A year ago, Sarah and I were made aware of a Celebrity Cruise which included 3 ports in Vietnam and 2 ports in Thailand. I have wanted to experience Vietnam since Brooke visited it back in college. She couldn’t say enough positive things about the culture and food.
For those that are thinking, a cruise? Isn’t that laying in the sun, visiting beaches, and drinking too much? Not this one. Our sea days were spent recuperating from tour days. This cruise is more a train, hotel, restaurant, laundromat, and gym all in one. Providing the added bonus of only unpacking once.
We ended up being a party of 6 so we were able to book private tour guides for every port at a very reasonable price. This also allowed us to customize tours to fit our groups tourism desires.
Our cruise departed from Hong Kong. Sarah and I decided to spend a few days in Japan prior to the cruise to help us get over jet lag. Sarah’s brother, Tom, and his wife, Marge, joined us. We were able to tuck in 7 UNESCO sites in Kyoto.
We boarded the ship in Hong Kong and were off to Vietnam. I got up early, a rarity for me, on our arrival day to Halong Bay, another UNESCO Site, I actually think virtually everything we saw on our trip were UNESCO sites.
I literally took a hundred pictures on our boat ride tour through the islands of Halong Bay. It was tough to just pic a few.
As part of our tour, we hiked up to and through a huge natural, limestone cave…
… and enjoyed kayaking in one of the bays.
As much as I didn’t want to leave Halong Bay, I was excited to see another part of Vietnam, Danang & Hoi An. This destination had us travel inland. During the car ride our guide, Eric, shared information about the culture as well as his life story which had his family fight on different sides of the Vietnam war.
We had three main stops on our tour: My Son Sanctuary, a 400AD Hindu temple that nearly survived the war. 45% of it did.
Next was Marble Mountain, which was more of a cave exploration than mountain.
We finished with a fabulous lunch at one of Eric’s favorite restaurants. It was wonderful to not be dining in the tourist places. Then we walk through the streets of Hoi An. The town is a UNESCO site.
One of the most fascinating things we all discovered about Vietnam is the majority of people do not own cars. They own scooters. And trust me, everything you currently have in your car can be carried on a scooter. It was crazy to see families sharing a scooter: mom, dad, and their kids. I wish I had a photo of the guy carrying 2×4’s.
Our next port was outside Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon. We got full exposure to the scooters in traffic on our way to the Mekong Delta.
The Mekong Delta is a maze of rivers, separated by fertile islands.
The Mekong Delta is most known for its floating markets. We never saw a floating market but what we did see definitely took us by suprise. We drove around one of the islands checking out the markets. No one was interested in purchasing the cure all alcohol with a snake and scorpion in it.
We finished our tour by checking out the Coconut Religion temple. A religion founded in 1969 aimed at reuniting Vietnam.
I was sad to say goodbye to Vietnam. I can defiantly see why people come for weeks not days. As we headed to Thailand, I decided to spend our sea day making a glass jellyfish. Pretty amazing that they have everything on the ship to do glass blowing. What’s more amazing is they let the passengers participate.
Our stops in Thailand included an overnight stay in Bangkok. I was in Bangkok over 30 years ago. I was anxious to see how it has changed. My first impression was it didn’t have all these flashy lights 30 years ago.
I would wager to guess Bangkok has more statues of Buddha than any other city.
I was happy to see the Grand Palace again. Last time, I was here I was new to international travel and every has sort of blended together in my mind.
The Sanctuary of Truth was our last stop before returning to the boat. The sanctuary is made entirely of wood. No nails. The structure is still under construction and probably always will be. Every carving tells a story of good and evil. Giving people direction in life. As new temptations enter our world, they design a new carving.
Our last port was Ko Samui, an island in south Thailand. I am guessing most people visiting the island were looking for the beaches. We, on the other hand, headed to a coconut museum where we got to make coconut oil from scratch.
The islands of Thailand have such a unique feel. Hot, muggy, lush, and green. We visited a garden full of structures and carvings all covered with moss and plant life.
Our last stop was a working Buddhist Temple with monks living on site. What a tranquil view to take in every day.
We got off the boat in Singapore. Our flight wasn’t until tomorrow morning, so we took the opportunity to have a guide show us around the city.
I absolutely fell in love with the style some homes were painted in.
I looked at this trip as a taste of Asia. I wonder if I will ever get back to sample more of this area.