As our trip comes to an end

Here is Stan's photo blog of England and Iceland - he'll have one more with our daily evening wear selfies from the grand lobby staircase - watch for it :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PTTV4cnBnLXFsZHc/view

Malta and Lisbon by Stan

We've been home almost three weeks but Stan is still working on photos. Here's his look at Malta and Lisbon.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PcVQxbWx3cFoxRWc/view?usp=sharing

Istanbul by Stan

Here is Stan's view of Istanbul. We enjoyed this port stop.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PX1VzaGRLTlNsX28/view?usp=sharing

Suez and Gallipoli

This is Stan's photo blog about Suez and Gallipoli.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PcUFqNEEtaWlXN1E/view?usp=sharing

Lisbon

We were in Lisbon a little over a year ago, so it's somewhat familiar. Last time we walked up and down the hills in the old city but this time we were planning to take the "tourist" tram. We knew that we could get a day pass, but it took a bit to find the metro station and it only had machines with no information our ticket counter. It worked ok, but was a bit of a hassle. Having the pass did make using the public transit easier.

Our first experience with the tram was an "everyone for themself" situation -  no sense is queuing - just rush on. With Stan moving slowly with his walking stick, people just pushed past. He was about to give up since he couldn't stand on the tram without injuring himself when the tram driver made a teenager stand and gave Stan a seat. We didn't really know where we were going (and I think we should have actually been going the other direction), so just took two trams to the end, then wandered looking for the famous tarts. We had a nice cup of coffee, good Wi-Fi and shared a few bites of a cream filled tart. We had thought we'd take a tram back around, but for whatever reason it seemed like they just weren't coming anymore (and there was a long line at that point). We opted for the metro (also on the pass) and took it back to within a few blocks of the ship.

I think by this time, after 80 days on the ship, we were definitely shopped out and were fine just enjoying lunch in the Lido overlooking the skyline of Lisbon. We were late for dinner since we wanted to enjoy our final sailaway. It's a beautiful city to sail into and out of - a good way to end our voyage.

Malta

Of all the places we saw on this world cruise, Malta is one that I'd most like to spend more time in.  It was just a delightful place and so beautiful. We took the somewhat new elevator from the seaside level right up into downtown. Valletta is a city of hills, but they aren't terribly high. That being said, Stan's knee had not been happy since our two days of wandering Istanbul, so we tried to avoid aggravating it. We pretty much stayed on the upper level, only venturing down to a few spots. It's a city we'd like to explore, up and down the narrow streets and across the harbors or to other islands. It was a low key and nice day.

Istanbul

Once again, we enjoyed wandering Istanbul on our own. We had a full evening and following day, which is great, especially for a city within walking distance.

We had thought to go up the funicular "Tunel" to Tasmin square, but had heard that there would be activities related to the 100 Anniversary of the Armenian massacre. This is still very emotionally charged and we felt it would be prudent to stay away from the area. Instead, we crossed the Galeta bridge and walked along the waterfront as far as the historic railway station. This was (and still is) the terminus of the Orient Express from Paris. We actually saw the modern version in Verona and Venice and from a distance here in Istanbul a few years back, but hadn't gotten to the station itself - so that was our evening excursion. You can get tickets to Paris, the the special Orient Express runs very infrequently.

The next day we had a mission to find the Grand Bazaar itself, having been on the fringes last time. We started at the Spice Bazaar near the bridge (deciding to buy our Turkish Delight on our way back - another story - should be in Stan's photos when he gets that done). Then it's a continual uphill walk, but we got there (Stan's knee was not helped by this ports wanderings). It's pretty cool, but I don't think I was as impressed as I expected to be - maybe part of that was being 75 days into our 82 day voyage. We've been to markets in most every country we stopped at and while this was the largest it wasn't that much different. After wandering through, we stopped at a vendor outside and got some little last minute things for the kids.

Then it was off to the hippodrome so Stan could find the serpent column that Constantine took from Delphi (this was follow-up after our Greece trip in 2013). By then the throngs were out and the buses and people were everywhere. Apparently this was the first nice spring weekend, so the local were also out. The tulips were everywhere (we were told they originate here, not in Holland as we thought) and were beautiful.

We wander a block of the main street through the smaller boutique hotel areas - where we'd stay if we ever came on our own. We had thought to take a tram our taxi back, but just kept walking. Later we heard that traffic was terrible and others had trouble getting back to the ship. Since we were on for, that wasn't an issue for us.

One thing we did note is that the area between the port and the bridge is getting a facelift and should be a nice area to explore in the future. There are already a lot of small, inviting restaurants, but newer hotels are being built, too. Definitely up-and-coming.

Petra and Photo Blog by Stan

Petra was one of the places I've really wanted to see, but never expected to get to, so this was a real treat. We had concerns about the terrain and heat, but neither was a huge issue. The claims of long, difficult walking were very exaggerated (optional longer hikes would be much different, but not possible with the short visit.. Also, the warnings about the dangers of using the various transport modes were also exaggerated.

As Stan notes, we did have a private guide and he helped with advice. He arranged for a horse cart to ride back up the siq to the top. The cost is the same round trip or one way unless you book it at the bottom - then the price goes up. He reserved and prepaid for a specific cart and time for the driver to meet us at the treasury. This worked great as we had a guide on the way down who shared many things we would have missed, then we rode back up.  Admittedly, we went early and did not have a terribly hot day, which would make a huge difference. Also, we only rode up, which is not as fast (and I kept saying "slow" and he did a good job with that). There were others that passed us, but the really fast ones we saw were going down without passengers.

We were so glad we did not give in to the negative " "hype" given to us by the cruise company and also by "word of mouth" rumor. We had a wonderful day. Via Jordan Tours was a good company.

We are now off the ship and in Iceland for the last leg of our world trip. We are a bit behind on the blogs, so keep reading, even after we are home. It's been snowing, but we have hopes for sun by mid-day today.

Here is Stan's Petra photo blog

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PT20wMVdCWXFtZnM/view?usp=sharing

UAE and Oman by Stan

Photo blog by Stan

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PWUM5aUpGa0ktaXM/view?usp=sharing

FaceBook

https://docs.com/1LQV2

Dubai

We rather enjoyed our morning in Dubai. We chose to experience the older part, with the souks and more history. Early in the morning I was the only woman on the streets. The shops were beginning to open, but it was clearly a man's time of day. I avoided looking at the men and the was just one moment as we started down a dead end street that a man really glared at me. Gradually as we got toward clothing shops there more women were out and about - all covered in black from head to toe (but generally faces showing). The shops were full of beautiful dresses and even very elegantly decorated abayas. We only saw women in plain black, so wondered what occasions would warrant a very fancy outer covering.

We wandered through the famous gold soul as they were beginning to open the shops - lots and lots of fancy stuff, but we just looked, bought a couple of little souvenirs and went on. We walked through the spice souk and got a small amount of curry. I'm never sure if I'll be able to take stuff into the U.S., so don't get too much. Stan enjoyed visiting with the vendors as they enticed him to smell this and that. He took lots of pictures. As it started to get pretty warm, we found the small creek ferries and took one across to Bur Dubai, another old section of town. Wee had used U.S. dollars for a couple of things and gotten a bit of local currency to use on the ferry. We found the Dubai Museum, which has a full level of full-size exhibits of daily life in the area - it's quite well done.

We had thought we'd head to the mall where the ship's shuttle had dropped folks off (we'd opted to take a taxi much earlier than the shuttles). Since it was quite hot by now we managed to flag down a taxi, which was much less expensive than the taxi earlier (there's a fee at the port, but I guess they only have to pay that if they are in the taxi rank).

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is a very new city - mostly built since 1960. We saw the Heritage Village briefly - interesting glimpse of a few old buildings (moved here from other locations) and some workshops. We had a picture stop at the Emirates Palace Hotel and the newest royal palace under construction.

Then we went past many royal family residences (photos not allowed) and to the new mosque, which was the main sight we wanted to see - but I was not allowed into it (along with about 10 others). I had carefully worn my longest skirt but it wasn't totally opaque. I don't think of it as see-through at all, but the "guards" had total authority. They actually restricted us to the bus, but that's better than being locked off the bus (it's well air conditioned :). Hopefully Stan isn't too concerned since he may not know I'm not with him. I tried to put a wrap skirt around mine, but it still wasn't ok. A definite disappointment, but not the first time I couldn't go in someplace (other place was orthodox monastery on Lesvos Island, Greece - men only).

At least Stan takes wonderful pictures - I hope he takes lots so I can see it that way.

Our next spot is the one we didn't really care about, so it's been a bit of a disappointing day.

The ship gave us information about appropriate dress but it really wasn't quite specific enough, in my opinion, especially since they said they have cover-up outfits we could borrow if needed, but that option wasn't offered. I later heard from persons on other buses that it was the same situation, but apparently those who arrive individually did not have the same strict requirements.

Mumbai by Stan edit

Mumbai

Annual revenue in the slums is estimated at $ 6.5 million annually.

FaceBook

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Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PdndybndmUG5WMGs/view?usp=sharing

Vietnam by Karen

Vietnam has been interesting. Wild, crazy bike ride with Active Vietnam in Nha Trang, but really interesting. We first had to blindly follow our guide across the busy intersections, with no traffic controls or sense of any rhyme or reason to what was going on. I'd have to say it was quite a lot more riding on very chaotic and busy streets than I expected. however, it was quite fun to see the world around us. We'd have loved to stop at the markets, but there was really only time to ride and see the designated sights. We passed some  villages, but they were more like suburbs to Nha Trang. Riding a bit into the countryside was nice - rice fields, cattle here and there, etc. We basically rode up one side of the Cai River, then back the other side. Our tour was mostly historic and cultural in nature.

We had a nice lunch at a riverside restaurant which obviously sees more business at other times - not quite high summer season. It appears that quite a bit of their summer tourism is from Russia. We never really saw the modern side of the city but drove past the beaches.

Saigon was a whole different world - the combo of glitz and street sellers is very odd - more because the glitz is so far above what you'd expect here. We wandered on our own, mostly just taking pictures of the listed sights - the fancy hotels that have risen again since the war are quite impressive, as well as the huge new stylish skyscrapers and some of the pre-war buildings were interesting to see.

I think there would be much more worth seeing in this country, but it was good to have had at least a glimpse of Vietnam.

Shanghai - I'm a bit out of order

Our first glimpse of China was a huge commercial port. Out the other side of the ship, however, was the Yangtze River, with its huge traffic lanes. Ships of every kind and size going every which way all at once. Quite fun to watch, actually.

We took a shuttle from the ship to the Bund - a long promenade along a smaller river that cuts through Shanghai's downtown, with new Shanghai across the river. The Bund runs for a about a mile along the historic colonial structures - most are now corporate buildings but the Russian embassy continues in its historic building.

We wandered our way along, marveling at the new, modern Shanghai across the river, with its beautiful tower and modern skyscrapers. We were heading to the Yu Yuan gardens and bazaar and, as is usually the case, Stan's GPS took us along the back ways, in this case we walked past lots of small businesses - treadle sewing machines working on the sidewalk,  lace and button shops, bikes full of recyclable items. We spent a bit of time just dodging scooters carrying huge loads.

Eventually we found our way around the outside walks to the bazaar - wow - old Chinese architecture still overflows this small neighborhood. What was once the local covered market is now mostly for tourists. I wasn't planning to shop (or even stop at StarBucks :), but the buildings were great. We had to go into the center of the market (I think that's designed for maximum tourist flow - we passed closed doorways as we walked around the wall) to find the entrance to the gardens, which is a garden and grotto area designed in the Ming dynasty era. It's quite an interesting place, reminiscent to me of the smaller Japanese Tea Garden we had in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park when I was a child - lots of zigzag bridges over ponds full of big gold fish. It's still too early in the spring for cherry blossoms, but a few trees are starting to bloom. A few weeks from now, it will be gorgeous.

We didn't take very good advantage of our expensive visas, but after walking a fair bit, and dodging traffic on every street corner (and along the way as well), Stan's knee was tired, so after taking a few wedding shots, we headed back to the ship and tea. :).

We went upstairs for tea and as we were watching the river traffic, we realized that we were watching the river pilots being delivered to ship after ship - a non-stop process as the pilot boats go from ship to ship to drop them off. We'd learned a bit about ship pilots in a lecture earlier, so it was fun to watch the pilots climb the ladders up into those huge ships (cruise ships are easier to board since they actually have doors close to the water level). As we ate dinner, our ship backed out from its berth, made a 180 degree turn and made its way into the constant river flow, and we headed toward Hong Kong.

Shanghai is definitely a city worth spending more time exploring and since China gave us ten-year visas, maybe we'll get here again.
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Thailand with Stan's blog

Our stop in Bangkok was much too short, which is my biggest complaint about this cruise as a whole - our 1 day port stops are often have less than 5 hours available. We took a transfer tour into Bangkok, which was fine but we had to be back at the bus by 2:00 pm, which meant taking a taxi at 1:00 pm to get through traffic back to the pickup spot. It was over 2 hours each way, so we really only had 3 hours in the city that was sightseeing (including the water taxi to the palace).

However, that said, Bangkok would be a city easily worth several days. We saw the royal palace (exterior only) and a couple of major temples - really fancy. Would have enjoyed China town, buy no time.

I was very tired and not feeling great when we got back to the port. Unfortunately, I missed the curb (actually hit the curb with my food and went splat!.) I thought I'd have massive road rash on my face, but mostly a good size cut and a black eye. Stan managed to get me back on the ship and into the medical center with a port wheelchair. They stitched me up and other than some bumps and bruises all over, I've done ok. Just glad I didn't have to be a medical disembarkation as we have seen a few times.

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Google Drive 

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Singapore

Singapore

Our day in Singapore was another wandering day. I was interested in seeing some of the buildings still there from the time of the British. We knew we could get there by metro (which was purported to be at the port but was actually at least 1 km walk each way. It was hot, but still an enjoyable day. We sat for a few minutes on the front verandah of Raffles Hotel and pretended we were on the "guest only" side, then found our way to check out the "long bar" but without the iconic "Singapore Sling". We checked out the old post office and the cricket club.

I had hoped to be able to do a few hours at the botanical gardens, but found that we couldn't get there by metro. Singapore would be one of the cities worth spending a few days should we be this way again.

We had arranged for a driver/guide in Kuala Lumpur and that worked quite well. Apparently there were some holiday activities, combined with normal family weekend trips to the air conditioned malls that caused unexpected traffic jams, so we had him turn around early to head back rather than fighting traffic and risking missing the ship. We saw most sights we wanted to see and also saw the famous towers from a distance, which was fine.

After these two big city back-to-back days in the heat was quite tiring and we were glad for the long sail to Mumbai.

I am glad to be seeing this glimpse of Asia, but the drive for taller and taller buildings in modern cities that does not necessarily represent the overall country (with the exception of Singapore) is not something I really understand.

Facebook 

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Google Drive 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PN3hPRU9jNkx3OTA/view?usp=sharing

Shanghai - from Stan

FaceBook

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 Google Drive

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Vietnam - from Stan

Vietnam

FaceBook

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 Google Drive

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Hong Kong

We're arrived early evening right into the center of Hong Kong harbour. This world is vibrant, full of multi-national companies with huge signs atop the high rise buildings. Many had light shows on their port facing sides and a few with some laser lights during the evening.

We spent a couple of hours in Kowloon  on our first evening, since that's where we were docked. It's non-stop shopping, starting in a large mall that you have to walk through just to leave the terminal - not impressive for us, but we aren't really mall shoppers. We had hoped to take the tram to Victoria Peak that evening, but it was quite foggy, so we opted to wander a bit and then stroll along the port promenade.

The next day went across to Hong Kong and Stanley on the traditional Star Ferry. The toughest part is having correct change for the ferry token machine (it took a 10 HKD note and gave change but sometimes won't). Kind of funny to have a fairly antiquated system in the midst of this huge, modern city - the buses and trams also have old style fare collection devices. The bus to Stanley (bus 6) was $7.80 ($4:00 if you have ID for senior rate). Once at Stanley market, I requested coins for the buses and that was easy.

We loved the ride over the mountain to Stanley. In one way, it quickly got us away from the skyscrapers and into Terre covered hillsides, but then we found huge hillside resorts on the Repulse Bay side. Stanley market was pretty touristy, but had a few nice things we could buy to bring home. Walking along the old promenade was nice - so different from the bustle of downtown Hong Kong.

We had seen a few of the iconic trams from the bus, so decided we'd get off as soon as we saw the tracks on our way back, just to ride them a bit - kind of like using the different transport means in San Francisco.

We had met a couple from Hong Kong at breakfast, and they suggested a couple of "old" sights, so we took the tram to the base of the hill and climbed the steps up and up and up to see  the Man Mo temple - it's the oldest temple in Hong Kong and supports schools and hospitals in the area. As usual, the incense drove us out fairly quickly.

From there we went to an old style workaday restaurant, where we tried two dim sum options, having really no idea what we were eating, how to eat it, or how much of our few remaining funds it would use. We managed very clumsily to eat most of it with chopsticks, but went over our funds by about 50 cents, which we had to keep to get back on the ferry. The people around us seemed amused and Stan thinks someone behind us paid the difference (we did try to give them a US dollar, but they didn't want that).

We watched the sail-away from the lights of the Hong Kong skyline, with a few laser lights adding to the display. There is much more to see in Hong Kong, should we come this way again someday.

Stan's photo blogs - Hong Kong

Google Drive

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catching up with Stan's photoblogs - Japan and S. Korea

From Stan

Sending from Starbucks at the port in Hong Kong, ‘cuz ship internet has not been effective and we haven’t found internet access at  port stops in Busan or Shanghai (I’m sure it’s available, but our time was too limited to locate it). I’m backed up preparing reports—maybe I’ll never catch-up, but am gonna try. Here’s report #9 on Kobe, Japan—not our best port stop so far (due to a complex comedy of circumstances and weather) and perhaps the most difficult report to compose to be nice and see the positives and downplay negatives.

Definitely on the plus side:

We’ve avoided the worst of the cyclonic storms.

We weren’t in a museum in Tunisia
Kobe, Japan

World Voyage Report #9

https://docs.com/1KH2I

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PaWh6eVVxbU5vcGM/view?usp=sharing

Busan, S Korea

World Voyage Report #10

https://docs.com/1KH2J

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PSU9BdWVYbWJjaTA/view?usp=sharing

We are heavy into port stops for awhile now - busy, busy. In Saigon coffee shop - the Vietnamese really have caught the coffee craze - though I guess they have their own style.  We were mostly looking for air conditioning and a waiting place (cathedral will open in a bit, then back to the bus.