The last 2 days have been spent in Singapore. Once we departed the ship we went on a quick tour of the island before checking into our hotel which is excellent.
We’ve done the hop-on hop-off tour for a day and a half and have seen loads. A nice feature is many of the hotels and malls are all interlinked so you can get around without leaving the comforts of aircon.
We’ve eaten well too and last night went to a fancy restaurant where you get served your steak (or in K’s case tuna) and they give you a hot stone for you to cook the meat yourself. It was very good and the starters and desserts were excellent.
Singapore is probably our favourite place on the whole trip and a place we’d certainly consider returning too – Kathryn’s even looked up the Singapore Marathon as a good excuse to come back. Incidentally our hotel is smack bang in the middle of the F1 track – the track goes past the front and back of the hotel and we’re about a 3 minute walk to the pit buildings.
We’ll be leaving the room soon to checkout but we’ve still got 6 hours till the airport transfer so we’re going to continue to enjoy. Ciao!
Posted in: Dave, Holidays.
This is the last of our at sea blogs as we depart Cambodia for our final destination of Singapore.
After I last posted we went to watch the magicians escape act and in my eagerness to get a front row seat I ended up being dragged up front to help with the chaining and checking of the padlocks. They were definitely proper padlocks and the chain was very heavy. Having seen him get our of a straight jacket though I don’t think it was any more difficult except perhaps that he was at the bottom of a 6 foot deep pool. He escaped after 2 and a half minutes underwater but in all honesty I think he was out within the first 90 seconds and staying down for effect.
The next day we got to Thailand near the beach town of Pattaya and from there we got a bus ride to Bangkok where we decided to do the city on foot. Bad call on my part that as by the time we got to the Emerald Temple and Giant Buddha everything was closed up to tourists – we were even given a friendly warning by a tourist policeman that we shouldn’t hang around that area too long. We had managed to see one of the main temples though and went back to the shopping!
Many people were staying overnight in Bangkok but we headed back on the bus and the next day stayed more local to the port and visited the Tiger Zoo. The Tiger Zoo is home to hundreds of tigers, over 100K crocodiles, elephants and a mix of other animals. There were some demonstrations of the animals, Kathryn wasn’t keen on the guy who spent most of his time trying to get bitten by crocodiles, I was quite impressed by the elephant who could play darts! The tigers were the stars though and I even got to hold and feed a tiger cub. Special mention should go to Kathryn’s favourite animal – the flag waving pig.
That afternoon we had a relax by the pool which was rudely interrupted when Kathryn wrenched my book from my hands and entered me into the “Mr Legend” competition. Despite 2 Welsh girls on the judging panel I still didn’t win – I can only assume it was down to my reluctance to be there. That and the fact I can’t dance or do press-ups! I will have my revenge on Kathryn for that one!
In Cambodia we visited a beach town and had a mill around the local market – think Splott Market but with twice as many stalls crammed in and add numerous sewing machines and scorpions on sticks. From there we hopped on a Tuk Tuk to one of the many beaches and spent a couple of hours just walking in the surf and sitting back watching the world go by.
Tomorrow we’re at sea before we arrive in SIngapore. Straight off the ship we’re having a tour of the place which should help us we’ll get to know the place before exploring solo and we’d probably be too early for check in anyway.
Posted in: Dave, Holidays.
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!
Posted in: Dave, Holidays.
We are 6 days into our Far Eastern adventure.
The first 2 and a half days were spent in the bustling city of Shanghai. We checked in to the Hyatt on the Bund hotel and it was seriously impressive – Kathryn wants to model our next house on the hotel room! The first night we had a wander down the main shopping street as dusk was falling and got to see the numerous neon lights that decorate the buildings throughout the city. It really is quite impressive. Plenty of offers for “watch, t-shirt, dvd” from the street traders as well as the 100s of shops just like back home.
Our second day was tourist day, where we took the Bund sightseeing tunnel over to the business district where we saw the TV Tower and went to the Shanghai World Trade Centre which opened last year as the tallest occupied building in the world at just shy of 500m high. The top floor is a viewing deck with a glass bottom allowing you to look down on the city below. Shanghai currently has something like 3 of the world’s top 10 tallest buildings all in fairly close proximity.
Following our trip in the clouds we decided to go below the water and visited the Shanghai Aquarium which us split into a number of different zones based on locations and consists of many small tanks, several large tanks and some underwater tunnels. 100s of different species can be seen including a tank of huge electric eels complete with voltage meter on the side of the tank, a sea lion tank and a penguin habitat. The last exhibits are underwater tunnels which included a shark tank and a coral reef tank. Some of the sharks were about 8 feet long and the same tank also included some large sea turtles.
Next morning we awoke to find the Legend of the Seas moored right outside our hotel window. We departed the next day for the trip to the sea terminal where we faced the arduous task of checking out of the country and onto the ship – it was nothing of the sort. From leaving the hotel we were on the ship and done within 45 minutes. After Miami and Vancouver it was a significant difference!
Once on the ship we immediately made ourselves comfortable and grabbed some food – pasta to start and a couple of cheeky desserts. That evening the ship departed for a day at sea. On the second night I had a meal of snails to start, fillet steak main and a cheesecake dessert. Yes I did say snails. Next day we visited Xiamen where we kept it fairly quiet and just wandered round a few shops.
This morning we arrived into Hong Kong harbour where we’ll be for 2 days. We’ve just returned from a day tour of Hong Kong Island where we drove around most of the island. The trip included a tram ride up to the peak which was on a crazy steep angle but offered a great view once you were up there. Following that it was a wander around a street market before taking a ride on a boat around the harbour. It was an interesting tour and we got to see many things.
Plan tonight is to head out on the town and hit the shops tomorrow. Kathyrn’s been conservative so far but our credit card may well get a workout.
Posted in: Dave, Holidays, Kathryn.
On Sunday I did the Pembrokeshire Duathlon – also known as the Welsh Duathlon Championships.
As I’m not long over the op I’d set this as a target for myself and I must admit I did wonder if I’d bitten off more than I could chew.
We travelled up the day before staying in the Cleddau Bridge hotel (who incidentally were very accommodating regarding my bike and my request for a late checkout so I could pop back after the event). Went over on Saturday for a reccy (signs were going up as I was driving it) and to preregister.
However not being out on the bike other than on a turbo and not having used my clipless pedals before I was a little nervous about being able to complete the initial climb and following a sleepless night worrying I was almost on the verge of pulling out. So glad in the end that I didn’t!
Really enjoyed the atmosphere and had lots of people chatting to me and my nerves were soon settled. Did well on the run and managed a decent enough time for me especially as I was taking it easy knowing the hill was to come. The cycle was well marshalled given the numbers out on the track and as usual the support around the course, although limited, always helps you get around. Traffic was well behaved on the fast section at the top and I think I only had one car pass me on the hilly section. The long downhill at the end could have been smoother – I think I rattled half my teeth loose on the way back down!
In the end I came 30th in the Open Male category, which to be honest sounds more impressive than it actually is.
I’ll get some photos up shortly.
Posted in: Dave, Running, triathlon.
This evening Kathryn told me a story. I say a story because it was obviously a work of fiction – she had been duped by a joke on the radio about how fish get a bad press due to their name – FISH – and it’s because of this that we’re quite happy to eat them.
She can be a little naive and I told her that it was obvious someone was winding her up and I went online to prove it.
It was at this point my head exploded when I found the following article – http://www.peta.org/Sea_Kittens/index.asp. Before you head there I’ll quote a small paragraph that sums up the idiocy of it all
When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it’s time for a serious image makeover. And who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?
Basically the gist of the entire thing is that eating fish is cruel and if they were called sea kittens nobody would eat them. Quite frankly if Garfield tasted as nice with chips as your average peice of cod I’d happily eat him too.
I really do dispair sometimes at how stupid people can be (in this case I don’t mean Kathryn).
Posted in: Dave.
Hello! First post of 2009 albeit 9 days in.
I’ve been off work since 28th November following my ankle op and I’ve not been back to work since. Turned out to be a lot more complicated than originally thought and I had quite of lot of work done in there. However I’m walking now albeit with the help of a boot that looks like something robocop would were (sans gun in leg). Still not allowed to drive though – Kathryn has been having great fun being designated driver – especially over Christmas.
On the subject of Christmas, despite being imobile, it was very enjoyable this year and we had some presents we really liked – Kathryn got an Ipod Touch, a Nespresso coffee machine and Rock Band for the PS3. She loves them all. Among other things I got a Garmin Forerunner 405 (a gps watch for running and cycling) and a turbo trainer (for converting a bike into an exercise bike) so I’m wondering if people are trying to tell me something?!
We also got a Tefal Actifry which might not sound too impressive but it makes great chips! We never used to have chips so it’s a real treat. I’d have chips 5 times a week but Kathryn doesn’t approve.
Also had a pile of games but for some reason I’ve not played all of them yet despite my mass of spare time – have played Call of Duty Modern Warfare a lot though – really is a great game seeing as I don’t normally enjoy FPS games – the quality and cinematic feel of the game is excellent. I’m struggling at the moment with the online play – I think I get killed about 5x for every kill I get.
I’ll try to blog more often (yeah, yeah, heard it all before) this year and provide things of more interest – we’re working out this years holiday plans at the moment so that always provides good blog fodder.
Posted in: Dave.
Yes it’s as sore as it looks.
Posted in: Dave, Running.
Since I last blogged a few things have happened.
Kathryn and her mum completely redecorated the living room but alongside that I have removed my fishtank. The fish were all succesfully rehomed – albeit following a stressful weekend of fish capture, tank draining and heavy lifting. The tank itself and everything else has been put into storage until I decide what to do with it.
To go with the new room we bought a new sofa using some of our wedding money which arrived about half an hour ago. Now normally I wouldn’t be around to receive it as I’d be in work but at the moment I am one week into an, as yet undetermined, time off work. This is because it turns out my troublesome ankle needed reconstructive surgery of the peronial tendons.
So I find myself up to my knee in a plaster cast and I’m confined to the sofa. Sounds good you’d think but it’s not the most exciting. I’ve got plenty to do – books, TV, magazines – but I find myself putting them off for a moment when I’m really bored. This moment might be days or weeks down the line but I’m prepared. Not sure its the best way to do it but there you go.
One plus point – it’s enabled me to get most of my Christmas shopping done and many other people’s it seems. I seem to have become a present research and procurement service. You all know who you are!!
Must mention my beloved wife though – she’s very busy in work and taking care of me each day can’t be anyone’s idea of fun. Having to safely transport me and my various pillows, medicines, crutches and so on to the sofa in the morning and then back to bed in the evening is not an enjoyable activity but she’s doing it anyway. On top of being busy in work and doing lots of other things besides.
PS She’s entered in the RNLI Reindeer Run 10K on Sunday so wish her luck.
Posted in: Dave, Running.
APPARENTLY TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY. SO ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO INSIST ON WRITING EMAILS AND FORUMS POSTS IN CAPS LOCK CAN FINALLY BE ACCEPTED.
PERSONALLY I THINK IT’S A STUPID IDEA AS READING A MESSAGE IN ALL CAPITALS IS INCREDIBLY IRRITATING – EVEN AS I’M WRITING THIS I’M FINDING IT HARD TO READ WHAT I’VE JUST TYPED.
Posted in: Dave.
