South Seas Adventures 2014

South Seas Adventures 2014

Our September cruise began as all good trips should: with an orchid and tuberose lei greeting at the airport (thanks, Nancy) and mai tais on the beach. Sailaway sunset on the Rhapsody of the Seas was spectacular and we began a pleasant at-sea life of laps around the deck and pools, visits to the gym, breakfast in the Solarium and morning lectures by Dr. Veronica Hendrick, professor at City College, NYC. We enjoyed getting to know her and her Mom Ronnie.
Afternoons brought reading and naps, movies, sunset boozies, dinner and entertainment. I was smitten with the violin and guitar playing of the Rosario Duo and became somewhat of a groupie, catching nearly every performance in the Atrium.
The sixth day brought us to the verdant island of American Samoa, where, as with all the islands visited, we were greeted at the dock with dancing and song. We took a tour of America's most exotic national park with Ranger Sam, who grew up on the island. He took us to a roosting spot for fruit bats, which chattered in the trees like birds, and described local legends and folklore on a hill overlooking the offshore islets where red-footed boobies nest. We watched coconuts husked and shredded, the meat strained to make coconut cream, which we enjoyed on cooked green bananas. Ranger Sam promised to send me a nature quiz, so I could get my Samoa junior ranger badge, to add to those I have from Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks.
Downtown Pago Pago embodied the South Pacific of dreams, with friendly locals in colorful pareos, funky buses in psychedelic colors and dogs sleeping in the shade of giant banyan trees.
We snorkeled in crystalline waters alive with technicolor creatures. Along with the usual array of colorful reef fish were royal blue starfish and coral of all colors and shapes: one resembled blooming lavender, another fresh-baked panettone, yet another looked like a pool of melted butter. One coral was shaped like the fingers of an upturned hand, each tip glowing an electric blue. It was spectacular.
In Apia, Samoa, we visited the fish market and beheld some of the colorful fish still glowing on the counters, sadly out of their element. Nancy and I hired a cab to explore part of the island and visit the cave pool outside of town, where we swam back to the farthest reaches of sunlight in the cool, clear water.
We visited the market in Suva, Fiji and bought a delicious soursop. I wanted to bring a second one onboard the ship, but was busted by the gangway guard and had to eat it on the dock. In a hired van, we visited a park and took a trail through the forest, stopping enroute to search for kava. All we found was the powder and since none of us knew how to mix and ferment it, we passed.
Our day in Vanuatu began with a visit to the beach, where Nancy and I took a boat to Hideaway Island for more spectacular snorkeling, while Terry and Jack hit the beach bar ashore. We next toured the Secret Garden, a garden, wildlife park and cultural center. This was somewhat momentous for Terry and I, because we got to encounter two exotic creatures we'd known only from the Travel channel and Andrew Zimmern: the fruit bat (aka flying fox) and coconut crab, the world's largest arthropod, reaching up to three feet across.
I found the bats adorable, although they smelled like skunks, and wrangled a slice of papaya so I could feed them. Terry got to hold a smallish coconut crab. Best of all, our driver knew a spot where we could, like Andrew Zimmern, eat one, and we did, seated aside a beautiful lagoon. Fruit bats were not on the menu.
New Caledonia was tres francais, with lovely beaches. Poisonous sea snakes are known to inhabit the island's waters and we saw one, dead, floating near the quay. Still, Nancy and I did go into the water at the Baie des Citrons, although not for long.
Arrival at Sydney meant the end of the cruise, and new adventures -- Nancy and Jack flying off to New Zealand and Terry and I staying in the beautiful city, taking ferry trips to Manly and a day excursion to the Blue Mountains, where we stopped enroute at Featherdale Wildlife Park for close encounters with iconic Australian critters.
 Most people think koalas win the cuteness contest, but I'd say echidnas are a close second. We were able to pet a koala in a rare waking moment. The marsupials sleep 20 or more hours a day, since their diet consists soley of eucalyptus leaves, which provide few nutrients and little energy.
It's no surprise everyone loves Sydney, which is a beautiful (and pricey) city. Strolling on weekends, one can't help but notice how many Aussies are tall, blond and good-looking enough they'd fit right into a Nicole Kidman or Elle Macpherson family reunion.
I took the ferry to the famed Taronga Zoo, where I met fellow animal lover Caroline, a charming visitor  from Quebec. We spent the day seeing all of the Australian oddities like echidna and platypus, stumbling in each other's language to express our delight.
Terry and I walked across the famed Sydney bridge, which afforded a spectacular view of the harbor. We loved Circular Quay, with its flurry of boat traffic and didgeridoo players, and The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, discovering a wonderful rooftop bar, where we spent our last night, watching a full moon rise above the iconic Opera House.
Photo video on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/ZJjL0M6YxZo

Southeast Asia 2013 aboard the Azamara Journey

Hong Kong

We arrived late evening in Hong Kong to a welcoming pot of jasmine tea at the Shangri-la in Kowloon, and had a thoroughly Chinese dim sum style breakfast the next morning. The city’s energy is palpable and we crammed  as much into our time as we could: riding the double decker hop-on bus through the “concrete forest,” cruising on the Star ferry between Kowloon and Hong Kong and prowling the shops on Cat Street , ascending Victoria Peak in the clanking aerial tram and enjoying a beer with a (hazy) view at the top. Drinks at the venerable Peninsula Hotel capped the day.

We found that Asia embraces Christmas décor as much as the rest of the world and marveled at the crowds lined up for holiday photos and the holiday lights that added another layer of glitz to the city’s dazzling skyline. An interesting respite to the bustle was a line of trees along the water near the Central ferry terminal in Kowloon, where birds noisily flocked to the branches as darkness fell, reminding us of the huge banyan in Lahaina, Maui. The end of the video captures Terry checking out a fisherman’s haul at the water’s edge.

Moving at a brisk pace and embracing technology, Hong Kong is a city of the future, with seemingly little nostalgia for the past. The South China Morning Post had a front page photo of an expansive Colonial-era mansion on the wooded slopes of Victoria Peak, with century-old turrets and pagodas that, despite preservationists’ pleas, had just been razed to make way for more condos.

Hong Kong photo show: http://www.photoshow.com/watch/Sv6Ts3re

Hanoi and Halong Bay

The road to Hanoi was bumpy and four hours long, past strange, narrow but deep houses, built to save on land prices, countless banana trees and water buffalo, emerald rice fields. The noise and congestion increased at the outskirts of the city, with chickens dodging traffic and heavily laden motorbikes whose drivers wore flip-flops and face masks. We toured the presidential palace, where Ho Chi Minh did not live, and the modest house where he did reside, taking daily walks down a shaded mango allee. Recent school graduates walked the grounds, posing for photos on the picturesque grounds. Terry found a great bowl of streetside pho for a couple dollars. American dollars are preferred in Vietnam and bargaining is expected.

Nearby Halong Bay was a place of incredible limestone karsts, islands and caves, some used by the Vietcong as hiding places during the “American War.” We toured with Nancy and Jack, who were our tour buddies throughout the cruise. A hazy day contributed to the otherworldly appearance, although the tour boats did not. A new provincial governor two years ago ordered them all painted white, eliminating the colorful cerulean blue, ocher and jade green-trimmed boats seen in earlier photos of this magical place. Forced to comply or lose their licenses, boat owners bought cheap white paint and hastily slopped in on the hulls, the excess spilling into the pristine bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Unheard were boat owners’ complaints that the newly-white boats become nearly invisible in the fog common to the area. Such is life in a Communist country. We were fortunate to be among the last visitors to observe the floating villages of the bay, where residents live in the sheltered inlets, the floats providing necessities like a school and medical clinic. The government has ordered the water people to move ashore in 2014, forcing the fishing families to adapt to life on land. A private company will manage the bay.

Despite everything, we found the Vietnamese to be sweet people, candid and graced with a wry sense of humor.

Hanoi and Halong Bay photo show:  http://www.photoshow.com/watch/sM2qT6Gr

Hoi An and Saigon

Traditionally-clad Vietnamese women met the ship at the dock in Saigon, loosing dozens of colorful balloons into the sky.

We took a day trip to Hoi An, considered one of the prettiest villages in Vietnam, with mostly pedestrian streets and a lively market along the river. We shared a cab there from Da Nang with Graham and Barbara, a British couple who’d taken this very cruise several times before. On the way back, we asked the driver to take us to China Beach, famed surfing spot enjoyed by American GI’s during the war. Today, its umbrella-dotted sands recall Hawaii, or any tropical beach anywhere and resort hotels are proliferating.

Saigon was frenetic and muggy, and we felt the impact of its four million motorbikes. Hospital masks helped, but by the time we set sail for Bangkok, I could only croak. Still, the city was interesting, the central market, dubbed the Les Halles of Saigon, a lively hub of commerce and the impact of the French more apparent in the former town hall (now Reunification Hall) and other colonial buildings. Contrasted with Hanoi, the seat of bureaucracy, Saigon is more modern and entrepreneurial.

We made our way to writer Graham Greene’s room #204 (he chose a corner room) in the century-plus Continental Hotel, had a beer at the rooftop bar of the Rex Hotel, rode in rickshaws (aka cyclos) and enjoyed some good food. Unlike bleaker Hanoi, the upscale heart of Saigon had glittery Christmas decorations on display – very incongruous snowmen and reindeer heading up to the tropical sky. One night, the ship staged a festive dinner ashore in a village-like setting, with traditional food, dance and crafts.

Throughout the daily jaunts, it was always a delight to return to the comforts of the ship, with its enlightening lectures, delicious food, custom coffees (“macchiato with an extra shot of espresso, please”) and free-flowing cocktails.
Hoi An and Saigon photo show:  http://www.photoshow.com/watch/IA7ym8tZ

Bangkok and Ayutthaya

Our stay in Bangkok was far more pleasant than the one in 2000, when Terry ended up in the hospital. Riding a mild wave of nostalgia, we went to the river, once again having drinks on the terrace of the Mandarin Hotel – this time coconuts –and visiting the nearby Royal Orchid, where we stayed and swam in the garden pool each morning. Gone from the busy river traffic were the teak barges we watched each day, since Thailand has since banned logging, being the second-most deforested country in Southeast Asia after Singapore, which isn’t obvious in that city’s green spaces. Also happily absent were the elephants who had once lurked under the freeway overpasses, their owners having brought the hungry animals into the city to beg. Pollution actually seemed improved, with far fewer tuk-tuks on the streets, and more cars. Perhaps as Vietnam grows more affluent, it too will have fewer exhaust-spewing motorbikes on the streets.

We trekked to the ancient city of Ayutthaya, once the grandest city in the known world and larger than London, now a series of crumbling temple towers, sinking into the swampy ground at odd angles. The ruins gave a sense of the power and riches that once existed there. The summer palace nearby is still used by the royal family for official functions and offers a peaceful oasis of calm and green. It’s easy to get “Buddha-d out” in Thailand, with wats and shrines on every corner, but the enormous reclining Buddha of Ayutthaya, with its attendant sleeping dogs, was memorable.

The guys had a Thai foot massage while Nancy and I practiced spinning silk at the Jim Thompson house, once home to the noted silk dealer. Then, blocked from the Chao Phraya river by one of those Bangkok demonstrations that have been making the news, we instead roared down a neighborhood klong in a boat that kicked up huge waves, debarking at the end of the line for a curry lunch.
Bangkok and Ayutthaya photo show: http://www.photoshow.com/watch/ng2gS7iU

Singapore

Known for its draconian laws (“death to drug traffickers”) and silly-seeming laws (fines for spitting or bringing chewing gum into the country), Singapore was a pleasant surprise, with immaculate streets and sidewalks (no gum or spit!) and verdant gardens. We had less than a full day, but made the most of it, touring the futuristic and new Gardens by the Bay and the 1859 Botanic Garden, with its expansive grounds redolent of tropical scents, humidity and the songs of countless unseen birds.  There are numerous specialty gardens within the garden, but my goal was the orchid garden, less than 20 years old, but world-renowned. It was an orchid lover’s vision of paradise, with orchids of all colors tucked into the trees, cascading over arches and massed in colorful displays. A cool house with running stream and waterfalls provided a home to the temperate climate mountain orchids, seldom seen outside their native habitat.

Compared with Vietnam and Bangkok, traffic is relatively quiet even in the heart of the city, and Singapore has designed it that way. Public transit is excellent and the cost of owning a car prohibitive, with imported cars assessed a 45% tariff, a $1,000-$5,000 registration fee AND an additional 150% of value tax at vehicle registration. Singapore was the first city in the world to implement an electronic road toll collection system for congestion pricing, which eliminates traffic jams. The government wants residents to ride public transit, and they do.

With all its steel and glass modern architecture, Singapore contrasts with Hong Kong in preserving Colonial-era architecture, like the atmospheric India Town and Chinatown, and the multi-million dollar Victorian mansions on tony Orchard Road. It’s a vibrant city, and an expensive one. At about 1.25 Singapore dollars to the U.S. dollar, a gin-laden Singapore Sling at the venerable Raffles Hotel was $27.
Singapore photo show: : http://www.photoshow.com/watch/DR3Er9ke

On the Danube 2012

In December of 2012 we took a Danube River cruise, visiting the Christmas markets of Munich, Passau, Salzburg, Bratislava and Budapest. Here's a link to the photo show of that trip: 

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/YP5RQ2wi