Ka Samui

Today was our last port before we return to Singapore to end the cruise.  Tomorrow is an at sea day.  We have enjoyed the cruise but I am about templed out.  The heat takes a toll and the highlight was surely Ankor Wat for us and after that, the heat just wore us out.  Today we took a tour around this island known as the coconut island of Thailand. We saw how they train monkeys to climb the palm trees and harvest the coconuts.  Our monkey was a bit naughty and at first would not pick the coconuts but after a few minutes he did and then came down for his reward.  

Then we saw the Big Buddha temple and a smaller temple.  I had planned to shop some in town but it was so hot and it was a longer walk for Jim to where the tenders were so we just came on back and relaxed.  

Tomorrow we will pack and hope it all fits.  Why do dirty clothes take up more room than the clean ones did?

Pattaya, Thailand

Today is the stop near Bangkok but we have already toured there before so we just took a shuttle to the beach town about 45 minutes from the ship.  It was actually a very busy bustling city and had I been wanting a beach day, I would have been sorely disappointed.  We walked over to the beach to take photos and could not get down to the water because the beach chairs were right at the waters edge. Jim's legs are bad today so he went back to the hotel where the shuttle dropped us and used the web.  Some friends and I went to do some shopping but we were through in a short period of time as it was not a great souvenir place.  So we are spending the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the air conditioning.  Asia is HOT and HUMID.  I kid you not!  

Ankor Wat

Today was a full day for sure! We toured two temples an the morning and two in the afternoon.  We started out at Ankor Wat which to me was the biggest and prettiest of the temples.  The steps were uneven and we had to be very careful. It was easy to get lost too as there were so many corridors and steps. There is a big moat around it and the grounds are lovely.  There are also monkeys on the grounds and I especially enjoyed them.  Jim climbed to the very top of Ankor Wat but the heat had me by that time.   The heat here is unreal! And we were just drenched with sweat.  We walked across the bridge to the moat on our way in but they took us back to meet the bus in little open electric cars.  

Then we drove out from town to a temple and it was enjoyable to see the local people at work along the way.  That temple was spread out and less intact than Ankor Wat.  Again, after the heat, the drive back to Siem Reap was nice in the air conditioned bus.  

We went to a local hotel for a buffet lunch.  None of the meals have been good for me.  

After lunch we went to a silver and silk store which they said are their local industries.  Then it wa,s off to two more temples.  The venders here are almost as bad as the ones in Egypt that we have complained about.  They are so persistent and are in your face. No fun. And American dollars are the norm like they were in China the first time we went.  

Our flights were interesting experiences and we would have thought things would have been smoother with princess doing it.  The hotel room is really nice and free wifi. We enjoyed that except we were too exhausted to stay up to use it much.  

The meal last night was by the pool and there were dancers who did traditional dances.  

Goodbye Vietnam, hello Cambodia

Today we started outer 3 day trip to see Ankor Wat.  We were to meet early so it was an early morning.  The tour seemed disorganized and was an hour late leaving.  There are 3 bus loads on our your. They sent us our bus stickers the night before and we were on bus #3. We finally got on our bus and the guide passed around a sheet for us to verify our names for our flights.  Three guesses whose names were wrong. We knew there was another Burton couple on the cruise as we got their suitcase in addition to ours when the cruise started.  We told them the name was wrong and kept asking them to check to see that the passport they had was ours. Finally at lunchtime, they did and discovered they had mixed us up. We had to change buses and groups midstream and get our luggage and all. Groups 1 & 2 were flying out at 4:30 but group 3 was not going until 7:30.  We had to sit on the very back seat of the bus and there was a curtain that kept us from seeing anything.  But we were disappointed in Saigon anyway. Nha Trang was so lovely and we thought the drive would be scenic and Saigon lovely too but to us, it was not. It is just a big crowded dirty city.  The airport experience was just as disorganized. We stood in long lines while others broke in front of us and nothing went smoothly but we got here and the hotel is lovely with free wifi!

Tomorrow is Ankor Wat all day. Will try to post photos afterwards

Good Morning, Vietnam!

Today we tendered at Nha Trang, Vietnam.   It was a beautiful day and I was amazed at how beautiful the country and this city was.  It is modern and vibrant and has beautiful beaches with big waves.  We took a tour which was really excellent and we saw all the important places here.  We had an immigration card delivered to our rooms last night so have to keep up with that as well as our boarding card.  First we went to a temple up on a mountain.  There were 188 steps up and we made it.  We even got a Byron's cup photo for whenever we have wifi time to upload it!  There was a huge Buddha at the top.  Next we went to a place where there dancing for us to see, lots of souvenirs but our guide told us not to buy there but to wait. Naturally, the prettiest stuff we saw was there and no where else had anything much we wanted. Oh well.  They gave us coconut milk to drink out of the coconut-not our favorite.  On to the next stop which was the silk embroidery place. It was nice but not as nice as the china ones we had seen.  Next we went to a house where they had lovely music for us, a gorgeous sea view.  From there we went to a Hindu temple which was very interesting.  We had to walk across a big bridge to get there with traffic zooming around us.  I've never seen so many motorbikes.  

After the Hindu temple, we went to the big market which was crazy busy and had too much stuff to look at.  Then, it was back to the tenders to the ship.  There were stalls of souvenir stuff at the tender dock, and it seemed all the tours arrived back at the same time. The lines were enormous to wait for tenders but they moved it along as well as they could.  It was hot and humid and we were tired when we got back to the ship.  

Brunei

Today our port was the country of Brunei.  It is a very small country but very rich because of the oil found there.  We first just went off the ship into the terminal and looked at the few shops, used the free Internet and watched the dancers that were there.  

We went back on board and ate lunch. I am thankful to have found the pizza does not have garlic or onions so it is the one thing I can go get without going to a formal restaurant.  Everything is set up for formal dining and the buffet has almost nothing except snacks. 

Our tour was good and lasted right up until time for the ship to leave. First we visited the village up on stilts in the water. It was very interesting and we docked and walked on the plank boardwalks to a house which was set up to serve some traditional Brunei snacks. I think the main chatter about this when we left was about the toilet which a few desperate ladies tried. For the men it was not such an issue but the word quickly spread to wait for the museum.  We went by mosques and the royal palace and ended up at the Regalia museum which was filled with all the ornate things from the coronations of the Sultan. I did manage to spot two monkeys on a bank of a creek and I assume they were the probiscus monkeys that are only found here. 

Observations about this cruise.  The passengers are about 80% Australian with some Asians, Canadians, and a fewAmericans.  There seem to be a lot of small charges here and there.  Today at breakfast I was told there was a charge for hot chocolate, which I had had yesterday with no charge. I asked why it was printed in the menu if there was an extra charge. Turns out there is no charge in the formal dining rooms but there is at the buffet.....go figure. Anyway, I got my hot chocolate after all.  

The ship is beautiful and I like the room better than NCL but prefer the earring arrangements on NCL.  

There are almost no kids or teens on this tour.  It is mostly folks our age or ten years younger. 

First day at sea

Today has been a very lazy day since we were at sea all day.  We have attempted to learn where things are on the ship and have learned some of the differences in NCL cruises like we have usually taken and the princess cruises.  There are things we like better about each one. This morning we decided to use the self service laundry onboard which was really nice and convenient.  NCL doesn't have those. So a plus for Princess.  On the buffet side up on the lido deck, NCL wins hands down.  I would describe the buffet here on the Diamond Princess as more of a snack bar with fruits and cookies and desserts and a rather plain green salad bar.  I checked yesterday and the only place onboard that I can get a hamburger is to go to one of the main dining rooms and order it the day before as all the meat is seasoned. We did that at lunch after ordering it last night and it took us about an hour and a half to have lunch, which was not what we would have preferred to do.  So eating is turning out to be a greater problem than on NCL with my garlic and onion problem.  But things looked up tonight when I talked to the guy ay the pizza bar and found out none of their tomato sauce has either in it.  So looks like I will be eating a lot of pizza for lunch. Ha.  Tonight is the first of two formal nights which we just do not enjoy so instead, we are sitting on the deck, listening to the sounds of the sea and enjoying ourselves.  The other formal night comes when we are gone on our excursion to Ankor Wat so that is nice. 

Tomorrow we get to Brenai where we are taking an excursion. We usually don't take shore excursions on a cruise but this time, with Jim's mobility problems and the areas we are going to, it seems the best way.  

Thinking of our friends back home with much illness and all. 

Singapore

Our trip to Singapore went really well.  We had bulkhead seats in economy plus and we had plenty of legroom which makes all the difference. Of course, it was not as great as when we got bumped up to business class with the McDaniels, but hey, we can't be that lucky often!  We flew from Atlanta to Tokyo non stop which was 14 hours.  We had a three hour layover where we enjoyed the crown room.  Then we boarded the 7 hour flight from Tokyo to Singapore.  We arrived at 1:30 in the morning so we were thankful that we were staying in the crown plaza hotel that was in the airport!  

The airport in Singapore is beautiful and well marked but it is big.  Jim's legs did right well until we got there but they have bothered him a good bit since arriving.  We were glad we had a day to relax and rest before boarding the ship.  We asked around and took a bus that went from the airport to Malaysia.  It was a nice bus but no one spoke English.  We had to get off and walk through customs and immigration and then we boarded the bus again and drove a mile or so and repeated the process in Malaysia.  The only problem was, we asked where to go get back on our bus to go to the shopping center and everyone told us and the bus never came.  We feel sure we missed the bus...... So we just decided that was far enough and we turned around and went back through immigration and customs and found the bus back to Singapore.  We got the stamp in our passport to prove we did indeed adventure into Malaysia!  

So today we were packed and had paid for a transfer from the airport to the pier.  We went where we were told to meet the Princess rep, and saw no one so we went to the information desk and asked where we should look.  They called Princess who said they had no record of our transfer s o for us to take a cab,which we did.  It actually turned out better as we had a great cab driver, we got to the pier early and they took our luggage right away.  Then they sent us right up to check in and immediately we got on the ship! Our room was ready and it was the smoothest embarkation we have ever had.  Later at the safety briefing, they were apologizing for all the delays and so forth so we know if we had taken a transfer that we would have been caught in that.  So it all worked out to the good. 

The ship is beautiful and Singapore is a gorgeous city! It is clean and green with flowers everywhere.  Jim's leg is bothering him a lot and we realize this indeed may be our last trip.  We are going to do what we can and enjoy what we can and be thankful for all we have been able to do and see.  

The day that never seemed to end

The next day we flew from Vic Falls to Johannesburg which involved going through customs and getting our luggage and then finding Delta and rechecking it for the flight home.  We enjoyed the Crown Room and ate some and shopped til our rands were gone and then made our way to the gate.  I was lucky enough to sleep a lot so the flight was not that bad but think I was the most lucky in that respect of the 4 of us.  But I think the economy comfort seats are worth it!
I will post some more photos as time allows.  It truly was a great trip and we so enjoyed sharing it with Carolyn and Marylou! We had lots of laughs a nd memories.

 

Chobe

Today we did an all day safari trip to Botswana to Chobe National Park.  Our driver took us to meet the big van at the Victoria Falls hotel and that took us up to the Botswana border.  We had to get off and leave Zimbabwe and then walk 10 feet and enter Botswana where safari vehicles picked us up after we bought a visa and the safari vehicles took us to a nice hotel.  We left from there on a boat safari for the morning. It was wonderful. Birds and animals galore! hippos out of the water and crocs and elephants and sables and giraffes.  Just lots of stuff to see all the time.

In the afternoon we moved to safari vehicles (after a lunch at the hotel) and went back in the same area on roads and we just saw lots of giraffes and elephants and hippos and it was so much fun. 
At the end, we went back to the border and repeated the process to get back into zimbabwe and took the bus and back to the hotel and our camp picked us up. Good day.

 

Victoria Falls

This morning as we were waiting to go to Victoria Falls, the trainer came with Sylvester for his walk.  We were the only ones up so we got our photos made with him and got to pet him. He is a beautiful creature.  He was found when he was a week old and his mother had been killed so they hand raised him.  They have built a nice compound and though he is on a leash at the lodge, they take him down in the fields and take him off the leash to run.  He chased the warthogs but when he catches them, he doesn't know what to do with them.  It was very interesting.

This morning we went to Victoria Falls with our guide and it was so much more beautiful than it was the last time we came.  We had ponchos and we got soaked from the spray and the wind from the falls but it was a lot of fun.  There are so many view points.  By the time we got back to the van, our ponchos were dry.  there were baboons all over the place and warthogs and there was a lot of walking so we were pretty tired when we got back.  We thought about taking the moonbow tour at night as it was the full moon, but cancelled later in the afternoon as it was just too much.  Instead, Carolyn was our brave one and took the helicopter ride over the falls which she said was wonderful.  Marylou and I went to the market instead and Jim rested.  I can tell that in 5 years, Zimbabwe has improved.  There were not vendors coming up to us trying to sell things and all.  Instead, they had the market by itself and they were not allowed to come beyond a point. It made it much more interesting and also much safer feeling.  I was able to get the games I wanted and a couple of carved animals and bracelets.  After the helicopter ride, Carolyn and the driver picked us up and we went back to the Elephant Camp and went to see the elephants at the wallow.  People come from other hotels to ride the elephants there but none of us were interested in doing that-but we did get to feed the elephants which was an experience.  We all had our own technique and we got lots of laughs about it.  Carolyn got a handful of slime doing it the first time and so I was very cautious and pretty well just threw the pellets in the elephants direction!  It was a lot of fun at any rate.
Sylvester was also there and we had another photo op with him. 

 

Johannesburg to Victoria Falls

Nic took us to the airport in the morning to catch our flight to Victoria Falls.  We had first class seats which surely helped since the line to check in was SO long and we were able to go through the fast lane.  It was a nice flight and we enjoyed it. When we arrived we had to get Zimbabwe visas which cost $45 since we were doing a multiple entry and the line was long and slow. But we made it and our ride was waiting for us.  The airport at Vic Falls is small.  We stayed at the Elephant Camp and it is out of town about 5 miles , I would guess. It was nice as it was away from the hustle and bustle.  It is a tented camp but surely the nicest tents we've stayed in! They had a living room, free soft drinks and water, a neat plunge pool that was too cool for anyone to try, except Jim....another story for another day.  The bathroom had a huge stone tub and a glass shower as well as an outside shower.  Really nice. 

We barely got settled before we had to leave to go on our scenic river cruise (sunset).  It was lovely-lots of wildlife -elephants, birds, crocs, hippos,etc. 
We had dinner when we got back to the lodge and turned in for the night.

 

Photos

Animals

Swaziland to Johannesburg

After we left Reilly's Rock, we visited some of the craft venues that Swaziland is known for.  We went to a place where they weave place mats, hot mats, rugs, baskets and all sorts of things.  It was very interesting to see the lady working upstairs
Next we went to the Candle factory.  None of us were too keen on this as we envisioned the candle places here with lots of perfume,etc. But these were non frangranced and were actually amazing works of art and very reasonable.  But space in the suitcase was getting tight at this point.  I allowed myself one rhino candle and that was it. 

It was a LONG drive back to Johannesburg.  It was interesting scenery and I think the scenery in Swaziland was really pretty and I am glad we went. The ride in South Africa back was also interesting but nothing too outstanding after awhile.  We had a nice van and each of us had a seat to ourselves so we had plenty of room even with all our luggage.  We got back to the hotel in Johannesburg and went to the ATM, got pizza and reorganized for the flight to Victoria Falls the next day and hit the hay. 

Saturday

We had a leisurely morning in Swaziland and visited some of the shops nearby that they are famous for. The scenery here is beautiful. Before we left, we watched the birds come in droves to the feeders and oranges that were stuck on trees for the birds.the tiny blue duikers were all around and as we left we saw roan, blesbok, springbok, oribi, and several other new antelopes and gazelles. Great day and beautiful scenery.

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Friday

Today was our last game drive in South Africa. It was a rather exciting one near the end when we encountered a bull elephant with lots of hormones, as Zane said. He would not move off the road and we could not pass him. We gave him some space and then edged forward and he turned and mock charged us! Zane revved the motor and he stopped, thankfully but we had to sit and slowly edge forward. Later we saw a family of elephants with half a dozen babies of assorted sizes. We saw a side striped jackel , rhinos, giraffe, grey duiker, and lots of birds.

We came back to the lodge and ate breakfast and enjoyed looking for birds off the lodge deck. We also saw 3 water monitors, terrapins, and a gecko. Nic picked us up and we headed to Swaziland. The landscape was beautiful with mountains and green valleys with sugar cane and coffee growing. We stopped at a dam for a break and it had scenic views as well. We stopped at some vendors by the road that had soapstone carvings. We stopped at the glass factory that made beautiful figures and glass wares. We got candy sy the chocolate store and it was near the oldest mine in the world. We went into the game sanctuary where Reilly's rock is located. When we arrived after following the dirt road up to it, we were met by Lizzie and Ruth. We are staying in the cottage which has 2 bedrooms each with a private bath and then we have a nice living room to share. There are tiny blue diukers all over the grounds as well as Sita.we saw bushbok and 2 more new antelopes. There are crested guineas running around. At 6:15, they called us to see them feeding the bush babies. That was so neat, they are so cute and shy. We had our dinner around the bonfire outside and it was warm and nice. A great day!

 

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Thursday

We got up at the usual time and off we went in our land rover, just the four of us. It was not as cold as it has been and we still had blankets and hot water bottles to keep us warm. We saw several more rhinos, one with a baby. I have never seen so many rhinos in any park before. We saw more steenbok and duiker. We saw giraffe and secretary bird which was Marylou's big desire.

It began raining a very fine mist. We put on our ponchos and kept looking but in general, the animals were not out. Zane is our ranger and Norman is our tracker. At Idube Rob was our ranger and Titus was our tracker.

We came back and enjoyed breakfast and used the computer. We tried the wifi thing Robert had given me, but while it made a wifi signal, it didn't seem to get any data so we gave up. We spent the afternoon on our decks watching birds as the rain had stopped.

The rain started again as we were eating lunch and we almost decided not to go on a drive. But we decided to give it a try and it was a good one. We saw buffalo, giraffes, diukers springbok, rhinos several times, and loads of birds. The we topped it off with a leopard near the road. As we sat and watched him, a honey badger ran across the road. The leopard got up and crossed the road sniffing as he went. We watched him for several minutes before he disappeared into the bush. It was a lot of fun and the rain stopped about in the middle of the drive and it was just a lot of fun.

 

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Wednesday

Today started with a surprise. When the ranger knocked on our door to wake us up, he told us not to come outside as there was a leopard right outside our room. We opened the curtain and could see it as it lay just on the edge of the grass. The rangers gently got it to move farther back in the grass. The mom had left the cub there while she went to hunt. The pair had been on Rob's porch most of the night and Jim woke up about 3 hearing a noise on our porch. The ranger said these leopards like to get up in the chairs on the porches. This was the leopard who brought the cub into one of the camp storage buildings when it was a wee cub. She obviously feels safe around the camp.

The game drive was great. We saw a lot of neat animals- elephant, zebra, antelopes, buffalo, but the most interesting thing was going back to the site of the rhino kill from the day before where a pack of hyenas were finishing up the remains. We found two male lions who had just been kicked out of the den and watched them awhile.

After a good breakfast, we left in a van for our next lodge, lukimba which is in a private reserve within Kruger. It is a very fancy lodge and we had been bumped up to the two luxury rooms because a boy's school from England had the rest of the lodge full. Oh my were we lucky. It is huge,has its own splash pool, two bathrooms a sitting room, a table and chairs and a porch.

Our game drive was not to thrilling but it was enjoyable. We saw lots of white rhino.

They served our dinner for just the four of us in a room by the fireplace. It was nice to eat dinner and be warm.

 

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