After a nice 2-days at sea, we arrived in Port Klang, the port for Kuala Lumpur about 8:00am this morning. We decided to use our last ½ day Cruise Specialists car today. Our guide picked us up about 9:00 at the pier and off we went to Kuala Lumpur, commonly known as KL, about 25 miles away. Kuala Lumpur, translated as “muddy confluence,” muddy estuary,” and “muddy city; is the capital and largest city in Malaysia. The city proper, had an estimated population of 1.6 million in 2006. Greater Kuala Lumpur, known as the Klang Valley, has about 7.2 million. Kuala Lumpur has its origins in the 1850’s, when the Malay Chief of Klang hired Chinese laborers to open new and larger tin mines. During WWII, Kuala Lumpur was captured by the Japanese army in January, ... read more

After a day at sea, we had a nice dinner last night with some world cruise friends, Carol and Tom Ross and Ralph and Alma Michael from Pennsylvania. Carol and Tom are very good bridge players, formerly from Palo Alto and now in a nice Del Webb golf community in Lincoln, CA. Unfortunately, not long after our dinner, Ralph and Alma had to leave the ship as Ralph’s health was failing. As Thailand’s main port and largest city, Bangkok has always been more cosmopolitan than other regions of the country. It definitely blends the old and new world. Thousands of Chinese immigrants from the impoverished South China seacoast came to Bangkok seeking work and money during the 19th century until World War II. By the early 20th century, Bangkok was an overwhelmingly Chinese city, their immigrants ... read more

After a day at sea, we arrived at our second port in Vietnam, Nha Trang about 8:ooam. At first glance from our balcony, as we approach the dock, it looks like a pretty nice port. As we pass under a cable car system, there is a dock full of merchants to meet us. Nha Trang is one of the most important tourism hubs of Vietnam, thanks to its beautiful, fine and clear sand beaches, clear seawater with mild temperatures all year round. There are several resorts and amusement parks in this city and on islands off the coast. Its most beautiful street is Tran Phu, which runs along the seaside. Nha Trang features annual sailing boat racing from Hong Kong plus a wealth of other activities for visitors like island hopping, water sports and many other ... read more

Good morning to our last day in Hong Kong! One other thing to mention is the unit of currencies here are the Hong Kong Dollar and the Chinese Yuan Renminbi. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority performs the functions of a central bank and authorizes three commercial banks: The Bank of China, HSBC and the Standard Chartered Bank, to issue Hong Kong dollars. The terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 allows Hong Kong to continue issuing its own currency until the year 2047. After a very nice evening last night, we awoke and decided to head for the famous Jade Market. So, following breakfast we grabbed a cab and headed over there. Wow - just like many of the other markets that we have experienced, except all of these vendors traded in all kinds of ... read more

We arrived in Hong Kong, the city where east meets west, about noon today. We had booked an afternoon tour of Living Traditions of Hong Kong. Annette decided to hang out on the ship, so Doug did the tour. Most people think of Hong Kong as a small portion of the Kowloon Peninsula, but the territory also includes up to 266 islands in all. The first settlers are believed to have arrived in the 3rd millennium BC. Like many seaports, it eventually became a lair for pirates and various ethnic groups. Many know Hong Kong as the buying and selling capital of the world, but it was actually founded on the colonial opium trade, which flowed freely at first. Hong Kong’s importance as a free port only became evident after WWII as it provided shipping services ... read more