Dinner and random thoughts

We had a lovely sit down dinner tonight of fruit salad, a delicious vegetable soup, steak and grilled veg., and a light sponge with raspberry sauce...plus free wine! Not high cuisine I suppose but very much appreciated by all of us. We had a 'fun' table: Sue and Gus (South African), Pam (American), Sergio (Italian) John Mueller (Canadian/American....Theresa is in Beijing) and us.
Sergio is married to my name sake Maggie. who was only on board for a very short time but we enjoyed her company very much. She is Scottish of course which might explain it!

Apparently this dinner is being repeated, without the free wine, tomorrow night so there are definite advantages to staying on board between ports when the majority have taken off for China proper. I missed being with Nilo, Nasim, Ted and Sylvia who had also saved seats for us. It was one of those awkward moments which occur in the dining room when people invite you to join them you from different directions. (George and I sitting down to dinner on our own at home is certainly going to lack spice.)

This blog is probaby boring but gives you an idea of the relationships which form over time on any ship but also what fun it is to be part of such a diverse group of people on this one. Gus happened to mention travelling from the UK to South Africa on the Athlone Castle years ago and I realised that the Athlone was the ship which had carried me back to the UK from Cape Town to meet my parents after WW2! We compared notes on the tiny cabins with bunks that were the norm in those days and are the reason that I find our cabin so overwhelmingly luxurious. He told me that on her farewell departure from Cape Town she sailed right along the coast past Sea Point and Camps Bay and that people were standing cheering her on the shore and waving good bye...what a lovely, nostalgic picture. I have always found ships to be almost 'human' with character s and oersonalities of their own and that crews and passengers retain a huge loyalty to any ship they have worked or travelled on....food for thought.

Once again I have to report that George is fast asleep although we are listening to Mozart on this computer and it's only 9 pm. He hasn't even managed to climb into bed...obviously too much exercise today. I do often wonder if all this obsession with exercise is healthy! my mother and grandmother who both lived into their nineties never had a work-out in their lives but both walked alot. In her final years my Gran used to go for long walks in her imagination all around the countryside near Haddington in East Lothian, not far from Edinburgh. My mother didn't imagine it, she did it, almost up to the last week of her life. So is it conceivable that walking is the answer to longevity?!......More food for thought?

Coordinates again for Liam and Katie:
Time: 21.13
Speed; 17.5 knots (very slow!)
Course: 35 degrees
Lat: 25 degrees 0.52 N
Long. 119 degrees 43.4 E

Judging by the map on the TV screen we are between Taiwan and the mainland China coast and are sailing through the Straits of Taiwan.

Good night and enjoy your day....we are exactly 12 hours ahead of you now.

Good bye Hong Kong

The Kowloon Ferry terminal from the ship at night, as we left.

Good bye Hong Kong!

How relaxed should one be waiting for the emergency boat drill?

On our way to Shanghai

Tuesday 31st march: We are ploughing through a much heavier, rougher sea than we have experienced for some time. As I look out of our balcony doors, apart from watching the horizon rising and dipping I see long white capped swells and large waves hitting the sides of the ship and spraying high wide arcs of white foam. Quite picturesque really if you're not susceptible to nausea or vertigo which some passengers certainly are. George has taken the ever available sea sickness pills from the clinic but I seem to be, as George puts it so delicately, tough as old nails....charming.

George has gone slightly mad and actually excercised seriously this morning in the presently empty gymn and wellness spa. He has been sound asleep for the past hour but has now recovered enough to knock back a few health drinks....Pernod in this instance! I, having exerted myself not at all, am into the red wine....well a third of a glass before lunch to celebrate no classes or rehearsals! The afternoon is set aside for 'firming up' my lines....so was this morning but I'm reading such a good book (Coastliners by Joanne Harris) I decided to put off the evil hour.

We are having a special sit down and be served dinner tonight as there are so few of us on board; apparently it is as good as the Captain's dinner which was wonderful. Let's hope the sea calms down or there will be even fewer people in the dining room! Poor Nilo is feeling very ill again and there are a number of greenish faces in the corridors.

Will end this until later or tomorrow and finally run lines with George..........oh dear!

Remarks on departing Hong Kong.

Sunday Market in Hong Kong
The ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island

I wrote as we sailed in to Hong Kong and now as I sit here writing again we are sadly leaving. The time is 11.30 pm and the city lights are all on and they stream on it seems for miles and miles. I tried to put some more photos up but as soon as we drew away from the quay side the disconnect happened.

I have fallen in love with each port we've visited; each departure is difficult...what does the song say? Every time we say goodbye we die a little....sounds corny but it's so true. Did I say that Hong Kong was still so British? Well it's not.....English is hardly spoken in some areas, especially little shops and in the restaurants and markets. I was surprised. I'm sure after such a short visit I have many misconceptions but I really loved the atmosphere. I love the daring and flare which puts up higher and higher buildings of stunning design and colour so close together in the confined space. I remarked to George that HK must surely be on bed-rock because the thought of what would happen if there was an earthquake doesn't bear consideration.

I went into FaceSS to get a cleanser today and realised that in some places there is over employment. There were all these beautiful young women, dressed in black representing all the great cosmetics we know; Clinique, L'Oreal, Lancome etc etc, about 4 to each counter. They were chatting and putting on make up, looking in hand mirrors as they perfected their already perfect faces, not really interested in assisting anyone. One I spoke to had false eyelashes that were not only long but so thick we wondered how she could possibly keep her eyes open...George was intrigued! When I asked if they had those wonderfully convenient and easy cleansing 'wipes' she raised her eyebrows, pouted her bright red lips and said disdainfully "Oh no...we do not." I slunk away shamed.....

We had a boat drill tonight and it was fun. When I remember how stiff we all were the first few times we did this and how friendly and relaxed the whole operation is now that we know each other I realise how comfortable we have become with our friends on board. Sylvia, Ted, George, me, Nasim and Nilo are lined up together. We got into trouble tonight for laughing and making too much noise.....shamed again! George and I were a little disconcerted yesterday to discover from Linda our Guyanian cabin steward that we shall be getting into her 'raft' if necessary in an emergency because it's quicker to inflate that than to lower a life boat. Well our life boat, number B6, looks so huge and roomy and comparitively safe...but we didn't say anything to Linda who obviously prefers rafts....just to each other afterwards...Did you hear what she said!?

We now have two days at sea before Shanghai. (Liz I shall take lots of photos of your birth place I promise. ) The ship is fairly empty, so many have flown ahead to Beijing and the Great Wall. We plan to relax....but that plan started off on the wrong foot tonight when the captain announced the 9.15 boat drill! So keep your fingers crossed for smooth sailing and peace from calamity!

HK today.

After crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong island on the ferry, George and I have had a lovely day just wandering the streets of Hong Kong and eating Chinese food and another capuccino and latte where we were yesterday. I did more shopping than I have been able to manage up to now because a) there hasn't been time between tours and b) George hates it and rushes out of sight with the money! Today I put my foot down, got my debit card to work finally in an ATM machine and succeeded in forcing G. to stay around whilst I browsed....great fun!

I loved walking in the narrow sky-scraper-shadowed(!) streets. Do you think we could at first find a Chinese restaurant; there were Thai, Indian , short order Western but no Chinese! eventually we saw a menu at the end of a lane and decided to search it out. At the end we found it and we were the only foreigners there, usualy a good sign. however this food was laden with fat, sugar, and more carbs than any we have had so far. Never mind the atmosphere was definitely Chinese....miseable, irritated (with each other mainly and shouting) staff.

We walked down to the ferry and took it back to Kowloon. Here I hope are some photos.....we have just had supper on the dining room deck with a million dollar view of the city of Hong kong lit up as it is every night. See photo above. Can you imagine what you would pay in a restaurant to have a table with that View? I'll publish this before I lose it....I know I'm getting a little paranoid!

Photos of Hong Kong ...hopefully!

(1) Old photo of what is now the Peninsular Hotel and about a mile inland. (The land has been reclaimed and built on. (2) Folded umbrellas at the roof garden pub where we had our last drink in Hong Kong. (3) Ted and Sylvia at supper last night. (4) Hong Kong and me at night....Explorer to the Right.

Hong Kong continued

It seems compulsary, or at least inevitable, that we should be taken to visit a church in ex British protectorates and colonies so yesterday we were taken to St John's Anglican church. It was attractive in itself but for me the interesting point was that it stood right next door to a lovely red brick building with large windows and dark green shutters which one could imagine had been 'lifted' from Boston or Washington DC, and which turned out to have the ominous title of "The Court of Final Appeal"....

We also had the chance to visit a Tao temple but a small group of us, feeling 'templed' out spotted a cosy looking coffee house where we enjoyed the best coffee since leaving home. It was oviously the haunt of resident expatriot Americans and Europeans who regarded our intrusion on their peace with some hostility and suspicion....but who cared ? we revelled in the aroma and taste of true coffee. Only George who daily enjoys Ian's gifts of Indonesian rich coffee on board, was not euphoric!

Off to breakfast...better publish (sounds so grand doesn't it?!)

Hong Kong at greater length...hopefully

Our introductionto Hong Kong yesterday was a resounding success. A fairly large group of s were on the orientation tour which was excellent and we had a guide who spoke the best English we have heard since India. As I think I have mentioned before fluency was not the problem in Thailand and Vietnam but understanding the accents was.

Hong Kong seems familiar in a number of ways. Firstly because most of us have seen photos and TV programmes of it or heard other people's accounts and secondly for George and me because it remains so British! The double decker buses particularly are evocative of London or Edinburgh; the order of the traffic after the chaos and danger even of crossing a road from Chennai to Saigon....it was great to see the little universal green figure telling us it was safe to cross!

Yesterday was a cool, grey day here, a welcome relief from all the heat we had been experiencing. It made the view of the city and harbour from Victoria Peak a little blurred and softened but nevertheless spectacular. The long steep climb up there in the bus was in itself revealing because of the different angles of viewing the endliess and architecturally fascinating sky scrapers and ostentatious residences which climb the hillside.

We ate our boxed lunch (identical to the one at Catien!!) standing with friends, looking down at our ship-home from Victoria Peak. I loved watching the visiting Chinese, often grandparents, with tiny children, attempting to manage and discipline reluctant two and three year olds. One couple in particular were at their wits end as their grandson, who was spectacularly beautiful, smilingly refused to comply with anything they asked him to do. I thought to myself that he would go far in life, always his own person and so charmingly but stubbornly getting his own way! I had a feeling that part of the show was for my benefit and had to turn away from his grandparents helpless stares! It was one of the times I would have loved a video camera...

Earlier we had gone on a sampan ride round the harbour, but although again we had a marvellous sea view of the city, there were so many tourist boats that we seemed in imminent danger of small sea tragedies; Semester at sea participants end up in Hong Kong harbour on sight seeing tour after multiple sampan collision...

We were allowed time after descending from the peak on a fenicular tram to wander round a typical Sunday market selling vegetables and tempting"medicines" which cured everything from a simple cold to balding heads. We noticed that the behaviour of teen agers is universal now; ipods, ear phones, giggles, jeans or a weird layered concoctions of tops and skirts for the girls and tatoos and sunglasses for the boys.

Blog has started to misbehave so am going to publish....more later.

Hong Kong (briefly)

Hong Kong from a sampan.

We have had a wonderful day seeing Hong Kong. It is an amazing city of sky scrapers higglety pigglety crammed into a small space with 7000,000 people, green hills, a harbour filled with all manner of vessels from small fishing boats and junks to huge passenger liners, and very obviously a huge discrepancy between the very rich and the not so rich. If you own a house in Hong kong as opposed to an apartment you are very probably a millionaire or billionaire.

We travelled today by bus, sampan, fenicular tram, on foot and finally the bus again to bring us back to the ship.

Photos and Entry into Hong Kong

A rather fat centepede in our room at Catien.

Student Megan, me and George on the ferry from Catien going home.

We are just steaming full speed into Hong Kong, the sea has been quite rough but now we're in the centre of hilly islands, can see lights on the shore, with heavy clouds over the tops. The weather forecast says 50-60 degrees and rain! What a change.....trying to remember what warm clothes look like! We dock right next to a huge shopping mall...oops!

We shall be staying on board from now on until Hawaii so hopefully will be able to continue blogging. Three quarters of the passengers on this ship are flying to Beijing and on to the Great Wall where apparently there is SNOW! Snow....what's that?!

Fiona we are meeting Randy and his wife for dinner on our first night in Shanghai.....will of course be sending reports home!

Off to shower and breakfast and watch us docking...we have slowed right down and....wow here is Hong Kong. Dark misty hills and then massive white sky scrapers right down to the shore. (Just dashed to the doors of our balcony and that's the view that met my eyes) we are in an hour early. Two tugs have just roared out and the pilot has come aboard to guide us in. I never really thought I would ever get to China: I have been reading books about it since Han Su Yin's Love is a Many Splendoured Thing. Latest the follow-on from Red China Blues (Can't remember the name). This is so exciting.....we are parallel with those sky scrapers now, they seem to go on endlessly We have slowed down to 14.7 knots....ah trees and about twelve gorgeous looking apartment buildings in a row. I'm typing as I watch our entry; Victoria Peak is right behind them and the shore is rocky with trees and bushes which I feel I could stretch out my arm and touch. Oh this is beautiful, fishing boats all lined up under the buildings and double decker buses rushing along the road, junks (who thought I'd ever see a junk?!)....more sky scrapers jammed together. There is obviously a lack of building space outwards so they have gone up up up! The depth backwards of these sky scrapers is astounding right into the foot hills. Lots of what we Scots call Highheedyuns are coming on board....that is a phonetic spelling. It means literall the "high head ones" or VIP's. ( yup... you learn something fabulous every day!).

This time I must shower because they prefer us not to have them in port as they stop turning sea water into frsh at that time.

More later.

Last minute thoughts before bed.

Half way through the "great trek". One of the students enjoying a rest!

Have just been enjoying a small party given by our next door neighbours; my theatre prof Ted for his wife Sylvia who leaves us in Shanghai. There were nine of us drinking a toast to her, airing all our facetious thoughts about the hierarchy on the ship and the Cultural Pre-ports which are mandatory and waste alot of time which could be better spent on learning really helpful things about our next country. The tips about what to expect, the medical and security information are helpful but looking at family photos and hearing unhelpful personal experiences add little to our knowledge....still some of the students enjoy it so shouldn't grumble I suppose.

We arrive in Hong Kong in 7 hours so as I can't get any more photos on here I should go to bed. We'll be doing a city orientation tour tomorrow and then our own thing after that. Victoria Peak, the Ferry and Temple Road (a market) are musts apparently, and I think we shall be eating out quite a bit.

Good night! Present time is 1 am.

Hopefully some writing that resists cyberspace

I'm going to attempt to get this blog published....I have lost two.



We are about half way across the South china sea on our way to Hong Kong. It is still very hot outside and as usual terribly cold in the Union! The sea is getting a little bit rougher but we have had fun watching the Red Foot Boobies flying around the ship and catching flying fish just as they leap out of the water.



To return to Vietnam; our stay in the Catien National Park was wonderful. it was very tropical and reminded me so much of Nigeria. I shall try and put a couple of photos of the bugs who visited our bedroom at night....like Texas everything seems bigger in Catien! It was a deja vu experience for us both sleeping under mosquito nets: I awoke with one of the little buzzers right in my ear. I did my instinctive slap, realised I had hit myself fairly hard and probably sent mossie down my ear canal....but no more problems from him. I was wary getting up to go to the loo wondering what I might feel underfoot but survived those trips too.



The highlight for me in terms of survival was the 'great trek' which I had been worrying about from day 1. The guides were insistent that I came because of the lunch that we would have half way and the rest then at the little thatched house overlooking crocodile lake. (I feel I have written all this before because I have...twice!) The trail was difficult because it was rocky and I thanked all the gods that I had splurged on some $17.00 (?!) runners in Cadiz. They functioned amazingly well. The heat was pretty overwhelming for us all but at least there was jungle all around and we walked mostly on a very narrow but shaded trail. The traditional meal was wonderful, all cooked on a wood stove in an airless hut by one man. We stayed there about two hours before the return journey so I found a cool and private spot and meditated before we set out on the return hike. I have never been so elated as when I walked out of the forest on to the dirt road and saw the rickety old truck that would take us back to our basic but oh so cool rooms!



George and I frequented the bar because it too was cool. It was an open structure, thatched and overlooking the river so there was almost always a breeze. Some of the students cycled on old rented bikes and explored the area more thoroughly than we did. Have I mentioned that we also did a river trip in an open but shaded motorised river boat, bird watching and river bank scrutinising? Well that's what we did before dinner on our first afternoon.



On the first evening after supper (and after dark) we went out on the aforementioned truck, tearing along the road, sitting on slatted wooden seats at the back, to look for animals. There are supposed to be elephant and even small tigers in the forest. All we saw were 4 boars and the tail end of a deer. The night sky was amazing, absolutely sparkling with stars, and made the whole drive worth while. We were nearly blinded and scratched a few times as the truck dashed along betweenthe over hanging trees and the guide (Chong) stood up front dramatically waving a huge flashlight into the bush and trees on both sides. I thought we were travelling far too fast to spot anything...any animal would have lots of warning of the on-coming blunderbus and would steer clear. That's obviously what they did!

There was another walk to a waterfall the last day but I stayed home and read my book. It was a good call apparently as George said they had to scramble over rocks most of the way. I think my runners would have finally given up the ghost!

Lunch was enlivened by the fact that there was a celebration going on for about 100 members of the Communist party and Ho Chi Minh league which you have to join if ever you want to get a decent job. We couldn't believe the noise they made....they were doing these ritualistic shouts leading up to a great roar, every few minutes. We asked Ve what it was all about and he said they were into the rice wine and it was simply One, Two, Three, DRINK! They became extremely merry and asked us to join them which we did. The rice wine tasted foul to me but G. and the students managed to knock back one or two and the whole occasion was very friendly.

We left and walked down to the ferry to cross the river at about 1.30pm and were back on board ship in Saigon at 4.30 ...not bad considering we hit rush hour. We were so sad to leave Ve; he gave each of us (George and me) a huge hug and we all felt almost tearful. It's hard to accept that you will never see someone again whom, in the space of a very short time you have become close to and truly appreciated.

I listened to the student reflections on Vietnam that evening in the Union. Most had visited either ambodia and the Killing Fields or the Saigon war Museum and were deeply distressed and emotional when they spoke. Few had known much about either and the impact was great.

I can't believe I have made it this far into the blog so before anything happens I'm going to publish it. Possibly more later. it remains only to say loud and clear,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE...HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Catien National park (Cont.)

The frangipani bush between the thatched roof of the bar and the tiled roof of the kitchen.

Our group during our trek gathered in the base of a massive 1000 year old tree.

Catien National Park (continued

Putting on our leech protective socks before leaving for our 10 km hike through the jungle on rocky trails and in extreme heat (but in the shade at least). 5 km to the traditional lunch and 5 km back....phew! I never dreamed I could do it but I did. This is all viet kong territory during the war.

More photos of Vietnam, Catien National Park

The river Dong Mai and jungle.

Above: Half way through our 10 km trek through the jungle...traditional meal.

Boarding the ferry for Catien National Park. 17 students and us., Catien

Catien National Park Vietnam

Well we made it there and back and it has been quite an experience. I feel that George and I have together and separately experienced more of the culture and countryside in this country than any other on this amazing voyage. We did an orientation tour of Ho Chi Minh city, which I and many South Vietnamese prefer to call Saigon. We certainly got a feel for the size, population, pollution and traffic here. I went to the Mekong Delta and enjoyed that experience very much particularly the markets and travelling on the Mekong river which I have already mentioned. That day George took his students on an FDP to the Vietnam National University and had a delightful time with the students there; he said that watching our students and theirs interact and enjoy each other was wonderful ....and should be arranged more often. On our third day we took off early in the morning for our 4-5 hour bus ride to the Catien National Park.

There was a couple of hours of crowded city and town driving before the landscape started to change. Suddenly we were in a rural area with volcanic hills, huge round boulders and fields of cashew trees, rice paddies, banana plantations, villages and far, far less traffic and general 'buzz'. We felt the pace of life slowing outside and people seemed to be more leisurely, sitting in the shade under bridges and trees, swinging in hammocks (under bridges and trees!), sitting in groups chatting, waving to us on the bus; children coming home from school and more cyclists than motor bike riders. We eventually arrived at a river crossing ...the Dong Mai river. It was hot! We lugged our back packs off the bus and made our way down a hill to 'the ferry'. It took only a few minutes to cross the river at this point and we were just steps away from our destination.

I should mention our wonderful guide Ve (pronounced Vay). A small Vietnamese man, about 30 years of age with a wonderful grin and a sweet personality who has for the last few days taken the greatest care of our group which consisted of 17 students, George and myself. (of the students there were 7 men and 10 women). Ve took charge and led us to the park headquarters where we handed over our passports (always worries me that does!) and were allocated our accomodation. We had been warned that it was very basic but actually we were all pleasantly surprised because the rooms were spacious and wonder of wonders air conditioned and with fans and mosquito nets. Each room for two people had three double beds!

We have all been having terrible trouble with our broadband and publishing posts....I have lost two so am publishing this partial one before I lose the connection. More later.

Images of Saigon & Mekong Delta & friends

These are photos I took today when I left Saigon and went to the Mekong Delta. A group of us, students and Faculty (and hangers on like me) went in an air conditioned (thank goodness) bus driving for two hours to reach the town of Mekong....much smaller (20,000 pop.) than this city and very pleasant with shady treed streets and sitting of course on the river. On the way we went to a gorgeous Vietnamese market where we walked through open mouthed at the varieties of fruits and vegetables and always lots of different types of rice. I also took from the bus window photos of the motor bikes zooming into Saigon to work. (We left the ship at 8 am so right into the rush hour.)

We took quite a large boat down the river from Mekong for about ten minutes and then transferred after a short and very hot walk through fairly thick jungle to another part of the delta and travelled from then on in canoes paddled by one man or woman while another steered from the back. Our ship librarian (and friend) Beth and I were in one and Nilo and Nasim (my Karachi 'sister' and husband) in another. The students and other 'adults' (!) were about five to a boat. Our boats left the wooden pier last but you have no idea of the competition there was to keep in the lead. Our lady captain was one of the most aggressive and at one point as she was slamming through tied up empty canoes we became stuck and in her efforts to free us we nearly capsized! The water is shallow and very muddy so we were relieved to have kept afloat!

We leave for Catien park at 7 am tomorrow so must go to bed. The photos above are a woman working on an old Singer type sewing machine in the market, Nilo with fan, fruits and rice in the market, two delightful young boys we found on our way to a jungle lunch, canoes in the delta and our 'captain' on paddling her own canoe at great speed!

Will write in more depth on our return. We are away for 2 nights. Bon Soir....there is a really French feel still about this part of Vietnam. By the way I prefer the name Saigon to the correct Ho Chi Minh City, hence the label for this blog!

Our day in Saigon

Saigon, Ho Chi Minh city, whatever you care to call it it's fascinating, busy and still looks French. Some of the architecture is very European looking but the life on the streets is strictly Vietnam. I have never seen so many motor bikes on the road and they swarm like armies at lights and crossings. Local people just start walking across any road they want to cross. the trick apparently is not to hesitate because you think you're going to be killed by a motor bike: he already has you in his sights and has mentally adjusted his route; if you hesitate you are, literally. lost! I didn't even attempt to cross a road I was too terrified. "If you stay here six months" our guide told us " you will just do it naturally and it won't seem strange" No I thought, because I'd be dead!

Can was her name....our guide. She was friendly, professional and very knowledgeable and her English was excellent, but she couldn't turn down the heat which we would all have appreciated. One burns up from the inside and you can feel your face burning red....I think it might well have been 100 degrees.

None of the buildings we visited...the President's palace, Notre Dame Catholic cathedral (built in the style of the one in Paris although didn't much resemble it), the Post Office (built like a large french railway station) , the History Museum and a water puppets show...were air conditione. only the beautiful Vietnamese restaurant where we sat down to an amazing meal, beautifully presented and cooked and delicious....there we were content and cool. It's amazing how good food makes people happy. Fortunately our bus was kept cool and air conditioned even when it waited for us.

The water puppet show was delightful. It took place under a corrugated roof, with risers for the audience to sit on. There was a small green pool in front of us, a dense simulated green forest on one side. Shimmering coloured puppets of dragons, ducks, fish and humans were manipulated from behind green curtains hung across the back of the pool. The puppets swam and fought and cavorted around in the water...then two little sparsely garbed humans arrived on the scene to play with and try to catch them and ultimately succeeded to loud applause. That was fun.

Because of the fumes of thousands of motor bikes and cyclos (a bicycle behind the rickshaw) and cars, nearly every one wears surgical masks and also the lovely chinese style straw hats or baseball caps or veils or both to protect from the sun. Some are wheeling barrows or cycling ordinary bikes....it may be pictureque but it looks like very hard work.

This evening Joh, theresa, George and I sat opposite the ship on the docks in a lovely open air restaurant where no one spoke English and it took ay least five of the staff to make out our order. All the more surprising that it came as it should and tasted delicious. You had to hang on to plate and drink just in case because our waiters had been given two instructions: fill their glasses even if they shake their heads and shout No more please! Secondly clear plates and glasses the second they're empty....take no notice of their shocked faces, they can come for more tomorrow. It was stressful until we got used to the hoverers and ignored them even when we crossed arms and hands and fingers got tangled and knocked over a few glasses...even then we just glowed in the atmosphere of beer, wine and roses. Our bus which George was leading had some good people on board, we called ourselves the seniors bus its meaning being superior rather than ancient!

i shall have to continue impressions tomorrow when I get back from he Mekong Delta or before we leave at 8 am. i am failing fast...goodnight.

Images in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Some images from today. Will explain in next blog.

This the view from our balcony now that we have docked in Ho Chi Minh city! Talk about being in the centre of town! A second view looking the other way.

The low buildings to the Left are a restaurant/bar. The pink pillared building in the back ground on the Right is a school; the children, all in uniforms of black and white, have just gone into class.

We have just had our Diplomatic briefing by representatives from the US embassy here. Everyone talks about the Vietnem War but as one of the embassy officials reiterated Vietnam has a very young population so most of them weren't even born when it took place. There seem to be for us allvery positive feelings here towards the Americans....that's good for us all! Sometimes I have wanted to say "Look I'm British/Canadian....not one of them!"....just occasionally!

George is leading the orientation tour of the city so we have to be down at the buses by 10.30 to leave at 11.00. Standing on the wharf in 98 degree weather, waiting for stragglers is not fun so we're hoping everyone will be on time.

Will write more about our visit later.

Sunrise over the Saigon river looking back from our balcony as we turn slightly round a bend...

1st day in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

This morning after we have had our Diplomatic pre-port lecture in the Union we shall be going ashore. Apparently we dock only about a mile away from the city centre which sounds very convenient. We gather that the traffis consisting of motorbikes, mopeds, cycle rickshaws, motorised rickshaws AND cars is dense and scary and that crossing a road is an adventure!

A heads up: As we shall be on board for the next two nights I should be able to enter a blog. However we shall be away in cat Sien park after that for 2 nights when I shall not be writing. Thank you to those of you who have recently written long emails to me, I appreciate it so much; Dia, Jo and Fiona. The broadband from the ship has been letting us down so badly I am not writing emails unless there's a very good reason and I'm getting up early to get into the blog so that you all receive our news.

A plea for help: Could you all make sure you keep in touch somehow with Dylan Moumblow, I heard from Ron Hebbard that he has been in touch and would like to involve Dylan in some way at DLT. Any ideas? Sally and Stan? I gather the chemo has not worked so far and Dylan may be in for more surgery. shall now leave this in your compassionate, capable hands......

I have just been out on our balcony and we are going up a narrow river with heavily wooded banks (exciting!) and the sun is rising but on the other (starboard0 side of the ship Must shower and get dressed and rush to assist the pilot and captain.(?!) A few years ago the previous SAS ship sunk a rice barge on its way into Saigon!

Sunset and fishing boats - Vietnam

S Sunset over the hills and islands of Vietnam, taken last night, Saturday. At this momrnt (5.14 am) the pilot, who came on board at 4 am is taking us up the narrow river which leads into Ho Chi Minh City harbour, You may remember from the Vietnam war, those who are old enough that is, that this city was previously known as Saigon. where we arrive at 8 am.

Apologies,images and a new day

Saturday, 21st March

I do apologise for the abrupt ending to the last blog. the rest went into cyberspace and I could not retrieve it; instead it published a photo I had given up on!

This image is taken in the grounds of the Grand Palace Bangkok.

I have tried to put up other images this morning but no luck.....it's only 6.30 am and I thought it would work as. hopefully, most students should be sound asleep and not on their computers. Perhaps everyone has thought the same way!

Last night after a 7 pm rehearsl we had a pre-port lecture given by two "inter-port" passengers from Vietnam. Unfortunately, although their English is good, their accents are very difficult to penetrate. George and I disobeyed orders and watched on our cabin TV which at the very least meant we could get on with other things; polishing lectures for George and learning lines for me, and we didn't freeze which is my main problem with sitting in the Union as I've mentioned before. Following that the MV Explorer crew gave us a show which was at times hilarious and at others we sat amazed at the talent they have hidden from us up to now. There were quite a few professional standard singers, comedians and jugglers. Our crew members mostly come from the Carribean and the Phillipines, but there are also a few from South Africa, the UK, Canada, Ukraine, Germany and other countries I have forgotten. They all stood together at the end of the show,each holding a small flag of their particular country and sang 'We are the World", it was very moving. The ones we know best of course are our cabin stewards and dining room staff, but there are in all 198 crew members....we shall be looking at them quite differently from now on. Theresa Mueller took both video and still cameras and is going to try to send something I can insert on the blog....keep your fingers crossed?!

The sea is a different blue today; we are on the southern edge of the South China Sea, strange how the colour differs depending where we are. One tends to think of the sea as simpy being blue or grey but there are a hundred and more variations of that theme believe me. It's rather like fabric; yesterday a heavy silk, today a crinkled crepe, sometimes shantung!

I'll put up the co-ordinates later for Liam and Katie. We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam at 8 am tomorrow. George and I are doing a city orientation tour and the next day he has his FDP (Faculty Directed Practicum) at a college where they teach studens to work in English and I shall be spending the day travelling to and seeing the Mekong Delta. The third day we leave for two nights in the Cat Sien Park (Description in our tour book: very rustic and basic, hot and humid, no hot water, bring hiking boots, insect repellant, sun screen and a hat!) Oops what have I let myself in for? I'm an air-con person in the tropics these days, I could certainly regret this decision!

More later....

At sea continued.

This photo shows the river in Bangkok taken from a boat when we were on our way to see the temples and palace.

I have just listened to an emotional apologia by two American professors (married) of the Vietnam war. It was a little hard to listen to because they became 'choked up' frequently and Dan the husband had alot of ums and ahs in his speech pattern which tended to prolong the lecture. George sometimes has the same problem but works hard to overcome it. Unlike their fellow profs around me in the Union I did find it moving and thought it probably had to be said to remind the students of that other terrible American mistake which was the Vietnam War. Before they are let loose in Vietnam! I remember how I felt about the British Raj

At sea

Imagine a mother of pearl sea and sky running into each other so that it's rather like being inside a gigantic, glowing shell: that's what it looks like from our balcony at this moment. The ship is moving at 10.2 knots, the slowest that we have ever travelled on a sea day I think....we must be too close to Vietnam to move faster. How shall I ever get used to living on dry land again?

Last night before rehearsal I went to a gathering of 'reflections on Thailand' by the students. There is no longer any doubt in my mind that they are changing in their attitudes to life and within themselves as they experience and feel other cultures. They used two phrases often; "go with the flow" and, interestingly, "we're all so different....but the same". I think that once we all realise the second, we begin to be concerned for all humanity and think outside the American/Canadian 'western' box....they had some amazing (sometimes bordering on irresponsible) adventures. Two of them decided to sail a kayak from deep in the countryside somewhere to Bangkok! They bought the kayak first (?!), started off in spite of the fact that they were told it would take most people a month to do; literally 'fell' down some waterfalls that spiced up their river route until it dawned upon them that just because they were Americans didn't mean they were able to accomplish something that more realistic wisdom had already informed them was not possible. They had been helped along the way by Thai children and adults who smiled and hauled them out of one scrape after another. The trick for them (both males) will be to keep the confidence but in a more accepting and realistic form....to become more humble, more Budhist!

It is appalling to me how badly these university (mostly rich) kids speak English....have I mentioned this before? it has been annoying me for some time. Without the use of the word 'like' they would be unable to form a sentence. "Like he told me like he was going to like walk those two like long blocks to like a great restaurant with like great food but I was like scared to go down that like busy lane with like tuk tuks and cars like coming from all directions...like I was really like scared man!" No exaggeration, like honestly! My fellow actors in The Persians speak the lines and then when they break into conversation with each other or the director that is exactly how they speak....it becomes almost unbearable.

Today one of those fellow actors is coming to our cabin to experience the forgotten luxury of having a bath. She will have the cabin to herself for an hour or so and may even sit on the blacony alone for a while...she is so excited. You might imagine how guilty this joy at such simple things makes us feel! We discovered while having lunch with our 'family' the other day that 4 out of 6 of them have no window in their cabins. They like the cosiness when its stormy outside but miss dreadfully the loss on a daily basis of natural light.

Off to breakfast of fruit, yoghurt, hopefully oatmeal/porridge, (far too rarely made, we have biscuits and grits every day!!) the inevitable scrambled eggs (G. thinks made with egg powder as during WW2!), croissants or Danish's which are very good. My waistline is not shrinking Oh I forgot to add, the most revolting coffee you have ever tasted! I shall go armed with my Semester at Sea insulated mug and a Lapsang Suchong tea bag....Ian gave us three bags of Indonesian coffee which I had yesterday and it was superb....again thank you Ian!

More later.

Thai text, The Burma railroad, images and dessert.

Thailand! What a wonderful mixture of order and chaos, air conditioned cool and overwhelming humidity and suffocating heat! Images of sudden beauty that take your breath away and then crowded lanes , traffic fumes (which also leave you breathless) and over populated streets! The sweetness and patience of puzzled Thais as you try to explain something or ask a question....the totally wrong answers they give which take you miles out of your way until you realise just how badly you have been misunderstood....the quick frustration of Westerners!

The greatest miracle of Bangkok, since my first visit twenty five years ago is the Sky Train; it rushes frequently from station to station above the traffic jams and ear piercing horns of cars and tuk tuks and takes you where you want to go in minutes instead of the hours one would spend in a taxi or tuk tuk. I just wanted george to believe me that the heat would be crushing and that we should take a cab from our SAS 'delivery' bus which dropped us in the middle of a street many miles from our hotel. Oh no says he (who has been pouring over Lonely Planets Thailand for days) we'll use the Sky train. I was not happy, what did he know? I had been there before. Full confession? He was absolutely right and we used it constantly. It is air conditioned and one usually stands all the way but for five minutes no hardship.

We went to the Golden Mount, (a Budhist shrine up a few hundred curving steps)the standing Budha and the Grand Palace all by tuk tuk for 30 THB which is about one US dollar! These particular tuk tuks are Government regulated and that's all they're allowed to charge. They are not air conditioned in the accepted sense but in every other.... you get blown to bits and cool off rapidly! They sound like motor bikes and weave their way through dense traffic fast....second only to the sky train.....

The temples and Palace are utterly beautiful and magnificent; the graceful Thai design of sharp peaked and sloping roofs, glittering gold in the sunlight, studded with brighly coloured "jewels" of glass(?) intricately painted. Every now and then you stumble across a quiet spot, hidden and shaded with deep crimson bougainvillea or white and pink frangipani hanging over heavy dark iron bells with perhaps a jasmine garlanded Budha sitting upright and cross legged in green or gold...a perfect corner for meditation and peace. Wreaths of tightly woven cream and highly scented jasmine are being made and sold on every street corner. When you look over the city of Bangkok from any height you see oases of trees and the sparkling red roofs of temples jutting through in the centre of tightly packed sky scrapers where you least expect to find them. You see a city of amazing contrasts laid out before you.

We met my cousin Ian on our second evening and in many ways this was the highlight of my visit. We hadn't seen each other since before my cousin Marjorie's (Ian's mother) death six years ago. Ian lives in Bali and his brother Jeff in Sri Lanka...we are all 'colonial children' who feel at home in the tropics; however my memories go back quite a few years further than theirs! Ian knows Bangkok well and we spent time eating and shopping. Ian I shall try to insert a photo of my last dessert in Bangkok....just to let you see how much I enjoyed the lunch you treated us to.... Mangoes and sticky rice!

George and I decided to take a day to visit The Bridge over the River Kwai, (This should be pronounced 'kway', which means 'river' so we've all been wrong for years...), and the site of the infamous Thailand to Burma railroad built by many thousands of Asians and European POW's and the death of thousands of them.

We were picked up from our hotel at 6.15 am (with a boxed breakfast of tuna sandwiches!) and after picking up another 5 people in our air conditioned Toyota van we set off through the countryside for the three hour drive. The others on the trip were an Australian couple (correction, he was from New Zealand) and and another couple from Yorkshire or Lancashire (I can never distinguish between those two accents) and, thank goodness, a delightful young German man who told me he had been proposed to three times already by young Thai women and he had only been in Bangkok a week! I have to say that by the end of our day I felt that if I were not to hear another Australian or North cuntry accent for a century it would be too soon! I am constantly amazed at 'tourists' (which they certainly are...not travellers) who talk about utter inanities when a foreign and fascinating country is literally passing them by. They complained bitterly that, having come all this way, they ultimately missed the wooden structure of the original old bridge which we crossed by train. This in spite of the fact that our Thai guide had told us about it at least twice.

We crossed the replacement steel bridge built in the nineteen fifties by the Thai government on foot. George went steaming ahead, I followed more cautiously (there was a long drop into the river which we could see below us as we walked, through the railway ties and steel girders) and I was followed by the young German. At the far end of the bridge I turned to speak to him, (his name was Jo for Joachim), and found him pale and sweating. He said to me "I am a fire fighter in Germany..I climb up ladders of burning buildings and I never think of the height or look down, I just focus on what I must do. But this bridge is different, I look down through the bridge and rails and see the river below....I am very frightened." So I walked back about two feet in front of him, very slowly, talking all the time until we reached the safe part of the railway over solid ground. I think he was really shaken because he stayed close to George and me for the remainder of the day.

From here we took a speed boat built in Thai style; a long slim canoe, painted and decorated in Thai style, with a motor. This to the train station from where we would take a train over the original wooden structure which the POW's and Asians had built. It was a journey of about one and a half hours in a train with wooden slatted seats. no window panes so lots of pretty hot air through the big windows, through mostly tropical jungle....very humid and lots of mosquitoes.

We tried to imagine what it must have been like to be forced in to manual labour to build a railway hundreds of kilometres long in this obliterating heat on little or no food (some rice with salt occasionally); being whipped, scorned and left to die (if you were not fast enough or fit enough) by the supervising Japanese soldiers. It must have been a living nightmare. The survivors in photographs look like the survivors of Auschwitz and Belsen. Earlier we had visited a reconstruction of the camp where the POW's were housed and a museum to their memory paid for and supported by one of those Japanese officers who so ashamed of what his country had done and that he himself had been a part of, he felt that this was a way of making amends. A statue to his memory stands overlooking the river.

I knew many men and one woman who had been Japanese prisoners of war in Singapore and in Malaysia and men who had worked on this railroad in Thailand, contempories of my parents. They spoke little about it; one Dutchman I knew well, Bill La Lau, (a great friend of your parents Ian in Calabar) was very forgiving, as I believe many of them were. The woman, Cheska, Bill's wife, whom we visited in Bilthoven (Holland), became totally frigid. She could not remain in their marriage and left to live alone...I know this because she waited for our visit to leave! There had been sexual abuse of the prisoners by the prison guards in the womens' camps and apparently many came out as Cheska did. We easily forget don't we, the impact of war on thousands of lives?

George and I found this whole experience very moving, especially when we visited the Allied graves in a beautifully cared for cemetry. There is a section there for the British, another for the Australians and another for the Dutch POW's. Each headstone has a small flowering plant beside it, lovingly tended by Thai gardeners. There are trees and flowers everwhere. Some headstones have personal messages from parents and loved ones, others have simply the name, regiment and age of the deceased. The ages ranged from 37 years down to nineteen where I looked; each body lying there had been found and identified.

To move on to somewhat lighter themes: we had wonderful meals in Thailand. We have always loved Thai food which George cooks often during the summer months at home. But this was even better....sorry George! We ate only in Thai restaurants which had gracious service; so correct and ordered. We had to ask how to go about eating our meals because obviously there is an order to doing so. Ian was a great help in this respect. All the food was placed gently and neatly on the table, everything. Soup, rice, starter, main course, water , wine and a finger bowl and bowl for bones and shells of shrimps etc. One eats it all together in various ways; have a spoonful of soup, a shrimp dipped in a tiny bowl of sweet/sour sauce. Then pour a couple of spoonfuls of soup over your rice (delicious!) before having another shrimp or some steamed vegetables, fresh steamed fish or satay chicken...........mmm good! End with a delicious dessert of fresh sliced mango and sweet sticky rice....I really got hooked on this....thank you Ian!

Shopping was fun. huge mall/markets full of tiny stalls, one after the other, with clothes, bags, hats, jewelry, shoes....you name it and it's there...somewhere. Same in the tech. market; binoculars, cameras, mice (pleural of computer mouse!) computers, all kinds of technical gadgets. One little treasure which Ian possesses is a translator of languages; vocabulary and phrases from the English into about five or six different languages, including Thai....very tempting to buy but we resisted.

It was all almost too much, there was so much choice I found I couldn't make up my mind so actually came out with very little. George bought binoculars, a new mouse and a new pair of sandals, this last from a tiny shoe display on the side walk and the whole transaction done in about five minutes....left his old falling-apart sandals there and walked away in the new which he has been wearing comfortably ever since. That's his kind of shopping.

We returned to the ship last night after a last supper in a little Thai restaurant near the Davis hotel, (which by the way was very nice.....lovely comfortable bedroom, and bed,...with a bathroom which was about the same size and had a huge glass wall into the bedroom....no privacy at all!) Our last meal was again beautifully served and we enjoyed every mouthful of the soup and rice. The soup made with lemon-grass, lime and spices in a fish base with four huge shrimps lying on top of the bowl. By this time we had learned the correct way to say thank you to those who served us and were younger than ourselves....no hands placed together as if in prayer, and a bowed head, which I had mistakenly done on our first visit causing giggles from the head waiter and a gentle correction; just a smile and nod of appreciation, if that. The level of your hands when you do show respect is determined by the status of the person you are addressing. The higher the esteem in which you hold them, the higher your hands. If you were to address the king you would hold your arms and hands above your head.

Speaking of the King of Thailand, there are photos of the Royal family everywhere you look. Many of him alone but others taken with the Queen at his side....huge posters above the buildings and on the sky train station walls. Smaller ones in shops and restaurants.

Tonight we are expected to rehearse and I am so steeped in Thailand I can't bear to make the necessary shift to The Persians. However discipline demands that I go and read the play yet again and see how much I remember.

Images of Thailand, our visit (some photos)

Above are Thai temples, a wandering elephant near the River Kwai, cousin Ian and myself eating lunch in Bangkok, Ian and George on a Bangkok street and the wonderful gold leaf paintwork at the entrance to a part of the Grand Palace, Bangkok.

Last blog before Thailand.

Tomorrow we leave the ship at 10 am and we'll be in Bangkok for three days until the 18th. We get a bus at about 1 pm on the 18th and that (3 pm) will be my first chance to get back to my blog....yes 2 hours later! That's how far we shall be from the docks.

We plan to meet my cousin Ian and then do some day tours, one possibly by train from Bangkok. You'll hear all about it on the 19th when my thoughts are in order!

I have a rehearsal tonight after the pre-port which we're watching on our TV as I write ie.
9 pm! We are feeling a little panicky because we have such a full port programme for the rest of the voyage. However we could all do without one tonight!

We have clothes lying all over the place trying to decide what to wear in 98 degree weather which we have just been informed is the forecast....oh wow! Of course we have to dress respecfully, this is a Budhist country so nothing sleeveless.

So 'talk' to you soon.....good night!

Saturday 14th March

Coordinates for Liam & Katie;

Time: 06.55
Lat; 05 degrees 27.0 N
long: 103 degrees 33.8 E
speed: 20.0 knots
Course: 340 degrees

Lovely milky calm white and pink sea, glowing in the sunrise. Lots of clouds and we have had quite a bucket full of tropical rain but the sun is trying to push through. We hear the temperatures are 90 - 100 degrees in Bangkok...ouch!

After half a voyage (we reached half way yesterday) we have discovered how our bath plug works (I know I know it's pathetic...) so George has taken to having loooong baths. He has a class at 8 am, it's now 7.20 am and there is still breakfast... (I took a break to talk on the phone to Dia. my most faithful correspondent...hence the time leap). George has just appeared all excited because he have found a clothes line we didn't know was there!! We shall finally know this ship when we arrive in Fort Lauderdale in May!

We have been so spoiled; no cooking, laundry done beautifully and all these fantastic places to visit....had you told us a year ago that we should be sailing round the world I would have guffawed loudly. There is nothing I could appreciate more at this stage in my life, except perhaps good health. To have this opportunity, perhaps even more so for George now that he is retired, is a priceless gift. Whenever we complain about anything (and believe me everyone does even here!) we always stop and think and end up saying...but aren't we lucky?!

I have breakfast with two friends: Nilo from Pakistan, also born in Karachi so we are soul sisters we think and Pamela from Florida. Pam is a Life-long learner ,travelling on her own with a large family at home. Michael her husband joins the ship in Guatamala for the final week. Nilo is vivaciou and funny and we usually have a hillarious meal. George and i have lunch with 4 of our family; Lindsay, Tammy, Stephanie and Danielle. More about that after the fact. We look forward to hearing about their adventures in India.

George with Mani, our driver in Pondicherry

Singapore and on to Thailand

We finished our 'bunkering' in Singapore this afternoon an our next stop is Bangkok, Thailand. It was amazing to count the tankers and freighters gathering in the docks of Singapore, there were more than we have seen anywhere else.

I was disappointed that very little was told to the students about this island/city/nation. As Brits we are so aware of the history of the place during World War 2. No one imagined that the Japanese would attack and take Singapore from Malaya (now Malaysia), It was thought that the attack would come from the sea and that Singapore was adequately defended. They were wrong on both counts and Singapore fell easily. It was a great loss to the allies strategically and thousands of expatriots became POW's (prisoners of war) and spent the next few years in camps and many died in those camps under harsh Japanese rule. The Japanese occupied Malaya and Singapore from 1942-45. None of this was spoken of; the notorious Changi prison where many POW's were incarcerated has not been mentioned. .

Singapore became independent and separate from Malaysia in 1965.

Of course we were not allowed ashore and I suppose this is ancient history which does not interest Americans...it was after all prior to their entry into the war! However we were told about the fact that the population of Singapore all live in highrises and condominiums! The fact that entire communities (like Chinatown) were obliterated to achieve this and that these highrises (with shops below so that no one needs to travel outside to buy necessities) wiped out the sense of community was not talked about either. Ah well, 'nuff said!

The weather has cooled pleasantly and as I write and look at our coordinates and map on TV we are sailing North to Thailand and are at this time off the south east coast of the Malayan peninsular. We reach Bangkok the day after tomorrow.

I'm off to bed with a mug of Lapsang Suchong and a good book!

friday 13th bunkering in Singapore

Above "a job for life: This lovely, cool lady is sweeping the tiles at the shore temple in Mamalapuram. Sand drifts in constantly from the beach and she just keeps sweeping.

Above her is the shore temple at Mamalapuram.

Above again are more temples and sacred elephant at Mamalapuram

At the top are some of the stunning rock carvings at Mamalapuram.

We are as I write sailing into our bunkering dock at Singapore. It is a huge harbour because we have been passing land and a multitude of ships for at least an hour. I've missed the sun rise and the sky is grey and the air already hot. I'm going to try for a few more photos.