Cruising Again: Indonesia and Australia

January 8, 2026January 8, 2026travelswithheather 3 Comments

Fair warning: this will not be my typical in-depth, lengthy blog post! We decided to take a cruise from Singapore to Sydney on the NCL Spirit. We had not yet been to Indonesia or Bali, so the cruise ticked a couple of boxes for us. We found that there was not as much information given on many of the tours. Therefore, the abbreviated post!

Surabaya, Indonesia

This tour guide wins the award for giving us the least amount of information! When we got in the van, he did read some data from his iPad: Indonesia has 17,000 islands and 282 million people. Most are Muslim (70-80%). Every island has different languages and ethnic groups. The second largest city is Surabaya, where we would spend the day. He dropped us off at several locations around the city but did not tell us any further information about them!

Bali:

This turned out to be a very disappointing port due to poor weather (among other things). At least the driver gave us some information while he was driving us around. Unfortunately, all we did was drive around due to the monkey forest being closed and the horrible traffic. We stopped at a batik shop where we were given a brief demonstration of how batik is made. It takes a day to create 1 meter of fabric! Next up was a silver shop. From there, we headed to the monkey forest where we learned that someone had died there the previous day due to a tree falling on them (caused by heavy rainfall). So, the place was closed. That was pretty much it! Eight hours in the car…

Fremantle/Perth:

Our first stop down under! And our first tour guide was German – the usual guy was sick, so we got his replacement. He was friendly and outgoing and made the tour fun. We learned about the history of the area and the great distances from place to place in Australia. The nearest large city is Adelaide, which is a 5-day drive from Perth! Western Australia is as large as Western Europe. Our tour started in Fremantle, which is the old harbor city – most people now live in Perth. We drove to Perth and learned of the Italians, Greeks, and Croatians that settled the area. A gold rush brought 70,000 people to the area. It was so remote that water had to be brought in by camels.

Our welcome to Fremantle: A band playing “Play That Funky Music White Boy”

Our first stop was Cottlesloe Beach. I must say I was surprised at how beautiful the beaches are in Western Australia. There are sharks in the water, and so there are tracking devices on buoys that inform lifeguards to close the beach. There are also helicopters that spot sharks, and yes, there is also a Smart Shark app!

We drove through Millionaire’s Row to see how the other half lives. The rich live on the river here rather than the ocean due to the heavy winds on the coast.

We stopped at King’s Park to take a few photos. We hoped to see dolphins in the river, but no luck. Sharks are predators of dolphins and so it is not safe to swim there. We were told that there were no longer black swans on the Swan River, but I spotted one.

We made a few more photo stops before being given a bit of free time to grab a bite to eat before hopping on a boat for a 2-hour ride back to the port.

All in all, a fun day.

Busselton:

Our excursion today was an eco-tour of the area. The first thing we noticed was the flies; we have never experienced flies like the flies here! They were everywhere and would land on your face. Swatting them away made no difference. Insect repellent made no difference. Wearing a hat with a net was the only way to get relief. Our guide, Mick, called them “sky raisins”. He said that they were especially bad for 2-3 weeks of the year; we lucked out and arrived during that time. The jetty here is the longest wooden boat jetty in the world. In order to dock large ships, deep water is needed. They kept extending the jetty but after 2 km, gave up because the water never got deep enough.

Busselton itself is a small city of 40,000. Timber logging is one of the main industries. Mick grew up in Dunsborough (which we drove through). Its population has grown from 500 to 12,000 in 35 years. Quite a change! We drove through the “Holy Mile”, a road filled with campgrounds owned by churches.

Though I didn’t spot one, Mick told us that they build bridges for opossum so they can safely cross the road.

We reached our destination where Mick warned us to watch out for snakes. Oh, goody! We walked through woods and Mick pointed out various flora and fauna. The ones that I remember are the blood tree, which kills worms in kangaroos. The grass tree that he showed us was 300 years old and only grows 1 cm per year. He told us of the snotty gobble tree, easily the best name for a tree I have ever heard, so named for the snotty texture of its fruit!

After our trek, we headed to see kangaroos. Where can you guarantee seeing kangaroos in Australia? Apparently at the golf course! They like the grassy areas and trees found there. The kangaroos seemed very used to having people around. We also spotted some pink galah (parrots).

We ended the tour at a park where Mick provided local wine and delicious treats for us to enjoy. We saw (and heard) kookaburra nearby. It was a perfect way to end the tour.

Adelaide:

We opted for a winery tour in the Barossa Valley, the 7th most popular in world. Adelaide is a city in Australia that was not settled by convicts; it is one of the safest cities in Australia. It is known as the City of Churches. Its original name was the Land of Red Kangaroo but was changed to Adelaide in 1836. It was the first planned city in the continent and is the wine capital of Southern Australia.

Our first stop was the Monkey Nut Café for a shopping opportunity. We didn’t shop but the setting was lovely.

Our first winery was Chateau Tanunda, founded in 1890. We tried 5 or 6 wines here.

Our final winery was the Kies winery where we enjoyed a lovely lunch, followed by more wine tasting.

After lunch, we were given some free time in the German town of Hahndorf, where 199 refugees from Germany settled to have religious freedom. Since it was just before Christmas, the town was bustling with shoppers.

Melbourne:

Rather than touring the “big city” we opted for a tour that would take us to view the Twelve Apostles. These are formations in the ocean carved by the waves. There originally were only eleven, known as the piglets at the end of the road, but were renamed the twelve apostles to try to get religious people to make pilgrimages. It worked, though there are now even fewer than eleven due to natural erosion.

Like many places we visited, one must watch for snakes, though fortunately, we did not run into any here. I did spot an enormous tiger snake on the drive to the 12 Apostles. It is a long drive to get there, and a longer one back with lots of windy roads. Not for those that get car sick. I am one of those, so I had to sit up in front by the guide to make the day less miserable.

We drove back along the Great Ocean Road, which was very scenic. We stopped in a town by the ocean and were given time for lunch and shopping. After lunch, we were lucky enough to spot a tree with koalas napping.

We also had another opportunity to see kangaroos – at another golf course! I did learn that only the alpha male is allowed to mate which is why male kangaroos are always fighting to be the alpha.

Other Ports:

We also stopped at Albany, Kangaroo Island, Burnie, and Eden though did not do excursions at any of them. I really wanted to do one on Kangaroo Island, but it was sold out far in advance of the cruise and I couldn’t find a comparable tour. We found all the tours in Australia to be quite expensive, so we were somewhat selective.

We walked around Albany and Burnie, but Kangaroo Island was a tender port (hassle, and needed to get out of town to see anything) and Eden required paying for a shuttle into town (not much to see there). We did enjoy Burnie. The town provided a free shuttle, and the mayor rode in on every single bus and welcomed the cruisers to the city. She was really enthusiastic! I asked one of the local volunteers that provided information to tourists if she maintained her energy all day long. They claimed she did.

Sydney:

We disembarked in Sydney. Ideally, we would’ve docked right in the heart of the city but instead, docked at White Bay Cruise Terminal. We spent a couple of days in Sydney before heading back to Chiang Mai. We stayed in the CBD (Central Business District) and greatly enjoyed it. The city was all decked out for Christmas and was bustling with activity. On our first day, we walked down to the harbor and took a harbor cruise. I took lots of obligatory photos of the opera house, LOL. To get back to the hotel, we used the tram which dropped us off a block from our hotel. The tram system is excellent – one just taps their credit card on the way on to the tram and again on the way off. No special transit card needed.

In the afternoon, I walked into a mall I had noticed on our morning walk. I was absolutely shocked at how huge it was! From the outside, it looked like any other old building you would expect to see in a downtown area. But it was 6 stories tall, filled with every high-end shop you can imagine. It was connected by skybridge to several other malls. I got lost and had to use Google maps to get back to the hotel! I typically have an excellent sense of direction, but the malls were a rat-maze of shops, and I got totally turned around.

The next day, we explored “The Rocks”, the city’s birthplace after visiting the Opera House, where I once again took quite a few photos! It reminded me very much of Pioneer Square in Seattle. Lots of shops and places to eat, and very picturesque.

We may head back to Australia in the future but would like to explore the Gold Coast and incorporate a trip to New Zealand next time. In the short term, we have quite a few other trips planned. Stay tuned!

Jordan and Egypt Tour

October 3, 2025travelswithheather Leave a comment

One of the decisions we need to make before booking travel is whether we want to “go it alone” or take a group tour. There are pros and cons for both, but when we decided to go to Egypt, it was group tour for the win. We had visited Egypt twice previously, both times as port stops on a cruise. It’s one of those places where one can easily be scammed; it’s known for it. On our first visit there, a shopkeeper offered to buy me from Clayton! The sad part was, he only offered chickens. Clayton may have been willing to deal for a camel or two but couldn’t figure out how to get them onto the cruise ship. So, he’s stuck with me! Anyhow, it’s not a particularly friendly country for women to visit, so we booked another Gate 1 tour.

The itinerary started in Dead Sea, Jordan, and ended in Cairo. It also included a 4-day Nile River cruise. On our first visit to Egypt, the tour company offered us “lunch on the Nile”, which we were greatly looking forward to. Apparently, we misunderstood the meaning of this statement; we assumed we would be sailing down the Nile while enjoying a meal. Not exactly what happened – we got on a boat, were fed some food, and then crossed the Nile in 5 minutes to get to the other side. So, this trip will give us an actual boat trip (or so we hope).

We decided to arrive a day early, due to flight arrival times from Thailand. Our flight arrived at 5 pm and there was a dinner scheduled at 6:30 to meet the rest of the group. We knew we could not get to the hotel in time (it’s an hour’s drive from the airport to the resort, and we needed to clear immigration) so opted to book an extra night at the Mövenpick Dead Sea Resort. We also booked a transfer with Gate 1, which we normally do not do as their prices are much higher than other options. But, if Gate 1 picked us up, they would also provide our visas at no additional cost. So, it turned out to be cheaper to go with them.

Our flights were uneventful, which is always a nice way to start a vacation. We flew Qatar Airways to Doha and then Royal Jordanian Airways to Amman. Qatar’s service and food were flawless, Royal Jordanian, not so much. On Royal Jordanian, I ordered the Arabic mezze for an appetizer, filet mignon with mashed potatoes for the main course, and cheesecake for dessert. The mezze was fine but was not served with pita or anything else to eat it with. The filet mignon with mashed potatoes resembled a Swanson’s frozen dinner, if you substituted the salisbury steak with an overcooked filet mignon, right down to the fake potatoes. It’s hard to ruin cheesecake, but this one was a jello no-bake special. On the positive side, we did not arrive in Jordan hungry.

The Gate 1 representative met us and walked us through immigration. Next up was picking up our suitcases. We got excited when Clayton’s was first off of the conveyer belt. We were less excited when mine didn’t quickly follow, or follow at all. My luggage tracker had its location as still in Doha, but that turned out to be untrue as well. Mohanned, our Gate 1 guy, found it in the special security area; it had been pulled due to containing a security risk. What was this dangerous object, you ask? Why, a small pair of binoculars! We didn’t get the memo that you are not allowed to bring binoculars into Jordan, due to geopolitical spying.

Eventually, my luggage was released from security jail, and we could be on our way. Mohanned walked us out to meet our driver, Mohammed, who turned out to be quite a talker. He filled us in on how wonderful Jordan was, and that tourism had been irretrievably damaged by Covid, incidents involving Hamas in 2023, and most recently, Israel sending missiles over Jordan to attack Iran. For a few weeks in June, it was doubtful that we would be able to visit the region. I received notifications from the US State Department several times per day regarding the situation. Mohammed said that tourism overall was down 75% which was having an extremely negative impact on the country since tourism is its 2^nd largest industry.

We stopped for a quick photo at sea level before continuing downhill towards the lowest point in the entire world, the Dead Sea. We were greeted by a man wearing the most ornate drink dispenser I have ever seen! He poured a cool, refreshing lemon drink for us by leaning over. The spigot is tucked under his arm in the photo.

After unpacking, we collapsed into bed since with the time zone difference, it had been a very long day.

The Mövenpick Dead Sea Resort is a gorgeous 5-star resort located right on the Dead Sea. The property is quite large; we got lost on the way to breakfast. You can walk to get to the beach, or you can ride in a golf cart. I think it would take 10-15 minutes of walking to get there (at least), so we opted for a ride. The first golf cart dropped us off at the pool which is halfway down the hill. A second golf cart took us the rest of the way.

Bring water shoes; it’s rocky in the water

Beach towels are provided and fortunately, there are showers to rinse off as the salinity of the water is 43%. Mud is available; our driver yesterday claimed that the mud treatment takes ten years off your age, LOL. I had to give it a try, so slathered mud all over before testing the conjecture that you float really easily in the water. The water was warm and lovely. Mohammed had warned us that the beach is rocky, so I had worn my Teva sandals which were perfect. And yes, I was exceedingly buoyant in the water! I was so buoyant that when I tried to stand up after back floating, I had trouble standing up (my sandals wanted to float). I foolishly wore my sunglasses when I went in and they slipped off my head. When I tried to retrieve them, I splashed water in my eyes. Suffice it to say that it hurt like heck! I do not recommend getting water in your eyes.

Though there were showers available, the beach attendant personally hosed me off to remove the layers of mud I had slathered on myself. When we were done at the beach, we rode the golf cart back up the hill to the resort.

In case you travel here, I learned from our tour guide, Waleed, that there is a traditional Jordanian way of “taking the waters”, so to speak. You are supposed to float for 15 minutes, then apply mud. Sit for another 15 minutes for the mud to bake on and then go back into the water for another 10-minute float. He claimed that this will take 20 years off your age! If only I’d known before. Oh, well, I will have to settle for looking like I am in my 50’s rather than in my 40’s.

Our time in Jordan (as always, click on the link to read):

Day 1: The baptismal place of Jesus by John the Baptist

Day 2: Drive to Petra; tour Mount Nebo, Madaba, and Shobak Castle

Day 3: Petra

Day 4: Drive to Amman, tour Kerak Castle, city tour of Amman

On the 5^th day, we flew to Cairo. I was happy to leave Jordan behind, though we saw some interesting things. It is a perfectly safe country to visit; we had no concerns whatsoever at any point during our stay. We would be getting a new tour guide in Egypt, so said goodbye to Waleed, our Jordanian guide.

We arrived in Cairo at 11 am and spent the rest of the day relaxing. We met our new tour guide, Walid (pronounced the same as Waleed in Jordan) Ghonem. We were immediately impressed with his personality and warmth. He proved to be an excellent guide throughout the trip. We did have a little issue with our room at the hotel (the air conditioning didn’t work properly, and it smelled of smoke) and Walid immediately had us moved to another room. We had an evening meeting to go over some details of the rest of the trip.

Day 6: Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx

Day 7: Up bright and extremely early for a flight to Luxor. Then, tour the Temple of Karnak

Day 8: Tour Dendera Temple; board cruise

Late afternoon tour of Luxor Temple

Day 9: Optional tour of Valley of the Kings, etc. We opted out since we have done this exact tour twice on other trips

Day 10: Edfu Temple

Day 11: Optional tour of Abu Simbel. We opted out, due to the extreme heat as well as the 3 am wakeup call for those that went!

Day 12: Disembark cruise; tour Philae Temple; fly to Cairo

Day 13: Optional Tour of Grand Egyptian Museum and Grand Bazaar visit

Day 14: fly home!

Technically, this is advertised as a 16-day tour, but day one is flying and day two is arriving and relaxing.

I would like to point out that though the Nile River cruise is advertised as four days in length, most of that time is spent docked rather than cruising. We spent our first night on board but did not yet leave Luxor. The following day was an optional tour of Luxor’s west bank sites. Likewise, the final night of the cruise was spent docked at Aswan. So, essentially, two days cruising, two days docked. There were no balconies on the ship (nor are there on any of the other ships we saw), and as is typical of river cruises, we docked next to several other ships while in port. The ships were stacked five deep at one stop! This meant walking through other ships to get to shore. It also meant that there was no view from the cabins, other than looking directly at another cabin on the ship next door. The windows had some type of glazing so that you could not actually see anything. I couldn’t believe how many other ships there were on the Nile River; this is obviously a very popular activity.

Here are some pictures along the way:

Our tour guide, Walid Ghonem, was excellent. He was a fount of knowledge regarding the temples we visited and took care of any problems immediately. If you have any thoughts regarding booking an Egypt tour with Gate 1, I would find one where he was the tour guide (he leads all the different tours Gate 1 offer of Egypt; not just the one we booked). Just like in Jordan, we had an Egyptian police officer with us everywhere we went. We felt perfectly safe and would not hesitate to recommend visiting this part of the world.

A lazy float down the Mekong River

January 11, 2025travelswithheather 4 Comments

We had such a good time on our last Gate 1 tour that we decided to book another! This time, we signed up for a tour of Vietnam and Cambodia that included a 7-day Mekong River cruise. We have been to all of the cities on the tour previously, and have even done a shorter Mekong River cruise, but the itinerary sounded interesting, and it’s located in our “neck of the woods” so to speak. Just a quick flight to Vietnam and we would be good to go!

Our first stop was Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City); this would be our fourth time visiting there. Click here to read about our city tour: Saigon: City Tour

Though we have been to HCMC multiple times, we had not visited the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was an optional excursion, and I am so glad we opted in! It was a fascinating glimpse into a 150-mile long series of tunnels that up to 10,000 Viet Cong lived in during the Vietnam War (known as the American War in Vietnam). Click here to learn about the tunnels: Cu Chi Tunnels

Next up was embarking on our river cruise, on Christmas day no less! We had a bit of a drive to get to the embarkation point. On our 5-hour ride from Saigon to the boat (ship?), our tour guide, Yang, told us about the transition from the difficult communist years to the present capitalist economy. Yes, Vietnam’s government is still communist but only 5% of the population is communist; the remainder are apolitical. There were some very rough years from 1975 until 1991, especially for the south Vietnamese who had previously been business owners and predominantly white-collar workers. Under the first president of the reunified Vietnam, everything was stripped away from them. Many were sent to reeducation camps, theoretically for two weeks, but lasting anywhere from a year to 17 years. Overnight, everyone became farmers. They only produced half of the needs of the rice (a staple of the diet) of the people. Russia sent wheat flour which was used to produce noodles. Rice and noodles were mixed and became a staple of their diet. Each person received a voucher to get only 0.9 kg of meat per month. Starvation was common. The rice that was given was bug-ridden and rotten. It was not the rice being currently produced, but rice that had been stored for long periods of time. Many from the south fled to other countries that would accept them as refugees (the boat people). Only 60% of those that fled the country survived the journey.

In 1991, the new president of the country decided that the communal farms were not working. He started to allow factories to be owned by people rather than by the government. Productivity and the happiness of the populace increased dramatically. Within a year or two, enough rice was being produced to feed the entire country; no more wheat from Russia. Now, rice is the 2^nd largest export of the country. Even though the country is nominally communist at this time, he says that people are happy and confident of their economic future.

We made a quick stop for lunch – pho and fresh fruit. We arrived a little early for check-in for the cruise so had a little bit of time in the city of Can Tho to walk around. They had interesting ways of pushing their food carts!

We boarded the boat and had some time to explore before dinner. It was all decked out for Christmas (we boarded on Christmas day). The rest of the day was spent eating, drinking, and relaxing. We also experienced a local musical/dance performance. We were provided with an afternoon cocktail before dinner on a daily basis. Wine, beer, and soft drinks were also provided at lunch and dinner. They were very generous with the complimentary beverages.

Each day, we had a morning and an afternoon excursion. Click on the links below to read about them:

Floating Market

Tiger Island

Clay Cooking Pot Tour

Phnom Penh Tour (full day)

Silver Village and Oudong Meditation Center

Silk Weaving Village

Angkor Ban

Kampong Cham and the road to Siem Reap

There was also a tour of a fish farm offered; we opted to skip that one.

Several evenings, we had entertainment. I am posting a few videos of the singing and dancing:

Traditional Vietnamese song and dance

Lion Dance

Dragon Dance

Cambodian Dance

We used to have to use these in PE during Elementary School. Tinikling sticks, aka ankle breakers.

We disembarked the boat on New Year’s Day and had a long bus ride to Siem Reap. The only negative of the entire tour was our lunch that day – poor food and poor service. Enough said! We arrived in Siem Reap late in the afternoon and had a free evening to explore the town. Our hotel was the lovely Sokha Angkor Resort which was about ¾ mile from Pub Street.

Our final full day was spent exploring a few of the temples in the Angkor Wat area – Angkor Thom and Ta Phrom temples in the morning, and Angkor Wat in the afternoon. I took many, many photos! Click here to take a look and read about the temples: Angkor Wat

Many on the trip were continuing on to Hanoi, but we had decided not to when we booked the tour. It turned out to be an excellent decision as only two days were supposed to be spent there. However, the schedule had the group arriving in Hanoi at 10:30 pm, so they would only have one day in Hanoi before heading back to the US and Canada. Personally, I would have been disappointed with the limited time in that city.

I would recommend this tour to others, especially if you have not toured in the area previously. The boat was lovely and the service onboard exceptional. Though we were not first time visitors, we still enjoyed seeing the sights and learning new things along the way.

An 11-day Cruise in a Penthouse Suite for $43.68? T

January 2, 2024travelswithheather 3 Comments

Once upon a time, Clayton and I floated at sea during the outbreak of the pandemic. Not the best of times, but we soldiered through. Since we were unable to dock at the majority of the ports on that cruise, NCL gave us 75% off towards a future cruise. We had already been given 25% off a future cruise due to the first leg of our cruise being delayed for several days and several hundred dollars credit due to a non-functional toilet in our cabin. During the pandemic, we bravely booked a couple of cruises that never happened, giving us an additional percentage off a future cruise. Why bring this up? Because we cashed in all our future cruise credits, took advantage of a price drop on a cruise, and due to Clayton’s military service, received an additional discount. When all was said and done, we booked a penthouse suite (with a butler) for an 11-day cruise for a whopping $43.68 (for two!). And, as NCL stockholders, we were given $100 onboard credit so actually, NCL paid us to take a cruise. Right up until we boarded, I figured NCL would realize that they screwed up in some way and ask us to give them more money, but not so. As I type this, I am sitting on the couch in my aft penthouse suite!

We typically book balcony cabins; we have never ever been at the suite level of service. Like everything else, I diligently researched what to expect with the “suite life”. And let me tell you, it is wonderful.

We arrived at the port a couple of hours ahead of our scheduled check-in time, on the off chance that we could get on board that much sooner. There was a dedicated lounge for suite guests, separate from the madhouse that everyone else experiences pre-cruise. There were juices, coffee, and tea as well as lovely crudites and appetizers. I indulged myself with a piece of avocado toast topped with three large prawns. I think Clayton may have had a cookie or two. We were checked in right in the room, taking mere minutes. We met our concierge, who was there to help with anything we needed to make our experience more pleasurable. There was only one other couple in the lounge with us. By eleven o’clock, we were being personally escorted on the ship and to the special restaurant for suite guests. We were seated by the window and provided our menus. The service was impeccable and the food delicious. I opted for the crab cakes; Clayton had steak. We were told that when we finished eating, we would be able to go to our cabin. This is unusual; typically, when boarding, cruisers must wait until mid-afternoon to access their rooms, since the cabin stewards must thoroughly clean them after the prior cruise’s guests have disembarked.

There is a special elevator for suite guests. An NCL employee is in there to push the buttons for you. We wouldn’t want to get our fingers dirty, would we?

Our cabin is quite lovely. There are larger suites, but I chose this one for its aft location and large balcony. I like nothing more than watching the wake of the ship. There was a bottle of sparkling wine chilled and waiting for us as well as a tray of chocolate covered strawberries. We received invitations to a couple of cocktail parties. A fresh fruit bowl adorned our dining room table. And lest we get hungry before our next meal, the butler delivered a tray of hors d’oeuvres. We could have requested that our butler unpack for us, but I rather like putting things where I can find them, so opted to DIY. Poor me!

The most comfortable bed we have ever slept in!

Pre-Covid, there was a mandatory muster drill on the day of embarkation. In the post-Covid era, this is done by watching a safety video online as part of filling in pre-cruise documents. On the day of embarkation, you need only drop by your muster station and have a crew member scan your keycard, so they know you’ve checked in. I much prefer the new way of doing things. The previous muster drills were a complete waste of time. There was much standing around and waiting because some passengers thought they did not have to attend, so the crew members would wait until everyone showed up, usually quite a lengthy wait. This typically took place on the promenade deck, so you were squeezed in with your muster buddies outdoors. The crew members would valiantly attempt to give directions, but nobody listened. It was a total waste of time. NCL attempted to go back to the old, bad way of doing things but got lots of negative feedback from passengers, so are now doing it the new, good way again. So much better.

Someone is all ready for embarkation day lunch!

Our first week of the cruise had no sea days. We have visited almost every port previously, so wouldn’t be seeing too much new, not that I am complaining. Due to a terrible experience on our first NCL excursion in Langkawi, Malaysia, we opted to not do any further NCL excursions. The one port we had not visited previously, Nha Trang, ended up getting cancelled due to dangerous conditions (it was a tender port). I did get a few pictures at a few of the ports, so click on the links if you want to see what they were like:

Langkawi, Malaysia

Penang, Malaysia

Phuket, Thailand (including a monkey show)

The rest of the cruise (Singapore, Vietnam)

Following the cruise, we are spent a few days in Pattaya for a completely different slice of Thai life. Click here for information on that city and many photos of the Sanctuary of Truth.

We will return to our home away from home of Chiang Mai until early April. We plan to spend a couple of months in Seattle before jetting back to Chiang Mai. In August, we head to South Africa for a tour and (hopefully) lots of animal sightings. Stay tuned!