Hong Kong

We disembarked the Silver Shadow at 9:30AM at the old ship terminal in Hong Kong and went directly to the Peninsula Hotel.  It is as fantastic as I remember her to be...although it has been 5 years.  There are still the two men on opposite sides of the door holding it open on your arrival...no matter how many times you come in.  And the lobby.....what a treat.  Talk about a hotel with a soul.  It is truly magic and we were so lucky to be able to experience it again.

We dropped our bags (as our room wasn't quite ready) and began our Power Shopping at Maylin in the hotel for shoes.  Then we walked outside in the direction of the Star Ferry and familiarized ourselves with the changes that have and are taking place.  There is a Science Museum directly across the street from the Pen...as well as the Art Museum.  The ferry was the same, however, and we headed over to Central to see what was going on there. We have been to Hong Kong so many times, we don't need to see Repulse Bay or Aberdeen again..although we loved it.  Newcomers need to take the tram and eat at the Jumbo in Aberdeen...but people like us spend their days shopping and eating!!

We had Peking Duck three nights in a row...along with hairy crab and major prawns.  And the night market in Temple Street in HK is well worth the trip.  It has everything and is lots of fun.

We came back to the hotel at 4 and got into our room.  I can only tell you that the renovation is nothing short of FANTASTIC.  I think they spent 16 million dollars....and you can tell.  We had a Harbour View room that was huge...done in soft colors...and complete with hard goods that housed a Nespresso machine, a huge TV, a fantastic sound system, a dressing table complete with a "nail drying drawer", and a vanity mirror that receded into the console when not in use.  Everything could be controlled from one of 3 i-pads placed in the room...including drapes, lights, tv, and services.  They kept the old Butler cabinets in the room where you place your shoes to be polished, and receive the morning papers.  This hotel is just a dream.  And in case I forget to mention, there is free wi-fi  AND FREE PHONE CALLING to anywhere in the world. What an amazing amenity...and something that kept all the guests talking for days.  On top of being the magic hotel of Hong Kong...in a place where every major hotel is represented....it just keeps getting better and better.

We have stayed at the Mandarin and the Four Seasons....so one afternoon we went to see the new Ritz Carlton, which is in a building that is the fourth tallest in the world.  The hotel is on the 90th floor...and is topped by an infinity swimming pool on the 118th floor!!! It is amazing.  And as I mentioned before when posting about Singapore, the clubs in the Ritz Carltons make the hotels.  The Club Floor in Hong Kong is no exception.  It is huge and spectacular.  It serves food 24/7 and the view will take your breath away.  It is in Kowloon, and right now there is a huge amount of construction going on surrounding it. When all is completed in 2016, this will be a major area.  Now it is a bit tricky to get to and some cab drivers don't like to go there.  The Ritz does have a hotel car that will drive you into town...if you can get it!!!

There is a huge shopping center connected to the hotel, along with an express airport check-in ...one of three in Hong Kong.  You can check into your flight a day ahead of time, check your bags, and just go to the airport with your purse!!! How civilized. The subway also stops there, and we were becoming quite proficient using it.  It is immaculate and easy to navigate, as the signage is perfect.  And since the traffic in Hong Kong has gotten worse, if possible, the subway is a fantastic way to navigate the city.

Prices in Hong Kong have gone up a great deal in five years. According to everyone we spoke with, it is because the Mainland Chinese can come to Hong Kong now, and come they do..... in droves....with lots of money to spend. And they are driving the prices up in the stores and in the real estate market and in every arena.  Before, they weren't allowed to travel.  But now they are, and they have the money to spend, and they want what they see on the internet....Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton.  We kept saying that we must have seen 80 Cartier stores, and how could Hong Kong support all of them?  Well, the tourists coming from mainland China are accounting for  a huge proportion of the gross income in consumer goods.  And they are predicting that it will continue to escalate, so the prices will continue to go up.

After three days of power shopping, and power eating, we were ready to get back home in time for Thanksgiving.  There is only so much your senses can take before you have to give up.  This was a fantastic trip, filled with sights and sounds that will long be in our memory bank. I hope it doesn't take another 5 years to get back here.   

Cruising to Viet Nam

We boarded our "Home Away from Home"...the Silversea Shadow....at 1PM.  It was so easy and so well organized.  We got to our midship verandah stateroom and unpacked immediately.
We began to explore the ship...which is lovely.....albeit a bit tired.

Our itinerary was exclusively Vietnam...which was a high number on  my bucket list.  We have skirted all around Vietnam in our travels, but had never been able to take the time. it deserved. So  this was the time.

Our first day out was a "sea day"...sailing for Saigon.  It was nice because it gave us a chance to explore the ship and find out where we wanted to "nest".  We always want to  be outdoors...but it was 90 degrees and a bit muggy.  There was a lot of humidity and, needless to say, my hair was unhappy.  Undaunted, however, we still lounged around the pool.

We even had dinner upstairs at the pool at Hot Rocks...a restaurant like a Korean Bar-b-que where you cook your selection on a hot rock!!!.  Great steaks and prawns.  It was fun and very good.

To most people, Vietnam was a war.  Today, it is a tourist destination, with a population ready to put the past behind them.  The people welcome visitors...including Americans...with open arms.
The country is very ready for tourism, and the mixture of the old and quaint with the new and bustling, is very exciting.  The Chinese, French and Americans all left brutal memories on the country, but they also contributed to a cultural polyglot that is quite wonderful .  Their food, architecture and language all attest to the blend.  Many people come to Vietnam to experience the war years....but many now are coming to enjoy the new Vietnam and what it has to offer.  Some people never go to the War Museums...they want to see the beaches and the old cities and the colonial hotels.  It is a fascinating country with a lot to offer.

Our first stop was Saigon...or Ho Chi Minh City.  Either is correct, depending on your age.
Our guide picked us up at the port at 11 and we went to one of the biggest indoor markets in the world..Ben Thanh Market.  It is a combination of a wet and dry market  that opened in 1914 and you could get everything a person could ever want in this place.  From there, we want to the Vietnam History Museum .  We drove around the city and got some feel of the history.  The traffic in Saigon is HORRENDOUS!  ORGANIZED MAYHEM.  I was terrified to cross the street because of the thousands of motor bikes.  But our guide explained that you never stop...just keep going. The bikes will drive around you.  If you freeze, like a deer in the headlights, you run the risk of them hitting you...so you just proceed forward.

 After our city tour, we had lunch at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant, called Hoi An...and it was fantastic.  The French influence with the Chinese is a great combination. What a treat.  The spices made each taste an event.

We then drove 1 1/2 hours to see the Cu Chi Tunnels.  These tunnels lie at the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail and was the base from which the gorillas used to attack Saigon.  It was a "free fire zone", and as a result, was bombed by us many times.  The people built these amazing tunnels undergound that stretched at one time almost to Cambodia!! They had meeting rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, sleeping rooms, and could stay down there with the help of air holes for days...months if need be.  The area around the tunnels were rigged with all sorts of booby traps...and if anyone was unfortunate enough to fall into one of these holes...they were speared with bamboo spears in their head, chest, arms, and feet.  Both the Vietnamese and the Americans were skilled fighters...and these tunnels are testimony to their ability to hide and fight.  It was quite amazing. 

We climbed down into the tunnels and saw an old propaganda film about the "Crazed Americans who were intent on destroying Vietnam ".  It was totally slanted...but still made us feel very uncomfortable and sad.  War is an awful thing....and both sides were responsible for the horrors.

We took the long drive back and had an amazing dinner at Hoa Tuc that was housed in an old opium refinery.  The place now hosts about 6 restaurants...French, Lebanese, Vietnamese.  We had soft shelled crab and fish with noodles.  It was GREAT.  After dinner we walked around the night market.  It was OK...not too exciting as night markets go.  It was a long day...but exciting.

Some of the other people on board the ship took a tour of the Mekong Delta. They enjoyed that trip very much. But we could only do one thing...so we opted for the tunnels.  The Mekong is like the Klongs in Bangkok...and I know what that is like.  So....choices.

The next day our guide picked us up at 9:30 and we went to the old Post Office and then the Catholic Church, which was built in 1830.  Although most people in Vietnam are Buddhists, there is a large Christian population.The church was huge and unadorned.  Very interesting.  Saigon is a big city, and as mentioned, the traffic was horrendous.

Next we went to the War Museum which was really difficult.  It reminded me of Yad Vashem in Israel.  So much killing and so much death.  Was the Domino Effect so threatening to have cost all of this?  There was a whole room of photographs of victims of napalm.  What a testimony to man's inhumanity towards man. 

Our guide then took us to the exclusive area of Saigon and we visited the Majestic Hotel..which is the Grande Dame in Saigon.  From there, we had to say good-bye to Saigon, and we boarded the ship headed towards Nha Trang.  Cannot tell you anything about Nha Trang  cause we never got there.  The weather was stormy and windy...so we had to bypass that stop.  The ship rocked and rolled all night, and I needed my wrist bands.  Sea days are rough in rough weather...but we made it thru. 

We got into the port of Chan May the next morning.  Once again, we had a choice whether to go to Hoi An or Hue..and that is a hard decision.  Both have so much to offer.  But, we chose to 
 drive 1 1/2 hours to Hoi An.  We drove thru Danang, Quang Tri and saw China Beach...where the Americans first landed in Vietnam.  It is now renamed South Beach.

   Hoi  An itself is a World Cultural Heritage City, and the whole town is an attraction.  Most of the buildings have been restored and made into shops, cafes, art galleries, and silk stores.  I only wish I had known how exciting this city was, cause we would have spent more time.  As it was, we saw the Japanese Covered Bridge and the Central Market , we shopped a little, and then we had  lunch at Full Moon on the river.  GREAT food, once again.  And then we had to take the long drive back to the ship...so it was a short day of touring....long day of driving..

Now we were ready to deal with Hanoi.  We entered Ha Long Bay, and sailed thru the majestic stone monoliths rising out of the ocean. This was once an ocean bed, and the remnants rise up to meet the sky.   What a sight to see!! Dick and I had a guide pick us up, and we took a 3 1/2 hour drive to Hanoi.  We got into town in time to see the Water Puppet Show...which was fantastic.  It used to be in an outdoor clearing surrounding a lake where an old farmer saw lights flickering over the lake. He tried to recreate that scene with puppets in the water skipping over the surface.  This theater in Hanoi is obviously inside, and the puppetmasters are submerged...and they do a series of vignettes where the puppets actually glide and skip over the water.  Enchanting.

From there, we went to the night market, which didn't please either Dick or our guide.  I guess in Hanoi it isn't a happening like it is in other cities.  We then proceeded to the Metropole Hotel...which is the iconic hotel of Vietnam.  It is amazing, and I am so sad we only have one night here.  Oh the history incased in these walls!!! If they could only speak.  I had requested a room in the old section, and it was fantastic.  I know I could have been an expat here at some time...especially living in this hotel.  No trip to Hanoi would be complete without spending time here.  It is a magical property.

The next morning our guide met us and we took a city tour around Hanoi.  We went to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, and Uncle Ho was there in person.  He just "got back" from being refurbished, and was lying in great splendor.  Just like Mao in Beijing.  From there we went to the Hanoi Hilton and saw the prison that John McCain was kept for 5 years.  It was just horrific.  The prisoners were shackled to their cots and had one hour a day to walk around.  The Air Force pilots were downed in 1968 and not released until '73. 

Then we met with a lady chef who took us all thru the wet markets place and explained all of the street foods, fruits and herbs.  We tasted everything, and even had lunch off one of the stations
The BEST noodles ever...and really good pha
.  The Chef was so impressed that we would eat the street food.  I felt like Anthony Bodaine.  All that was missing was a TV camera and crew.

We were supposed to do a cyclo tour thru the Old Town, but we decided to walk instead.  I hate having those guys pedal me around.  It is offensive on so many levels.  There are 36 streets named after  36 wares in the Old Town...which is based on an ancient Chinese city. We walked down Tin Street, Paper Street, Hardware Street, Light Street, Tool Street, etc....before coming to Silk Street!!!What a treat for the eyes. Colors spilling out of doorways, and beautiful windows filled with all sorts of wares. We could have spent 2 days here, just looking at the silks, buying the silks, and having things made!!!Next time. We had to leave by 4:30 to get back to the ship by 7:30..

Our last day was a sea day, as we set sail for Hong Kong.  Once again, the ship was fantastic in service, but a bit lacking in food.  Albeit we were eating spectacular food in Vietnam, so everything would pale by comparison.  All in all, it was a wonderful way to experience Vietnam...and I would recommend this trip to everyone.

Singapore

Dick and I were fortunate enough to be able to spend 5 days in Singapore before our cruise to Vietnam.  Unfortunately, the Hurricane Hayon was spending days in the Philippines, and was  spreading havoc all over that part of Southeast Asia.

Undaunted, we left sunny LA, and flew to Singapore where is was raining.  We checked into the Ritz Carlton and headed directly to the club floor, which is open 24/7. The room has just been redone, and is large and wonderfully comfortable...with a great view of Millenium Harbour.  If you have never experienced the club floor of a Ritz Carlton, you are missing one of the greatest travelling experiences, as they can make your trip. We were tired from our day of travelling....a 24-hour day, I may add...but after a drink and a lovely helping of Laksa (which I will explain later)....we were very refreshed.  Not enough to head out in the rain, however, so we just unpacked and collapsed into bed.

The next day we were greeted with a mostly sunny day, so we were ready to revisit a city we love.
The Ritz is connected to 5 shopping malls all underground, so we set off in the direction of the Raffles Hotel...where we usually stay.  We walked around and refreshed our memories of one of the world's most famous hotels and watering hole (namely, the Long Bar...home of the Singapore Sling).

We then taxied  to the area of Little India and walked all the little streets.After getting our feet wet on the small streets..... we mustered our strength and headed to the Mustafa Centre.  It is a maze of department stores covering two city blocks filled with imported items from India...all under one roof. Everything you want is there...from groceries to jewellry to clothing.  The list goes on and on...and the stores are open 24 hours a day!!  It is very overwhelming, and not for the feint of heart shopper.  I tended to like the street shopping better, but you could literally find anything there.  We stopped for lunch at a sidewalk cafe and it was wonderful.  It was a fun day.

The next day we went to Chinatown and walked around.  Then we headed to Arab Street ..which was as much or more fun.  You really get the flavor of these three areas, which help to make up a very diversified Singapore.

We have done all the sites in Singapore before, including The Art Museum, Sentosa to see the gaming hotels,  Clark Quay, Boat Quay, Esplanade Park and Merlion Park.  The Merlion, by the way, is Spore's half-lion, half-fish national symbol as of 1970...representing the roots of the "Lion City" with the close ties to the sea.

There are fantastic mosques and shrines and temples all over the city...once again honoring the various groups that make up Spore. So this trip, we were leisurely  walking the streets and doing what Singaporeans do best....shop and eat and enjoy their city.

That evening we went to a Peranakan restaurant.  The Peranakans were a mixture of Chinese immigrants brought over to help build Spore, who intermaried with the locally born Malays.  Malaysian food is a lot of satays  and curries.  Heavy on coconut milk and peanuts.  So, mixed with Chinese food.....voila...Peranakan food!!!  We love the laksa, which is a Chinese rice-flour noodle in a spicy coconut soup filled with seafood.  Yum!  We had gotten the name of a local restaurant called the Blue Ginger...and it was really wonderful.

The next morning it was pouring again, so we kind of chilled for a bit.  By noon, it cleared, so we headed to Orchard Road and did some power shopping.  The stores, in fact the city, is getting ready for Christmas.  They are early...like it is at home.

That evening, we went to a seafood place called the Jumbo right on the water and stuffed ourselves with Chile Crab and Pepper Crab....both are staples in Singapore.  A visit is never complete without one or both of these.  And we ate outside, even in a slight drizzle.
We were going to head to the hawker center one night...but never made it this time.  They are large informal open-air food stalls where you can go from stall to stall tasting everything.  You order and sit down on a stool, and then move on.  Quite fun...but the weather wasn't going to cooperate this time.

The next morning we went to the Marina Bay Sands to tour the hotel.  It has 2500 rooms in three separate towers.  The top connects the three buildings with a swimming pool, that spans the entire length.  It looks like an eel from down below.  It is an infinity pool, by the way, so you feel as if you are in heaven and about to drop off!!  Only hotel guests may use the pool, but there is an Observation Deck where anyone can pay $20  to get up there and take pictures. It is quite amazing and the Casino is HUGE.  Almost as big as the one in Macau.  You need proof of citizenship to get into the casino as they don't want locals gambling.

The mall connected to the hotel has all restaurant the biggies, including a Spago , a Cut and a Mozza.  People in Spore really eat well.  And all the major world class stores are here, too.  If you close your eyes, you have no idea if you are in Singapore or  the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa!!

Our final night in Singapore, we got organized, since we were  boarding the ship the next day at 1.  It was a lovely time spent here, and we really felt as if we got a handle on this glorious place.  It is an amazing city...the diversity is so fantastic in every way, and the fact that you always feel safe is such a plus.  We will definitely return here whenever we are in striking distance.