Our guide Som arrived precisely at 07:30 am and started our day’s journey at Bayon Temple. It was built in the 12th century by Jayavaman VII as a Buddhist Temple. It is famous for its giant stone faces on 37 towers, most with 4 faces on each. The entry gate was very impressive with a row of good and bad lion figures stretched out on both sides of the roadway. For $10.00 USD, you can ride an elephant from the gate about 1 km. to the Bayon Temple sight. The Bayon Temple was already crammed with tourists, so Som suggested that [View Full Entry]

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We started our day with a nice Asian style buffet breakfast in the Angkor Hotel’s brightly lit dining room. Bonseuth met us in the lobby and introduced us to our guide Mr. Sok Som. He was a 42 year old who has been guiding tours in Siem Reap for the past 12 years. We also found out that he was President Bill Clinton’s guide when he visited Siem Reap the previous month. We were also supplied with a driver and comfortable A/C mini van by the hotel. On the way to the main Angkor Wat Temple complex, Som (meaning moon rays) [View Full Entry]

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We woke up to a fog filled morning, already docked starboard side in Singapore’s container port. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Tapas, picked up our passports being distributed on the upper grand lobby level (no line at all), and collected our hand luggage from the stateroom. We said good bye to our wonderful cabin steward team and had a chance to see the beautiful 2 room owner’s suite located on Deck 6 in the ship’s bow. Fantastic layout with 2 rooms, large bath, table with 4 chairs, couch, wet bar, king draped bed and large flat screen plasma TV with [View Full Entry]

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We woke up with the Malaysian coast to our port side and the Sumatra coast to our starboard side, as we spend our final cruise day in the Malacca Strait. After a quick breakfast, I luxuriated in the spa one last time with a marine collagen facial from Karla of South Africa. It was pure pleasure and necessary before the stressful time of packing that lay ahead. I enjoyed a delicious Waves Grill burger and enjoyed the comfort of our balcony for one last afternoon. A passing rain shower brought me back indoors in time for high tea in Horizons Lounge [View Full Entry]

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Woke up as we were sailing off the coast of Phuket, Thailand, into the harbor on the east side of the island. Another organized tour line up for shore excursions, put us on bus #7 bound for Phra Nang Bay. Our local guide was named Jennifer Lopez and reminded us of our friend Liz Guillen. We had a pleasant 90 minute drive past temples, rubber tree farms, water buffalos and strip malls on modern roads where drivers actually obey the traffic rules. This is our first port of call on this trip, where this has happened. We also enjoyed the clean [View Full Entry]

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Woke up to a windy, sun-filled morning in the Andaman Sea. There were some white caps and a bit of ship’s roll today. After a windy breakfast at the Terrace Café, it was time for the much anticipated “Country Fair” on the pool deck, hosted by the various ship’s departments. Our bar maven, Gorrin, was so excited about it since they’d been planning the events over the last few days. The “Tapas Terrace” restaurant featured a special “Kiss the Prince” tent, with Sylvester, the Maitre’D, decked out like Tom Jones laying on a bed of [View Full Entry]

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A quick breakfast this morning followed by an Oceania cruises presentation on the 2007/2008 itineraries. The reward for attendance was a raffle where they gave away a $250.00 shipboard credit and a $100.00 shipboard credit gift certificates. We didn’t win, but it was a great prize giveaway. I finally had a chance to use the computer lab during daylight hours, so I tried to type and upload more of my journal to the travel blog. The seas are still a bit rough today, challenging the balance of most. The pool was open, but the ship’s motion created a wave pool making [View Full Entry]

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A relaxing day at sea and the first one with “motion in the ocean”. We woke up to a loud whistling sound of the wind through our verandah door and sea spray kicking up over our balcony railing. It was also a challenge to walk straight on the decks due to the high winds and rough surf. The pools and Jacuzzi were closed, which was just as well due to the overcast skies. Our sea route today would take us around the southern tip of India and to the southeast of Sri Lanka before heading due east towards Phuket, Thailand. After [View Full Entry]

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We enjoyed our early morning sail into Cochin from our stateroom verandah about 7:00 am. We passed an old fishing village with the Chinese Fishing nets on the shoreline and lots of dugout canoe type fishing boats rowing out to greet us. We had a quick breakfast and then rendezvoused in the Nautica Lounge to join the ship’s shore excursion to Kerala: Tranquil Backwaters. We were assigned to bus number 5 and I was impressed with the relaxed, organized process. As we descended the gangway to shoreside, we were greeted by an elephant adorned in a gold jeweled headdress with three [View Full Entry]

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Woke up to a sunny 79 degrees F, water temp 81 degrees F sailing south to Cochin, India—approximately 30 nautical miles to the west of the India coastline. Managed to get in a few laps around the deck and enjoyed another 50 minute Balinese Bliss massage with Alexandra at Mandara Spa. Some rest time on our verandah followed, to catch up on my journal writing. From there it was off for some self guided water aerobic exercise in the pool. I ventured into Horizons Lounge at 2:00 pm for a close-up magic lesson from the on-board magician Rory. He taught us [View Full Entry]

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