Nha Trang, Vietnam

Vietnam! The people are so forthcoming, outgoing and friendly here, it’s such a beautiful country so far – we have Saigon tomorrow. Lori, Liz, Jon, Steve and I grabbed a taxi and drove to the two main points of interest in Nha Trang. The first is an ancient Buddhist ground built atop a hill where only a few of the worshipping temples now stand and are still used by the locals. The second is mainly a monument to those who fell during the Vietnam War. Like Lan Tau Island in Hong Kong there was a giant outdoors Buddha sitting upon a lotus leaf, overlooking the memorial, which was surrounded by temples and other various Buddhas. The only other highlights of the city are a giant cathedral and an arts and crafts market where you watch the Vietnamese women making their crafts. On the pier there was wicked shopping for even cheaper than Hong Kong… I managed to restrain myself… somewhat!

Oriental Night

Oriental Night… nothing to say, just another themed night on the ship.

Hong Kong Day 3

The third day in Hong Kong was not all too eventful, but quite productive… especially with shopping. Liz, Ronan, Jon and I traveled down Nathan Street to the Ladies’ Market – fantastic for clothing and jewellery. We arrived at 11:00 am, but the market only opened at 1:00 pm, so we walked around some more, finding a rest garden and temple. I came to the realization after the three days that Hong Kong should adopt the slogan “Hong Kong: City of 1000 Smells.” For those of you who have ever been there, well you know what I mean. Obviously I highly recommend a vacation to Hong Kong as well as to Mainland China.

Hong Kong Day 2

Day two in Hong Kong started very early with a quick spout of office work before Lori and I headed on the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island in search of Stanley Market… too much shopping. We met up with Jon and Ronan and went back to the ship to drop Jon off to work and pick up Liz; while we were leaving the Ocean Ferry Terminal, a local cable news station stopped the girls and I to conduct a very random interview about Chinese actresses and models… who knows. Back over to the island, we had to take the ferry, a bus and finally a tram to reach Victoria Peak – the highest point on Hong Kong Island – and spent a few moments there before having to return to the ship again to pick up Jon for family dinner. I treated the Cruise Staff to an evening at the Jade Garden (known well by Lucy after an episode of egg in her food) and again to the night market.

Hong Kong Day 1

Welcome to Hong Kong! Sorry it’s taken me so long to update the blog, but I’ve been extremely busy over the past week. Our stay in Hong Kong was awesome – how could it not be!? We only docked at 2:00 pm and as soon as the crew were cleared, Lori, Liz, Steve and I went to a massage place (yes Wendy, the same one!) to get our full body and scalp massage, which we had to wait an hour as the place was so full. As it turns out, March 4 is Chinese Valentine’s Day so the entire city was dressed in pink and red lanterns, fabric and cut-outs. To kill time we wandered around Kowloon Park (oh the memories), down Nathan Street and to Maxwell’s Clothiers (my tailor) – even though he was closed on a Sunday. That night Steve, Jon, Ronan and I went to the Temple Street Night Market where I bought a ton of stuff, a running theme with Craig and Hong Kong. Even later that night we ventured to Central on Hong Kong Island and had a good ol’ fashioned drinking night, bar hopping from one to the other, starting with George’s Bar and ending with Insomnia, which had two of the best live cover bands I have ever heard.

Semarang, Indonesia

Lizzie, Lori, Jon, Christine and I got up and met at 6:25 am to get off the ship to go to Borobudur (a very famous 8th century huge Buddhist temple)... we were only allowed off the ship at 9:00 am - after all the PAX tours got off. That meant that Lizzie could not go because she had EC (Jen and Wendy, I know you miss that!) and that the rest of us would only have about 1.5 hours there, which ended up being just enough time. The site is simply spectacular. At one point it was the world's largest Buddhist temple (I think it's the second largest now). Every square inch of the stone is hand-carved with figures and buddhas. Like most Asian ports I was accosted not only by the vendors but by the random school girls. Jon and I toured the grounds and every time a group of girls passed us they would have the crazy Asian girl giggle (much like Juanita Santos) and plead to take a picture with one of us; after about 40 or so girls we attempted to avoid them! The day was fantastic and the weather was great. On the way back to the ship we did blow a tire and it started to rain, but other than that it was perfect... including ending the evening with a Pinnacle dinner with the boys - Steve, Ronan, Jon and I. Semarang is beautiful, but if it came down to it I would choose Bali over Java any day.

Bali, Indonesia

Much like two years ago, Bali was an incredible day. And, much like two years ago, I did it all by myself – for the most part. I stayed on to do the program and Lori promised me that she’d be waiting ashore, to which I replied something to the effect of, “Sure Lori, of course you’ll be.” Needless to say, if you know good ol’ Gypsy at all, she wasn’t there. After being accosted and thoroughly harassed by the mob of Indonesian men, women and children on the pier, I found myself an English-speaking transport driver with an air-conditioned truck to take me around the island. After a quick stop to see and feel the volcanic black sand beach, we were on our way to the city of Ubud and the Sacred Monkey Forest. Benoit, you’d have the best time here as there are so many monkeys everywhere that they easily outnumbered all the tourists. They are, however, evil little things that love to steal anything that isn’t bolted down (I have a picture of one monkey playing with a light bulb) and get quite pissed off if they know you’re holding back on any food you may have. Nyoman, my driver, bought me some finger bananas to feed them, which instantly caused a hoard of monkeys to surround me and constantly follow me around the forest. The forest itself is amazing and ancient, and the ambiance of the entire place is spectacular – besides the random tourists screaming at a monkey for taking their hat or camera… maybe a small child. From Ubud, we went to the rather large market where I found nothing to buy, but was quite interested in some carved wood pieces; Nyoman, being the great driver he is, took me to one of the better wood carving places on the island where I found an unbelievable piece – a three-dimensional Mahogany wood, 2x3 feet large frame (all from one piece of wood) carved with dragons and other traditional Indonesian designs. We then ventured to another sacred temple where there’s a bat cave; thousands and thousands of screeching fruit bats take refuge in this cave where a giant python lives and periodically comes out to feed on them. That was the extent of my touring. With about ten minutes to spare before my dinner date with Lizzie, I got back to ship and quickly towelled down from the ridiculous humidity. Nyoman waited for me and took us to Hotel Rama Candidasa, a five-star hotel on the beach, overlooking the sunset, mountains and the Amsterdam. To our surprise, Rich, Cynthia and all the other Front Office girls were there having dinner with Rich’s ex-husband (she was married!?). This place is by far the most astonishing hotel I have seen, especially with their presentation… of everything! When Lizzie and I sat down to order, Rich came over and insisted that her ex was paying for our dinner – woohoo, like I’d ever turn down free food… like I’d ever turn down any food. I decided, hey, I’m in Bali, why not have an authentic dish, while Lizzie opted for the good old fashioned cheeseburger. All in all it was a fantastic day and night and, as I mentioned years ago, Bali is by far a place to visit and vacation. PS. No marriage proposals from 16 year old girls this time around!