Asia – 2017 – Day 11

We awoke to partly cloudy skies and docked at the port leading to Saigon or officially known as Ho Chi Minh City.  Most everyone that we met called it by the old name of Saigon.

It is the largest city in Vietnam and located all the way down at the southern part of the country and is intertwined with a lot of rivers and canals.  This is also where the infamous Mekong Delta is.  There are nine million people in the city.

It took us about 1 ½ hours by Celebrity bus to reach the city and we were dropped off in the heart of the city.  Our impression of the city is that it is not very clean; however, the people were very nice.

We took a taxi to the Presidential Palace.   It took about 20 minutes and only cost $1.30!  Taxis are really cheap in Vietnam.   Most of the people simply walked around and saw the Palace; however, we had found out that for $8 each, we could have a private guide which we did for an hour tour. 

After that tour, we went to the Vietnam War Museum and it was a very emotional experience.  They correctly depicted America’s action in this war and had dreadful pictures and information about Agent Orange, the most deadly chemical ever dropped on a civilization.   It brought home to us once again how wrong the Vietnam War was and how badly America performed.  In all the cities, the people did not blame us for the tragedy of the war, they blame our government at that time.

We had a great lunch at a local restaurant and then went to the big Catholic Church; however, it was closed so our next stop was the huge market that they have in the city.   We could have spent a couple of hours just walking through it – but we didn’t have that much time.  We bought some “stuff” and also a Mango drink.

We also had some great street food including a donut like pastry that was displayed on the head of the vendor – a great taste.

Following the market visit, we walked about 8 blocks to where the bus picked us up to take us back to the ship.  We felt like we were in a movie called “6 hours in Saigon”

We arrived at 6:00pm, took showers and went to the show which was a great performance by the Celebrity singers and dancers and we really enjoyed it.

Then we went to dinner and then to the casino where Barb won nicely and Ed also won.  If this was the last night of the cruise we would gladly take home these winnings – so wish us luck.

Tomorrow we get to relax again with a sea day and we are looking forward to it.

The communications room

Lunch

Buying a snack

Cooking lunch on the street

Barb buying Kahula - very cheap!!

The Presidents bedroom

Night

Asia – 2017 – Day 10

This was a sea day and these days are usually fun if it is sunny; however, it wasn’t, so it was still a good day, but we didn’t get any sun.

In the morning, Ed had breakfast and went to the gym and then worked on catching up on the blog.

Barb was able to sleep in so all-in-all it was a very relaxing morning. 

Lunch was in the Aqua-Spa and we had a grilled chicken and a grilled salmon lunch that we shared.

In the afternoon, we both played a session and Barb lost just a little and Ed had a good session.

The show was a female singer from Jamaica who was working and living in Tokyo and she was really, really good.

Dinner was very good and then we went to the casino where Barb broke even and Ed had a good night.

This is a short blog and few pictures because that’s what happens when you have a sea day.

It was a peaceful day and tomorrow we go to our last Vietnam City, Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City. 

We are doing it on our own so it should be fun.

Night

Going out for they day

A bottle of wine from the Hotel Director - we shared it at our dinner table

Going out for the evening

Asia – 2016 - Day 9

This was the second port that Celebrity did not have a shuttle to the main cities as they were several hours away so we took a Celebrity tour that proved to be quite nice.

We first took a trip to the ton of Hoi An and stopped at a local pottery village and then took a river cruise on a very small local boat down the river to the major part of town.  The village was a remarkable well preserved example of a trading post dating from the 15^th to the 19 century.  It was very real the way people lived then and still do now.

At the main part of the new town, we visited an ancient village bridge, a temple and several other interesting sights.  We were a little hungry so we ate a few snacks from the local street venders include a Mango pastry and skewered snake, which was very good and not, it does not taste like chicken!!

Then it was on to a local restaurant for a 7 course lunch that was very good.

After lunch we then drove to the town of Da Nang with a photo tour of the city, including the famous China Beach was used in the Vietnam War as an R & R place for our troops.

Right in the center of the town we took a pedal cab tour and it was really fun.  There was 1 pedal cab which were really three-wheeled bicycles with a seat for each customer in the front.  Off we went down the main 6 land main street with scooters everywhere, cars, truck and anything else on the street.  It was about a 30 minute tour that was fun.  I took a video that I will post once we get to Singapore and you will see what we mean. 

We visited a famous Pagoda and a huge 229’ tall Buddha before taking the bus back to the ship, getting back after being gone for 10 hours.

We took quick showers and went to see the show which was a cast production show featuring dances from the days of ballroom dancing and it was probably the best production cast we have ever seen.  The singers and dancers were all very, very good.

Dinner was fine as usual and then it was onto the casino where Barb was ahead and Ed had another great run.  We also met some new blackjack friends and so we should have some good table partners in future games.

Tomorrow we should be able to catch up on some sleep as we have a see day.

Night

A local street

A lot of the newer houses with their shop in the front of the house

In the pottery shop

They type of boat we took

That's our snack - snake on a stick!!

229 foot tall Buddha

Ready for ourride

A lot of traffic - we were also going faster than you could walk

A delivery person

Eating snack on a stick

Asia – 2017 – Days 7 – 8

As we could not get to Hanoi on our own as planned, we had to book a Celebrity ship overnight tour.  While it wasn’t the same as we had planned, it did turn out to be fun. 

We boarded a large bus with only about 30 other people for the 4 hour drive to Hanoi and stopped ½ way at a very large rest stop area, which basically was built for tourists but had some great “stuff” for sale.

One of the things that we bought was a beautiful Star Rudy ring for Barb and its wearer is supposed to have many years of good luck and happiness!!  The Star Rudy apparently is only mined in this area of Vietnam and it is very pretty.  With a new scarf and a couple of other items, we boarded the bus for the final couple of hours into Hanoi.   We lost a ½ hour when the bus driver was stopped for speeding.  As is the custom, he paid a bribe and we were once again on our way.

As we arrived in the city we stopped at a place to have lunch and it was very good.  Then we started our tour of the city primarily focusing on Ho Chi Minh, who is their hero and they call him “Uncle” out of reverence.   We saw the Presidential Place and the three homes where he lived and died as well as his huge mausoleum.  We also say a huge temple on the same grounds as the Palace.

We also toured the “Hanoi Hilton” which was the infamous prison in Hanoi where American pilots were kept during the war, including John McClain.  Touring that prison and seeing all of the pictures and stories of the prison was an amazing tour.  Interestingly, what they showed as to how American prisoners were kept was totally different that our understanding.  Our guide also said in the privacy of the bus that the government has changed the story of the war from what happened.

The prison focused on the treatment of the Vietnam prisoners by the French during the time that the French had control of the country and the treatment would give you nightmares if you were this prison as we did.  This control under the French lasted until 1945.

Next we went to the center of the city where there was hundreds of motor scooters and took a “scooter” tour of the main area of the city, with scooters everywhere as we traveled.  I will post a video of this excitement when we get to where I can download videos in Singapore.

We then had a great dinner and saw a water puppet show, where the puppeteers were behind a screen and controlled all of puppets by horizontal sticks and wires, instead from overhead. Again, I will post a video of part of this show later.

Following the show, we were taken to our hotel for the evening, the Pan Pacific, which was a 5 Star hotel about 10 minutes from the city center.  It was a beautiful hotel and we had a corner room on the 10^th floor overlooking the city.  We would never have chosen this expensive of a hotel for ourselves, but it was part of the package.  Breakfast the next morning was at the hotel and they had one of the most elaborate buffets for breakfast that we have ever seen at a hotel.

The next morning, we left at 7:30am for the 4 hour trip back to the ship, arriving at noon, including a stop at the same rest stop we stopped at on the way up to the city.  On the way we passed a Canon factory, a Samsung factory and a clothing factory with literally blocks and blocks of scooters parked in their parking lots.

This is the first time that we had done a Celebrity excursion and while we would have rather done it on our own, they did it right.  We did meet some new friends while on the tour so that was good.

We also have not been able to see the last three games of the world series, but did hear that the Cubs WON – WOW oh WOW!! 

When we got back to the ship, we went to the buffet and had lunch and then went out in the sun for a couple of hours.

The show tonight was a comedian, musician, juggler and magician all in one person and people thought he was funny but we didn’t – too many old jokes and not enough talent.

Then it was onto dinner and the casino where Barb lost just a little and Ed did very well with a great run.

Tomorrow we have to get up early as we have Vietnam river tour including the city of Danang.

I will post pictures on the last couple of day either late tomorrow or probably the next day as it is late and we have to get up very early again tomorrow.

Night

Making table cloths

At an intersection

Just local stores

Part of lunch

Cooking on the street

A local saleswomen

Asia – 2017 – Day 5-6

On our last day in Hong Kong, we took a trolley ride the length of Hong Kong and listened to a narrative about the history of Hong Kong and saw some very interesting buildings.  One of the unique things is that all of their scaffolding is built out of bamboo.  To see a building with 11 stories of bamboo on the outside of it and workers walking and climbing on it is really amazing.

We left the hotel at 2:00am for a ½ hour ride to the port which only cost $5.00 US – amazing how cheap some things are; however, housing and commercial space is not.

There was a mess up at the port and no one was there to take our bags and check us in – just Chinese security.  Security attempted to contact Celebrity but couldn’t.  Then a ships officer came by and radio for someone to come off the ship and get us on.  Someone dropped the ball and by 4:00pm, the Chinese decided to take us bags and all to the ship, which was a 20 minute walk.  Three of their security people and the head, simply carried everything right through security, walked us to the end of the ramp and told the Celebrity person to figure out how to get us on board.  He did and we were finally in the cabin at 4:30.

We met new friends from Canada, Washington, DC, India and Maryland so our dinner table will be just fine.

The opening show was an Elton John impersonator and he was pretty good.

Then we went to the Casino and to our amazement, we knew the Casino Host - Dee, she is amazing.  The last time we saw her she was working as the head cashier and wanted to be a host.  I know we wrote about how good she was and finally people realized it and made her a host.  We also knew the Manager Mike as well as the Asst Manager, Shiraz and a Supervisor Nereo and several of the dealers.  Did that ever make us feel good as we didn't think we would know anyone to start with on the cruise.
 

Today, Tuesday, we woke up to partly cloudy skies and they turned cloudy so we didn’t get to spend much time out.

Most of the daytime was spent figuring out some of the ports we were visiting because we found out yesterday that they did not have shuttle to a couple of the Vietnam ports so we were working with the excursion desk to find ways to get us into the towns which are 2 – 3 hours away from where we dock.

Tomorrow we visit Hanoi; however, the port is 3 hours inland.  So, we are taking a Celebrity trip and staying overnight in Hanoi for a 2 day tour off the ship.  We wanted to do it on our own but couldn’t get into the city.  Here they do not have reliable public transportation.

So, all-in-all it is going to work out fine, it will just cost us a little more for transportation.

The show was a trio singing Motown and they were very good.

The casino was good to Barb and Ed lost a little.

For the next two days, we may not be able to post anything as I will only have my phone on the trip.

It’s very late and it has been a busy couple of days so we will catch up on photos when we get back on ship two days from now.  We now have to pack.

So, wish us luck and in 5 hours we wake up and go to Hanoi, Vietnam – you would have thought that a couple of years ago.

Night

Using bamboo to climb on the outside of a building

The breakfast  buffet at the Marriott

Getting on the subway

On the subway!!

Our impressions of Hong Kong

Interesting facts about Hong Kong

It is a very clean city – you cannot eat or drink on any public transpiration.

In the three days that we were here, we saw only one motorcycle policeman and no other police and no military of any kind. 

Crime is very small because the people have grown up in a very strict set of rules that does not allow for crime in their mind.  That comes from the former English rule and they still have the English system of law and order.

The real estate is among the most expensive in the world as this is a very small island.

Housing cost 3 to 4 times what housing would cost in San Francisco.  $4,000 a square foot is typical for a flat in the city.  Our guide on the food tour last night has lived in both places.

The Tesla automobile (all electric and high end) is very popular here as they do not have to pay a new vehicle surcharge to own it here. 

What we would think of as a medium sized car cost an extra $38,000 to purchase plus the cost of the car.

Like on the mainline of China, if you want a vanity license plate, you tell the government what you want and they first put it up for auction.  The most expensive license plate was 2 million dollars.   This was a plate with 8’s in it, their lucky number.

The number 4 is an unlucky number as it sounds like the word die and so there are no 4^th floors in building.   They are a very superstitious people.

While housing is very expensive, food, clothing and transportation is very cheap.  You can buy a very good meal out on the street for $2.  They also eat every part of an animal as just part of everyday life. 

We took a taxi ride that lasted 30 minutes and the cost was $5.

There is a trolley that runs the length of the island and it cost 41 cents to ride the entire distance which would take an hour.  In addition, the trolleys run ever minute or so and yes they get very crowed.

The subway system is huge, very clean and runs exactly on time.  We never had to wait more than a minute or so for one to come along.

To keeps a relatives ashes in a temple, it is $13,000 payable every 10 years.

Fortune telling is very real here and they are very many of them in the Temples.  Buddhism or forms of it is the main religion.  There are a lot of similarities between Buddhism and Christianity and we learned a lot from our Temple Tour yesterday, including their 18 steps of Hell.

Prostitution is legal as long as you are not working for someone and you are independent.  If a massage sign has a happy face on the sign, it means for a male, it will have a happy ending!!

While it is very crowed here, people are very, very orderly.

If you have left over food from a restaurant, you take it out and give it to the homeless.

They work so very hard to get ahead and their work ethic is unbelievable.

It was neat city of visit.

Asia – 2017 – Day 4

We woke up to an overcast day, but it was nice and warm in the middle 70’s.  After a good breakfast in the lounge, we took the subway for about 30 minutes to the stop where we were to meet our guide for the morning.  Today’s tour was a tour of temples in Hong Kong and an explanation of local religion practices and their concept of afterlife and reincarnation common in Chinese religion, including the 18 stages of Hell!!

The nice thing about the tour was that we also took public transpiration to go between several of the stops so it saved a lot of walking

Yesterday we walked 21,077 steps which was about 7 miles.  Today we walked 18,389 steps, just over 6 miles!!

We met a couple from Ireland who were young and traveling around a lot before settling down and they were fun to talk with.

Our guide was excellent and after the tour, he told us about his Delicacy Tour on Monday evening.  We told him we were going to be on the ship tomorrow and asked him to take us on the same tour tonight, which he agreed to do.

After the tour ended, we went back to the hotel to drop off some stuff and then we took a taxi to a restaurant we had seen on the Andrew Zimmerman food network show, Mak’s Noodle Restaurant.  It was just a small little place probably holding less than 30 people and was it busy.  We had to sit with another couple who were from Hong Kong and Singapore and they helped us order as nothing was in English.  Andrew Zimmerman said that the noodles were the best in Hong Kong and we thought they were really great and our bill for lunch was only $10. 

He met us at the hotel at 7:30pm and he took us on a great food tour to very local restaurants to taste the food that locals eat day in and day out.  

To say that it was an incredible experience would be an understatement!  This was, no question about it, the best food experience that we have ever had on one of our cruises.

The owner, Michael, met us at the hotel and we took a trolley, a subway and a ferry to reach the other part of town, across the river.

Then we walked some more until we finally came to our first stop.

Tonight we ate in this order:

Duck Tongue

Abalone

Pig Ear

Ox Tongue

Pig Intestines

Snake stew

Pickled Ginger and 100 year eggs

Fish Blatter

Soft Turtle Shell bottom made into a gelatin with coconut milk

Herbal Tea

Birds Nest Soup

We ate in out-of-the way very local restaurants and in each place, we were the only non-oriental in the restaurant.

After 3 ½ hours we parted way with Michael and wished him all the luck in his food business. 

Tomorrow we board the ship and hopefully will have a little time to relax.  It has been a great 52 hours in Hong Kong to this point and we have a few things to do tomorrow that will tell you about in the next blog.

Night

Ed's breakfast

One of the Temples

Many, many ashes

The main alter

We have ridden lots of subways

Lunch at Mak's Noodles

Duck Tongue

Abalone

Pig Ear

Ox Tongue

Added Pig Intestines

The snake place

Pickled Ginger and 100 year eggs

Soft Turtle Shell bottom made into a gelatin with coconut milk

Birds Next Soup