Tuesday, July 30, 2019 The Voyage of the Vikings

4:15am. Time to start our 35 Day Voyage of the Vikings on Holland America!

Our AeroFleet car arrived on time and we were off to the airport in the rain.

8:32 Finally took off

Touched down in Bar Harbour, Maine at 9:40, collected bags and in a taxi by 10:10. 

Once on board, checked out the ship, then it was off to the Lido deck for a long awaited lunch! Rosemarie & Cookie arrived and  found us

Apologies

To those that have been trying to follow the blog, I have not been able to keep it up to date due to a couple of inconveniences....

1. The internet has not been great, especially for uploading pics
2. We have been kept very busy. with little free time and what free time we had was spent resting
3. The resting was needed because the heat (38 - 40C) and humidity just saps the strength right out of us.
For my own records, I will be completing it when I get home.

Tuesday, March 12

This morning we boarded coach buses (a much more civilized form of transportation) for a trip to the War Remnants Museum, which was once known as the Museum of American War Crimes.

The Museum consist of several themed rooms, in several buildings, with period military equipment placed within a walled yard. The military equipment includes a UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, an F-5A fighter, a BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" bomb, M48 Patton tank, an A-1 Skyraider attack bomber, and an A-37 Dragonfly attack bomber. There are a number of pieces of unexploded ordnance stored in the corner of the yard, with their charges and/or fuses removed.
It was rather shocking and disturbing to see the atrocities committed during the Viet Nam War, not to mention the number of lives lost.




Our next stop was at the Reunification Palace which is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.


 It was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates. 
The palace is like a time capsule frozen in 1975. You can see two of the original tanks used in the capture of the palace parked in the grounds. It has lush gardens, secret rooms. antique furniture and a command bunker. It is still used to host important occasions in Hi Chi Minh, including APEC summits.






The Palace has five levels. The basement features tunnels, a war room and telecommunications centre. The war command centre has original maps on its walls. Period telecommunications equipment are also on display. The Palace's rooftop terrace is fitted with a heliport. 

Receptions for as many as 500 guests were held in this Conference Hall. It is also used for the installation of each new cabinet



We then went to XU Restaurant for our "Farewell to Saigon lunch". 
 

The first course was Cream of Mushroom soup, Heart of Palm salad with prawns. Next came grilled honey pork ribs with sweet potato and cauliflower, grilled Grant Gourami fish with Sate, vegetables Mango salad and cocoanut sauce. 
The dessert tasting consisted of 3 samples : Pandan Pannacotta , Chocolate brownie, and Vietnamese flan cake. All of which were delicious!


To top it off, they brought out wafer cookies in dry ice. They showed us to put it into our mouth and bite it then breathe out. Looked like we were smoking! We had lots of laughs! 


After lunch, we collected our carry-on luggage and boarded the coach for the 2 hour drive to Scenic Spirit. Finally!


Once on board, we found our cabin and unpacked. Then went up to the Sun Deck for the sail-away. We will be going from My Tho to Cai Be.

Of course, there was a champagne reception 









The Spirit is a 68 passenger ship built for the Mekong. Every cabin is a 2 room balcony suite. There is also a pool which is long enough for swimming short laps! 

We have our own personal butler who is always available for anything we may want. He restocks the mini bar whenever we take anything out. I believe the word is "spoiled". Not complaining! 
The adventure continues.

Monday, March 11

We had a wake-up call at 6:00am in order to have breakfast and be ready to board the coach bus for the tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels.
En route, we learned that the population of Saigon is 13 million, with about 260 people per square mile. South Viet Nam has 2 seasons : Hot and Hotter, while North Viet Nam has 4 seasons. The country is 70% mountainous.

The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting tunnels located in the Củ Chi District of Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. The 75-mile (121 km)-long complex of tunnels at Củ Chi has been preserved by the government of Vietnam,^[3] and turned into a war memorial park with two different tunnel display sites, Ben Dinh and Ben Duoc. The tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and visitors are invited to crawl around in the safer parts of the tunnel system. The Ben Duoc site contains part of the original tunnel system, while the Ben Dinh site, closer to Saigon, has tunnel reconstructions and some tunnels have been made larger to accommodate tourists. In both sites low-power lights have been installed in the tunnels to make traveling through them easier, and both sites have displays of the different types of booby traps that were used.


Rosemarie & I went down into one tunnel to experience what it was like, and went about 40 feet. It was very small! We were glad to get out!  









Then we were back on the coach & went to Chateau Restaurant for lunch. 



















We were treated to beverage of coconut water in a coconut!  










Our next adventure was for dinner. We chose to do the Vespa Tour, which consisted of travelling (as a passenger, thank goodness) on a Vespa scooter around the city to visit a few restaurants for typical Vietnamese food.

We went for a wild ride thru the city to the first restaurant where we enjoyed crab legs, mussels, noodles and frogs legs (tastes like chicken).

 I had to hold on tightly while the driver scooted around the traffic!
Then it was off to the next stop, Banh Xeo, where we were treated to Vietnamese pancakes. They are huge, thin pancakes filled with noodles and vegetables.

At the last food stop, we made beef & vegetable rolls, wrapped in rice paper. What fun! We also had deep fried spring rolls.

We were back on the Vespas to end the evening at a Vietnamese coffee shop which included ice cream and entertainment.

Photos will be added later!

Treasures of the Mekong River Cruise, March 2019

This trip has been 2 years in the making and it has finally arrived!
We drove to our son's in Mississauga March 8. Good drive, clear & sunny!
At 9:45 he took us to the airport where we met up with Rosemarie & Cookie. Breezed thru check-in and checked luggage.
Saturday, April 9, 2019, 12:10AM started boarding. Finally took off on a 15 1/2 hour flight to Hong Kong.












When looking at the route, we flew over North Bay, heading for the North Pole.
We arrived in Hong Kong at 6:00 Sunday morning, local time (12 hours time difference)

After a 2 hour layover, we were on our way to Ho Chi Minh City on a short 2.5 hour flight!








Touched down at 9:45am, with another time change, back 1 hour.

It was incredible to see the dense population!














On arrival, once we collected our luggage, we found the Scenic rep who took us to the Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel. Whew! It is 30C!













The hotel is a 5 star luxury hotel where we had a complimentary drink in the Park Lounge, where they have afternoon tea.








We unpacked some clothes and had a refreshing shower.

Met up with Rosemarie's brother, Hamid and his wife, Carol and went for a walk around. Traffic is crazy! Scooters dodging in & out everywhere!


And so the adventure begins!

However, the wifi is very slow. It takes about 20 minutes to upload a photo! That is what is slowing me down in posting!