Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

Seychelles – Mahe and La Digue

Posted on November 15, 2015 by patmathews

Seychelles

November 12

We had three wonderful days in the Seychelles and I will post about each of them here. I tried yesterday but the internet was not working well enough to even pull up the site to post.

First let me say that I think the Seychelles islands are some of the most beautiful places we have seen in the world. Spectacular rock formations, beautiful beaches, mountains, unspoiled landscapes and crystal clear blue water.

The Seychelles has set the standard for ecotourism among other island nations. Almost fifty percent of the country has been set aside as protected land, the highest percentage of any country in the world.

We were greeted by local musicians and dancers.

On November 12 (Thursday for us), we had a half day excursion on Mahe called Spices and Coral. 90% of the population lives on the island of Mahe, most living in the capital city of Victoria, where we docked.

In 1771, Pierre Poivre (in case you don’t recognize the name – he is the famous Peter Pepper who picked a peck of pickled peppers!) decided that the Seychelles’ Mahe island was situated at the perfect latitude for growing spices, important commodities in those times. A spice plantation was established but burned to the ground in 1780 by the French Military who feared that a British ship was approaching. The site was dormant until 1860 when William Green, Sr extablished a new plantation.

We visited Jardin du Roi (The King’s garden) which is an 85 acre working plantation situated high on the mountain (a very narrow one lane road takes you there). It was a wonderful visit – we got to see the giant land tortoises, fruit bats, local birds and spices including nutmeg, vanilla, pepper and cinnamon. We were also treated the lemongrass iced tea which was delicious.

Our guide, George, explains nutmeg

The view is spectacular! The man is too.

The resident parrot

They are very proud of this nut (it appears on stamps, garments, almost everything). Erotic as it may look, it is very popular here.

These are just some of the beautiful flowers also found here.

This tortoise seemed to be sleeping, then he had a big yawn!!

Giant tortoises in the mud pool.

Yes, there are n o clothes dryers here!

The pepper plant. All colors of pepper come from the same plant, it just depends on how the seed is aged.

The coral part of the excursion was on a catamaran from Victoria to Anse Royal, a lovely beach. We saw the huge residence built by Sheik Khalifa of Abu Dhabi (the same one that provided the funding for Burj Khalifa in Dubai). Our guide said that it has everything you might want in it, theatre, ballroom, tennis courts, swimming pool, etc. It sits on the top of the mountain with a spectacular view.

The snorkeling here was wonderful. We have never seen so many species of fish and we loved both the catamaran cruise and the snorkeling.

Our catammaran crew, MS Insignia in the background

Most of the country is Roman Catholic and French. This little church is at Anse Royal

The spectacular sky as we headed back to the ship after our long day

November 13

We were in Mahe overnight and had made arrangements (we thought!) with a local tour operator to go to the island of Praslin. We went down to the dock and waited for our 8 AM guide. When he arrived he said “you didn’t come to confirm with me – I waited until 6 pm for you yesterday”. We didn’t get back until almost 7 frrom our spices and coral excursion and he hadn’t said anything about “confirming”. So we decided to book a full day excursion to the Ste. Anne Marine National Park for snorkeling and a beach barbecue. We walked to the Marine Charter (about a kilometer away) for a 10 AM departure. It turned out to be a marvelous choice. We were with 7 other people on the boat (none from our ship) and there was a second boat with 8 people. Our boat had a couple from Mumbai with their 4 year old daughter, Sanvi, and three people from Germany.

We started our day in a glass bottom boat where we could view the coral and fish, and the other group had a regular boat. After snorkeling, we switched boats so both groups could have the glass bottom boat experience. We fed the fish (mostly zebra fish were very hungry and came to the boat in huge numbers). One of the crew dove down and brought two red starfish up for us to see. As you can see, they had large spikes that were not sharp. We have never seen these before and they are apparently only found here.

Believe it or not, this dog was stalking and trying to catch fish. He was in the water for a long time. I don’t think he actually catches any!

The snorkeling was beautiful. We also spent time on the beautiful beach with powdery white sand. An unusual variety of shell was found here, pointed on one end and only the top part emerges from the sand. They used them as razors in the past, and if you aren’t careful, you can get a severe cut on your foot from them.

We had a barbecue on the beach and loved the grilled barracuda, also had chicken, ribs, sausage and salad.

We met a young couple from Germany who was on the other boat. They are on their honeymoon and are traveling for 3 months. This is where they started and is the only place they had reservations so when they heard we were on the world cruise, they asked us where they should go!

We snorkeled again in the afternoon and saw even more species – including the batfish which we have never seen before. It was like swimming in a big aquarium – the fish were so beautiful.

November 14

Today, we left Mahe at about 6 AM and sailed to La Digue, the fourth largest of the Seychelles islands. There are no cars allowed on this island (aside from the golf cart type that transport people from the dock to the hotels). People travel by bicycle or oxcart. We had to take tenders ashore because there is no ship dock here. We booked an excursion to Coco Island and went there on a huge catamaran. We motored out but sailed back. Again the fish were spectacular, but sadly a lot of the coral here has died, mostly because small boaters drag their anchors through it.

I really tried to use my iphone to take pictures underwater (we have a waterproof case), but I couldn’t get it to unlock – the swipe wouldn’t work – so it is a lesson for next time to unlock it before I go in. It did stay dry though. After fiddling for a while, I decided to give it up and just enjoy the experience.

Nancy and me

We walked through the small town after snorkeling all morning (it didn’t take long!) as it is an intimate island that is almost like you were stranded in paradise. We then headed back to the ship for lunch on the terrace.

They are serious about their smoking warnings here!

We head for continental Africa next – two days at sea and we arrive in Mombasa where we will do a safari.

** The tragic bombings in Paris took place while we were here. The Seychelles are largely French so you can imagine the grief and sorrow. Some of our ships crew are also French and have not heard from their families yet.

My wish is that we can find our way back to a place in this world where we don’t use violence to reach each other.

Posted in Africa, Excursions, Food, November, World Cruise 1 | 2 Comments

Colombo, Sri Lanka and cruising the Indian Ocean

Posted on November 10, 2015 by patmathews

Sri_Lanka

November 8

I am posting this on November 10 since I tried for quite a while yesterday. The internet service was really bad and I couldn’t even get the site to come up to do posting! But today it seems better (fingers crossed), so I will cover both our repeat visit to Colombo and a bit of info about the cruise in general and our upcoming visit to Seychelles.

I mentioned that we were going to miss the Maldives due to the political situation on the islands. We did sail right through the Maldives on our way to the Seychelles, so our enrichment lecturer, John Freedman, says we can now say we have been there!

We had the return trip to Sri Lanka, and since we had seen most of what we were interested in the first time around, we joined with Marilyn and Charlie who are on the world cruise with us to hire a cab to take us around to see some of the other areas of Colombo, and to do some shopping. It turned out to be a pretty good idea, because it was a Sunday and the shops are mostly closed on Sundays. But the embassies of Australia, Canada and the US called some of the prominent stores to ask them to open due to our ship making an unexpected return visit. And our driver knew just which ones.

Marilyn is a great shopper, so we had some fun in jewelry stores and in some of the other shops. I bought some of the local cotton garments and a piece of jewelry to wear with my omega necklace.

Marilyn and Charlie

So here are some of the sights we saw with our cab driver as a guide.

Another ornate Hindu temple

Buddha is everywhere

One of many huge Banyan trees

Statue of one of the old rickshaws, in front of the modern billboard!

There is a beautiful lake with swan boats, and yes, pelicans, in the middle of the city

They do have beautiful beaches

Norm taking time to “smell the flowers”

Modern buildings…

And colonial buildings

and another Buddha

Outside their air force headquarters

Moving goods the old fashioned way

Every segment of the world cruise includes a cocktail party to honor returning guests, and Oceania Insignia has a large number – in fact, they have had to divide into two parties to accomodate all the returning guests. Usually about 440 of about 600 are returning. The captain always greets us and speaks and they have lots of drinks and appetizers.

Captain Brajcic

We get to go every segment!

We have had pretty good weather while sailing the Indian Ocean. On Monday, November 9, there were a few cloudbursts, and Norm spotted this waterspout from our balcony. It is the first time we have seen one so close, and he noticed the choppy sea before seeing the waterspout form. For those who have never seen one, it is essentially a tornado that forms over water. We have seen them at the NJ shore but not close enough to see the churning water like you see here.

I am posting this on the morning of 11/11, and we are now 9 hours ahead of eastern standard time. In the past few days we have moved our clocks back 3 hours and I am getting up very early! Today would have been my mother’s 86th birthday and I am thinking of her and what she would have thought about this great adventure we are on. I am grateful to her for nurturing the spirit that helped to form my curiosity.

We are on day 127 now and the new people who get on each segment ask lots of questions about how we like it. The answer always is that we love it. We have not been bored for a second, even on these sea days. We do treat it like home in that if we feel like staying on the balcony and reading for several hours, that’s what we do! Of course, when we get home I am afraid we will get up after eating in a restaurant and forget that we have to pay.

Today we will cross the equator, and at 11 AM there will be a crossing the line ceremoy known as the “Order of the Shellback”. Originally, the tradition was created by seasoned sailors as a test of handling long, arduous times at sea (much like the Arctic Circle crossing I described in an earlier post.) Sailors who have already crossed the equator are called (Trusty) Shellbacks or Sons of Neptune, while those who have not crossed are called (Slimy) Polywogs or Wogs.

We have previously crossed the equator both on land and at sea and we do remember the ceremony on the sea – King Neptune actually shows up and initiates the Slimy Polywogs into the Order of the Trusty Shellback. So we will see what the Insignia has in store. I do know that the orchestra will be on deck and that they will be serving “Equator Crossing Cocktails”!

This is very different from the line crossing ceremonies of the 19th century and earlier (thank goodness), it was quite a brutal event often involving beating the pollywogs and sometimes throwing them over the side of the ship and dragging them in the surf from the stern. Sailors were reported to have been killed while participating in these old line crossing ceremonies. Beginning in the 1980s, all forms of hazing are being strictly controlled. Today’s line crossing ceremonies are relatively tame and have become a popular tradition, even on cruise ships.

We are still enjoying the enrichment lectures. John will be with us until Miami and he is really terrific. His wife Tina has now joined him and we had dinner with them a few nights ago. We heard about the origins and history of some of our favorite foods (lots come from South America, originally), and yesterday we learned all about the Seychelles where we are spending the better part of 3 days starting tomorrow. They are the only oceanic granitic islands in the world and consist of 115 islands. We have been to Virgin Gorda and many say that the huge boulders there are much like what we will see in the Seychelles. The beaches and the snorkeling are said to be excellent so we are looking forward to that.

And the Seychelles are considered to be part of Africa, so we will now be in our next continent, before we reach the mainland of Africa. Lots of adventures to come!

In the US, today is Veteran’s Day, and in the UK, they celebrate “remembrance day” by wearing the poppy in their lapels. Eric, one of the cruise staff, is from the UK and was wearing the poppy. Here’s the quote that accompanies it:

“When you go home and tell them of usand say: for your tomorrow we gave our today”.

Very meaningful and appropriate for our US Veteran’s Day. May we always remember.

Posted in Asia, At Sea, November, World Cruise 1 | 1 Comment

Cruising the Indian Ocean

Posted on November 7, 2015 by patmathews

November 7

Yesterday at sea the captain, Jurica Brajcic, did a talk on piracy. Tomorrow we will enter another piracy zone and he did a great job explaining the history and all about the decline of piracy, the reasons for it and which ships are most vulnerable. It was especially interesting because he was the captain when the sister ship of our ship – the Nautica – was approached by pirates in the Gulf of Aden in November 2008. The ship used its high speed and water hoses to evade the pirates. Now there are ships patrolling the vulnerable waters so there have not been any hijackings since 2012. He showed some pictures which interestingly were taken by passengers – who all should have been in the interior of the ship. The staff didn’t have any pictures, so they asked the passengers and they received almost 80! That’s how well the procedures were followed. And, the photo CNN showed on the news was not a pirate boat at all, but a fishing boat.

Last evening we had another special dinner for the world cruise passengers, and Chef Mario outdid himself. Our menu “Culinary Dreams” was as follows:

Cappuccino of fois gras
King scallop royale
My favorite crab cake (with sweet chili sauce and lemon vinaigrette)
Duck Breast Elise or Fresh Sea Bass Fillet (we both had the excellent sea bass)
Heart of Berries (Vanilla sponge soaked in Grand Marnier Syrup, Chocolate Mousse and Berry Puree

These were the favorite dishes of the general manager, Yves (who was previously a chef in Belgium) and Mario.

We had the pleasure of being seated with Ennis and Mona (Ennis is the coach we met from India), and the Chief Engineer on board, Guiseppe De Lucca. It was a great evening and ended with an invitation to visit the engine room of the ship (only if we didn’t tell anyone!)

So today we spent over an hour in the control center of the engine room with him. So interesting about how everything is done on the ship – a floating city for sure.

We had a picture taken on Ennis’s phone, so I will add it once he sends it to me.

Also, due to the state of emergency in the Maldives (the vice president is accused of planting a bomb with the intent of killing the president), we will not be going to the Maldives on Monday, instead we will go to Sri Lanka on Sunday. We were there already on this cruise, so we will probably take a tuk tuk and explore the city, do some shopping, etc.

Posted in Asia, At Sea, Food, World Cruise 1 | Leave a comment

Penang, Malaysia

Posted on November 5, 2015 by patmathews

November 5

Penang is an island of Malaysia and still has a lot of British influence in its capital, Georgetown. The city itself was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.

David was our guide for our full day excursion here. He had a delightful sense of humor and was very informative.

He first told us of the way Penang is ruled – by a king, who serves for 5 years. This title is rotated among the 9 ruling brothers. Talk about keeping it all in the family!

Georgetown has a combination of beautiful high condos (the ones on the lower levels sell for about 300,000 USD and the price goes up as you get higher in the building) and colonial and Chinese buildings. It is clean and modern for the most part. Foreigners are allowed to purchase property here and many do, for the investment or to live here part time or full time. 1 million of the 30 million people in Malaysia live here.

Our first stop was the Kek Lok Si Temple. This is the largest temple in Southeast Asia and is magestically situated on a hilly slope that has amazing views of Georgetown. It is built in tiers (many steps to climb!) The seven story Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas has the influence of three areas that embrace Buddhism – Thailand, Myanmar and China. There are lovely gardens and a turtle pond with over 400 turtles in it. Turtles are a symbol of bringing food to the poor, and there was a man selling plants to feed the turtles – for $1, w hich is donated to the temple. People without a place to stay can come to the temple and they will always find food and a place to sleep. The temple is still unfinished and many statues are lining the parking lot waiting to be placed.

Our next stop was the Pinang Peranskan Mansion also known as the Chung Keng Kwee Mansion since it was originally the home of Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee. This ornate home is representative of the opulent lifestyle of the late 19th century. Apparently the owner was quite notorious as our guide called it the “mafia house”. There is a large Chinese courtyard, Scottish ironworks, English floor tiles and Chinese carved wooden panels. Inside is the Baba-Nyonya Heritage Museum with over 1000 antiques and collectibles on display. I was really impressed with the pottery and the extensive display of beaded shoes.

Wedding dresses in one of the bedrooms

We had lunch at the Golden Sands hotel, and it was a nice buffet of both Asian and some American dishes (pasta, which we skipped!). The grounds on the ocean were just beautiful and relaxing.

We traveled the winding mountain roads (wouldn’t want to be the bus driver here…) and went to a batik factory where I was the model for the scarves and the sarong! Lovely work. Wish I could have bought the custom made tablecloths they were making for a client. It takes 3 weeks for the process of batik to be complete. And if the pattern is only on one side, it is screenprinted, not real batik. The artists are really wonderful to watch. Some of the designs are done freehand, and no two pieces will be exactly alike.

The tablecloths, they have a chef and very colorful fish on them

We also visited a spice market, most known for nutmeg. We got to sample nutmeg candy and try the nutmeg oil on any aching muscles. Very interesting!

David showing us the nutmetg

Here is what it looks like before the red part is peeled off

Two photo stops to see the landscape (David says we have no need to go to Hawaii, this view looks just like it!) But of course, he has never been there!

A typical Malay house

Not Hawaii, but very beautiful in its own right

They are very proud of this 8 mile long bridge!

How many eggs can you carry on a motorcycle???

Advertising a big hot air balloon festival, this is a lovely float on the waterfront

So we have 3 sea days now and will be entering another pirate zone so will have the drill again and be required to keep the balconies dark and curtains closed at night, and deck 5 will be off limits.

The Maldives is supposed to be our next port of call on November 9 but there is political unrest there and they have declared a 30 day state of emergency, so we are fully expecting that we won’t be able to dock there. No official announcement yet, but plenty of speculation. Some rumors are that we will return to Sri Lanka instead. So stay tuned!!

Posted in Asia, Excursions, Food, November, World Cruise 1 | Leave a comment

Kuching, Malaysia

Posted on November 2, 2015 by patmathews

November 2

Last night we heard an incredibe piano performance by Panos Karan, his second of this segment of the cruise. He departs tomorrow. He and Van-Anh Nguyen (the other pianist) were surprised to find 2 pianists on board at the same time and in his first concert, he invited her to the stage and they played a 4 handed piece – brilliantly. Well, he did the same last night. His solo concert was all Chopin, he played the first book of etudes (12) completely which apparently is rarely done. Then Van-Anh joined him for another 4 handed piece. What a wonderful evening of music. Van-Anh has one more performance before she departs in Penang.

Our excursion today took us to Bako National Park in Kuching Malaysia. What a spectacular place! Mel was our guide. This was a trek into the jungle and the park is only accessible by boat, no roads lead into it. On the way we saw houses on stilts, many shrimp traps (they like to feed in the mangroves) and people in fishing boats. Bako is the oldest park in Sarawak, and the word means mangrove.. We boarded the boat in the fishing village of Bako and cruised in the river to the South China Sea and to the park. There are 7 different ecosystems within the park and the trek was challenging and fun. We saw the proboscis monkey, another type of monkey, small crabs, a green viper, many wild boars and a lemur (which looks like a flying rabbit). They are nocturnal and it was hanging from a tree, sleeping. The monkey and lemur pictures showed too much greenery to spot the animals so I am not including them here.

Our guide, Mel

One of the beautiful rock formations enroute to the park by sea

There is an amazing array of plant life in the jungle here and we had a local guide who knew the trails, the plants and the wildlife well.

They call him the wild man of Borneo!

The mangroves at low tide

one of the tiny crabs with its one larger claw!

This says something about the quality of the restrooms!

The green viper snake, so well hidden you can hardly spot it. That’s the reason for a good guide!

Then we returned to the boat, we walked along the beach when it was low tide. This required a “wet” embarkment to the small boats, wading through knee high water. Once we got into the boat, it was stuck on the sand, so a couple of travelers had to get out and help push it free. Here is Luke, from the Oceania entertainment team, helping with the pushing!

Two days at sea coming up on the way to Penang, our last port in Malaysia.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, November, World Cruise 1 | Leave a comment

Muara, Brunei

Posted on November 1, 2015 by patmathews

October 31 (and in case you are interested, day 116 of our 180 day cruise!)

Brunei is a small sultanate which is located between Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo. It is called darussalam (Arabic for ‘abode of peace’) and it has the largest oilfields in Southeast Asia. In fact, oil is the number one resource and provides 95% of the economy of the country. This is a very small country in area and has about 400,000 people. The government is a monarchy controlled by the Sultan. Brunei is said to be the 4th wealthiest country in the world and the Sultan is worth more than 25 Billion USD. He owns and pilots his own 747 jet.

Our guide today was Marvin and he is half Chinese and half Malay. He shared a lot of the culture and customs of Brunei on our way to the mangrove forest and then the water village. More about those later.

As you might imagine, gas is very cheap here, 31 cents/liter or about $1.10/gallon. Each household has at least 2 cars, and you don’t see taxis around, you have to call one because hardly anyone uses them. There is no income tax and the government provides for defense, education and health care for its citizens. In fact, Marvin gave an example of his father who needed a pacemaker and cardiac medications. For the pacemaker and the meds, he paid $1. We started to call Brunei “the dollar store” because that is the token amount that is paid for just about everything from dental care to open heart surgery.

Marvin went to University in the UK completely free. He had to work for the government for only 6 months when he graduated.

Housing is also highly subsidized by the government – for example, if you buy a house for $143,000, the government subsidizes $100,000 and the remainder you pay off at $200/month for 20 years.

No guns are allowed here and the penalties are very strict. If you are found with a gun, you could be executed. Sale of drugs receives the death penalty, although no one on death row has been put to death in years. They don’t get out, either, though. There are 2 police for every citizen and there is virtually no crime.

Their goal is to eliminate poverty altogether by 2025.

There are no nightclubs here and movies are highly censored as are the newspapers and all the media. You cannot speak out publicly against the Sultan. Alcohol is prohibited but supposedly, like during prohibition in the US, speakeasies exist here, if you can find them. So young people go out of the country to have fun!

People come here for nature, and they are trying to increase tourism. And Marvin will certainly help that – he was great.

He told us about the “Friday letter”. which any citizen can write and get signatures, and the Sultan reads all of them on Friday and will meet with the person to solve the provlem if he chooses to, and he mostly does. There is a lot of respect for the Sultan.

First we drove to the capital, Bandar Seri. We boarded a boat and cruised the waterway which is lined with mangroves. The vegetation is strictly protected by law. We were hoping to see the Proboscis Monkey which is only found on the island of Borneo, and we did see them swinging on the trees. They also swim which is a bit unusual for monkeys, but we didn’t see any in the water. The closest look was this one that was sitting on this concrete wall. They eat the mangrove leaves and spike of that fruit. In fact, they only eat fruit, leaves and the occasional insect. According to Marvin, they commit suicide if in captivity because their digestive systems need a certain bacteria for digestion. Here’s a file photo of one so you can see the unusual large nose.

Portrait_of_a_Proboscis_Monkey1

The boat we were on

Marvin explaining the mangroves and the crocodiles

I am not sure these life vests would actually protect anyone

We saw lots of egrets, herons and our boat captain spotted this hard to see monitor lizard. I was amazed at its size (and it blends right in with the tree roots.) We also got a quick glimpse of a crocodile in the water.

The monitor lizard among the mangrove roots

We enjoyed the boat ride and it was so hot on land that the breeze felt a little bit refreshing!

We then visited the water village where 25,000 people live. One of the goals is to eliminate the village, so when someone dies or moves out, the home is destroyed. The population used to be 40,000 several years ago. And not only are there homes here, the word village is correct because they have restaurants, mosques, schools, shops and hospitals all connected by wooden boardwalks. People have lived here for more than 1300 years, making it one of the most historic areas in Brunei.

We had a visit to one home where tea and sweet snacks were served to us. You will see how modern it is, with large screen TV, computer, chandeliers, etc. Very surprising!

The boardwalk, wash out to dry and lovely flowers outside the house we visited

The woodwork in the home

One of the schools in the village

Norm’s getting ready to have a snack. Lovely!

Although we didn’t visit them, we got to see the large new national mosque and the outside of the Sultan’s 1788 room palace which has 257 bathrooms. WHAT would they do with all those bathrooms!

A large bridge under construction

View of the palace

The beautiful national mosque

Brunei is truly a beautiful place for nature but very strict in their Sharia law. The fear is that they are losing all of their intellectuals, so watch the news for how the country may change in the future.

And, of course, today is Halloween, a fact that wasn’t ignored by the ship. There were costumes, carved pumpkins and the evening’s entertainment was the Liar’s Club where teams of passengers had to figure out which of the costumed staff members was telling the truth about words no one ever heard of. Lots of fun. They also had some menu items such as Harry Potter pumpkin soup, deep sea creatures with mango and jalapeno salsa, devil’s black ink risotto and spiced roast beef tenderloin with old witch favorite sauce.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, October, World Cruise 1 | 1 Comment

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Malaysia

Posted on October 30, 2015 by patmathews

October 30

Another trivia question – what is the only island that has three countries on it? Yes, Borneo. It has Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. And it is the third largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea. (Australia doesn’t count as it is a continent).

After being greeted with local music and given a beaded necklace by the local women, we spent the day hiking at the Mount Kinabalu National Park. Arthur was our guide and shared a lot of history on the bus ride to the Park.

We stopped at a local market on the way and chatted with the delightful village men and women. They grow dry or hill rice here, it is what we call wild rice. They also have a wide array of fruits and vegetables like we have seen in the other Asian countries. Nancy bought the small bananas and we all enjoyed how sweet they are.

This is beautiful forested country and many of the villages require a very long trek through the jungle to reach. The bus had to climb high into the mountains. The highest peak is 13,431 feet. It was clouded in when we arrived, but we caught a glimpse in the afternoon.

The hike was in the tropical jungle on the Silau Silau trail, we had lunch at the Liwagu restaurant and then had a hike through the botanical mountain garden. This area is Malaysia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is an incredibly diverse selection of flora here, including 1200 species of orchids,, 25 species of rhododendrons, 9 species of carnivorous nepenthes plants.

I couldn’t quite get a shot of the world’s smallest orchid, it is about the size of a half carat diamond!

Arthur with one of the orchid species

A little tour guide himor – Arthur pointed out this “concrete tree”

I am sure that my photos don’t do the beauty much justice, but here are a few of the species we saw. Many botanists from around the world come here to do research and some of the species are completely new.

We had just a couple of raindrops, and it was much cooler on the mountain than at the port.

Arthur shared some of the superstitions and talked about the days of headhunting. Some people still believe that they will need to climb the mountain to reach heaven before they die, so they grow their fingernails long to help them climb!

There are churches every few miles as you go up the mountain. 60% of the people are Catholic.

The city has some new and spectacular buildings. This is a fast growing economy and the city is mostly quite modern, unlike the remote villages.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, October, World Cruise 1 | Leave a comment

Manila, Philippines

Posted on October 30, 2015 by patmathews

October 28

We had a beautiful sailaway from the Hong Kong harbor and then a nice day at sea.

and here’s Norm with our entertainer for the evening, pianist, Van-Anh Nguyen.

They are serious about avoiding illness here in the Philippines. We had to have a face to face with a thermal camera to take our temperatures and we had to fill out a medical questionnaire before being allowed off the ship. Here’s a trivia question for you: What is the only nation that changes its flag depending on whether it is peace or war time? It is the Philippines. During peace, the blue is on the top, when at war, the red is on top. We were greeted with music and dancing on the pier.

We enjoyed a half day tour of Old Manila (Intramuros) along with a whole bunch of school kids out for field trips. They enjoyed watching us as much as we liked seeing them. Stella was our guide. This country is 85% Catholic. Computer hardware (mostly chips) is the main export and mangoes are the number 1 fruit export. Interestingly, there are 3 million of their people working abroad, and this is the third most important source of income for the country as people send their earnings home. Education is very important and these dollars help educate the children. We visited St. Augustine Church, and it was different to see St. Augustine in the center of the altar instead of Christ on the cross. Stella says that the churches here feature their patron saints this way.

The only place you will find these is Manila (well, except the one they gave to Barack Obama!) It’s a Bambike! Made of bamboo of course.

We visited Rizal Park where we saw the monument dedicated to the country’s national hero, Jose Rizal. Stella shared his many talents (artist, politician, architect, etc) and said his one flaw was that he was a ladies man. It is rumored that he may have actually been Jack the Ripper because all of the murders occurred when he was in London and ended when he left each time. He was exeuted for treason and the monument shows him being shot by his own people, backed up by the Spanish soldiers with guns at their sides ready to shoot the Philippine soldiers if they failed to shoot Rizal.

Stella with Douglas McArthur

A pigeon hotel in the park

Fort Santiago was where Rizal was held and we visited the fort. The entire district is surrounded by a thick wall that the Spanish built for defense in the 1500s. Throughout the early history prisoners were held and tortured here. After lunch, we were on a quest to find fast internet so I could do some important updates to my Microsoft account. We took the shuttle to the mall but no luck. We ended up at McDonalds… Success!

This armed soldier was patrolling outside the mall.

This is a jeepney. They are privately owned and quite popular here. They can hold up to 30 people, packed in!

Loved this little boy taking a picture of his parents!

Last, we saw the lovely Manila Hotel and spent some time listening to the pianist in the lobby.

Before sailaway, we were entertained by these two bands, and they were great! They played for almost 2 hours and ended with both bands together marching around the pier to Auld Lang Syne as the ship left the port.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, October, World Cruise 1 | 2 Comments

Hong Kong, China

Posted on October 26, 2015 by patmathews

October 25 and 26

We were greeted by loud Chinese music and these “dragons” who did a dance welcoming us to Hong Kong.

Then, the first thing we saw in the area of the terminal was this display of Maserati cars. I guess we aren’t in Vietnam any more!

Our guide, Ryan, met us on the pier for our trip today. We went to Landau Island, which is the largest of the 260 islands that make up Hong Kong. It is twice the size of Hong Kong Island, but the population is the lowest, only 25,000. That’s because it was so hard to reach before 1997. Our first stop was to see the two bridges that were constructed over 5 years and opened in 1997, and the airport was moved to the island in 1998. Now there is a lot of building on landfill there.

Interesting that they built the bridges with two three lane expressways on the upper deck and two railway tracks (electric trains), on the lower deck. In addition, there are two sheltered single lanes on the lower deck for traffic diversion during high winds or emergencies. It is the longest cable double layer bridge in the world. We drove over the Tsing Ma Bridge and stopped at the Tsing Yi lookout.

This is the national flower, bouhenia, which is on their flag and the currency

This is a piece of the cable used on the bridge. The people are for scale

Hong Kong is one of the two last European colonies (the other is Macau) that were handed over to China: Hong Kong in 1997. Now it is called a SAR -Special Administrative Region – of China. It finds itself in the unique position of being a capitalist enclave subject to a communist state under the relatively liberal “One Country, Two Systems: policy. Mainland China is only a 45 minute drive away. Hong Kong has its own currency and many of the strict Chinese rules don’t apply here. For instance, Facebook is prevalent!

We had an unusual day due to regulations here. Our bus took us over the bridge to Lantau Island, but then only special licensed buses are allowed to operate there, so we transferred to another bus. This is true of taxis too, red ones in most of Hong Kong, blue ones on Lantau Island and green ones in the new territories. Most people take public transportation here as gas is the equivalent of $8 US/gallon. There is also not much parking availability, so we really didn’t run into the kind of traffic we have seen in other ports. Ryan says to watch out for the blue licence plates as they are Chinese, where he says that traffic signals and signs are “only a suggestion”.

There are many rules – this one was posted in the bus

There are only three roads on Lantau. Before the bridges and the airport were built, there were only farmers, fishing villages and monasteries. Now Hong Kong imports its goods from all around the world, so the farmers aren’t farming anymore, and the fishermen supply pretty much just the local population. There are 9 monasteries on the island. Taoism is the main religion here, Confucianism is second and Buddhism is third. Ryan says that many people don’t believe in any one religion but adopt practices from all.

We saw graves on the hillsides (and this island is very mountainous. Here people are buried for 7 – 10 years, then dug up, the bones cremated and another person is buried in the same grave.

There are also “silence houses” on the island, which house non monks who want to practice their religion in a strict way.

Also, since the development of the island, Hong Kong’s Disneyland was built here. We didn’t go there (yay) but saw lots of kids with Disney backpacks, shirts, etc, as we went to the giant Buddha. And I guess in Hong Kong, Snow White wants to get married.

First we visited a 600 year old fishing village, Tai O. We walked through the market and saw the two types of fish they sell – dried and fresh. Fresh means alive. I was amazed at the variety and the display.

dried baby octopus

Yuck, eels

Ryan shows Norm a dried fish

The homes are built on stilts here, the people are poor but happy.

I guess they sell everything in the market. 25 Hong Kong dollars is $3,23 US

There were other goods there too, one man was making a type of waffle, and these nice folks gave us a taste of theirs!

Then our tour took us to the Po Lin Monastery, located at an altitude of 1700 feet on the Ngong Ping Plateau. It was opened in 1970 and the main attraction is the 250 ton, 102 foot high Great Bronze Buddha, the largest seated Buddha statue in Asia. The pedestal of the statue is a three story exhibition hall embellished with Buddhist figures and scriptures. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but here are some of the statues on the grounds and around the Buddha.

It is a beautiful mountainous setting and the temperatures were much cooler than we have had in weeks.

Note the stairs leading up to the giant Buddha. The people show you just how big this statue is.

We also visited the Kwan Tai Temple and the hall of 10,000 Buddhas.

Adorable child outside the temple. Is he on an iphone while driving???

The monks are vegans and don’t drink alcohol. So our lunch in the monastery followed those guidelines and it was simply delicious!

Our hand wipes have a message from the monks: LESS evil deeds, MORE kindness, DO more charity works, can STORE some merits. Good advice, I’d say

Well, they have restrictions on vehicles, alcohol and meat, but no one restricts the cows from anywhere they want to go!

Our visit concluded with a ride on the Ngong Ping Skyrail which is a 5.7 km cable car journey in the sky. It actually is higher than the planes go as they take off from the airport below. Wonderful! We then boarded yet another bus back to the ship.

View of the airport from the cable car

A hiker below

8 to a car, they have some with clear glass bottoms too

Back in Kowloon, we went to the Temple Street Night Market for an adventure of shopping and back to the ship to see the laser light show in the harbor – they have it every night.

On Monday, October 26 we explored some of the shopping in the city. On Kowloon island and also Hong Kong island, it looks like New York, with many large buildings. The Ritz Carlton hotel here is the tallest hotel in the world. The shopping rivals anywhere we have seen.

We got our flu shots at a medical clinic here and spent time at Starbucks for fast internet. One difference is that you get 30 minutes of free internet with each purchase. We each made three purchases… do you think all that coffee will make us hyper?? I did try the green tea latte, but threw it away, it tasted yucky!

Just fooling around!

New passengers and some crew (including a new captain) join today, so it is a good day to stay away from the ship. We had lunch at a dim sum restaurant and spent some time shopping.

Yet another lifeboat drill this afternoon, then it is dinner and meeting many new people.

At sea tomorrow enroute to Manila, Phillipines.

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Posted on October 24, 2015 by patmathews

October 23

After dinner last night, we saw the bridge at Ha Long Bay all lit up, and it changes colors. Beautiful!

Today we had to get up very early to be on a bus to Hanoi at 6 AM. The information said that the trip would take 3 hours, but it took more like 4. The road isn’t too bad but you go through a lot of small towns and they have a traffic police force that doesn’t fool around. Our guide, Kha, says that they will take licenses away for a week, but if you pay them they don’t do that. He says there is a lot of corruption in all of the government.

Kha showing us pictures on his ipad! The modern tour guide

The ride was interesting, both from a scenery point of view and from Kha’s information. There are 54 different ethnic groups living in Vietnam. Many are farmers and the main crops and exports are rice, coffee, cashews, seafood and green tea. They also export rubber. Most of the homes are tall and long, the short side is to the street as almost everyone has a shop of some kind.

Taxes are high here, 30% and there is 100% tax on a car so most drive motorbikes. And as other places in Asia, they are fearless. They go the wrong way on the road, carry unimaginable things and pay no attention (it seems) to other cars, people and motorbikes. Kha says that about 11,000 people die in accidents every year.

These are live dogs in the cage

And these are duck parts, you could see the webbed feet

We made a stop at a beautiful shop, they had a lot of clothes, jewelry, etc, but not much time to shop – we were there mostly for the “happy room” which is what they all call the toilets.

Kha talked about the war a lot, he says it was a party war, nationalists vs communists, and rejects any talk that it was an American war. Still, the Vietnamese very much appreciated the visit by Bill Clinton and John McCain when apologies were issues. He says that there are 1 million disabled people and 4 million more affected by agent orange. His grandfather was Vietnamese and an uncle was Vietcong.

In 1986, Doi Moi was issued here which made it a capitalist society under the communist party. The flag has a star on it as you can see in this post, but there are equal numbers of red flags with the yellow hammer and sickle flying along the roads.

I mentioned the tombs in the rice fields. They do bury their dead, but dig them up after 5 years and put them in tombs. The ones in the middle of the fields are from before 1945 when the rules changed. Now they must be in a cemetary.

Once we got to Hanoi, we visited the Imperial City which includes Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square and extends to the ancient walled gardens of the Temple of Literature. A vast body of water confusingly called West Lake sits north of the city. We could not visit the mausoleum itself, but did get to walk through the area of Ho Chi Minh’s cottage and see some of his cars

Kha models men’s headwear

The Temple of Literature was an interesting visit, because adjacent to it is Vietnam’s first national university, built in 1076 AD. Here, students were having graduation pictures taken in their gowns, many of the women had flower headdresses on. Beautiful.

We visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda, one of the oldest pagodas in Vietnam and a cultural symbol as Confucius is represented in the statues there.

A walk through the “Hanoi Hilton”, the Hoa Lo Prison where captured American pilots were held during the Vietnam War. We saw where John McCain and Douglas B. Peterson, ex-ambassador to Vietnam, were imprisoned after they were shot down. This prison was a notorious French prison back in the day, and the guillotine still stands in the museum

We had lunch at Movenpick hotel, a great Vietnamese lunch.

Then, a walk through the ancient quarter was interesting – lots of shops and street vendors. The streets here are named after the tradesmen that worked in them, including such monikers as Tin Street, Paper Street and Silk Street

We ended the day with a 4 hour trip back to Ha Long Bay. In the space of 3 blocks I saw many Karaoke places. They are big on that here.

And most of the women are completely covered up. This is for sun protection, not pollution.

We arrived back almost an hour after the ship was set to sail, an advantage of going on a ship sponsored tour. Otherwise they would have left without us!

Posted in Asia, Excursions, Food, October, World Cruise 1 | 1 Comment