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. 

Sky Dining in Singapore

 

I've made lots of friends on board the Odyssey, one special woman - Lyn H. - and I have agreed to a weekly lunch date. Where I spend a lot of time in my cabin on my computer, Lynn is always out and about having fun with groups of people. She seems to always know about the special things to do in any port. So, when we got together for lunch on Sunday while at port in Singapore she told me about how you could actually have dinner while riding the cable cars. 

Well, alrighty then!

The Odyssey in Singapore with the Cable Car line passing overhead.

We've been watching the cable cars that go right over our ship from the main part of Singapore to the Sentosa Island and back. We definitely wanted to take a ride and the idea that we could have dinner too sounded great. Did she want to join us? No. She's having a different kind of special dinner at "Dining in the Dark." Where you are served by blind waiters and you eat in total darkness. She says it's supposed to heighten your sense of taste and smell as you eat. OK ... 🤔 

We mentioned the sky dining to our friends Russ and Kelly and they were up for it, so we made reservations for the next night. We had beautiful weather for it - hot, but clear and great views. You start with a cocktail at the open air lounge, then board the cable car which has been all set up with your dinner and wine. It takes one round trip to eat - about a half hour. Then you stay on the cable car for another round trip to enjoy the setting sun. When you get off the cable car you go to the open air restaurant for dessert. What a treat! Delicious food, wonderful company, and beautiful views.

Koh Chang, a delightful surprise

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. 😮🤣

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  Chris, Jim, Holly, Jim

At the end of the day, the monkeys came out to bid us farewell.

Bangkok

 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. 

New Country! Thailand - Koh Samui

 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. 

Ganesh

Happy Buddha

Just the 3 of us on this tour: Diedre, Jim, Me

Entrance to the Magic Garden

Fantastic Tour!