Thailand / Singapore

What a whirl wind,

Greetings from Singapore,

I'll begin with Bangkok. It was a two hour drive from ship to Bangkok. The sights were educational. The city is big, growing, crowded and loaded with mopeds - again. I am becoming a buddy with Buddha. I got to see him and her in various settings, climbed a lot of stairs as well. The temples are ornate and covered in gold. We had a great lunch at a 5 star Ramada on the river. Beautiful setting and the food was great. Did some shopping, as usual and was overwhelmed a lot. the draw back to this day was the guide. He spent a good bit of his monologue telling us of his displeasure with the monarchy. He is entitled to his opinion, but he does not need to force it on us. There is a sharp difference between the haves and have nots. The people are very pleasant and welcoming. It is a city on the move. Will be hearing more from this city in the future.

The next day we went to a quiet island called Ko Samui. It is beautiful and is a great resort environment. The beaches are beautiful, one more attractive than the other. The morning visit was great and then the rains came from who knows where. The down pour was overpowering. I sat in a bar drinking Tiger beer and watching the rain and the folk on mopeds get soak. Did this for well over an hour and a half. It was great fun and quite a sight to behold. Then I had to head for the ship in the rain and wait in the rain to board the tender. Great fun !!! The bay was rough and very wavey- great fun again. Got to my suite and took the best shower I have had in quite some times. The clothes were on the floor soaking wet. Left them there until I was back in shape. Great day for a number of reasons.

Singapore - what a country !!! 63 islands make up this country. We docked at the largest the main island, in the midst of hundreds of container ships. It takes at least 10-15 minutes just to get out of the container yard. It is massive. There are ships all over the place. But once you are out of the container world you come into a magnificently planned city that only began coming into its own in 1965. What a city. A planners dream world. there are elevated roads to enable rapid drives through the area. The architecture is spectacular. There are tower after tower more beautiful than the one next door. There are curved buildings, buildings connected by bridges, an hotel that has twin towers and on the top a connection that looks like a ship 50 stories up in the air with trees and plants and who knows what else. The city is an architectural wonderland. and yet there is a mixture of the old. We took a cruise on the Singapore River that showed us the old town with restaurants/bars etc. on the river including another Harry's Bar - you know Venice, Paris etc. We saw great hotels, offices, monuments, soccer field on an island with the stands on dry land overlooking the field. We then took a ride on what they caller the Flyer - in London they call it the eye. A thirty-five minute ride up and around. the view was great. We could see the dragon boat races going on below in the river. Everywhere one looked there was a fascinating sight to behold. I loved it and fell in love with Singapore.

I got off the bus in Chinatown and grabbed a cab to Ruffles Hotel. Names after Sir Thomas Ruffles, founder of Singapore and a member of the East India company. What a place. You need a tour guide just to get through. Those who know yours truly I found the Long Bar found a seat and had two Singapore Slings along with three mini-burgers, got to through a ton of peanut shells on the floor along with the rest of the gang. I felt so much at home here. It was fantastic. Had a hard time leaving there. Got back to the ship after a taxi ride, a bus tour of the containers and a hike up the gang plank. Been a great day, I do want to come back to Singapore and Hong Kong as of now. Still have more country's to conquer.

The next three days I will be in three different ports in Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur, Penang and finally Langkawi. I am not sure if there will be time to fill in write after each visit. But you will hear eventually.

All of these days have been great. I feel I am learning a lot, seeing a lot and changing a lot - for the better, I hope.

Take care. Will be in touch.

Bill