Explore at sea Most of the voyagers have left the ship to explore China, Beiging, the Great Wall. Only 66 on board and we are having a proper cruise for two days. Dinner is served nightly in the main dining roomand every one dresses in thei Vietnam finery. We play bridge all moning and watch movies in the afternoon. Totally decadent. My friend Pat has left me her cell phone and it is a delight to be able to talk to everyone. A phone is a must onthei trip to keep in touch. When I wanted to make a local call in Hong Kong a g irl on the street seeing my dilema gave me the proper coin. I miss the lectures but will start again in Qingdao. Thelast port for cheap shopping. We have beenspoiled by the extraordinary variety. Japan will be quite different. By the way Tin Tin comics were all over Cambodia in every language!

Leaving Vietman

Angkor WatCambodia

.. Exhausting but fabulous.  Five Temples in two days  plus a trip down the Siem Reap canal  to see the  lake people.  They live on boats canoes and   barges   that rise   up thirty feet in the monsoons.  The floatng school and restaurant too.  They now do fish farming and raise crockodiles but it is still marginal..         Arrived at the Temple at 5 am to see the sunrise  I went in alone as everyone waited for the sun.  An hour alone was magical  all the dancers . buddhas and carvings seemed alive.  Then the rain came with the grey clouds, and no sun.   Hordes of people thronged thru the passageways  but I had my private time.  Each suceeding Temple added to the glory of a time long past.  The jungle had captured  many of

the structures and many are being restored by tha Japanese Germans Fren chand Koreans  not the Americans.  Many small children  but no teenagers  it is only in the last ten years that there is peace.  The internet is much faster with the ship empty but I must go for my last day in Saigon.

Angkor Wat Cambodia

Saigon, its Jumping

    Ifthetraffic doesnt get you the hawkers will.  You get off the bus and they are ready and waiting.      Three hour trip up the  Rive r Saigon was levely in the early morning.  Fisherman hauling their nets while freighters loaded with containers passed on the other side.   As we approached our berth a dozen dancing girl were twirling their umbrellas .  We toured the history mueum which proved that the delta was settled in prehistory.   Thena performance of the Water Puppets  dancing on a water stage.  The story goes that the area is flooded for four months of the year so they had to figure out some entertainment.   Then the former preidental Palace with conference rooms seating 100.  An underground war room was such alabyrinth that 6 of us got lost for 20 minutes.     Lunch was at a glamorous French restaurant  Maxims  but it was totally Vietnamese.  Seven courses but I couldnt sat what we were eating..  Then the Post Office where you could make phone calls but it was 5 am in New York, so I passed.

Bunkering Singapore

Steam Hot Penang

Vary hot so it is only possible to be out in the morning.  Thei mix of cultures in Georgtown is interesting but you soo relaize it ia all orruring in four square blocks.  The rest of the city is being swallowed by malls and condominiums.   The trips outside the city were great-fish farming. exotic fruits and spices.  But they have cut all the teak trees to make way for  palm oil trees  the future for biodegradable fuel.  They have the second longest suspension bridge the second largest computer chip exporters and hope to

 be a first world country by 2020.   International phone calls were impossible but everyone is talking on a cell all the time.  The peninsula will have free wifi next year.