World Cruise 8

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World Cruise 8



Publishing while in Dubai on 26th. Dubai today and tomorrow , then Muscat in Oman.

Have got into some good book series, some good talks, and craft making, hence blog writing slow! ( Have you heard of the Cazolet series, Chis?)

Will do some more after that as 9 or 10 sea days, through Suez Canal to the Med and Valletta in Malta.





Friday 10th March



Port of Laem Chabang for Bangkok. 27degrees C. 13N. 100E.



A Glimpse of Bangkok

Early start! Went out to buses a bit early so could check out most comfortable seat for foot space and knee space. It is 2 hours into Bangkok, a long way if you can’t bend knees or move feet… Seat at front not always most comfortable.

Roger has fond memories from his trip with Daihatsu in 2008.

Our guide today is Victor, charming man, full of information of course, so polite, smiley, and so happy to be looking after us.
<ul class="ul1" style="caret-color:� color:� -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The population of Thailand is 69 million and is approximately the same size as France<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Bangkok has a population of 10 million and 2 million cars.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">95% of Thai are Buddhist.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">There are 32 thousand temples in Thailand, 400 in Bangkok.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Buddhists believe that when we die we are born again, and then the same again,<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The old name for Thailand is Siam, became Thailand in 1945.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Thailand means free land ad has never been colonised<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The present king is King Rama 10th<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">King Rama 1st built the Royal Palace in 1782 where all the kings since then lived until King Rama 8th who was assassinated at the age of 20 in the palace ( all the kings took the name of Rama )<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Since then Rama 9 ( Rama 8s brother ) and Rama 10 ( Rama 9s son) have lived elsewhere.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">March and April are summer, with temps up to 42 degrees C There is a Water Festival 13th to 15th April<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">May to October is the Rainy season<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Many houses built on stilts to keep out of water, lots of nasty requires in the water, scorpions, spider and king cobra.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">In N Thailand there are mountains and in winter can have temperature shown to 10 degrees or even zero.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The king has no power, there are elections every 4 years<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">A yellow flag flies on a Monday to celebrate the day the king was born and everyone else born on a Monday!<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The Thai word for Bangkok is the longest word in the Thai language<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The alphabet has 44 letters, 32 vowels and 5 tones.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">There are 77 provinces.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The main industry is tourism, followed by gold with markets in Germany and USA<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The 3rd industry is agriculture, sugar cane, pineapple,<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">There is so much rain in the centre of the country they can grow 2 crops a year, relying on rain from May to October<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The newest high rise building in Bangkok is Number 1 Bangkok and will be 437m high<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Lotus flower is the symbol of Buddhist religion. Thailand has been a Buddhist country since 1000 , before was Hindu<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Monkeys are put to work in Thailand, they go to monkey school……to learn how to pick coconuts. Then they live with a family<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">King Rama 5 ( the son of the King and I king of Siam fame) went to Europe and returned with lots of ideas about how to improve his country. He had the Marble Temple built, and when he died some of his ashes were buried under the Buddha



Again we were in a convoy of about 5 /6 coaches, with a police escort. Road network excellent, and we finally arrived in Bangkok after a brief toilet break ( well about 30 mins for 5 coaches to get out of caches and back in again!)



The First stop was A Chinese Temple. I made the effort to get out of the coach despite all the steps. The steps into and out of the bus for a start, really steep then into the temple. People were er kind and I had lots of help. Roger manhandled the wheelchair in. First had to get over entrance doorway into the complex, then another doorway into the main complex, steps of course, all different depths and widths, with no handrails! However I made it and I’m so pleased I did.

It was worth the effort, amazing views of the temple and around the courtyard there were covered shrines all around the edge, with Buddhas covered in gold. I took lots of photos from the courtyard, but Roger went inside and has many more showing the Buddha inside.

Back on the coach with more assistance and off to the next stop, the Christian Church. (The buses that had come in convoy had split up to see different sights to minimise queuing ). I stayed on the coach this time as it was only a brief photo op. We then drove around the city visiting the site of the Royal Palace complex that we could see the roofs of the wonderful buildings beyond the walls, on the way to the Hotel where we were to have a buffet lunch.

After lunch the stops were at The Marble Temple and then the usual souvenir shop Bogor heading back to the ship.



Saturday 11th March



Second day at Laem Chabang,

Poolside Retreat

We decided to take an easy day, and headed off to a Hotel in Pattaya, a seaside town, about an hour away.

At the hotel we were escorted to an outside pool area, with sun beds and toilet/changing facilities, and shade under the trees, for sole use of cruise people. It was right next to the prom, and boardwalk along the side of the sea.

The pool was super, had steps right down and was a perfect temperature. I had a lovely swim, at last. Roger and I didn’t really want sun beds and chairs were procured for us and we had a lovely relaxing time until lunch.

This was provided in the cool dining room of the hotel, just across the dividing roadway from the pool area. Another buffet lunch but delicious, the staff all very attentive,

The bus collected us at 2.15, leaving enough time to call at another souvenir shop on the way out of town. ( Roger went to have a ok and returned to say it was the size of March Tesco’s!! You could have bought a full size carved wooden motor bike!).

A very relaxing day.

The evening show was a tap dancing trio, 2 guys and a girl, The Tap Chaps. They had very good ability but were not very professional, a bit scruffy to start with they could certainly sing and dance, 42nd Street and Mr Bojangles, among others.



Sunday 12th March.



Sea day



Today made a cubic crystal necklace at the craft session, Roger went to the church service and a talk about Prisons. Roger said he was a very good speaker, there are to be more talks.

We passed on the evening entertainment……a comedy juggler … didn’t appeal to us.



On International Women’s Day on 9th March there had been an Aborigine lady athlete speaker. I had missed her as I went to the craft session. Roger had said how interesting she was and so I was pleased to see her lecture come as a re run on the ships tv channel.



NORA PERIS

Nora is a First Nation woman. Her message is to embrace equity. People all start from different places.

The First Nations map of Australia showed the 500 Nations of aborigines from 60 thousand years ago. There are still 140 different languages today and there is a revitalisation program.

Her grandfather came from Brooke and was one of the Yahoo! People. Her Nana a Nullabulla from EastKimberley in Western Australia.

An important date in history is Reconciliation Week and the date of May 1967. Until this date Aborigines were not recognised as a People. They had not been allowed to vote before this date. They had no rights to buy property before this date. It was the date for the Aboriginal Protection Act and put an end to half caste aboriginal children being taken away from their parents.

Nora is a descendent of the stolen generation.

Nora’s grandmother was the child of an aboriginal woman and a white Irish Scottish stockman who owned a cattle station. She was taken away at 2 years old and not allowed to speak her language, told that her blood was wrong and sent 100 miles away. She met her grandfather when she was16 and her mum was born when she was 16 too. Her grandfather worked some time as a stockman.

Her nana and grandfather were allowed to marry in East Kimberley. When her mum was 6 they were chasing work and moved to Darwin. They lived in a corrugated iron shack in a compound where they could see the stars from holes in the roof. These shacks had been used in the 2nd world war, strafed by Japanese bullets in the Battle of Darwin, where more bullets had been expended than at Pearl Harbour.

When her mum, Joan Peris, was 8, she and her sisters aged 6, 4 and 2 were taken from their parents because they were half caste who were told they were going to school, and sent to a Catholic mission based on an island 100 miles away.

At the mission they had some basic education but were trained as domestic servants. They were not allowed to speak their native language. The girls were supplied all over Australia at a very young age.

Nora’s mother and next sister were sent to Adelaide together to a family.

Jo and Harold took them in. Black and white were not meant to mix but Jo and Harold treated them as part of the family. Jo took them with her to work, at her job of sewing, although behind closed doors.

Her mum went back to live in the Northern Territory. She separated from her husband and married agin. Nora’s stepdad had been in the military, 2 tours of Vietnam and then became a police officer in Darwin for 25 years.

Nora grew up with inherited resilience from her mother and grandmother. She also had the combined discipline from her stepdad and her mum insisting that you have to keep trying to achieve your goals. With discipline you get a positive outcome.

Living in NT she did not particularly encounter racism as there were 40% aborigines n the territory and other immigrants such as Italian, Greek, Vietnamese.

Her mum played hockey and Nora was introduced to it age 8, at school in Darwin.

In 1980 at the age of 9 she held 5 Northern Territory Records fr track, 3 of which still stand. When she watched the 1980 Moscow Olympics she told her mum she wanted to be in the Olympic team. She gradually worked her way through Juniors to play for her country.

Dream It, Believe it, Do It!

Make life better for the next generation.

You can’t be what you can’t see.

By the age of 18 she became an Under 18 Australian hockey player.

She had to move to Perth for the training, by the coach Rick Charlesworth who had 5 Olympic medals. She encountered racism but just kept trying to be the best she could to be accepted.

In 1996 she had her 97th Australian cap for hockey. Australia won the gold in the 1996 Olympics-with Nora as captain of the team. She was the first aborigine woman to win a gold medal. They beat Korea 3-1 in the final after playing 9 games in 11 days of 2 and a half hours hockey every day.

She then went straight into the 200 m which she had been practising in her spare time. In the following olympics she won a Gold medal for 200m . She also competed in the London olympics in the 4 x 400m relay where they came 5th

She is the only aborigine women who is also a mother to have 2 gold medals. She had her daughter, Jessica, aged 19 and is also a single parent.

After this she was invited to stand for election to the Senate and in 2013 she was elected. She was racially abused by another member of the senate who was prosecuted and raised the awareness f the First Nation people even more.

The First Nations flag used to be flown only on 2 days a year, Reconciliation day, 27th May, the beginning of the week when indigenous land rights were recognised, 2nd June 1992, and Australia Day. Jessica, Nora’s daughter, began a campaign in high school for the flag to be flown all year. This went to the constitution and it was agreed that the First Nations flag should be flown alongside the Australian flag and can now be seen flying from the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Government building.

Due to family commitments she was only in the senate for 3 years but continues to work to support aboriginal equity.

There has been a statue of her erected in Melbourne celebrating her sporting achievements, the first aborigine to be commemorated in this way.



Celebrating Nora Peris is certainly a fitting action for International Women’s Day.



Monday 13th March



Phi My for Ho Chi Minh City. 10N 107E. Predicted temp 32 degrees C



Vietnam is a long narrow country, 31 miles wide a its narrowest point. There is a thriving tourist industry. It has a population of 84 million.
<ul class="ul1" style="caret-color:� color:� -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">There are 59 tins, 5 principalities and 54 recognised ethnic groups.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">84% are of Mongolian<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Hanoi is the capital<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">It is situated on banks of Saigon river<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Called Paris of the Orient.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">There has been a trading post for over 300 years<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">In second half of 19th century the French occupied Vietnam and called Saigon the capital.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">They also occupied Indochina<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">In 1950 the French were gone.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">In 1954 it was the capital of South Vietnam<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">1959 - 1972 saw the war with the communist North Vietnam and the US<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">In 1972 the North took over the whole country and it became Ho Chi Minh City<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">It is an international city<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The cultural centre is called Dong Hoi


In the city there are many temples.

The Jade Emporer Pagoda with its many statues of divinities, the Church Ba Thiem Han Temple with 3 statues at the altar of the Goddess and the walls covered in prayer flags. The Norte Dame Basilica is built with materials shipped in from France. .There is a Nirvana Buddhist Temple, all monks in Vietnam are vegetarians. The Nui Nho Mountain statue of Christ is 32 m high and 13.4 m wide.



There are several landmarks in the city, the Bitexco Financial Tower with a Skydeck on the 49th floor, The Ben Thanh Central Market built by the French, which has about 100 shopkeepers and sells everything from food to leather. The Rex Hotel, from where all the journalists from all over the world covered the Vietnam war, which had been a safe haven and no go area for the Vietnam Cong. Bungalow Tau, the fishing village with a beach front of restaurants and villas.



Early trip, departing just after 8am. Out through the port and town, all very interesting to see the streets. Fascinating shop fronts, edges of road not really defined,sometimes strips of grass, rubbish near vacant lots. We were soon on the motorway and could see the high rise buildings getting closer as we approached the city. Took a toilet stop off the motorway. Agin we seemed to be in a convoy of about 5 coaches.

Our guide was Lily, proper name Thuung. Full of information of course. Warned us that it was a city of scooters10 million people in city, question, how many scooters? ……. No one got it right…. 13 million!!!!! Some people keep one for Sunday best!

There are 2 seasons in Vietnam, dry and rainy. Or as the locals say, hot and hotter!

Into the city itself. Observations, driving along some streets of vacant lots, no buildings, just grassy scrub, some covered in rubbish, the amount of rubbish plastic was really noticeable. Some families had pit shed tarpaulins to make tents and seemed to be trying to sell things, food, water bottles, coconut, tea refreshments, etc. There was more and more built up blocks and we eventually arrived in the city proper. The bus driver seemed to give us a bit of a tour and Lily described the sights to give us a bit of orientation. We were to be dropped off at the Bitexco Tower and left to our own devices.

The trip was an ‘On your Own’ as nothing it seemed there were no other excursions that would have suited.

Nonetheless less was quite apprehensive about where we could go. Roger knew of the Rex Hotel, an iconic landmark, but it turned out to be just a bit too far to get to with the wheelchair and the number of roads we’d have to cross.

We had been given a map with key places highlighted. Accessible if you’re pretty mobile. Looking at the pavements didn’t give us much one though. Anyway, why look a gift tower in the mouth, The Bitexco Tower where we had been deposited, you just have to go up! So that was what we did first. The view from the top of the tower was magnificent. You could not see the edge of the city! We spent about half an hour up there and then came down and explored the rest of the ground floor of the building which seemed to have several business..

There was a Terrace bar/ Cafeteria, half outside, half in so we decided to start with refreshment, nearly noon anyway! We spent about an hour there having a very enjoyable lunch. The menu was made of photographs, very helpful. It was all very delicious.

We managed to find a loo on the 2nd floor in the foyer of the building before we ventured up the street.

The Tower was on the corner of a street, so to start with we had to cross one small road to head along the pavement. The tragic seemed to be quite calm in this area. All the pavements were quite wide but the roadside one third was covered in parked motorbikes and scooters, the middle third nearly. , was just passable and the one third next to the shopfronts advertising wares, little offering tastings tables with goods,

Etc.

The pavements were made of small slabs, and most were accessible apart from where the tree roots,trees lining the streets were buckling the slabs. We thought we ought to do and investigate a little, and so set off across the street. Fairly easy going to start with. People were very thoughtful and helpful, making a space for wheelchair where necessary. There were literally Hundreds of scooters everywhere you looked. The stores we passed were a multitude of uses, workshops, clothes, food outlets, At the end of the street at the next junction we realised we couldn’t get any other way and so crossed the road to return the way we came on the other side. There were more food outlets on this side, with Childs plastic tables and chairs about on the pavement. We worked out that most places seemed to be selling Pho, a thin looking broth, sometimes with noodles in or bits of meat.

Everyone was very polite, helping me in and out of the wheelchair as we had to negotiate more uneven pavements and obstructions.

We came across a hotel front where there were some tables and chairs outside , set back on the pavement. These were just being vacated so we grabbed them and sat for a while. It was shady, and we could watch the world go by.

We were not far from the Tower where we had been dropped off so as the pickup time drew nearer went back to wait for the coach.

At all the traffic lights the scooters all drew up together at the front, there were very large numbers each time, possible 100 with no exaggeration. Occupying about 30 meters or so, quite a sight as they all took off when the lights changed!

More info from Lily…….. The south Vietnam area so much more liberal than the north, which was kept under more restrictions. South Vietnam maintained some of the liberalisation from when the Americans were here. A difference in attitude between the North and the South.

Vietnam was the 2nd rice producer in the world after Thailand, and the 2nd Coffee producer in the world after Brazil ( could the be propaganda??)



Back on board our evening show was Jim Hudson, an instrumentalist who played 8 to 10 instruments He hadn’t got them all with him but he played a very superior Shadows number to open. Excellent.



Tuesday 14th March



At Sea

12 noon 00.5 S. 106E. 26 degrees.



Wednesday 15th March



Singapore. 1N. 103 E. Forecast 30 degrees C



The Lion City.

Singapore is a City island and an independent city. It is called the Garden City of Asia.



Singapore means, Lion City although no Lions in sight! Story is that a Sumatran prince was journeying in the area and thought he saw a lion through the mist/ jungle…. It wasn’t, of course, but his courtiers would never disagree with their prince and so the name he gave the place stuck.

The statue of the Merlion which is 7.6 m tall and has the head of a lion and the tail of a fish(mermaid) can be found in the harbour and is the symbol of Singapore.


<ul class="ul1" style="caret-color:� color:� -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Singapore it is situated at the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">There are 60 offshore islands<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">26 miles by 14 miles with a population of 4 million<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">It’s the most densely populated country in the world.


Stanford Raffles founded the city in 1819.

He had been born on a ship in the West Indies where his father was 2nd in command. His father was in the merchant navy, transporting spices etc. His father had a land based job after his voyages, but Raffles only had 2 years of formal schooling.

He was good at Maths and got enough qualifications to work for the East India Company. He was quickly promoted to secretary of Lord Farquois who was. Commissioned to sort out the East Indies. He was sent to Java, the main trading post. On the voyage he learned fluent Malay. He was sent by his boss to negotiate with the local rulers. There was also competition between the Dutch and GB for trade and representation in the area.

Raffles rented Singapore island from the local chiefs, at the time only a small harbour on the island. Raffles was very fair, it was a very strategic position. He made it a free harbour, so that there were no taxes and trade developed very quickly. In the end the Dutch exchanged Java for Malaya.

Raffles then developed the island, introduced education, stamped out prostitution and slavery and gambling. Made laws saying all religions had to tolerate each other, Chinese, Indians, Malays. The Indians were very good at administration, used to the ways of the British, brought bureaucracy, developed trade, key port for China. The harbour kept expanding, he planned out the harbour, Chinese, Indian, Malay sections so could have own places of worship. He planned the de op ent to be the Raffles Hotel and the university, but never saw the completion as he died at the age of 45 from tropical diseases.



Hence Singapore became a British colony with a military presence.

The British surrendered to the Japanese on 15th February 1942 after they invaded Malaysia. They imprisoned all the Europeans and in Changing prison which the Brits had built to house 459 inmates. The Japanese sent all 3500 Europeans there that were not sent to other camps. Now it holds Drug dealers.

Features in the city
<ul class="ul1" style="caret-color:� color:� -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Orchard Road for shopping(designer!)<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Bugis Street market for food<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Little India native shops, souvenirs Hindu Temple<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The orchid garden in the Botanic Gardens, 12000 plants, the largest display in the world,<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The Grand Sultan Mosque in the Arab/Malay district,<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The oldest Chinese temple<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The Gardens in the Bay with enormous conservatories, supertrees and a new skywalk between the tallest Supertrees<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The Helix Bridge, which is curved and the first formed with two opposing spiral steel members.


And



The Marina Bay Area with the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, 55 storeys high and the Sands Skypaark and infinity pool on the top, with the world’s largest cantilever over the top of the three towers



We had an early start, meeting at 7.45, through immigration, photo, thumb prints, and out to cruise terminal to find our guide. There were people everywhere in the enormous terminal , There was a Tui ship berthed next to ours and it looked like they were embarking as there were lots of cases with porters around.

We were having an Accessible Taxi tour of the city with our own London Cab and we soon found Bernard who was to be our guide. The taxi had a wheelchair ramp in the rear which I used to get in to the cab, normal doorway too big a step.

We has talked beforehand about what we thought we’d like to do and so asked Bernard what he thought was possible and the best way to make the most of our 4 hours.

First stop to get an overview of the city was Fabre Hill, the highest point, named after Captain Charles Edward Fabre who arrived with Stanford Raffles in 1819. It is a public park and has a cable car but sadly we didn’t have time for a ride.

After this we went to the Orchid Park of the Botanical Gardens. It was so peaceful there, beautiful plants and of course the orchids, all in bloom. Paths wove around the gardens, and I was in flower picture heaven! Bernard helped Roger push me around as the paths went up and down, and I did walk some too. Could have spent hours here.

After this went on a city tour, to end up at The Marina Bay Sands Hotel. You have to buy tickets to go up to the Sky park to the viewing platform, on floor 55, but this didn’t include access to the infinity pool which was for hotel guests only.

What an amazing view of the city! We spent half an hour or so just looking and taking photos, (Along with lots of other cruise passengers.)We had a very good view of the Super trees in the Garden by The Bay and could see the new sky walk between the two biggest trees. A shame we don’t have time to go and explore the conservatories.

We’d heard some of the others who were taking cabs like us say they were being dropped off elsewhere in the city and this seemed a good idea. So we asked Bernard about booking a table at Raffles, seemed as good a place as any and sure to get a taxi back. Lunch seemed like a good idea , so Bernard rang for us to see if we needed to book a table, which we did and he did, Thought we could go in the Long Bar for a Singapore Sling for ‘pudding’!

Sadly we had run out of time and we had to say goodbye to Bernard and our driver. Bernard came with us along to the dining room to show our booking on his phone. Good job we had as we there were some other disgruntled tourists being turned away.

All very understated and elegant, felt really colonial. We were seated and a menu produced, it appeared to look like mostly Indian food, I suppose Malay food is similar. Managed to find something which didn’t look like curry, a vegetable dish and Roger Tandoori chicken. Waiter asked if we wanted rice or Naan bread,( looks like this is what is what you’re supposed t have with it !) so we went for the Naan.

It was al very delicious, my vegetables, (aubergines, beans, carrots, mushroom, squash, )had chilli spice in and I also tried some of Roger’s . Mmmmm

We finished off with an ice cream between us not just any single scoop, but in a cocktail glass, with pink 100s and 1000s and flaked almonds. Simple and yummy.

The hotel is situated in its own block and we had a god look round searching out the Long Bar on the other side of the hotel…….to find an hours queue. Not really time to waste just waiting, sadly, no Singapore Sling today! , have to come back again,

So we got a taxi back to the ship.after a fabulous day out.

Wes decided to give the theatre a miss as it was a Headliners repeat of their magic show,so went to the Piano bar for some live music there.



Thursday 16th March. Next Blog.

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