Singapore In A Day

      Yesterday we had the first of our 6 formal nights. The standard champagne waterfall and introduction of the Captain and main officers took place. We also had our first of many formal photos taken. We always like to see how we clean up on formal night. After dinner we tried to stay for a magic show but it was late starting and since we had an early call this morning we decided to turn in.

Today started with a 6:15 am wake up call. We had breakfast in our room and by 7:15 we were waiting for the tour to start. We had been warned by the Captain that the customs and immigration procedures in this part of the world are not the same as in Europe or the Caribbean. (We have already filled out entry/exit cards for 3 places ports. ) In Singapore the authorities only allow so many people in the cruise terminal at a time. We did not experience any delay in getting ashore although we were among the first to get ashore.

   We were on the bus and headed for a tour of the city by 8 am. The tour guide was very good and gave us plenty of information on Singapore and what it is like to live there. She called it the 'fine' city because you can be fined for almost everything. If a smoker is in an area where there are no ash trays, the fine is $1000! If you drive your car into the city as you pass various 'zones' you are charged a surcharge. They are trying to eliminate traffic congestion. It has an excellent public transportation system.

Jurong Bird Park

Our first stop was Jurong Bird Park. It had a great collection of birds from mostly tropical/sub tropical areas. We had a choice of walking with the guide or going off on our own. Needless to say we were able to see all the exhibits rather than the 3 that she stopped at! The park was empty when we arrived so it was a very nice visit. By the time the bird show started at 11 am, the place was packed. A very interesting visit and show. The only problem in hindsight was that, because we were there for 3 hours, we had less time at other venues.

Botanical Gardens

         The next visit was the botanical gardens. We had about 30 minutes to visit the orchid gardens. We could only see a small fraction of the 12,000 orchids growing. They have a VIP section where visiting dignitaries have an orchid named after them. There was one for a small French Prime Minister from Canada! A very nice display but little time to actually get some good shots because of the intense sun.

China Town Lunch

It was now after 1 and we were off to a Chinese lunch! It was “Chinese style” (dishes places on a lazy susan) and was quite tasty although we wished that we had been served some traditional Malaysian dishes but no such luck! Judy and I ate with chop sticks but no one else even tried to use them. After lunch we walked through old Chinatown. Ordinarily we hate these mandatory shopping stops but this was a very interesting place along the old shopping districts. The shops spill out on to the street and the upper levels are living quarters.
Judy bought a loose skirt. With the high temperatures and humidity she needed something cooler that what she packed. We have now headed north so it will get cooler but not until later in the cruise.

Casino

After that we did a side trip on the way back to the ship with a stop at Mount Faber for an overview of the city. We were the last bus to arrive back at the ship and the captain was already announcing that there were only 17 people left to board! They were behind us in the new terminal building.

At dinner last night we discussed our tours. The founder of Singapore was Sir Stamford Raffles and there is an old exclusive hotel named after him. One couple decided to have a beer at the hotel and were a bit shocked at the $50 tab for 2 beers! A long day but successful port. One of the places that you might want to stay for a longer visit. Sea day on Sunday then Viet Nam the next 2 days!

Second Day At Sea - to Singapore

We are into the afternoon of the day before we arrive in Singapore. I had been trying to send my last blog for about a day but for some reason I can't get on the wireless system. Since I am doing this off line and I want to post some photos I had no way of getting the info and the photos into the system. I certainly do not want to start typing everything again. Ops finally logged in!

Last night we had our first meal with our dining group. We have 2 couples from England at a table for 6. It is the oddest table as it is against a post and it is hard to have a conversation with this post. We all asked that the table be moved but for obvious reasons, it is fixed to the deck. I think we are stuck with it! Both couples are leaving in Beijing so we will have new people after that stop.

This cruise is a bit unusual in that there are 40 different countries represented on board – that is the passengers and not the crew. When they make a general announcement, they do it in 4 or 5 languages. That was what happened today when the Captain came on and made the standard announcement that the ship has norwalk and strict measures are being implemented. It seems that this is quite an occurrence on these ships. However it usually takes a few days. We are only on day 3 of the cruise. Anyway this ship has a different feel as far as the passengers. Obviously there are way fewer Americans than we have encountered before. You hear all these different languages as you walk around. As usual Canadians are the second largest group. I think Brazil is next!

The sailing so far has been quite calm. There is nary a ripple as we head to Singapore. If it wasn't for the slight vibration from the engines you would not even know that we have been sailing for almost 2 days. No tilting on the line dancing which was really awful today. The same person did the 'swing' dance later in the day and was quite good. We did not know that line dancing had a count of 4! All these years we had danced in segments of 8!

Tonight is the first of our 6 formal nights. Our chocolate covered strawberries just arrived. Not as many as in the past but they certainly were larger. Since sushi is being served to the “special event” we decided no go for a drink. They are serving champagne or mimosas as the drink. Certainly not like the old days when you could get a glass of wine or a good ole fashion Manhattan! I guess that will have to wait until we get back home!

We did get a nice surprise today. For some reason we ended with more shipboard credits than we had expected! A nice surprise since we are taking tours in the next 4 ports. In the final 2 ports (Nagasaki and Pusan) we will simply take the port bus into town or just walk as in the case of Nagasaki.

Although I am having trouble with my Adobe (I may have to reinstall it) I managed to dumb down the photos enough to load them on the blog. Remember that you can leave messages on the blog. Thanks to those who have done so!

Bangkok To Ship

     Here we are already into the afternoon of the first sea day. We have already been on the ship for a day but with all the things needed to get done after getting here, the least of which is to get the wireless set up, we are finally able to sit down and spend a few minutes going over the last day and a half. We did have a time change last night, lost another hour but we were still a bit tired from the last few days. However, we finally got a very good night's rest.

    Yesterday started at 7:30 for the second day of touring. We had completed all the pre-boarding checks and had our luggage already picked up for direct delivery to the ship. We were on the bus for nearly 3 hours before we arrived at the Nong Nooch Village Company for a Thai Cultural show and an Elephant show. We were given 20 minutes to visit an orchard garden but were rushed back on the bus after 15 minutes. I barely had time to snap a few pictures of the beautiful flowers! We were rushed off to the Cultural show where the venue by North American standards was terrible. The place was packed because of the ongoing holiday. We had to stand through the show. As Judy said she had visions of this whole structure collapsing!

Then we rushed off to see the elephant show. It was quite amazing! You could get picked up by an elephant for a photo! (and a price). The show itself had the elephants doing various tricks – riding a “bicycle”, throwing darts a balloon dart board (they hit it), bowling, painting on shirts (trees, flowers, etc) and things like that. By the end of the show, we were feeling sorry for the elephants. Must be a natural reaction for us! After the show, back on the bus for about 1 hour to the resort where we had a wonderful buffet lunch. This was so much better than the day before. The hot Thai dishes were excellent and they did not let the serving dishes run out. Then it was the hour ride to the ship. In all we were not very impressed with the way the whole day ran.

Boarding was very easy because of the pre boarding that we completed the day before. The emergency station drill was held quite late (6:30) because of the late sailing time. As a result all dining rooms were declared as “open seating”. What that meant is that the early and late fixed dinning serving wee all into one. Then you had groups wanting to sit together. There was plenty of irate people who were “put out” because they cough not get their way. Being good Canadians, we simply went to the front of the line and were seated quickly! (No yelling from us!) The prime rib was excellent!

    Our cabin is located very close to the back of the ship (any further and we would be in a dingy!) However it has certain advantages. The food court is one deck up and the aft swimming pool is up 3 steps. Judy calls it her private pool. We did a walk and then a swim before breakfast today! Line dancing, attending various draws, ballroom dance lesson, eating sushi and just relaxing followed. Judy just decided to go for another swim before we go to the “Elite” pre-dinner hors d'oeuvers with the discounted drinks, then entertainment, then the art champagne evening (invite only) followed by dinner. Feeling tired already! Sea day tomorrow.

Grand Bangkok Tour

Today was touring day. We are still really jet lagged and had a hard time sleeping. Up for awhile then asleep, then Judy woke up and stayed awake reading her book. By the time morning arrived we felt that it was just time to go to sleep! That feeling lingered all day.

    After breakfast in our room, we were on the bus at 8:30 for the Grand Bangkok Tour. The first stop was the dazzling Golden Buddha temple that houses 5.5 tons of real golden Buddha image. We were surprised to see that it seems to be right in the heart of the city although the actual temple building is not that old. You must remove your shoes to go in but they allow photos to be taken. The place was overrun with tourists. Some locals were there offering flowers and other items. A very interesting place.

Next stop was the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple. As the name suggests it is the palace of the king. This Buddha is very small and you might miss it if you did not know where to look. It was the only building that we were allowed to go into. Again, it was packed with people. It reminded us of the Forbidden City in Beijing only on a much smaller scale. Then it was off to a boat cruise along the Chao Phraya River, the main river in Bangkok. We did go up a side canal and saw what you might expect to see here. Very old building, some falling down into the water. We did come across 3 small boats of vendors selling their products. When we got back to the main river we travelled some distance to the international/Thai buffet lunch. The river is used by many people moving goods and people us and down. At lunch we tried a variety of Thai dishes all of which were quite tasty.

The final part of the tour was a stop at a friendship store for shopping. What a waste of time. It had mainly diamonds, gold, fine silks, etc. One woman was looking at some earrings and a necklace that started at $12,000! By the number of tourist that “made this stop” the kickbacks to the companies that send them there must be enormous! As I said what a waste of time.

When we finally got back to the hotel we needed to do our pre check in for the cruise. Our luggage was picked up at 7 pm and will be taken directly to the ship as we are on tour all day again tomorrow. A brief dip in the pool and then we headed back to the Night Market for dinner. We did stop to ride the giant ferris wheel. It looks something like the Big Eye in London. I posted a picture of it last nigh. Finally back here and ready for the early wake up call.

Bangkok Recovery Day

  Today was recovery day. No tours were scheduled due to the long flights and late arrival in Bangkok. It was quite late by Thai standards before we actually got to sleep. Needless to say it was past noon before we even woke up.

The hotel is very well appointed as they say in the business. The room is large with service twice a day. We were warned repeatedly not to use the water here, even in the hotel. Bottled water is supplied in the room for making tea, brushing teeth, etc. Actually is is quite hard to remember as we are so in the habit of just using the tap water. Judy has a already forgotten!

We walked the main street where there are plenty of street vendors selling fruits, drinks and food but we are a bit reluctant to try that approach just yet. We returned to the hotel and spent the afternoon by the pool. They give you a towel, set up the lounges with a cover, etc. All the while politely bowing.

Tonight we were going to eat in the hotel but decided to take the free water shuttle to the night market which seemed to be the happening place in the city. Thailand New Year celebrations are on so the place was very crowded with a rock concert going on. It has as hundreds of permanent shops and placed to eat in an old warehouse like setting and plenty of people. The place is called Asiatique. One of the traditions that they have during this festival is that people splash water on strangers for good luck. Well we must be for a ton of it because we were splashed on by squirt guns all day. At one corner a vendor even had a hose that he was using. All in good fun. In any case that was where we found a place to eat and then buy an ice cream. Judy had some strange things floating in her soup and noodle dish! I went for the safer shrimp and noodles and a Chang beer. As we returned to the hotel the fireworks were just being let off at the market.

The posted pictures were from today's excursion. Touring Bangkok all day tomorrow!

Arrived In Bangkok

Welcome to Thailand! It was a bit of a haul getting here but the flights were good with a brief connection in Tokyo. Our excellent driver had us at the airport by about 1 which meant that we had a few hours to wait. The 747 was packed to the gills but we were as comfortable as can be for a 13 hour first leg. Free entertainment – tons of movies, TV shows etc. They fed us 2 full meals and a snack with complimentary beer and wine. Needless to say that helped the trip go smoothly. I did watch 2 movies just to pass the time. I wanted to get a shot of the International date line but it was too cloudy!

The nearly 7 hours to Thailand was a bit more tiring as we had been sitting for so long. Immigration was a simple stamp and pass through and the Princess rep was waiting for us. There are about 250 Princess people staying at this hotel but not all are on the tour with us. It is 4 in the morning here – a neat 12 hours and 1 day different. Check in was a breeze and we were quickly in our room. Judy is already sawing logs.

Tomorrow is a free day – catch up on sleep and do a bit of wandering before the formal touring starts on Tuesday. This hotel is quite upscale with internet all over the place. Our room overlooks the river but it is too dark to get a good picture. I will post pictures tomorrow. I am sure glad it will take almost 32 days to get back to Canada – not this 1 day airline travel.