Long overdue blog this one but we’ve just been so busy the last few days – breakfast, pick up trip ticket, get off ship, get on bus, drive, race around city, take photos, back on bus and repeat. back on bus, drive back to ship. get ready for evening, watch show, eat dinner, bed – and then do it all again on the next day in a whole other city!
Since we left Hong Kong we sailed to the Chinese town of Sanya where our activity for the day was to the hot spa resort – a park full of loads of hot water pools. Highlight of the day for me was the Fish therapy pools , otherwise known as the nibble fish ponds. You sit in a big pool of water filled with various fish from 2-4 inches long and they proceed to eat your dead skin until it’s all gone or you decide you can’t stay in any longer! I submerged myself almost totally but drew the line when my ear was getting nibbled. It was such a strange experience.
Sanya was our last Chinese location and we then travelled to Vietnam where we’ve been for the last 3 days. First day was in the town of Hoi An where we went on a walking tour of the old historical town and browsed the markets. Next was Nah Trang which is the most popular beach resort in Vietnam and finally yesterday we visited Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). It’s such a sprawling and busy city that we were constantly on the move and barely getting a chance to think before we were onto the next location – any slower though and we wouldn’t have seen half of what we did. In fact the only thing slowing us up was the dozens of street traders trying to sell us postcards, caps, T-shirts etc as you got on and off the bus. They weren’t too pushy though and would never try to stop you if you weren’t interested. In Vietnam the temperatures have been consistently around 90 degrees with very high humidity.
On the ship we’ve been keeping busy too eating some excellent meals alongside our table-mates from South Africa and enjoying some banter with our Head Waiter Nilesh. I’ve had a couple of excellent Lamb meals and Kathryn’s just enjoying the chance to have 3 courses every night.
I’ve been running round on deck (or in the gym) most days and the humidity really makes you feel you’ve burnt a few calories. It’s even like an obstacle course at times trying to avoid people wandering aimlessly around the designated running track.
Also I’m apparently now a genuine stalker – we saw the magician show one night and he sat next to us at breakfast the next day and I had the cheek to say hello and tell him how much I enjoyed the show. SInce then we keep bumping into him around the ship and Kathryn’s convinced I’m stalking him – he’s doing an escape act from chains in the pool today which should be good to watch.
Kathryn’s looking forward to the formal night tonight as we missed the previous one on the night where the sea was particularly choppy – the first time we’ve had actually designated “rough” waves on a cruise meant that many people missed dinner that evening. Neither of us felt particularly good that night but it’s been fine since.
Tomorrow is Bangkok for 2 days, followed by Cambodia and then on to Singapore!