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