Photos of the trip

http://geoff.greig.net.au/gallery3/index.php/Overseas-Trip-2014-Cruse (Geoff's selection-mostly people)

http://geoff.greig.net.au/gallery3/index.php/Cruise-2014---Singapore-Thailand-Vietnam-Hong-Kong (Marg's selection - Mostly where we went)

Checked in fine, wandered around Brisbane departure terminal a little till Geoff found a barrier (pole and pull out strap) to keep him occupied, which then started to fall which I caught as I was on the phone. Went down to security, through immigration, got airside then Geoff realised he left his phone on the security table. After a little 'discussion' with me, he was directed to a wall phone by an immigration person and a lady from security came out and give him his phone. Flight to Singapore was uneventful and relatively comfortable. Got wifi at airport and sent emails to the kids. Got MRT train to Lavender station and other than heading the wrong way to our hotel to start with and asking two German tourists who had arrived that day which direction was the city, we got our bearings and found the hotel. (Hotel was only two stops away so walked to hotel, Santa Grand Hotel, about 2 streets from Arab Street. Settled in and walked to Little India to the Mustafa Centre. Busy, traffic, small streets, and Mustafa Centre seems to have grown another building since I was there last. There was a whole floor of toiletries, then it extended into the other building. Wandered around a bit more but both being tired decided to get something eat. Appeared to be middle eastern, all it had was a photo of the dish and a number. We had the vegetarian dishes no.2 and no.6. hot, hot, hot. Weather was hot and humid. Dragged ourselves back to the hotel (cnr of Victoria Road, tree-lined, lovely) and Kubor street.

(NOTES : Qantas seat no. 72 a 'two-seater', MRT goes from Terminal 3 in Singapore with a free shuttle train between Terminal 1 and 3, MRT from airport you change at Tanah Merah then catch EW towards the city, single tickets cash only and use on MRT trains only, buses pay separately and no change given, short trips $Sg1.10. If in Singapore for a few days better to get the card. Hotel Santa Grand, 8 Jalan Kubor. In the basement, no window, but roomy enough, clean, modern, asian breakfast included, pool, approx. $A100 per night, overall quite nice)

Planned to do a walk of Arab Street in the morning, back to hotel for check-out 12pm. (Ship boarding 1pm). Didn't get a lot of sleep and from 4am onwards couldn't sleep at all. Only when Geoff checked his computer and it said it is “11am” Bris time, we realised it was actually 9am in Singapore, NOT 7am. (No wonder I couldn't sleep anymore it was 6am). Somehow Geoff and the 'auto pilot' both changed the clocks back for the time change. We just made breakfast and lucky we weren't catching a flight. We decided to walk to Arab street on the way to get the MRT, Geoff befriended Mula and Kam, a middle-aged muslim couple sitting across from the Mosque. Half an hour later and exchange of email addresses, we headed for the MRT and to buy some magnifying readers, as Geoff broke his on the 1st day. Couldn't get the McDonald's wifi to work, even with the girl there reading out all the codes and passwords. We gave up and got the MRT to Marina Bay and then the Bus 402 to the cruise terminal. Met Stephan and Karen (a German couple) on the bus stop also going to the cruise centre, saw them at the lifts that afternoon, saw them again at the same bus stop the next day coming back to the ship, and then the next day at the Excursion desk (go figure with over 2,000 passengers that you'd see the same people that often). BOARDING : Pleasantly surprised at the boarding process. Moving some 2,000 passenges was quite a feat, but I think they'd done it before. It did take quite a while understandably and then the cabins weren't ready until 5pm, so Geoff missed out on the Night Safari. Mary and Jim arrived direct from the airport about 6.30pm. Lyn's luggage didn't turn up (we took ours on board - not by good planning, but we missed the baggage drop). Ship is lovely, cabin is very nice, a bit roomier than I expected, the restaurant is lovely, all the staff are very attentive, casual dining in the Oceanview Cafe is quite extensive and plentiful (hmmmm). Before you board, before you go in to eat you must santise your hands. Many announcements and part of the muster drill, again saying you must wash your hands.)

We all went to the Gardens by the Bay, extensive gardens, cloud dome, steel tree structures. We did a gardens tour, then we all went our own way. Mary and Jim did the tree structures, Lyn and Elaine headed for the Marina Bay Sands hotel and Geoff and I headed for the highest point 'he' could find. The Skytower on top the Marine Bay Sands hotel. A bit like the Q1 on the Gold Coast or the Rialto in Melbourne. Geoff wanted to buy a hat at the shopping centre, but it wasn't 'that' type of shopping. There was Tiffany & Co., Chanel, Ferrari, etc. etc., but no sunhat shops!! As we weren't far from the bus stop we walked across a couple of grassy fields (probably only one of in city itself - obviously reclaimed land and possibly ready for another skyscraper. Back on board early afternoon, dropped off passports, then the muster drill. By the time we got ourselves sorted and up on deck, we were already about 2kms from the port - didn't hear any horn or fanfare. Got ready, went to dinner and 3hrs out we were told a passenger has a medical emergency, so we headed back to Singapore. Geoff and I were fairly tired, so declined the Beatles 60's session. Lynnie is now an official 'terrorist'. She bought scissors along, but because it had a broken handle she thought it would be OK, hmmmm. Her luggage didn't turn up till today and they said there was a 'problem' with her luggage. They got her to open it. In the x-ray it looked like a weapon, go Lynnie!!!

(NOTES: The ship is quite modern, scrupulously clean (on red alert through Asian countries - hand sanitising at every entrance and eating area), however, we never got much information about the housekeeping items - 99% of information I still got from Lyn and Mary. I think as they were doing a super clean up after a viral/bacterial, incident on a previous cruise, a lot of little things got missed. It was only that we compared our 3 cabins that we knew what was available and what was missing, not the least was information packs/compendiums to guide us. But small price to pay for a safe ship.)

The days are already blending into one another now, breakfast, spa, lunch by the pool, formal night for dinner and a Ballroom Dancing show. The 6 of us have had some good laughs and will continue to do so.

Geoff and I decided we needed to get into a fitness routine. Walked up from 2nd floor to 11th floor, basketball half-court, shot some baskets for about half and hour (except for my not getting my eye back in, not controlling a dribble [ball that is] and trying to re-master my footwork in doing a 'layup' I was doing fine. Geoff had the idea - throw the ball as hard as you can at the backboard so it comes back at you just as hard and risk breaking the backboard in the process - at least he didn't have to chase the ball and he wasn't trying to shoot any goals anyway! Jim arrived and we shot a few more, but it was very hot and humid, even at 7.30am. Mary had been in the gym. We have found a meeting place by one of the pools and Lyn and Elaine arrived later and we all come and go during the day - following the activities which takes individual fancy. That evening we went to a show, David Meyer, ZyloSynth, very good, took a video of the 'River Dance' segment and an Irish dance (Slip Jig) by a dancer, but not an Irish Dancer. Did a fairly good job, but the rocks and kicks weren't precision - nevertheless entertaining. Dropped in and sat for a while to hear a bluesy guitarist and up to the Cosmos lounge for a semi-karaoke. The MC wasn't having much luck getting particpants until a couple of Aussies blokes got up and did a few numbers, really good. I filled out the form with my, Mary's and Lyn's names which feaked them, and me out, but I chickened out. It was just because I like one of the songs (Love Shack), so I requested the band play instead and I got my wish without making a food of myself. We all danced and had a very good time. Retired about 12pm.

Missed pulling into port 'by that much' at 7.00am. The MC was serving drinks in the breakfast bar (they all seem to do alternate duties). Today we were all off to Pattaya, seaside resort about 40kms south of Laem Bachang port. (Alternative was 3.5hrs to Bangkok which was going to be 39 degrees). We were going it alone (instead of cruise exercursion) as we had overnight in port so no problems getting back late. Armed with our smuggled Danish, rolls, muffins, fruit and water (we all agreed eating off the ship was not a good idea) we took a mini bus which was excellent, fancy, clean, curtains, dropped us off at Mike's shopping centre and picked us up at 5.30pm for drop back (excellent service). We had intended to get the Hop On Hop Off bus, looked simple on the map. Couldn't find the stop so we got a maxi-taxi to take us to the Sanctuary of Truth, a temple under construction since 1980, all wood and not a nail of glue anywhere (about 7kms from Pattaya). It is massive and right on the beach. On the walk from the ticket office a small horse took a fancy to Lyn's bag containing her lunch, but all worked out and 'no animal was harmed'. Taxi took us back to Pattaya to see the sights where we did own thing. What can I say, hot, humid, beach sand littered, water (tide in) brown (Jim swam tide out and it seemed OK), esplanade traffic was like Bangkok traffic only moving, buildings overlooked beach grotty, sleezy bars (didn't need to wait till dark to see some of the seemier side), beachside continuous rows of lounge chairs - 40 baht per day (about $1.50), street food vendors everywhere and the occasional temple or alter tucked in between market stalls. Shopping, lots of stalls, selling almost identical stuff. We crossed paths with Mary and Jim a few times and Lyn and Elaine headed for the Central Shopping centre where they had a massage and facial. We never did see any of the Hop On Hop Off buses, but plenty of open-backed utes shuttling people around for next to nothing. By 5.30pm we were all exhausted, headed back to the ship, had a swim and refreshed, had dinner and then sat up on the deck listening to live music and some of us had cocktails. Our waiter must have been a cleaner doing alternate duties but Mary finally got what she wanted from another waiter.

NOTE : Laem Bachang is a large freight port in the middle of a huge industrial area. Cruise port building has paid wifi, a small shop and tour bus desk so you can go it alone instead of the cruise excursions which are much more expensive. It is miles from anywhere so no walking to any populated area. Minibus $US80 return (for 8-seater) as opposed to $US46 each with Cruise excursion. Could have walked out the car park gates to waiting taxis and probably cheaper, but we played it safe. Maxi-taxi 300 ba about $A10 return for 6 people to the temple from Pattaya.

Sleep in today. All last night we heard the pinging of the seapass checks of passengers coming and going (24hrs) and the crew on night shift, who must have been bored to the teeth talking and laughing about 2mtrs from our cabin door. Even hotter today, 39 degrees, so luckily we are spending today on board and watching the comings and goings of the freight ships docking, loading and unloading and hopefully catching up on emails with wifi from the port building. As there were a lot of people using the wifi, it took about an hour to get connected to the wifi and then we had 3 hours to do our banking, emails, etc. and trying to sort out Elaine's and Mary's wifi availability, but eventually we were all able to get it done - pluse we got a free Coke with our $A3 wifi fee.

At sea day. Slept in and have a busy day. Another Buddhism and ship engineering session for Geoff and lots of other activities. We really haven't had spare time. This relaxing is hard work!!. The girls went to a Logo trivia session, then we all went to a Comedy Improv session where, would you believe, Geoff, I and Mary all got up separately as no-one else would get up (Mary very reluctantly). We got video!!!!.

Phu My is another freight port with nothing nearby. Up early to go to Saigon today. Got an 'on your own' transfer from the ship. ($US45.75pp). Hot and humid but not as bad as Thailand. Saigon and environs is predominantly motorscooters where they carry everything, from a whole family, to feeding babies, side saddle, carrying 20 chickens in a box, building materials, small fridges, etc. The traffic is entertainment in itself to watch. We managed to cross quite a few streets in central Saigon, often with locals, but the key is, once committed, keep going and the bikes will go around you - that's the plan. The bus dropped us off at the Rex hotel in the 'nice' part of town, with 5 star hotels, etc. Saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, closed at the time, the GPO that looks like a train station and many other beautiful buildings from the French era. Bought a SIM card, walked to the Reunification Palace and ran into Mary and Jim (we had all gone our own ways after bus drop off). We went down into the basement to view the command centre, communications centre, etc. from the Vietnam War. Fascinating to see the gates where the tanks came through, after many years of only viewing photos and footage of the downfall of Saigon. Generally the people are gentle, but persistent, but did get the message after saying 'no' a couple of times. Sad to see some limbless beggars in the street only 50mtrs from 5 star shopping. Went back to top up the SIM (they sold Geoff a phone card with very little data). With less than an hour to go we headed back towards Ben Tanh market for a quick tour. Back to the Rex Hotel, which had no problems us using the loos and sitting inside with air-con. Exhausted we got on the bus back to the ship. The bus left at 4.29pm (we had to be back by 4.30pm) and I only hope they did a head count. We passed such contrast along the way, palm huts, dingy cafe's under lean-toos (all along the 30 odd kms back to the ship), and in between all of this there will be the occasion formal dress shop or electronics shops, but mostly what we would regard as poverty, but probably what they would regard as normal life. The rubbish along the side of the road was huge. There were many lean-too huts on what looked like 'property' sites, with a pond and many ducks (they eat the rice which drops down at harvest time). The countryside looked just like it does from footage of the war, swampy, ponds, rice fields and seems to go to the doorstep of Saigon, in amongst modern residential units which increase closer to Saigon. Didn't see any other part of Saigon and we were on the road to the port, so can only comment on that road in.

At sea today and we had internet reception for quite a while, even though we were some 40kms off shore. Formal night tonight. Geoff so far has done 3 sessions of Buddhism and is convinced he is a Buddhist and done a couple of sessions on the ship engineering and navigation, so he is satisfied that they are going in the direction he knows we should be going in, ha ha.

Chan May Port is another huge freight terminal, with nothing around. Hoi An. The trip I have been waiting for. As the bus left the port gates, there were some private taxi's waiting which some passengers were heading for, but not sure if they had pre-booked. The bus we were on was supposed to be just a transfer to Hoi An, but the bus guide (Loc) gave us a running commentary all the way. We went through a 6.2km tunnel to bypass having to drive over the mountains. From there you came down into Da Nang. The bus did a brief stop at the famous 'China Beach' which is really the beaches called Non Nuoc and Mykhe, then showed us the first beach landing place of the US troops in 1967, then pointed out the old US army runway with only some hangars remaining, and the rest has been built out. He pointed out a number of other interesting places and when we got to Hoi An we stopped at a silk making place, saw some silk worm cocoons being 'milked' and then had the opportunity to purchase silk stuff!!!. He then walked the group to the ancient Japanese Bridge into the old town where we spent the next 3 hrs walking around in the stiffling heat and humidity. The old town is just lovely, motorbikes are not allowed in the town between 11am and 6pm. There is a lot of repetition in what you can buy, mostly silk scalves, T-shirts, etc (but there are some speciality shops- sailing boat models, etc). I honed my bargaining skills (which I don't have and don't particularly want to use) and was happy with my purchase. Whilst you got full attention when you walked through the door of a shop, it was only when you asked a price or picked something up that they would start bargaining. Of course very few things had a price so you needed to ask initially, so you knew the ball park figure. We just wandered around this very lovely old town, it had lots of flowering creepers over the terraced buildings and I saw what you could do to prune and 'tree' up my Bougainvillea. With half an hour to go, I headed in the other direction to see what was 'out' there and Geoff sat talking to a fellow passenger (also waiting for his wife). Everyone was exhausted and hot and happy to get back on to the bus. Did I say Hoi An is lovely? The nicest place so far with a different charm to the other stops in Pattaya and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), each having their own distinct character. On arrival back at ship, on the docks we were bombarded by about 6 stall holders who swooped in like wasps. These people were really really pushy and grabbing peoples arms. I wasn't having a bar of it, but saw something I had my eye on at Hoi An, but had been a little marked so didn't get it. Not really trying to be polite this time as these people were really pushy, shoving things in your face. Her first price was 4 times what I was prepared to pay, so not being in the mood to be polite, I went straight down to my highest price and she argued in fake astonishment and I said 'same price in Hoi An', after a while and grumbling something in her language, she put it on the table and walked away. I thought she had rejected my offer, but then the other person put it in a bag and handed it to me. I confirmed the price and handed him the money. They aren't really that smart, if they were more gentle and smiled, they'd probably get more money-from me anyway. On the whole, once you say no thank you about 3 times, they usually go away and it wasn't too bad.

Road travel is very interesting, mostly mopeds/motorbikes, Bus overtaking in the suicide lane (the on coming car eventually moved over).

Halong Bay - Day 1

In the morning it was so foggy we couldn't see the nose of the ship from the observation deck at the front. The fog started to ease a little an hour out of Halong Bay as we came to our first sighting of the limestone islands/rocks, what a sight. Took heaps of photos. The lifting fog and low cloud made it spooky and magical. I'm sure we took a thousand photos. We docked in the bay and went ashore by tender to Bai Chay which is the touristy part of Halong Bay. We walked along the foreshore esplanade to the Day/Nights markets and went through rows and rows of almost identical merchandise. Geoff needed a new cable to charge his phone and we had seen nothing on our travels. There was only one small electronics place selling speakers, phones, etc. The guy didn't sell the cables, but said he'd sell his own for $US5. Getting used to bargaining we said no and he agreed on $US2. I thought I had 100,000 Dong left, ie $A5, but but actually had only 10,000 which is 50cAus. Geoff had a $A5 note and then we spent time working out how much Dong to get in change. Anyway with the last $A3 I bought some trinket (silver, of course, ha ha) which I think I paid too much for, but we got rid of our Dong. You are not allowed to take Vietnamese currency out of the country. With sore feel and tired we stopped at the 5 star hotel across the road to go to a real toilet and a 5 minute sit in the foyer. We walked into the side streets and around which was very interesting and a view of a more normal town living, other than just the tourist markets. Everyone rejoined for dinner on the ship.

Today we took the tender from the ship and caught a taxi which Mary had arranged the day before and we went over the bridge from Bai Chay to Hon Gai city which is more of a large town. Whan the taxi driver took us to a a beautiful Buddhist pagoda right in the middle of a bustling almost-back alley, then to the Halong Bay markets, bit like the old Pipeworks. A very large building with stairs and escalators and all individual small market-type stalls. Mary bought some fruit which she didn't know the name of and the rest of us looked around the markets (with no money mind you). The driver even gave us 60,000 Dong which was good for 3 people to go to the loo (10.5 cents Aus). Bargain, 2,000 to find a lady squatting in the Asian loo (not in a cubicle) and the hand basins covered over and not operating (thank goodness for hand sanitiser). It had poured rain earlier, but cleared enough not to make a nuisance. Well worth the trip to see a normal town with normal shops, well almost. Bai Chay and Hon Gai combined have about 600,000 population and particularly in Hon Gai there is a lot of French influence in their architecture, a lot of very lovely buildings. We finished around 10.30am, and the driver apologised and dropped us off about 100 metres up from the tender drop off point, explaining that all the waiting taxi's were 'mafia'. We had originally been picked up across from the tender outside a hotel for that same reason. I can only guess that there is a racket going on and perhaps if you want to line up for business where the busses and tenders pull in, you need to pay a 'fee' to the tough guy? Geoff and I went back to the ship and the others sought out the free wifi. Mary and Jim went directly to do a bay cruise with a local provider ($US25) and Lyn, Elaine, Geoff and I did the same boat trip in the afternoon, from the ship through the ship excursion ($US62.75) using the last of our board credit. The junk took us to the Caves which were quite stunning. They had coloured lights throughout, but I would have preferred plain lights to just light up the geology. There were about 5 boats there when we landed and a trail of people. When we came out there would have been about 20 boats. The stream of people was continuous. If you lagged behind and overtaken by another group, you ran the risk of being left behind and I'm not sure if they did a head count back on the boat, as when the bulk of people were on board they shoved off, literally hitting other boats to get out. We hit the one beside us and them as we swung around, hit another boat. It was so funny. Lyn had stayed on board and had a great time seeing the boats come and go, pushing each other out of the way. We passed a floating village, did a circuit around a largish island and back to the Cruishe ship. Halong Bay is simply stunning. (Taxi $30 US for 6 people for two hours - we gave him $35 - he was a good guide and was very helpful). (19,210 [or thereabouts] VND (Vietnamese Dong) = $A1)

At sea then Hong Kong tomorrow.

Geoff got the whole life story of anyone he met.

Got up early to see us pull in through Hong Kong harbour (unfortunately not through the city end). Kai Tak Cruise terminal is now on the old Kai Tak Airport runway. The terminal is huuuuuuge, with a garden/park on the top where thousands of locals come to on the week-end for a picnic. Lots of port officials, no passport control and an easy exit. Lots of awaiting people to help to direct to taxi's and shutttle buses. Caught a shuttle bus to Telford Plaza (just a typical HK shopping centre), only 4 on board, got some cash from the ATM, went down to the MTR (HK public transport system) and bought 2 Octopus cards [like Go Card or Myki]. Again very helpful customer service people to assist. Wandered around for a while and caught the shuttle back, had a late lunch on board. As we'd been up since 5.30am to see us come into HK harbour (meaning only 4 hrs sleep as we had danced till late the night before) we tried to catch a nap on deck but too much banging and clanging from the grill bar. Caught 1 hour sleep in the cabin. Finished packing and had a late dinner and caught up with the gang around 9pm for a farewell cuppa, finally to bed for our last night on board. Not the relaxing last day on board, didn't even swim.

NOTE : HSBC bank didn't seem to charge a fee [wait and see]. $A1 = $HK7.2. Octopus Card $50 refundable deposit, can use at Macca's, 711, Wellcome supermarket and many other stores.

Met the gang for breakfast in the dining room - still waiting for the salt!! Mary and Jim were doing back to back cruises so were disembarking at 10.00am for an excursion whilst their new cabin was prepared (yes after booking nearly 12 months ago, the cruise line couldn't organise that they would have the same cabin). Lyn and Elaine were to catch a taxi to their hotel and Geoff and I were to catch the shuttle back to Telford Plaza, then the MTR to Jordon station and our hotel. Apparently they don't have enough taxi's or they are not interest in getting a fare but there was easy a couple of hundred people waiting for a taxi and one would turn up a bit by bit. I wondered how long we'd have to wait for the shuttle, given there were over 2,000 people disembarking that morning. As we got near the shuttle buses there were hundreds and hundreds of people, but to our surprise they were all arriving. We got on the shuttle, with another two people and headed out of the terminal past about 15 buses and a long, long line of people. Apparently they are there for the day in the garden/park on top of the cruise terminal. I hope Lynnie and Elaine got a taxi soon, as we couldn't go back to let them know they had another option as it was a 5 min walk back and the bus was about to go. (The other two on the bus Sam and Annie, previous HK locals living in Canada - were going to Telford Plaza to get a taxi). Caught the MTR, trains were packed, got off at Prince Edward for interchange, got on to the Red line, but going in the wrong direction, caught a train back and got off at Jordon. With luck, we came out the entrance immediately in front of our hotel (ie exit towards the Hospital). Booked into hotel, not the Ritz, but seemingly clean, modern combined shower/toilet/bathroom. Building entrance and floor very old and grotty, but entry to the small hotel has a secured door with a reception desk. On entry Paul says “Margaret?” so we felt comfortable. Headed out for Flower, Bird, Fish and Ladies markets. Got the MTR again and after coming out of the exit, getting confused with bearings and sun direction (yes I didn't trust the GPS) went back down and came out at another entrance, only to realise the first entrance was correct. Walked all day saw beautiful flowers and plans, streets of them, the peaceful bird market with bags of live grasshoppers and grubs, heaps of fish in plastic bags, people, people, people, ladies market. Looking for something safe to eat, we succumbed to Maccas, as it was the first non-street ventor we saw. Both exhausted, sat for a while at the Yung Shue temple, then went to a restaurant next to where we stayed last time on Woo Sung street next to the Evergreen Hotel. Back to the hotel and bombed out.

Got a late start, but as the shops don't open until 11am there was no hurry. Checked out a couple of the local shops then on to the MTR from Jordan to Admiralty MTR on HK Island, then to the no.6 bus to Stanley (actually let go the 620 until the lady standing in line said all the 6 buses go to Stanley, but 620 was express, presumably through the tunnel and we would have missed the views). Best public transport bus trip I've ever taken. Magnificant views of HK as we climbed into the green, windy hills, magnificant views of Repulse Bay, Ocean Park on top of another peak with cable cars. We were up the top of a double-decker bus and as the bus swung around very tight corners we were looking down at very very steep drops, but I guess the tress would have stopped us! Bus stopped on top of a very high hill and wondered how we got down to the water's edge. Followed the signs to Stanley Plaza (we figured that's where we'd need to get off) and after 4 floors of down escalators, through shops, dog washes, electrical stores a supermarket and of course clothing stores (all upmarket) we arrived at the bottom and out on to a Piazza type area and Stanley Bay. We walked passed Murray House an old colonial building and looked for shelter out of the wind to have lunch (eating fruit thank goodness, now we are off the ship - no more temptations). Found Stanley Park (to the right of the bay), a walking track around the bay, with a Buddhist Temple. Geoff needed to touch the water (having been on so much of it and not having touched it). He climbed down the rocks, paddled with his hand and we both sat on the rocks and had lunch. Very pleasant. Walked back towards the Stanley Markets, passed the cafe vendors. We decided to split up and meet at the end of the markets as Geoff wanted to supervise the guys who were installing a new aircon unit and I wanted to browse. The markets had some different things to the other HK markets and there were a lot more westerners there, who looked like residents. Real estate is very expensive, average for a unit from about $HK21,000,000 (approx. $A3,000,000) up to around $HK120,000,000. Geoff saw a magazine about the Raspberry Pie computer - the mag cost $A52, but our computer only cost us $A30 when we bought it a year or so ago). Back on the bus (66 this time) and another very, very scenic public transport trip. As it was peak hour (5.30pm) we came into a traffic jam just down from the mountains and it took another 20 mins to go the last km. Walked to Pier 7 and caught the Star Ferry back to Kowloon ($HK2.50). We have about 2hrs before the light show so wandered a little and then went to Macca's (still not trusting the street vendor hygiene and being hungry and we'd had Chinese restaurant food last night). Alas, the free wifi didn't work (seems to be hit and miss with Macca's). Walked back to see the light show, impressive and such wonderful spectacle with all the buildings lit up. By this time it was close to 8.30pm, so headed back to our hotel, via a small shopping centre (right next to the Chungking Mansions - an option when I was looking for hotels). The building is very centrally located, but entry (and in fact most street corners starting from the Star Ferry) was full of what seemed to be middle-easterners selling fake watches and custom suits and had we have stayed there, it would probably have been safe enough, we would have had to run the gauntlet very day to get in and out of the building. Wandered back towards our hotel, where it was a little normal and not as touristy, diverted to the southern end of Temple Street markets, found the little grocery shop (Wellcome) near WooSung street and back to hotel, realising it was 11.30pm.

Another late start. Headed out to buy some bananas at the 'Wellcome' grocers with intention to go to the Maritime Museum and walk the Western and Central Districts on HK Island. Geoff had a discussion with the older gent in the hotel 'office' who also had magnifying reading glasses, so he gave us a map of the area and indicated where he had bought them (I have not seen one place that sells them since Thailand and that was before I broke mine-Marg). So we simply headed to the back streets, only to find we were in another location!!!. Found our way back, got our bearings (ie the hotel we used to stay at) and worked from there. The little cheapy place we went to last time didn't have them but he gave us directions to Shanghai street to the $12 shop (about $A2) in chinese writing for others to assist us - wasn't that nice. Found Shanghai street and of course all the shop signs were in Chinese. Asked a whitegoods salesperson who had never heard of it, so we walked two shops up and found it. Finally I have some extra readers (men's, black frames only) $HK8 ($A1.20). Headed towards Kowloon park and passed quite a few bakeries which we hadn't see before (even the grain rolls were sweet). This area is basically a grid and you would have to walk every inch to see all there is to see, everything is going on in this area. Navigated across another major road to Kowloon park which is a treed, quiet, peaceful, oasis in the heard of Hong Kong. Sat and had a quick lunch at the aviary, there was no ballroom dancing in the open, covered area (like last time), then down to see the pink/red Flamingos, just beautiful. Kept walking, over yet another ped overpass, and ended up a long way west of the Star Ferry, so after up and down many escalators, wrong directions by two people, we found Canton Rd and walked past more high end shops (boooorrrring). I'm not really a shopper and certainly wasn't looking for YSL, Cartier, etc, etc, etc, etc. Bit of a spectacle though. Finally got to the Star Ferry, nice peaceful trip, Geoff went to the Museum and I loitered around the ferry terminal. Geoff had wanted to go to the top of a huge building in Kowloon, but it was quite a walk away so he settled for the HK Monetary Authority building which we'd been to before. So again walked the overpasses, passed the Apple Shop with around 30 sales people and followed our noses to where we thought it was last time. We were directed to another customer service desk produced our passports and given visitor passes to go to the 55th floor (not allowed to go to the 77th floor). Still the same magnificant views, but it was very hazy. We look down on all the other tall buildings around. We looked at the static displays of HK's monetary history which was interesting, but we were there for the view. I think there was an ATM which would be ironic, as we were in the building equivalent to the Reserve Bank of Australia. As it was 5.30pm and both tired, we decided to get the MTR train from Central directly back to Jordan instead of walking back to the ferry, after all the MTR sign was right there where we were. Well after walking about another 1km in the underpasses with 5mil other people, we finally got to the station (would have been shorter going back to the ferry). After changing at the hotel we planned to simply go out to eat a street back from the hotel, probably the pizza place we had seen earlier. After walking about 10mins and not finding an easily found restaurent, we realised we were in the wrong location, again. Luckily Geoff had the GPS tracks from yesterday and today. They looked like the tracks of some foraging animal. I realised our problem all along (every time we had got disorientated) had been the direction we turned when we came out of our building at the corner of Nathan Road and Jordan Road, both looked identical, divided, busy. Anyway, we again got our bearings and decided on Macca's which was less than 100 mtrs from our hotel, but took us all that time to find. By this time we were trying to work out our money. We had HK dollars left and we could use the Octopus card to buy Macca's and at other stores, but must have at least $HK50 on the card to use for last trip to airport. Geoff had left his card at the hotel, so back we went, take #2. Had 'dinner', actually the wraps weren't too bad. Had a conversation with a Kiwi who had come to HK for the rugby and headed bacak to the hotel doing another little wander and in the process, found the perfect place to eat and another little supermarket/grocers (for next time) both almost diagonally across from the hotel.

Departure day. Luckily we can leave our luggage at the hotel (in the old gent's room - about the size of a broom cupboard, but sure enough there was his stretcher bed tucked in one corner). How nice of them to do that, the whole place was so tiny. When we left I had to remind them that we had only paid the deposit (a receipt for which they gave us on arrival - so maybe they thought we had paid). We had 4 hours, not enough time to go to HK Island to do the Central and Western walking tour, so just headed to Kowloon Park and bought fruit for lunch (hotel checkout was 12.00 noon) and wandered back through yet another street we had not been to. Looked at the two guys high up on a building site about 20 floors up, dangling on bamboo scaffolding just doing their work. Found another cheapie store and bought some more readers and Geoff found a dim sum sieve to use to pull out the bits of chips in his oil (last of the big spenders!!!) Picked up our luggage around 4pm, and waited for the A21 airport bus in Nathan Road, whilst a local, elderly lady serenaded us with yelling and scream profanities and singing a string of swear words to 'Mary had a little lamb' for at least 15 minutes. I'm glad even the locals found it a bit strange. Whilst it was quite an interesting experience, I think the poor lady suffered some mental illness and it was very sad to see. Hong Kong airport his huge, after deciding that we couldn't us (didn't have the time) the Priority Class lounges which Geoff got with our Westpace card, we settled for the food court with hundreds of people lining up at every outlet. Finally got something with noodles, went to the departure gate, some 4 or 5 travelators along and boarded within 10 minutes. Must keep remembering, they don't call flights light domestic, you need to keep an eye on the time. Didn't sleep on the flight, but caught up easily next day.

SUMMARY : I'm not a bargainer, but found if you just stand there and say nothing, more often than not, the vendor will keep reducing the price. Temple street market, whilst Geoff was googling MSY to see how much a 32Gb micro SD card was, this lady was trying to sell me one. She said $380, I looked blank because I didn't even know if we wanted one, she said 'OK' $300……$250……..OK $200, still my blank face ha ha, OK $150……..OK $100, all the time I was waiting for Geoff to let me know what to do. In the end he wasn't sure if it was genuine (it was a Sandisk, but people do sneaky things AND maybe we didn't need it anyway!!!!). Losing our bearings in HK was becoming an artform as all the streets had vendors, lights, noise, smell, culture, hustle and bustle. Key is to get your bearings the moment you walk out of the building as we had been on two major, almost identical roads. Turns out the shopping building I had gone to twice, was actually on the NW corner of the intersection and not the SW corner as I had thought, so using that as a benchmark, of course we lost our way. HK has good pedestrian control, if you want to just get over that road, you end up walking in walk overs or underpasses and once you get down there you have to decided which way to go up and invariably we chose the wrong one and ended up at the wrong part of the intersection.

NOTES OF cruise ship : Little information - most info came from travelling companions or found out from other references that we should have had this or that in our cabin which we didn't, only selected info on shuttle options in Hong Kong, i.e. didn't mention the free shuttle to shopping centres and MTRs**. Lots of food options, all staff very, very pleasant, most enjoyable but lots of tiny little, easily fixed, low cost things, including organisational, that could have been better, sell-sell. Entertainment was good, if you like that sort of thing and lots to do, you'd never be bored. Band and dancing was fun. Tea and coffee in the dining room was consistent luke-warm, always very hot in the main Cafe. Departure breakfast service in the dining room (one and only visit for breakfast) was appalling overall, considering there were about 4 people serving us with different things - half of which turned up. Food received mixed reviews, had to ask for tea/beverages about 3 times to 3 different people, then ask for the milk, then the sugar, still waiting for the salt. Don't get me wrong, the cruise was terrific overall, but it's always the little things that get to you. They did a great job of feeding 2,000 people 3 times a day, plus snacks in between. I have no other cruise to compare, but this was quite good. If you want to see a lot of a country, then don' do a cruise. Probably should see this as a sampler for those countries as you just get a glimpse of the cities. Things are generally rushed as you are always conscious of getting back to the ship on time. This ship docked in ports around 2 hrs drive (Hanoi 3.5hrs) from major cities so you spend a lot of time in transit and if you have a guide commentating it's not so bad, but you are still sitting.