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 To see more photos, click here.  To see Mike's posts, scroll down.

 

Margaret's Posts

 

Sunday, June 26, 2016

 

Friday was definitely a busy day.  Debarking the ship, going through China customs, finding our bus, waiting for everyone else to get on the bus, the two hour drive to Beijing.  We checked into our hotel, the New Otani, which is very nice.  Then straight away met with our tour group.  You really need to look at the photos to understand what we saw.  There just are no words for it.  A visit to the Forbidden City, a rickshaw ride through the old part of town, a tour of an internationally famous sport facility which included a tai chi lesson, dinner with the athletes, and a martial arts performance.

 

Up bright and early on Saturday, we joined another tour group.  First, to see Tienanmen Square, then to Forbidden City.  The second time we did see some rooms that were not on the first tour.  Then some lunch and we were off to see the Great Wall.  And it is definitely great.  You gotta see the photos.  We returned to the hotel about 7:00 p.m., took much needed showers, and headed for the bar.

 

I was not able to upload photos or update this site while in China. Very mysterious.  So, it's actually Monday now, and I'm updating the blog .  Mike will work on his blog later today.

 

 

Friday, June 24, 2016

 

Beijing.  Yes, we are in Beijing, our last stop on this amazing journey.  No time to write now, but the day was full.  The Forbidden City, a sports training center with a Tai Chi class for us taught by one of the leading instructors, dinner, and theater.  Tomorrow the Great Wall.

 

No Google or Facebook here.  So, I will connect with FB friends and family in a few days.

 

 

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

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Seoul, South Korea.  The best part of the day was meeting up with Jamey Kirk, my cousin Ginny's youngest son.  He's been living in Seoul for about 9 years, teaching English.  It was really good to have a local guide.  Jamey took us to a Korean barbecue restaurant that was delicious, and I'm kicking myself for not getting photos.  There was so much food, and quite a show cooking on the grill in the table.  As we left the restaurant, the monsoon came.  So Jamey graciously ran across the street and bought us each an umbrella.  We flagged a taxi and went to visit the National Folk Museum, which is very well done and interesting.  Our next and last stop was the Palace, which is huge and impressive, even in the rain.  

The worst part of the day was getting to Seoul and back to the ship. The ship was docked in a new area of the port at Incheon, so there was not much in the way of facilities and few people even seemed to know where it was.  The shore excursion people really blew it this time.  They were very disorganized, beginning with getting us through customs.  Our bus was an hour late leaving because of that.  And traffic made us even later.  Thank goodness Jamey is patient and hooray for cell phones.  Our tour guide was annoying and spoke very poor English.  Even though we were almost two hours late getting in to Seoul, she told us we still had to be back to the bus by 4:15, 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled time.  Lots of grumbling passengers on that bus.  Then, if that wasn't enough, once we all got on the bus as 4:15, she told us her company said we could have another hour in Seoul.  Everyone in unison said "No, let's go back to the ship!"

 

 

 

Sunday, June 19, 2016

 

MLXLXiamen, China.  So, maybe we are bus tour weary.  Maybe the heat just got to us.  Maybe.  At any rate, the visit to Xiamen was less than impressive.  Our tour guide, Ma, talked at great length about the war with Taiwan, which ended in 1979.  And he talked about Buddhism, telling us he did not practice any religion but that he was an expert on Buddhism.  When asked a question about life in Xiamen, he gave only brief explanations.  The bus took us to a Buddhist temple that is quite large and obviously a big tourist attraction. Chinese people come from all over the country to visit the temple and shops around the city.  Then we driven along a beautiful highway that had been completed "after the war with Taiwan" and through miles of tunnels, also newly built.  We were dropped off at a shopping area that was mostly upscale stores.  A few short side streets housed Chinese shops.

Walking from the bus to the shops, was a crippled man on a blanket on the sidewalk begging.  And not far from him was a grossly deformed child displayed on a blanket on the sidewalk, with two women begging. Everyone ignored them. 

 

We were glad to return to the ship without having purchased a thing.

 

 

Saturday, June 18, 2016

 

Walking through Hong Kong is like walking through the Siq at Petra, only the walls are steel and concrete buildings here.  It's a crazy mess of old and new, crowded and open, tall and short.  A city of contrasts.  But everywhere, it's busy.  

 

Our hop-on-hop-off bus proved worthwhile again.  What a great way to get an insight into a city.  And I faced my tiger (fear of heights) and ventured up to the top of Victoria Peak.  The tram only took us part way.  Once off the tram, there was a series of escalators, mostly open on the sides, to actually get to the top.  I closed my eyes, and Mike held my hand.  The Chinese really like escalators.  I guess that if you live in a city that's all hills (steep ones), you would welcome them.  And they claim to have the longest escalator in the world.  There's only one, and it runs down in the morning and up in the afternoon.  If you're headed in the other direction, you've got to take the stairs.  And they are really steep.

 

The night photos don't really give justice to the beauty of the skyline.  The lights are quite breathtaking.

 

 Off to see Xiamen.  

 

 

 

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

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 Our whole day was chaotic and untypical of previous days.  It started out with the Windjammer (food court) being crazy packed with frantic people at 7:00 a.m., and the tables were not getting cleared and cleaned as fast as before.  The new crew seems to be not as well trained as the previous one.  They would clear plates, but not clean the table.  Then, we went to the theatre to check in for our tour and the line was backed up to midship and not moving.  Total confusion.  On other tours, the lines moved really quickly and no problem.  I hope they get things figured out.

 

On the last sea day, we had attended a lecture about Vietnam, its history, what to see, how to behave, etc.  One of the sights we were told to not bother with was the zoo.  And this was the first stop in our tour.  I can tell you, it was a very sad to see and I wish we hadn't.  The zoo had been built by the French in 1850 something and has not been improved upon since.    

 

It was ungodly hot and humid.  We shlepped almost 9,000 steps, and I was so exhausted that I skipped going in to the Museum of Vietnamese History and Notre Dame.   Everyone said I didn't miss anything.

 

One interesting part of the tour was the Independence Palace.  We were taken through the bunker and got to see "ancient" communications equipment.  I'm sure there are many more tunnels, but it was cool to see what we did.

 

After seeing so many temples, churches and mosques, we were rolling our eyes at the thought of another temple.  However, the Emperor Jade Pagoda (Chua Ngoc Hoang or Phuoc Hai Tu) was really cool.  People were in there praying and lighting incense and graciously let us walk through, gawk and take photos.  

 

The culture here compared to Cochin is dramatically different.  The people in Cochin are calm, caring, and confident in spite of their low standard of living. They seemed to have hope  In Ho Chin Minh City, however, there was a tenseness, an uncertainty, and an edginess that was quite uncomfortable.  Perhaps this dates back to the mid 1800s when the French came.  The emperor didn't like Christianity, and beheaded priests and people who practiced it.  Now, if one works for the government, one must follow either Confucius or Buddha.  So perhaps the Vietnamese are waiting for the next wave of change.

 

I'm glad I went.  I will never go back.

 

 

Sunday, June 12, 2016

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We had opted to not go on the tour of Kuala Lumpur and it was good for us to have a day to catch up on laundry and rest.  Somehow, the thought of getting on another bus for 1-1/2 hours, being rushed around to look at temples and shops just sounded exhausting.  I'm hoping that some day we will not regret missing this city.

 

It's easy to get around Singapore.  There are taxis everywhere, and cars move swiftly even though the taxi driver may complain of traffic.  I guess he's never driven in Chicago during rush hour.  The public transportation is the best.  Really easy to find your way around, clean, and fast.  We took it several times to/from Chinatown and Clarke's Quay (another shopping district).  We had lunch at Jumbo Seafood, a restaurant on the river.  food was really good.

 

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 Sunday we picked up our new, custom-made clothes.  Last Thursday, we had looked in at a few tailor shops in Chinatown, but just passed by them.  The one we ended up buying from was next door to a more upscale gift shop where we had picked up a few things.  For some reason, we just liked the two salesmen, Jerry and Kasmir.  We fussed over fabric, got measured, and flexed the credit card.  A few hours later, we returned for a "fitting" -- they had mocked up a jacket for Mike and wanted me to meet the seamstress who would make my dress.  Being good salesmen, they brought us each a beer because they weren't quite ready for us, and asked us to sit down with their neighbor Mark who owns a fine jewelry store.  Mark also is a good salesman.  When Caroline graduates, she will be getting a very nice piece of jewelry from there.  

 

Hot and tired, we picked up our new clothes, headed back to the ship, and went through a crazy series of stops and starts getting through customs.  For some reason, they had to take our pictures for the South Korean government even though we won't be there until June 22.

 

As we leave beautiful Singapore, we begin the last leg of our global odyssey.  Who knows what's in store for us in Southeast Asia?

 

 

Mike's Posts

 

Thursday, June 23

 

I see I have been lax in doing my blog duties.  Could be denial, this is our last full day on the ship.  We will pack today and place our bags outside the door tonight for pickup.  We’ll pack a carry on or two to carry ourselves.  It will be a busy last day.  Last minute primping, haircut for me and visit to the salon for Margaret.  Tango dance class today, packing, more packing, dancing and dinner tonight.  Then a wakeup and a morning standing in line to get off the ship and through customs.  After the last several cattle calls to leave the ship without baggage, I’m assuming a worst case scenario for Friday.

 

After several hot, hot days in a row, the approach and visit to Seoul was much cooler.  Even today there is a misty cool breeze on our balcony.  It would be easier to leave this behind if was the hot, humid days from a few days back.  I assume Beijing will take us back to the humidity and heat.

 

Reading Margaret’s blog, you get the impression that we are disappointed in our last couple of outings from the ship.  We have much higher expectations for our Beijing activities.

 

The ship gave all of us who’ve been on the ship since the UK a nice picture folder for us to lug back home (thanks, but where are the t-shirts!) 

 

Friday & Saturday, June 17 & 18 (skipping Wed &Thu Sea Days)

 

Two days in Hong Kong worked out well for us. 

 

We booked a Big Bus tour for the first full day on Friday and we got an early start.  Of the 3 Big Bus routes in HK, the green route’s 1st stop was to the tram ride up to Victoria’s Peak.  There were a fair number of people in line but the lines would only have gotten longer later.  The green route circles Hong Kong Island and is less urban which was a great thing since the Friday traffic in HK was horrific.  How much fun could you have on the other city centric route as you sat in traffic broiling under the sun?  We hopped off the bus to take advantage of the included sampan ride and to get lunch. 

 

Big Bus has a nice little fleet of sampans with flags and polished wooden seats but not for Margaret and I.  We got the equivalent of a family mini-van for our sampan with stuff piled everywhere.  The woman driving the boat dropped off several locals as we took our ride.  We wanted to have lunch in the Jumbo floating restaurant (see Margaret’s pictures) and we did get a lift out and back in more upscale sampans from Big Bus.  The lunch was great and expensive.  Since Singapore rice noodles was a dish invented in HK, I was looking forward to it but ordered something else when I saw the price.  If you look at the Jumbo restaurant pictures it is quite impressive but the back side is a rusty mess.  But the food was great.

 

The 2nd day we did a walking tour of old HK, billed as 2 miles and a few steps.  Those 2 miles were hilly miles, up and down, up and down.  It rained some and that made us glad we did the Big Bus tour the 1st day.  Some of our fellow passengers took the bus the 2nd day and paid the price.  Our two tour guides were very pro HK and were glad that China’s presence was low key.  Between the rain and the humidity, we came back to ship looking like drowned puppies.  I did have one dry spot on my sleeve otherwise I was soaked.

 

One interesting note, private bicycles are illegal in HK.  The mix of subways, buses and cheap taxis are sufficient I guess. 

 

Tomorrow, mainland China!

 

 

Sunday - Tuesday, June 12 - 14

 

I left the Sunday last day in Singapore posting to Margaret.  It was a fun day and we liked Singapore a lot.

 

Our Monday sea day enroute to Vietnam was back on schedule for us, workout, dance lesson and evening dance session.  We’ve now had 2 Waltz sessions in a row, one on Saturday and the 2nd on Monday.  The Monday Waltz lesson was left off the daily ship schedule and there were only 20 couples.  That was way too much individual attention for me.  I think the instructors are convinced that Margaret needs a better dance partner and I am in danger of becoming a pet project.

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Tuesday was Ho Chi Minh city.  Our tour guide set a new standard for telling us what life is like in the country we are visiting.  He was very clear that from his perspective that there were only three levels of society in his Vietnam.  The highest level was government employees, they got the best education, health care and jobs.  The 2nd level were the direct employees of companies and depending on the size of the company the salary and benefits were good.  Everybody else, contract workers to farmers to the unemployed shared the bottom level with minimal healthcare, no free education and no jobless benefits.  Clearly it was work or starve.

 

We thought Cochin India was scooter/motorcycle chaos.  But for most people in Ho Chi Minh, scooters are the only transportation option for families.  Traffic rules are completely ignored and no traffic stops at a red light unless cross traffic is blocking the road. 

 

Our tour options were slim and none and we picked the “Colonial Saigon” focused tour.  That tour went south in a hurry when the first stop was to the city zoo.  In fairness, the zoo was built by the French but it was truly underwhelming as a zoo and as a tour stop.  The second stop was a 1900’s Buddhist temple and the third was to a lacquer factory.  Lunch was at a downtown hotel and it had a wide variety of familiar dishes but we both passed on the curried chicken feet.  We toured the old Presidential palace but with Margaret feeling the heat, we elected to skip further excursions and stayed inside the bus and its air conditioning.  It was a long 9-hour day and thankfully the monsoon rain held off until after we got to the ship.

 

The contrasts between Singapore, a great city and one we would like to visit again, and Ho Chi Minh city were stark and harsh.  For men of my generation spending a year and a day in Vietnam was a real possibility.  I feel lucky that I only had to spend today there.