Hong Kong

I’ve been told by a trusted source that I haven’t been posting enough photos.  So, since I unexpectedly have time today, I’m happy to oblige.  The reason that I have time isn’t a good thing.  There was some type of ‘technical issue’ with the ship last night that resulted in a delay into today’s port of Xiamen, China.  There were three overland trips departing from here, two of which were able to make their flights.  My trip, however was cancelled.  This was to have been a two night trip to a section of Southern China that I have wanted to visit for years: Guilin and the River Li.  If you don’t know about the area, Google it so you can see what I’m missing – it’s really a lovely area. 

So, instead I posted additional photos from Vietnam earlier today (see below) and now I’ll add some from our two days in Hong Kong.  I enjoyed my first time in Hong Kong.  One more day would have been perfect J.

The first day I did a fun excursion that included an hour Tai Chi class, walking around an interesting variety of markets and the best dim sum lunch I’ve ever had.  Perfect!

 

Our very cute 80-something Tai Chi master.

 

A stall at the jade market.

 

In addition to a street market of veggies, fish and the like, we also browsed a flower market and a bird market.  The bird market was a first for me...

 

 

 

There were stacks of birds in cages (poor little birds), but what I found most interesting was groups of men hanging out to apparently discuss the birds. 

 

The second day was a trip to Lantau Island where we visited Tai O, a small fishing village, the Po Lin Monastery and a really big Buddha.  The Tin Tan Buddha is said to be the tallest outdoor statue of Buddha – does that mean there’s a taller INDOOR Buddha? Guess I should have asked! 

As I was standing on the bridge in Tai O, a crew team came racing by.  That was unexpected!

I liked the boat ornament. Interesting that they had a smoker onboard. 

 

 

 

We took a 25 minute cable car trip back down from the mountain where the monastery and Buddha sit. 

 

 

More from Vietnam

I’m certainly way behind on updates!  Below are a few more photos from Vietnam starting with my second day in the Mekong Delta and life on the river.  

Popping rice in sand – the sand is sifted out after cooking.  Note that the fire is again fueled by rice husks.  The puffed rice is then mixed with a coconut syrup, rolled out and then cut into bars.

 

From Chang May I did a trip to De Nang and the lovely little town of Hoi An. 

 

 

 

And from the port town of Hongai, I took the long drive to Hanoi for the day.  The day started with sailing through part of Ha Long Bay with it's fascinating landscape.

On a Pedi cab ride through Hanoi's old city.

 

A visit to Ho Chi Minh's tomb and residence.



 

The Temple of Literature, built in 1070.

 

 

Mekong Delta - Vietnam

It's been a while since I updated, mostly because I've been ill off and on for the past couple of weeks.  Much better now but unfortunately I had to skip Angkor Wat.  Major bummer as this was to have been a highlight of the trip.  Ah well, maybe another day.

I've been in Vietnam for a few days now and just loving it. The photos below are from the first of two days that I spent in different areas of the Mekong Delta.  Both days were about seeing how people live in more rural areas.  At a brick-making factory, this woman feeds the furnace with rice husks- an endless supply of fuel in this area. The temperature must be maintained around the clock while the bricks are being fired.

At a rice noodle factory, sheets of a rice mixture are drying outside.  Once dry they feel more like plastic then anything edible.  After being peeled off the racks they're cut and packaged.  If you buy rice noodles from Vietnam they were made in this fashion.

We got around by various modes of transport during these two days including different types of boats. 

 

 

Making coconut candy.

Never-ending coconuts to husk and clean, jobs I can't even imagine.  The kids come in after school to help.

Some of the many river houses.

I had to throw in one photo of the bikers.  I've seen families of four (but I hear up to 6 sometimes ride on the bikes), I've seen mothers with infants in their laps and so much more.  Pretty interesting.

Singapore

After three days in Singapore we’re now sailing towards Thailand.  We had our second (of 2) shore-side world cruise event at the Singapore aquarium.  The event itself was just OK – a cocktail party type thing, but as I love the underwater world, I found the venue to be quite nice.  The only photo to show from that night is one of my ocean nemeses who have bothered me on a couple of occasions this trip.

 

My only real goal for Singapore was to see the Gardens by the Bay – a massive botanical garden built after my 2006 visit.  What an amazing place.  The grounds go on forever with variously themed gardens and two huge bio domes.  The centerpiece (to me anyway) are the ‘super trees’ which are up to 16 stories in height.  Beautiful to look at, especially at night, these structures serve to collect rainwater, generate solar power and help vent the garden conservatories.  A walkway between some of them give quite the birds eye view of the complex and well beyond.  I think I walked every inch of the place – just loved it.