Hong Kong, China

It's turn around/port day in Hong Kong.
We will be visiting China, Korea and Japan
on this leg. We've been to China so will not
do excursions there but hope to see some of
Korea and Japan.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Floating Village

Family selling food

 

Junks being boarded from ship

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Mar 29

Today we and many others took a tour of Halong

Bay. We were picked up at ship by a junk and cruised

the bay and visited a cave which was nice but a bit

different from US caves.

It is a beautiful area but weather was not the best.

  

 

Hoi An, Vietnam

 

Motorbikes are major transportation in Vietnam

Hoi An, Vietnam

Mar 27

Today we had a walking tour of the ancient city

of Hoi An. Weather is much cooler and today was

drizzly but it was a really nice tour.

Ba Ria, Vietnam

Phu My, Vietnam

Mar 24

We made our first stop in Vietnam today. Our port was

Phu My and was the port for Saigon where a lot of

full day tours went. I’m sure there is a lot of historical

stuff to see there but we don’t like all day tours and

are very selective about the ones we do.

 

We took a half day tour called Na Ria, a local

Experience. It is probably the best value of

any tour this trip. Since we weren’t spending

a lot a time coming and going we saw a lot.

We visited a local home where an elderly lady

demonstrated making rice paper and another

Home where our guide demonstrated making

rice wine.

We stopped at a Cao Dai temple. This religion

was founded in 1926 was an attempt to “create

the ideal religion through fusion of secular and

religious philosophies of east and west. Cao Aaism

is fascinating combination of Buddhism, Confucionism,

Taoism, Hibduism, native Vietnamese spirits,

Christianity and Islam.”

The official Cao Dai symbol is the “divine eye”.

It was really strange seeing statue of Jesus and

all those others in the same temple.

We also stopped at a newer Buddhist Temple.

 

 

 

 

Cambodia

Mar 22

Today we were in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

None of the tours appealed so we took the shuttle

bus into town. That was an experience itself. When

we got to the drop off point (near a market)

the bus was surrounded by drivers trying to get you

to book a tour with them. It was not the Caribbean,

much worse. We and two young couples from Australia

did not get off the bus. When I asked someone who

reboarded what it was like, he said it was similar to

a market in Phnom Penh. I’m glad I got off the ship

so I could see what it was like locally, but just as glad

I stayed on the bus and returned to ship.

Bangkok Grand Palace 2

Bangkok Grand Palace 1