Ha Long Bay

 We stopped in Ha Long both coming and going. And, I'm so glad we did. Our first stop - on our way north - it rained the whole time. Well, we got off the ship on the morning of the first day and went for a walk, but it started raining that afternoon and didn't stop for 4 solid days. We just stayed home and did our computer stuff. 

The ship continued north to Hong Kong, them came back to Ha Long and it was GORGEOUS weather. We were so lucky since this is one of the most scenic spots on the entire planet! Sailing in thru those rock islands takes a couple hours. We were scheduled to dock at 8am, so we had to get up early for the view - it was worth it!

Sunrise in Ha Long Bay

Sometime during breakfast, I overheard Eddie talking to Matt and saying that he was going to just get out on the dock and find a private boat and driver to go on a tour of the bay. I butted in and asked if we could tag along. He said Yes! Oh Boy. 

We got there and gathered our stuff to get off the ship. Eddie started bargaining with a tour guide and 2 other people from the ship were nearby and got included in our group as well - Ben and Basia. Amazingly, the boat went on the 5 hour tour with just the 6 of us on board. It could easily hold 40. What a delightful day.

Our tour boat for the day

The big tour boat took us to this lagoon where we got on a little row boat that took us thru a cave.

The monkeys came out to greet us.

Next stop was a climb up to a cave entrance. And, what a cave it was!!

Our group, Matt, Eddie, Basia, Ben, Chris, Jim

The last stop was a beach and we actually went swimming!

The bay includes countless of these limestone karst islands and islets. I've seen counts as high as 1,969 islands although other references put the count at 1,600. According to Google there are 980 islands with formal names.

Google Photos has a fun new AI feature that will turn your photos into rich oil paintings or Art Deco images. I thought Ha Long gave me the perfect images to play with ...

Here is what it looks like to come home to our ship after dark.

I thought it was so beautiful, it deserves to be a work of art .. in oil painting style.

And, let's see what these islands look like as an art deco work of art ...

Oh fun Odyssey - where everyone knows your name

I know so many people here, who live on the ship called the Villa Vie Odyssey - and they all know my name as well. It is so cool!

We all want to belong somewhere. We like being sociable. One of my favorite pastimes is conversation. I so love having interesting people around to talk to. 

We've lived aboard the Odyssey for nearly 1 1/2 years now. I can walk down the hall, hear voices behind me and know who it is because I recognize their voice. 

One day I came up behind Kit and gave her a pat on her back. Without turning around and looking at me she said, "Hi Chris." We slowed down to chat a bit and Jim kept on walking.

  

Kit's husband, Randy, looked at Jim up ahead and admonished me "you’re lagging!"

John was also walking in the hall and, as he caught up with Jim, he said "I see you’ve lost your wife, you’ll have to make do with me."

This banter is just a tiny example of our daily lives, but I remember these few minutes in the hallway and how I felt so joyful to be amongst so many friends. 

Mealtimes

When we lived in a house, we would have friends over for dinner, or go to their house. This happened maybe once every month or 2. Here on the Odyssey we have the option of conversation around the table 3 times a day!! If you want to be sociable, you find a table for 4 or 6. If you'd rather be quiet, just sit at a table for 2. We've met new people and deepened friendships with others around these tables. We also have the option to specifically invite certain people to join us for dinner. Easily done, just send them a WhatsApp message.

Excursions

Then there are the sightseeing and activity days. Some activities, like the zip-lining in Fiji or scuba diving in Palau, were prearranged group events and anyone who wanted to go signed up beforehand. Others are serendipity, like here in Ha Long when we overheard a conversation about taking a boat tour and asked if we could come along, then 2 other Odysseans happened to be nearby when we were talking to a boat tour guide and they joined us as well. These shared experiences deepen friendships.

 

  

Activities

It's doing things together that really cements friendships. Like rehearsing plays, or line dancing, or singing in a chorus. In one play I had a love interest played by Tim. Jim knows not to be jealous when Tim and I grab each other in a hug any time we're nearby! And, same with Jim and his dance partner in another play. My line dancing group is a regular thing where we have so much fun. 

The Odyssey "Wave Dancers" 

I look thru all these faces and there's only 1 or 2 that I don't know their names 😊

We LOVE living here!

Hong Kong

 I was here with Mom in 1997 when Hong Kong was officially transferred to China. It was an investment tour by John Dessauer. My Mom subscribed to his newsletter and was intrigued by a notice of a tour to China's special economic zones. She asked if I wanted to go - SURE! Here is that newsletter:

It is confusing to me now about why Hong Kong is a separate 'country' from China. I thought that Hong Kong was China, but you need a separate visa to enter mainland China as opposed to Hong Kong. Huh? So, Hong Kong is a "Special Administrative Region" of China. Ok, whatever.

Sailing in to Hong Kong

What I remember most about visiting Hong Kong in 1997 were the tower cranes all over the place, building the high rises. There were plenty of skyscrapers then. Even more now. We only had 2 days here so we figured a Hop-On Hop-Off bus was the best use of our time. I enjoy the audio commentary provided on earbuds as you drive around. 

Day 1 we rode the bus all around Hong Kong Island

The ship was docked on the mainland side - otherwise known as Kowloon. Then the water in between is called Victoria harbor and Victoria Peak is on Hong Kong Island. I wrongly assumed that the biggest hills would be on the mainland side - nope - that's the island.

Victoria harbor is in between Kowloon and Hong Kong island. This harbor was very desirable - it's what British were looking for when Hong Kong was ceded to British in 1841

 

We took the green route on day 1 and the blue route on day 2.

Our Hong Kong welcome was the best!

And the dock was right at a mall. So easy to get off the ship, go shopping, or get to the ferry across to Hong Kong Island. 

Walking off the ship, then thru the mall, drops us off right near the ferry. 

After crossing the harbor and getting on the bus, we went directly to the tram that took us up Victoria peak and the most spectacular views.

It was great to see some more natural landscapes on the other side of the island. 

My notes on the audio commentary told us about:

• Kai tec airport in harbor- no more
• Taikoo shing - 12,000 apartments - 99 999? year lease
• Lots of reservoirs and water testing means Hong Kong has some of the best water in the world
• American club is fancy exclusive club in south side of Hong Kong island
• Beautiful Stanley was a prisoner of war camp in ww2
• Murray house used by Japanese in ww2 - thousands of execution
• Repulse bay is for billionaires
• Old royal golf club
• Hong Kong country club, not exclusive, all nationalities and races welcome, BUT you must pay millions
• Ocean park theme park is a major attraction
• Hong Kong police are well paid
• Ap lei chau one of densest populations in the world
• Cyberport, working to turn hong Kong into smart city
• Life expectancy high here due to strong public health care 
• Sun yat sen first president of china, studied in Hong Kong

The next day on the mainland (Kowloon), we took the Hop on bus again.

Here are my notes from the bus commentary

Kowloon

"Electrifying mix of old and new"

Streets named after what's done there, e.g. clothes washing street 

Langham place, mall. Upper floors designed like a corkscrew, just keep walking and you'll be going upstairs! No stairs or escalators needed. 

Kids work hard in school. It's very competitive from young age. 

Saw a Chinese gate - a china town in Hong Kong?! 😂😮

Afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton? 

High speed rail gets you from Kowloon to Shenzhen in 14 minutes

Train station is part of china as well as Hong Kong, you can go thru customs and immigration for both "countries" 

Harbor city terminal had an observation deck

Hong Kong has the highest concentration of shopping malls in the world

Dinner at an Irish Pub called Delaneys! Hey, we had Dim Sum at lunch, that was good enough.

Oh Internet, where art thou

I'll tell you where it isn't ... Internet from Starlink is not available for our cruise ship in the waters of southeast China. And, it hasn't been reliable anywhere in Vietnam. 

This lack of internet is annoying to some of us and devastating to others. There are people on the ship with real jobs. They are expected to show up, online, for 4-8 hours. These people fear for their jobs. 

Jim and I still have a business online. We normally spend 15-30 hours a week creating videos, writing articles, hosting zoom calls etc. We are not expected by anyone at any particular time. We won't be missed during a few days offline. Our only real worry is that someone has sent us an email and is wondering why we haven't responded.

We have a backup

Actually, we have 4 backups! Our primary source of internet is the ships WiFi, powered by Starlink. When we're off the ship, our phones have their own cellular connection. Even on the ship, when it is in port, we can use our cellular options: We have 3 phones and one separate hotspot.    

1. My Samsung phone with an Asia eSim from Saily
2. My iPhone with an account on US Mobile with international options
3. Jim's pixel phone with an eSim from Airalo
4. Any of these phones can share their data using the hotspot feature, but we also have a dedicated hotspot device by Solis/Simo.

The separate hotspot device is so handy. We can set it in the window where it will have the best connection to cell towers on land. And then we can connect all our devices to it - just like any other WiFi hotspot. It can handle up to 15 connections. It has a built in eSim and a global data plan. 

We paid $320 for the device including lifetime 1GB/mo international data. This means it works everywhere in the world we go, without doing anything. 1GB doesn't go far, but it's just good to know it's there. When we need to use it more, like here in Vietnam, we pay for 200GB/mo at $90.

On our computers, the Simo hotspot shows up just like all the other WiFi networks.

Vietnam - first sights

Adding a New Country to our Map - Vietnam #28 while on the Odyssey

That's right, we're in Vietnam. After leaving Singapore and 3 days at sea, our first stop was Nha Trang. We had plenty of work to do and no particular plans, but we were anchored there for 4 days so we had to get off once! We took the offer of a car and driver at the pier and saw the top sights. I learned that my Wise card cannot be used in ATMs in Vietnam 😡 The tourist sights we're interesting. I liked the beach the best. The waterfront had a district Fort Lauderdale feel to it.

   

The Golden bridge in Da Nang 

It should be called the handheld bridge. I've seen many photos of this otherworldly bridge and I really wanted to take my own. When we docked at Chan May I set to work figuring out how to get there. As it turns out, the bridge is not an isolated attraction. It is part of a multiple square mile resort and entertainment complex by Sun World - think 'Disney.' Introduction to Sun World Ba Na Hills https://sunworld.vn/vi/banahills/gioi-thieu

It was an hour drive from the port, then a half hour cable car ride up the hillside. We had perfect weather for it, partly cloudy. The cable car travels up so high that it actually was cool at the top. The high elevation (nearly 5,000 feet) creates a cool, temperate microclimate that sharply contrasts with the coastal heat of Da Nang below. Riding on the cable car, you feel the difference every few minutes, getting cooler as you go up and warmer, more humid, as you go down. 

The bridge did not disappoint. What a sight! 

Just as impressive was the view of the surrounding hills. Unspoiled green hills/mountains as far as the eye could see leading down to the ocean in the distance. 

Then, the amusement park with a French flavor because it was the French that first populated these hills. A building that felt like Versailles. A small pointed dome that evoked the Louvre. And lots of statues. Jim made a video of the day: (https://youtu.be/bEf3bhPntgc)

We went with 3 of our shipmates and had a great time. Even the car ride was fun. I gave a little lesson on Google maps. They wanted to understand the "North up" setting and concept as well as the directional blue "headlight". (see Geek's video 350)

Vietnam is surprising me! See our full photo album here.