South China Sea cruise

Saturday, March 8th - SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA I somehow managed to catch a cold/virus. I spent 14 hours in bed and still feel lousy. So, today Jim went ashore by himself and of course, Bongo. [Jim here] We had a long day on the bus and at several locations around Sihanoukville. Our first stop was at a pepper farm…black pepper. Now we know one place where black peppercorns come from. White pepper is black pepper that has been briefly boiled to loosen the skins which are then peeled off. Its all dried in the sun. We also saw durian fruit trees and "rambutan" (spelling) trees. We had lunch at a restaurant that can feed 200 tourists at a time..so not very quaint, but the food was pretty good…. whole fried fish, fried rice, tropical fruit, noodles, etc. We walked through a fishing village also. I'm not sure if that was for us to see the village or for the villagers to see the tourists. I guess after having seen and lived around locations like this around the world, this sort of quick tour begins to lose it appeal. Of course, millions (billions?) of people live this way…our way of life is a striking contrast. I wish people in developed countries could see this way of life..up close and personal. It might give them a new appreciation for what they have and what is available to them. Sunday, March 9th - AT SEA Monday, March 10th - PHU MY, VIETNAM We went on a very long (3-hour each way) bus ride to the Cu Chi Tunnels. This is where the Viet Cong fighters lived during the war. They had an entire city developed underground. They were like little rats living in an underground tunnel! We also saw the traps that they set up to kill soldiers running around their camp. We also went for a short walk/crawl in one of the tunnels. Jim took the opportunity to shoot and AK-47 and an M-16 …the most common weapons for the fighters in the war. Tuesday, March 11th - NHA TRANG, VIETNAM We visited the Po Nagar Cham Towers, built between the 7th & 12th centuries from the Cham civilization. We climbed 152 steps to the giant white Buddha. We also saw the ladies embroidery with the silk thread made at that factory. Very amazing artwork! Wednesday, March 12th - AT SEA Thursday, March 13th - DA NANG, VIETNAM Jim went on another long bus ride today, and I went on a shorter tour of something else. [Jim here] I took a trip from Da Nang, through Phu Bai to Hue. Rick was stationed in Da Nang in 1970 and Tom was near Phu Bai at Camp Eagle…10 km. south of Hue. I visited the Imperial city of Hue..the ancient capital. Its a fascinating city, in the process of being rebuilt. As is typical, it must have been beautiful when originally built, but the years and war have taken a severe toll. Much of the reconstruction is based on black and white photographs taken by the French in the 1950's. We also went to the Royal tombs…hauntingly beautiful, but also in severe disrepair. I went to Hoi-An to a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a place where about 6 generations have lived. We had a nice tour of this town and had time to shop. I bought a pair of baggy trousers made of cotton and silk. I also found some nice beads for mosaics. Friday, March 14th - AT SEA Saturday, March 15th - HALONG BAY, VIETNAM Today we remember Adin H Hall, Jim's dad. He would be 95 today, if he were still living. Today is our last day of touring. This is a remarkable natural wonder and UNESCO World Heritage site dotted with more than 3000 limestone islands. We sailed in and around these magnificent structures. We went on a climb of 120 steps into the Thien Cung Cave. We saw a cave that could be active at times with many stalagmites and stalactites. I will post photos of our trip in a few days.

Cruising on the South China Sea

PHOTOS from this trip will be uploaded to the blog when we return to Brunei. Our internet connection while on the ship is by satellite, which is very expensive. Saturday - Monday, March 1-3, 2014 We spent a couple of days in Singapore before the cruise. We went to the Garden by the Bay. We had a great time looking at all the different plants. Thankfully, it was inside, as it gets very warm in the middle of the day. We had dinner with a friend that Jim used to work with in The Netherlands. It was fun to see her and get to know her husband. Tuesday, March 4, 2014 Our first day of the cruise, we spend at sea. There are many activities on the ship on "at sea" days. I went to Yoga and Jim went to Tai Chi. Later in the day we played bingo and lost. *sad* Wednesday, March 5, 2014 We docked in Koh Samui, Thailand early Wednesday morning. We had a quick breakfast and off we went on a small bus. We went to the huge seated Buddha on the North East Coast, which is quite a landmark. We also went on a short walk through a village to see the fish market. Smelly! At the end of the walk they served us green coconuts to drink the milk straight out of the coconut. The next stop was where we could see the monkeys bring down the brown coconuts from the top of the tree. We did make it back to the ship to eat lunch before they closed the restaurant. We watch a very good movie called "12 years a Slave", which is based on a true story. The story line is sad, but the movie was well done. I can see why it earned some awards. Thursday, March 6, 2014 We had great fun going to the Elephant Village. We rode on the elephants through the jungle and even through some water. We fed them bananas on the way. They love bananas! There were also some very cute bunnies in a caged area close to where we got off the elephants. We walked a ways through the jungle, over a small wooden foot bridge to a small hut where they process silk. They showed us the different processes that the cocoon goes through to become silk thread. There was also a loom to see how it is woven. We have seen this process before at a place in Turkey. The main difference is the color of the cocoon. The cocoon in Turkey was white, instead of the pale yellow. We walked a short ways and got on a covered wooden raft. We rode down a lake ??, not really sure what kind of body of water this was, but it was abundant in fish. We fed the fish with the feed that was provided. Bongo thought it was very interesting the way we were guided by a rope down the lake. See photos. We got in a 4-wheel drive vehicle and the drive drove us back to where we started riding the elephants. We enjoyed a very nice Thai buffet lunch. When Thai people tell you that the food is not spicy, it is still a bit spicy. They had everyone in our group sit in a stadium type place for the elephant show. We were offered to go into the water with the elephants, but no one took them up on that. After the elephants had a nice bath, they brought them back up to the area in front of us. They offered that we could ride the elephant bare-back, just behind the neck. I thought that would be fun, so I volunteered first, and many people followed. It was actually easier bare-back that in the seat like we were earlier today. Jim followed and also rode bare-back. They have one elephant that used to be a show elephant, so this elephant showed the different ways the trainer can get on top of the elephant. This tour also included a tour of a gems factory, which was very interesting, but we were not allowed to take photos. It was like a very large jewelry store.

Time to Get Away

Jim and I left home on Saturday, March 1st at about 5:15 AM. The drive to the airport in Bandar is about two hours. We took a flight from Bandar to Singapore. As we were driving along on our way to our hotel, The Pan Pacific, it felt as if we had arrived back into the 21st century. I had already visited a clean bathroom and it actually had toilet paper! It's the little things in life that make a difference. We met up with one of Jim's past colleagues for dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse. It was so delicious! We have not had any food like that in at least 4 months! After dinner we went to a bar at the waterside. The weather was very pleasant outside and we enjoy some wine and chatted. We enjoyed an interesting laser show that was across the water from where we were sitting. The building is quite interesting. It has 3 high high-rise buildings next to each other, with a ship on top.

March Already

Wow a month has gone by! We have been busy setting up house. The garden is the worst garden I have had to transform EVER! It is coming along, but it will require at least a couple more months of work. The good things about being in Brunei: + I feel tall! Malaysians & Bruneians are very short people. + It's close to Malaysia. + It's tropical. + It's easy to travel to other Asian Countries. As you can see, I have not found anything exciting about living in Brunei..... yet.