Yes, these buildings are built to look crooked.
More freighters waiting to load or unload at the world's busiest seaport.
One of the giant freighters with thousands of containers onboard.
February 17 - 18, 2015 - Our second day was at sea and just
enjoying the boat and great weather. The
third day we arrived at Koh Samui, Thailand.
Took a tour of several Buddist Temples.
Very interesting and beautiful.
You must remove your shoes to enter the Temple. Very hot and humid even though it is still
winter here.
February 19 -20, 2015 - Third day was at Laem Chabang,
Thailand. This is the port for Bangkok
although it is about 2 hours away from the city. So today we take a tour of Bangkok that
begins with a 2 hour bus ride into Bangkok.
A very big city of more than 12 million people. Traffic is terrible, the roads are small and
have traffic going in every crack of space in the traffic.
Our second day at Bangkok took us to a town of Pataay,
Thailand. This is about an hour south of
where we docked. This is a very vibrant
tourist town that a lot of people have migrated to live because of low prices
and beautiful beaches. But, the traffic
is still quite bad here. We came here to see the Ministry of Truth,
which is a religious place that is not yet a temple as there are no monks
living there. This place is unbelievable
for its size and the intricacy of the carvings throughout the building, inside
and out. It is all wood and was put
together without nails. They are
continuously working on it to continue working on it to complete and restore as
the weather and termites are a never ending battle. There are dozens of workers here that are
carving and working hard on this place.
It has been an ongoing enterprise for more than 40 years.
February 21, 2015 - Sihanouykville, Cambodia. This is s very poor country and it is evident everywhere you look. The part that I do not understand is even though you are poor, why do you have to have litter and trash all around you that no one picks up?
Water buffalo.
This is a pepper farm. The type that you put on your food. (opposite of salt) and it is all picked by hand.
Crazy drivers.
Roadside stands.
These are actual houses that people live in at this fishing community.
We ate lunch here. Was not any better than it looks.
Drying fish by the locals.
Another fishing village.
February 22, 2015 - A
day at sea. Relaxing.
February 23, 2015 – Phu My, Vietnam. We did an all day tour of Saigon. It takes 2 hours to get to the city of Saigon
as the traffic is very bad here. It is a
much more advanced country than Cambodia and the streets and countryside are
clean and well kept. That, in itself, is
a big improvement from Cambodia. We saw
the countryside and the very busy city.
Also saw the “Reunification Palace” which was the headquarters for the
American operation here and where the last of the Americans left from on the
last day there. It is very interesting
that there is no bitterness here and the people want to look to the future and
not the past. Very friendly and happy
people that are determined to make Vietnam a major tourist destination. Took a tour of the post office that is the
busiest in the world and the brightest (yellow). Very interesting. Also toured what they billed as the Notre
Dame equivalent (not even close). And a
museum that preserves the history of this country that is about 4,000 years
old. We toured a lacquer plant that made
beautiful art work out of various scenes on wood with various types of things
such as egg shells and oyster shells then lacquered over them to preserve them. Amazing artistry. Then back on the ship for a nice sunset.
Heading into Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh City)
Heading into Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh City)
At the lacquer factory. These workers are very skilled and produce wonderful pieces of art.
She is cutting egg shells to be used in the art.
Some of the examples of the finished products.
In town.
The "Notre Dame"
The busiest post office in the world and the brightest.
Reunification Palace. This was the headquarters for the South Vietnam army and American forces during the war.
War room.
These are computers etc. Circa 1960s
February 24, 2015 – Nha Trang, Vietnam. This is a very nice city that has a lot of
tourist draw. Modern hotels (500+) and great beaches that are over 5 miles
long. There is far less traffic here as
there are fewer residents and it seems more upscale. Stopped at a place that does embroidery on a
large scale as art and is considered as the best in the world. It is unbelievable what they can do with the
embroidery. Some of the works take more
than 5 months to finish. It is all done
by hand and is very time consuming.
These are truly works of art.
Went to a giant Buddha at the Long Son Pagoda where I climbed 152 stone
steps to the top to see the statue. It
was quite hot and humid and worked up quite a sweat doing it. We went through a local market where I was
able to buy a new camera. I bought a new
Nikon with the memory card for $90. That
is about 60% less than in the U.S.
Hopefully, I will have better pictures after I get to know the
camera. Finally, we went by Rickshaw
about 3 miles through traffic and it was great.
A lot of fun with entertaining drivers.
This turned out to be the highlight of the day.
This is the family transport. I did see one with 6 people on it.
This is the family transport. I did see one with 6 people on it.
View from a skyscraper where we had a snack.
Another temple.
This outlines the path to becoming a Buddha
Markets in town.
An ancient temple.
Rickshaw riding!
Embroidery artists.
Sunset from our balcony.
A sky ride or tram that goes across the bay to an amusement park and a resort.
Vendors at the dock.
February 25, 2015 – At sea.
Another hot and humid day. I
thought that since it was winter here that it would be cooler. Wrong.
February 26, 2015 – Da Nang, Vietnam. Quite a nice place. Beautiful beaches and waterways and
markets. Went to what they called an
ancient house that has been in the same family for 8 generations. They also produced some awesome works of art
there. Stopped at a marble factory where
they produced thousands of marble carvings and most are huge and very
nice.
The blog stopped me from loading any more photos. I do not have the time right now to work on the problem. I will fix it after I get to Europe in April. In the meantime, hope that you enjoy the above.
February 27, 2015 – At sea.
February 28, 2015 – Halong Bay and Hanoi, Vietnam – Got on a
small ship this morning to tour the Thien Cung Caves and cruise around Halong
Bay. The caves were quite a sight and
well worth viewing even though it was over 400 steps in doing so. As we cruised the bay we saw that there were
countless formations of rocks or islands everywhere and provided us with
scenery everywhere you looked. In the
afternoon we toured Hanoi and stopped at a farmer’s house for fresh cooked corn
on the cob and sweet potatoes along with green tea. Saw the primitive conditions that the farmer
lives and works in. Gives you an
appreciation for what we have. Also went
on to a monastery with over 40 monks in residence and got to see how they live
and worship. On the way back we went to
a local market that provides a marketplace for the locals. It was chaotic and smelly, but that is what
they have. Interesting.
#343- 495
March 1, 2015 – At sea.
March 2, 2015 – Arrived in Hong Kong and transferred from
the ship to the airport to fly back to Singapore where we will board the next
cruise ship on March 3, 2015 and sail through Indonesia, India, the Suez Canal
and on to Europe where we will disembark in Amsterdam, Holland.
The next blog will be for the trip from Singapore to Europe
and can be found at the new blog :
