Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

April 18 – 20, 2017

We have a guest chef on board, Christian Delouvier who is French, the same nationality as our Executive Chef, Farid.  They did a cooking demonsstration of Christian’s favorite dishes – these are some that I will definitely make at home.

The evening before our port in Myanmar we had a special dinner for the ATW passengers.  Each table in Polo and Toscana was made up for 9 or 10 people, 8 passengers and a crew member or two.  We were hosted by Mariusz Lewandowski from Poland, the food and beverage manager.  We had a delicious dinner and terrific conversation.  Needless to say, the wine flowed!

On our first day in Myanmar, we stayed on the ship as we had been to Yangon before and the trip out of the port and into the city takes 90 minutes.  We had an exercise and movie day (Allied and Patriot’s Day were the movies) and an early dinner since our trip to Mandalay was to begin the next morning with a 4:30 breakfast and a 5:20 departure to the airport.

10 people from the ship were in the group going to Mandalay.  On our last cruise we went to Bagan.  This time there were 40 people going there so we felt lucky to have such a small group.We were met bright and early by our guide, Moh Moh. The trip to the Yangon airport took 90 minutes and Moh Moh gave us some information about Myanmar, formerly Burma.  This is primarily a Buddhist country and all males are required to spend some time in a monastery.  It can be as little as a week, but most stay longer.  People who are very poor often send their children to live there and many of these children become monks.  All of the food is donated to the monks – they go door to door every day -and they are only allowed breakfast and lunch, no food after 12 noon. 

They had a woman in line to rule Myanmar, but she married a foreigner so she is ineligible. She is, however, the prime minister and is well respected.  The country is still under quasi military rule although it has been open to tourists for several years now.

Tourism is opening up here since the government has changed, but like other countries in Southeast Asia, the tourist season ends in April because it is just too hot. Both men and women wear longyis here, the men tie theirs in front and the women tie theirs on the side.  Some of the younger people don’t want to wear the traditional garb so we did see some jeans, but not many.

Most of the women and some of the men are completely covered to protect them from the sun as we have seen in other countries.  Here, though, they use a root called Thanaka on their faces and sometimes on their bodies, to protect them from the sun.  Some women have it applied in lovely ways but mostly it looks like a chalky circle. These girls have leaf shapes on their cheeks.  Moh Moh is showing us the root that is used.

The country is really not clean, though.  There is trash everywhere and even in our very plush hotel, they tell you to only drink bottled water. The fifteen year tourist boycot, while lifted now, increased tourism but not the infrastructure to handle it.

People live in all kinds of housing, some look habitable to us and others are really less than basic.  It is not unusual to see people living in the grass huts.

Our flight was on time and we arrived in Mandalay about 10 AM.  Our first stop was in Amarapura, Myanmar’s penultimate Royal Capital.  We visited the U Bein Bridge which spans Taungthamen Lake and is the longest teak footbridge in the world.  There were lots of people walking across it and it was quite a sight.  The waters here are full of the nasty water hyacinth which really clogs the waterways and is hard to get rid of.  We saw a number of people begging on the bridge.  One of the saddest sights was this little girl holding an infant.

Mandalay was founded in 1857 by King Mindon partly to show the British, who were ruling Lower Burma from Rangoon (now Yangon), that his kingdom was still mighty.  It was taken by the British in 1885 and prospered until the Japanese invasion of 1942 during which many of the buildings were leveled by bombing.  Moh Moh was a great guide and explained the history very well.  

She told us (I didn’t remember) that the Road to Mandalay in the original Kipling poem, was not a road but a river!  I also didn’t know that George Orwell lived in Burma for much of his life.  He was born Eric Blair.   He wrote his first novel in Burma and his most well known works, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four were banned by the regime until quite recently.

We saw the marble carving places and a weaving workshop where they weave the lovely longyis.

We had visits to monasteries – the kitchens in this one were particularly interesting. They are feeding 1200 monks here!

Temples we visited:

Mahamundi Pagoda, Shwen

And andaw monastery (Golden Palace), Su Taung Pyai and Kuthodaw Pagoda.  The Kuthodaw Pagoda is known as the world’s largest book as there are Buddhist scripture carved on 729 marble slabs inside.

The Shwenandaw Monastery is one of the best examples of traditional Burmese style wooden monstery building in the country. The monastery was once part of the Mandalay Royal Palace.

Women were not allowed to touch or approach the Buddha here.  The men were putting gold leaf on the Buddha and they had a camera with video to show the women!  And like other temples, arms and knees had to be covered and no shoes or socks could be worn in the temple.

We had a ride in one of those trucks with the benches on the sides up to the top of Mandalay Hill for sunset.  The road wasn’t nearly as bad as the one in Ko Samui!

Sign, sign everywhere a sign.

If Thailand is the “Land of Smiles”, I would say that Myanmar is the land of kind and friendly people. We met so many people who wanted to talk, practice their English, delighted in having their pictures taken, and lined up to have their pictures taken with us as Westerners are unique to them.

These two 21 year old men, both university students – one studying philosphy and one studying physics – wanted to talk for a long time to practice their English.  The physics student (on the left) is already a monk and the other is a novice. Oh, and the third one is Norm!

After the sunset (and a very hot day), we went back to the hotel for showers and dinner.  The food was delicious, so many wonderful choices with plenty of noodle dishes to choose from.

From our hotel window, we could see the temples we had just visited with the beautiful lights on them.

The next morning, we were awake in time to watch the sunrise, explore the beautiful hotel grounds and have a delicious breakfast. We left for the airport at 8 AM.  Our flights, both arriving and leaving, were on time and even though they were only 1 hour 20 minutes, we had a boxed meal and drink!

We arrived back at the ship around 2 and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Myanmar is a wonderful place to visit – and you must bear in mind, as Moh Moh says, that it will take as much as 20 years to bring their standards up.

April 11, 2017

This is a part of the world we visited on our world cruise in 2015-2016 so there is lots of information to be found in the Itinerary 1 posts. If you are considering a visit or just want to read more, look on the side navigation and go to Asia, then look for the post from last time.

Today we joined 6 fellow passengers for the “Island Safari”.  Sonia Gelman booked it and along with her husband Boris, the other explorers were Erin and Mui, Rob and Shary and us.  

It took quite a while this morning for the ship to be cleared by the local authorities. We gathered in the lounge before 10 so we could get tickets for the first tender ashore.  We didn’t leave the ship until about 10:30 and it was almost a 30 minute tender ride to the dock where we would meet our tour guide.  His name was York and he was very willing to be flexible with the itinerary to be sure we would get back to the ship by the last tender at 5:30.

Ko Samui is quite small and is one of 80 mostly uninhabited islands here. We rode in a kind of safari truck.  There were two benches along the inside facing in and a bench seat above the cab of the truck.  Since we only had 8 people, the bench on top was not used.  We saw other vehicles later in the trip that had people sitting up there and we all agreed that we wouldn’t be the ones to do that!

Our first stop was the Namuang Waterfall, a spectacular sight surrounded by rocks and with a quite deep pool of water at the foot of the falls.  I was the only one game for taking a dip in the pool and it was really refreshing on such a hot day.

We then headed for the Baanchang elephant trekking experience and what an experience it was!  We love these gentle creatures andYork assured us that this place treats their elephants well.  We had a long ride with our mahout and then he asked if either of us wanted to “drive”!  Of course, I am all about every experience I can get so I enthusiastically said yes!  He got down (the elephants lower their heads on command to let the mahout down) and I moved from the seat where I was sitting with Norm to just behind the elephant’s  head, with my hands on her head.  Her name was Anita, by the way, and she was 25 years old.

Here are some shots of our experience.  Our mahout also took a video but of course I cannot upload it here.

Later, I was talking to one of the elephants when she put her head right next to mine. Norm bonded with them too.  What wonderful animals.

Our next stop was at the Blue Stars Mountain restaurant where we had a delicious lunch.  The air was cooler there.  We had traditional thai food, Norm had a Chang beer and I had a glass of their marvelous mango juice.

After lunch we headed to to see the monkeys harvest the coconuts – they are trained to do this and it is much more economical than using manpower.  Again, I took a video but it will have to wait till we are home.  We visited this place on our last trip to Ko Samui.

We went to the Buddhist temple where the mummified Monk Phra Khru Samathakittkhun, is in a glass enclosure.  He is wearing sunglasses!  The story is that he knew when he was going to die and after he did die at 79 years and 8 months, his body did not decompose so his wishes were followed that he be “buried” in a sitting position as a reminder to Buddhists to follow the teachings.

 
We visited the Grandmother and Grandfather rocks – Hin Ta and Hin Yai – a reminder that mother nature does have a sense of humor!  The water here is so clean and beautiful.

The last part of the day was the reason we were in these 4×4 vehicles and why we would have never wanted to ride on the top.  We went up very bumpy dirt roads to 650 m above sea level to see the big Buddha on the mountain.  It was a hair raising experience especially when other vehicles were coming down at the same time.  We had to really hang on and if you had any kidney stones this would have for sure shaken them out of you.  The site was beautiful and so was the surrounding scenery.  You can see the winding road with the switchbacks.

The animals of the Chinese zodiac surrounded the Buddha and since I am born in the year of the tiger, Norm took this shot.

It was a fun and memorable day.  Then, for dinner, we went to the terrace for a Thai buffet which was excellent – the lobster pad thai was just scrumptious.  We were greeted by Cate, one of our favorite servers!

April 9 and 10, 2017

During our day at sea before reaching Bangkok, we had a “battle of the chefs” with our executive chef and our general manager who used to be a chef in Belgium.  It was fun, and Yves, the GM, invited one of our friends, Beverly, up to do some of the cooking!

We also had dinner in Polo with friends Anne and Tom and Norman and Rhoda.

Again, in this port of Bangkok we are lucky to be on a small ship.  We get to pass under the bridges on the river into the city.  Large cruise ships have to dock 80 miles away from the city and it takes 2 1/2 hours to get into Bangkok from there.  We took on our pilot at aboout 9 AM and didn’t arrive at the dock until almost noon, that’s how long the trip on the river took.  Once we got near, the bridges were a beautiful sight to see. This is a city that was initially built on the water.  Only the temples and royal palaces were built on dry land (mostly right on the river banks) and ordinary residences floated on thick bamboo rafts on the river and canals, even shops and warehouses were moored to the river bank. 

It was very hot here and we had a 5 PM excursion to the “ladyboy” show planned, so we initially went out in search of wifi, but didn’t find any so we came back in to the ship and chilled out until it was time to leave for the show.  Here, you have to take a small van to the outside of the pier (and it is a long way), then get the shuttle or a taxi to town.  When we looked at the map, we saw that the shuttle dropped people off at a shopping center far from the main part of town so unless you were interested in the shopping center you had to take a cab anyway.

A fellow passenger, Suki, arranged the transportation and tickets to the show, so we met and our group of 17 had two small vans that transported us. The theater is in the Riverfront Warehouse #3, a plaza with many shops and restaurants, so we had plenty of time to shop and have a bite to eat.  We went to a hot pot restaurant and here is Norm with the now empty hot pot! You get to choose your meal, put it in the pot which is on a burner right in the table, and it cooks for you right there.  Delicious.

The show was at the Calypso Bangkok Theater.  It was really well done, and you could hardly believe that the performers were men.  In fact, Norm STIILL doesn’t believe it.  We saw Beyonce, Lady Gaga and many other acts – the number of performers (70) and costume changes was astounding.  Here are a few pictures from after the show.  The ones in the theater didn’t come out too well.

And a little bit about the ladyboys:

Thailand’s Ladyboys or katoeys are some of the most beautiful – and convincing – transvestites in the world, mostly accepted and embraced by a highly tolerant Thai society. Some families even believe that katoeys bring good luck to them, an enlightened attitude that was boosted by several Thai movies in the past two decades dedicated to katoey themes.

On our second day in Bangkok (and we have been here twice before), we chose to do the excursion called Canals and Royal Barges.  Our tour guide was named Pan. We had already heard and learned a lot about Thailand and Buddhism on previous trips and from John Freedman, our lecturer.  We knew that the King, Rama IX, died in October and that the country is in mourning for one year.  There are pictures of the King and his son, the new King Rama X, everywhere, and there are drapes of black and white fabric on many of the buildings.  They ask that people wear black and white clothing or at least neutral clothing during this period.   His body is in a special building in the Grand Palace and about 40,000 people/day visit to pay respects. People wait up to 6 hours. And his picture is everywhere, even projected on the sides of buildings.

Like in Brunei, no one speaks publicly about the Royal family.  Here, if you are caught, you receive a 20 year jail sentence.  In fact, the movie “The King and I” – about Rama IV – is banned here. King Rama IX was on the throne for 70 years, the longest monarchy in the world.

There is a huge amount of traffic here in Bangkok, and it is the #1 city in the world for tourism.  They are mostly Chinese, but people from all over the world come here too.  

The population of Bangkok is 11 million and half the population is under 30. There are slums near the cruise port and the government is trying to move the people into housing that costs them $30 US/month.  There are many new high rises and lots of building going on.  Medical care costs $1, no matter what you have done, in or out of the hospital.  They do pay a 22% tax rate.

Our tour took us to board our riverboat on the Chao Phya River.  We traveled first to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, one of the most well-known and popular attractions in Bangkok.  This temple is made of many mosaics and there are lots of Buddhas of course.  Pan told us that men here must study as monks for a period in their lives – for him it was 3 months which is typical.

There were, of course, a couple of statues for Norm to say hello to!

The Thai people are known as smiling and very tolerant people.  They do have some cultural ways – for example, it is considered very disrespectful to touch someone’s head or to point with your feet.  This limits the job opportunities for non Thai barbers and hairdressers!

We visited the Royal Barge museum, where we were not allowed to take pictures inside.  I did get this one from just outside.  The King’s barge, used solely by the King, is made of one solid teak tree in a swan shape and is covered in solid gold leaf.  It takes 36 rowers and 6 guides to operate it.  In all, there are 52 royal barges – longboats – in the city and they are used on the river in times of celebration.  The new year celebration is this Thursday, April 13, and the Thai people have a 5 day weekend!  I guess it is good we will miss that. This is the year 2560 here, they start by the date that the Buddha died.

We traveled by boat in the many canals or klongs,  which is why Bangkok is often called the “Venice of the East”. Monitor lizards and many catfish inhabit the rivers and canals and we spotted a couple of lizards and fed bread to the catfish.  There are many temples, homes and other sights along the river.  The floating markets in Bangkok have moved to land.  There is still a big one 60 miles north.  You only see a few vendors like the one in this picture.

The tuk tuk is a popular way of traveling here, Pan called it the three wheeled taxi.  There are also official motorbike taxis. And, there are 1310 7-11’s here in Bangkok alone – we saw them every few blocks.

Ther are no casinos in Thailand but that doesn’t stop them from gambling.  They have fish fighting, cock fighting, horse races, kick boxing and sports betting!

Our last stop was the Gem Gallery.  No pictures were allowed in here either.  They had thousands of rings and other jewelry as well as purses made from sting ray skin which were really beautiful.  I resisted the buying, though.  

Tomorrow we visit Ko Samui, another port in Thailand where we have a small tour – 8 of us – scheduled.

April 6 and 7, 2017

Before I describe our two days in Ho Chi Minh City, I want to share my latest contribution to the Around the World quilt.  It is the Komodo Dragon.

Also on the evening before we arrived here, we were invited to have dinner with the Captain – Luca Morvillo, who is from Sorrento Italy.  I was seated to his left and what a lovely dinner conversation we had!  Also at the table were the HR manager, Bernadette (Bernie) Ryan from Adelaide, Australia and the Chief Engineer – Nedyalko Tonchev from Bulgaria.

Luca has a young son and a one month old daughter.  He became a Captain at age 32 and is now just 42 years old. Of course I had to get a selfie!  

Because we are on such a small ship, we are able to sail the 28 miles up the Saigon River right into the center of the city.  This is the very rich Mekong River Delta area which supplies the water and food for much of Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam. The Chinese have built several dams and there is a controversial one being built in Laos right now.  This is an untested type of dam and the fear is that it will not allow fish to get through and that the water level here in the south will be greatly impacted.  So far, this project is proceeding, but who knows in the future. Most of the small bridges in the villages get washed away every year and have to be rebuilt.

The trip on the river was so interesting. One of our lecturers, Peter Croyle, was on the deck all during the morning to point out some of the features.  I was doing my morning deck walk and could see and hear the commentary.  One interesting thing he pointed out is the building in the left foreground – with what looks like small windows.  This is not an apartment building, but a nesting place for edible-nest swiftlets.  The nests are made of mostly grasses using their solidified saliva.  The nests are harvested for human consumption and are thought of as quite a delicacy.  They have been used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as bird’s nest soup.

Some of the barges were full of coal or topsoil, there were all manner of fishing vessels as well as ferries and cargo ships.  The small size of our ship allows us to pass under the bridge.  Other, bigger ships have to dock at the mouth of the river which makes it a long ride to the city.  It was 93 degrees with 80% humidity today, and this is why there will only be 2 more days that the cruise ships come here – until September.  Too hot and humid, and rainy.

Our guide for the first day excursion was “Near”. He made a lot of comments like “if you go too far you won’t be near near.”  He told us a lot of history  as well as some of his own ideas.  For example, the people in the south still refer to Ho Chi Minh City as Saigon.  This city is 3 times bigger than Hanoi, it has 9.3 million people.  But Hanoi is still the center of government. Saigon has 6 million motorbikes and 400,000 cars.  Cars are very expensive here because of the tax- they don’t want people to have cars. A Camry costs $85,000 and a Lexus – $185,000 US. Here is just one example of the parking for the motorbikes.  They park everywhere including on all of the sidewalks and they will definitely run you down – they rarely stop for pedestrians and come at you from all angles.

You see everything on these motorbikes – pigs headed for the market, stacks of eggs, plate glass and even mattresses.  Most of the time I was not quick enough to snap the pictures.  Families of 4 or even more ride on them and we were offered a ride for $2.

We took a half day tour of Saigon – we had been here twice before but didn’t see these sights then.  Saigon began as a small fishing village 300 years ago and was rebuilt by the French in the mid 19th century.  The city was called Cochinchina then and many of the French Colonial structures remain.  First we went to the Reunification Palace, where on April 30, 1975 the Southern forces officially surrendered to the Revolutionary forces of the north when they breached the palace gates with their tanks. It was called the Presidential Palace before 1975 because it was the headquarters of the president of South Vietnam. Most of the exhibits are still in their pre 1975 state, including the telephones and switchboards in the “bunker”, the basement level war rooms.  Near asked us who won the war – and he said that everyone lost that war.  His father was an interpreter for the GIs – nearly 604,481 were here during the war years. He was sent to a “re-education” camp for 2 years after the war.  Russia and China aided the north to protect Communism and the US and others wanted to prevent the expansion of Communism.  It is surely a sad episode in history.  After the North took over, Saigon’s name was changed to Ho Chi Minh City and all of the streets were also renamed.

We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral which was built by French colonists between 1877 and 1880 and was modeled after the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  It was constructed with stained glass windows imported from Chartres and bricks from Marseille.

The Central Post office, right across the street from the Cathedral, is also  one of the oldest buildings here and was designed by the famous French architect, Gustav Eiffel.  The interior has remained essentially untouched since its construction between 1886 and 1891.

We went to the Minh Phuong lacquerware factory where we saw the workmen doing the various steps in the process.  I didn’t know that the laquerware was first used to prevent termites in the wood used in building – this lacquerware on walls can last thousands of years!

We visited the oldest pagoda in Saigon, the Giac Lam Pagoda which was built in 1744.  This temple has a blend of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.  There are ornate tombs and an elegant statue of Quan The Am Bo Tat, the Goddess of Mercy.  There are walls of pictures in remembrance of those who have died. 

We finished our afternoon with a visit to Chinatown and the Binh Hay market – one of the most colorful and exciting markets in the city.  It was getting close to 6 PM and a lot of the stalls were shutting down, but check out this display of dried shrimp!

Here are some outside shots of the Union Square department store, the opera house, city hall with the statue of Ho Chi Minh outside and the site of the REX Hotel and the former US Embassy.  And never let it be said that there is no Easter Bunny!

When we got back to the port, Near asked us what we were doing in the evening.  We had a Vietnamese Cultural show scheduled and he mentioned that we “might” see him there.  What a surprise we had when we saw that he was the narrator for the show – he gave me a big hug afterwards.

And here is one of the boats we saw from our balcony after the show!

On our second day here, we had a quest – to go to the XQ store where we bought the silk embroidery picture last time we wer here.  We also planned to have lunch in the city.  The 9 AM shuttle bus was full when we got down to it, so we decided to walk.  Very hot and humid and we were warned not to walk because the motorcyclists ride by and grab purses and backpacks.  We walked anyway and were careful but didn’t encounter any of that.  We did have some hairraising street crossings though.  First we went to the Ben Thanh market where we bought some gifts and Norm got this t-shirt!

Then we went to XQ and spent a good bit of time deciding whether we wanted to buy something and which one.  We did end up with a purchase which is now on the wall of our room on the ship along with other art pieces we have bought along the way.  Pictures don’t do them justice so you will have to come visit to see them.  Or maybe by the end of the cruise I will photograph the art filled room.

We had to come back in an hour to pick up the picture, so we went for a lunch at Pho 2000.  This is a place that, as it turns out, Bill Clinton had pho when he was here.  We had two bowls, one Tiger beer and one diet Coke and the bill was $10!

What a great two days here – lots of building since we were here in October 2015, and the economy is growing at about 6%/year.  It is a capitalist society in terms of the economy but the rules are still communist and people don’t dare to break the rules.  And, by the way, gun ownership is not allowed here.

As I write this, it is 4:05 PM and we are leaving Saigon.  River traffic has stopped and a tug is easing the stern of the boat out from the pier!

Now on to Bangkok. 

April 2 and 3, 2017

The sail in to Ha Long Bay is really spectacular – in fact the Vietnamese and others think it is one of the most spectacular places in all of Vietnam.  If you can imagine many islands rising from the Gulf of Tonkin, you can almost imagine the mystical beauty.  Again, my photos will not do it justice.  We got up at 5:30 so we could see the sun rise as we sailed in.

Halong translates as “where the dragon descends into the sea” and the legend is that the islands were created by a dragon from the mountains that was sent by the gods to fight off northern invaders.  As it charged toward the coast, its tail gouged out valleys and crevasses.  When it finally plunged into the sea, the area filled with water leaving only the pinnacles behind.  The limestone islands, more than 1600, are mostly uninhabited but are really almost mystical in their beauty.  In fact the area has been named one of the new 7 wonders of nature and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Many boats are in the harbor – from small fishing boats to large cargo ships as well as some excursion boats and the junks.  The fishing boat engines make a put put sound as they pass by.  And one of the ships was washing our ship today!

We were here on our last world cruise and did the popular junk cruise and saw the many caves and on our second day we made the long trip to Hanoi.  So this time we did an excursion to the Ha Long countryside and a Buddhist temple complex – the Giac Tam which was about a hour from the ship. Along the way, our guide, Anh – which she said signifies First Child – talked to us about Vietnam.  We are in the northeast of the country.

• The country is only 20% Buddhist. She is Catholic but does believe in some of the Buddhist principles.
• A major industry here is coal mining and we passed huge piles of coal along our way.
• Vietnam is a socialist republic. She said that means that you follow all the rules and don’t ask why!
• Most people have incense burning in the middle of their homes even if they are not Buddhists.

We saw rice paddies along the road and the driver stopped for a water buffalo which Anh says is not that common for the farmers to use now.

The monastery was beautiful, built up into the hills and consisting of many levels and areas where people bring offerings and pray.  There were literally about a hundred buses in the parking lot and we got worried, but the complex is so large it really didn’t feel crowded.  It is a Sunday and lots of families come there as it is a day off.  

We actually felt like celebrities – most westerners do not come to this area and many families wanted us to be in pictures with them!

And never let it be said that the Buddhists don’t know how to make money!  There were these benches sponsored by banks and other businesses!

One of the highlights was the opportunity to be in a meditation session with one of the monks from the monastery.  

After the monastery, we traveled a short distance to see a Vietnamese family in their home. We were served sweet potatoes and tea, which is a welcoming custom here. The family members interacted with us, not much English spoken, but Anh helped with the translation. This family has a large amount of land and they grow vegetables, peaches and other fruits and also raise pigs, turkeys and chickens. The farm is surrounded by stone walls with broken glass sticking up on top, to keep intruders from climbing over it! Their daughter was adorable to watch playing with the baby chicks. Norm bonded with the man of the house.

Our last stop of the day was to a local market where we saw many varieties of fish, crabs, clams and many things I could not identify. More varieties than I think I have seen anywhere else. 

It must have been nap time because the market wasn’t too busy and we saw a lot of people in hammocks!

At night on the ship, since we were staying overnight, there was a fun deck party with the entertainment team singing, lots of dancing, and beautiful views of the huge ferris wheel. The sky ride has a gondola that holds 270 people and it extends all the way  across the harbor.

The waiters served desserts all night!

The second day in Ha Long Bay, we went out on our own. It is a tender port, so we waited to have breakfast and take the tender until all of the people on full day tours were off the ship. We had the entire terrace restaurant outside area to ourselves! We took a long walk and saw some of the back streets and the tall thin homes, many with businesses on the ground floor as is the Vietnamese custom. 

We found the local market and saw lots of people, all of them were so friendly and loved having their pictures taken!

Norm got a haircut and a shampoo and head massage!

We then had lunch at a lovely restaurant – had to have Pho Ga, which is kind of a Vietnamese chicken soup. Norm had a beer too, and the resident cat wanted to make friends. When it came time to pay , the waitress said it would be $7. We could hardly believe that was correct and she went back to check – after all, on the ship, the beer is $7! It was correct! So Norm gave them $20. The manager came out to double check with us, quite puzzled with the amount of money we gave them as they did not speak English. When they realized we wanted them to have the extra money, they were beyond thrilled!

As I have mentioned before, the air is very polluted here, not as bad as China, but here is the afternoon sun – you can look right at it…