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Saturday 26th January

Today we are at sea. At 10:00 a.m. we are at 110E and 13N in the South China Sea area of the Pacific Ocean as we head towards Hue. It is 25C with a force 5 wind from the northeast and the decks are wet from the humidity and spray from the ocean.     …

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Friday 25th January

Nha Trang, Vietnam. At 6:30 a.m. we slipped into the bay of Nha Trang. We were greeted with the sight of a  ring of rainforest clad inactive volcanic peaks in front of which was a ring of smaller limestone peaks forming a ‘necklace’. This is because we are leaving the ‘ring of fire’ and entering …

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Thursday 24th January

Phu My ( Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam It was at the entrance to the Mekong River at 4:00 a.m. when the ship left the South China Sea to a deep-water port where the mangroves have been cleared. In the 1920s and 30s passenger liners were able to navigate the meandering river (known locally as …

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Wednesday 23rd January

Today is a day at sea, accompanied by our latest towel friend. We travelled overnight across the Gulf of Thailand and at 08:30 a.m. we were off the southwest tip of the enormous Mekong Delta. We were sailing through waters that had entered the gulf from a distributary which has its source near Tibet. This …

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Tuesday 22nd January

By 7:00 a.m. we had docked at Sihanoukville, Cambodia. This is not a pretty place but does give us access to the countryside, forest and coastline. We participated in a town and village exploration which enabled us to visit a pepper plantation. We saw how the young trees matured to produce green peppers for up …

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Monday 21st January

Today we were having breakfast at dawn to enable us to get to the historical town of Chachoengsao, the location of a traditional market of shops and houses of wooden construction built upon land and above the irrigation canals. Unfortunately being a Monday morning we were the first there and did not see or meet …

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Sunday 20th January

We had an early start this morning to drive from the deep seaport for about 2 hours to Bangkok city centre. It is a city of about 13 million people so Sunday morning traffic helped ease the journey. We drove to Wat Pho which is one of the quieter Buddhist sites in the city. It …

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Saturday 19th January

This morning we awoke to find ourselves at anchor in deep water off the village of Nathon on the island of Ko Samui. This inactive volcano is part of an island group on the Pacific Rim at the entrance to the Gulf of Thailand. In the past the island was important for its coconut industry …

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Friday 18th January

Today is our ‘day at sea’ as we sail past Malaysia on the South China Sea to our destination at daybreak tomorrow of the island Ko Samui, Thailand. This morning we had a tour of the galley where the food for 2000 guests and about 800 crew members is prepared. It was interesting that our …

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Thursday 17th January

At lunchtime we embarked upon the Holland America Line ship Westerdam at Singapore’s Marina Bay Cruise Terminal which is very close to the city centre and affords great views of the city and port. Commercial ships were in line at anchor awaiting a space to load or unload in the dock complex. Twice during the …

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