The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-eight

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October 25 (Saturday, Day 39, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia - Continued)

We rode for about 20 minutes to the snorkel site, Tanjung Jepun. Snookums put on her wetsuit even though the water was probably 85 degrees and we jumped in. The water was crystal clear and there were colorful fish and coral everywhere. Our “captain” also played snorkel guide and took us to see two submerged buddha statues and pointed out trumpet fish and other fish to us. Too soon it was time to get back in the canoe and return to the pier. The Amsterdam was anchored between the snorkel site and the pier so we got to see it, too, from a different vantage.

Snorkeling pictures 1-10

The first one's a tease . . . more after the jump!

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-seven

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October 24 (Friday, Day 38, At sea) -

We woke up and saw a bird sitting on the partition separating the verandahs. It was there at least 15 minutes before it decided to fly off. It was overcast but the seas were calm. Many of the days at sea have been overcast and drizzly but the days at port have all been wonderful so no one is complaining.

Special guest bird, on the divider between verandas

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-six

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October 22 (Wednesday, Day 36, Singapore - Continued)

We left off the story in Singapore's Chinatown, where we had just had lunch, and were continuing on.

We left lunch and after walking about 1-1/2 blocks, we ran into Yvan and Alice, our Canadian tablemates. It is a very small world. They also hadn’t seen anyone from the ship in their wanderings and thought it was strange. We told them how to take the subway back to the ship and continued walking around.

We just can't get away from those mad Canadians!

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-five

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October 21 (Tuesday, Day 35, At sea) -

Today we lost an hour for the first time on this cruise so our night was short. And, to make it worse, Filbert set the alarm for 8 AM in order to wake up to watch the Denver Broncos on ESPN Sunday night football. Denver ended up losing big time so he got up early for nothing. While Filbert watched the game, Snookums mended the hem of his T-shirt. The laundry mark stickers are sometimes put on the hem stitching and when they are removed, the stitching breaks. We have told them numerous times (and write it on the laundry form every time) to please put the stickers on the fabric and not on the stitching, but they just don’t get it!

We went to the guest talent show since Yvan, our Canadian tablemate, was in it. It was the best guest talent show ever and everyone that saw it echoed that opinion. Yvan sang “Edelweiss” and was part of a barbershop quartet (which he had never done before this cruise) and was part of the HAL Chorale. The cruise director, Bruce, is a Julliard graduate and decided to start a choir, so the choir rehearsed on most sea days and then performed two songs for the guest talent show. Other performers included a cowboy poet, an Irish comedian, an elderly female singer who was fantastic, a banjo playing male singer and a ukulele-playing female singer. Of all the acts, there was only one that was so-so (a male singer) and the rest were really outstanding.

The barbershop quartet

The HAL Chorale

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-four

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October 20 (Monday, Day 34, Ko Samui, Thailand) - Continued

In our last post, we began our snorkel swim off Coral Island, Thailand. We continue . . .

Snookums and friendly fish

The water was very murky and it seemed like visibility was about 5 feet but the water was warm so that made it nice. We swam towards the coral and found 100s of yellow and black striped fish. They were very friendly and swam right in front of our faces. It was pretty neat. We didn't see any other kind of fish and the coral was kind of hard to see, but it was still a great snorkel. We climbed on the boat for the return to Coral Island. (After Filbert got on the longtail boat, his feet slipped out from under him and he went completely down on his back on the little deck of the boat but he immediately quipped "What did the judges score me?" and we all knew he was fine.)

More snorkel pictures and the rest of the post, after the jump:

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-three

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October 20 (Monday, Day 34, Ko Samui, Thailand) -

We booked a snorkel tour and got on the tender for the 25 minute ride to the town. Then we got in a 9-passenger van for the ride to the location of the longtail boats that would then take us to Koh Tan. Ko Samui is Thailand's third largest island and is known for its beaches and booming tourism trade and is the second most popular island destination in Thailand, second only to Phuket. Around 45,000 people live on Ko Samui.

Tender

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-two

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October 17 (Friday, Day 31, At sea) -

We ordered room service and ate breakfast on the verandah. The sea was as smooth as glass but we still didn't see any sea life and haven't really seen any since Day Two of this cruise. Around noon it started getting dark and little whitecaps started forming.

Ah, back at sea

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-one

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October 16 (Thursday, Day 30, Phu My [Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon], Vietnam) -

The Mekong Delta

In celebration of our 4th anniversary, we bought a shore excursion. We decided we should go to Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon, population 7,000,000). It was about 70 miles or 2 hours from the port so we bought a roundtrip transfer.

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty

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Happy Halloween to everyone back home!

October 14 (Tuesday, Day 28, Da Nang, Vietnam - 16,500 dong to the dollar) -

We docked and took the free shuttle to downtown Da Nang (population 750,000). We didn't bother getting Vietnamese currency since we were told that U.S. currency was okay. Gary served here in the Navy so we walked around with him and Charlotte. We walked to the local two-story market.

Han Market

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Nineteen

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October 13 (Monday, Day 27, Cruising South China Sea) -

We used today as a catch up day after spending two days in Hong Kong. Lots of reading, napping, computing and listening to short wave radio was done. A small flock of seabirds (one person on the ship called them petrels) circled the ship, swooping to snatch flying fish being scared out of the water by the ship.

A short picture study of petrels at sea, after the jump: