Penang

March 30. We are near a temple where they play the drums in the afternoon.  Then at night we experience the biggest thunder and lightning storm we have ever seen. And to top that off the monks start their chanting at 6:00 am.  We weere going out this morning and mom wasn't feeling too good so I went out on my own.

Little India 

There are murals all over town.  People find as many as they can and take pictures in front of the.  It's a way to get tourists to visit businesses also.

There was another thunderstorm so we just ate in the hotel.  It was twice as much as going out to the local restaurants, but was still less than $30.  What we call Singapore noodles is called fried bee noon.

Our flight tomorrow is at 11:20 am local time.  We get home at 7:30 pm Seattle time. Travel time including layovers in Kuala Lumpur and Taipei 24 hours.  See you at home.

Penang

March 29. We arrived in Penang this afternoon.  It's a nice change to do a more immersion type of travel.  No more cruisers.  A few backpackers and just local Chinese, Malays, Muslims and Indians.  There was a guy at the bar watching tv.  I thought he was the bar tender so I asked him for a beer.  He wasn't.  I was a little embarrassed so I sat down and had a drink with my new friend Mahania.  He gave me some restaurant suggestions.  The Georgetown section where we are staying is known for its cheap street food.

We are staying at the Yeng Keng Hotel.

Dorian ice cream.

We got a restaurant suggestion from this shop owner.

http://www.kayabuttertoast.com/penang-food/the-oldest-nasi-kandar-in-penang-hameediyah-restaurant-campbell-street-georgetown-penang/

Oldest Muslim restaurant to Penang

Similar to Indian food.

Singapore

March 29.  We are at the airport waiting for our flight to Penang, Malaysia.  We had a busy day yesterday since it was our only day in Singapore.  The rest of our group and a lot of the other cruisers are staying in Singapore.  We went around on the subway.  It cost $4.80 to get to the airport.  A cab would have cost $30.

The founder of Singapore died this week.  The funeral proceedings are this weekend.

This is the famous Merlion, half man half lion.

Famous chili crab in Chinatown.  

We traveled with this couple from Long Beach.  After lunch we went to an electronics store.  Mom got a camera lens and I got a golf range finder.  After I checked the Amazon price I found out that I didn't get that good of a deal.

We went to Indiatown for dinner.

Homemade nan in stone oven.

Butter chicken and Chana masala.  The entire dinner cost $10.  Not bad considering everything else is very expensive.  A package of Oreos cost $20 at the airport.  One U.S. dollar is about $1.25 Ssingapore dollar.

Gold Medal

March 27

Mom's final water color.

There was a 3 on 3 contest today and guess who won.  Only two people showed up.  The other guy was from London and didn't know how to play.  The first person to make a basket won.

Today was our flash mob performance.  The first was by the pool after lunch.  The MC yells "flash mob" and the music starts playing.  We are all hanging around the deck in different locations and come running to the stage yelling and clapping.  When we all get there the routine begins.  The second performance is in the lounge at night. It was the most fun we had on the trip.  Mom and I were the only couple and there was only one other guy.

Pattaya

March 25.  Pattaya is a resort beach town a few hours south of Bangkok.  We went here on our previous trip so we just took the bus into town with no tour.  The most interesting thing to see were  the white men with the Thai women.  They aren't ashamed of appearing with their women who they most likely paid for.  I guss they figure no one knows them here.

This was from yesterday.

Finally had Phad Thai.  It cost less than $4, but was't any better than we get at home.  Mom's fried rice was served in a pineapple.

Free wifi at the food court. 

March 26

Artists

Flash mob

Tonight was our last formal night.  We had lamb chops and lobster, although the Carribean warm water lobster wasn't  that good.  The women (friends) on the lower left are from Boston, the upper left are Chuck and Chris, us, Jennifer and Benny , Benny Ong's best man from California, lower right Benny and Wendee.

Ayutthaya

March 24. Ayatthaya was the capitol before Bangkok.  It was invaded by Burma.  When they invaded they took the gold from the Budda statues and cut off the heads to show their dominance.

The current King is Rama the 9th. One of the previous kings was born in Boston during a time when people were protesting the monarchy.  Another of the Rama kings was murdered.  We heard the entire history of the Rama's.  The king is ceremonial, like the queen of England. I had an interesting experience today.  During lunch at a tourist restaurant one of the people on our bus asked me when we were leaving.  When I told him I didn't know he realized that I wasn't the tour guide.  He said to his friend that he got confused because I was oriental. It was a little strange since the guide had a full head of black hair, was about 50 and was wearing different clothes.  A lot of cruisers would not be able to travel indepentently.

Summer palace called Bang Pa.

We got to drive around in golf carts.

Ayatthaya

This Budda head was cut off and a tree grew around it.

When we were riding the driver dropped his stick.  He said something to the elephant and it picked up the stick with his trunk.

Hoi An

March 20. According to Lonely Planet Hoi An is "Vietnam's most atmospheric and delightful town".  It is in central Vietnam near China Beach, which was  where the US forces visited for R & R. Fortunately this area was spared by the war.  It is a world heritage site so there are restrictions on building any new structures.  The old part of town does not allow cars.  It reminded me of some of the towns we visited in Yunan province in China. As you can see, there was a lot of shopping here.  

The Japanese covered bridge built in 1593 is it's most famous site.

Chinese Assembly Hall.

I had pho here, but I actually like what we get at home better.  The beef wasn't  very good.  I would guess it is expensive.  

For an obvious reason the price they quoted mom for t shirts was more than what they quoted Chris who is Chinese.

A nice town to walk around.  It was in the upper 80's.

Waiting for the bus.

Big Saigon

March 22. Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam.  It has a population of 9 million.  We have been getting along with the dollar up to now.  Today we had to get the local currency called the Dong, which is worth 21,000 to the U.S. Dollar.  I got 5 million from the ATM machine which was about $238.  We were with another couple at the ATM.  They couldn't remember their PIN number so we lent them half of ours.  Hard to believe that they were experienced travelers.  He was a retired school superintendent and she was a teacher.

Much of the architecture is French.  This is the Notre Dame Cathedral built in the late 1880's.

Reunification Palace where the president lived.  Tanks broke through the gates in 1975 just before south Vietnam surrendered.  

Ben Thanh market.  This is one of the largest markets we have visited.  It was hot and crowed.  Everyone you passed tried to sell you something.  I had to get out of there.

Lunch at the Rex Hotel.  Fancy hotel with westernized food.  The couple we were with wanted to go here.  Cruisers aren't very adventurous.

War Remnants museum.   The museum had planes, tanks, guns and photo exhits all from the perspective of the communists.  For example one display said of the 3 million killed by the Americans, 2 million were civilians.