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First, let me give a snappy, albeit tardy, salute and a \u201cThank you for your service\u201d to all those VETERANS out there \u2013 who are mostly not given enough credit for their willingness to put the ultimate sacrifice on the line for our country. It was a most interesting blog that Suzanne wrote last week about our grandfather\u2019s time in the Army during WWI and WWII. If you missed it, it\u2019s definitely worth going back to read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My next blog will come to you, assuming there will be adequate connectivity and sobriety, from the South China Sea<\/strong>.\u00a0 Linda and I will leave L.A. on Saturday, Nov 23rd<\/sup>, change planes in the Philippines<\/strong> and ultimately arrive at one of the world\u2019s most beautiful airports on Monday afternoon, Nov 25 in Singapore<\/strong>.\u00a0 Yes, we will entirely miss Sunday! We will shake off the jetlag and spend three days exploring Singapore, hopefully seeing things like the Gardens by the Bay<\/strong>, Flower Dome & Cloud Forest, <\/strong>and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel<\/strong>.\u00a0 All the while enjoying some amazing and very different, possibly spicy, food. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then we will be boarding the Celebrity<\/strong> ship, Solstice<\/strong> on Thanksgiving Eve.\u00a0 Thanksgiving Day<\/strong> will be \u2018at sea\u2019, but because we\u2019ll be on the other side of the International Date Line<\/strong>, it will still be Wednesday back here, so perhaps I\u2019ll let you know how this years\u2019 turkey tastes a day before you get to taste it.<\/p>\n\n\n Our first cruise stop will be at the small Thailand<\/strong> island of Koh Samui<\/strong> \u2013 Yeah, I\u2019ve never heard of it either, but it\u2019s known for its stunning beaches, its iconic Big Buddha<\/strong>, the colorful Wat Plai Laem temple<\/strong> (what ever that is), as well as some interestingly and probably spicy food.\u00a0 We then head into Bangkok<\/strong>, where we spend two days and have set up tours to see the Grand Palace<\/strong>, Wat Pho<\/strong>, the world’s largest reclining Buddha, not to be confused with the world\u2019s largest ball of twine, which is in Kansas, just west of Manhattan.\u00a0 Never mind, I guess you wouldn’t confuse those two. \u00a0Meanwhile, back in Bangkok, we\u2019ll probably have some more spicy food and get back on the ship for another \u2018day at sea\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will be traveling north to Vietnam<\/strong>. Our first port of call there is Ho Chi Mihn City<\/strong>, or as many of us <\/p>\n\n\n remember it, Saigon<\/strong>, and we certainly didn\u2019t want to Miss Saigon<\/strong>. We have a tour for exploring the Cu Chi Tunnels<\/strong>, well, I have a tour to explore the tunnels, Linda gets a bit claustrophobic so, given her interest in opera, she may be visiting the Saigon Opera House<\/strong>; it\u2019s probably best that I\u2019m missing that as I\u2019m \u2018opera-phobic\u2019!\u00a0 Back on the boat and heading north to Nha Trang<\/strong>. Hold it!\u00a0 We just received word that due to port construction issues, we will not be visiting Nha Trang, so we get another \u2018day at sea\u2019 before stopping in Danang<\/strong> and Hue<\/strong> (pronounced \u2018whay\u2019).\u00a0 We have one more Vietnam stop in Hanoi<\/strong>, where we will spend two days, and have set up tours to visit the \u2018Hanoi Hilton\u2019<\/strong>, where captured U.S. soldiers we held as prisoners of war.\u00a0 We have also scheduled a tour of the military museum there.\u00a0 We have heard that it is a bit bias in their presentation of the war, but, as they say, winners get to write the history. So we\u2019ll try not to act like ugly Americans and just eat some spicy food, and get back on the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have another \u2018day at sea\u2019! OK, we will now have had four days \u2018at sea\u2019 and we should have explored every nook and cranny of this boat, which essentially means we\u2019ve been in every bar and by now they\u2019re probably out of pina coladas!\u00a0 Now that I think about it, we could probably visit the gym, although web will have no idea where it might be.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n Our final port of call is Hong Kong<\/strong>, where we originally had only about a day and a half before leaving for home, but we added another day to see more of the \u2018Pearl of the Orient\u2019<\/strong>, and have set up daytime and nighttime tours of this magnificent city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then a short 12.5 hour flight home in the back of the bus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow First, let me give a snappy, albeit tardy, salute and a \u201cThank you for your service\u201d to all those VETERANS out there \u2013 who are mostly not given enough credit for their willingness to put the ultimate … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Solstice-scaled.jpg\")
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