In Jordan

We spent yesterday in Aqaba, Jordan. The day didn't turn out like we planned but it was a great day. We had arranged a private tour of the desert and the old city of Petra, but the tour didn't turn out to be what we expected.

There were to be four of us together in a private car which was to meet us outside the ship. The car turned out to be about a mile away outside the entrance to the port and to be a small taxi. The details were not as advertized. After a drive into town in the taxi and a quick stop where the guy asked for all the money, we decided to just give it up and leave. Our friends Ron and Sandi were then able to have more space. Jim actually wasn't feeling too great so it was all for the best.

We got out of the taxi, said good-bye and wandered in the town for a little bit. We saw interesting food, huge stainless steel pots, beautiful jewelry, and other facinating shops. We didn't take pictures. After a while we found a taxi and thought the guy understood we wanted to go to the port. We started driving and I realized we were going in the wrong direction. The ship is good to always list where we are docked on the daily newletter, so I showed it too him but naturally it was in English and he couldn't understand. Jim drew a picture of a ship and the guy got it and got us back to the entrance to the port. We repeated the walk back to the ship across the pavement in the hot sunshine and enjoyed a calm day on board the ship.

Turns out from our ship we were able to see from the back Saudi Arabia, from the middle Jordan, and from the right front Israel and from the left front Egypt. Amazing place to be.

This morning we awoke to the sight of beautiful resorts on the Red Sea. We watched the huge hotels go by until we reached the very tip of the land and turned into the Gulf of Suez. We are now headed north and are at sea for this day, May 1.

The weather is hot and the sky is hazy. But we are having great fun.

Two Glorious and Warm Days in Luxor

April 28th we boarded buses early in the morning for a 3 hour drive to Luxor. According to Egyptian law we had to travel in a convoy headed by a vehicle that contained 6 men with many guns and followed by the same kind of armed vehicle. In addition each bus- and there were 13 going- had to have an armed escort. Now when someone says "police state" I will certainly have a better feel for that. The convoy caused all people and vehicles to wait at intersections and many, many check points. Our guard on the bus had a fold-over automatic rifle of some sort strapped to his waist but he never took his jacket off so I guess we weren't supporsed to notice it. At each crossing in the road- no matter how large or small- there was someone also armed with a rifle holding back the traffic. When we left to come back to the ship the next day we repeated the convoy process. The police used mirrors and checked under the bottom of the bus.

BUT aside from that...and maybe because of that... the trip was wonderful. The image of us is at Karnak Temple, the heart of the cult of the God of Amon. Each pharoah added his own contribution to the temple. We saw huge columns with drawings and letters telling the stories of conquests, prisoners, worship and ideas of life after death. There were enormous statues of Ramses II who was believed to be the Pharoah in Moses' time. We saw a beautiful obelisk made from one piece of pink marble to remember Queen Hatshepsut- or as our guide told us to remember her name as "hot chicken soup." As we walked thorugh the temple we had the sense of going back in time. The temple ended at the Sacred Lake where ceremonial boats took part in the worship of Amon.

We visited Luxor Temple which was originally built in the reign of Amenophis III and expanded greatly by Ramses II. Turns out this particular Pharoah named Ramses was terrible impressed with himself and put his face and image all over most everything we saw.

We spent the night at the Le Meridian Hotel which was quite nice. Had a lovely view over the Nile with the unusually rigged sailboats sailing all around.

The next morning we went to The Valley of the Kings. Seeing those tombs...and I went into three tombs with brilliant colors and narrow passage ways- was something. We all have to repaint our houses every 5 years or so and here we were looking at colors from 2000BC-amazing. There must be more than a dozen tombs you could enter but Ahmed told us the three he thought were the best and that is what I did. Jim stayed on the bus to be cool. I also did a dumb thing and dropped my new camera. And I expect it will now have to be sent somewhere to be cleaned. What a dope I am.

We learned that Egypt has some serious problems with their economy. Ninety-five percent of the land is uninhabited making the other 5% very crowded. Ahmed, our guide, said a baby was born every 23 seconds in Egypt. The government has tried to work to reclaim more of the desert with irrigation, build new cities and get people to move but most people want to be near their families. The housing had long rods sticking from the top. You can move into a house before it is finished and if it isn;t finished you can always add another story on top for expanded family living. We saw lots of donkeys- carrying sugar cane and people. They are called Egyptian Cadillacs...or so Ahmed said. We were amazed to see the lush green fields of sugar cane, hay, green grass for the animals, corn and other crops near the Nile and just on the other side of the street it turned to arid, dry desert. Water does make a big difference.

It was a good visit to Luxor.

A County Fair at Sea

We are sailing for our last day in The Red Sea. The water is a beautiful deep blue- although the name "red" comes from something like red tide that often appears- and a glassy, sparkely calm. We have had 4 wonderful days reading, writing, watching movies, and playing Trivia with a great group of people.

Here is our favorite place- the Dining Room with our favorite server- Gabriella in the corner. She is from Bulgaria and slowly teaching us a few words in Bulgarian. This ship has open seating but we always ask to sit in her area if possible. We do like the open seating-which means we can eat when we choose and with a group or alone according to our wishes. There are also two speciality restaurants- a Grill with wonderful steaks and seafood, an Italian Restaurant with great pasta, and a buffet called "Tapas on the Terrace." There is also a grill on the poolside for lunch. Everything is excellent.

This ship does so many creative and fun things for the passengers that involve the staff in the fun activities. Yesterday was Officers Challenge Day. Officers participated in golf putting, crazy golf, shuffleboard and a cooking demonstration. A team from the officers even played Trivia yesterday...and lost.

Today we are having a County Fair around the pool area. Every department on the ship has a booth for folks to play. There is a fortune teller, fishing in the hot tub, a tub of ice called Fear Factor where you have to bob in ice for fruit, guess how many quarters are in a box, and even the ship's General Manager in charge of all hotel and food services was sitting being a target for sponges. We had fun playing a game sponsored by the Spa where Jim put signs for various muscles on me. We were in competition with another couple...and we lost. BUT we had fun. Jim and I both played Bat the Rat which was quite a challenge. I tried my hand at hot tub fishing. There was a boat building competition a couple days ago so the Captain is judging the competition and in charge of the boat race in the pool. Lots of laughter and great examples of creative gaming for not much money...all you need is a staff of hundreds to pull it off. Sure do recommend Oceania Cruises.

At Sea in the Red Sea

We are sailing into the Red Sea this morning. Yesterday we spent most of the day on our balcony as the ship hugged the coast of Yemen. We saw whales and dolphins playing near the boat. It was great. I tried to get a photo but never did. We also were viewed occasionally by some sort of US military aircraft.

At one point several small power crafts came toward our side of the ship and we learned that the security guys were immediately on the deck. We have been assured that the security folks that came on board in Phuket are trained Israelies. They walk around with the ear pieces and two of them have knap sacks. They do watch everything going on and I think that is good. While we were in Oman day before yesterday, the Seabourne Yacht that did meet up with the pirates in Somalia was in port. Gave us a thoughtful pause.

The day was lazy. I watched a cute movie "Mrs. Henderson Presents" and Jim wandered the deck and read in the Library.



We had a great time in the evening watching the sunset in the Horizons Lounge at the front of the ship. We usually go up there for sunset after we have played our Team Trivia. We are having fun with Trivia- learning lots of facts and also learning a lot about human nature and what some folks will do to "win."

This morning we got up early to watch us sail into the Red Sea through a passage that is 14 miles wide. We could see the coast on both sides of us as we sipped coffee and ate wonderful pastries. We learned from someone who was up really early that one of the security guys and a crew member were on deck 5 all night long with fire hoses at the ready in case we were approached by anyone strange. Nice to know someone is watching. Especially since there was this trouble today in Egypt.

Nevertheless we are having a wonderful time and looking forward to another day at sea today. We'll be in the Red Sea for three days before we get to Safaga and have our Luxor visit.

Salalah, Oman

This morning we sailed into Salalah, a town of 260,000 people in the country of Oman. Oman has 2.5 million people but we didn't see many of them.
The land looked much like you might think- many shades of brown, dusty palm trees everywhere and camels wandering all around. Salalah is famous for its Frankincense trees. We actally only saw one- conveniently placed near the side of the road. Frankincense is used to make incense and also the kohl dark lining that Egyptian women use around their eyes. Frankincense comes in yellow, green and white.

We made a stop at the Old Souk and the Incense Souk- another name for bazaars- and saw lots of women selling Frankincense. The women were dressed in long dresses but their were various face covering- some totally covered, some with tiny eye slits, and some just their hair covered. We were asked to not take pictures of the women and so we didn't. Jim did buy a hat- the only one he could find. Bargained down to $2.00 for it but we know he will need something for his head in Egypt.

The other place of "fame" was the tomb of Job...complete with a concrete footprint. The tomb was long- about 10 feet- and covered with beautful cloths. Had no idea Job was so tall..ha..ha!!! Was terribly touristy. The tomb was surrounded by beautiful hybiscus and bourgenvellia. Naturally we had to take off our shoes and the women had to cover their heads to visit this place.

In 1970 this country was not advanced at all. There were no school and only 10 kilometers of paved roads. A new Shah came into power and decided to change life for all people. Schools were built and training for jobs began. Seems now to be very well established. School is free and mandatory until 18. Housing looks good. People were in the house following lunch napping. The place gets busy after dark.

The stark contrast to India with it crowded conditions, colorful clothing, dirty streets, slum-like housing was immediately felt by both of us as we saw Oman's open spaces with few people in sight and with everything so very clean. The desert-color created a calm atmosphere. Been an interesting port for us.

Three Amazing Days

Our time in India was filled with such vast contrasts. We left the ship early on Tuesday morning and took a tour of the town of Goa- visiting a number of Christian churches. This area was settled by the Portugese so the influence of the Roman Catholic church is huge.

We flew to Agra on a charter plane and boarded a bus to head for the Taj Mahal at sunset. We got off that bus and onto electric buses to get to the entrance gate. At each stop we were almost attacked by vendors. Our guide said, "If you make eye contact you will have to marry them." Hard not to say "no thank-you" but you have to say NOTHING to make any progress.

The first sight of this beautiful structure took my breath away. It was built as a monument to love by the emperor for his wife who died at 39 giving birth to their 14th child. The building is white marble with intricate carvings and beautiful inlaid semi-precious stones. As you walk closer the color changes, the sparkles appear in different places, and the magic just increases. We stayed about an hour and watched the sun go down. Then we returned to the Taj View Hotel for dinner and sleep.

The streets of Agra were alive with people- walking in the street. They joined the cabs, the cars, the buses, and the cows strolling along together. The guide said to drive in India you need three things- good horn, good brakes, and good luck. We certainly saw all that demonstrated.

The next morning we were up at 5:30 to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. It was not nearly so crowded. There is really tight security. Our guide had us leave everything on the bus so security could go faster. Men and women are screened in separate lines- with a pat down and wand search.

The entrance gate is also beautiful- made of carved red sandstone and inlaid with white marble.

We walked to the Taj Mahal by way of the guest house on the side and got great views. We also saw the river that runs behind.

We had to put on cloth booties to enter the tomb. We climed up steep marble steps and admired the handiwork that created this beauty. We saw the tombs and marveled at the whole story again. This poor man was finally sent to prison by his son for planning a black Taj on the other side of the river for himself and thus spending too much money. So the Dad spent his last years with a tiny view of the monument from the prison- with only 200 concubines to keep him company. Tough life!

On the street we saw many women begging-asking for food for their children. Our guides told us the beggars make more money than the school teachers and they often borrow the babies to use for their begging. We saw women in beautiful clothing working making cow patties which is used for fuel and cooking- at least in Agra.

We then had lunch at the hotel and headed for the beautiful palaces at Fatehpur Sikri. This emperor was broad-minded and hoped to end the Hindu-Muslim dispute by marrying a Hindu princess. He also married a Christian and a Muslim wife- building each one a beautiful palace of red sandstone. After this we did a little shopping and then had dinner.

On Thursday morning we flew back in Mumbai and had a city tour. The architecture of this city of 12 million people was beautiful- much evidence of the British presence in an earlier time. BUT there were many slums, street vendors along with the normal bustle of people in a big city.

We were greeting by the ships staff, live music, cold water and icy towels...all saying "Welcome Home."

Was quite an experience for both of us.

Off to the Taj Mahal

After four glorious days at sea where we really did nothing but read, watch the sea, play trivia, watch movies, and eat; we are off this morning for our journey to the Taj Mahal. We are docking in Goa, India even as I type. We leave in about an hour for a brief tour of the city and then we board a charter flight for Agra. Tonight we will watch the sunset over the Taj Mahal. Just amazing.

For those of you who are praying folk you can pray we manage the heat OK. They just announced that the temperature of 96 degrees and it is only 7:30 AM. We are excited and will check back in with you on Thursday evening.

Happy Easter

This is the photo of sunset last evening- Easter Eve- from our balcony. It was a beautiful evening. We had dinner in one of the fancy restaurants- the Polo Grill. It was terrific. We then went to the entertainment feauring two really good singers.

When we returned to the cabin the Easter Bunny had been to visit and left us a nice, big chocolate Easter bunny. Haven't had one in years. We plan to share it this afternoon- beginning with the ears.

Last night we also did something strange- we were asked to set the clocks back 1 1/2 hours in preparation for the time zone of India. I plan to do some research today to see why the unusual amount of time. Was nice to get extra sleep.

This morning I went to a Sunrise Service on the Pool Deck. It was thundering and lightening all around but it never rained. About 150 folks gathered and heard the story, sang the hymns and prayed together. It was led by the chaplain on board wtih the help of the Cruise Director. The chaplain must be Baptist and the liturgy was a curious blend of Catholic Mass, other liturgy and scripture. They did a nice job of maing all feel welcome. It was a joyfilled celebration.

There is even an Easter Egg Hunt and a time to make Easter Bonnets planned. The bonnets will be in a parade during Tea Time this afternoon.

So my thoughts, prayers and love go out to each of you on this special day.

At Sea- April 15

We are into our second day at sea in this group of 4 straight days as we make our way toward Goa, India. We are having great fun reading and relaxing. This ship has many, many activities- enough to let you be busy every minute if you choose but also a wide variety of things so you can just do what interests you and know it will be of a good quality.

This was the sunrise this morning over the Indian Ocean- nice!!!!!

We plan to go hear the captain and the navigation officers talk about the navigation systems on board this vessel. Meanwhile we are going to sit on the balcony and read. Here is Jim working on his newest interest- a Sukudo puzzle. He has gotten quite good with these number puzzles. We are having so much fun.

We will be at sea until April 18 when we head off for 3 days off the ship in India traveling to see the Taj Mahal. We have read and also listened to lecturers prepare us for this venture into life in India and the vision of this amazing building. Do stay tuned for what we actually see and experience when we get there.

AND yes, when we get home tossing a bucket of water on us will be OK. Can never have enough good wishes for happy days in my book. Take care and have a blessed Easter.

Happy New Year- Thai Style

Today, April 13 ia the traditional Thai new year celebration. For this country it is 2569 and they have a wonderful holiday. People were everywhere with big buckets of water, huge water guns, and hoses flowing freely. Getting soaked with water is a wish for a year of happiness. The ship was greeted this morning with dancers and drummers, but because of the special day we also had a paste of wonderful smelling flowers wiped on our cheeks and arms. Plus someone with a small cup of flower filled water was pouring a little water. Through out the town of Phuket we saw pick-up trucks filled with many, many people. They rode around, hopped out and poured their water. The folks on motor scooters were the ones who really got wet. Everyone was having great fun!

We went first to a beautiful view point and saw the lovely beaches of this island. Then we went to a large Buddhist Temple complex Wat Chalong. While we were there the cutest little boy came up and shot me with his water pistol. Fun to see a whole community celebrate together. Our guide said they also celebrate January 1 and the Chinese New Year. These are people who like to party. Here we are at the Buddhist Temple. It was hot and humid, but it is a beautiful place to visit.

After the temple we went to a Folkloric performance of traditional Thai dances and martial arts. Was a facinating visit. Our guide told us how they worked with the girls in their early years to get their fingers to bend almost totally back to achieve that graceful look for the dances. The costumes were beautiful- wonderful silk and fancy gold head dresses. Even though we were mopping away the perspiration, we loved it. This tour company provides cold water, cold towels and a hand fan...and we used them all.

We did a little bit of shopping at the many stalls of clothing, wood, silk and a variety of local crafts. This is a beautiful place.

Singapore-April 11

We arrived into port with gray skies. This harbor is the busiest commercial port in the world. A ship arrives every 3 minutes...and what we saw confirmed that- ships of every size and confirguration moving about the harbor.

This is a very small country- 23x48 square kilometers- and it has managed to become stable, safe and prosperous. The three major ethnic groups are Malaysian, Indian and Chinese plus many minority people. The government decided in 1965 when this area separated from Malaysia to change the look of the city by abolishing the slum areas. Many high rise public subsidy apartments were built. Very intentionally racial ethic groups were made to live in the same buildings and on the same floors. The first floor of each was built with open space that could be used by any religion for celebrations, weddings, funerals...and all the people are invited to join the event. They also planned large green spaces so people would feel like they lived in a garden. This decision gives the area a beautiful, lush green look.

Education is compulsary until the age of 15 and school includes many field trips to worship places for different religions and opportunitites to learn about other traditions in hopes of blending this diverse community. Racial harmony is important here.

We rode to the top of Mount Faber for a view but the rain came and the winds blew. There was no view. We went through the town and learned much about its history. The symbol for the city is a lion's head on the body of a fish. Since the old town was a fishing village and the founder of the new city thought he saw a lion, the two experiences were combined into the statue. "Singa" actually means lion and "pore" means city.

The rain began to end and we visited the National Botanical Garden with its incredible display of orchids. There was also a Ginger Garden. We learned that bananas are actually in the ginger family- who would have ever thought that. We also saw some incredible orchids and frangipani blooming everywhere and blooming boldly.

By the way, thanks for the great comments on the blog. It is encouraging to know that someone is reading this stuff. We are having a wonderful time...heading on back to Thailand tomorrow, but not before another day at sea.

We watched the most beautiful sail away from Singapore tonight and went to dinner about 8:30 PM...right now it is 10:15 PM on April 11th and I have no idea what time it is where our friends and family live. We may never be straightened out again! But we ARE having fun!

A Day At Sea

Our ship, the MS Nautical, is such a beautiful ship. This is a picture of The Grand Staircase which goes from Deck 5 to Deck 4. The Grand Dining Room is at the top of the stairs to the right. The size of this ship with 684 passengers is terrific and the staff and crew are so friendly and helpful. Last evening when we returned from a long and hot day in Bankok the staff was waiting with cold towels for you face, cold apple juice and water to quinch our thirst and live music by one of the ship's groups to satisify our souls...plus staff members smiling and saying :"welcome back." There is not much they haven't thought about and provided for us.

We have had such a marvelous day today at sea sailing in the South China Sea toward Singapore. We leisurely woke up, watched us sail from the port in Thailand and had a delicious breakfast in the Grand Dining Room. Heard an interesting presentation about what we can expect on our shore excursion in about 9 days to the Taj Mahal. We heard a great lecture on Art at Sea- looking at paintings of ships and how cruise lines use the art to depict the feeling of their ships.

We have both spent time enjoying the Library on the ship. It has great books, is a wonderful palce to read and also has two computers with Internet access.

We spent the afternoon doing different things. Jim did laundry and Elaine worked on organizing our pictures. Now that we have two digital cameras we have twice as many to select, modify and save...or not save. We played Team Trivia in the afternoon and then we watched us sail for a bit from the 10th Deck Horizons Lounge. We even saw some dolphins at play.
Our dinner tonight was so wonderful- a tart with blue cheese and spinach; eggplant slice stuffed with ham and cheese in a tomato sauce; tenderloin with great vegetables. We didn't even look at the dessert menu.

We are so enjoying this trip and this time together. Grateful for the opportunitites that we have had.

Bangkok- April 8

“Thai” means free- thus the country of Thailand means “Landof the Free.” I knew it from the musical “The King and I” as Siam but the name was changed in 1939, changed back during WWII and then changed back to Thailand. We had a great and a very long and an even more hot day in Bangkok.

The port where we were docked, Laem Chabang is about 2 hours from Bangkok so we had an interesting bus ride through the country. We learned that Thailand is the largest exporter of rice to the world. They also are the 3rd largest producer of Toyota ½ ton trucks in the world. We saw huge numbers of trucks on the pier waiting to be loaded into ships.

We saw Teak trees, rice fields, and many other lush green fields. It is the edge of the rainy season so things are not as green as they will be and our guide, Ron, said this was really “Thai cool” since it is not yet as hot as it will be in another month.
A new airport is under construction which will open in June. It has the tallest control tower, the longest runway and the largest terminal in the world. But as we have learned these statistics change quickly with new construction.

Our first stop was the Golden Buddha- a 5 ½ ton Buddha made of gold and forged in the 13th century. For many years it was covered in cement to protect it from the enemies. The temple was a busy place. About 75 families with young children were sitting around waiting fro a service to consecrate these boys and girls as special in the faith. Naturally there were people selling offering flowers and foods and also the usual number of pushy vendors selling lots and lots of stuff.

We visited the Grand Palace which opened in 1785 marking the rebirth of the nation following the invasion by Burma and the founding of Bangkok as the capital city. We had to be careful about wearing closed toed shoes per the instructions. We also knew that shoulders and knees had to be covered. Turns out ankles had to be covered also so I was wearing calypso pants and had to pull them down to my hips to gain admission into the palace. It was a spectacular sight with gold and colorful mosaics everywhere. It is an area 1 mile square and filled with building of different roof-lines and colors. The king actually lived here until 1949.

Within the palace complex was a beautiful Emerald Buddha carved from one piece of emerald green jade. The Buddha gets dressed for the season in various gold clothing. I continue to be amazed at how people can worship so intensely with tourists snapping photos and looking around, but they seem to really be able to concentrate. Instructions for going into the room where the Emerald Buddha was were clear- don’t point your feet at the Buddha because that is a sign of dishonor.

We had a great Thai lunch and then boarded a boat to cruise the Chao Phraya River. Lovely buildings, temples, and homes were side-by-side with stilt houses that flood frequently. There was even a vendor on the boat.

Both of us got a bit weary of the pulling and tugging of the vendors at every place. It is made worse because we are both sweating from the heat. I bought a not-so-stylish terry cloth hat on the ship and that has worked great for keeping me cool and dry.

Bangkok is a big city with interesting markets which we sampled and beautiful temples and pagodas…plus the amazing Grand Palace. We enjoyed it and look forward to seeing a different part of Thailand in a few days. Right now we are under sail for Singapore.

Saigon-April 5 and 6

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City has been an interesting visit. We sailed through the Saigon River early in the morning of April 5 to get to the port. We had a narration from the Bridge describing what we were seeing. It is a busy river filled with barges of all sizes and shapes. We both were surprised to see the large number of oil tanks. There were also many, many small fishing boats with families living on board and a very regular hydrofoil that went down the river from Saigon in a fast sail. Our commentator said the hydrofoil was a Russian built but it used a US made air-conditioner. Many of the small boats had two eyes- black and red- painted on the front to keep away the evil spirits.

We arrived in port about 9:30 with dancers and music. Plus the usual Vietnamese security gate carefully controlling entry and exit was quickly set up.

We took a bus tour to see the Highlights of Saigon. Our guide was excellent. He said the things the Vietnamese could learn from the US are to stand in line, to be on time, and to always keep working to make things better. His English was excellent and his information clear. We visited the Reunification Palace where in 1975 the Southern forces officially surrendered to the Revolutionary forces. We found a big, empty building with large conference rooms and no furnishing. The building was wide-open to the air. In the basement was the emergency bedroom of the President of Vietnam. During the war he often slept there. The radio equipment was ancient. Actually the whole place looked like it must have looked in 1975. They are in the process of cleaning it all up for a November meeting of APEC.

We visited a beautiful pagoda built in 1744. We were both surprised to realize that Vietnam is a country about the same age as the US and has been occupied and controlled by China, the French, the Japanese and of course there was the “American War” time. We removed our shoes and went into the pagoda to hear beautiful chanting by a Buddhist monk.
We had several shopping/learning stops- one at an embroidery shop and one at a lacquer ware shop. Can’t get over the folks who work so hard and who get paid very little for their creative work.

In the evening we went to a folkloric show at the Rex Hotel, the former BOQ for the US military. We were on the rooftop with a nice breeze, cool wine and a musical and dance presentation. We saw several musical instruments that were totally new for us- one was made from rocks and looked and sounded like a marimba. Several were made from bamboo and had unique sounds.

Today we took a trip up the Mekong River Delta on small motorized boats and in canoes. All these boats were operated by someone else. We stopped and tasted lots of local food raised by the farmers in the delta. We ate some coconut candy, candied coconut and candied ginger. We tasted banana wine and jasmine tea with kumquat juice and honey. Our lunch was quite traditional- rice paper wrapped elephant-ear fish, roasted pork, vegetable soup with rice steamed prawns, sticky rice- many new taste sensations.

The many motor scooters raced up and down the streets and roads. Our guide today said there were 12,000 deaths a year in Vietnam from traffic accidents. Certainly can understand why that happens. People are working hard to better themselves. We saw some lovely, new house construction and we also saw some almost slum looking areas…so there is much room for a better life.

We did learn that most of the southern people prefer to call this city Saigon and the people from the north prefer calling it the official Ho Chi Minh City, as it was renamed after the American War.

April 3- Da Nang Viet Nam

Today in Da Nang was a good day. We docked this morning to the music and drums of several different groups who danced and played energetically for about 2 hours. The costumes were beautiful and the people were lovely and welcoming. One group of young women in beautiful purple long tops over white silk pants had multi-colored balloons that they released as part of their welcome.

We left the ship with our bus number and made our way through the vendors selling handicrafts and across a canal bridge to the bus. Our guide Anh met us at the bus door and after folks got on board we were off to Imperial Hue, a very ancient town on the banks of the Perfume River.

The drive along the narrow road carried us by some basic living and some colorful local markets. In the midst of it all we saw some absolutely beautiful three story fairly new houses with beautiful wooden windows and doors. These were mostly homes and shops of merchants who had their shops in the front and lived in the fancy 3 story part. We went by lots of cemeteries “from the American war.”

Our first stop was a visit to the Royal Citadel built in 1832. This was a huge complex 0f about 1000 acres all protected by a tall wall around the entire property. The citadel surrounded the Palace of Supreme Harmony which we found to be quite lovely. The temperature was about 84 degrees and very humid so we walked, perspired, and enjoyed the scenery.

The bus assistant offered us cool water and icy towels when we returned so that was really, really nice. All around at every stop all day were people selling all kinds of things…and they didn’t want to take “no” for an answer.

We had a great Vietnamese lunch and watched some amazing silk embroidery work being done by young women in a workshop.

After lunch we visited the tomb of Tu Duc who was the emperor of Vietnam for 35 years. It was laid out like the Forbidden City but was not nearly in as good a condition. It was a peaceful place to be.

Stopped and watched people making cone shaped hats- one half a day to create a hat that sells for $1.00. Hard to believe! I did buy a lovely wooden fan because I was dripping with the heat. It helped a lot!

We believe that Vietnam is the first country we have visited where there is NO form of public education. Parents must pay to send children even at the Kindergarten level to school. Our guide said she knew she was very lucky to have been born into a family where she could have her education paid through college.

Going to be interesting to see what we learn in Saigon day after tomorrow.

Day 2 in Hong Kong

Our second day in Hong Kong was filled with what I guess you are supposed to do- we shopped and shopped. Next to the ship was a huge shopping mall with every upscale store you can imagine. We went over but the stores didn’t open until 10:30 so we wandered out onto Canton Road.

After wandering for a few blocks we found a wonderful store filled with great quality Chinese products. I bought some beautiful silk brocade and black silk to make a jacket and a dress. The silk and the silk lining for the whole project was about $60. Jim bought some silk pajamas. Bought a few linen hand towels and resisted the temptation to buy a tablecloth when I began to think of ironing linen. We also gave in and bought a new suitcase which we filled with our new purchases. Fortunately it has wheels and we joined the many Chinese folks on the street wheeling our belongings behind us.

Went back to the big fancy shopping place where we had earlier done some window shopping and I bought for Jim a new pair of binoculars and he bought me a new digital camera. Almost the identical financial purchase.

We couldn’t bring our binoculars because of the strict weight limit but we missed watching from the balcony. So now we are set with a new Nikon pair.

My camera is a Canon Digital IXUS i. It is small and light-weight. Takes great pictures as you can tell from the photo of Jim on our balcony with the Hong Kong Harbor behind him.

We are at sea today headed to Da Nang Vietnam. It is foggy but the sea is calm.