December 2017

Itinerary Link

2017 SOUTHEAST ASIA

As we’ve mentioned elsewhere we like to take advantage of relatively cheap cruise prices and add additional travel before and after the cruise. The cheaper prices tend to be at certain times of the year and certain itineraries, so it’s not impossible that we book a cruise that we have previously been on and that’s what happened in December, 2017. We booked a 14 day cruise on the Celebrity Millennium from Singapore to Hong Kong, a cruise we had been on several years before. In addition to an attractive price the package offered free tips, free drinks and $350 to spend on board. And the cruise afforded us to opportunity to add on some interesting destinations.

Usually we do our independent travel either before or after a cruise, but, in this case, yk decided to do both. Before the cruise we would visit Myanmar and after the cruise southern China, two places we had never visited.

MYANMAR

yk had booked a round trip to Hong Kong on China Air, to be followed by a flight on Myanmar Air to Mandalay where we were to meet the father of a friend who was joining us on our tour of Myanmar. Several days before the flight, however, we were informed by Myanmar Air that our flight from HK to Mandalay had been canceled. We were given the choice of a refund or a flight to Yangon followed the next day by a flight to Mandalay. We had little choice.

As we were checking in at LAX, I was amused to see what a Chinese family had decided to bring back to Hong Kong:

In Hong Kong, we had to pass through immigration, pick up our bags, and check for our flight to Yangon. We had purchased visas on line, so entry was no difficult. It was at the Yangon airport that I first saw the interesting script of the Burmese language.

The airline provided a bus to our hotel near the airport where I was reminded that hotels in SE Asia generally forbid bringing durian into the hotel.

MANDALAY

The next morning we flew to Mandalay (population: 1.3 million),We were picked up by our guide and brought to our hotel where we met our traveling companion, our friend Kristy’s father.

We stayed at a nice hotel on the Irrawaddy river which featured a rooftop restaurant offering a lovely sunset view.

Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar and the de facto capital of the northern part of the country.

Due to our detour to Yangon, we had only a day and a half in Mandalay. Our first stop was a golden Buddha statue. For decades the faithful have come and attached gold foil to the statue. Photos indicated that over the years the statue has more than doubled in size.

In the temple area were numerous shops selling, among other things, gold foil. In the shop area we passed a large number of children in period costume, presumably for some kind of ceremony.

The following day, our only full day in Mandalay, we took a small ferry to an island in the river, where we had lunch followed by a horse cart ride to several temples on the island.

We ended the day at a large temple on a hill overlooking the city.

THE ROAD FROM MANDALAY

We had arranged for our tour guide to take us to Bagan(, about a 4 hour drive, but he wanted to make two stops first. One was an outdoor gem market. If you wanted to get any of your purchases cut, the service was available.

The last stop in Mandalay was supposed to lunch at a monastery, but, after waiting around for a while we decided to pass on it.

The drive to Bagan was uneventful until we reached a river crossing. The bridge over the river (upper left in the picture) was closed for repairs and traffic was detoured to a shallow ford through the river. Unfortunately, a bus had broken down on the far side of the river blocking traffic in both directions. Only scooters could cross.

After waiting a half hour or more, with our tour guide fretting about how he could ever get us to Bagan, some heavy construction equipment was brought from the work on the bridge and pushed the bus out of the way. We made it to Bagan.

BAGAN

From the 9th to the 13th centuries more than 10,000 temples and pagodas were built on the plains of Bagan. More than 2,000 remain to this day. They range from small stupas:

to large temples, sometimes with frighteningly steep steps:

with Buddha statues:

and, at times, painted interiors:

We ended our visit to Bagan with tea at a small village.

Bagan post

YANGON

After our stay in Bagan we flew to Yangon on Air KBZ.

Yangon, where we had spent an unplanned night at the beginning of our visit, is the largest city in Myanmar with about 5 million residents. It struck me a rather dreary city except for the Shwedagon Pagoda, a huge awe-inspiring temple.

more photos

36 Hours in Yangon suggested by NY Times. The Guardian’s articles.

SINGAPORE

After two days in Yangon we flew to Singapore where we were to board our cruise ship. We spent one night with our friend Kristy and boarded the ship the following day. Since the ship was staying overnight, we had time the following day to explore the Singapore botanical garden.    Singapore post

November 2018

The Romans, Moors, Knights of Saint John, French and British all came and went, then, one day, we arrived: not to conquer and rule, but to explore and enjoy for a day.

We walked off the cruise ship around 9 AM, hopped on  the lift(1 Euro r/t) up to Upper Barracca Gardens, took the pictures of the bay, and sat on a bench to use the free WiFi to send out the pictures.

Right outside the city gate on the western end of the city wall is the huge bus depot with well organized stalls. We went to the stall number A6(they called it “Bay A6”) to get onto our bus(#85 or #81) to the quaint fishing village, Marsaxlokk.

We paid to the bus driver 3 Euros for two tickets (good for 2 hours) and settled in. The 40 minute ride gave us a glimpse into local life. When we got to Marsaxlokk, there were several different stops with the name of Marsaxlokk this and that. We got off the bus when it turned away from the water. Turned out, it did not matter much where you got off since the town was small enough. The last stop and the departure point for the return trip was on the street behind the cathedral which ran parallel to the ocean side road.

Marsaxlokk was a pretty little village with colorful fishing boats bobbing in the bay. Sea food restaurants dotted along the seaside road often displaying a collection of fresh fish. We ate at Roots, and, oh, boy! You get the freshest fish with vegetables and potatoes for very reasonable prices. 8 friends from the same cruise ship found us in Marsaxlokk & joined us, and we ordered many different things on the menu including the seafood soup(light broth, rice, tons of various sea foods), fried calamari, grilled octopus etc. The best bargain was the daily fish: there were 5-6 different fish to choose from, 12 to 15 Euros each or by weight for bigger fish. You could choose how it’s cooked and whether you want it filleted or the whole. Very generous portions of side dishes came with each order.

Their bread was great, and the tomato spread was just so tasty. They served the best vanilla ice cream I ever had! Pat and I paid 40 Euros for our feast including a bottle each of beer, ginger ale, and water.

The little outdoor market along the water front was pretty low key and reasonably priced. The cathedral was worth a look.

If we had more time, we would have sat at a cafe with the water view and just hang out for a while enjoying the balmy weather and the eye pleasing scenery. Too bad we had to worry about getting back to the ship on time.

November 2018

We were on Celebrity Eclipse cruise, and the ship stayed overnight in Dubrovnik. The cruise dock was in Port Gruz area northwest of the Old Town. We were waiting for the city bus right outside of the dock, and a cab driver approached us offering 2 Euros per person ride to Pile Gate, which was about the same as the bus ticket price.

The ride took about 10 minutes. Pile Gate was where we were supposed to meet with our free walking tour guide. A tourist information office was right there by the bus stop, and a free map and 20-minute free WiFi were provided. We could have gotten the bus ticket at the ticket counter next to this bus stop if we wanted.

The guide never showed up. We walked through the Pile Gate(sounds like pee-le) and proceeded to the city wall gate, bought the tickets (150 Kunas, no Euro accepted but credit cards were ok), walked up the stairs, and stepped onto the wall. A clear arrow pointed to the left with a sign, “One Way.”

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The view of the blue ocean and the islands and the parade of red roofs was extremely photogenic. It took almost two hours to go around the wall with frequent photo stops. A couple of artisan stalls had high quality hand-crafted silver goods and accessories.

We were hoping for a nice seafood lunch at Lokanda Peskarija at the Old Port, but it was closed from November to March. Being in Dubrovnik during off season had certain advantage, but some restaurants and hotels were closed for the season.

After searching for a decent place to sit down and eat while using WiFi, we just sat down at an outdoor sitting area of a restaurant. We tried to order mussels and an apple strudel, and they had run out of both. We were too tired to move, thus, we just pointed at two things on their lunch special menu and waited. Wifi was sluggish – maybe too many people were trying to get online at the same time.

Finally the food came, and, surprise! The fresh tuna salad and the chicken dish we ordered were perfectly prepared and delicious! What is the name of this restaurant, we wondered: Tavulin. The final bill, with a bottle of local beer and a small bottle of water, was around $40. Not bad for Dubrovnik, which seemed to display the prices of Western European cities in most restaurants and shops.

We got back to the port using the city bus(#1A, 1B or 1C), and we found fast free WiFi onboaord. A bus ticket good for 60 minutes is 12 Kunas if bought at a ticket counter, 15 Kunas buying from the driver. A 24 hour pass is 30 Kunas & could be bought at a ticket counter.

The next morning we took the bus to the Pile Gate and followed the walking tour route marked on the city map we got from the tourist information office. An Asian fusion restaurant that we were interested in, Azur, was closed for the season, we discovered. One of the most famous bars in the world, Buza Bar, was almost empty but we decided to skip it due to the windy condition.

We wanted to try a different place for a light lunch and Wifi use, but most places seemed to be overpriced showing $9-10 price tag for a bottle of beer. We ended up going back to Tavulin: we knew they had good food & did not overcharge.

Getting there before noon, they had everything we wanted: steamed mussels, a pasta with Dalmatian ham, and an apple strudel. And WiFi worked very well. Excellent food. The strudel was better than what we had in Austria. The final bill came to be 300 Kunas (under $50) with a big bottle of dark beer, which tasted great, and a bottle of water.

If the weather had been sunnier and warmer, we could have taken the ferry to Lokrum island off the coast. Or we could have gone to a little town of Cavtat. Maybe next time.

Just by visiting Zadar and Dubrovnik, we felt Croatia was becoming too successful as tourist destinations causing congestion and price hikes. Maybe we need to visit more towns in Croatia to get the whole picture.