Day 19 - Sunday, March 4, 2018 - Bangkok, Thailand - Day 2

Since today was a short day in port, we booked a HAL shore excursion to Nongnooch Pattaya to attend a cultural show and elephant theatre. The venue was located in a lush garden area about 45 minutes south of the port. Since we arrived early for our show, we were able to spend some time in their orchid garden.

The show was about an hour long and around 100 performers participated in all manner of colorful Thai costumes. The elephants also got in on the act. Afterwards, there was an elephant carnival in another arena. People could get picked up by or sit on elephants. There were several thousand Chinese in attendence and they really loved that aspect. The main show demonstrated elephants throwing darts, painting, kicking soccer balls, shooting baskets, bowling, and more. It was a fun and entertaining spectacle.

Back at the port we did a little shopping but still ended up with the equivalent of 200$ in Thai Bhat which I exchanged for US$5.86. PA late lunch was had in the Lido before watching the sailaway from the Crow's Nest. At 4pm I ended up co-leading the interdenominational service with a missionary from Ireland. It went really well and there were some 30 people there. We ended up having dinner with the missionaries in the main dining room and shared some excellent conversation.

The evening Main Stage entertainment was an acrobatic duo, Ilia and Olesja. They displayed incredible strength and dexterity both on the stage and on suspended silk tapestries.

It's an 8am departure at Sianoukville, Cambodia tomorrow for a full day in the countryside on a private excursion. Stay tuned.

Day 18 - Saturday, March 3, 2018 - Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand sets the new standard for us in beautiful temples. But first the alarm buzzed us awake at 6:30am and our day began. Breakfast was taken in the Lido and we met our group of 7 others in the Ocean Bar at 7:30am and proceeded off the ship via a Deck A gangway. We waited for about 15 minutes until I went over to a fellow holding a sign from Shore Excursions Asia but with a different passenger's name. He asked for our guide's name and when I told him it was Alex, he said, "That's me." He had printed the wrong name on his sign.

We made our way to the now familiar little 10 passenger Toyota minivan and drove the two hours to Bangkok. As advertised, traffic got very congested as we approached the city. We made our way to the Jim Thompson House which is a museum which was formerly the home of a successful American businessman who went missing while walking in the Jungles of Malaysia. The house is made of teak and filled with artifacts, the oldest being from the 7th century. No photos could be taken inside the museum. If you want more information, google his name.

From there we made our way to lunch at a nice buffet restaurant that was an upgrade to our tour at no cost to us. After lunch we made our way to the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha before taking a short ride on the major river which passes through Bangkok. The boats are interesting in that they are long and skinny and many use an exposed engine with the propellor shaft sticking out the back of the boat. I asked our guide if we could fit in a visit to the Reclining Buddha, and he was able to do that for 500 Thai Bat per couple or about $16 US. After visiting the Reclining Buddha, we were taken to a jewelry merchant who had a few souvenirs. The merchants were pretty aggressive in trying to sell, but we weren't buying.  

After a 2 hour drive we were back at the port in the dark where we said our goodbyes to our guide and driver who still had to drive 2 hours back to Bangkok.

After a quick shower to cool off (I'm finding myself really sensitive to the heat with a nauseous feeling). So I just ate some fruit a drank more iced tea.

The evening program at 9:30pm was a local Thai dance troupe who presented a fine show on traditional Thai dancing. And all too welcome was a chance to go to bed early as we have a ship's tour at 8am tomorrow. Stay tuned for details.

Day 17 - Friday, March 2, 2018 - Koh Samui, Thailand

    I really don't like 5:30am alarms! But we had to get up early as tender tickets were being passed out starting at 7am and my instructions to my group were to meet 1/2 hour before the announced time for the tender ticket distribution. One couple didn't show, so I called them and they had forgotten the tour and told me to go without them. Just before 7am, the tender distribution person announced that we didn't need tickets and that we could proceed down to Deck A and board. So we boarded the local boat containing the set up supplies and headed for shore and were ashore by 7:25am which put us 1/2 hour ashore before our tour guide was supposed to be there.  

As a piece of information, Koh in Thai means island, so one sees Samui spelled both alone and with Koh Samui.

Already the heat was getting oppressive, so we waited under a canopy. Just before 8am, our guide, a cute and petite Thai lady, named Sugar in English, showed up and we were off in.a 10 passenger mini van with only 5 of us, our guide, and Tor, our driver.

I'll not bore you with a blow by blow description of the entire trip, but I will say that we did an aggressive nature hike to find the elusive Hin Lad Waterfall that didn't exist due to low rainfall at the moment. But the forest was very pretty and jungle like. Afterwards we traveled around the island in a counter clockwise direction stopping at scenic spots of which there were many including a rock formation called the Grandfather that looked like a giant penis. It was adjoining another rock formation called the Grandmother and I'll let your imagination take over.

We visited many Buddhist temples including the Big Buddha which is literally under the flight path for the local airport, the mummified monk. The temples were very clean and neat and in very good repair. After the temple visits we enjoyed a terrific Thai lunch at Bangrak 33 which had a nice ocean view. For a giant Thai beer, Diet Coke, and bottle of water was only about $7US.

When we made our way around the island back to the port city of Nathon, we asked to be excused from the bus to be able to shop our way back to the boat. The shopping was good and the vendors were not aggressive like we experienced in Indonesia. Back at the port, there was a mass of people trying to get on the tenders, so we cooled our heels under the canopy and let them swelter close together vying for a spot on the tenders. Several tenders came and went and finally we boarded the last tender along with all of the set up materials that accompanied us on the first tender that morning. The security team did numerous counts and recounts and finally around 4pm we sailed away to the Volendam. We reboarded and the Captain announced that all were aboard and that the pilot failed to show up, so he was leaving anyway. Cold showers were in order and then we made our way to the Lido for dinner, although I didn't feel like eating due to the heat. So I composed my blog as we sailed north along side of Koh Phangan (Phangan Island).

The movie tonight was Breathe, and it was the true story of Robin Cavindish, a British polio victim who pioneered the use of portable breathing apparatus' for polio patients. The movie was produced by his son Jonathan, and was very good. We took in the 10pm Main Stage performance of Katei a young and different type of violinist.    

Fortunately tomorrow we're not tendering so we can sleep in until 6:30am before embarking on a full day tour of Bangkok. Stay tuned.

Day 15 - Wednesday, February 28, 2018 - Singapore - Day 2

Today was a much shorter port day in Singapore as we had a 3pm on board time. The plan for the day was to visit the Rooftop viewing area of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. We reached the Hotel using the subway for $3.20SING RT. We took a blue subway train to Chinatown and transferred to the purple line to the Bayfront station. (The Singapore subway system is thoroughly modern, clean and neat and well signed. There's a multi day tourist pass, but we elected to purchase simple RT tickets.) That viewing area is shaped like the hull of a ship and it's perched 57 stories in the air. It costs $20SING per person for over 65, $23SING otherwise. Unless you are a guest in the hotel, you are restricted to the bow viewing area, but there's more than enough viewing area there. They tried to sell us $50SING pictures taken at the entryway, but we felt that was embarrassingly expensive.

From the tower we made our way to the Gardens of the Bay with is a park area with various themes. We did pay to do a skywalk between some of the 'trees'. Those trees are actually disguised ventilation shafts and they are very well done.

We made it back to the Cruise terminal (probably the nicest we've seen in all the world), bought some more soda pop (way cheaper than on the ship), cleared immigration, and walked the long approach hallways, before once again surrendering our passports to HAL personnel, and reboarded the ship. Since we are "in transit" guests, we didn't have to participate in the muster drill and were able to shower and make our way to the Crow's Nest for primo seats for the sail away.  

While the ship was scheduled for a 4pm sail away, there were 40 some guests who didn't turn in their passports and then the Captain announced there were guests in the terminal that needed to board. The new departure time is 4:45pm or 15 minutes from when I am writing this.

The evening schedule is for a re-showing of the movie, That's the Way I Like It, plus another performance of the cast show, Listen to the Music, at 9:30pm.

I'll end this now for today, but leave you with the following. Singapore is a wonderful city to visit and tour. It's clean, neat, and safe. There's more than enough to satisfy anyone's interests. The Harborfront Cruise terminal is huge plus the Vivo City Shopping mall is next door.   There's an MRT station here.  

Tomorrow is a sea day and I'm hosting a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet. Stay tuned for more cruise reports as we venture into SE Asia on our way to Hong Kong.

Day 14 - Tuesday, February 27, 2018 - Singapore - Day 1

Since the Volendam was going to be in port in Singapore for two days, we had lots of options for touring on our own. For this first day, we decided that we would buy an all pass on the overhead cable car. We also thought that we might go do a night visit to the Zoo, however, getting tickets via HAL wasn't possible and another option also didn't work out.  

Two weeks earlier I had purchased a 3800 milli-amp battery for one of my cameras, but it would not hold a charge longer than my 1000 milli-amp batteries. I approached the salesman that sold it to me and he was more than eager to help me and replace the battery. None was in stock, so he ordered it in and I picked it up later in the day.

The cable car leaves from the left tower just outside the cruise terminal. We elected to purchase the all day pass and two additional options of our choosing. Tickets are sold on the main floor and an elevator takes travelers up to the 15th floor where the cable car passes through the building. First we headed off to ride up to Mt. Faber which we had visited a couple of weeks ago on a bus tour. We walked across the Henderson Waves bridge (architecturally stunning) and through the park and eventually ended up on a road underneath the bridge and had to walk 100 steps up in the 90ºf and 90% humidity. From Mt. Faber, we rode the cable car back and over the ship to Sentosa Island where we spent the rest of the day exploring. We used one of our extra pass options to take a small bus tour of the island which gave us a sense of the lay of the land. That trip also included a cool walk across a swinging suspension bridge to a beach area.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a quick lunch at a Subway restaurant before taking another cable car out to Fort Siloso where we spent the bulk of our time exploring this nice museum which preserves the history of this former military installation. It's definitely worth a visit!

Back on the cable car in the late afternoon, we rode it to the other end of the line and we visited the largest Merlion in Singapore and used our second voucher to get a ride up 5 stories in the Merlion to the mouth and top of its head where we could take pictures.

About then I received an email from one of my tour agents requesting passport information for some guests traveling on my Viet Nam excursions. This was certainly a curveball this late in the cruise and led to some emails composed while walking through a colorful garden area on Sentosa Island.  

As darkness crept its way in, we rode the cable car back to the Harborfront Centre and walked through 3 floors of the Vivo Shopping Mall where we also enjoyed some dinner in the food court (I had White Bee Hoon soup which was excellent).

Back on the ship, I tried to pay our Bank of America credit card bill online (I have a portable internet device which has very cheap data rates), but I was locked out of my online account which necessitated a call to BofA where I learned that I can't use a VPN connection to access their system. That got fixed and I was able to get the bill paid on time. And now it was 1am. More adventures are in store for tomorrow, stay tuned.

Day 13 - Monday, February 26, 2018 - At Sea to Singapore - Day 2

About all I can say about today is that I showed up! It was another lazy day at sea. Following a later wake up at 8:30am and breakfast in the Lido, Master Kam gave a lecture on Buddhism that I've heard before. While he was lecturing I have to confess that I did future cruise research and discovered one for the the summer of 2019 that may cause us to change our plans. Later that night at the Main Stage show we met a couple who are about to book the same cruise. For now I'm keeping mum on the cruise destination.

The cast did a behind the scenes event and once again it was interesting to learn of their backgrounds and that they are able to put their own spin on the shows. I suspect that is possible because these are old shows produced by another production company. The current production company, RWS, is currently developing new shows (version 3.0) and the Nieuw Statendam for its inaugural cruise this December is supposed to have the latest RWS show production.

In the afternoon the only event we attended was the Crossing the Equator 'ceremony' where 10 crew members got tried and convicted of heinous 'crimes' and sentenced to kiss a dead fish, slathered with a sticky merangue, and left to dry or allowed to jump in the aft pool to rinse off the merangue.

We ate a last dinner in the Lido with Carol and John as they are getting off the ship our second day in Singapore. The fresh mangos were especially good tonight and quite plentiful.

'Classique' was the cast show and it was excellent and they received a standing ovation. It's hands down my favorite of all the cast shows and I've seen it a dozen or so times on many HAL ships.

The 10pm movie was 'That's The Way I Like It' from 1998. It was a theme of Elvis and John Travolta meet Disco and Kung Fu in Singapore. It was entertaining and lots of Bee Gees music.

Tomorrow we're docked in Singapore for 2 days.  I'm sure we'll find some adventure.  Stay tuned.

Day 12 - Sunday, February 25, 2018 - At Sea to Singapore - Day 1

Oh the lazy days of sea days. Last night we had to advance our clocks by an hour to synchronize our clocks with the upcoming Singapore time. So the night was short by an hour and we elected to sleep in until nearly 10am as there was no incentive to get up earlier. I was able to get a last minute breakfast before we attended the Mariner award reception and award presentation. This gathering seemed to aimed at 3 star and above Mariners and those reaching the 100 days of sailing on HAL or Bronze medallion Afterwards we enjoyed a Mariner lunch in the Main Dining Room.

Master Kam was back at 1pm with a talk on the politics and history of claims to the South China Sea. While his talks are interesting, I do wish he wouldn't just read his PowerPoint Slides and learn to speak within the allotted time. Following Master Kam, it was 45 minutes of "Ask the Captain" which generated a great number of interesting questions.  

The Indonesian crew show was at 3pm and it was very well attended compared to the normal times we have seen it on previous cruises at 11pm. It was a nice day out and we walked a mile around the Promenade Deck before changing into our formal clothes for the final Gala night dinner. There was supposed to be an Inter Denominational church service at 5pm in the Wajang theatre, but HAL failed to put it in the daily program and when I inquired about it, the HAL representative said it would be announced over the PA system. However, we never heard it. So when we showed up at the Wajang theatre, only Don the volunteer chaplain and his wife and my wife and I were in attendence. Don was going to pursue why the mixup with HAL as will I.

At the Gala dinner, we were seated with a British couple and two ladies from Las Vegas. The food was good (lobster and filet mignon) and the conversation was lively and engaging. David from Great Britain turned out to own a BMW R1200GS similar to mine, so we immediately connected. He'd also ridden in India on Enfields which was very interesting to hear about.

Our evening Main Stage entertainment was a very funny & energetic British comedian, Rikki Jay who we've seen before. Since today's science fiction movie, Thor:Ragnarok didn't appeal, we retired to our cabin where I updated this blog and watched BBC television.

Tomorrow we're re-crossing the equator and I understand there may be some hijinks in the afternoon. Time will tell. Stay tuned.