Finally I am posting.

I did do a post but did not do it in word first and lost it. Try to catch up here quickly because I am short of time.

So much fun seeing everyone on arrival on the ship and meeting a few new people, we have had very nice seas so far and we all hope that continues. No sense going over in detail the ports as Grant and Andi have posted that information and some pictures – thanks to both of you. So I will offer just a few observations.

Hanoi ---- long trip but I am glad I went. I think there is not enough to see to justify and overnight stay but it is SUCH a long day to go to Hanoi and back within a day. It did surprise me as I had anticipated that Hanoi would be more traditional with the girls in the typical Vietnamese Ao – Dai clothing. All we saw was blue jeans I was so disappointed. I loved the girls in their flowing outfits and long opera gloves that I had seen in Saigon five years ago. It will be interesting to see how Saigon is today, probably all blue jeans too with McDonald’s on every corner. One of the humorous aspects of this trip was our guide. He called a bathroom stop “the happy place” we have never heard that term before. The stops were indeed “happy places” as they were incredibly clean and that was a nice surprise.

Da Nang and Hoi An. Olivia really wanted to climb up Marble Mountain and the Regent tours will give passengers time to do that. So we decided to do a taxi with Olivia and Susan. Not our best success with a taxi but it was a fun day.

We took the Regent shuttle to a hotel and got a taxi from there. The hotel taxi vendors called the regular taxis “mafia” a word they probably think fits and that would make the tourists shy away from the normal taxis. The competition for our business was fierce with the hotel taxis starting at $120 for the 5 – 6 hour trip and the drivers of the taxis on the street all vying for our business too. Ken walked down to the locals who came up with a price of $80. It was funny to see them all around him as he negotiated. He came back to us and this clean cut man who spoke pretty good English said he would do it for $80 as well. Well it was the old bait and switch trick as the driver that jumped in our car was NOT the one who spoke good English as we were whisked away from the hotel very quickly. Oh well best laid plans. The taxis were ALL very nice new mini vans with great air conditioning the quality of the vehicles surprised me. Our driver was fine but very little English but sometimes I like that better. We were able to visit and not have to listen to long explanations that are hard to understand.

At Marble Mountain we got another wonderful saying to add to the “happy place”. They all said the same thing “where you from lady” I responded with “America” the Vietnamese responsed with great enthusiasm “totally awesome”. It became incredibly humorous after a while. I never knew before that I was so “totally awesome”. I had forgotten how incredibly steep the steps to the top of the mountain were. Regent does the right thing in not having guests attempt this climb someone would be bound to get hurt and very few could make the climb. I did remember I loved it once I got to the top but Olivia and I gave it up and went shopping instead. Susan and Ken went to the top.

Susan and Olivia bought many trinkets; I abstained as I already had purchased five years ago and had my stone boxes and lacquer items. Susan proved to be a wonderful bargainer going to take her with me when I want to shop.

We then went to Hoi An and that was a wonderful spot, with old temples, a big river and lots of small shops with great values. We ran into Andi, Doug, Jim and Pam who were on the Regent tour. This town is well worth a visit. Susan bought some wonderful silk shawls at the price of two for $5.00.

On the way back we saw China Beach and three cargo ships had washed up on the beach from the typhoon that hit this area. I have never seen ships “beached” before. They were working on one of them trying with bulldozers and huge airbags to refloat the ship, a major undertaking. So much development is taking place here with huge hotels under construction. Cannot believe there will be enough tourism to fill all these rooms.

Pooch has been fun we have two tables going when we play and are mixing up who we play with each day. Ken has become a designated scorer now. We are playing with the MUDMAN cards.

Last night we did the final drawing for the free cruise. The ship did a wonderful DRAGON ice sculpture for the party. Captain Felice Petruno is in a class of his own, particularly when it comes to a drawing. He was fantastic. He gave hints to each name as he drew the card he made it so much fun. He has warmth, charm and a great personality that just makes him very special.