Grand World Voyage Part 3 - Asia Continued

Da Nang, Vietnam. A place we remember hearing about in the news so many years ago, with all the destruction from Agent Orange and Napalm. I am glad to report that the countryside is lush and green. The only possible signs of the war that I saw were some partial shells of buildings that looked as if they'd been bombed out. However, when I asked our guide about that, he told me that I was seeing the results of the government exercising their right of eminent domain in order to build roads. I don't think so! They would not leave partial shells of building in areas where it was unlikely a road would go. However, I'm sure our guide was being tactful, because many Americans would be upset at the mention of, or signs of, the unpopular war.

After a 30 minute ride from the ship we reached the city. We toured a museum of Cham sculptures, which are derived from Indian ones. There is a nice promenade along the river, which houses all sorts of modern sculptures. My favorite place was the Han Market, a huge, 2-story market that housed mostly food vendors, including fish, dried goods, rice and gorgeous produce on the first floor. On the upper floor there were many shoe vendors and toy and fabric vendors. Once you chose your fabric, there was a line of ladies with sewing machines waiting to sew up your outfit. If they got your fabric early enough in the day, you could have your new outfit the same day.

In the afternoon we went to a 'primitive' village, which nevertheless had many modern amenities, such as bicycles, mopeds and televisions. Other aspects were clearly old-style, like the white piglets penned in the back room of the private home we got to visit. In the one photo I am hugging a durian fruit, popular in southeast Asia, but famous for being stinky. Most of the people who like it were raised on it, but I am happy to report that not all Asians like it. Tina & I had gotten brave and tried it when we were in Thailand. It was not a particularly pleasant experience, and was made less pleasant for me by the fact that it reminded me many times afterwards that I had eaten it. On the way to the village, we saw a very edifying sight: a water buffalo. We'd looked for them everywhere we went in Thailand and never saw a single one.

Our final port in Vietnam: Phu My, the port city for Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon. The drive to the city was a minimum of one hour through very heavy traffic. We found the city to be a comfortable place after the time we'd spent in Bangkok. Looking at the tangled power lines took us right back there. We visited the combination botanical garden and zoo, which was very nice. Other sights in the morning included the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral (outside only) and the magnificent post office building, which was built by the French.

After a wonderful buffet lunch at a nice hotel, we went to the Reunification Hall, formerly the Presidential Palace, including the war rooms in the basement. Apparently we were fortunate to get to see the basement; one friend said that by the time their tour group got there, it was closed. It was quite interesting to see things dating from 1968, when a friend was there while serving in the navy.


We had a great guide who was the brand new father of twins. The final stop he took us to was the Ho Chi Minh museum, which was also quite interesting. There were many exhibits about life in Vietnam.

We very much enjoyed our day in Ho Chi Minh City and in the end we had to admit that we were pleasantly surprised by Vietnam. I would go back to all three ports if offered the opportunity in the future.

Next up: Singapore

Grand World Voyage part 2: Asia

Our next stop was Bali, Indonesia. We were greeted there by lines of beautiful women and musicians, and the very aggressive merchants. Until now I could not believe any place in the world could be more beautiful than Moorea, and on approach, Bali did not appear to be anything special. However, our tour took us through the interior of the island, and it is truly the most beautiful island I've seen. This is exemplified by the artistic look of the rice paddies. And even though poverty is evident everywhere in the countryside, the atmosphere is very peaceful. It was wonderful to see firsthand where some of my favorite crew members come from, and the beauty of Bali and all the Indonesian people I've met has awakened my desire to see more of Indonesia.

Brunei was a huge disappointment except for the water village we visited. Even though people seem to own at least one car, the contrast between royalty and the ordinary people was marked, and the atmosphere felt oppressive and depressing.

Fortunately, Manila, Philippines proved to be a completely different story. The people there are amazing. They put on an all-day show for us on the dock, including dancing, a drum group, and marching bands. Everything was so cheerful and upbeat that it would raise the spirits of even the most tired spectators. The Filipinos are very talented at art and music, and the entire show was top quality. Manila is pretty much just another big city, but the Manila American Cemetery for WWII military is just gorgeous. They have a beautiful monument that lists all who are buried there, and the graves are arranged in rows, marked by crosses of stars of David. The whole park is beautifully manicured and is an oasis in the busy city, reminiscent of Arlington National Cemetery, but minus any fancy gravestones. We went to a handcraft store that had every imaginable hand craft from embroidery and jewelry to furniture, all very well made. I would like to see other parts of the Philippines that are less populated, to get a feel for the natural beauty of the country. The people are what makes Manila worth visiting.

Hong Kong is an amazing city. There is a lot crammed into a small space: lots of skyscrapers, and yet room for temples and parks. Hong Kong Park is a pocket park completely surrounded by the busy city, but when there you forget where you are. It is much the same kind of thing as being in Lumphini Park in Bangkok, Thailand. Those parks are both incredible oases. Our ship docked in Kowloon, so we were able to watch the building lights, some of which were designs and some of which were advertising. The show is spectacular and in very good taste, not as overwhelming as similar use of buildings in New York City. The view from atop Victoria peak is spectacular. It is seemingly quite a distance from most of the city, yet there is a growing shopping mall up there.






















Vietnam was our next country. Tina & I had originally thought to skip
Vietnam and take a side trip to Bangkok. However, that trip would have been exorbitantly expensive, so we did not go. Neither of us was particularly interested in Vietnam, but in the end we were very glad that the trip to Bangkok did not work out. Our first port was Ha Long Bay, up near China, where we had the privilege of being the first visiting cruise ship. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is easily of the most beautiful places on earth. The ocean is filled with limestone peaks that jut up from the ocean floor. Some are very large, and the one we visited had a huge cave. The seascape at Ha Long Bay is very surreal, especially when the sky is misty. This is a place that is truly worth going to see; I would not have believed it was real had I not seen it. Photos may give you an idea of what it looks like, but, as we discovered in many places on this voyage, you cannot feel what it's like to be there. Some things must be experienced in person to receive understanding of what you are seeing. The experience of these places is much more than visual.





The rest of Vietnam will be in the continuation of this blog.

Better Late Than Never

I have not written for a long time, as there has been no time to write. Marriage continues to be a joy. In the interim we sold my condo and moved me to El Paso. I underwent a total thyroidectomy, which was a requirement to have foot surgery. We tried a second time for foot surgery, which necessitated another trip to the east coast, and once again the surgery did not happen, this time apprently due to some bad communication.

It is time to try to write at least a little bit about the 2008 Grand World Voyage on Holland America Line's ms Amsterdam. It was truly a grand voyage that deserves at least summary coverage. I came close to not going due to the relationship I was in at the time, but I am grateful that I came to my senses and went anyway. There were several ports that were repeats for me, but the majority were new. What an adventure it all was!

We had a couple of rain forest excursions, one in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica and another in Fuerte Amador, Panama (the latter was after a trip through the Panama canal, which is awesome). These excursions were memorable for the wild life, like the black-throated tiger heron in Costa Rica, and the coatimundis in Panama. Harry & I discovered that we had actually met on the rain forest excursion in Panama. We had both gotten photos of each other during the excursion; my favorite is when he got my feet and legs from his dangling video camera that he had forgotten to turn off.

From there we had 8 days at sea, which had a lot of people complaining about boredom. That amazed me as there was so much to do on the ship. During this time, when we were sailing through the doldrums, we saw school after school of small, silver flying fish, that were fascinating to watch. They would come up out of the water, and usually returned to the water only when they flew into a wave. That meant that they flew for amazing distances.

The South Pacific islands are gorgeous. Many people did not like Papeete, Tahiti; however, once outside the city, the countryside was beautiful. We found great shells on Nuku Hiva. We fell in love with Moorea (pronounced Moh-oh-ray-a), which has to be the most beautiful island in the South Pacific. In this case the 'we' refers to my faithful traveling companion, Tina. At Moorea we met sting rays face to face, which was lots of fun. Bora Bora is known to many as 'Boring Boring'. And since I canceled my snorkeling excursion I had only minimal experience of the island. Tonga is not really prepared for tourists, so we encountered tourist bus traffic jams. The most beautiful part of Tonga is the south coast: the entire coastline is a series of blowholes that are spectacular. We were in Samoa on a rainy day, but Tina & I went walking anyway, which was a lot of fun. During our walk we saw the inside of a church with beautiful woodwork, and we met a pig who was a house pet and who came running out to the street to greet us.

We fell in love with New Zealand. The countryside everywhere is beautiful. We saw a colony of nesting Gannets along the wild coast line. We watched sheep dog demonstrations, where we learned that there are two types of sheep dogs - the ones that bark, and the strong-eye sheep dogs. It is amazing to see what the latter can do with an intense stare. On the south island we got to see young Albatross, yellow-eyed and blue penguins, lots of seals and Cormorants, and an aquarium (Dunedin). That excursion involved riding in an ATV, which was an adventure for me - not what I would usually do. The fiords are absolutely beautiful, also. We had perfect weather for Milford Sound, which is apparently unusual. One lady I knew had been there six times prior to this and this one was the first time with sunshine.

Crossing the Tasman Sea over to Sydney, Australia was a miserable experience on the first day, for those of us who get sea sick. But the payoff was Sydney, which is a marvelous city. Tina & I actually got to go to a performance of La Boheme at the famed opera house. Tickets are pricey, but it is an experience not to be missed. On the second day of our stay in Sydney we went to the Koala Park, where I fell in love with one of the animals - the Echidna, also known as the spiny anteater. It was out running around during the day even though it is a nocturnal animal; my guess is that the overcast skies made daytime palatable for it. Melbourne was a disappointment for us on this visit; hopefully another visit will give a different impression. Freemantle/Perth was our final Australian port, nice but not particularly memorable. Over all I liked New Zealand better than Australia.

In the next episode we have more amazing experiences, getting into the Asian countries.

Grand World Voyage Part 4: Asia Continued

Singapore was a place that intrigued me, having heard much good about it from a friend who was a missionary there for a long time. We knew they had strict laws regarding littering and drug possession. And Singapore is beautiful. Our time there was heavily scheduled, with three excursions planned over two days.

Our first tour showed us highlights of the island, and included a lot of interesting architecture, a mosque, and the merlion fountain/statue. We also walked through Chinatown, which was much like Chinatowns everywhere. The landscape was always well maintained and neat, but we did see a little trash along the roadside. The part I liked the best was the orchid garden, which is part of the botanical garden. The orchid is the national flower of Singapore, and the garden was spectacular.

That evening we went to the night zoo, where we first saw a show with some of the animals, and then took a train ride through the park to see vignettes of wild nocturnal animals. This was quite enjoyable and we thought it was a pretty neat variation on zoos.

The next day we went on the best of the excursions we had planned, to the Jurong Bird Park. That is an incredible place. We have never seen such a variety of birds anywhere. Tina and I got permission to leave the group and walk the park on our own. We agreed to meet up with the group for the show at the end of our time there. Because we were on our own we were able to see much more than the group did. The best was seeing the hornbills and toucans being fed. We saw huge blue pigeons, many kinds of kingfishers, and birds from places like Bali, not forgetting, of course, the colorful parrots and two flocks of flamingoes (different species). The show at the end was spectacular. They had a hornbill flying up into the audience, a parrot that flew through hoops, and a small parrot that was able to sing "Happy Birthday" in three languages - Chinese, English and Malay. My familiarity with two of the languages was enough to convince me that the bird really was singing in those languages.

After all was said and done, about the only thing that would draw me back to Singapore is the Jurong Bird Park. The atmosphere there has no life, no heartbeat. The heartbeat has been squelched by the overly controlling law there. Most of the countries we went to, despite financial poverty, had a lively spirit about them that was almost totally missing in Singapore. The only places we'd been to that were deader than Singapore were Petropovlovsk in Siberia, and Brunei. Physical beauty can never make up for a lively spirit.





Chennai, better known to most as Madras, was our introduction to India. The dock area was covered with a thick layer of black mud. The band that was there to greet us put out a wonderful effort, but the people who were playing could not produce good music. This was our first time seeing such masses of people in such deep poverty, living on the streets and performing all of their bodily functions right there on the streets. We saw a beach area that had been hit by a tsunami, where people were living in makeshift shelters. There were plenty of goats and cattle around in most places we went.

Our tour included a set of miniature temples carved from a single piece of sandstone, the church where St. Thomas (the doubter) was reportedly buried, and a couple of other temples, one of which was carved into a cave in sandstone, with bas relief carvings on the outside which told about the gods. We had lunch at a nice resort way out in the country. The food was quite good. One thing that was interesting was seeing a lot of vacant properties that were walled or fenced. Apparently the owners do that even when they are not planning to use the property any time soon to keep the squatters out. No property is safe from squatters unless this is done. Many of the walls were covered with graffiti, in Tamil, the native language of the area. Even though the excursion itself was quite nice, seeing how the people live there left me in a state of shock. The shock was bad enough that I was not sure I'd ever want to see more of India.




After the shock of Chennai, I was not quite sure what to expect in Mumbai. At least the dock area was in much better shape than in Chennai. Our berth was opposite a naval yard, and our closest neighbor was an old ship that was serving as a museum, and which included old aircraft. We were once again greeted by a band; this one was pretty good, although nobody could do better than the Filipinos. We did a panoramic tour of Mumbai on the first day, and what we saw felt much more normal (by my definition). There were still incredible numbers of people everywhere, and there were cows. Some wandering alone, other oxen pulling carts. Our tour included a photo stop for the gorgeous Victorian train station and a visit to a Jain temple, as well as the hanging gardens.

One thing that helped to relieve my shock was that Deepak, one of our dance hosts, who is from Mumbai, took a group of single ladies to dinner at his club. He chartered a bus that allowed us to have additional views of the city, including the Queen's Necklace at night. The food at the club was outstanding, and the atmosphere nice. Knowing him, and having him show us more of what we would consider normal really helped my equilibrium.

For the second day we took a trip to the Elephanta Caves, which are at the end of the string of islands that are part of Mumbai. It was a long boat ride over there, but the scenery was interesting. There was a long flight of stairs up to the caves, and there were sedan chairs there for those who couldn't do steps. The ever-present vendors' stalls lined the way. The caves were carved out of the sandstone mountain - everything about them was handcarved, from the support columns to all the depictions of the Hindu gods. The sad part is that apparently the Portugese soldiers, when Portugal was colonizing that part of India, used the relief sculptures for target practice, so many of them are badly deformed. Fortunately it was still possible to see the beauty of the carvings. We also saw monkeys near the entrance to the caves. The final part of the trip was tea at the Taj Hotel. We were very lucky to have seen it when we did, because it was subsequently the target of terrorists.


I must say as a post-script that in the aftermath of that trip, especially after reading an old National Geographic article on the Untouchables, I have found compassion for those people, and would be interested in seeing more of India.