Singapore
Because the ship would be docked in the port for three days, I decided to scout the premise the first day. Most of the heavy exploration I saved for day two because we had the night off as luck would happen to be. Lisa and I attempted to walk to the city on day one, but this proved to be a mistake. We ended up having to trudge through a field of mud and cross a construction zone on the local highway. We learned the way to navigate via metro, bus transfers, and bridges through these minor setbacks. To matters a bit worse, it started to rain throughout the day.
Day two went much better. We disembarked the ship and met up with Paula, the doctor onboard. Then we paid for an all day “Hop on Hop off” bus tour. These tours allow you to decide when, where, and how long to get off the bus to explore a particular part of the city. We decided to check out the famous botanical gardens first. I enjoyed walking through what appeared to be a jungle of trees and magical looking flowers and plants. Although quite hot and humid, we took a lot of pictures, drank fruit juice, and then boarded the bus for more sights. While on the bus, we plugged in our complimentary ear pieces to hear the voice of the guide telling us about the city highlights as we drove past. We stopped next at “Little India,” where we ate authentic Indian food for lunch. It was very good but very spicy. After lunch, we made our way through the streets where I picked up some souvenirs at a bargain price.
We went to Chinatown next where we visited a famous Buddhist temple. In order to go inside, women wearing shorts or tank tops are required to put on a robe as tradition requires. I could not believe the inside appearance. It did not resemble my preconception of what a Buddhist temple would be. It looked quite beautiful and very well lit. Art work and statues filled the building. The walls were covered in statues of Buddha and appeared to be made of gold. I picked up a couple books that were available for free!
Next we went to the Orchard Hotel and Mall. The Hotel is divided into three towers. The roof of the third tower can be accessed in order to view the entire city. We opted to do this. After getting pictures and having a drink up on this roof, we went back down to the harbor to watch the famous lazar light show over the water. Then Lisa and I parted from our friend Paula and made our way through the shopping mall. This mall is possibly the biggest mall I’ve ever seen. There is a canal running through it with boat rides available, like Venice. The entire area exhibited the Christmas charm of trees and decor and festive music. We ran into a retired couple that had been diving with us on the reef, so we sat and talked with them for awhile. Apparently, they have been cruising on our ship for about a month ever since the ship left Hawaii! What a nice way to spend retirement(and money)! We finally made our way back to the ship around midnight.
Thailand/Vietnam
The choice to take an excursion while escorting the guests appeals to some crew members for the obvious reason of going on these trips for free but not for others. The inconvenience of walking behind the group while looking for stragglers can make the overall enjoyment of the tour a bit less. Still, I’ve opted to take my chances and to see these places on the company’s dime. Rather than being modest, I signed up for multiple trips just because it seemed like a good idea at the time. The good news is that I’ve seen a lot of things over the last week, but the bad news is that I’m very tired. Usually I have to work in the evenings, so the act of getting up around 6:30am, doing a nine hour tour, and playing a couple shows has taken it’s toll.
In addition to watching over the guests on these tours, I also have to fill out a report that details the exact specifics concerning the events that took place, the time of each event, and complications that came up. Apparently, the shore excursion manager likes me a lot because I am very thorough in my paperwork and let them know all the ways that things might run smoother. Anything and everything ranging from brochure misinformation, complaints about the duration of the stops, bathrooms without toilet paper/soap, and boring bus drivers goes into this paperwork. The other night, I saved the shore excursion desk a major headache by giving my opinion that a certain jewelry store ought to be avoided. Because of my report, a disgruntled couple had an issue resolved very easily before the chaos rained down. The good news is that it seems that the excursion team might be giving me preferential treatment whenever I decide I want to be a tour escort.
During our two day stay in Thailand, I managed to go on two tours that were each nine hours long. The excursion took us to Bangkok (two hours from the port) where we saw the famous golden “Grand Palace” and Wat Phra Kaeo(the temple of the Emerald Buddha) We also went to the “Reclining Buddha Temple.” (3rd largest Buddha statue in the world) We went to the temple of Dawn(another Buddhist temple) and rode on the royal barges in the river. The most exciting part of the day pertained not to the sights and history, although these were quite nice, but to the taxi ride getting us to these destinations. The taxi’s resembled motorized bicycle carts. I don’t know how else to describe them, but I captured plenty of video for those who want to see the motion picture version of these stories. I used to think that traffic in Chicago was rough, but Bangkok definitely takes the cake! We were clinging to our lives as we sped through the downtown streets on these motorized carriages of madness.
The Tour into Ho chi Minh also lasted about 9 hours. Ho Chi Minh is the newer name of Saigon. The name changed after the war to honor the man, Ho Chi Minh, whose communist perspective inspired the North Vietnamese to fight off it’s enemies. Over one million Vietnamese people died in the war (1955-1975). After another twenty years passed following the war, the communist government realized that it needed to run itself in a more capitalistic way in order to keep the poor from starving and the economy from collapsing. Now, it continues to be considered Communist, but it does not function by a Communist approach to business. It’s simply a name now while the practical day to day living abides to a more free approach to making money. It’s sickening to think that those lives were lost just for a title.
While in the old city of Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), I went to the city museum, the botanical gardens/zoo, the temple of the Hung King, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the old presidential palace. The palace more closely resembled a military bunker than a palace. It felt strange walking through a place that served as a headquarters of the North Vietnamese campaign in contention with the United States. The lower levels were full of rooms with maps of military operations, radio equipment, and corridors.
The next day I took a trip to Vungtao, a fishing town of local indigenous people. We saw another Buddhist Temple(there are between 30,000 and 40,000 Buddhist temples in Thailand alone) built into the hillside called “Niet Ban Tinh Xa,” and a 30 meter high statue of Jesus on another hillside. The statue of Jesus is very famous. It’s huge. Apparently, 45% of Vietnamese people are Buddhist, 27% are catholic, but everyone loves Christmas despite their religion or lack of it. Christmas decorations abound everywhere this time of year. We also went to the White Palace, the residence of the French governor back when Vietnam still remained a colony of France.
The Vietnamese government has an interesting method encouraging education for children. First of all, if parents do not put their kids in school, the government arrests.....the children! The good students get to stay in the public schools which are very cheap. The students that lag behind must be placed in private schools which cost the parents a lot more money. When a boy reaches his high school graduation, he must take an exam in order to be considered worthy of university learning where he then goes if he proves his worth through this exam. If he fails this test, the government requires him to join the army for two years. The average salary of the Vietnamese is about $400 (U.S currency) per month. Nearly everyone in Vietnam seems to own a motorcycle. They value Hondas the most. Some residents still have the Honda that they drove during the war. Having a son is very important to parents in Vietnam because a son will help work/farm as a child, take care of the parents in their older years, and organize family parties that honor dead ancestors. In the Vietnamese culture, only a son can plan these parties which “feed” the spirits of ancestors that have passed. If a family has no son, these parties do not take place, and the spirits become irritated. When a “sonless” father dies, the ancestors will punish the father for not providing them their nourishment. These family parties which pay homage to ancestors take place on the anniversary of their passing and include the food and drink which the loved one had most cherished.
Girls do not play as big of a role in Vietnamese family life, as their duties pertain to cooking and managing children. As early as possible, the eldest girl will seek to be married, as this takes away the burden of her required subsistence from her parents and earns them a nice dowry if she marries a foreigner. She then moves away to live with her husband’s family and will not be available to help her own parents as they age and require assistance. This explains why Vietnamese families have lots of children. They keep trying until they get a son because a son is so important to the parents’ well being.
In addition to all the sight seeing, I’ve been playing music for all kinds of guest entertainers. The music ranges from jazz to rock to polka, to classical. A lot of these entertainers have been Australian. I really enjoy just showing up to a 4 pm rehearsal, playing through the music while sight reading, and then performing two shows (7pm and 9pm) That’s how we do it here. My bandmaster encourages creativity. Last night, we played a jazz set up in the lounge, and I played the melody of the song with my “Clint Eastwood whistle” patch. It’s the whistle sound that you hear in the “Good, Bad, and Ugly” western. My guitar synth has all kinds of wonderful nonsense sounds that come in handy out here. At this particular time, there were only five people in the audience (it was really late at night), so I decided to make it a “Jazz Western” song.