Maldives

 We are spending Easter weekend in Maldives a strict Muslim country while they are celebrating Ramadan. It is so very hot as we are sitting right on the equator. We tendered into Male the capital and spent 2 hours walking around in crowds on our own through a fruit and vegetable market as well as a fish market. Some tourist shops were open but not many and we couldn’t get in to the museum or the mosque. During Ramadan we couldn’t be seen eating food or drinking water. It was 92 degrees and the humidity was 78. We had to hide to take a few needed sips of water. After 2 hours we were spent and drenched in our own sweat so we tendered back to the ship and a shower. 

Singapore

 The Merlion is the symbol for Singapore as is the building with the ship on top. 

The orchid garden was spectacular. 

Lunch photos

 Such a messy lunch we had to wear bibs and plastic gloves to crack open the crab legs for very little crab meat. The tomato sauce was very spicy. Green style jelatanous dumplings with chicken inside and the other I think were vegetable dumplings. The rice was delicious! And so was the coke. 

Singapore

 I have conflicting thoughts about Singapore. Yes, it is a Blue Zone.  A large portion of its land is reclaimed from the sea and an amazing feature of the island. It is a social government, but very repressive also. Yes, everyone is equal and well educated, but fines for slight infractions are very steep. No chewing gum allowed. $500-$1000 fine. Driving violations can land one in jail for 2 years and once released no one will hire you. All examples. Real estate….apartment, condos houses VERY expensive. Very little green space. Mixed ethnicity and religions no racism. Industry is computer chips and the next prediction is that AI will be next. No space for manufacturing. Financial institutions galore. 

The heat was hard to take, but not much pollution because they are very strict with motorcycles and emission problems. 

Their trash is collected and burned. The ash compressed and sent to other countries to use as secondary fuel. 

No crime. 

Sweltering heat in Saigon

Today we drove several hours to visit the Reunification Palace site of the fall of Saigon in 1975 when an army tank drove through the gates to end the AMERICAN WAR as they call it here.  The famous rooftop helicopter rescue took place here. 

We also visited the Post Office built by Gustav Eiffel which is a beautiful design and also contained the phone booths used in the day of the French occupation  

Phone booth 

Post office 

Our lunch was in the former Opium Den used by the British. It was a fabulous lunch again. Not hungry for dinner. 

Menu for lunch 

Restaurant in Former opium den 

View leaving Vietnam 

Shoes made out of rubber tires

Traffic in Saigon is even worse than yesterday’s. 

Our daily guide’s family almost all escaped as boat people and are living in the USA. He also escaped but his boat was captured off Taiwan and he was returned to a re education camp for 6 years before being set free. He and his wife consulted a fortune teller before getting married. She told them that according to their zodiac signs they should not marry because one of them would die early. Being catholic, they laughed it off and married anyhow. She died. 

Time to rehydrate like crazy. 

Lunch photos

 Chicken platter with crane made out of vegetables as decoration 

Shrimp and pork again with fish created out of food

Spring rolls on a carrot dragon

Fois gras and a carrot peacock

Good morning Vietnam

 Yes I climbed up all 127 steps to see the mausoleum of the Lady Boy emperor. It took 11 years to build. 

Notice the dragon handrail 

Several observations of Vietnam:  billboards along the highway and graffiti. None in China. 

Water buffalo among the rice paddies everywhere 

Everyone has a motorbike and the whole family rides on one bike

Traffic is awful with no rules of the road

Undercover police officers everywhere 

Seems to be 50% communist and 50% capitalist 

Little shrines everywhere but no specific religion or God to pray to. Tolerant to all

Rich and extremely poor 

Currently not tolerant of Chinese 

A Buddhist cannot marry a catholic 

Abortions are illegal

Things come to life after the heat of the day and there is much socializing 

High temperatures and 100% humidity 

Tricycles we were driven around the city in. All 21 of us in a row. In and out of traffic 

More random photos

 Asian unicorn in front of imperial palace. Dragons can only be displayed for royal emperors. Pheasants are for the dowager empresses. Notice unicorn doesn’t have a corn!

Imperial City in Hue outside of Hong Kong. Heavily fortified. 

Bee hive of apartments in HK

Random photos

 

Shopping is an art

Who is real and who is not?

I wonder if the goose thought he was yummy

Continuation of Hong Kong

 Day 2. Visit to a Buddhist nunnery surrounded by a beautiful rock and bonsai garden in the middle of concrete city surrounded by sky scraper apartments housing thousands of families EACH. Today’s agenda included a bird market, flower market, food market and a jade market. We had an hour of free time for independent shopping in the jade market and you guessed it…..I turned the wrong way coming out of the market and after walking a while found myself standing on a busy corner all alone. I turned on my phone and quickly got a message from our group leader. I gave her the cross streets and before I knew it our guide was running up the street toward me with a bus full of fellow road scholar companions following her. They found me. Everyone cheered. I was so relieved to see all of them. Safely back on the ship. 

Some yachts in the port

Lost in Hong Kong

Sampan house boat

Junket fishing boat

 We drove up to Victoria Peak yesterday to get a view from above of all of Hong Kong and all we saw was fog as thick as pea soup. We took a cruise around the harbor in a sampan. They are small house boats used many years ago, but now used for tourism. I can’t imagine what life was like with a family on board and all my earthly possessions. Along the way we encountered some junkets which are fishing boats. They have to have a special permit to fish in the China Sea. In many ways Hong Kong is still separate from China. One of them is that they have their own currency although the exchange rate is just about the same. 

View from my balcony of the harbor 

Convention Center 

We are currently pulling out of the port of Hong Kong. A pilot from Hong Kong hops on to our ship to guide us out of the harbor and a tug boat sticks by our side to keep us in the deepest channel. 

Tug boat

Market foods

Octopus 

Delicious donuts 

Hot tea pot

 

China has been very cold

She is so bundled up she can hardly walk 

Saturday morning in the park playing cards

 Jacket and a fleece 

Delicious food served family style and identifiable

Served on lazy Susan with about 15 different dishes brought in one by one 

Roasted duck in the market

 

Modes of transportation in China

The mag lev is  very fast train on a magnetic field going up to 135 mph from Shanghai to the airport 

Gondola in the Venice of the orient 

Rickshaw around a lake near Beijing 

 

Good luck bull in front of shrine. Must rub his head

 

Lawson’s for the Ohio followers

 All over Japan as well as 7 Eleven stores and everyone’s favorite-Starbucks