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Now THATS a mushroom!
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Helen

Started the cruise with the cocktail party on the second night. Harry the dining room manager did the drawings. He does a great job seems to every where all the time.



Alice and Kim.

We did a tour of the Sanctuary of Truth. Pictures will tell the story. Absolutely amazing.










Jan and Ngaire.


They are constantly working on the sanctuary this is the very high ladder they use go up and down.


Tranquil sight.


A very classy lady at the sanctuary.

After the sanctuary we went to a Gem Shop. Hate these types of shops on tours but this was like Disneyland. Got on a Disney like little train with animated figures explainiing the process of mining gems. Very well done. Then you see them working on the gems and HUGE showroom. Pictures follow.





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The wiring in town always amazes me when I see this situation

Lovely dinner last night with Jan and Jim in my favourite table for four people in Compass Rose.



They were with us on the tour to the Sanctuary of Truth yesterday. Very "warm" here but it was not too bad yesterday. Suddenly we had a heavy downpour but fortunately we were under coverage when it happened. Most of the guests were in the temple and the bus went right up to the temple so they could load the bus without them getting soaked. That was a good thing.

They will be with us again today on the floating market.

This morning we went to the PATTAYA FLOATING MARKET. Not what we expected. Our last floating market we were on a boat and locals were selling food from their boats.

This was full of clothing, tourist items and food. If someone has never been to see crocodile and insects on a stick this is the place to go.

Today we are in Shanoukville, Cambodia.

Started the day watching the Super Bowl at 6:30 am. The ship had it on our TV’s and in the theatre. They had a wonderful breakfast spread in the atrium. Had to leave for the tour just before overtime.



We took a tour on a tuk tuk around the town. Traffic was crazy. Tuk Tuks, cars, motor cycles all darting between lanes. It was fun to see the town and the locals along with casinos everywhere.

Cute little girl we saw while at a stoplight


They are proud of these lions.


Not sure what the mouse has to do with the Pagoda.

Arrived in Vietnam. First city was Ho Chi Minh. We have been to Vietnam many times before and experienced most tours multiple times.

We have purchased some nice clothing in Vietnam in the past
so the first day we took the shuttle to the market. The market was not great. So we walked the streets near the market. Bought one top.

Last night they had a local group come on the ship to do local music and dancing. It was a nice show.

We visited a work shop for the hand painted items. Panels, pictures, boxes, plates, bottle holders etc. Ken bought a large four panel wall hanging many years ago. Had to ship it of course. Did not work in our house it is now in his office. Ken did not take any pictures here.

Then we went to the Post Office. We really enjoyed this stop. This is still a working post office and on entry on both sides are a huge amount of souvenirs. Two little girls were posing for photos at the entry.



There were two girls standing in front of what I think were perfume bottles shaped in the classic long dress of Vietnam in different colors. Ken took that picture which also shows the lovely curved ceiling. At the end of the building was a picture of Ho Chi Minh. The girls moved and we got the picture of the bottles.





Next stop downtown where there was a very expensive mall with all the expensive brand names. We were there to take photos of the City Hall and the statue of Ho Chi Minh. There was also two large dragons. This was the location of the Rex Hotel where the American soldier's hung out in the bar. We visited that bar on a previous visit.

Today we arrived in the Phillipines. An island called Coron. We did a tour, the dirt roads were bumpy and the vehicle was a van. Only 6 people in our van. Our first stop was the Hot Springs. The water is about 80 degrees, like a bathtub. They say to stay in no longer than 8 minutes. Beautiful setting with mountains and the sea behind the area. There was an adorable 7 month old baby. Loved the water and kept laughing all the time. Picture of this cute baby and the secenry follows.



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Then there was a stop at the Catholic Church. Very ornate and amazing for such a tiny island. There is a private catholic school as well. The public school says FISHING SCHOOL. This is the primary source of income for the island everything is about fishing.

Other stops included a fish market, a place where they dry the fish, the waterfront and cashew factory. Not exciting but it is a tiny place and they did the best they could. It is interesting to see an island like this and understand how many people live. They all looked happy and that is what counts.

Today we are in Manila. So many had their families come on the ship.
Abraham we have known for 22 years had his family on and we took a picture.

At the shuttle bus stop on the way back to the ship a male crew member was saying goodbye to his family and was then boarding the bus back to the ship. it was so sad and his son (looked about 10) was struggling to hold back his tears but he finally broke down. It must be so hard being away from their families.

Hope Ken & Ngaire made it home finally.
Heard they had a tough time getting there.

Yes an absolute mess. We had our itinerary in hand and it showed on the Qatar website. We used miles through another airline for Qatar. The booking was there but no tickets. Called the airline we used and they said in April 2023 we cancelled the tickets and they refunded the miles. We did not cancel the tickets and checking our account no miles were reinstated. (Ken may fight this but going to be a nightmare to go through all that again this is up to him what he does.

We were standing there for well over 2 hours and having to talk to multiple people at the airline we used to book the flights. Then they said he can give us the flights but one person would have to go in coach from Doha to DFW. NO WAY that is like a 15 hour flight.

On Qatar it was $20K for two tickets and we would have to wait for two days as only one business ticket available from Qatar to DFW on the next day. She suggested Cathay Pacific. Price dropped to $10K for 2 tickets and she booked it for us HK to LAX (business) LAX to DFW (coach). . She is a service representative that works for all the airlines as needed.
I thought she was pretty amazing and I sent in a glowing report to her supervisor. We tried to tip her and she would not take any money. So that was set it took 3 hour standing at the check in area at Qatar to get this done. That was well after midnight when we had that organized.

Fiasco getting back to the hotel. We were dragging our bags. At least we had a trolley. Went to the Shuttle Stop, waited 30 minutes it never came. Called the hotel said we had to go to arrival area. Went to the arrival area no shuttle. So we needed at taxi and they ONLY take Hong Kong Dollars. Fortunately we had enough. However finding a taxi was a trick. We asked a bus driver where the taxis were and it was a long walk to the taxis. But there was a long line and when we go to the taxi dispatcher we were told we had to have a BLUE taxi for that trip. Fortunately there was a blue taxi close. Finally back to the hotel. Where we saw the parked shuttle it was just too late to operate.

We had checked out they they allowed us to go back to the room no extra charge, which was very nice.

Cathay Pacific was okay, nice seat but terrible food, basically all very chinese. Suspecting that I ate before we boarded the aircraft. The breakfast was good. Been a long time since we flew coach, not much fun after such a long ordeal but so happy to be home.

Had a wonderful time on the ship, thought we would not like being on that long but it was okay. Now we understand how world cruisers stay on for so long. It kind of becomes your "home". You get in a routine. Loved staying on board when everyone else gets off! We moved rooms 4 times during the trip, getting pretty good at that. One time we were ready to move in 30 minutes. Have it down to a science now. Bought bags and each drawer and things like toiletries we used one bag. A bag for everything "throw it in the bag then throw it out of the bag" Speed moving. They transfer all the hanging clothes.

Glad you made it home. What a nightmare for you.
Sunday and a sea day. 40 mph wind from NW and 9 to 12 foot waves, so a little rocky.
Great sleeping weather for me. LOL

Monday 02/26/24
Had cocktails with Clay & Brooke last night before they left for dinner, and we went to Seta Mari.
Got up this morning in Shanghai and looked out to skyscrapers as far as you can see on both sides of the ship.
Jan and I have a 12:20 pm tour today and another one tomorrow at 9:20 am.
This morning temperature was 39 degrees. Right now 43 degrees, so a lot cooler than our 90+ degrees earlier on our cruise.