And so I come to the end of another vacation. We had our bags outside the room by noon and a bus came at lunchtime to take us to Siem Reap airport. From there it was a 2.5 hour flight to Singapore. 3.5 hours at Changi, and then a 13 hour flight to Heathrow. At Heathrow I said goodbye to Denise and waited on my own for another 6 hours before my 6.5 hour flight back to Ottawa. When I left the hotel it had been 33 degrees and 95 percent humidity. As I was coming in to land in Ottawa I was looking out of the window thinking "what's this white stuff all over the ground".
It's an awfully long journey, and suffice it to say I was totally knackered when I arrived back - so it's taken me a few days to catch up on these last few blog entries. Vietnam/Cambodia are exactly 12 hours time difference from Ottawa, so I still haven't really adjusted back yet.
Whilst this vacation was certainly an eye-opening experience, it was hard work physically, and not the relaxing holiday I'd been expecting. Would I do it again? Probably not. Whilst it was nice to see Vietnam there honestly wasn't anything impressive to look at - so there's nothing I need to see again. As far as Cambodia goes I saw some absolutely amazing temples and buildings, and had a really fun time driving around Phnom Pen at night in a tuk tuk. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of some of the sights was spoiled by the aggressive hawkers and beggars all trying to milk the tourists as much as they could. Most of the so called "beggars" didn't look malnourished or badly dressed - they could just make more money by scamming tourists than by fishing or working in a factory. So unfortunately I'd have to say that I don't really want to go back to Cambodia either - despite it's beautiful temples and palaces. The area around the Mekong is heavily polluted - both in Vietnam and Cambodia. It's sad to see what could be such a beautiful area spoiled in this way, and I hope the governments of both countries will do their best to tackle the pollution in future.
The most positive part of the holiday was the group of people I met on board ship. It's great being in such a small group and we met some really friendly and fun people. It was very hard to say goodbye to them. I'll also put a word in here for the staff on Scenic Spirit and for our Vietnamese tour guide: Duc - who were all amazing.
Now it's time to plan my next vacation. The tentative idea is Maccu Picchu next summer.
Wednesday, 21 November 2018
15th November - Angkor at Dawn
We were up at 4am this morning and on the bus while it was still dark. Arriving at Angkor Wat, we were all given torches and walked to the lake. It was an eerie feeling standing there in the darkness gradually watching the temple become visible against the sky. The ambience was rounded out by the background noise of the Buddhist monks in the nearby monastery doing their morning chants.Sadly, the morning was rather cloudy, but it was still an amazing experience. After watching the sunrise we were taken to the monastery overlooking the water for a champagne breakfast.
I was back at the hotel by 10am and had the rest of the morning free before setting off for the afternoon excursion: a cruise on Tonle Sap lake. Denise was feeling under the weather and elected not to come. We were taken by bus out to where we were supposed to board our "cruise" boat. On the bus the guide admitted that this was not really a "cruise" more like a "boat ride". When we arrived we boarded a small wooden boat capable of holding about 20 people. No mod cons - even the life jackets looked a bit iffy. We were then taken for a short boat ride through a floating village.
Apparently a large proportion of Cambodia's population live on houses on the water with no electricity other than what they can generate with car batteries. After about 10 minutes of sailing along we ended up at a larger floating construction which was supposed to be a "crocodile farm". As we approached several small sampans came up and the women on board grabbed onto our boat and started shoving their naked babies up against the railings of our boat screaming "dollar! dollar!". None of them looked malnourished and the women were wearing good clothes - the sad fact is that they can make more money by aggressively begging like this than they can from fishing, and giving them money only encourages them to throw their children against the next boat that comes along. We had to jump off the boat onto the "crocodile farm" building. The floor boards were rotting and not nailed down properly - I honestly felt that the boat was more sea-worthy than this construction and couldn't wait to get back onboard again. After a short boat ride back it was back to the bus and home to the hotel again. All in all it was a most unpleasant experience and Denise didn't miss anything. If you ever go to Cambodia I suggest you skip any excursion described as a "tonle sap lake cruise".The evening event was a gala farewell dinner in the jungle. However, Denise was still under the weather and I was exhausted after being up since 4am, so neither of us went.
Monday, 19 November 2018
14th November - Ankor
Angkor Thom (literally "Great City" in Cambodian) is the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire, and is situated in the jungle just a few km from Siem Reap. It was abandoned at some point around the late 16th or early 17th century when the capital was moved to Phnom Pen. The whole site is around 9 square km, so it is impossible to see it all. Most of the population lived in wooden housing, with only the temples and important buildings being made of stone. Only the stone buildings survive.
The whole city is surrounded by 3km walls on each side - each with its own gate, and encircled by a massive man made moat that could be mistaken for a lake. We crossed the bridge and entered by the South Gate.
The first building we visited was Bayon Temple. The temple has many towers all topped with Buddha faces - 216 faces in all. Parts of the temple are in rough shape and various international organizations are busy repairing what they can. Despite this we were allowed to walk around pretty much anywhere within the building.
After Bayon we moved on to Ta Prohm. This is one of the iconic temples that has been largely overcome by vegetation, with huge tree roots growing out of the walls. It was used in the filming of Angelina Jolie's film: Tomb Raider. Ta Prohm was in worse shape than Bayon - the few parts that hadn't collapsed were being held up by metal scaffolding. Again, some international organization was doing repair and restoration work. The collapsed stones are a gigantic jigsaw puzzle - and these days they scan them into a computer and let the computer work out how they fit back together.
After quite a physical morning navigating broken stone flooring, climbing over large stone blocks and avoiding tree roots, it was a short bus ride back to the hotel for lunch. .
In the afternoon we drove back again to visit the jewel in the crown: Angkor Wat. This is the best known of the temples, and also seems to be the one in best repair. It's also the largest, and features on Cambodia's national flag. Today's fascinating fact is that supposedly Cambodia is the only country in the world to have a building on its national flag.
The one thing that put a downer on the day were the ever present hawkers trying to sell you cheap silk scarves, post cards, books about Angkor, etc. I'm kind of surprised that the government allows them onto the site. As soon as the bus pulls up they cluster around the door and keep thrusting stuff in your face yelling "one dollar one dollar! YOU BUY! YOU BUY" and so on. They follow you around the temple complex doing this - it's almost like running a gauntlet. The psychology escapes me - why would they think I'll buy something if they shove something in my face a 5th time when I've shown no interest the first 4 times ?
The evening was free for us to do what we wanted, but both Denise and I decided an early night was in order as we had to be up at 4am to go and see the dawn at Angkor Wat. So we were in bed (and asleep) by 7pm.
The whole city is surrounded by 3km walls on each side - each with its own gate, and encircled by a massive man made moat that could be mistaken for a lake. We crossed the bridge and entered by the South Gate.
After quite a physical morning navigating broken stone flooring, climbing over large stone blocks and avoiding tree roots, it was a short bus ride back to the hotel for lunch. .
In the afternoon we drove back again to visit the jewel in the crown: Angkor Wat. This is the best known of the temples, and also seems to be the one in best repair. It's also the largest, and features on Cambodia's national flag. Today's fascinating fact is that supposedly Cambodia is the only country in the world to have a building on its national flag.
The one thing that put a downer on the day were the ever present hawkers trying to sell you cheap silk scarves, post cards, books about Angkor, etc. I'm kind of surprised that the government allows them onto the site. As soon as the bus pulls up they cluster around the door and keep thrusting stuff in your face yelling "one dollar one dollar! YOU BUY! YOU BUY" and so on. They follow you around the temple complex doing this - it's almost like running a gauntlet. The psychology escapes me - why would they think I'll buy something if they shove something in my face a 5th time when I've shown no interest the first 4 times ?
The evening was free for us to do what we wanted, but both Denise and I decided an early night was in order as we had to be up at 4am to go and see the dawn at Angkor Wat. So we were in bed (and asleep) by 7pm.
13th November - Goodbye Scenic Spirit, Hello Siem Reap
This morning we had to have our cases outside the cabin by 7am, and were disembarking at 8. A coach was waiting to take us to Siem Reap.
The trip to Siem Reap took 5 hours. I had no idea it was going to be so long. We were following one of the main roads in the country - "Highway" 6, but even so there was a lot of stopping and starting and since I suffer from motion sickness I really wasn't doing well when we pulled into the Cafe Indochine in Siem Reap for lunch, so I didn't eat much. After lunch it was on to the hotel: the Park Hyatt Siem Reap. The hotel is beautiful and has 2 pools. Denise and I relaxed in the outdoor salt water pool for the afternoon.
The evening excursion was to the Phare Circus - Cambodia's answer to Cirque Du Soleil. However, Denise was not feeling up to it - and after my 5 hours of motion sickness in the morning I wasn't really up to it either. So we opted to skip the excursion and had a room service meal and an early night.
The trip to Siem Reap took 5 hours. I had no idea it was going to be so long. We were following one of the main roads in the country - "Highway" 6, but even so there was a lot of stopping and starting and since I suffer from motion sickness I really wasn't doing well when we pulled into the Cafe Indochine in Siem Reap for lunch, so I didn't eat much. After lunch it was on to the hotel: the Park Hyatt Siem Reap. The hotel is beautiful and has 2 pools. Denise and I relaxed in the outdoor salt water pool for the afternoon.The evening excursion was to the Phare Circus - Cambodia's answer to Cirque Du Soleil. However, Denise was not feeling up to it - and after my 5 hours of motion sickness in the morning I wasn't really up to it either. So we opted to skip the excursion and had a room service meal and an early night.
12th November - Wat Hanchey
Today is the last full day onboard the Scenic Spirit - but it is not the end of the trip. Tomorrow we will leave the ship and start the land tour part of the vacation.
When we woke up we found we were already moored at Wat Hanchey. The monastery here is at the top of the hill, and it was quite a physically demanding excursion. There was no smooth walk off the ship, at the end of the ramp we had to jump onto a steep river bank and follow a rough dirt trail upwards. The incline was steep with some homemade bamboo steps filled with sandbags to get up the steepest bits. Then it was a short ride on a bus to the bottom of the mountain. The trail up to the monastery had been a concrete path at one time, but was in poor repair. By the time I reached the top I was out of breath, but we did have superb views.
Most of the "monks" here are actually children. Believe it or not, education is optional in Cambodia. Children from poor families are often sent off to become monks for a number of years - as the monasteries are places of learning. This little boy was 13 years old and had been at the monastery for 2 years. His parents were divorced and his mother simply didn't have the resources to look after both him and his younger sister. He seemed very happy there though. The monks have only 2 meals a day - breakfast and lunch. Buddha forbade various forms of "enjoyment" but didn't mention things that hadn't been invented yet. So most of the monks enjoy playing on the computer, watching TV (nothing too "sexy" though) and riding around on motorbikes checking their mobile phones.
After a tour of the monastery it was time to go down the hill again - but not the same way we came up. Instead there were 300 odd steps straight down with nowhere to stop. My thighs were burning by the time I got to the bottom.
After lunch back on the ship, the afternoon excursion was to a temple and a Buddha Garden. What's a Buddha Garden you ask? Well basically it's an ornamental garden with lots of Buddha statues in it. There are 2 types of Buddhism: Theravada, which is the main one in Cambodia; and Mahayana which is more prevalent in China. They are also known as thin Buddhism and fat Buddhism, because the Theravada Buddha statues show a thin Buddha with a meditative expression, whereas the Mahayana statues are the smiling Buddha with the big belly. When creating this Buddha garden part of the site was found to be a killing field. The main area of the killing field is cordoned off adjacent to the garden, but the bones that were exhumed from the garden site itself are housed in a stupa.
Since this was our last evening on the ship there was a 7 course gala dinner. We've made a lot of friends on this cruise and 10 of us sat together on a large table and had a grand time. Most of us are carrying on to Siem Reap tomorrow for the land portion of the tour, but some people were only doing the cruise. So we were saying goodbye to Lee and Chantelle - 2 Australian ladies who would not be going on to Siem Reap.
When we woke up we found we were already moored at Wat Hanchey. The monastery here is at the top of the hill, and it was quite a physically demanding excursion. There was no smooth walk off the ship, at the end of the ramp we had to jump onto a steep river bank and follow a rough dirt trail upwards. The incline was steep with some homemade bamboo steps filled with sandbags to get up the steepest bits. Then it was a short ride on a bus to the bottom of the mountain. The trail up to the monastery had been a concrete path at one time, but was in poor repair. By the time I reached the top I was out of breath, but we did have superb views.
Most of the "monks" here are actually children. Believe it or not, education is optional in Cambodia. Children from poor families are often sent off to become monks for a number of years - as the monasteries are places of learning. This little boy was 13 years old and had been at the monastery for 2 years. His parents were divorced and his mother simply didn't have the resources to look after both him and his younger sister. He seemed very happy there though. The monks have only 2 meals a day - breakfast and lunch. Buddha forbade various forms of "enjoyment" but didn't mention things that hadn't been invented yet. So most of the monks enjoy playing on the computer, watching TV (nothing too "sexy" though) and riding around on motorbikes checking their mobile phones. After a tour of the monastery it was time to go down the hill again - but not the same way we came up. Instead there were 300 odd steps straight down with nowhere to stop. My thighs were burning by the time I got to the bottom.
After lunch back on the ship, the afternoon excursion was to a temple and a Buddha Garden. What's a Buddha Garden you ask? Well basically it's an ornamental garden with lots of Buddha statues in it. There are 2 types of Buddhism: Theravada, which is the main one in Cambodia; and Mahayana which is more prevalent in China. They are also known as thin Buddhism and fat Buddhism, because the Theravada Buddha statues show a thin Buddha with a meditative expression, whereas the Mahayana statues are the smiling Buddha with the big belly. When creating this Buddha garden part of the site was found to be a killing field. The main area of the killing field is cordoned off adjacent to the garden, but the bones that were exhumed from the garden site itself are housed in a stupa.
Since this was our last evening on the ship there was a 7 course gala dinner. We've made a lot of friends on this cruise and 10 of us sat together on a large table and had a grand time. Most of us are carrying on to Siem Reap tomorrow for the land portion of the tour, but some people were only doing the cruise. So we were saying goodbye to Lee and Chantelle - 2 Australian ladies who would not be going on to Siem Reap.
Saturday, 17 November 2018
11th Nov - The Killing Fields
People usually think of vacations as a time to have fun, but they are also opportunities to learn: perhaps about the local culture, or the local history. Today was a sobering day when we learned a lot about the recent history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge regime. Much of what I will talk about in this blog entry is disturbing - so decide for yourself if you'd like to skip to tomorrow's entry.
There are over 300 sites in Cambodia that have been identified as killing fields, but most have simply been cordoned off and left untouched. The one we visited was the closest to Phnom Pen, and over 8000 bodies have been exhumed from the mass graves there - although there are still many graves on this site that have not been excavated. It's hard to comprehend the scale of the genocide. The estimates are that between 1.3 - 2 million people were executed in the most brutal ways at these sites. China gave the Khmer Rouge guns for free - but the bullets had to be paid for. So rather than being shot, most victims were beaten to death with a bamboo stick, or killed with a knife.
When you add in the people who were worked to death in the fields, starved to death, or simply succumbed to disease because they were so weak and malnourished, the tour guide put the figure at nearer 3.5 million people who had died. This, in a country which had a population of only 7 million at the time the Khmer Rouge came to power.
I thought long and hard about whether or not to put photos in this blog entry. It seems disrespectful somehow to show pictures of the skulls of the victims piled high in the Stupa at the site. In the end I decided to provide photos of the thing that had affected me most - which was the clothes of the victims still protruding from the ground where they died. Every year the monsoon washes away more topsoil and more bones and clothing appears. It's amazing to think that this happened so recently that the clothes themselves have not rotted away yet.
Later in the day we visited S21 - a notorious prison where the Khmer Rouge had tortured anyone who spoke English or French - accusing them of working for the CIA or the KGB. S21 was a former school and the photos below show the "cells" that were constructed - 11 cells in one classroom. Believe it or not, the people in these cells were the lucky ones. The cell is tiny, but when the prison started to become over-crowded, people were simply chained to the ground in rows - 50 in each class room.
I was privileged to meet Chum Mey, one of the last survivors from S21, who is now 87 years old.
There is no justice for the millions who died. The government in charge of the country today is made up of ex Khmer Rouge members, and politics influences what "facts" are recorded. For example, modern Cambodian books do not mention China's backing of the Khmer Rouge - because the current government wants investment from China. Cambodians do not enjoy freedom of speech, so the least I can do is share this information, but I can't do it justice in a single blog entry. I encourage you all to look up the backgrounds of the people who currently govern the country. Also, what the facts are about which countries backed the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam - and how the USA, backed by the UN, continued to recognize Pol Pot's regime as the "legal" government of Cambodia for 10 years after Vietnam ousted him, purely because of their hatred for Vietnam and its Russian backers.
There are over 300 sites in Cambodia that have been identified as killing fields, but most have simply been cordoned off and left untouched. The one we visited was the closest to Phnom Pen, and over 8000 bodies have been exhumed from the mass graves there - although there are still many graves on this site that have not been excavated. It's hard to comprehend the scale of the genocide. The estimates are that between 1.3 - 2 million people were executed in the most brutal ways at these sites. China gave the Khmer Rouge guns for free - but the bullets had to be paid for. So rather than being shot, most victims were beaten to death with a bamboo stick, or killed with a knife.
When you add in the people who were worked to death in the fields, starved to death, or simply succumbed to disease because they were so weak and malnourished, the tour guide put the figure at nearer 3.5 million people who had died. This, in a country which had a population of only 7 million at the time the Khmer Rouge came to power.
Later in the day we visited S21 - a notorious prison where the Khmer Rouge had tortured anyone who spoke English or French - accusing them of working for the CIA or the KGB. S21 was a former school and the photos below show the "cells" that were constructed - 11 cells in one classroom. Believe it or not, the people in these cells were the lucky ones. The cell is tiny, but when the prison started to become over-crowded, people were simply chained to the ground in rows - 50 in each class room. I was privileged to meet Chum Mey, one of the last survivors from S21, who is now 87 years old.
There is no justice for the millions who died. The government in charge of the country today is made up of ex Khmer Rouge members, and politics influences what "facts" are recorded. For example, modern Cambodian books do not mention China's backing of the Khmer Rouge - because the current government wants investment from China. Cambodians do not enjoy freedom of speech, so the least I can do is share this information, but I can't do it justice in a single blog entry. I encourage you all to look up the backgrounds of the people who currently govern the country. Also, what the facts are about which countries backed the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam - and how the USA, backed by the UN, continued to recognize Pol Pot's regime as the "legal" government of Cambodia for 10 years after Vietnam ousted him, purely because of their hatred for Vietnam and its Russian backers.
Tuesday, 13 November 2018
10th Nov - The Royal Palace
This morning we took a coach to the Royal Palace complex. It is quite a large site and very beautiful.
After lunch we sailed down to Koh Out Nha Tey (AKA Silk Island) and had a tour of a silk farm covering everything from how the silk worms mate all the way to watching the women making scarfs on the looms. I bought quite a few silk scarves that were amazingly cheap.
Then it was back to the ship for sorbet on the sundeck and a very nice dinner.
After dinner there was a tour of Phnom Pen by tuk tuk. Denise decided to sit this one out as tuk tuks do not agree with her back. So I joined Jen and Robyn, two fun Australian ladies, and we had a whale of a time driving around in our convoy of tuk tuks. It really is a completely different city at night when everything is lit up. After driving around town for about 40 minutes we arrived at our destination - a roof top bar with a great view out over the city. We had free cocktails and enjoyed the view before tuk tuking back to the ship.
After lunch we sailed down to Koh Out Nha Tey (AKA Silk Island) and had a tour of a silk farm covering everything from how the silk worms mate all the way to watching the women making scarfs on the looms. I bought quite a few silk scarves that were amazingly cheap.Then it was back to the ship for sorbet on the sundeck and a very nice dinner.
After dinner there was a tour of Phnom Pen by tuk tuk. Denise decided to sit this one out as tuk tuks do not agree with her back. So I joined Jen and Robyn, two fun Australian ladies, and we had a whale of a time driving around in our convoy of tuk tuks. It really is a completely different city at night when everything is lit up. After driving around town for about 40 minutes we arrived at our destination - a roof top bar with a great view out over the city. We had free cocktails and enjoyed the view before tuk tuking back to the ship.
Saturday, 10 November 2018
9th Nov - A Monk's Blessing
Overnight we sailed to Phnom Pen. It is even hotter here than it was in Vietnam.
Our morning trip was to the monastery at Oudong. There are thousands of Buddhist monasteries in Cambodia, but this is the largest of them. It was certainly impressive and very beautiful. We walked around the complex and entered the largest of the pagodas - where 2 monks gave us a blessing. This included the monks throwing handfuls of lotus petals and jasmine flowers at you. I wasn't expecting it and got hit in the face by the first handful.
In the afternoon I went on my first Tuk Tuk ride - to the Raffles Le Royal hotel. It was certainly an experience. Which side of the road do they drive on out here you ask? ALL sides. It was complete mayhem, but somehow we arrived at the hotel in one piece. We had a quick tour of the hotel, whose main claim to fame seems to be that Jacqueline Kennedy stayed there and had a drink with the King of Cambodia in the Elephant Bar. The cocktail served to her was called a "Femme Fatale" which is cognac, champagne and frais de bois. So we were all handed one of these cocktails as we arrived. Then we went for afternoon tea in the hotel lounge. Very elaborate and a mixture of traditional and Asian afternoon tea foods.
There was another mind-bending tuk tuk ride back to the ship where some local children did traditional Cambodian dances.
It is Independence Day in Cambodia today (from the French) so there were fireworks at 7pm which we watched from the sun deck.
The pace of the holiday so far has been quite tiring and I had just had a huge afternoon tea at the Raffles, so I decided to skip dinner and just get an early night.
Our morning trip was to the monastery at Oudong. There are thousands of Buddhist monasteries in Cambodia, but this is the largest of them. It was certainly impressive and very beautiful. We walked around the complex and entered the largest of the pagodas - where 2 monks gave us a blessing. This included the monks throwing handfuls of lotus petals and jasmine flowers at you. I wasn't expecting it and got hit in the face by the first handful. |
| Arriving at the Raffles by tuk tuk |
There was another mind-bending tuk tuk ride back to the ship where some local children did traditional Cambodian dances.
It is Independence Day in Cambodia today (from the French) so there were fireworks at 7pm which we watched from the sun deck.
The pace of the holiday so far has been quite tiring and I had just had a huge afternoon tea at the Raffles, so I decided to skip dinner and just get an early night.
Friday, 9 November 2018
8th Nov - Tan Chau and Chau Doc
I returned to the ship around 1.30pm, only to find that Denise had slept through half the morning and missed her trip to the fish farm.
In the evening we were treated to a Lion Dance by some of the local children and then the Farewell to Vietnam Gala dinner. Most of the crew on board are Cambodian, and were happy to be crossing over into their home country.
We ended the evening in the bar as usual, where 3 of the excursion staff put on a version of "Liar's Club" for us. Lots of fun was had by all.
Thursday, 8 November 2018
7th Nov - Cai Be and Sa Dec
This morning's excursion was a sampan ride to Cai Be where we had morning tea at a French Colonial house. We were entertained with traditional music while we ate and drank. The food included banana rice pancakes, fruits - and that traditional Vietnamese tea time treat: Oreo cookies. Perhaps more interesting than the set piece of the morning tea, was the sampan ride to and from Cai Be. Seeing the way the people on the river live: doing their washing in the river, living in houses that are often little more than tin sheds on stilts. It's amazing how virtually everything is done on the water - there are floating gas stations, boats that serve as floating hotels for the local honeymooners, motorcycle ferries - you name it.
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| Motorcycle ferry |
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| Floating gas station |
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| Sa Dec |
We were back on board at 5.30pm for our gin o'clock evening on the sun deck while sailing down river towards Chau Doc. There were 38 different kinds of gin to choose from. I started with an Canadian gin that I'd never heard of, and then moved on to the gin cocktails. Dinner was French themed and very nice. Sadly after dinner I was just so out of it that all I could do was head back to my suite and collapse. Hopefully I'll have more energy tomorrow.
Tuesday, 6 November 2018
All Aboard the Scenic Sprit - 6th Nov
After a morning's meet and greet with our Scenic rep in the Ballroom, we all went out for lunch at a local restaurant. There are only 64 guests on this cruise, so it's easy to make friends. Most are Australians, which is unsurprising given that Scenic is an Australian company, and this part of the world is a lot close to Australia than it is to North America or Europe. There's also a fair number of Brits, and a few lonely Canadians. So far I haven't spotted a single American though.
After lunch we boarded the bus and set off to My Tho to board the ship. It was a 2 hour journey on the bus - most of which was spent getting out of HCMC - which is a sprawling city with a population of 12-13 million people.
Once we got out of the city it was fascinating to see the locals working in the rice paddies. The deceased relatives of the family that owns the land are buried in a corner of the paddy set aside for that purpose - that way their ancestors are always with them.
Our suite is pretty amazing and our butler, Sok, is making sure we have everything we need.
Once I had unpacked I went exploring while Denise took a nap. With only 64 passengers, it's not a big ship, but it has everything you could ask for. On the deck below us we have a laundry room - which I'm going to need to use pretty soon. Our cabin is next to the Library, and on the same floor as Reception and the Crystal Dining Room. On the deck above is the Spirit Lounge and bar. Tea and Coffee are available there 24 hours and there's a good selection of sandwiches and snacks to be had if you're feeling peckish. Above that is the pool deck - the pool is small, but the area looks like a tropical oasis and is very beautiful - most beautiful of all is the pool bar! Finally there's the sun deck, with plenty of loungers and a short walking track.
We sat with Robyn and Jen, 2 Australian ladies, for the Welcome dinner. The food has a bit of an Asian twist, so it's not my favourite - but I can appreciate the artistry that's gone into it. Denise was feeling a bit under the weather, so she went back to the cabin for an early night, while Robyn, Jen and I headed for the the lounge bar one deck up. We were the first ones there and the last to leave, and we put away a few cocktails in the meantime. All in all it was a great first night aboard - and I'm looking forward to our first day of excursions tomorrow.
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| The road out of HCMC |
After lunch we boarded the bus and set off to My Tho to board the ship. It was a 2 hour journey on the bus - most of which was spent getting out of HCMC - which is a sprawling city with a population of 12-13 million people.
Once we got out of the city it was fascinating to see the locals working in the rice paddies. The deceased relatives of the family that owns the land are buried in a corner of the paddy set aside for that purpose - that way their ancestors are always with them.
We arrived at the ship around 4pm. Scenic Spirit is a new ship and very posh.
Our suite is pretty amazing and our butler, Sok, is making sure we have everything we need.
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| The Lounge Bar |
We sat with Robyn and Jen, 2 Australian ladies, for the Welcome dinner. The food has a bit of an Asian twist, so it's not my favourite - but I can appreciate the artistry that's gone into it. Denise was feeling a bit under the weather, so she went back to the cabin for an early night, while Robyn, Jen and I headed for the the lounge bar one deck up. We were the first ones there and the last to leave, and we put away a few cocktails in the meantime. All in all it was a great first night aboard - and I'm looking forward to our first day of excursions tomorrow.
Monday, 5 November 2018
The Adventures of Denise and Ruth in HCMC
Today we had no guided tours and decided to set forth and explore Ho Chi Minh City by ourselves. This is not as easy as it sounds - as just crossing the road around here is a major undertaking. The traffic ignores red lights, and you just have to stroll out into the middle of the unending stream of motorbikes and trust that they'll go around you - which they do - but it's still a bit of a hair-raising experience. Denise found it particularly stressful.
Our eventual destination was the Bitexco Tower - the tallest building in HCMC. You can pay to go up to the viewing platform (it's 300,0000 Dongs) or you can go to the Eon Heli Bar on the 52nd floor (which is actually higher than the viewing platform) and buy a cocktail for about 260000 Dongs and get the view for free. No prizes for guessing which option we chose.
We took a taxi back to the hotel after our liquid lunch, as the day was hot and the road crossing experiences had taken a lot out of us. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool, and the evening repacking our bags, as we're leaving for the ship tomorrow.
HCMC has been a unique experience, but it is still a big city with all the mod cons. As we sail down the Mekong we'll be heading into the more rural areas, and it will be interesting to see what we'll find there.
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| The view from the window of the Eon Heli Bar |
Our eventual destination was the Bitexco Tower - the tallest building in HCMC. You can pay to go up to the viewing platform (it's 300,0000 Dongs) or you can go to the Eon Heli Bar on the 52nd floor (which is actually higher than the viewing platform) and buy a cocktail for about 260000 Dongs and get the view for free. No prizes for guessing which option we chose.
We took a taxi back to the hotel after our liquid lunch, as the day was hot and the road crossing experiences had taken a lot out of us. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool, and the evening repacking our bags, as we're leaving for the ship tomorrow.
HCMC has been a unique experience, but it is still a big city with all the mod cons. As we sail down the Mekong we'll be heading into the more rural areas, and it will be interesting to see what we'll find there.
Sunday, 4 November 2018
Ho Chi Minh City
Today was our first full day in the city formerly known as Saigon (and now known as Ho Chi Minh City).
We were awake early due to not having adjusted to the time difference yet. So we went down to breakfast at 6am. It was an amazing buffet with wonderful pastries - must be the French influence here. The fruit selection included Jack fruit - which I had never seen before, let alone tried.
After breakfast we headed out by taxi to the Museum of Vietnamese History. It wasn't a very large museum, which was good, because we are still adjusting to the time zone and aren't exactly bursting with energy. The museum included a statue of Ho Chi Minh, the first prime minister of Vietnam- and the city's name sake
When we got back to the hotel we relaxed in the lounge for a very welcome coffee break, before setting out once again in the afternoon on a half day guided tour of the city.
The half day tour was certainly jam packed. We started out at the War Museum. There was an impressive collection of US planes, helicopters and tanks in the courtyard. Inside most of the exhibits were collections of photos, many of which were extremely graphic. I'm not a squeamish person, but even I was shocked at some of them, and I can't say I'd want to see them again.
After the War Museum, we visited the Jade Emperor Pagoda to see the various Buddhist shrines, and then on to the Post Office (a beautiful French colonial building), the Church of Notre Dame and the Reunification Palace. The pace was frenetic, the weather was extremely hot and humid, and by the end of it all Denise and I were exhausted. So it's another early night for us.
We were awake early due to not having adjusted to the time difference yet. So we went down to breakfast at 6am. It was an amazing buffet with wonderful pastries - must be the French influence here. The fruit selection included Jack fruit - which I had never seen before, let alone tried.
After breakfast we headed out by taxi to the Museum of Vietnamese History. It wasn't a very large museum, which was good, because we are still adjusting to the time zone and aren't exactly bursting with energy. The museum included a statue of Ho Chi Minh, the first prime minister of Vietnam- and the city's name sake
When we got back to the hotel we relaxed in the lounge for a very welcome coffee break, before setting out once again in the afternoon on a half day guided tour of the city.
The half day tour was certainly jam packed. We started out at the War Museum. There was an impressive collection of US planes, helicopters and tanks in the courtyard. Inside most of the exhibits were collections of photos, many of which were extremely graphic. I'm not a squeamish person, but even I was shocked at some of them, and I can't say I'd want to see them again.
After the War Museum, we visited the Jade Emperor Pagoda to see the various Buddhist shrines, and then on to the Post Office (a beautiful French colonial building), the Church of Notre Dame and the Reunification Palace. The pace was frenetic, the weather was extremely hot and humid, and by the end of it all Denise and I were exhausted. So it's another early night for us.
Friday, 2 November 2018
Mekong River Cruise
Another vacation - this time to Vietnam and Cambodia. My very first trip to Asia.
Vietnam is pretty much half way round the world from Ottawa - so it doesn't matter which direction you fly in - you won't get there any faster. I left Ottawa on Wednesday night - and finally got to Ho Chi Minh City (S S Saigon) at lunchtime on Saturday.
Since I was doing the holiday with Denise, I decided to fly East from Ottawa and stop off at Heathrow, so that we could meet up there and do the rest of the journey together. I stayed overnight at a hotel in Heathrow in order to have a bit of a rest before we had to catch our early morning flight to Singapore the following day.
The flight from Heathrow to Singapore is 13 hours and I was dreading it. But I ended up with a spare seat next to me, so I had plenty of room, and the service on Singapore Airlines was excellent. Other airlines offer you orange juice or a diet coke, Singapore Airlines offers you a Singapore Sling; it just about made the 13 hours bearable. Then we had to hang out at Changi airport for 3.5 hours before catching our flight on to Ho Chi Minh City.
Our Scenic rep met us at arrivals in HCMC and we had a 20 minute mini bus ride to the Park Hyatt here in the centre of the city. The ride itself was quite an eye-opener. People riding motorbikes everywhere - quite a few of the bikes had 3 people on them, and the kids weren't even wearing helmets. The bikes just weave in and out between cars and squeeze into non-existent spaces. I think most of the bikers must have a death wish. Apparently it's not that unusual to see 5 people riding on one scooter!
The hotel is very posh, and very nice. We are exhausted right now and will probably have a nap, but afterwards we plan to check out the hotel pool and the French/Vietnamese restaurant.
Tomorrow we are booked on a half day coach tour of the city.
Vietnam is pretty much half way round the world from Ottawa - so it doesn't matter which direction you fly in - you won't get there any faster. I left Ottawa on Wednesday night - and finally got to Ho Chi Minh City (S S Saigon) at lunchtime on Saturday.
Since I was doing the holiday with Denise, I decided to fly East from Ottawa and stop off at Heathrow, so that we could meet up there and do the rest of the journey together. I stayed overnight at a hotel in Heathrow in order to have a bit of a rest before we had to catch our early morning flight to Singapore the following day.
The flight from Heathrow to Singapore is 13 hours and I was dreading it. But I ended up with a spare seat next to me, so I had plenty of room, and the service on Singapore Airlines was excellent. Other airlines offer you orange juice or a diet coke, Singapore Airlines offers you a Singapore Sling; it just about made the 13 hours bearable. Then we had to hang out at Changi airport for 3.5 hours before catching our flight on to Ho Chi Minh City.
Our Scenic rep met us at arrivals in HCMC and we had a 20 minute mini bus ride to the Park Hyatt here in the centre of the city. The ride itself was quite an eye-opener. People riding motorbikes everywhere - quite a few of the bikes had 3 people on them, and the kids weren't even wearing helmets. The bikes just weave in and out between cars and squeeze into non-existent spaces. I think most of the bikers must have a death wish. Apparently it's not that unusual to see 5 people riding on one scooter!
The hotel is very posh, and very nice. We are exhausted right now and will probably have a nap, but afterwards we plan to check out the hotel pool and the French/Vietnamese restaurant.
Tomorrow we are booked on a half day coach tour of the city.
Monday, 29 October 2018
Pumpkinferno
Every year Upper Canada Village does a nightly display of carved pumpkins during October.
There are some truly amazing pieces of art.
Here are some from this year:
There are some truly amazing pieces of art.
Here are some from this year:
Monday, 15 January 2018
The Voyage Home
Last day of the cruise, and we are sailing back to Miami. As always there is a lot of entertainment to choose from. We started off by checking at the guest services desk to see if they had any info about the rescheduling of our Karl Urban photo session but they told us to come back later.
Most of the entertainment on this cruise is either about Star Trek itself, or it stars one of the actors from the show. But Trekkies are obviously the kind of people who would be interested in space exploration and so some of the "guest stars" aboard are here to give scientific talks. Sadly, there had been so much going on in the early part of the cruise that I'd missed the earlier ones, but this morning we managed to fit in 2 of these presentations. First, a talk about the future of space exploration by the astronaut Rick Seafross. Fascinating fact, Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, is launching the Falcon Heavy in 2018, which can launch twice as much payload as any previous launcher. Typically, Elon Musk will be using it as an opportunity for publicity by launching a Tesla car into orbit.
Then we attended an interesting, and quite funny, talk with Phil Plait the astronomer about the chances of an asteroid or comet hitting the earth and what we can do about it. Hint: Don't do anything like what they did in "Armageddon".
Tried the guest services desk again, but they still had no update on the photo session. "We'll make an announcement over the speakers" they said. So off we went to the pool deck to listen out for it. Lots of entertainment on the pool deck of course, including a Deep Space 9 Q&A with 7 of the actors from that series and "Oh My!" with George Takei. But time was getting on - and I'd still heard no announcement, so I went down to the guest services desk again - only
to find that Karl Urban was there and the photo session was already nearly over. So I dashed back up to the pool deck and grabbed a rather wet Bridie who had recently been in the pool and we double timed it back to deck 7 and managed to get our photo done just before the session wrapped up. Instead of us being all dressed up in our Star Trek finest, I'm in a ratty old t-shirt and a pair of shorts and Bridie's in a pool cover up with wet hair, but at least we got the photo done in the end.
There was another full evening's entertainment including a fascinating talk about the planet Vulcan (yes - some French astronomer announced he'd found this planet between Mercury and the sun), a show called BFF with Robert Picardo and his friend and singer Jordan Bennett, and a late night Q&A with Karl Urban. He had some great stories about Leonard Nimoy.
As a parting shot I'd have to say that this cruise was a lot more fun and had much more going on than any of the normal cruises I've been on. Despite going directly from one event to the next all the time we were aboard ship, there were so many things I didn't get to do. I'm sorry I missed out on many of the scientific talks, I didn't get to see Armin Shimmerman doing Shakespeare. We missed to many of the competitions including the tribble toss, the Cmdr Riker chair mounting competition and the Search for Spock scavenger hunt. We couldn't get on the Klingon Pub Krawl with Gowron because it was fully booked, and had to give the Gorn's Gong show a miss because there was not even standing room in 13 Forward when we turned up for it. I missed the showing of George Takei's movie "Allegiance", and I would have loved to have taken part in some of the competitions like the Utopia Planetia ship building (ships had to be able to traverse the pool carrying 6 bottles of beer). One of the make up artists from the shows was on board and Bridie really wanted to get made up as an Andorian - but there just wasn't enough time.
Finally, I want to give special props to Entertainment Cruise Productions for making such an effort to transform the ship into a truly Trekkie environment. It would have been easy to just say that having the actors on board made it a Star Trek cruise, and leave it at that. Instead, they had made the effort to rebrand the restaurants and bars (Klingon Karnivoria, Sandrines, 13 Forward, etc) and make various other alterations around the ship, including flying the flag of the Federation from the ship mast, having a special cocktails (I tried a romulan ale, a raktajino and some Klingon blood wine). Even the elevators were turned into Turbo lifts. I had a great time, and I'd recommend this to any Trekkies out there.
 |
| The "shore leave" bar |
Then we attended an interesting, and quite funny, talk with Phil Plait the astronomer about the chances of an asteroid or comet hitting the earth and what we can do about it. Hint: Don't do anything like what they did in "Armageddon".
Tried the guest services desk again, but they still had no update on the photo session. "We'll make an announcement over the speakers" they said. So off we went to the pool deck to listen out for it. Lots of entertainment on the pool deck of course, including a Deep Space 9 Q&A with 7 of the actors from that series and "Oh My!" with George Takei. But time was getting on - and I'd still heard no announcement, so I went down to the guest services desk again - onlyto find that Karl Urban was there and the photo session was already nearly over. So I dashed back up to the pool deck and grabbed a rather wet Bridie who had recently been in the pool and we double timed it back to deck 7 and managed to get our photo done just before the session wrapped up. Instead of us being all dressed up in our Star Trek finest, I'm in a ratty old t-shirt and a pair of shorts and Bridie's in a pool cover up with wet hair, but at least we got the photo done in the end.
There was another full evening's entertainment including a fascinating talk about the planet Vulcan (yes - some French astronomer announced he'd found this planet between Mercury and the sun), a show called BFF with Robert Picardo and his friend and singer Jordan Bennett, and a late night Q&A with Karl Urban. He had some great stories about Leonard Nimoy.
As a parting shot I'd have to say that this cruise was a lot more fun and had much more going on than any of the normal cruises I've been on. Despite going directly from one event to the next all the time we were aboard ship, there were so many things I didn't get to do. I'm sorry I missed out on many of the scientific talks, I didn't get to see Armin Shimmerman doing Shakespeare. We missed to many of the competitions including the tribble toss, the Cmdr Riker chair mounting competition and the Search for Spock scavenger hunt. We couldn't get on the Klingon Pub Krawl with Gowron because it was fully booked, and had to give the Gorn's Gong show a miss because there was not even standing room in 13 Forward when we turned up for it. I missed the showing of George Takei's movie "Allegiance", and I would have loved to have taken part in some of the competitions like the Utopia Planetia ship building (ships had to be able to traverse the pool carrying 6 bottles of beer). One of the make up artists from the shows was on board and Bridie really wanted to get made up as an Andorian - but there just wasn't enough time.
Finally, I want to give special props to Entertainment Cruise Productions for making such an effort to transform the ship into a truly Trekkie environment. It would have been easy to just say that having the actors on board made it a Star Trek cruise, and leave it at that. Instead, they had made the effort to rebrand the restaurants and bars (Klingon Karnivoria, Sandrines, 13 Forward, etc) and make various other alterations around the ship, including flying the flag of the Federation from the ship mast, having a special cocktails (I tried a romulan ale, a raktajino and some Klingon blood wine). Even the elevators were turned into Turbo lifts. I had a great time, and I'd recommend this to any Trekkies out there. Costa Maya, Mexico
Back on the ship just in time to set sail. Karl Urban came aboard here. Quite a few of the celebrities had trouble making it on board due to the bad weather on the East coast at the start of the trip. Bob Picardo and Ethan Philips had their flights out of New York cancelled and had to take a train to Washington to fly from there - literally arriving about an hour before we sailed. Jonathan Frakes also missed the boat and had to join us in the Honduras. We were supposed to have a photo session with Karl in the evening but he got food poisoning from something he ate in Mexico, so it was postponed..There was still, as usual, a packed night of entertainment. We saw "the liar's club" - a sort of "call my bluff" type quiz followed by "In Search of Lost Time". This was Brent Spiner's show. I had no idea Data could sing like that! He must have been on Broadway at some point in his career.
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