Victoria, Seychelles – March 28

Victoria, Seychelles – March 28

When we woke up this morning we could see some islands from our balcony and we were moving along very slowly so we assumed that we were almost to the port in Victoria, but we continued to putt along for quite a while. Finally the Captain made the announcement that a NATO warship was still at our dock but would be leaving soon and that we should only arrive a little over an hour late. Since we didn't have anything booked here it didn't make any difference to us – but it really screws up the shore excursion people. Pretty soon we saw the military ship go by us and we docked.

The islands are gorgeous, tall green mountains with white sandy beaches – no wonder it is such a favorite vacation spot. The main language here is French/Creole... somehow that surprised me as I thought that was pretty much just in the Caribbean....

We left the ship shortly after it was cleared and took the shuttle into the city center – it's probably only a couple miles but the traffic was bumper to bumper so it actually took about 15 minutes. We headed off to the central market just because I love them. This was probably the most colorful one I've ever been to. It didn't have a lot of variety; mostly vegetables, fruits and some fish stalls but it was good for pics. Then we headed across a street to a Hindu Temple! It was small, but another opportunity for some great pics and it was interesting to see how the statues changed from those in or nearer India; there were many here that reflected the black island population.

By now it's been a couple hours and it's about a million degrees and at least that much humidity so we just wandered around through the town and took the long way back to the shuttle and back to the ship. The town itself isn't too noteworthy; it's the resorts along the beaches that are the tourist draw but we had a good day anyway. I had hoped to also go to the botanic gardens, but I'm such a weenie, I said it was way to hot for me to walk through them today.

I mentioned the razor wire that is below the promenade deck in the earlier post about the actions that were taken as we are in the somewhat dangerous waters where the pirates are.  Here's a pic – You have to look closely to see the wire, but it's there.  I love the Welcome Home banner, it's up at every port.

Colombo, Sri Lanka – March 24

Colombo, Sri Lanka – March 24

The Captain had announced the night before the tour that Amsterdam would be docking at a pier in the container port as an Iranian navy ship had taken our pier at the passenger dock. Ok... I guess you don't argue with a ship that has big guns. The port agent arranged for everything to move to our dock and we were greeted by an elephant and some dancers as well as a row of vendors.

This was our second Ensemble Travel Group tour. After the extremely hot and humid weather of the last two ports nine of our passengers decided not to take the tour which meant there were only 29 of us and a little more room on the bus. Since our tour would get back right before the ship was scheduled to sail, as our people checked in with us we gave them their stickers and tickets and just told them to be on the bus at 8:30 and that they could go ahead and hit the vendors. It worked very well, everyone was happy and on the bus on time and we headed off for a tour through the city on the way to the National Museum. Although Sri Lanka is an independent country, it reminds me much of India and much of it is Hindu. There are also Muslims and Buddists as well. The country is trying to rebuild after many years of terrorism and strife. Our guide said that today they all live in peace and harmony.

The national museum was not air conditioned, but it was very interesting. I especially liked that we were given an hour and then cut loose with a time to return to the bus. That allowed those that weren't interested or got tired of the heat to return to the cool bus and the rest of us to do what we wanted in the museum. It was quite dark but my new little baby camera handled it extremely well!

After the museum we went to a Buddist temple – again, on our own with a 45 minute return time. Perfect, everyone enjoyed it and I got some great pics. There were many school age children all dressed in white; our guide told us that on Sunday they have a Buddism school in the temple. There was also an elephant off to one side that was very popular both with the tourists and the children. We did have to remove our shoes to enter the temple area and they even had an area with chairs which made it much easier for us (all us ol' folks) to put our shoes back on. Then it was off to the Hindu temple.

We were a little worried when we arrived at the Hindu temple as there was a sign that read Temple Closed, but our guide went in and they opened it for us – so no crowd of people here. Again we had free time for pictures or just looking around and then back to the bus. We were lucky all day that there were clouds to keep the temperature down a bit, but the humidity was rather like trying to breathe underwater.

Then after a bit more city tour we went to the 5 Star Hotel Cinnamon for lunch. Marvelous lunch, buffet style with tons of food – all excellent and desserts to die for! We did have a little excitement when two of our passengers decided to have a bit of a disagreement. At first there were just some raised voices, but then our cute little 90 year old man (that uses a walker) started shouting – which started the other man shouting; then the older one started banging on the table. I got there just as the old guy started to dive across the table after the other – I pulled him back into his seat and told the other one to back off. I told them I wouldn't stand for this childish behaviour -that seemed to calm things down and we all went back to our 5-star lunch. The tables were set with crystal and nice plates, etc. - - I had visions of their whole table settings getting shattered and having to pay for it...

Then it was back to the ship and we sailed away about 30 minutes later... I was hot, tired and sore so I spent the rest of the day on the nice cool bed reading.

Phuket, Thailand – March 21

Phuket, Thailand – March 21

We had to set an alarm for 5:30 this morning as our tour met at 7:00 – ack, but after one cup of coffee – that's my limit when I have a morning tour- it was ok. We headed off through Phuket city and then north across the whole island – then we crossed a bridge to the mainland and we were in Phang-Nga Province. Our first stop was at Wat Tham Suwan Kuha which has a temple in a cave. While the temple was interesting the real attraction was the monkeys – hundreds of them lived on the very steep hill outside of the temple. Cute little guys and since you could buy corn and bananas to feed them, they were very tame (and very well fed!). Then it was back onto the bus and on to Phang Nga bay for our boat tour.

By now it is beyond hot and we are all hoping that at least the breeze on the boat will help – it did and we all survived. We rode along through the bay just sightseeing – out and back was about 2 hours. I loved all the steep mountain islands that we passed – too bad the haze didn't make for very good pics. We also circled around James Bond Island – I'm not sure which film was shot there, but the guide said it was in 1977. Since our guide looked to be maybe 30 that must have seemed like an ancient movie to him. We stopped at the Muslim Fishing Village; it has a long Thai name, but the guide said no one uses it. It was almost destroyed by the tsunami in 2009 so most of the houses are rebuilt and they are just now rebuilding the mosque. Then it was back to the little dock and to a hotel for lunch. We were all looking forward to a nice cool air conditioned hotel... nope, no air conditioning, but it was outside on a shaded patio area and the food was great. Thank heavens the bus was nice and cool for our ride back to the ship.

We arrived about 30 minutes before we were to sail so instead of browsing through the large area of shopping stalls, we went back onboard. It was soooo nice to put on cool clothes and lie flat! Jim went to the movie at 6:00 but other than a quick dinner in the buffet I hardly moved off the bed the rest of the night. Totally pooped! Next we have 2 sea days before Colombo, Sri Lanka – that's where we have our second Ensemble Experience tour.

Porto Malai, Langkawi Island, Malaysia – March 20

Porto Malai, Langkawi Island, Malaysia – March 20

Hot Hot Hot. That pretty much sums up the day. It was 96 degrees with about 80% humidity. I didn't melt, but probably should have. It's a gorgeous island surounded by hundreds of smaller islands – it's only real purpose is a beach resort and the beaches were beautiful sugar sand. The town was full of hotels, resorts and restaurants and a large duty free shopping center (it was kind of like Walmart from what I saw of it).

We took the shuttle into town and decided our only real option was either to go to Underwater World or return to the ship. Most people were either going to the beaches or the shopping area. Underwater World was a great choice – it is quite well done and wasn't crowded at all so we had a lot of fun taking pictures of the fish (and penguins too!) in the large tanks. We spent almost 3 hours there and then took the shuttle back to the ship. It was even too hot to spend time on the balcony so we vegged out inside the cabin until 3:30 when I went to the folkloric show.

It will be an early night for us as we have an all-day tour booked for tomorrow in Phuket. I'm really hoping it will be a little cooler or at least that we have air conditioning in many of the places... or I might really melt. I'll let you know how it goes.

Singapore – March 18

Singapore – March 18

We docked in Singapore the afternoon of March 17 in a pouring rain. It did stop raining in a couple hours but we decided to wait until morning to head off the ship. So – at about 9:00 am we headed off the ship and wandered through all the shopping in the Harbor Front mall and then took a taxi to Little India. I loved looking at all the arts and crafts, but mostly at the gorgeous saris. These were jaw-dropping beautiful but I made it through the whole day without buying one. I did buy one on the last WC and it is still folded up in my sewing room because I can't think of anything to do with it. We stopped for lunch and had tandoori shrimp and enjoyed the air conditioning for a little while and then just before we got the taxi back I decided I wanted a henna design done on my hand. Jim rolled his eyes and did a 'yes, dear' - - so now I have one on my right hand. It's as close to a tattoo as I'll ever get and will fade away in a week or so. It's all flowers and swirls... kind of like the Zen doodles I've been doing.

I had hoped we could visit Chinatown too, but after about 5 hours of walking, my ankle was saying 'enough' so we taxied back to the ship and had a short rest before dinner. We were due to sail away a little after 9:00 pm but at 9:30 they were still awaiting clearance from Singapore immigration – I gave up and went to bed. Jim followed after just a little while and neither of us has any idea when we actually left port. Tomorrow is a sea day and our second Ensemble Cocktail party.

Nha Trang, Vietnam March 15

Nha Trang, Vietnam March 15

I was hoping for a really photogenic approach to our port – like we had approaching Saigon a few years ago but it was – just a regular port. We headed off the ship shortly after we docked hoping to beat the worst of the heat and were lucky to get on the first shuttle into town. The shuttle stopped at a hotel and then we took a taxi for a short tour.

We stopped to see the White Buddha above the Long Son Pagoda. White Buddha against a white sky... Then it was on to another temple. After that one we drove around the city for a while and then went to the central market. I love the markets for photos! We had asked the driver to wait 1 hour so we were careful not to get too lost and we made it back out at just about the hour. The market is a huge circle with stalls leading off in all directions so it was more difficult that it sounds... I suggested buying a loaf a bread and dropping bread crumbs to help us find the way.

We got back to the ship about an hour before the folkloric show so I dumped the camera card to be ready for it. I was still smelling the fish from the market... I finally realized it was in my clothes so I had to do a shower and change before I could go to the show... we were pretty stinky! I got there just before it started and was able to stand in a great spot in the balcony for pictures. When I got back to the cabin I realized how tired I was... that pretty much ended the day. We watched sail away from the balcony and I think I was asleep before 9:00.

Hong Kong March 11-13

Hong Kong March 11-13

It was very foggy and smoggy as we came into the harbor so it wasn't possible to see much. It seemed that pretty much as soon as we could make out some of the tall buildings we were pulling into our docking spot at the Ocean Terminal. We are in the best spot, but sadly our balcony faces the terminal/shopping area instead of the harbor so we have no view from there.

We started our stay with a 4 hour tour to the Big Buddha on Lantau – great tour! We had about a 45 minute bus ride and then rode the gondola up to the monastery and statue. It's a long ride up so we could see a lot of the area from on high. Our guide gave us a very quick briefing and then gave us a little over an hour before we needed to return. Then we rode the skyway back down and returned to the ship. Since it was a very foggy/smoggy morning I decided not to tote my big camera and we just took Jim's – I felt naked the whole time. He hasn't pulled the pics from his camera yet so I'll post the Buddah pics later.

After we returned to the ship, we had a quick lunch and then went into the Ocean Terminal to look at the shops... it's all Gucci, Armani, etc. While that's fun to look at for a little while, it's not my thing so we went up to the electronics floor... naturally I found a great camera shop AND decided to get a smaller camera – the Sony NEX7 with a nice zoom lens followed me home. A new toy to learn about. It's sure nice and light – the big one has just gotten a bit heavy to use as a 'walking-around' camera.

A little before 8:00 pm we went up to the top deck for the light show (I used my big camera since I already know how it works). It's a lot of fun to try to catch shots of all the laser lights – I got some shots that I like.

Day 2 – March 12

We headed off walking, just wanting to browse the area a bit. We walked along the harbor walk and then walked up Nathan Road window shopping all the way to Kowloon Park and then spent another hour in the park. It must be Flamingo mating season as they were putting on a great display. Jim's camera battery died about then and he said his feet had about had it so we made our way back to the ship weaving up and down a number of streets for a very late lunch – which means we won't be very hungry for dinner tonight.

I think I discovered the smallest McDonald's in the world... just had to post the pic.  It was in Kowloon Park.

I'll post more tomorrow afternoon.

Fireworks - Manila

I'm a little late in posting these, but we had a great time shooting that night.

Manila - March 9

Manila, Philippines March 9

Captain Mercer worked very hard to revise our time in port here to accommodate a group of people that wanted to visit Corregidor. It is a national park and is extremely limited for visiting – only one tour ferry goes each day and our time in port wouldn't work for it. He was able to dock earlier in the morning but we couldn't stay at the dock any later so he has arranged for the group to take a tender out to meet the ship at anchor outside the port area when they return.

The day here happens to coincide with the annual international fireworks contest and tonight Holland and Italy will be putting on their displays – the ship will anchor outside the port area so that we can watch the displays. Since this is a world-wide competition it should be pretty spectacular!

We took the shuttle into the city this morning. We wandered around a little, but didn't see any 'quaint' streets that we just had to visit so we went back to the shopping mall where the shuttle stops and I got an embroidered blouse and 4 big bags of potato chips – that should last me to the end of the cruise. [smile]

We are docked across from the Coast Guard dock and on the other side of our ship across our dock is the US Navy ship Blue Ridge. They have two gangways out so it must be a big shore-leave stop. It's been kind of a cloudy, hazy, smoggy day here with little wind but (now) this afternoon it's getting really hot on our balcony so it was time to come in here where it's cool for a while.

Many of the ship staff and crew are from Manila and they arranged a big family day for them and invited all their families onboard – it was packed up in the lido. The ice cream guy must have had 25 people in line for ice cream cones. They just rang the chimes (it's 3:30) and announced that it is time for all visitors to leave the ship.

There wasn't a lot that grabbed me for photos, but here are a couple shots of the Jeepneys.

Puerto Princesa - March 7

Puerto Princesa, Philippines March 7

This is a new port to receive cruise ships. While a few other ships have docked here, it was the maiden call for Amsterdam and there were many people on the dock to greet us. The had dancers and drummers and several hundred school children that handed out shell necklaces to all the passengers as we got off the ship. We had been told that this was a rather primitive port in that their tourism industry was just beginning and that transportation might be in 'older vehicles'. I know a number of passengers decided to cancel tours, but quite a few did them anyway. Much of this island is a National Park and a UNESCO National Heritage Site. There is an underground river that goes for miles – it is supposed to be the longest underground river in the world. One of the tours did the river but I haven't talked to anyone that went on it yet. I'm quite interested to see what they have to say about it. We decided to get a tri-cycle (trishaw, tuk tuk whatever) and just do a tour of the city. It was a perfect choice. Our driver's name was Eugene and he took us to most of the important sites. After seeing some of the city Jim asked him if there was a zoo – he said yes, 20 minutes away. A very long and bumpy 20 minutes later we arrived at the crocodile sanctuary... not exactly what we were hoping for, but we toured it anyway and then did the long, bumpy ride back to the ship. It really was a perfect half-day for us, we spent the rest of the day alternating between sitting on the balcony and in the cabin to cool off.

In this part of the world I love seeing the differences in the small boats as you move from country to country. Here they were long skinny canoe-type boats with two outriggers. Some were small; holding only one or two people and others were huge and transported 50 or so people. While the city was fairly large and had some modern buildings, much of it was made up of the tiny family-run shops or restaurants with the house behind. Along the shoreline were huge clusters of houses (shacks) - some built out over the water on stilts.

I didn't get as many photos here as I would have liked as shooting from the try-cycle was impossible and the roadways were packed with vehicles; mostly tri-cycles or jeepneys which are used as small buses. The jeepneys are stretched jeeps. Hopefully I'll get some shots of them in Manila tomorrow.