No matter what it is called, the entire world celebrates it – it has morphed from a celebration of the end of the war to end all wars, WW1, to become a thank you to those who served, a remembrance of those who gave their lives, and a hope for no more wars. On board […]
Read moreWhen we left Manila there was some talk of the coming Typhoon Haiyan – but we had no clue that it would turn out to be the largest typhoon ever! At least that is what we are hearing on CNN. The Captain announced that because of the approaching storm, directly in our path, we would […]
Read moreWe were originally scheduled to be here one day, but, much to the delight of the Philippine crew members, our stop at Cebu was cancelled due to civil unrest, giving us a two day stay in Manila. Our greeting on arrival was over the top. Even the drug sniffing dog had a somewhat festive air […]
Read moreJust east of Brunei, is the state of Sabah, Malaysia and the town of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. We are still on the island of Borneo – home of the “wild man of Borneo” – kind of like the Southeast Asian version of Sasquatch. Borneo truly is a wild place – settled on […]
Read moreBorneo, a large island at the bottom of the South China Sea, between the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, contains three different countries: part of Malaysia, part of Indonesia, and all of Brunei. I had always heard of Brunei since all conversations about rich monarchs eventually include the Sultan of Brunei – his palaces, his cars, […]
Read moreUp and away early. We have to be back on ship by 1:00pm. For a 3:00 pm sailing – this two hour loss of shore time was caused by the Singaporean immigration officials, whom I suppose want to make sure we all leave. We head back to the Singapore Flyer, and jump on as soon […]
Read moreSingapore, like Hong Kong, is a terrific place to visit, particularly by cruise ship. We arrived in mid afternoon, which is unusual – we hit most ports early in the morning. Singapore, with its location at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, sits on one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, as […]
Read moreAs we entered Nha Trang harbor, the pilot boarded the boat by climbing up a rope ladder hanging over the side while his boat driver kept pace with the ship. Then the Vietnamese customs officers boarded, from this boat, in the same manner – all 10 of them! I have seen many pilots board and […]
Read moreWe arrived in Xian in the evening and went straight to our hotel, a Hilton – like the one in Beijing it was first class. My breakfast was still holding up, so I skipped the Chinese buffet, in favor of an early bedtime. Also like the hotel in Beijing, there was a giant picture window […]
Read moreWe headed to breakfast in the hotel, me with great apprehension, Sally with joyful anticipation. To my surprise and joy, breakfast was a buffet of all types of foods including a great choice of American – eggs scrambled, over easy, sausage, bacon, toast, cereals, waffles, pancakes, pastries – whoopee! Even baked beans for the Brits […]
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