3/30 - Nose Be, Madagascar

Nosy Be is an island just off the northwest coast of Madagascar and means "big island" in the Malagasy language. The island was called Assada during the early colonial era of the 17th century. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist resort. The volcanic island has an area of about 120 square miles (300 sq km) and reaches a peak on Mont Passot at 1079 feet (329 m). It is located about 5 miles (8 km) off the coast of Madagascar.¹

We were here on our world cruise in 2006. At that time, we rented a little boat with another couple and went to Nosy Komba, which is a little bit southeast of Nosy Be. We had a great tour of the island, enjoyed feeding the lemurs, huge tortoises, and saw lots of large geckos. This time, we opted to just stay on the ship. Nosy Be is a tender port and we are not big tender fans, especially in 95°, extremely humid, weather - 150 of your closest sweaty new "friends" (and I use that term very loosely) crammed into an enclosed tender bouncing our way to shore. And you should hear the whining if they get a little wet! If the Amsterdam goes down, we're thinkin' twice before getting in the danged tender.  I wonder if we've been on this ship a little too long...

Entering Harbor

Local boat

Locals selling from boat to ship

Victoria town

¹ Holland America Explorer

3/28 - Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles

The Seychelles is a group of about 115 islands that lie 990m (1600 km) off the coast of east Africa. The three central islands - Mahé, Praslin and La Digue - are granite, while the outlying islands are coral atolls. Unlike most similar islands, the Seychelles are not volcanic - they seem to be the peaks of a huge underwater plateau that fell off the edge of India about 65 million years ago. The islands are rich in vegetation, but most of it is either coconut palms or casuarinas. The Seychelles is home to the extremely rare giant cocoa de mer palm.¹

Victoria, on the island of Mahé, is one of the smallest capital cities in the world and the only major port in the Seychelles. It is also the only town in the country - every other settlement is a village. The courthouse and main post office in the center of town have been untouched since colonial times, but the streets emanating from the center have been rebuilt over the past 20 years, giving the town a unique character.

We stopped here on our 2006 world cruise. At that time we did a "Spice Route" tour and traveled to various spice plantations, which was quite fun but we didn't really get to see much of Victoria. This time, we enjoyed walking around the town, visiting the little shops and their large fresh fish, fruit, and vegetable market, Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market.

Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market

Entering Harbor

Fountain in round-about

Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market

Clock Tower

Hindu Temple

¹ Holland America Explorer

3/24 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Colombo, the largest city of Sri Lanka, is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo remains the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. Its large harbor and position along the East-West sea trade routes enticed the Greeks, Persians, Romans, Arabs, and Chinese traders who visited regularly over the centuries. Muslims of various ethnicities began to settle in Colombo around the 8th century AD, mostly because of this trade business. In the 15th century, the Portuguese established a foothold in the area and were granted authority over the coast line in exchange for guarding the coast against invaders. However, they soon expelled the Muslims from Colombo, building a fort there in 1517. The Dutch signed a treaty in 1638 with the King of Kandy, assuring Dutch assistance in the King's war against the Portuguese in exchange for a monopoly of the trade goods. However, in 1656 the Dutch refused to return control to the King, eventually assuming control of the area's valuable cinnamon lands. The British captured Colombo in 1796, beginning an era of British colonialism that ended in 1948 when Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) gained independence from Britain. Modern-day Colombo is a rich mix of the old and the new with plenty to enjoy.¹

The berth we were originally scheduled to be in was occupied by an Iranian Naval ship and we were moved much farther from the heart of the city (and the Iranian Naval ship). It was much too far to walk to town in 90° humid weather, so we rented a taxi with another couple we met through AAA. The taxi driver took us all around the city, showing us the sights, making photo stops, and, of course, allowing us to collect our little bucket of sand from the beach. Probably not a place we will return to, but it was yet another great day!

Banyan tree

Buddhist temple on Beira Lake

Cobra and snake charmer

Buddhist temple

Rodney on front deck of ship

Hindu temple

¹ Holland America Explorer

3/21 - Phuket, Thailand

Dubbed 'Pearl of the South' by the tourist industry, Phuket is Thailand's largest, most populous and most visited island. A whirl of color and cosmopolitanism, Thailand's only island province revolves around and thrives on tourism, but still retains a spark of the real Thailand. Phuket is more about doing things - or doing nothing at all - than it is about sightseeing.¹ Given that it was 94° with 90% humidity, along with the fact that we'd been to Thailand before, we opted for the 'doing nothing at all', just enjoyed the view from the comforts of our room.

Beach resorts

Beach resorts

Beach resorts

View from our verandah

 ¹ Holland America Explorer

3/20 - Porto Malai, Langkawi, Malaysia

Langkawi is the main island of the Langkawi group located in the Strait of Malacca, Peninsular (West) Malaysia. Langkawi is 18m (29 km) long and 10m (16 km) wide and rises to 2,887 feet (880 meters) at Raya Mountain. Though most of its inhabitants are engaged in fishing, the island is also intensively cultivated with coconuts and rubber plantations. Langkawi Island is well known for its beaches, waterfalls, hot springs, colored cliffs, historic caves and fishing grounds. Its steep-sided limestone hills are favored by climbers. The name Langkawi comes from two words meaning "eagle" and "strong" and the eagle is the symbol of the island.¹

We took the shuttle in to Pantai Cenang, a small resort area with duty free shops and beautiful beaches. We did a little shopping and walked the beach, collecting our bucket of sand. Although it was a beautiful area, it was extremely hot and humid, so we headed back to the boat and enjoyed the air conditioning and view from our room.

Sunrise

View from our verandah



Rodney, aka "Sand Thief Extraordinaire"



View from Pantai Cenang Beach


¹ Holland America Explorer

3/17-18 - Singapore, Republic of Singapore

Singapore has great public transportation which allowed us to roam the city easily via MRT (Metropolitan Rail Transit) and bus lines. It is very clean, and organized to a tee.

According to Jack Hanna (ZooLife with Jack Hanna is one of our favorite shows on Sunday morning), the Singapore Zoo is the #1 zoo in the world. So, rather than opting for the $30 Singapore Sling (no glass included) at The Long Bar in Raffles, we donated our tourism dollars to a day at the zoo! And it was money well spent. We're not experts, but we are animal lovers and have been to a lot of zoos in the United States and abroad. All we can say after visiting the Singapore Zoo, Jack Hanna really knows his stuff! Wow, what a zoo! What impressed us the most is the way it feels - it doesn't feel like a zoo at all. The enclosures are laid out in a way that makes them really look and feel like the animal's natural habitat. And some of the animals are actually free to roam, mostly monkeys and Orangutans. Our favorites were the Red Pandas, Giant Pandas, and White Tigers.


False Gharial - An ancient animal, believed to have been in existence for the last 65 million years.
Now endangered because of construction, land clearance, and water pollution.



Giraffes

White Rhinoceros

Red Panda

"Jia Jia" - Giant Panda (female)

"Kai Kai" - Giant Panda (male)

White Tiger

Pygmy Hippo - It takes about 10 Pygmy Hippos to make one Nile Hippo

  

Us @ Singapore Zoo

3/15 - Nha Trang, Vietnam

Nha Trang is the capital of Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Well known for its pristine beaches and excellent scuba diving, it is fast becoming a popular destination for international tourists (it is already very popular with Vietnamese tourists), attracting large numbers of backpackers on the Southeast Asia circuit. Nha Trang used to be a quiet fishing village and as little as to years ago it was still pretty sleepy, however, recent government and private investments have transformed it into a thriving beachside resort-town with a gorgeous beach promenade several miles long and a variety of hotels ranging from brand-new five-star venues along the waterfront to small, family run hotels.1

Definitely one of the nicest places we have visited in Vietnam. The beaches are absolutely gorgeous. After collecting our compulsory bucket of sand, we headed to Cho Dam (Central Market) where we wandered around the hundreds of little booths for about an hour. We relaxed at a little beer stand and enjoyed a Bia Saigon ($1.00 each!) before heading back to the ship. It was a very hot and humid day, so we were happy to get back to our little air conditioned room and just enjoy the view.

Entering harbor

Rodney trying to look nonchalant before stealing sand... :-)

Cho Dam Central Market

One of the round boats they use to get to their larger boat

View from our verandah

View from our verandah

1 Holland America Explorer

3/11-13 - Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

Three days in Hong Kong! We could spend three weeks here and never see everything we wanted to see! It is truly an amazing city.

Our ship was docked at Ocean Terminal. Connecting to the terminal is Harbour City, the largest shopping mall in Hong Kong with an area of 2 million square feet housing over 450 shops, more than 50 fashion & boutique outlets, three star hotels and 2 cinemas. It made Robinsons in Manila look like a mini-mall. We walked the mall for a couple hours over the three days we were there and never did see everything. It is filled with every name-brand boutique under the sun. They even have one entire floor dedicated to children's stores & boutiques—everything from Toys-R-Us to Armani Junior. I could have spent the entire three days right there at the mall. Fortunately for our pocket-book, there were too many other things to do!

This was our second time here on a cruise so we didn't do any ship tours, just did everything on our own. The first day we walked up Nathan Road through various markets and attractions. We had a wonderful Chinese buffet lunch on the 10th floor of the Shamrock Hotel. They just kept bringing out more and more various types of Chinese dishes and, of course, we had to try most of them. Everything was absolutely delicious!

The second day, we purchased a "Big Bus Tour" two-day pass and almost wore it out! The "Big Bus" is an "on & off" bus that runs various routes with stops where you can pop off and get back on one of the next buses. It included four trips on the Star Ferry, a Peak Tram ride, and a Sampan ride. We took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island and rode the tour bus to Stanley Market where we made a couple of small purchases and collected our sand from the beach.

Our next stop was The Peak Tram ride. We had actually done this before on a ship's tour, so it was fun to do on our own this time. At the top, we had a late afternoon snack and drinks overlooking the city at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Then we wandered around and took pictures of the city and the harbor. We finished up the afternoon with the Hong Kong Island tour and then waited for the Night tour. We got back to the ship a little after 8 p.m., at which point we were on sensory overload! Hong Kong is a beautiful, bustling city with more skyscrapers than any city in the world—a bit overwhelming for us beach bums!

We took the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island on our last day and again went to Stanley Market to get a couple more T-shirts that Rodney had purchased and really liked. We had to be back to the ship early, so we had an authentic Chinese lunch at a lovely little place called the Canton Deli in the Harbor City mall upon our return.

Now we need three days to rest up! Unfortunately, we only have one... cruising is a lot of work, but we're up to the challenge. :-)

Sheryl @ St. Stephen's Beach in Stanley

Rodney @ Police Station

Cemetery

Rodney @ The Peak

1881 Heritage

Hong Kong Island @ night

LIPPO Centre

Man Mo Temple

Pond outside Cultural Center

Ladies market @ night

Star Ferry terminal @ night

Hotel @ Repulse Bay