day! My last massage of the cruise was a combo of Thai (yeah!), reflexology and relaxation. Ahhh. We are scheduled to take a night tour of Hong Kong.
Well, the wind was so strong (yes, we felt some bouncing last night; blew at 35-40 knots with 5-8 ft. swells) that we are delayed coming into Hong Kong until about 6 PM.
Hong Kong at night is a wall of lights and moving pictures. Luanne says it reminds her of Las Vegas—the place where you are does not look like the place where you are. Lots of glitz and glam here at night. We saw a lot of it from the 10th tallest building in the world, Sky 100 at 103 stories (not really, it turns out since floors numbered 13,14,24,34,… are omitted). At the 100th floor there is an observation deck that extends around the building. Pretty spectacular, and just driving around the harbor area was to see an amazing light show. Entire buildings are transformed into display screens.
12/17
Disembark today with a trip around the city that ends at the airport. There were only a few of us and our guide opted to show us parts of Hong Kong that are not touristy. Technically we are in Kowloon, the mainland part of Hong Kong (as opposed to the island part). We started with the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden. This is where pet birds and supplies for them are sold. Prices range from a few dollars to thousands of dollars. From there we went to the flower market. Many beautiful arrangements and some incredible orchids. Afterwards we saw the food market where locals shop. This is an open air street with stalls of produce, meats, seafoods, tofu and other edibles. Most (all?) the produce is imported and looks very fresh and good. Some of the largest carrots and ginger root that I have ever seen.
After a dim sum lunch (ok, not great) at Festival Walk Mall (huge, just about every high and middle end store you can think of) we went to the gardens of, and the Buddhist nunnery in the area. The grounds are gorgeous with beautiful stone gardens, sculpted trees, ponds and an exhibit of teak wood construction techniques that use no nails or screws. The scale models of this construction are amazing.
Air Canada flights home (via Vancouver), arriving in San Francisco about 2 hours after we leave Hong Kong (plus 16 hours and a trip across the International Date Line). Fortunately there are business lounges.
Still 12/17 and we are in Vancouver with a 4 hour layover to San Francisco. The flight from Hong Kong was smooth and fairly comfortable. It helps to watch 3 movies. Baggage at SFO came off the fastest we have we ever experienced! No traffic on the drive home and all is well.