Hong Kong it is! We left the boat and all the great people we met there. Some of the staff we became friends with will visit us while the cruise is in Vancouver. We are staying one day in HK and then heading out for adventure in China, on Hainan Island. Anyhow, going back to Hong Kong, most of the day we spent on the streets checking fish markets, birds and flowers, once. At night we went (well I fell a sleep half way there) to night market which turn out to be a food and shopping fiesta for locals and tourists. The City landscape was impressive even in the fog. Enjoy.

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Vietnam was beautiful. The people are mega-friendly there, our taxi driver even allowed me to drive his car. Lots of people wear pyramid hats to protect them from the sun. I regret i didn’t take a picture in a hat like that, they look so cool. Our first stop was HoChiMinCity (Saigon). The city is booming, you can see lots of effort and money goes to that place. But there is still some little treasures you can find like a man fixing nests of electrical cables in a traditional way. :). We managed to find the “Bac Ho” monument and take a picture with HoChiMin.

Our second stop was gorgeous UNESCO heritage city HoiAn. My dad had a blast at the local market, mom with the camera and me running bare feet in the temple. We could of stayed there longer but it was time to catch a ride back to the boat. Well, enjoy the pictures as mom took tons of them.

Last but not least was the mysterious Hal-long Bay and Marble Mountain village. The weather wasn’t cooperating but still it was absolutely stunning. I was told that James was here…James Bond

You can see me holding a blue bag in the car, our taxi driver caught crickets for me so i don’t get bored in the car, my mom let them live at the Marble Mountain village

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Thailand was warm. First stop was Ko Samui Island. Small island, very laid back, a nice beach and coast with friendly people. Water in the ocean was super warm but I wasn’t a big fan of the waves. Bangkok welcomed us with 40 degree heat, a 3 hour drive in the seatbeltless car then a magnificent emperor palace, crazy boat drive in the canals where we saw a few iguanas and how people live. Pleasant bike ride among heritage historical center outside of Bangkok. I felt like a celebrity, everybody wanted to have a picture with me, or of me.

Second day we spent in the Elephant conservation run by locals. I managed to get a ride on the elephant with my mom and jeez that was high and bumpy. At some point the elephant went deep into the water and we had to keep our feet up from the muddy looking pond. BTW the elephant hair was spiky. We saw silk worms, cows chilling in the water and had an awesome drive in an old landrover.

Check pictures to see for yourself, next post about Vietnam.

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After Singapore we took off for an 11 day adventure on the boat. It became our little home where I was always looking forward to come back to after a busy day of exploring places. The easy part was that each day we woke up at the new place ready for a new adventure. We got to know wonderful people there. The staff was so friendly and they love kids. My favorite was Oki, he is holding me with his orange suit. Food was superb: pasta:masta, ricy:spicy…ye I was into making rhymes there. Our favorite place was deck 3 where we spent lots of time watching the ocean, little boats passing by and of course playing. Each port had its beauty, mostly industrial, so my dad was in heaven photographing all the port’s action. See for yourself. Next post about Thailand.

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I have so much to say that I decided to divide the post into a few different ones.

This one will be about Singapore, then Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. As well as life on the Boat in the end. Singapore was great, modern, hip and super, mega clean. We visited the fantastic zoo, where animals were running around pretty much free. Dad spotted few interesting lizards, snakes and spiders which made the zoo as their home but they were not part of the zoo deal. We stayed in a nice hotel where the swimming pool was all the way to the sky next to a giant metal wire tress. Chinatown was fun and little India was busy even late at night.
Singapore was easy to begin with, but as we progressed into the trip it got harder and harder … more about it later

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