Singapore and finally Home

Well after 50 days away of which 46 were at sea, we have finally made home again with few problems other than a sniff or two and maybe a couple of coughs.

We had a great time in Singapore, 2 days with the ship and almost 2 on our own.

The excursion we did was called " the way we live' which was all about just how ordinary Singaporeans live day by day.

We visited the Marina Barrage which is the expensive scheme designed to stop the flow of salt water into the Singapore River and to create another water catchment. A excellent project that actually works, to their credit.

The Marina Barrage.
Visited a typical apartment out in the suburbs, which gave us an insight how they live in such confined spaces.

From there we caught the local subway to a working type area gave us an insight how they travel and shop. A very interesting tour. Of course we went to a Buddhist Temple, and a very nice one at that.

After disembarking Voyager where we were farewelled by the the GM, the Cruise Director, the Concierge and Chief Receptionist ( what a fabulous crew) we spent a night at the Swissotel Merchant A nice hotel near Chinatown and Clarke Quay.

Clarke Quay from our hotel room.
We couldn't be in Chinatown without having a delicious meal of Chilli Crab and that didn't disappoint, even found the same restaurant where we had been eighteen months previously.

Yesterday we caught the Subway to The gardens by the Bay a development near Marina Bay Sands which only opened in June.

 This is an overview as you enter the aArden

Christmas decorations were just amazing

 Colour in the flower dome

What a magnificent job they have done; an area of 250 acres featuring the best parkland you have seen, dominated by the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest (suggest you google it to get a very much better idea than I can provide), but it is mind boggling. The Singaporeans have it all over the rest of the world when it comes to such cleanliness and beauty and clever design of construction. It is a credit to them.

 The Cloud Dome is over 35 meters high and represents a rain forest at 2000 feet.

Looking up at all the plants, thousands of them.

 Looking down from the top.

We have just come home from Brisbane airport by train and the graffiti is just such an ugly glut on our landscape. It's disgusting, of course there is none in Asia because people get penalised for it. Pity we couldn't follow suit, but it aint gonna happen!

I'm going to finish off this blog with a statement about Qantas. We have travelled with them several times booth good and not so good, but last night's flight was a doozy!

It is no wonder they make a huge loss, why on earth would anybody want to travel with them.

The hosties are tired, too old for the job and as one fine politician said, "Just a few old boilers,"it just lacks any good service at all. Maybe they can't attract any nice looking hosties or are they all working for Virgin or some other airline

After 1 hour in the air the first thing done was to  deliver bottles of water to each passenger.

We had to actually say, " when are we going to get a real drink". The meal if you could call it that, was disgusting and breakfast was a croissant. I'm not sure whether they are under instructions not to provide a service or what.

So after all that, I'm not sure you would want to read any more blogs of ours so we will sign off and say goodbye.

Kuala Lumpur - What a great City

The only bad thing about KL was the cruise terminal which is 11/2 hours drive away from the City.

We found it much different to the last time we visited and we were very impressed.

This is an example of some of the new buildings happening in KL there are cranes everywhere.

 The Kings Palace cost something like two billion to construct.

The statue of the fallen soldiers is very striking

 We went to the Central Market didn't buy anything but a fish massage as you can see Gloria loved it.

Once you get used to the little critters biting it is not so bad.

 Petrunas Twin Towers

Lovely Christmas decorations.

And similar scenes right through the Shopping Centre.

The Beautiful Island of Penang - Malaysia

Well things have certainly changed in Penang since we were here last, but yes only for the better.
Several of our friends come here often and I think we might consider coming back again too.
Today we did 2 excursions.The first was a visit to the Spice Gardens, situated about 45 minutes drive from the port along a very scenic route.
The gardens were very nice and to top it off they put on a cooking demo. and we got to taste the food which was really nice.
On the way back we passed some beautiful beaches and coves and then had a bit of a look around the City.

The Queen Victoria clock tower and below the High Court of Penang.

This is the elegant Eastern and Oriental Hotel built in 1885 where we had afternoon tea during our next excursion which was on trishaws, a great way to get about George Town the Capital City of Penang. Below is the Christmas tree in the foyer.

The pool area in the front of the hotel

This was taken at the Spice gardens

A lovely example  of a type of Palm.

A lily Pond

The chef at the cooking demonstration.
On our trishaw tour we went to the Chinese Temple which was very good and then onto the Penang Museum. We are not great fans of either, but quite enjoyed them. On the way we went through Little India and an example of some of the shops is shown below.

There were about 26 trishaw's in  our entourage and below you can see some of them.

Poppy and Tutu in there new mode of transport. Might get them to peddle us to Orange for Christmas!!

 A little Cove and beach and below some fishing boats moored close by

Phuket - Thailand

Well after two and half sea days we docked in Phuket at lunch time today an hour late.

It's about 1900 miles from Colombo to Phuket and the Captain has been flat all the way but against a strong tide.

Coming into Phuket

Not much to report except it has been very restful and today, we were supposed to go on an excursion but it was cancelled, the tour operator went broke.

Thought about getting a taxi to do some sightseeing, but after spending a few minutes up top decided the heat and humidity was too much, so we stayed on the ship.

 This is called relaxing when there's no one else on board.

This is King Farouk and his bride. Some work to do when we arrive home!

This morning the Seven Seas Society had a brunch for all the members who had spent some time on Regent which was very nice indeed.

Went pier side where there were some local market stalls and Tony bought a few polo shirts for next to nothing.

Tomorrow we are in Penang, returning after a visit many years ago, in fact it was our first overseas holiday way back in the eighties. We have a busy schedule

Colombo-Sri Lanka

Well we arrived in port at Colombo, Sri Lanka around 8am. Azamara, a similiar ship to ours steamed past us last night and  docked around 5am, too fast, too much fuel used.

Went on a excursion around Colombo, unfortunately had another bad guide, who kept saying “over there” but as he was sitting in the front seat and we were in the back seat didn’t now  where he was looking.

Drove around for about 30 mins past Colombo Fort, Old Parliament then stopped at a very nice hotel, where a couple were celebrating their wedding. Oh did the bride look so beautiful, also the groom, very handsome. Then there were 3 bridesmaids and 3 flower girls and these cute little boys in traditional dress with square hats on but quite delightful.

And this was at 10am, made me think of our wedding day, when it was wet and dismal

and me in not the greatest outfit, but loved it all the same. I also had the most handsome man by my side and we had an enjoyable day.

Then past various temples, quite a few elite schools, collages and Universities.

Of course a Mosque with an elephant outside.

We were dropped off outside the port gates, so walked into the bazaar area which had small shop fronts, but deep and many levels inside.  Tony bought a shirt, had to take his shirt off and try it on at the counter!!!!  No fitting rooms. What a sight.  He wanted me to try something on but said “No way” not showing my boobies to anyone.

It had been raining and many “jumping puddles” with tuck tuch’s honking all around.

Got to port gates and then had to walk about 2 kms. to get to the ship, fortunately it wasn’t the hottest day so felt ok.

Lunch inside then later Trivia, we have a team of 6, 1 thinks he knows everything and the rest of us know nothing, so guess how we do? , but its a laugh, and thats all I’m after.

For the next 2 days we are at sea in the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea, so there won’t be much to report.  Catch up with you all in Phuket.  Not many days left before we’re homeward bound, looking forward to that.