Loopylass Craft Creations

The highlight of the day was the elephant ride! I know it’s such a touristy and clichéd thing to do but we loved it! I’ve always had a soft spot for elephants so it was just an amazing experience. We went for a walk through the park which ws lovely. This photo of a  photo is a bit blurred, but the original is better.

We continued on the drive around the island stopping at the Big Budda Temple. They’re not lying – it really is big! There were some interesting shops around the base including one that had models made from bits of cars and motorbikes. Andy would have loved to get one but it wouldn’t fit in the luggage!

We had a bit of time to look around the shops in Na Thon before getting the tender back out to the boat. We were very lucky to miss the very heavy rain storm as we were on the coach between the Big Budda Temple and Na Thon.

Wow a really long day but a very good one. Unfortunately for the first time we managed to end up on a bus full of moany people. Ach well – it had to happen at least once. It didn’t spoil the day tho. It was a 2 hr drive from Laem Chabang port to Bangkok but the tour guide Jonathon pointed out lots of interesting things on the drive in. I hadn’t realised Bangkok is based around lots of canals – a bit like Venice. Unlike most of the other cities we’ve visited it doesn’t have lots of high rises.

Our first stop was at the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Budda. It was incredible! So many ornate golden buildings and statues. The walls inside the courtyard were painted with amazingly ornate murals. All the halls have different meanings. We got shown round some of them briefly, but I really could have spent hours there looking at all the details. The photos really don’t do the place justice! There’s even a mini model of Anchor What in Cambodia. 

We went inside the Emerald Budda temple. It’s actually made of one solid peice of jasper about 2 ft high. It is dressed in different  costumes according to the season. We had to wear trousers and t-shirts as shorts and short sleeved tops arn’t allowed. We also had to take our shoes off to go in the actual temple

In the grounds of the Grand Palace we saw the reception hall and a lot of the other buildings. We were lucky to be able to see the palace and temple as it’s the King’s 83^rd Birthday on the 5^th (all the best people have that birthday!) so the area is being closed from the afternoon to finish preparations for his birthday celebrations. We saw the royal guard practicing their marching. One poor trumpet player managed to start playing in completely the wrong song – only to be hastily prodded by his friend! We think he’d have had an earful from his superior when he got back to barracks! It was incredibly hot so we didn’t envy them in their full uniform.  We spent our time hopping from one piece of shade to the next.

After leaving the Grand Palace we walked though a food market to the river. We passed a group of teenage school children who were doing stunning sketches of the buildings. We boarded our river boat for an hour cruise down and up the river. It was really interesting to see and the temples and buildings along the river front were beautiful. Fishing is forbidden by temples so the fish know they’re safe and congregate there. We fed them bread rolls and great big catfish came up to the surface to feed – they were about a foot and a half long!  We also saw the building where the royal barges are readied for the king’s birthday.

We finished the cruise at the Ramada hotel and got on the bus to lunch which was at a cultural centre. We had a big thai lunch then had a display of traditional dancers. After lunch we went for the much promised shopping trip, but it turned out to be a very very expensive high end shop so we didn’t buy anything.

It was a really good day and I’d definitely like to come back and explore Bangkok more.

Happy Birthday Dad! Goodness me it soooooo doesn’t feel like December! It’s a lovely 30deg and has been sunny for most of the day which is the first time. We listened to the lecture on Singapore and tried again to win some spa vouchers then sat in the sun with our books for a while. Lunch was a sushi buffet again which was nice. Tonight was the last formal night. It’s a bit odd as people seems to be acting as if it’s the last day of the cruise – there was even the Captain’s farewell Cocktail Party (which we managed to miss by accident). There’s still 3 days to go tho – Bangkok tomorrow, then Ko Samui and a final sea day before we dock in Singapore. We head there’s snow in England which is going to be a nasty shock to the system!

An early start today with breakfast at half 5 to give us time to get ready and get to our meeting place at 6.50am. It was a long 3 ½ hr drive to the Cu Chi tunnels north of Ho Chi Min City, but it wasn’t boring as there was lots to see. Vietnam is very different from the other countries we’ve visited – definitely a non-developed country. We’ve found the people to be really friendly tho. The roads were incredible – full of pot holes,  and often unpaved which made for an interesting drive. The amount of scooter on the road was incredible adn the way everyone drives is amazing. Somehow it mainly seems to work, although to western eyes it looks like mayhem. We saw scooters with all sort of things on the back including whole families, giant bushels of greenery and a full upright fridge – beating the freezer of yesterday!

The drive was definitely worth it as the Cu Chi Tunnels were fascinating. The visitor area is well laid out with huts showing maps, diagrams and videos about the Viet Cong guerrillas who lived and fought in them. They had one hidden entrance way that had been widened for westerners, but it was still fairly small – about the size of an A4 piece of paper. Andy was the first to volunteer to get in and I managed to fit in too. Not many of the others in the group tried it tho. It was incredible how camouflaged it was – when covered with leaves there really was no way of telling it was there.

Our guide then took us further around the trail showing us some of the other types of entrance (one designed as a trap for the American Soldiers)  and also some of the traps they built. These really were gruesome  -  it’s amazing how many ways they designed to impale GI’s on metal or bamboo spikes. The spinning man traps had long bamboo stakes in because short spikes wouldn’t have been effective to get through the GI’s steel reinforced boots. Other traps were designed to impale GI’s in the foot, leg, armpit, privates or head – there were all sorts of designs. Many of them would maim and cause huge amounts of pain rather than killing them outright as the Viet Cong philosophy was that it was better to kill someone’s mind by causing them immense pain. The screams from the injured man would then kill the minds of the other GI’s in the area. If they just shot him dead then he was dead and couldn’t strike fear into the other soldiers.

The system of tunnels stretched for 250km and 75% of this still exists. The tunnels were on 3 levels and contained meeting rooms, hospitals, kitchens (with the smoke tunnelled to come out a long way from the kitchen) and armouries. The tunnels included traps for any Americans who managed to get in. It really was an amazing system and incredibly well thought out as the Americans had almost no chance of finding it.  In one area the tunnels even ran under an American base!

We went down a short stretch that has been expanded to accommodate westerners. Even these tunnels were oppressively small and I came out at the first chance I had. Andy continued along till the end. The original tunnels are far far smaller than the ones we went in which is incredible to imagine.

All in all it was a very interesting if slightly gruesome trip.  On the way back we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in the countryside. We were sat in little thatched shelters in a garden beside a river which was nice. The food was lovely – nice and fresh tho quite hot. The one thing we weren’t a fan of was the fresh pineapple with chilli salt to dip it in – the chilli was very hot! The trip back took over 3 hours with more interesting things to see. It’s been very hot today – 27deg and very humid which has been a big change from further north.

The dress code tonight was Asian or White so I decided to wear the outfit I bought in Nha Trang yesterday. It got loads of compliments which was very flattering.

Pictures to follow as the net is playing up today!

An interesting day today – very different from the visits to cities we’ve done on the last few shore excursions. Nha Trang is a tender port so we met at the Princess Theatre as usual for the tour then had a 15 min ride on the tender into the pier.

We had a short bus ride to our first stop – the Cham Tower. It was interesting to see Nha Trang. There are lots of motorbikes on the road carrying anything from one person, to a family, to a stack of eggs or even a freezer on the back! The approach to road rules is very interesting and our driver spent a lot of the time on his horn making sure people knew we were there! 

The Cham Tower is a Hindu temple to the god Shivra and has been standing for over 1,000 years. It’s on the top of a hill and the original steps were incredibly steep so worshipers had to carry any offerings on their head as both hands were needed to climb the steps, and they had to climb down the steps in a way that kept their face towards the temple. Our guide showed us round and explained the meaning of some things and we watched a group of Cham dancers performing. They are from hundreds of miles away because that is where the Cham people live these days.

From the temple we walked through some side streets to a family house on the river where we boarded our river cruise. The kids were waving and saying hello.  It was nice being in a small group of only 12 this time rather than the bigger coach trips. We were each given a straw hat by the tour guide. The locals really do wear them over here.

Our first stop was at a village that made traditional clay ovens. These are quite small and still used as a regular way of cooking. They are traditionally always used to cook on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Our guide told us a story about the 3 kitchen gods which is why the stoves have 3 ‘teeth’ on them. Further up the river at ‘Pineapple Island’ where we had fresh coconut juice and flesh which was nice.

Our final stop was at a countryside village where we visited an ancient house. It was relatively small which made it even more impressive that Vietnamese families traditionally have 3 or 4 generations living in the same house. The younger generations care for their grandparents as they get older.

The trip back to the pier was by bus through Nha Trang. Many more interesting things to see on the road! At the pier there were quite a few stalls set up and we had a wonder through them. I got a nice Vietnamese outfit but we resisted the ‘genuine’ rolex, Louis vitton etc that were on offer. It was nice to get a chance to have a look around things even if they were obviously tourist orientated.

We didn’t have a normal visit to Hong Kong as we did a tour so didn’t spend the whole time shopping like lots of people do! The weather was lovely and warm – about 24 degrees and clear and sunny – bliss. We docked at the Modern Terminal on Kowloon and our tour bus took us to the dock at Victoria Harbour for our harbour cruise. It was really interesting seeing all the skyscrapers – they’re all such interesting shapes.

We finished our cruise on Hong Kong Island and transferred to the Peak Tram. That was an experience as there were big queues and it was quite crowded. The ride up Victoria Peak is sooooooo steep and it only takes 7 minutes!  The views from the top are stunning – it’s amazing being that high! Apparently we were lucky to have a relatively clear day as the view is often obscured by fog.

We came down from the peak on our bus and drove to Stanley Market on the south end of the island passing some lovely views of the way. It sounds daft but I hadn’t thought about Hong Kong having beaches, but they’ve got some beautiful ones. Repulse Bay looked stunning. It’s definitely the rich area of the island tho – apartments area are an incredible amount per square meter. Stanley Market is a huge area of stalls selling all sorts of things. It was mostly tourist stuff so we resisted, but some of the tour came back with bags and bags full! The locals shop here as well as the tourists which is good.

We then headed over to Aberdeen Harbour and had lunch (huge again!) in the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. It’s incredibly ornate and very busy. Very good food again. It’s interesting that there has been a noticeable difference between the cuisines in the different city’s we’ve visited. After lunch we had a trip around the Aberdeen Harbour on a sampan. The fishing people living there are diminishing in number as more and more move to the land. Our guide said there are 20 women who have never touched foot on land as they’re above the age when compulsory education was bought in, and they never married which was the other time the boat people went ashore. Rosita said the government is planning to move them all ashore.

Our final call on the way home was to a jewellery factory. It was interesting to see the items being made and I bought a pretty silver necklace with scattered pearls on it.