Spending 4 nights in Bangkok was tiring. Jim came down with a mild cold, and both of us were looking forward to getting back home (ship) and crashing. 2 sea days sounded good, and we had no plans for the next island. Several projects are in my plate, from tutorial videos, to submitting bills to our health insurance, to geek website updates. Just staying home, resting and working at our computers sounded good.
The 2 sea days went by in a flash, then we anchored at Koh Chang. The ocean swells made tendering difficult, so it was postponed till late in the afternoon. Didn't bother us since we had no plans. We are anchored here for 4 days. We got some work done and relaxed for day 1 and 2. We decided that we would take a tender in to shore one day just to set foot on land and see what's near the dock. At dinner on day 2 Nuran mentioned that she had arranged for a car and driver for the next day and there was room for a couple more people. We could even ride in with her and she could drop us off at the place where she had a wonderful lunch the day before. Ahh! Sounds perfect, leave the ship on the 10:30 shuttle, go to lunch, and come back.
But, once we got there we decided to stay the day in Nurans truck.
These open air trucks are the primary method of getting around on Koh Chang. They're called Songthaews. A songthaew literally means "two rows" in Thai, referring to the two long bench seats facing each other in the back of a modified pickup truck.
It was a private hire, so we could go wherever we wanted. The driver suggested a waterfall, a scenic overlook, an elephant preserve ... Wait! Elephants?!
We're in.
We were told this was the entrance to a private home.
At the first Elephant place, they were wandering around free.
At the second, they were confined and chained. It was sad, but I did enjoy feeding them. So interesting how they use their trunks like a hand - complete with an opposable thumb!
Nuran had a dentist appointment at 3, so we didn't want to venture too far. We saw elephants at 2 different places, took a delightful walk in the woods towards the waterfall saw the scenic overlook then dropped her off at the dentist.
The rest of us went to lunch at Porns. 😮🤣
Chris, Jim, Holly, Jim
At the end of the day, the monkeys came out to bid us farewell.
The ship didn't actually go to Bangkok. It docked at a port called Laem Chabang, a 1-2 hour drive from Bangkok. Traffic in Bangkok is legendary. You drive an hour or so and get to the city, then it may take another full hour or even more to get to your hotel. Gridlock. The ship stayed there for 5 days! That gave us all plenty of time to go to Bangkok and stay in a hotel for a few nights.
International Health Care
We've been on the ship for over a year now. We considered flying back to Florida for medical checkups but, even though all the medical costs would be covered by insurance there, the flights and travel time would be quite expensive. We also changed our home location from Fort Lauderdale to Gainesville, so we would need to find new doctors. We hear that this takes many weeks or even months to accomplish these days in the good ole USA. So we investigated getting things done over here.
There are several good options in this part of the world for health care, fast, high-quality, and inexpensive. Manila, VietNam, Thailand, and Singapore all came up in our research. On our first visit to Singapore, we signed up for screening packages. In one half-day, we got blood and urine tests, ultrasounds, bone density, mammogram, pap smear/HPV, xrays, and more. Reports with all the results were emailed to us a few days later. All that was fantastic, so efficient and professional. Everyone spoke english. All totaled we spent $2,500 which I do not consider inexpensive. So, we decided to continue with any follow up services in Bangkok.
We heard from a friend on board how wonderful the hospital - Bumrungrad - is, so that's where we booked. The best part is that we could book telemedicine appointments. We did that and somewhere floating in the Gulf of Thailand, we talked to Dr. Vibhakorn. We told her we wanted to book colonoscopy and gastroscopy procedures when we got to Bangkok. After a conversation she said we didn't need those tests for several more years. OK. Jim has some prescriptions he wanted and she said that will be easily handled when we're in Bangkok. Also some vaccinations, and a dermatologist appointment for me. Once again, everything went smoothly and efficiently. We stayed at a hotel that was an easy 10 minute walk to the hospital. All doctors, labs, vaccinations, and pharmacy, was all under one roof. So convenient.
Once again, it was more expensive than I had hoped. We spent about $5,000 there. The majority of that was for Maunjaro for Jim plus a 6 month supply of other meds. He needs to lose the weight that he's gained on the ship! The best part is that Dr. Vibakhorn will be our main doctor, available by telemedicine, wherever we are. She can also interface with the ship's doctor.
Sightseeing in Bangkok
We really loved that our hotel was right beside one of the many canals in Bangkok. There were these long boats that acted as water taxis - getting you where you wanted to go in a fraction of the time required to go by road. Check out the video above - it is NOT speeded up. That is how fast these boats go. What a rush!
One evening we took a water taxi to old town and went up to a rooftop bar called The View. Great view, great food and drinks.
The next day, after a follow up appointment at the hospital for vaccines, we took the water taxi to the end of the canal, then a tuk-tuk to see some temples, then another long boat at the main river to explore the canals on the other side of the river.
The food in our hotel was excellent. That's the canal right outside the window.
Our Odyssey Rotary club joined the Rotary Club of Bangkok South Luncheon
We visited several temples and buddhas. This one was the Lucky Buddha
The hand positions (mudras?) obviously have meanings. I love this one!
Our tuk-tuk (motorcycle taxi) and driver, Charlie. He would wait for us when we explored the temples
Next, we got on this 'longtail' boat for a ride on the river and across to the canals on the other side
Floating market - you could buy beer, soda, trinkets from her. There are times that there are dozens of them. For us, she was the only one.
Big Buddha
Wat Arun
On our last day in Bangkok, we took advantage of the blazing fast Internet in our hotel to do our YouTube show live. Time zone makes live streaming difficult because if we did the show at our comfortable tim of 2pm - that's 3am in Florida and no one would show up! So we did it at 8am our time (9pm Florida, 6pm Los Angeles) and we had about 50 people in our audience. We so enjoyed that.
Officially, Thailand is known as The Kingdom of Thailand. Before 1939 it was known as Siam. Neither Jim nor I have ever been here before. The country of Thailand has a very unusual shape! Some say it looks like an elephant. The elephant is the offiicial national symbol of Thailand!
Our first stop was an island called Koh Samui. Koh means 'island' in Thai. We anchored off of Nathon Pier and took a tender in. It was a very active town right at the pier. We found a nice little restaurant with air and had some real Thai food. Thai food is known for being very spicy. That's what Jim likes, but I can't handle hot-spicy food at all. I found Pad Thai on the menu and I know that to be a tasty, sweet, noodle dish with chicken or pork, It was delicious! Jim had a spicy shrimp soup: Tom Yum?
Just down the block and take a left at an alleyway and you see brightly colored temple.
Diving
The next day, Jim went diving. I couldn't go because of my skin cancer creme doing its work on my face. I enjoyed a day to myself at my computer.
Tour
I saw all sorts of spectacular temples and Buddhas when researching Koh Samui, so I decided to book a tour thru Ida at our destination desk - no extra charge: $50pp for the day. It was just Jim, Me, and Diedre in a nice air conditioned car and our guide, Emma was great.
I'm not sure where I first saw that quote - I think it was Ashleigh Brilliant - but it's always been a guiding light for me. Flexibility, both in body and in mind, are essential for a happy life.
Flexibility of Body
When we first started living on the Villa Vie Odyssey, I was excited that there was a morning stretch class every morning. It is included as an amenity with our monthly maintenance fees. All I had to do is walk down the hall, up two flights of stairs and plop down on a mat. No gym membership, no getting in a car and driving to the gym, so convenient. Did I go? Wellllll .... once or twice in the first couple weeks, then I got sidetracked with so many other things and it was months before I saw the inside of the fitness center again. Then, last week I got myself up in time for the 8am class and I did it! I felt SO good after, and I was SO productive all day long! I credit the stretches for opening up the flow of energy in my body. It was so pronounced that I determined then and there that I would go to stretch class more often. Not every day, that would set myself up for failure, but 2 or 3 times a week would be great. Now it is one week later - and I've been 3 times! Oh Boy!
Having a flexible body means that it bends to trauma rather than breaking. For example, when I step on the stairs wrong and my ankle twists all the way over. Sure it hurts, it may even throb for a few days, but there was no permanent damage because good stretch classes focus on every part, including ankles, making sure the tendons stretch so that they don't tear.
The Fitness Center at our home, the Residential Cruise Ship: Villa Vie Odyssey
Flexibility of Mind
Maybe it's because of the way I was raised, but I've never been one to be upset when plans change. Plans? What plans? 😊Before reaching High School, I lived in 5 different states, and they weren't nearby states: Tennessee, Hawaii, Washington, Alaska, Florida. And that doesn't count the many months spent on the road traveling from place to place, or just plain traveling. When I was in third grade we lived in Alaska but took a 6-month RV trip to Guatemala and back.
This mental fexibility serves me well in my current life on a residential cruise ship. I hate making plans, so it's delightful that someone else is doing all that work. I just get to wake up in the morning and look out the window and then at my Google Maps to see where I am today! Singapore? Great, let's go see the Gardens by the Bay, Tarempa Indonesia? Uhh, never heard of it - let's go see. Not stopping in Puerto Princessa after all? Darn, I wanted to go snorkeling in a spot that others recommended. Oh well, now our line dancing group will all be on board for the sea day instead and we can learn a new dance.
Sometimes when things are falling apart they may actually be falling into place
What exactly IS Singapore? Is it a city, a country, or an island in Malaysia? Apparently, it is all of the above! Singapore is a city-island-country. Singapore (the city) is the capital of Singapore (the country.) If you ask Google if Singapore is a country or a city, here is the response:
Singapore is a sovereign island country and city-state located in maritime Southeast Asia. It gained independence and became a sovereign state in 1965, functioning as an independent nation with its own government, legal system, and economy. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Singapore Tour
Singapore is a wealthy place full of chrome and glass skyscrapers housing all the major world banks.
View from the Fullerton One waterfront mall where we picked up our Singapore Tour.
We had a perfect day for a boat ride on the Singapore River. Starting at an area called Clarke Quay, we headed downriver and under a few bridges till we reached the Merlion (mermaid+lion) statue/fountain that represents Singapore. The city started as a humble fishing village - thus the fish tail. The Lion part came from a legend that the first person to see the city thought he saw a lion and named the town 'Singapura' meaning Lion City. Turns out there are no lions here - maybe it was a tiger?
The Merlion with the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel in the background. Meant to look like a ship resting atop the 3 towers. It houses a hotel with 1,850 rooms. Also in front is a convention center and luxury mall. If you want to stay there, be aware that an average room cost is $1,050 per night. 😮
Gardens by the Bay and the Super Trees
Next stop on our tour was the Gardens by the Bay. Described as one of the most 'Instagrammable Spots' in Singapore. We went there to see the Rhapsody Light show, so we were there after dark. The show was light and music. Think the Epcot nightly fireworks but all orchestrated with these giant high tech 'Super Trees.'
Marina Bay Sands and Spectra
Then it was back on the bus for the short ride to the Marina Bay Sands to watch their light and water show called 'Spectra." I expected water fountains shooting up to the beat of music and displaying different colors. What I didn't expect was the wall of water spray acting as a screen for laser artwork to be displayed. What a show.
Night view of the city from the vantage point of the Marina Bay Sands hotel waterfront
Last Stop - Street Food
Singapore has very stringent health regulations so 'street food' isn't exactly allowed. To accomodate the different vendors - known as Hawkers, a large building was constructed long ago in the heart of the business district. This is called Lau Pa Sat. Once inside it felt like a giant food court with a dizzying number of choices. I had heard about there being good Satay so went on the hunt. It turns out that Satay has its own street on the side of the building. It's called Satay Street! And, it is literally a street with traffic during the day. They close it off and fill it with tables and benches at night. There are 9 stalls all selling Satay sticks - chicken or beef - covered with delicious peanut sauce and seasonings and grilled over an open flame. You buy 10-15 sticks and they are served with a little dish of spicy peanut sauce. I skipped the sauce and thoroughly enjoyed my Satay. Jim loved the spicy sauce.
Yummy Satay sticks. Eating out on "Satay Street" 😊 in Lau Pa Sat market
Tour by Viator
This was a fantastic tour. I highly recommend it and our tour guide 'Jingle' - yes, that's actually her name, just like in Jingle Bells. She was very Singaporean as she told us how she speaks 4 languages: English, Cantonese, Malay, and Tamil.
The tour itself was about 4 hours, but it dropped us off at the Lau Pa Sat and we spent another hour wandering and eating, then found our way to a bus that got us back to the ship.
