Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

May 31, 2023

I had this whole post on my iPad when it went fluky, froze  and the whole post disappeared, so I am doing this one again on my laptop…

On May 30, we were invited to dinner with our chief engineer, Ned Tonchev, and our captain, Maroje Brajcic.  Erin and Mui were invited as well.  We had a wonderful evening!

On May 31, Wednesday, we had a tour with Sonia and Boris. This port we are anchored and we were about a 30 minute tender ride away from the port.  We were lucky to have shoreside tenders which were large and open instead of using the usual lifeboats we use in other places. Later we heard that ships have to anchor so far out because a few years ago one ship’s anchor cut into an undersea cable which caused many problems.

We were picked up in a 4×4 vehicle by our guide, Tukky.  Good thing he had us fasten our seatbelts because this was an adventure tour around the island of Ko Samui and it consisted of many bumpy dirt roads interspersed with some paved parts and we went way up into the mountains for the beautiful viewpoints. On the way Tukky often stopped to show us different trees and fruits that grow in the jungle.

The views were really beautiful.  At the first stop we had to walk over rope bridges to get to the viewpoint.  We were scheduled to also see the waterfall but it is dry now.

We saw many banana trees but Tukky told us that they are being cut down in many places to plant durian trees (that smelly fruit that is prohibited in vehicles, airplanes and hotels).  Apparently it is more lucrative to sell that and it is in great demand in China. Here is a banana tree, a durian tree and a betel nut. We also learned about the two coconuts harvested here, one for the coconut meat and the other for milk. They are two completely different trees.

The next viewpoint was just as beautiful.  We saw homes and restaurants so far off the beaten path we wondered how people live and how others find the places – but then we found them as tourists.  Tukky told us that Ko Samui was hit hard by Covid, everything shut down and since tourism is the main source of income, it was devastating.  It is now coming back. There wasn’t much illness here and there aren’t many Chinese visitors either since it is a small island and they like to travel in large groups – there aren’t enough accommodations for large groups.

This frog was a visitor in my stall in the rest room.  And these puppies were so cute!

Next we visited the Lamai Temple area where we saw the temple and the museum from the outside and had our pictures taken with the animals representing our birth years (Tiger for me, Ox for Norm).

More wonderful views from here.

Our next stop was at the Secret Buddha Garden or Magic Garden where we walked into a beautiful wooded area with lots of statues.  The walking was a bit treacherous as there were slippery places and many rocks to navigate.  But it was serene and quiet.

Our last stop of the day was at the Crystal Bay Beach resort where we had a beautiful beach, a lovely pool and a delicious lunch.  We told Tukky we wanted to spend 3 hours there before going back to the ship. 

After lunch and a beach walk, Sonia and I had Thai massages (60 minutes for $10!) right along the beach.  So relaxing.  We just got finished when a huge black cloud and fierce rainstorm hit, tree branches came down and sand sprayed everywhere.  Tukky had ponchos for us but we got soaked in the 4×4 vehicle.  Wheeee!

A great day all around.

May 25 and 26, 2023

We arrived in Chan May on Thursday at about 4 PM. There is really nothing much near the cruise port so we just went to the small tourist shopping area on the port itself. We had fun looking but didn’t buy anything. Still very hot here. We had a dinner reservation in Polo Grill tonight, so relaxed and had a wonderful dinner.

Our plan for Friday was a full day trip to Da Nang and Hoi An. Although we have been to Vietnam many times, we had not visited Hoi An. It was a favorite for our son and daughter in law when they came on their honeymoon, so we wanted to experience it. Last time we were here we went to Hue and enjoyed that very much. Both are quite far from the port, it can take up to 2 hours each way. It took us about 90 minutes.

Our guide was Tuan. He told us lots of interesting facts about Vietnam and this central area. From here, it is only about 30 miles to Laos. He was born and raised in a small village near here. He told us that 9% of the population is Buddhist and about 8% is Catholic. The rest have no religion but worship their ancestors. They don’t celebrate birthdays (the first birthday celebration he ever experienced was when he was at college and his peers had a party for his 18h birthday). On the anniversary of a loved one’s death, the family buys cherished items made of paper (could be clothes, food, items like phones, etc) to “give” to the departed. Then they burn the items. You see these paper items in all of the markets.

He talked about tourism which has really suffered during covid and is still only 30% of what it was before. Since 1995 when the relationship between the US and Vietnam normalized, the country has grown and modernized a lot. Tuan said they can talk about anything now and that the only thing they are prohibited from doing is to form another political party. It is a one party Communist system but in reality the country is quite capitalistic. They do vote in local elections but national is ruled by the single party.

Almost everyone has a motorbike here. They cost about $1000 US (which is about the price of a water buffalo, so sometimes they trade them!)And you just have to cross the street and hope they stop for you. You cannot wait for a break because there aren’t any. It is far worse in the big cities but still treacherous here.

The population is 100 million. We stopped in Da Nang on our way to Hoi An. The population there is 1.2 million and it is the third largest city after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). He said there is no homeless problem at all. If anyone sees a homeless person, they are instructed to call the police. You are paid $10 for the call and the police take the person to learn a trade and they provide a place to live during the training in a training center. He also said that local governments are very responsive to social media, phone calls and email and answer within 24 hours. The minimum wage here is $368/month US and at that level there is no income tax. Otherwise there is a 10% income tax here. Of course, as soon as you exchange enough US money for Dong, you become a millionaire because 1 million Dong equals $42 US.

The scenery is quite beautiful on the way to Da Nang. You go through a 4 mile tunnel under the mountains which are on one side of the highway and the ocean and river is on the other side. We passed a few fishing villages.

Once in Da Nang, we went to the Cham museum which has sandstone carvings dating back as early as the 7th and 8th century. It is a small but very well done museum with amazing carvings from the Cham dynasty era. First I tried to get a good shot of the famous dragon bridge but it was hard to get the whole thing in a single shot. I heard it is amazing at night.

I will post some pictures from the museum and try not to overwhelm you. Each one seemed more interesting than the last.

After the museum we startted toward Hoi An. We stopped at a marble factory mostly to use the rest room because we wouldn’t get another chance until lunch time. The marble carvings were pretty spectacular. Tuan said there are 5 colors of marble and it is mined on the other side of the mountains from here. Here are some of the large carvings. They also have small ones there.

We arrived in Hoi An before 11 AM which Tuan said was good because buses are not allowed to drive there after 11. Hoi An has a population of about 120,000 and is noted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. It is an ancient town on the bank of the Thu Bon River which used to be the international port until it became too shallow. The town has Japanese, Chinese and European influences and is a well preserved complex of over 1100 timber frame buildings. The housees are tiled and the wooden components are carved with traditional motifs. They are arranged side by side in tight unbroken rows along narrrow pedestrian streets.

The buildings front the street for convenient customer access and the backs open to the river allowing easy loading and off loading of goods from boats.

The town is just beautiful, full of lanterns, colorful markets and buildings and historic 17th and 18th century townscapes.

We visited an ancient house with original carvings and furniture. The river floods almost every year and there are openings in the ceilings which allow a lift to move all of the furniture up to a higher floor during the rainy season.

We had a long walk around the town, time for some shopping and then went to a lovely restaurant for lunch.

We stopped at the Fukien Museum and saw the site of the famous Japanese bridge. This mural covered the bridge because it is under renovation.

Of course, I have to take pictures of signs along the way.

We had a terrific lunch with plenty of non meat options for me.

It was a lovely day – still quite hot, and I did buy a fan from a local vendor.

When we got back to the ship we found that a pigeon had come to visit on our balcony! It stayed all night and left a mess on the floor. We chased it in the morning.

We have a day at sea on Saturday – lots going on but we can stay cool! There is a Facebook live filming with some of our friends and also our guest chefs and our enrichment speaker- if you want to see the recording, you can view it on the Oceania Cruises Facebook page. I will go to be in the audience.

Tomorrow we have the first of two days at Ho Chi Minh City.

May 24, 2023

It has been 6 years since we visited Ha Long Bay (on our 2019 trip we bypassed Vietnam to take our 10 day trip to Nepal and Bhutan) so we were eager to see how much had changed. On our sail in, I was reminded that I think it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and I have not changed that opinion!

We have an Around the World event in the afternoon, so we decided to take a taxi for a tour around the city, stop somewhere for lunch and then be back to get ready for the afternoon event.

We got a cab out on the street after taking an electric cart to the port entrance. We can walk in the port since it is not a commercial port (that is in another location), but it is almost a mile out to the street. When we were here in 2017, we were anchored and had to take the tender to shore. I am not sure if that was because another ship was at the dock or if the dock wasn’t completed then.

The taxi driver was a young man who spoke English but not too well. He took us all around the town. We noticed how many new buildings there are, and they are mostly unoccupied. Our driver said that COVID made a big difference here but now more tourists and people moving in to the city are helping. He said that mostly Chinese and Japanese people buy here. Later we heard that people may not own land here but can buy houses or condos. But if the government later wants the land you must relinquish it. Here are some of the sights – you will see that the condos and even the storefronts are new and empty.

There are beautiful beaches but they are mostly empty during the day. Vietnamese people are almost all covered up from head to toe with masks on because they don’t want to be in the sun. Our driver said that the beaches start to get busy about 7 PM.

We stopped at a market and browsed but didn’t buy anything. Yes, they had many bananas!

After our drive around town, we asked the driver to drop us off at a restaurant for lunch – one not too far from the port entrance. We were surprised and delighted that it was the SAME ONE that we chose to eat lunch at in 2017! I had a picture of the two women who were there then and the current staff knew them! I am no sure if they are still working there because I didn’t understand the Vietnamese.

We had a greaat lunch and the bill came to $10 in US money. We again gave them $20 (same as 6 years ago when the bill was $7 – different food and drink though) and the young man’s face lit up like that never happened before!

We walked the whole way back to the ship and got ready for our evening event.

Everything here is so much less expensive than almost anywhere else that we visit. One of our friends had a dental issue and went to the dentist here. She had full mouth xrays and they needed to pull the tooth. That was done and she was given a bag of meds for both pain and the antibiotics. The entire bill for everything was $71 US. She did have to be taken by motorbike to an ATM to get Vietnamese money – her first trip on that kind of vehicle!

When it was time for the trip to the Around the World event, we were taken by bus and our guide on the bus had a long Vietnamese name. So he told us to call him Steven, his name in English. He gave us a lot of information about Ha Long Bay and even a print out of three common sayings.

Ha Long Bay consists of a dense cluster of 1969 limestone islands that rise spectacularly from the ocean, each topped with thick jungle vegetation. Some of the islands are hollow with enormous caves. Some support floating villages of fishermen – there are 200 species of fish to be found here and 450 types of mollusks.

The bay was listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1994. Ha Long Bay means “Bay of the Descending Dragon” because of local legend which says that long ago when their forefathers were fighting foreign invaders, the gods from heaven sent a family of dragons to help defend their land. This family of dragons descended upon what is now Ha Long Bay and began spitting out jewels and jade. When the jewels and jade hit the sea, they turned into the various islands and formed a formidable fortress against the invaders.

Steven told us that we are the last of the cruise ships to come here until October. This is the hot and rainy season so we were lucky not to have rain. But it is quite hot.

When we arrived at the cave (the only one that is allowed to host events like this), we were greeted by local young people playing drums and lined up to greet us at the entrance. Dragons and Lions were also there and Norm had to greet THEM!

We walked through a long entrance where a huge bar was set up and plates of appetizers were placed on cocktail tables. There were many types of drinks offered. I had a Mai Tai which was delicious.

Here is the menu and information about the evening.

With almost 400 around the world travelers, it is probably quite hard to do an event like this, but it was very special. We were entertained by musicians and dancers and the evening ended with a DJ and dancing. We also each got a gift of a model of the islands.

The city was beautiful at night.

Now on to Chan May where we arrive at 3:30 PM and stay overnight. We visited Hue when we were here last time. This time we will go to Da Nang and Hoi An on a full day trip.

May 19, 2023

Last night we had another dinner in Toscana celebrating our anniversary since they forgot the cake on our real anniversary. This time we got a delicious chocolate cake with ice cream. We gave all but the two pieces we ate back to the staff to enjoy. We even got serenaded by the staff.

On Friday, May 19 we arrived in Bintan, Indonesia, a place we have never visited or even heard of before. We didn’t know what to expect and we ended up having a delightful day. Our sail in was beautiful. And, in a surprise, the chef on the ship cut my Singapore mango for me at breakfast! Certainly better than the hack job I usually do.

We were anchored so had to take the tender to shore.

Before we arrived, I read about the island. Singapore is only a 45-50 minute trip by motorized catamaran. Indonesia is promoting Bintan as the next best tourist destination after Bali. The island’s land area is only 453 square miles and it has many beaches with beach front hotels. It is certainly much less crowded! Our cruise ship anchored on the left of the map above and we arrived to quite the welcome. The beach area we were headed for is at the top of the map. It seems that everywhere we visit in Indonesia, the people are always smiling and so friendly.

We took a short bus ride to the most prominent of the beaches, the Bintan Resort which is set over an area of 740 acres of tropical environment. It was almost deserted. I wish I had known to wear my swim suit because the water was so calm and warm. We didn’t actually know where the shuttle was taking us. But there was time for a nice beach walk and shell gathering and then a walk around the whole resort and part of the lake walk. Norm stayed on the beach while Ellen and I took the walk. Well, maybe he had to make a phone call!

The landscaping was beautiful and they left a lot of trees along the beach for shade.

I will have some additional pictures when Ellen shares the ones she took.

It was a short day in port today as we needed to be back on the ship by 1:30, so we said goodbye and went back for lunch. There wasn’t much open at the resort since it is past the high season.

Our entertainer at night was Josh Henderson in a tribute to Queen. He certainly had the place rocking and we enjoyed it. Tomorrow (May 20) is a sea day on the way to Brunei.