Homeward Bound

Our last day proved to be our toughest, most stressful day. It started peacefully with a late breakfast. Then we walked to the nearby Hong Kong Museum of Art. They had an excellent exhibit on Chinese porcelain from 3000 BC to the last dynasty. It was interesting to see the sophistication of the early pieces primarily used in burials up the the multicolored porcelains of recent years. There was also an exhibit of how Chinese artists tried to copy western techniques for paintings for export. The exhibit displayed how paintings became more sophisticated over time: lighting, shadows, perspective, how motion was represented, etc It was a great art education - they did it by comparing two paintings of similar scenes next to each other and noting the differences. The final exhibit was a special - a huge show of Andy Warhol art. Boy, was he a self-centered buy with numerous self-portraits as well as many of his famous studies: Marilyn Monroe, photos and acrylics of numerous famous people, and, of course, the Campbell soup cans.
We were supposed to be picked up at 1:30 for our airport ride. Connie and Enzo were picked up at 1:20, but that driver didn't have our name. At 1:40, I had the concierge call the emergency number. He consoled us in the Chinese style - someones coming, caught in traffic, just around the corner, etc. But it was clear that they had forgotten us and had called a new driver to pick us up. We started out 1/2 an hour late, but traffic was negligible, so we were at the airport two hours before our flight. But that didn't stop us from getting nervous all the way there.

Qing Dynasty Vase (18th century)

It was a twelve hour flight to Los Angeles and we had a four hour window to make our 5:55 PM flight to Denver. But it started raining in Hong Kong with lightning, forcing the workers off the tarmac. We alternated between sunshine and lightning three times before they finally loaded the last bags and we took off - 2 1/2 hours late.
When we arrived in LA, we had 90 minutes to get through immigration, get our bags, change terminals, check-in, and catch our plane. Thank goodness our bags were among the first - we ran (or as close to it as we could with six pieces of luggage) to the transfer shuttle. We arrived at the ticket counter with 40 minutes until take-off. There was no else in line. We were five minutes past 'last bag check-in' time, but they took our bags anyway and didn't charge us. They gave us instructions on how to get to the gate in the shortest possible time. The security line was short, but Mary's knee required a personal pat-down. Past security, we found a cart, he took us and our carry-ons, and rushed us to the gate - we were the last to board the plane. Two hours later we arrived in Denver and so did our luggage. Yeah!
So how do we summarize the trip? The stays in Singapore and Hong Kong were expensive, but we were centrally located, next to the action. But we could have seen most of what we saw by taking the ships excursions. The ship's itinerary was great - two days in each port allowed us to do multiple tours. The only problem was the distance of the ports to the major sites: lots of 2-3 hour bus trips each way. Celebrity Cruises had the friendliest crew and the largest entree' selection we've seen. We were particularly impressed that one of the cocktail waitresses, took our order once. The next 3times we ordered from her, she knew our names and our drink preferences. Amazing!

 But desserts and soups were substandard and drinks more expensive (and not that good), and we missed the on-board laundry facilities.
If you'd like to see more pictures and videos of this trip, just to go to youtube for a 17 minute video.
Vietnam was really interesting: the guides really helped us understand its history. HaLong Bay was the hit of the tours as I expected. Of course, what made all these adventures special was that we got to share the experience with five other friends.



Enzo, Connie, Cindy, Paul, Bob, and Mary

Hong Kong Island

We decided to do a half day tour of Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong consists of 260 islands plus a peninsula of the mainland. All told it is seven million people on 1100 square km. Hong Kong island itself is 1.2 million people in 18 square km. Most of the manufacturing jobs have left Hong Kong for the mainland's cheaper labor. Ninety percent of the jobs now are in the service industries: retail, hotels, finance, etc. Unemployment is only 3.5%.

View from Victoria Peak to Financial District

We took the funicular, built in 1898 to the top of Victoria Peak (554m). From here as you faced north, the finance district was below us with Kowloon across the harbor. Everywhere you look are high rise buildings. But from the other side looking east we see trees in Pok Fu Lam County Park, the South China Sea and a reservoir.
We travelled further to Aberdeen fishing village. What we saw was a town with many high rise buildings. The fishing village is on the water, small fishing boats, a few house boats, and many fishing trawlers. Most of the people have been moved to the high rises over time, but at one point four thousand people lived on their boats. Now, however, because of land reclamation, the harbor is much smaller. We tour the harbor on a motorized Sampan to see the boats and the two large floating restaurants.

Floating Restaurant at Aberdeen

After the obligatory jewelery shop stop, we went to the Stanley market. Lots of booths selling about everything, but it seemed more touristy than yesterday's markets. On this side of the island there are quite a few beaches and a few mansions belonging to the richest men in Hong Kong. The landscape is full of contrasts: forested areas in the hills followed by towns with lots of high rises.
In the evening we watch the laser and light show on forty building along the harbor. No Disney spectacular, but it was different!

Hong Kong Shopping

We transferred from the ship to our hotel, the Langham, right off the shore front in Kowloon. We're with Enzo and Connie. We decided to walk Nathan Road, the major high end shopping district here. We walked about two miles down to the 'Ladie's Market' about four blocks of booths selling purses, blouses, shoes, etc. On the way back we stopped at the Jade Market, lots of booths selling pearls and jade. By the time we walked back to our hotel we were exhausted. We went out to dinner along the waterfront. The food was delicious, but the service was really poor, and we struggled to find someone who spoke English.

Shopping the Ladie's Market

Macao

Our arrival in Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong about 7 AM to be greeted by fire boats hurling water into the air, a swarm of reporters as well as drummers with dancing dragons. Apparently, we are the first ship to dock at their new ship terminal, built at the site of the old airport. The terminal nominally won't be finished until June (though they hadn't even finished the exterior yet, so I think that is optimistic). The Queen Victoria bumped us from the current ship terminal, which turned out to be 1 block from our hotel, the Langham).
We had a 45 minute trip to the ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island and then an hour jet ferry ride to Macao. This is the former Portuguese colony, returned to China in 1999. Half a million people live in 28 square miles. Two-thirds of the land has been reclaimed from the sea.
We started our tour at the Museum of Macao, built in an old fortification. Here was the story of Macao from 1553, when the Portuguese landed in a tiny fishing village and established this as a way station for trade with China and Japan.
After our museum visit we walked to the nearby front facade of St. Paul's, destroyed three times by fire, the last in 1835. We walked through the shopping district to another church, St. Dominic's, dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima.

Father Bob and Mary in front of St. Paul's

From there we drove to A-ma temple, a Daoist temple dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea. This is located where the Portuguese first landed. Our surprise lunch was at the top of the Macao Tower, 60th floor. Here we had a great lunch buffet while watching Macao rotate beneath us. Final stop was the MGM Grand Casino, one of thirty-six in Macao. These casinos generate 6-7 times the gross receipts of Las Vegas, and have become the number one industry on the island.

Macao's version of Plymouth Rock

Hanoi

Farmer and local graves

From HaLong Bay to Hanoi is a 3 1/2 hour bus trip, three hours on a two-lane road plus a half hour for rest rooms and shopping. The narrow (4M), long (15M) three story housing is even more predominant here then it was in the South. Most have a shop in the bottom floor and house multiple generations above. Almost the entire trip was spent traversing villages with rice crops between the towns. It was transplanting time for the rice, so we saw a lot of


farmers in the water with their conical hats (very useful for sun shade, carrying your lunch, fanning yourself or dipping water).
Hanoi has been the capital since about 1000 AD. It lies along the Red river which was pretty dry today, but has historically flooded often.
Our guide was superb, telling us about life in Vietnam. Her husband's father was a South Vietnamese government official, who didn't escape when the South fell. His son couldn't get an education, join the army or work for the government because of his father. His son will also be restricted because the government looks for 3 generations of loyalty. She had a traditional wedding: the first day in traditional red dress with her family, the second day in a western white dress celebrating with both families. The date was selected by a Buddhist monk based on the time of her birth.
Similarly funerals are two day affairs. The body lies in the house of the first day and then is buried on the second day at a time selected by the monks. The spouse will pray three times a day for one hundred days in mourning. The body will be reburied after three years, the bones rearranged in an ornate tomb.

Temple of Knowledge

We walked the old town: lots of narrow streets with stores on all sides and motorcycles everywhere.
Our next stop was the Temple of Literature built in 1070 by Emperor Ly. This is a Confucian temple where (as in our story) people studied to become Mandarin.Around the temple are 82 turtles bearing plaques with the 1040 names of the graduates who passed the highest level of exams from 1000 to 1922. The visit was enhanced because we had graduates of the University of Hanoi in their traditional robes and dresses getting their graduation pictures taken.

University of Hanoi Graduate

After lunch, we went to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and independence square. Nearby is the Presidential Palace built by the French and a short distance from there is the House on Stilts used by Ho Chi Minh from 1954 until his death in 1959. Finally we saw the Pagoda on a Column originally built by the emperor to celebrate the birth of a son.
Then onto the bus for another 3 1/2 hour trip to the ship, arriving about 7:30 PM. Dinner was pizza.

Ha Long Bay

Entering HaLong Bay

In the morning, the ship traversed the limestone formations of HaLong Bay. The name of the bay  means "where the dragon descends into the sea", an appropriate name. We reached our mooring outside the city of HaLong about 1 PM. All the local touring boats engaged in a battle for space alongside the ship for our tour. The bay has 1600 unnamed and 968 named islands within 1500 square kilometers. Out tour took us to Thien Cung Cave, a large cave which can hold 400 people at a time. The cave reminded me of Carlsbad Caverns because of the colored lights used to highlight the limestone formations inside. While there were lots of steps, everything was well paved to make it easy for tourists to visit.

Thien Cung Cave

After our cave visit, we sailed through more of the islands including a floating fishing village. Of course, the fisherman came alongside our boat to sell us fruit. The children were adept at climbing aboard and asking for money. The rock formations were beautiful as we cruised between the islands.

Floating Fishing Village

Hue'

Imperial City of Hue'

After a day at sea, today we reach the imperial city of Hue', home to the kings of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945. We spent most of the morning inside the citadel built between 1805 and 1832. The Citadel was of French design. Within the Citadel was Vietnam's version of the Forbidden City (in Beijing). This was the residence of all thirteen kings during this era. The city was 70% destroyed between the battles in 1945 and the 1967 Tet Offensive. It is slowly being restored with an expected completion in 2025. The palace was built according to Feng Shui with a balance between water, winds and the mountains. After passing through the main gate, we came to the Harmony Palace or audience room. The red and yellow colors of royalty abounded. Throughout the grounds were brass urns commemorating victories as well as serving as a source of water in case of fire. Throughout are figures of dragons, symbolizing the power of the king. When we came to the queen's quarter's we encountered the symbol of the Phoenix.
Our next stop was Thien Mu (Heavenly Lady) Pagoda built in 1601. It is seven stories high, representing the seven steps of Buddha's enlightment. On one side was a turtle bearing a plaque and on the other, a huge bell with a water monster on top. In the back was a monastery with the tomb of the monk who built the pagoda.

Heavenly Pagoda

After a delicious Vietnamese lunch at the Century Hotel featuring pancakes with peanut sauce and spring rolls, we went to Tu Duc Tomb. This is the tomb of the fourth king of Vietnam, but not only was it his tomb, it was his residence for 16 years, since he was very long-lived. It was a beautiful place with waterways, a tea house, the king's residence, and the tomb. Thought it appears that his body was hidden elsewhere.
A long, but interesting day.

Tu Duc Tomb Grounds

Vung Tau

Trying to stay white

We visited the sea side resort of Vung Tau, crowded with Saigon residents for the weekend. All those scooters were parked near the parks and bars. Most people were relaxing in the shade, the few in the water wore T-shirts to stay white.

Daos Temple

Our first stop was a Chinese temple dedicated to whales (good luck for fishermen). Nearby was a Daos temple to worship  your ancestors. On top of the hill was the White Palace first used by the king, then the French, and now a museum displaying Chinese pottery found in a nearby sunken ship.
We went to visit a Vietnamese pagoda with a prostate Buddha and the monk ringing a bell periodically. Then onto the beach and the last stop a huge statue of Jesus on the hill.
John, our tablemate, recognized this seaside resort because his ship was stationed off the coast for several months during the Vietnam war.

Reclining Buddha

Saigon

South Vietnam, the Mekong delta, is the rice basket of the nation. In ancient times, this was part of Cambodia. Saigon was largely planned by the French, so it has wide boulevards, and since it wasn't destroyed by war, many modern buildings. Officially, called Ho Chi Minh City, since the civil war, many of its 10 million residents still refer to it as Saigon. The streets are filled with scooters and motor bikes, because prices are reasonable $300-1000 in a place where people make $500-600 per month. Cars have high taxes to discourage their use - $40,000 for a car, about the same price as a 2 bedroom apartment. We also saw lots of women with masks and long sleeves in the 90 degree weather because "white skin is beautiful".

Saigon Traffic

 

Our first stop was the former Presidential Palace, now called the Reunification Palace, where two tanks entered the grounds at 11 AM, April 30th, 1975 signifying the end of the war. Completed in 1966 this palace was built over the French palace, destroyed during an assasinantion attempt against President Diem. He was a Catholic in a Buddhist country, known for nepotism and the suppresion of Buddhists. The palace was fairly simple, especially the Presidential office and the numerous map rooms from which the war was conducted.

Presidential Office

 

Nearby was Notre Dame Cathedral designed by Eiffel and completed in 1891. Then onto the history museum depicting the stone age to the present day. Most interesting were the depictions of how the Vietnamese defeated the Chinese during the 10th century and the Monguls in the 13th century. They used iron tipped stakes in the mouth of the river. Then lured their enemies into the river at high tide, as the tide receded the boats were trapped and sunk by the stakes. Unique was the water puppet show, a Vietnamese art.

Our final stop was a Chinese temple from 1760. Here people wrote their wishes on rice paper and tied it to an incense coil, which would burn for 4 days.

Incense Coils

The Sacred Willow

In preparation for this trip, I've been reading "The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family". It helped to understand both the history of the Vietnamese people and their current viewpoints based on this history. The original Vietnamese started in what is now North Vietnam and while they were separate from the Chinese they were heavily influenced by them. The family story begins with the Great Grandfather, who is studying the ways of Confucius, in order to become a Mandarin. A mandarin is in the government official, who serves the king, and his studies help him understand the importance of serving the people. In those days, government jobs were often poor paying, but very prestigious. The Grandfather too, became a mandarin. He was one of the last to earn his degree from the Temple of Knowledge (which we will visit in Hanoi). But he graduated during the century of French occupation, which meant while he served the king, they were under the dictates of the French authorities. Of course, the Vietnamese people hated being ruled by the French and thus there was always the tension of serving the French or rebelling against them. Ho Chi Minh began his rebellion against the French in the 1930's. Members of the family, served under Ho Chi Minh, even during the time they had to remain hidden in the mountains of the country.
During World War II, the Japanese took over Vietnam, but upon their defeat, the Vietnamese hoped to take back their country, until the French with American backing retook the country. However, this didn't stop Ho Chi Minh, he began the war of independence against the French, which eventually led to his winning North Vietnam in 1954 and a supposed vote of the people in 2 years for the people of South Vietnam to choose their government. The family had members on both sides of this war. Her sister was married to a communist and followed where he led. Since the author's father had been a civil servant for the French, they fled North Vietnam for South Vietnam, fearful of what the communist government would do to former officials.

The leaders of South Vietnam never let that vote occur, leading to the Vietnamese civil war. The United States had been involved with Vietnam since the end of World War II, and we got sucked into their civil war in 1963 based on the "domino theory" that all of South East Asia would become communist if Vietnam became such. According to the book, we chose the wrong side, because the emotions of the people were for 'independence', not another puppet government supported by a foreign power. We signed the peace accords in 1973, leaving the South Vietnamese government to fight the civil war on their own (but with still plenty of military supplies). They made a fatal error by retreating from central Vietnam, which left the rest of S. Vietnam worried that they too would be abandoned. This eventually led to the Vietcong taking over Saigon in 1975. Most members of the author's family that were in South Vietnam managed to escape on one of the last helicopter flights out of the Saigon before the fall. Of those, who remained many were 're-educated' in the camps, somehow surviving on meager rations.

The 1975 to 1986 period was a period of shortages, ration coupons and long lines as Communism and communal farming were practiced. In 1986, a market economy was started economically, while still being ruled by the Communists politically. This has allowed the country to flourish. We observed that the roads were good, people have scooters and color TVs, food is plentiful. In fact, Vietnam is a major exporter of rice and coffee today.

This book really provided some excellent perspective as we began our trip through Vietnam.

Ayutthaya

The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom Pavillion

 Our port is about 2.5 hours outside of Bangkok, so we had a long trip for our tour. Our most interesting stop of the day was Bang Pa-in Palace, built in the the 19th century by Rava IV as his summer residence on the site of an old monastery, built in the 17th century. The palace was rebuilt after a 1938 fire and is used primarily as a reception area for dignitaries.
In the middle of a pond is the Aisawan-Dhipaya Pavilion, the Divine Seat of Personal Freedom, a classical Thai style building. Another ornate building, built in Chinese style is the Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrun, Heavenly Delight Royal Residence, all in black, gold, and red. This was used as a royal residence by Rama VI. (The current king is Rama IX.) The gardens were beautiful, especially the elephant and rabbit topiaries. Finally, the Ho Withun Thasana, Sages Lookout, had great views of the entire complex.

Buddha Face at Wat Mahathat

Of course, no visit to Thailand is complete without an elephant ride. Since elephants are seldom used by logging anymore, tourist shows and rides have become the alternative employment for these domesticated elephants. We had a 15 minute ride near an ancient Wat in the city of Ayutthaya.
After lunch at a nearby hotel, we visited two temples in the afternoon. Ayutthaya was the capital of Thailand from the 1300's until 1767 when it was burned by the Burmese. At the time, there were 500 temples, but all were burned, many to melt and capture the gold sheaving. Wat Mahathat was built in 1347 and is best known today for it's Buddha face in the fig tree. It's a large complex with numerous stuppas, but all in rubble.
Wat Chai Watthanaram was built in 1632 near the river. It is being reconstructed because the buildings are quite unstable. The central prang is 35m tall with four smaller prangs surrounding it. These represent the Buddhist world view, Mount Muru, the central axis of the world, surrounded by the four continents. Our guide during this tour told us very little of what we were seeing, so I've had to rely on other sources to fill in the details.

Wat Chai Watthanaram

 

Thailand

Panda Garden at Nong Nooch Village

We left Singapore about 2 PM on Monday and crossed the Bay of Thailand over the next two days, landing at the port of Laem Chabang at 10 AM today. The port is just outside the beach resort town of Pattaya. We saw a lot of condominium towers and restaurants to serve the many who escape winter here. Our tour went to Nong Nooch Village, which was primarily a themed garden. First was a French garden, but after that each garden had statues to set a theme: penguins, mastodons, flamingos, tigers, and turtles. While the statues were different, the garden plants were not varied. They also featured a show with Thai dancing and Thai boxing (very staged). The best part of the show were the elephants who played basketball, rode bikes, bowled, and painted rural scenes.
We didn't get back to the ship until 7 PM, an hour past our 6 PM early seating. So we ate at the buffet, only to find out the next day that only 150 of the 1100 people showed up for dinner. They encouraged us to eat at our regular seating up to 7 each evening.
After dinner they had a local dance troop come in and entertain with dances from the various areas of Thailand. The costumes were fantastic.

Night Safari

Our shuttle to the ship was at 11:30 so we slept in and had a big breakfast. We still got to the ship before our rooms were ready, so we had a champagne and chatted. We managed to while away most of the day.
Our tour for the day was the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo. This was quite unique - the natural areas were lit like the full moon was shining.
The animals were active and in many cases they were feeding. We started with a tram ride. The animals were often only ten to twenty yards away. Highlights included the Striped Hyena, Lions, Cape Buffalo, the Malayan Tapir, Sambar Deer, and the Asian Rhino. Then we took a short walk to see Mouse Deer, the Fishing Cat, the Himalayan Thar (goat) and the Asian Otter. We ended our evening with human torches in a Thumbuakar dancing performance. All in all an interesting evening.

Exploring Singapre

We made use of the hop on, hop off buses to explore Singapore. We passed by the Singapore Flyer observation wheel, the world's largest and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which is the hotel that looks like a surfboard on top of three towers. We spent most of the morning at the Botanical Gardens. Most of the gardens are free, but we paid the 80 cents (senior price) to see the orchid garden, world famous for the hybrids developed here.

Orchids at the National Orchid Garden

In the afternoon, we walk Little India, which did remind us of the marketplaces of India including the blaring music. The highlight of the walk was the ornate temple of Sri Veerama Kaliamman.

Temple of Sri Veerama Kaliamman

As we toured the city, we were amazed by the amount of new construction going on everywhere. Construction cranes seem to dominate, especially near the Singapore river. They are also re-purposing their City Hall and Supreme Court building, redoing the insides, while keeping the facade to create a visual arts museum.
Next stop was Arab street. We stopped for lunch and a beer to cool off. There were lost of Middle Eastern restaurants, the Masjid Sultan Mosque, and numerous shops selling silks and fabrics.

Masjid Sultan Mosque

By this time we were tired and it started to pour rain, so we stayed on the bus through colorful Chinatown, rather than exploring that area. At the end of the tour, we found we could cover most of the way back to our hotel if we went underground. Here the shops were plentiful and the crowds thick, no wonder the sidewalks on the surface were relatively quiet!

On the way to Singapore

Singapore from our hotel window

If you're more of a viewer, rather than a reader, there is a 17 minute video of this trip on youtube.

Our route to Singapore was through LA and Hong Kong. We started out somewhat nervously when the United Airlines agent struggled to produce luggage tags because we were flying two separate itineraries. The LA to Hong Kong leg was 15 hours leaving at 10:15 PM and arriving at 6:15 AM. Since it was dark the entire flight and Mary was taking a muscle relaxant, we both slept well. We arrived in Singapore after another 3 1/2  flight and were happy to see our bags. There were ships everywhere as we flew close to the island, since Singapore guards the Singapore straights, a key shipping channel.
   Our first impression of Singapore was how clean the city was, the amazing amount of construction going on, and how efficient everything seemed to be. We had one of the landmarks of the city visible from our hotel window - the surfing board style hotel on the waterfront.  Singapore is an island, just off the coast of Malaysia. It was a British colony, but has been an independent country since 1965. The island is a major financial hub for the world, it's downtown area is crowded with high rise banks and they are reclaiming more land to actually move the financial center there.

Bronze Drum

   We freshened up then proceed to walk with Connie and Enzo to the Asian Civilization museum. The most interesting portion of the museum was the artifacts from Southeast Asia: everything from bronze drums to textiles to Buddhist artifacts. The exhibit included items from many of the different cultures and tribes of SE Asia. The traveling exhibit featured Buddhist art from Thailand including items from Ayutthaya which we will visit in a few days. In addition, there were sections on China and Western Asia, filled with Islamic items.

Makana, sea creature from Hindu mythology