DAY 73 - CRUISING THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

We received some questions from some of you that we wanted to answer first.

Nancy thank you for your nice comments.  The items that they sold at the Orphanage were mainly scarves/shawls, embroidered table cloths, and embroidered cards.  We bought many items from them as a means of giving them a donation.  The older children make many of the items.  This this photos shows a couple of the items that were sold just to give you an idea of what some of them looked like.

Diane thank you so very much for your comments as well.  The orphanage does get some visitors from time to time.  They do also get funding from the government and from some other groups and individuals.  Keith had the same question as you did about adoption.  Once in the orphanage the children cannot be adopted and they can enter the orphanage at age four and stay there until they reach age 20.  We feel very blessed to share the World Cruise adventure with your wonderful parents.

Kevin, thank you for your nice comments.  You had asked about Gluten Free for items.  When you book the cruise all your travel agent needs to do is to note on the reservation that your wife requires that all food items be gluten free and that is not a problem.  She will have lots of food items to choose from.  Crystal does the same for other items such as those guests requiring kosher foods or guests requiring low-sodium foods or those guests with specific food allergies.

We wanted to begin by recapping our visit to the orphanage in Cambodia.  It was a very touching and moving experience for the two of us.    We would likely have similar feelings at other orphanages around the world.   What we found extraordinary and very special was that while the children didn't speak any English and while none of us could speak the local language in so many ways we communicated and bonded with the children.  We did this through dance, song, holding their hands and through our smiles. We brought smiles to them as they brought smiles to us.

Often, Keith would go up to the children and make a smile on his face and after he took each of their photos he would show them the photo on the camera and they would smile as they saw their faces in the photo.

Wouldn't it be nice if children across the world could keep those positive attributes into their adulthood and if that was possible maybe we would all someday live in a world without hate or vindictiveness nor war amongst people within and between countries.

Last evening we ran into the couple who took the instant photos with the Fuji Camera so they could give the photos to each child who picture they took.  We told them how thoughtful that was of them to do that and how touched the children looked as they held tight to their respective pictures and how moved and touched we were seeing how much they appreciated this.

We also wanted to note another observation.  The children demonstrated some games that they play with a something knitted that can also be used as a knitted ball to be thrown between children.  It reminded Keith of how he as a young boy would play with other children and how they would take items whether it was a rubber ball or even baseball cards and create all sorts of games amongst themselves.  It just is a reminder that you don't need all of these fancy dancy gadgets that some children have to have a good time.  Rather you can have just as good a time if not better by making up your own games with whatever items are available.

We thank Crystal Cruises for providing this opportunity for us to participate on this type of tour where we can do something that will benefit others.  While in the scheme of things the work we did to prepare the soil for planting was small, what we think likely mean a great deal more to the children was the time we spent singing and dancing with them as well as applauding the beautiful dances they did for us.  We also tried to help through our monetary contribution.

All of this is another reminder how fortunate and lucky we are to have been brought up where we lived and to have had a strong family support structure to help guide us in the right direction.

These are some additional photos from our visit to the orphanage.  In the first couple of them Anne Marie is singing to the children.

After we posted yesterday afternoon, Keith ended up playing more Paddle Tennis with passengers and some crew members.  It was fairly hot and humid but all had a nice time.  Those playing had some good laughs and played hard.  Keith and his Senior Crew Member partner beat another Senior Crew Member and another passenger in their final game.

We dined in the Crystal Dining Room last evening.  These are the dinner menus.

Before dinner last evening, we listened to pianist John Mentis at the Crystal Cove.  This photo shows Anne Marie is with one of her new shawls along with another new purse both purchased at Jim Thompson

We had spoken with our Headwaiter after we had dined in Prego two nights ago about having the same Swordfish that was served that very night.  This turned out to be a great decision as we enjoy Swordfish much more than the fish that was on last nights menu.

Like the past few days over the next several days we are going to be alternating between dining at the Crystal Dining Room and both specialty restaurants.  On top of that one evening we are going to be guests in one of the four largest suites on the ship for dinner.

We each began our meal with Salads.

We then had another item from the other night which was a Thai Duck and Noodle Soup.

As we mentioned, we had specially ordered the Swordfish for our entree.  It was cooked to perfection as it was very tasty.

We also had a smaller version of another Thai Entree from the other evening which was Thai Red Shrimp Curry.  It was definitely hot, hot, hot and both our Headwaiter, Augusto, another Headwaiter, Frantz and our Senior Waiter Salvatore warned us that it would be quite spicy.  In fact, Frantz had tasted it earlier in the day at Lunchtime and recommended to the Executive Chef that they tone it down. Even so, hot, hot, hot is a great description for it and if someone had a cold it would definitely provide some temporary relief.  They were telling us that on the night this was served one man at a nearby table tried it and as he was eating it had tears coming from his eyes.

As Anne Marie has a sensitive stomach to spices, she just had a half a shrimp.  While we normally do not eat spicy food, Keith does like some items spicy so he was able to eat all of the shrimp but it was definitely hot so he paused between bites to cool down.  He did not eat the rice that accompanied the shrimp/sauce as he wanted to minimize using the sauce.

While hot, it was nice to try this  in order to get a sense of some of the local Thai cuisine.

For dessert, Anne Marie had the sugar free Mango Ricotta Custard and Keith had the Nonfat Banana Yogurt. The desserts that look white are challenging to photograph so you'll have to take our word that there was custard and yogurt in our dishes.

Overall, the dining room was fairly quite between all of the people off the ship on various overlands of Angkor Wat and also some were on full day tours in Cambodia that got back later in the evening.  Some other guests who were back on the ship were dining in other venues such as the Specialty Restaurants with other guests preferring Tastes where they can dine and wear very casual clothing with others preferring to relax in their rooms by ordering room service.

We slept very well last evening as we sailed to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  We are sailing the South China Sea.

Keith woke up early as he has been throughout the cruise for another nice workout at the Fitness Center.  Eventually, he was joined there by fellow passenger Brian.  Keith noticed that even early in the morning that the outside temperature was already at 88 degrees.  This is expected in this area of the world where it will be hot and quite humid.  We still will take this weather anytime over the cold.

After his workout, he had coffee in the Lido Cafe as he read his e mail.  He spoke with some of the Lido Deck Stewards such a Rey and Rozano.

A short while later Anne Marie got in a nice one hour workout before we had breakfast.

Since this is a sea day there were plenty of activities throughout the ship.  We watched the daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy as we enjoyed our breakfast. There were several trivia questions and we called in for one of them and correctly answered it.

During Captain Glenn's morning talk he shared his thought of the day which goes like this.

"If you don't want anyone to find out, simply don't do it."

There were three lectures given today.  Ken Rees spoke about Vietnam.  Ken Walsh presented an insider's look of the 2012 Presidential Campaign and in the afternoon Dr. John McMichan spoke about Herbal Medications.

At 10:00 AM, Keith attended the Spin (Indoor Cycling) class.  This one was one of the toughest classes we had since boarding the ship and was given by the new instructor.  Tough is actually good as it makes you reach higher than you think you are capable of going.

This shows the clip on shoes and if Keith wasn't using them he would turn the pedal over and could slip a regular athletic shoe into the stirrups that could be adjusted.

We didn't attend the  Grand Gala Buffet.  Since we had Team Trivia and Keith wanted to play Paddle Tennis right afterwards, we had a salad entree in our room thanks to Rao.  Rao sets a beautiful table.

In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis and then read and wrote while Anne Marie walked for an hour on the Promenade Deck and watched a movie.

We will dine in Silk Road later this evening and before dinner go to a cocktail reception.  We'll post more about that tomorrow.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY......

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." St. Augustine

Keith and Anne Marie