Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 18

Geo: 21.6378, 95.3636There are no proper jetties at most of the stopping places along the river, so it is a matter of walking along a gangplank and then clambering up steps carved out of the river bank. The staff are out in force helping everyone with smiles and "mingle a bar" (Burmese hello). We walked along the dried mud paths, which are totally flooded during the monsoon season, and into a large village. Each family in the village has a large house where they all live and sleep together. In the dry season they live on the ground floor and during the monsoon season they move up to the upper level. Historically this village is important because it is where the first Anglo-Burmese treaty was signed in the 19th century to end the 1st Anglo-Burmese war. ... read more

Geo: 21.9759, 96.0842Mandalay is only one and half hour flight from Bangkok. It is worth going Premium Flux for front seats and luggage first off the plane. Our driver was waiting to whisk us through a pleasant landscape of fields of corn and peanut bushes. Golden stuppas abound. A few years ago the government decided to switch from driving on the left to the right. However all the cars are still with the steering wheel on the right so everyone is inconvenienced as they haven't started importing left hand drive cars! We arrived at the Mandalay Hill Resort hotel, probably the best hotel in Mandalay at the moment. The rooms are spacious but the bathroom is surprisingly small. Initially we thought it was very cheap until we realised all the prices are in dollars. We sat ... read more

Geo: 42.5075, 1.5218Enough of cutting you folks slack on pictures, we are holding you to the iron now, we are sending twelve. Quit complaining! So, we are out of Spain for a day. Furthermore we have left Fernando's apartments. We have made two mistakes with accommodations in Europe, one last year in Prague, and Fernando's in Barcelona. Both now in the rear view mirror. Barcelona, it is really a beautiful city, yet we are looking for history, not much there, but very pretty and nice folks.Now in Andorra, which is the third smallest country in the world behind Lichtenstein, where Doozer never set a foot but Baby Bird and HP did. The other is Monaco. These three are Principalities, we think granted independence by the Holy Roman Emperor, although their size did not deserve it, yet ... read more

Geo: 54.8438, -48.3368It's another relaxing sea day. I don't remember much about this day, not because I was drunk or asleep all day. I didn't write anything because I was busing finishing up the previous days in our blog. Yes, I was behind and needed to catch up. Since today was just a "sea day", I concentrated on cleaning up earlier posts, adding pictures and writing details missed in a few entries to prepare for sending. Nevertheless, we must of done something.After breakfast, we went to a lecture at 11am. The subject concerned our next two stops in Canada, St.John's and Halifax. Barbara was the lecturer and her presentations are always very interesting. I can't comment on our lunch but I can guarantee we ate something. From the photos, it was probably pork. We attended the ... read more

Geo: 60.7201, -46.0268We arrive in Qaqortoq, Greenland, at 8am to a beautiful blue sky, the first we've seen in many weeks. A few icebergs are floating in the harbor, nothing huge but they're still interesting. The last time we saw them was in Alaska in 2011. We're here until 4:30pm and the cruise director suggests to everyone that we take our time to get ashore. "Avoid the initial rush", he says. We have a leisurely breakfast, then around 9:30 we report to the theater to get our tender tickets. Unfortunately, there's a long wait, about 30 minutes, to get aboard a tender going to town. We wait, listening to the numbers as they call them out, slowly working their way toward #5. Finally we hear, "Blue 5", and off we go. The ride through the harbor ... read more