On The Way Home

Suzie was to pick us up at 11, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast. The lounge had a wonderful coffee machine where we could make cappuccino, coffee with milk, or just plain coffee. We enjoyed our last morning in the beautiful hotel. We were a bit worried about excess luggage, but at least we only had our carry ons and a small tote rather than all we'd carried onboard in Hong Kong. It was about 30 minutes to get to the airport. Suzie went in with us to the check in counter. We now had 5 suitcases, so knew we would have to pay something. It was only $55 for one extra suitcase, very nice and well worth it. Suzie stayed with us until we were ready to go thru security even though I kept telling her it was OK for her to leave. She was very conscientious.

Once thru security, we had about an hour to look around at all the shops. I had a few bahts left which I wanted to spend. They had some very nice shops. We then boarded our Thai Air 747 for the short flight to Taipei. When we booked our flights, we had a choice of transferring in Taipei or Tokyo. We were very glad to be avoiding Japan after their horrible earthquake. We had an almost 4 hour layover. My Platinum Am Express card nor Mel's Delta Crowne Room card allowed us entry to any of the lounges so we found a sofa to sit on for a while. Nice that they actually had sofas in the airport! When we finally headed to the gate, we found plugs as well as free internet computers. We should have found those earlier! Once at the gate, they checked our boarding passes and passports to allow us into the lower level waiting area. We were laughing at the wheelchair brigade by the gate. We'd never seen so many on one plane, there must have been 20!!! They were mainly old, not disabled, and very well taken care of.

The flight home was long. The fasten seat belt sign was on most of the time and the flight attendants were asked to sit down several times. I'm a nervous flier, so to me it was awful. The attendants were pushy and brusque. They almost took off the guy sitting next to Mel's foot when they charged down the aisle with the beverage cart. During most of the flight I was the only one with a light on in that huge 747! Everyone else was asleep. When it was light outside, I had my shade open. The attendants kept closing it when I got up to use the rest room. They just weren't very nice. Hope we don't fly Air China again anytime soon.

Another jumbo jet had arrived at the same time we did so Immigration was very backed up. At the luggage carrousel I found someone to help us with our bags. We had too many to put onto 2 carts. It was nice to have someone else do the heavy lifting. The Customs guy looked at our huge pile of bags and asked if that was for just 2 people. We told him we'd been gone for 2 months, he said "Welcome Home" and that was it. Very nice. Brigitte was there to get us and we were on our way home. It was a great trip with many wonderful experiences but it was good to be home.

Bangkok Day Four

Our last day of touring before heading home tomorrow. It's been an extraordinary trip. Suzie picked us up at 8 to take us to the Summer Palace. This is another property that the current queen decided to open to the public. This one was well worth seeing. It had many buildings in a huge area. It was all beautifully landscaped with ponds and fountains and lots of trees. There were also topiaries, which were fun.

The first building was the residence. I put my skirt on to enter. Suzie had to put a skirt on over her slacks because pants are not allowed on women. One of the customs that drove me crazy. The other was the bowing. When we entered the hotel lobby, everyone in the lobby bowed to us! Irritating. Anyway, the palace had a beautiful throne room as well as waiting rooms, all we were allowed to see. We next went to the Chinese building. It also had a throne room. In the back was a room for the concubines to wait to be summoned by the king. There was a back staircase for them to use, interesting custom. When we went out, I wanted to shop the few stands set up. Suzie bought some food from one of the vendors. She had us try a chili sauce, giving us each a little bit on the end of a stick. Now I love Tabasco, so hot doesn't bother me. This stuff was not only incredibly hot but tasted vile. Awful for a mid morning snack! She then bought some "tacos". They were small, thin pancakes that they put a marshmallow fluff type stuff on then yellow or orange strings of something. The yellow were sweet, the orange salty. I ate all the yellow ones then gave the orange ones to Suzie, awful. I've never really liked Thai food, the food in Thailand was no exception!!!

We next went to the ruins of a temple. It was quite large and interesting. The Kingdom of Siam was on our itinerary but Suzie explained that there are only low walls left at that ruins, these were more interesting. Probably right, but seeing Siam would have been interesting also. I was in The King and I as a kid, as were Kevin, Mel's son, and Brigitte when she was little. We'd seen pictures of the young prince in the wooden palace in Bangkok. Oh well, a ruin is a ruin! One very interesting thing at this particular location was a Buddha head that was encased by tree roots. They said it is rising about 2" yearly. Very cool looking.

Our next stop was another ruin. Some lady got in our face and took our pictures when we first got there, that was odd. By this time is was so hot and humid that I felt like I couldn't breathe. We were walking in the direct sun to see the place. It was interesting, another ruin. When we headed back to the van, the picture taking lady approached us with souvenir plates with our pictures on them! I had a look on my face like "why the heck are you talking my picture", Mel just looked goofy. Too bad they didn't tell us so we could have been together on one plate. I bought them anyway since they were only $3 for both! Very funky.

We drove about an hr to a boat dock. We boarded a very nice boat for lunch. The boat belonged to the Shangra La Hotel which is a very elegant hotel. The lunch was quite a spread. Mel enjoyed it, especially the lamb. I ate a lot of dessert. The ride was nice but way too long. They only had the tables and chairs, no comfortable chairs to sit in to watch the scenery. It was interesting seeing Bangkok from the water. At one time, that was the main mode of transportation. When we arrived at the hotel, the owners daughter was getting married that evening, so the lobby was bustling with activity..There was a HUGE chandelier of all flowers on a balcony, just gorgeous.

The day we arrived in Bangkok, we told Suzie that we needed to buy a suitcase and possibly a knock off watch for a friend. She kept saying Monday would be the day, our last day. We walked thru the hotel out to the street. There right in front of the hotel were several shops filled with suitcases. We met up with someone who took us up some back stairs to see knock offs, kind of like Canal Street in NYC!  Their handbags and watches were more expensive than we'd seen in Hong Kong and China. Made us wish we'd looked in Hong Kong, but everyone has always said that Bangkok has the best shopping, so there we were. Mel didn't find the watch he wanted but we did find a large duffel to put our excess items in. From there Suzie took us to another shop with a hidden door behind which were gorgeous handbags. Mel found his watch and I bought a purse, really nice.

Suzie was to pick us up to take us to the airport the next day. Our flight wasn't until 2:30, so she said we still  had time to see the Golden Buddha and the Reclining Buddha. We both felt like we'd seen enough Buddhas and I didn't want to arrive at the airport feeling hot a sticky for our flight home. I think she was put off that we were content not seeing those last 2 Buddhas. Oh well, maybe next time.

We pretty much finished our packing then had dinner in the concierge lounge. We then headed out to the corner by our hotel. There was a Buddha where people came to give offerings. It was packed! The incense was a bit overwhelming but the flowers were beautiful. Some young women were dressed in the traditional costumes and did a dance which was nice. We did some window shopping on our way back to the hotel, then finished packing. Tomorrow we'd be heading home.

Bangkok Day Three

We were up early again to be picked up at 7:30. Seems like the major sites around Bangkok are about 2 hours out, so a lot of driving. Our first stop was at a special market in a small town. They built the market ON the train tracks! It was on both sides also, but as we walked along the tracks, there was food right on the track. We were told that a train would be there any minute, so slowly all the food carts were pulled back, the awnings were folded up, along came a full size, BIG train, just 2' from where I was standing! After it passed, all the food came back out, the awnings back up, and it looked just like a market again. It was odd and amazing all in one. I guess a train passes twice a day, so they do that a lot. We looked around a bit, bought some socks (I love buying unusual socks in different countries around the world!) then got on the van to continue on to the floating market.

Anyone we talked to about Thailand said we had to make a visit to the floating market. I had no idea what to expect, except for maybe boats full of goods for sale? We boarded a boat at a boat rental location. The boats were all long, with maybe 4 or 5 seats, and with shade. That was a good thing because it was very hot. We traveled along a number of channels before starting to see any markets. There were a lot of shops set up along the shore as well as boats carrying food and/or goods. There was a lot of souvenier type items, big tourist attraction! Our guide took us to her favorite painter.

I bought a beautiful painting of the floating market, very nice. We finally arrived at the main location. There were markets on either side of the canal plus vendor boats and GRIDLOCK! We didn't move for at least 20 minutes. I noticed a couple in the boat next to us taking pictures of each other. I offered to take a pic then handed them my camera so they could take a picture of us. We weren't going anywhere anytime soon, that was for sure! Once out of the gridlock and past the bridge, we got off the boat to walk thru the market. Someone had a baby elephant there for pictures. Poor thing, it was standing in the hot sun, on hot pavement, very sad. We saw 2 guys with huge snakes for picture taking. I immediately hauled out some $$ and took the largest snake to wrap around my neck. It must have weighed 25 pounds, it was big. I was a tourist after all! We looked around the market for a bit then headed back to the van and back to Bangkok.

Back in the city we went to the weekend market. We'd heard a lot about it, that you could find anything there and that it is very inexpensive. We weren't really looking for anything so just wandered around. We didn't see any knock offs that we've enjoyed looking at in other countries. We bought some grilled meat on sticks that were pretty good. I had coconut ice cream served in a fresh coconut shell, it was very good. We then walked thru an upscale market that had A/C and bright lights. The fruit was individually wrapped and looked top quality. I saw some durian. I'd seen it in China also, but had never tried it. They say it tastes like heaven, smells like hell. I didn't get a chance to smell it, but did buy a small one to try. It was pretty good, not wonderful. Glad that I had the opportunity to try it.

We arrived at our hotel earlier than usual so headed right back out to the department store we'd discovered the first night there. We had seen a jewelry area, but hadn't thought to look for a tiger, that was our mission. They only had silly looking tigers, or tiny ones, not what I wanted. While the clerks were talking to Mel (more sign language than talking, no English) I looked thru the case. There was a gorgeous tiger on a tie...a tie tack! I'm sure my jeweler can make it into a pendant or I'll just wear it as a pin. VERY nice, and 24k Chinese gold.

Back at the hotel we took much needed showers then went to dinner in the concierge lounge. I'm not very fond of Thai food, so ate a lot of desserts while there. At least they were delicious!

Bangkok Day Two

This was the day I'd been waiting for. We were visiting the Tiger Temple! I'd made the reservation almost a year ago and was really looking forward to it. About a month before we left on our trip, there had been a report on CNN that they were abusing the tigers and selling parts for various medicines. It sounded awful. There is also a web site which talks about the horrible way they treat the tigers, how they are drugged, etc. I almost canceled our visit, not wanting to support such a place. I'm very glad we found out for ourselves how they treat the tigers.

 

We were picked up at our hotel at 5 a.m.!!! We had a 2 hour drive out to the temple. We just had a driver, our guide lives near the temple area so we picked him up at the market. The itinerary said we would buy breakfast for the monks at a market. I wasn't imagining a 7 Eleven! We bought coke, beer and snack cakes, interesting breakfast food for monks! Our guide, Jackie, didn't speak English very well, but enough to get by. About 30 minutes from the market we went thru a HUGE tiger mouth arch into the area. The temple was started when someone found a tiger cub after killing it's mother. They gave that cub to the head monk at a monastery. He raised it and decided to dedicate his life to saving the tigers. There are so few left in the wild, it's pretty sad. They now have about 95 tigers of all ages. They are in the process of building an amusement park type place for people to visit, with a huge "island" for the tigers to roam free. There was a lot of construction going on. They are even building a hotel.

 

We stopped at the entrance where they sold T shirts, etc. They had tables set up for offering the food to the monks. They arrived and we were to place 2 items in each monk's container. The containers were pots with cooked rice. It was strange putting coke in with the cooked rice. We were to give any left over food to the last monk. The table next to us had a lot left over. The girl put 2 items into the monks container. He said very bluntly "You have to give the rest to me, that is the rule!!". He was from New York, with the accent, interesting monks. We then walked up to the temple area where the monks would have breakfast.

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All around the temple platform was a railing and tied to the railing were about 20 tiger cubs of various ages, 6 weeks old being the youngest. We each had our own tiger to feed a bottle of formula to. They were SO darling....and messy. I had formula all over my top and shorts but it was worth it! There were a lot of volunteers who took our cameras so we could concentrate on the cubs while they took pictures. Once the cubs had their fill, they all fell sound asleep! After a bit some were wrestling with each other, so cute. We sat thru the monk's prayer. I asked a volunteer from Germany how long the prayer would be. She said anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, we "lucked" out with a LONG one, I thought it would never end! After that the monks ate while we continued to play with the tigers. When they finished, we were offered a buffet breakfast. It was AWFUL!! I ate some rice, that was about it. When we finished we were each given a cub to walk back to their cage. Some could walk on their own on leashes, the tiny ones had to be carried. I was the first to head to the cage. My little guy didn't like being carried so I grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and he settled down. I was the only one who actually went into the cage and put my little guy down. They had cleaned the cage while the cubs were out with us. Not a great enclosure, but they were taken out to play daily, so not bad.

 

Next we went to where the older cubs lived. They were about 10 months old, so maybe half grown. We bathed them with shampoo and a hose. The volunteer with me shoved me around to stay away from the tiger's head. They treated the tigers nicer than the people! We were then led to the play area. They had rice sacks attached to bamboo poles to entice the tigers to play. There were at least 10 of them, running around the enclosure, not on leashes or anything. Most were attacking each other in the water. I didn't know tigers enjoyed water so much. I got one guy to grab the bag on my pole. He wouldn't let go so we had a tug of war, he won. I was almost pulled into the water. If I'd have fallen, I would have had tigers all over me, playing like they played with each other. Since they probably weighed about 80 lbs at that age, it wouldn't have been a good thing. Smart that I dropped the pole. The volunteers were screaming and laughing at all the tiger antics. I think they were having more fun than we were and the tigers were definitely having a great time. It was a lot of fun.

 

The next tigers we encountered were adults. They were on leashes for us to walk down into a canyon they have set up for tourists. These guys were big, but walked nicely on their leashes. They had been raised to do so from cubs, so pretty well trained. This morning tour was only open to 12 people and sells out daily. The 12 humans were put into a "cage" while the volunteers played with the big guys. They were running around attacking each other as well as chasing the rice sacks, jumping off rocks into the water and having a great time. It was fun to watch. We were told that if we return in the afternoon we could have pictures taken with the big guys. I don't think that was to be included in our tour but the guide agreed to take us back after lunch.

 

We went to an outdoor restaurant whose owner is the vet for the Tiger Temple. I ordered fried rice with pineapple and chicken. It was served very simply, a pile on a plate. It was better than the expensive meal we'd had the day before, yummy. We watched a video about the vet and how he takes care of the tigers. We looked around at the store without finding anything of interest. We had over an hour to kill before returning to the Temple. Our guide finally said it was time to go.

 

There were a lot more people at the area when we returned. We walked by a cage with a huge bear in it on the way to the tigers. Not sure what kind it was, it had a white stripe across it's chest. All the large tigers were laying around with volunteers standing by to keep visitors at a distance. We were all corralled into a "cave" while they prepared the tigers to walk down to the canyon. These were the males and enormous! We all got in single file lines, 15 people behind each tiger. One at a time we were allowed to walk right next to the tiger for a picture. Once in the canyon, we all sat on seats. Every time a tiger arrived at the canyon we were told to stand and look at the tiger. We weren't supposed to  have our backs to them, just in case. They weighed 300 to 400 lbs and were walking on leashes. If they wanted to go after someone, not much could stop them! Our guide pulled us to the front of the line for pictures. We were led to a tiger where a volunteer would put his head on our lap for a picture. They were sound asleep, so they were hauling those heads around like dead meat. The tigers were so huge, it was pretty cool to be that close. We had pictures taken with about 5 different ones, then headed out. What an AMAZING experience!!!

 

On the way back to Bangkok, we stopped at the Bridge Over the River Kwai. It is now a huge tourist attraction with shops and a market set up. We walked over the bridge taking pictures. There is a colorful train that goes back and forth for the tourists, pretty built up. We were back to our hotel well after 6, it was a LONG day. Our clothes were covered with tiger formula, mud from sitting down, dust from running tigers, and just filthy in general. What a great day!

Bangkok Day One

We met our guide at 8:30 in the lobby. With a name like Suzie, I wasn't expecting a short, stout, older lady, but there she was. Her English was very good, which is very important. And she turned out to be very knowledgeable, so just fine. I had on capris and she nicely asked if I could change into pants. The guy who picked us up the day before had told us that they have skirts for rent to go into the temples so I told her I am agreeable to that, it is WAY too hot for pants. Off we went.

 

Our first stop was Chinatown. We walked thru the markets, looking at the knock offs and all the food. It was fascinating. We then went to the flower market which was unreal! You could buy a bouquet of a dozen stems of orchids for about $3. There were women making bracelets and bouquets which are used for offerings at the temples. I'd never seen so many flowers. Great place to visit.

Our next stop was the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple. After renting a wrap around skirt for me we entered with hundreds of other people. Suzie gave us commentary the entire time, telling of the history and purpose for the various buildings. It is a huge complex. The various temples were covered with gold leaf or china mosaics, absolutely gorgeous! The Emerald Buddha is actually jade. It is about 2' tall and sits in a place of honor high on a "throne". It was dressed for winter, with a gold lace cloak. They have a big ceremony to change his clothes for each season. Interesting. The walls were covered with beautiful murals. Many of the coaches and clothes were in gold leaf. We spent about an hour in that complex then headed to the pier. I ended up buying my skirt so I could use it in other temples, plus it was nice fabric with elephants all over.

 

We got on a long, narrow boat to see the sights from the river. Years ago, the canals and rivers were the main transportation in Thailand. It was interesting to see the tall buildings and small homes from grand ones to shacks along the river bank. We were dropped off at a beautiful place for lunch. It had been a private residence but the Mandarin Oriental Hotel across the river bought it and turned it into a luxury restaurant. It was buffet so we helped ourselves. I've never been fond of Thai food, and wasn't impressed with the selection there, regardless of price! The shrimp was delicious and they had ball pancakes, like I make (Danish ableskiver) on Christmas only these were coconut flavored, also very good. We ate then took the hotel's shuttle boat across the river to the hotel. The owner's daughter was getting married there that evening, so the lobby was full of people decorating the place with flowers. It was gorgeous.

 

Next stop, the Golden Teakwood Mansion. That building had been pretty much unused since the 20's. The current queen decided to reopen it as a museum which was an excellent idea. It would be sad to not share that beautiful place with the world. The building was entirely built with wood. There were original antique pieces in every room. There were also photographs and paintings of the royal family, consorts and children. Every room held something to oooh and aaah over. Once again I was using my wrap around skirt, shoes left at the entrance.

 

I was on a quest to find a gold tiger charm so Suzie took us to a very nice jewelry store. They had a nice gold cat with ruby eyes but no stripes. It wasn't tiger enough so we moved on. We stopped at one of the tourist places we've been to all over the world where they have a workshop first so you can see how the jewelry is made, then a HUGE store. They did not have one single tiger to look at. Since it is one of the Chinese zodiac symbols, I was pretty surprised. Suzie said maybe they were sold out since last year was the Year of the Tiger. Who knows. We were back at the hotel at about 6. We had dinner in the concierge lounge, showered and went to bed. It had been a long day.

Hong Kong to Bangkok

We were up and ready to go by about 8:30. We didn't have to leave for the airport until 10:30, so after breakfast (with BREWED coffee!) we took the shuttle to the other hotel in HK Disneyland, the Hollywood Hotel. It is done in deco style and is beautiful also. We walked the grounds a bit. They have a Hollywood sign out back and 2 old cars on a "freeway". The pool was enormous. The Disneyland Hotel actually has 2 pools, which I forgot to mention. One is large and outdoors, the other is indoors! They have water slides at both hotels. We returned to our hotel to deal with the luggage and grab a taxi. It was amazing that all of our 4 large suitcases and various carry on's all fit in that small car.

 

Once at the airport we checked in with Thai Air. They state on their website that passengers are allowed 1 bag weighing 50 lbs each. We were worried. The gal at the counter said since we are flying international (she looked at our confirmation going back to San Francisco), we could have 2 bags and she didn't even pay attention to the weight. We got away with it and were very happy. We were happy too soon......

 

I went to use my Starbucks coupon. I had bought a travel mug with a dragon on it but not drink, thus the coupon. I bought a mug in New Zealand with a kiwi on it. Hadn't thought about going to Starbucks for souvenirs before! When I came out of the store, there in front of me was a Shanghai Tang OUTLET! What a find! We'd visited the Shanghai Tang store on Madison Avenue in NYC where I bought one gorgeous sweater. At the price we paid, I didn't think I'd own another one. The sweaters at the outlet were reduced by up to 70%, I bought 3! They make very fine, beautiful items. We then headed to the men's Shanghai Tang outlet where I persuaded Mel to get a shirt. It's very nice also. We then headed to the gate.

 

Along with the Shanghai Tang bag, we now had 7 carry on's between the 2 of us. We started to go into the security line when a guard standing there said we couldn't go in with that much carryon luggage. Oh, oh! She called the counter and told us to return upstairs and talk to someone there. The gal at the counter said we would have to check something. I told her it was impossible since everything in our carry on's were fragile, not to mention carrying my jewelry and other valuables. We asked to talk to a supervisor. That lady weighed our small suitcase carry on's. We are allowed 15 lbs, ours weighed 30 lbs, each! She was saying we would have to reduce our weight and number of items. We were thinking of the expensive suitcases for sale around the corner. She looked at her watch and said since we only had 10 minutes (we still don't know what those 10 minutes were to....our flight wasn't scheduled to leave for an hour) she'd give us an exception. She put special tags on our bags and off we went. She said she let us go but we might be stopped at the plane. Whew, one more hurdle passed. At the gate we got in line, boarded the plane and a nice gentleman hoisted our very heavy bags into the overhead. Whew again!

 

The flight was uneventful except for the food. They served fish in an AWFUL black sauce. I ate the salad, Mel ate my fish. Yuck. After just over 2 hours we landed in Bangkok. We were in Thailand during out 2009 World Cruise but in Phuket, a beach town in the south of the country. We'd never been to Bangkok. It took over an hour to go thru Immigration, grab our bags and exit. Our guide was waiting for us with a sign with our name on it. He helped with the bags, called his driver, and we got into a very nice, large van for our trip into the city. It took about 30 minutes to get to our hotel. We used Marriott points for our stay. Mel chose to stay at the Renaissance instead of the GW Marriott because it is a newer hotel. Our guide said it is in a much better location, so he chose well. Mel is a Gold Member, so we were escorted from the front desk to the concierge level to check in. We were upgraded to a special room. We walked in and a WOW! We had total windows on 2 sides, overlooking the city. The bathroom wall and toilet and shower doors were all glass, making the room look even larger. And I thought the Disneyland Hotel was beautiful! We had dinner in the concierge lounge then took off walking to see the area.

 

We walked about 6 blocks, taking our life into our own hands when crossing each street. The traffic was awful. We saw a few small shops that were closed and that was about it. On the way back, we saw a department store so went in just to check it out. I headed to the baby department, which seems to have been the theme this trip. Brigitte is due in a month. The area was divided by designer, all very expensive. Guess Piper doesn't need designer clothes. We checked out the luggage and the Thai Craft department then returned to the hotel. We were to be picked up at 8:30 the next day. It'll be nice to stay in one location for five nights, and in a beautiful hotel too.

Hong Kong Day Three

We were in no hurry to get moving today because Disneyland Hong Kong doesn't open until 10:30. We had breakfast in the lobby cafe. I ordered the Continental breakfast, Mel ordered the larger breakfast that comes with an omelet. He told the server that he didn't want the pastries or fruit. While we were eatting, we both asked for another cup of coffee. The server said mine would be free but Mel would be charged for his. Huh?? I think we spent 15 minutes trying to figure out the difference. Turns out that she had changed Mel's meal to a la carte since he only wanted the omelette, so the coffee was individually brewed. I had filtered coffee. Mine was almost drinkable, Mel's was not. He ordered brewed coffee the next day.

 

In the hotel shop, I found a Stitch pin with a Chinese character on it. I asked what is said and the gal said Chew, a family name! Huh? I just happened to pick up a pin with our name on it!? When I showed it to Mel, he verified that it's how they write their family name.........we bought several.

Our first stop in the park was the jewelry store. They have jewelry made with Chinese gold which is 24k, really beautiful. I did find a Tinker Bell pendant that had just come in the day before. Very nice. We walked thru all the stores on Main Street then headed to Adventureland. There are very few attractions in this park, but come 2013, they are opening 3 new lands! One is Toy Story Land, Mystic Point (with a Haunted Mansion) and Grizzly Gulch. We rode a raft to visit Tarzan's treehouse. Then we did the Jungle Cruise. That was Adventureland! Moving on to Fantasyland, we watched the Mickey 3D Show, same as we'd seen 3 years ago. They have the Tea Cups, Dumbo and a Pooh ride. There are only 3 Fast Pass rides, Pooh, Buzz and Space Mountain. We went on Buzz (my best score ever!), Autopia then did more shopping. We were only in the park about 3 hours and did pretty much everything. The railroad was closed because of all the construction I imagine. We said good-bye to Disneyland and headed back to the hotel. Rather than lunch, we decided to have an early dinner so immediately turned around and went into Kowloon again.

 

Our first stop was the tailor. I tried on my slacks, they were HUGE! He had the seamstress come over to repin. Hope they are perfect when they arrive home. We gave Sandy, the tailor, a bag from Disneyland to ship for us. He did it with no hassle, nice guy. We visited the Chinese Arts and Crafts Store. It used to be the store from China before it was open to the west. It is almost like visiting an art gallery with many beautiful carvings, sculptures, clothes, etc. We returned to a jeweler we'd found the day before in the basement of the Holiday Inn. He was going to bring in a gold dragon for me. Holiday Inn is MUCH nicer in other countries than in the US!!! The jeweler had my dragon. We made a few purchases then headed to a restaurant recommended by him. It was even better than the day before. I ordered prawns and eggplant over crispy noodles, YUM! We headed back to Disneyland to pack and were home by about 8. Packing was interesting.

Hong Kong Day Two

We were up at about the regular time (Mel very early, me about 7:30) and had a leisurely breakfast in the Lido. It gave us the opportunity to say Good-Bye to all our friends. The Capt even came by and gave me a big hug. I've never seen him hug anyone before! Nice Captain. :) We gathered our numerous carry-ons and headed off the ship. It was sad to be leaving for the last time. We collected our suitcases without any problem, hopped in a cab (it fit our 4 suitcases + carry-ons and us!) and headed to the Disneyland Hotel.

 

After about a 30 minute ride, we arrived at the beautiful Disneyland Hotel on Lantau Island. I chose to stay there because I knew it would be beautiful, we wanted to go to the park anyway, and the airport is on Lantau Island. Convenient for many reasons. We were able to check in at 10:30 which was nice. We left our items then headed out again. This time we took the Disney Resort Shuttle to the MTR (underground). We headed to see the big Buddha on Lantau Island. We rode the MTR then took a 30 minute gondola ride over mountains to get to the Buddha. I had thought it was an old one, but it actually wasn't completed until the 90's. There is a monastery there as well as a "village" filled with souvenir shops. I think the monks are doing very well. The Buddha sits on top of a hill, very impressive. It was a nice visit. I bought a small plastic Buddha that looks like that one, as a memento.

 

From the Buddha we headed to a fishing village. The bus wasn't leaving for an hour so we took a taxi instead. The drive was very curvy and straight down, Having arrived via gondola, I hadn't realized how high up we were. We were dropped off at the village. I went to take a picture and discovered my camera was missing. I ran back to the taxi stand. Fortunately our taxi had gotten into the que and was still there. My camera had fallen out of my jacket pocket and was on the back seat. Whew, that was lucky!

 

The fishing village is built mostly on stilts. There was stall after stall selling dried seafood of every kind. It was hard to imagine how they could sell it all, but it seemed that there were many locals buying. We walked around looking at everything. We declined a 20 minute boat ride around the harbor. It was amazing to find a small village like this, totally removed from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, a short ride away.

 

Back on the MTR, we decided to continue into Kowloon (mainland side of Hong Kong -- Hong Kong itself is an island) rather than return to our hotel. We walked around a bit. We thought about going up on top of the parking structure next to the ship and waving at our dinner buddies like some people had done the day before but figured our time could be better spent. I did finally get to a small shop by the Star Ferry that sells hand smocked children's clothing. It had been closed when I tried the day before. We went in search of a gold dragon pendant, then had a delicious Shanghai style dinner. By this time I was getting very tired, so we headed back, arriving at the hotel at about 9. I decided to take a bath. It almost felt like we'd been roughing it for 2 months with the huge tub, wonderfully strong water pressure and large room. The ship was becoming a fond memory.

Hong Kong

We spent a fun day with our table mates, Bonnie and Carl. They had never been to Hong Kong before so we said we'd take them around. Our first stop was the tailors. We all were measured for something, Mel a sport coat and slacks, Carl 2 shirts, Bonnie a suit and I am getting slacks. After that we got onto the Star Ferry to go across the harbor to Hong Kong Island. We are berthed in Kowloon, right next to Star Ferry, the best location in the area.

 

We got on a double decker bus headed to Stanley Market.  I hadn't been there since 1991, so wanted to make it this trip. It's a nice ride out to Stanley, past many beautiful buildings and beaches. We spent a while in the market then had Dim Sum for lunch. We taught Carl to use chopsticks while Bonnie was in the restroom, so when she came out, he was picking up peanuts with them. He's a fast learner and she was impressed. They had never had Dim Sum, Carl even tried (and liked) the chicken feet!

 

On the bus back to the ferry, someone overheard us talking about other sights to see and suggested that we go to Victoria Peak today. The sun was out and the visibility was better than usual, so we grabbed a cab to the Peak Tram. We went up to the tower for the view. None of that was there when we rode the tram during our honeymoon in 1985! We decided to take a cab back to the Ocean Terminal where our ship was which would be faster and easier. We were back in time for dinner. We said out good-byes to the other couple who sat with us, then went back to the tailors for a fitting. Bonnie's suit looks great. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be happy with my slacks. Very fine fabric. We walked around Ocean Terminal, in the mall there, then returned to our room to pack. We have the same 4 suitcases that we arrived with....that is after giving 2 boxes and a suitcase to friends to ship from Ft Lauderdale when they get home on April 26....but they are a LOT fuller! It will be interesting getting on the plane to Bangkok in 2 days. Our bags are outside the door ready to be picked up.

 

In the morning we'll take a taxi to the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. We'll leave our bags there then go out for the day. We'll spend the following day in the park, and not sure what else. I don't know how often I'll be online after this, so am writing now to catch up with everything so far. We head to Bangkok on the 10th. We'll be there until we fly home on the 15th. This trip has gone by very fast, it's been wonderful.

Manila, Philippines

We spent 2 very full days in Manila. What a city! Many interesting places, but very crowded, dirty and very polluted. We were off the ship at 8:30 the first day. A friend from the ship joined us. She's had 4 joint replacements so we weren't going at our usual pace. It was fine though. We shopped at the market on the pier first, to see what is available. There were about 6 vendors set up, each with a huge tent. A lot to choose from.

Intramuros, or Old Manila, is in walking distance from the ship. We headed there to see what there is to see. We were at the wall of the place in a few blocks. To actually get in, we had to go all the way around, thru an arch in the wall. That area was the first Spanish settlement of Manilla and is totally surrounded by an old wall (Intramuros means inside walls). The Cathedral of Manila was right there so we visited that first. Very grand, but not as elaborate as many churches we've seen. After that we headed thru the area. We were walking on a back street, so passed by many little shops with kids all around. We saw a Community Center w/a large anti-drug statement painted on the fence. Across the street, there were 3 little kids, probably about 4 yrs old, playing with syringes! They were putting water from the gutter in them, to shoot at each other most likely. Sad to see. It was so dirty, as were they.

We found an Arts and Crafts store that had many wonderful things. We spent quite some time there before taking Ann back to the ship. All along our walk, there were men in horse carts and bicycle carts asking if we wanted a ride or a tour. We finally decided to do the horse cart to save Ann from walking. We were back at the ship by noon, so ate lunch there before heading out again.

Mel wanted to go to the National Museum, so we headed in that direction. On the way, we stopped at the Manilla Hotel, the oldest hotel in the Philippines. What a beautiful place! I found something in the shop that I wanted but figured we could go back to get it so we weren't carrying it around all day. It took another 15 minutes to get to the museum.

The museum building is quite large and nice. They wanted to collect our bags at the door, including my purse. I just held it low so she didn't see it. I really didn't want to relinquish my ID, money, etc! We decided to start on the top floor. There was nothing there, no exhibits, just empty space. Weird. The 4th floor was almost the same, with one small display of shells and animals of the area. On the 3rd floor was a large display of items recovered from a merchant ship that sank in the 1500's. It was just discovered in 2000. Wonder what was on that floor before then!? The 2nd floor had a few items, the ground floor had a room that said it wasn't open to the public. Not a very impressive museum. While we were there, it had poured outside, so good timing to be inside.

We decided to take another horse cart to Robinson's Mall. The ship had a shuttle service going there, so we could ride that back to the ship. It is a HUGE mall. We first found bubble wrap, then an extra suitcase. They sold bubble wrap by the meter, so we bought 10 meters. I figured we would have a lot that we wouldn't use. Wrong! I bought a few things for the new grandbaby, then we decided to get the shuttle. I really wanted to see the craft market though, so we changed plans and grabbed a taxi. Of course we had to ask 3 different drivers before we found one who knew what we were talking about. I'd asked about the craft market at the Craft Store. They showed me where it is located, and added that we should be careful in that area.

The traffic in Manila is awful, so it took about 25 minutes to go a short distance. The driver dropped us off on a wide street next to an overpass. The market stalls were under the overpass. They went out into the street where cars, even buses were passing. We had to be careful to not be hit! Everyone was very friendly and happy to see us. There was not another Caucasian in the entire area. Many people stared at me. We bought a few things, all the time, Mel was pushing our suitcase. Nice to have, we kind of filled it! Of course most of it was the bubble wrap.

It was getting dark so we figured we should head back. We flagged down 2 different taxis who had no idea what we were talking about when I asked to go to the port, the ship, the pier, no luck. A man standing there told us we needed to go to the next corner to get a taxi going the opposite direction. That was easier said than done. The main mode of public transportation is jeepneys. They look like a jeep in front, are open in the back with 2 benches along the side, you jump in from the very back. They were everywhere, and about 6 deep in several streets that we had to cross. It was taking your life in your own hands to do that. We followed locals, figuring they would know what they were doing. Pretty funny with Mel and the suitcase. We had to lift it over filthy puddles and up and down uneven pavement and curbs. Quite an adventure.

We were finally on the correct side of a main street. Several locals kept moving in front of us on the street to get a taxi before us. Took us about 15 minutes to finally get one, and that one passed the local and got us, nice. He knew exactly where we wanted to go. Of course I also mentioned the Manilla Hotel. If I had said that in the first place, we wouldn't have had a problem. Didn't think of it. We were back at the ship for dinner at 7. I had to wash my feet and legs before going though. The streets are very dirty, wearing sandals, my feet were black. Yuck.

Our second day we were planning to go to the Manila Hotel to shop and use the ATM, then grab a cab to go outside of town. Some friends came up to us at breakfast to ask if we wanted to join them for a tour doing almost exactly what we wanted to do, so we did. It was $25/person for 4 hours! Everything in Manilla is VERY inexpensive. The dollar is very strong there, the only country we've been to this trip where it has been. Another couple had asked to join us also, so 6 of us climbed into a nice van and off we went. I was thinking countryside, but Manilla has such urban sprawl, that you need to go for several hours to see that. We were stuck in traffic much of the time. We headed to a place called Las Pinas, famous for a bamboo organ. It was worth the trip. This thing was built in the early 1800's. It was restored in the 90's, so is in great working order. There was a wedding going on, so we got to hear it play. There was a museum, and a guide to show us thru. it was a nice visit.

We stopped next at a jeepney factory. Those things are put together by hand, piece by piece. It was just an open garage, not really a factory at all. Behind the place was a large garbage dump. We could see the trucks driving onto the pile of garbage and dumping their cargo. Immediately after dumping it, there were swarms of people there going thru it to see what they could find. They each had garbage pails to collect their "prizes" in. It was very sad.

We then headed to the American Cemetery, built after WWII. On the way, we moved about 5 mph thru awful areas, shacks, small stores, dirty children, just really sad. The cemetery though, is beautiful. It is maintained by the US and pristine. Sad to see so many crosses covering the green hills. The monument is to the unknown soldiers. They have walls with names of all of them, American and Filipino, their rank, position, and where they were from. There were thousands. There were walls showing the different battles of that war, all done with mosaic, just gorgeous! In one direction, just outside the cemetery was an area with shacks, another side had high rises, just being built. Such a contrast. Next, we headed back to the ship.

We passed thru an area of Manila known as the New York of the Philippines. We saw mansions behind high fences and gates, the Philippine Stock Exchange and a number of luxury hotels. After sitting in traffic for at least 45 minutes, we arrived back at Old Manilla. Rather than return to the ship, it was 2:00, we were dropped off in Intramuros again. We had missed seeing a church that others had said was a must see. And it was. St Angus Cathedral (I think that's what it was called) was beautiful, with the ceiling painted to look like it was carved. Again there was a wedding going on, so we got to see it decorated with flowers. The bridesmaids dresses were horribly gaudy compared to what we are used to. The museum there was full of beautiful gold items, embroidered robes, old oil paintings and sculptures. I'm glad we didn't miss it. We also went to Casa Manila, a typical home from the 1800's that has been conserved with original furnishings. It was beautiful and interesting. They lived quite well back then! We walked out of Intramuros and back to the Manila Hotel.

We intended to make our purchase then head back to the ship. A couple Mel knew from the ship was sitting in the lobby having a coffee. They said one of the ladies in the hotel had agreed to take them into the archives to see the information about Gen. McArthur. We decided to stay and join them. The Archives consisted of a small room with pictures covering all 4 walls. There was a model of the first Air Mail plane which delivered mail from Pres Roosevelt to McArthur. The General lived in the Manila Hotel for 6 years, along with his family. His son was born there. It was quite interesting to see all the photos. Of course they had more current pictures of other well know guests, like Michael Jackson and Glenn Miller. By this time it was 4:40, all aboard was at 5 so we hightailed it out of there, back to the ship. Manilla was certainly a place of contrasts. Many areas were dirty and very poor, others beautiful and upscale. It was a great visit.

Last Days on the Ship!

We just spent 2 very interesting days in Manilla. I will post about it hopefully later today! We've been spending all of our spare time packing....well I should say I have been spending all of my spare time packing. Mel's been going to the show and enjoying the ship as usual. He will be helping today, our last sea day before Hong Kong. We are on the ship over night there, then on to the Disneyland Hotel.

Disappointment Re Palau

I've been emailing back and forth with a tour operator in Palau all week. We wanted to do a 1/2 day snorkel tour so we would still have a couple of hours to wander the town. Once I knew we had a boat, a number of people wanted to join us, so we had a group of 11 ready to go. At 5 pm yesterday, the Capt came over the ships speakers with an important announcement. He said because of issues regarding the docking in Palau, that port has been canceled! We will continue on to Manilla and stay there overnight instead. The crew was cheering. An overnight means they can go off the ship and party that night. Many of the crew is Filipino so they will have more time with their families.

 

During dinner, in walked the Capt in his dress blues. The dining room clapped, Mel and I did quiet boos. SO disappointing to be missing that port. The Capt proceeded to go from table to table to talk to every person there, it was quite amazing. I told him that he used to be the best Capt on the seas. :) He said that HAL was informed 2 weeks ago that the dock they were going to use was no longer available to them. They'd spent the last 2 weeks trying to secure another one. On top of that, the government was unable to provide up to date marine data. If we ran aground, that would be the end of the World Cruise! So for that reason also, they finally decided to cancel.

 

I emailed my tour operator last evening that we would no longer be going to Palau. They replied that they had called other operators, and to their knowledge, there was no cancellation! They looked forward to seeing us. This morning they said they finally received the cancellation today, at 7:30 a.m. The reason they were given is that the government wanted a $15 per person "green" fee and HAL was unwilling to pay that, along with "other" issues. We get visa charges on our shipboard account for a number of different countries, wonder why that fee would be any different? In the end we'll probably never know the exact reason for the cancellation, but we will miss seeing that country. The Capt said he is pretty disappointed also since ours would have been the largest ship to ever go there, and he's never been either. It was to have been our last snorkel adventure on this trip. Bummer.

Madang, Papua New Guinea

Again, we had the most amazing time onshore! Madang is the second largest city in PNG and totally untainted by tourism. They get maybe 1 ship in per year, ours being the largest ever according to some people in the town.

 

We weren't scheduled to dock until noon, which was different. We had an early lunch so we could be off first thing and grab a cab. We asked 2 women who we've become friends with if they'd like to share a cab. When we were finally allowed off the ship, it was almost 12:30. When we got off, there must have been 100 people there just watching us come in then greeting and welcoming us, it was really nice. Mel went with the others to find a cab while I shopped for a few minutes at the market set up on the pier.

 

Mel asked a policeman about finding a cab. He said there aren't any, but he would find us a van. Another couple was there also, so the 6 of us decided to go together. We found a van and hopped in. Then we had to verify the price. We were first told PNG$1500. The other guy said that's great, about $12/person. I informed him that it was US$600!!! He kept saying it was fine, I kept telling him he was wrong. Finally the policeman stepped in to help us as the driver's English wasn't very good. The owner of the van spoke a bit better. We finally settled on $20/person. The policeman said he would go find us a guide, I guess it's required there. He came back about 5 minutes later saying "I will go with you" and hopped in the front seat. We had a police escort!!!

 

We knew about what we wanted to see from the port lecture as well as from reading where the ship's tours were going. We first stopped at the light house which was dedicated to the Coast Watchers during WWII. We then headed on to a typical village, about 20 minutes away. We knew the buses would be rolling in so were happy to have some time there before them. That was only about 10 minutes, but I had first dibs on the small market they had set up. There must have been at least 100 people from the ship there. Hard to take a picture that wasn't full of tourists. The natives put on a colorful dance for us, another showed us how they cook over fire. The houses had palm frond roofs and were built on stilts. I think the stilts were for several reasons, one being water of course. The other is that there are many snakes in PNG. We left the village before the buses so we wouldn't get caught up in a traffic jam.

 

We'd seen a wide river on the way to the village, and asked the van to stop there on the way back. We walked across the bridge taking pictures while the van moved to the other side to pick us up. There were some tables set up next to the road, a roadside market. They were mostly selling beetle nuts. Mel and I had seen that custom/habit in Taiwan. Those nuts have something very addictive in them. In PNG, they mix them with a seed like thing they said was mustard, dipped in powdered lime. The beetle nuts turn their teeth an awful red color. Most of the people had red teeth.

 

We continued on to a market we'd passed earlier also. We stopped and all got out. This was a 7 day a week market for the people who live in surrounding villages. They looked at us like we were aliens! One lady came up to me and very politely asked "Are you a tourist?" I think she'd heard about them but had never seen one. Everyone said hello, the kids followed us around. We took a LOT of pictures, it was very interesting. I'd say 1/3 of the stands were selling beetle nuts, 1/3 chiclets and cookies, the rest had vegetables. It was a muddy mess, so we were walking carefully, especially since it was on a slope, but it was SO interesting. There are few places in the world where they haven't seen tourists before!!

 

Our next stop was the cultural center, although while we were there we didn't know it was the cultural center. Once again, we beat the buses, so had the market and dancers to ourselves. It was very nice. The crafts there are mainly wood carvings, but there is some basketry and some very bright colored paintings. I would love to have bought a painting but they were several hundred dollars, and we have no space on our walls! They also make brightly colored bags, out of wool or twine.

 

We drove thru the main part of town on the way back to the ship. There wasn't much. Being Sunday, everything was closed, but we saw the outside of the main market and several large stores. They all looked like warehouses, nothing fancy. The few streets were gravel and mud with large pot holes, very rural looking. Back at the pier we did some shopping before returning to the ship to unload, and down some ice water. It was hot there, even though it was overcast. Can't imagine what it would be like with the sun shinning.

 

What I really wanted to buy was postcards! I've sent them out from all over the world, I especially wanted to send some from this port. Everything was closed, but we figured maybe they would have some at a hotel we'd passed by earlier. We went back out to walk there. On our way thru the market on the pier, Mel bought a 5' spear, so was carrying that thru the streets of Madang. It was just about a 10 minute walk to the Madang Resort. Just inside the gates, there was yet another market set up. A lady there got her spear and I snapped a photo of Mel vs Native. It was cute, they were all laughing.

 

The hotel had a small gift shop. The postcards were of the hotel, the hotel's yacht, or some other type of advertising. I did get one of a native, that was my only choice. Unfortunately they were sold out of stamps, and being Sunday, the postcards will not go out until we hit Palau. I bought a couple of wicker animals. Our friend picked one up to look at it, and a lizard crawled out of it! Glad he found his way out there and not in our cabin.

 

Outside the main lobby and reception area, there were some cages so we went to check them out. They held mostly birds, which were beautiful. In the last one were 3 tree kangaroos! We'd been told about them by the port lecturer and were very happy to get to see some. They were about the size of a large raccoon with a long, prehensile tail! Very cute and very curious. When we got close to take pictures without the wires showing, one came up to smell the camera. They didn't like being touched though. So cute. We bought a few more things at the market then headed back to the ship.

 

On our way, we headed to the German cemetery which was right downtown. Our 2 lady friends are German so they were especially interested in seeing it. Before PNG became independent, it was ruled by the Germans. We passed by a sporting goods store with words printed in huge letters: Golf, Fishing, Diving. On the other side of the door was: Squash, Tennis, Snooker! Mel asked the men sitting out front what Snooker is. They told him they had misspelled Snorkel. LOL I asked a lady getting into her car where the German cemetery was. She pointed the way then followed us in her car for 2 blocks to be sure that we found it. Once there, we asked some men sitting on the corner where the gate was. He went up and opened it for us then went in a pulled some of the grass that had grown up around the headstones so we could read them better. He left before we did because his bus arrived. Everyone went out of their way to help us and welcome us, it was a very friendly place.

 

When we arrived at the market by the pier, people were starting to pack up to leave. Now they were bargaining. One man came up and asked Mel to trade a carved mask for his towel. Of course it was a ship's towel, we took the trade. LOL I'd admired a woven frog mask when we first got off the ship but at $50 figured it would be difficult to get home. For $20 I bought it! The man said his grandmother had made it and it is very old. It is very unusual. Another man showed us a mask with a large snake coiled on top, a frog in the middle with the face at the bottom. We weren't going to buy a large mask as getting it home would be a problem. When he said $22, we couldn't resist. It reminded us of Africa where everything was so inexpensive that we couldn't help but buy! We were back on the ship just before 7, sail away was at 8. What an interesting port that had been. Wonder how long it will be before it's spoiled by too many visitors?

 

 

Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia

We had envisioned beautiful sunny skies when we snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. We didn't really get what we hoped, but had a great experience anyway. We encountered a storm while crossing the Tasman Sea to Sydney which just followed us up the coast of Australia. When we arrived in Cairns, it was pouring. Mel had arranged a snorkel tour months ago, so we just got umbrellas from the ship and took off for the Reef Pier.

Cairns is a major center for tours of the Great Barrier Reef, so they are very well organized. They had a terminal much like an airport terminal with different counters for the different reef companies. We were the last of 30 to check into our boat. It was a catamaran, with 30 passengers and about 10 crew. They told us up front that it would be rough going to the reef and best to take sea sickness medicine before one got sick, after is too late. They sold it for $3. I don't remember seeing many buying it.

 

Once we left the protection of the harbor, the seas picked up. One by one, people were grabbing bags and heading out to the back of the boat. I thought it was rough on our ride in Port Arthur. This was even rougher! That boat was bobbing in all directions, people laying all over the place feeling ill or trying to feel better. Mel even had a moment where he wasn't sure how he felt, but getting some fresh air made him better. I think at least half of the passengers were sick. During this it was a down pour. We were wondering how much we would see in such conditions.

 

It was a 2 hour ride to the reef. I didn't know it was that far out. Our ship had sailed up inside the reef, so it's quite deep too. We anchored just off a barrier island of sand and birds. They had a smaller boat which would take you to the beach but Mel and I opted to jump off the boat and swim to shore. It was fairly deep when we first got in the water, then we started to see the coral. WOW!!! The visibility wasn't as good as it could have been with no sun, but the coral was beautiful. There were so many varieties, it was impossible to count. And the giant clams were amazing! I'd seen pictures of those huge shells before, but don't remember seeing the colors! The edges are a bright blue, really beautiful. There were some fish, but that wasn't the main attraction. The attraction was the coral, so many sizes, shapes and colors. It really was amazing.

 

When we hit the beach we started walking to where the rest of the people were. A guy started yelling at us to get off the beach. Apparently the entire area is a marine reserve and we were only allowed to be onshore between some ropes. We'd arrived in a non-roped area. It was covered with birds, the noise was incredible. We walked over to the proper beach then went into the water again. It wasn't raining in this area, which was amazing, and it was a lot lighter than it had been on the way out, still no sun though. I dove down to take many close ups of the coral. Unfortunately the colors didn't show up as bright as they were for lack of light, but I still got quite a few good pictures. We snorkeled in that area for about an hour then swam back to the boat.

 

We were served a very good buffet lunch while the boat moved to a different location. We'd been told earlier that we wouldn't make it to the second location because of the rough seas, but guess the conditions changed while we were on the beach. We anchored not that far from where we'd been before, but in deeper water. The coral there was enormous, but deeper down so I had to really dive to get any close up pictures. The water was warm enough, but next to the coral it was like bath water. There were high waves though so we were bobbing around quite a bit. At one point I'd come up to look for Mel and all I saw was water. I'd have to wait to look between waves to see anyone else at all. We stayed in that location for about an hour then headed back to port.

 

On the way back they put up the sail so we could experience sailing in for a while. They said we could go out on deck to see the sail and we all looked at each other like, "I don't think so!" It was a deluge again. We were back on the pier at 5.

 

Our ship wasn't scheduled to sail until 2 a.m. so we had all evening to explore the city of Cairns. We were berthed right next to town, so a short walk to the main shopping area. We had heard about the night market, so headed there for dinner after showering and drying up. We wore shorts since we knew we would be soaked again by the end of the evening. We walked down the main street which we thought was the night market. We found a restaurant where we had a nice dinner then headed back to shop in some of the stores we'd passed. Another couple from the ship came along saying they were looking for the night market. We thought we were in it! I asked in a store and it turned out that the Night Market is actually an indoor area with stalls, like a market. DUH! By this time I was feeling dizzy and sick. I think it was an after affect of the rough seas, who knows. But we went thru the Night Market and did a bit of shopping anyway. I had some Australian $$ to spend. (Today in a port lecture we were told that Australian $ are accepted in Papua New Guinea also, guess Mel wasn't listening the last time she'd told us that. LOL) We did a slow walk back to the ship in the pouring rain and flooded streets. We did stop in to look at the casino, but didn't do any gambling. We were back onboard by 8. It was a long, but good day.

 

In the Capt's daily announcement today he said he'd never seen that much rain fall in one day! I guess that down pour was continuous all day in town. Glad it was clearer out on the reef so we had fairly good snorkeling.

Earthquake in Christchurch

Wow, so sad about the earthquake. Of course everyone on the ship is talking about it. We were there just 11 days before it hit. The epicenter was in Lyttleton, where our ship was berthed. We've been watching CNN a lot, seeing all of the destruction and hearing about all the loss of lives.

Just across the small port and a road in Lyttleton was a cliff. It moved further back from the water further away from the port. That's where the small town is. Some of those cliffs fell onto buildings below. Wonder if the ship would have been damaged had we been there that day? The beautiful 105 yr old cathedral where we admired the floral carpet is in ruin. It survived the 7.1 quake last Sept only to be felled by this one. When we were there, a few buildings had fencing around them as a result of the last quake. The penguin shuttle driver pointed out a beautiful old Victorian house which had fallen off it's foundation. But there were no totally collapsed buildings like now.

 

Had we been in port that day, Mel and I would have been at the Antarctic Center, enjoying the sights and penguins. The airport was closed for a bit the day of the earthquake, right across the street from the center. Many roads were cracked and impassible, how would we have returned to the city center? How would any of us gotten back to the ship with the epicenter being right where it was docked? We are so lucky to have seen the beautiful city before the destruction, and that we were not there on that day.

 

The ladies who put on the floral festival were so proud of their beautiful cathedral. I wonder if it'll be rebuilt?  I wonder if any of them lost their lives, as so far the number is up to 75 per CNN. The people there were so friendly and happy. What an awful thing for them. I hope they'll be able to rebuild and not have this happen to them again.

 

The CEO of Holland America Line boarded the ship in Sydney. He did a presentation today along with a question answer session. His first comments were about the earthquake in Christchurch.  HAL has a number of employees who live there. Only 2 were slightly injured in the quake. Their port representative, who was on the pier when we were there, lost his home, but is not injured. It brought the disaster even closer to home, our home away from home, the Amsterdam.

Sydney, Australia

Sydney is the first port we have visited this trip that we'd been to before. Of course it's such a beautiful city, we weren't disappointed to be there again! We planned out what we would like to see in the 1 1/2 days we would be there and did pretty well in seeing everything.

The ship is berthed right across the quay from the Opera House. I chose to be on the port side of the ship just so we could see it from our verandah. The moonlight picture was taken right from our room. Worth it to be on that side of the ship I think!

 

We got off the ship at about 8:30. An area of Sydney called The Rocks was right outside the passenger terminal. It is an area of buildings from the 1800's, all restored and now housing boutiques and galleries. They have a market on Sat and Sun, so that was our first destination. It was nice to see crafts that people had made, including many of the souvenir items we'd seen in stores. We made a few purchases then returned to the ship to unload...and to change! It was HOT out, so different from the weather we'd just come from in Tasmania. Mel and a friend we were with both changed to lighter weight shirts.

 

Back on the street, we headed up George St, the main street in Sydney. We stopped at a few souvenir shops along the way, looking for a fabric store a lady in the market had told me about. It turned out to be very much like our Joann's, with absolutely nothing Australia themed. Oh well, worth a try. We then headed to the other side of Darling Harbor to the Maritime Museum. It was free! Nice to have some things free like that. It showed a lot of the maritime history of Australia with small replicas of various ships, china and items from old cruise lines and a display on sharks. From there we crossed back to the other side of Darling Harbor to go to the Aquarium. Alongside the aquarium was Wildlife World. We decided to go there instead. The first few displays were bugs! Not what I was expecting. I wanted cute and fuzzy, not BIG and creepy. After the HUGE crocodile, we finally got to the animals. The first was the koalas. We had a coupon for a free picture with them, so went into the enclosure for that. The gal taking the pics let us take as many pics as we wanted, plus we got to pet them. We'd done that many times in 09, but it never gets old. They are just so cute. They had a nocturnal display of their various odd animals, potoroo, quoll, etc. They also had an area where we could walk with the kangaroo. It turned out to be a very nice place. From there we headed back to the ship, shopping along the way.

 

We showered and changed to get ready for the opera. I bought tickets online in December to see Opera Hits in the Afternoon. The concert started at 5. I really don't care for opera so wasn't expecting much. The format was really nice though, with the accompanist making commentary about the songs and opera in general. I only had to plug my ears once when the soprano hit the high note. The Opera House is currently showing Carmen and the lead from that opera did 2 songs for us. She wasn't on the program, which was a nice surprise. It was a nice concert. We headed back to the ship with a few stops along the way. We actually ran into Stein Kruse and his wife. He is the CEO of HAL. They are very nice, approachable people. We knew they would be boarding in Sydney for a few days. Food and service will be just a bit better while he's onboard.

 

We had late dinner in the Lido then worked on pictures and such in our cabin. I spent a lot of time on the veranda admiring the view. How nice to have a full moon over the Opera House! I took about 50 pictures so I'd be sure to have at least one that's perfect.

 

Today we were off the ship by 9, headed to the Taroga Zoo. We had to take a ferry to get there, nice that we are berthed right next to the ferry stations! We were in the zoo by 9:30. I really wanted to see a platypus, so we headed to the Australian animals exhibit first. There was a nice enclosure with a pond, no platypus. Disappointing. We couldn't find the echidna either. Guess everyone was hiding. We went to the nocturnal house, and there in a center aquarium was a platypus swimming around. Guess we were lucky to see her. She's able to get out of the water into a dry enclosure over the aquarium, totally out of view. Made the day successful. We walked around to see the big cats and several other animals, then took their sky ride back down to the ferry and back into the city. Yesterday had been about 90 degrees and humid, today was in the high 60's and partly cloudy. We had some sprinkles, but not enough to really get wet. What a nice change in the weather!

 

Back in Sydney we headed up a different street than yesterday. There were a couple of things I still wanted to pick up. Mel had been looking for a swim cap in every country since Bora Bora with no luck. He was hoping to finally find one here. His head got burnt while snorkeling, it would help protect against that. We headed back down George St to a camera store we'd been to the day before. Then on to a souvenir shop where we asked where the dive store was. Turns out we'd been within 1/2 block from it, but had headed in the wrong direction, toward the ship. We started back to the ship, then Mel decided he really wanted to try to get his swim cap. It was 1:00, we had to be onboard at 1:30. We turned around and headed back up the street. We were walking fast, thru a lot of people on the street. We found the store, bought a cap in about 2 minutes, then headed to the ship. I can walk a mile in 20 minutes fairly easily. We were walking faster than I usually walk and were back at the ship just 2 minutes late. It had to have been more than a mile at the pace we were going. I was pooped! But we made it and Mel now has protection for his head.

 

Sail away from Sydney is a big deal....especially with the CEO onboard. The appetizers they were passing out were much better than usual. Not only was wine and champagne free, but any soda or hard liquor you wanted! One of our table mates was taking advantage of the free whiskey. I was happy with a free tonic water.

 

In 1995 a foundation was created to build an exact replica of a Dutch sailing vessel called the Duyfken. It was the first European ship to discover Australia in 1606. At a cost of $3.7 million and after 3 years, the ship was completed. It was in the Sydney Harbor to escort us out to sea. It looked so small from the 8th deck of our ship. I can't imagine going across any ocean in such a tiny sized ship.

 

Sydney is a beautiful city. I could easily live there. It's very much like San Francisco with the hills and homes all around the bay. No wonder it's the number one visited city in the world.

Port Arthur, Australia

As I mentioned before, we booked a tour in Port Arthur from Hobart yesterday. I'd seen it online but never booked it. We weren't sure how far it was to the tour office but knew it was outside the Port Arthur Historical Site, so could be quite a walk. We were on the first tender to go ashore shortly after 8.

 

Port Arthur was a penal colony in the mid 1800's. They didn't restore the buildings, but did restore the gardens and cleaned up the ruins to make them safe for visitors. We were tendered directly into the site, just like the prisoners would have been over 100 years ago. We walked up the hill to the very large visitors center. We went outside and asked a bus driver how to get to the main road. We hiked up the hill and down the main road to the office in about 20 minutes. We were there by 8:45. The bus wasn't going to leave until 9:30. We arrived out of breath for nothing, could have been a leisurely stroll! A bus pulled up about the same time that we arrived full of a tour group for seniors. There were some pretty old people in the bunch, kind of like the passengers on our ship! There were other tourists there ready for the boat ride also. There was no one from our ship.

The bus ride from the tour office was about 20 minutes. We then boarded 2 different boats. They were open with rows of seats from the bow to stern. They were about 50' long and held approx 30 people. We chose to sit in the front 2 seats. They said the first 4 rows were required to wear seat belts and that anyone with back issues should sit toward the rear. I just hoped I'd be OK and sat up front. We were each given a long, red jacket like thing to wear. It had a hood, so covered us from head to foot. There was a small compartment under the narrow bow. We asked if it would get wet in there and were told no, so we stowed our bags in there. Off we went.
Cruising thru 1 to 2 meter swells in a large ship is entirely different from doing so in a small boat. It wasn't an E Ticket, it was an F! We were tossed around a lot. I even screamed a couple of times and grabbed Mel's leg. It was quite exhilarating!!! The boat had excellent maneuverability, so they went up to the base of the shear cliffs along the shore as well as into caves. We went up close to a lot of seals. We also saw some in the water. There were a lot of albatross and petrels as well as cormorants. We didn't see any dolphins or whale. I was surprised that there was no sea spray at all, I was expecting to get wet. I didn't say anything so I wouldn't jinx it.

Mel had to make the comment..... we slowed down for someone to be sick over the side. Just as we did, we went up over a big swell, then down into the valley between them, then the next wave went up and over the bow, running directly into the opening where we'd put our bags to keep them dry and making puddles in our laps. I didn't get wet at all, those red jackets really did what they were supposed to do. Mel's socks got wet as his didn't go a far down as mine did. Our bags were drenched. Oh well, it was a great experience.

 

We were dropped at a jetty near Port Arthur. We walked back up to the tour office then went next door to the small grocery store. They had some freshly made food so we each got a large piece of fried fish and ate it on a table outside. It was delicious! We also had some wedding cake. The couple who worked at the store had gotten married over the weekend. They had leftover cake, so put it out for the customers. Funny to be served wedding cake at a small store like that.

 

We walked back to the Port Arthur Historical Site and went thru the exhibits in the information center. Then we went out onto the grounds to look around. The gardens were beautiful. The church was only walls, but very beautiful also. Some of the houses were intact and we could go inside to look around. The Commandants house was quite large and interesting. The prison building was only walls. We could see where the actual cells used to be. They were VERY small. We just walked around then went back to the tender pier. We were back onboard by 4.