DAY 76 - THIRD DAY - HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

Excellent Dinner At Prego Last Evening ✔ Enjoyed A Leisurely Day On The Ship  ✔


We have add some additional photos from yesterday.


These photos were taken when we stopped off at the River and saw the riverboats that make the trip between Ho Chi Minh city and the Mekong Delta.  Many of the Vietnamese people are superstitious so most of the riverboats have a drawing on the front of the ship to keep away evil spirits.  They live on these ships so several that we saw had pets or in some cases other types of animals as well as a variety of appliances and other items.

It is challenging with the photos to give you a sense to the traffic situation in Ho Chi Minh City. On many of the streets you will see hundreds of motorcycles at any given time along with buses and trucks.
At the same time on the weekdays there are plenty of cars and we suspect most are business related as there were very few on Sunday.  Like Singapore, there is a very high tax for those who own automobiles and they are out of reach for most Vietnamese.  While there were plenty of intersections without traffic lights and vehicles are coming at one another the drivers do maneuver carefully and actually drive the streets calmly.  We had to cross the street at various points but between the tour guide or say at the restaurant one of their employees assisting us we were able to do so.

Everywhere you go, you will see lots of motorbikes.

These photos show some of the interior rooms at the Reunification Palace.  The Palace was built in the 1960's and has that look.  It is quite impressive on the inside and from the inside of the building you actually get more of an appreciation for the pristine landscaping on the outside of the Palace.

We visited about twenty of the 150+ rooms at the Palace.  We also went all the way down to the basement to see the bomb shelter area.

The Palace had everything including bedrooms where the Presidents of former South Vietnam lived, guest bedrooms, rooms used for meetings and other rooms used for entertainment, a large kitchen for major functions, and even a movie theatre with about forty chairs and a room for gambling.

This room was used for meetings/conferences.

This room was used for entertaining guests.

Another one of the rooms used for meetings.

Some of the rooms did not have anything on the walls, while others like this room had some fancy lacquered panels.

This is a closer up view of one some of the lacquered panels.

This room was used by the wife of the President to dine with small groups of visitors to the Palace.

The next two photos show some of the rooms in the underground shelter.  These specific rooms were used for communication.

This was one of several views that we could enjoy from the interior of the building.

At the temple, some people brought fish that they would release and this was done for good luck.

You can't quite make them all out but there was an odd number of candles because the odd number is for good luck.

One of many happy moments that we had at yesterday's lunch.

We had mentioned that at yesterday's lunch that one of the course was soup but did not include a photo showing the soup.  This photo shows the soup and how it was served to us.

We mentioned yesterday that we had some Dragon Fruit as part of the fruit plate we had at lunch yesterday.  That was the fruit with all of the edible seeds.  This photo shows them whole and with the skin on them.

For those of you who have not visited Ho Chi Minh City before we would recommend viewing it from different perspectives as we did such as seeing parts of the city on foot and others by vehicle or tour bus.  We enjoyed seeing it from the Pedicabs as well.  Taking organized tours are very important as well as you really cannot take it all in on your own nor will you know where precisely to go.  


During yesterdays tour we also learned that only those people born in Vietnam and citizens of the country can own housing.  Sometimes, people try to get around this by having someone buy it for them but legally they don't own the property.  


Overall, we found the people that we interacted with to be quite friendly.  Even the numerous vendors are not overly pushy. Yes, if you walk by their stalls or shops they will likely ask you if you want to purchase something but all you have to do is say no thank you and they will not push you any further.  We also found those who work in the higher end stores to be quite nice and they did not push us to purchase any of their items.


The country has lots of potential and has truly incorporated capitalism into their way of life.  Tourism is very important to their economy and they recognize that.  


Before we post about last evening and today we wanted to share with you a special photo with you.


From time to time we mention the magnets that are given to us during this voyage and the items we keep on the wall including photos of family and other items that we receive during the cruise so we thought we would post a photo of the entry wall.  Throughout each day we can look at photos of our loving family as we enter and leave our room.

These are the dinner menus from last nights dinner at the Crystal DIning Room.

As we mentioned yesterday, originally we were supposed to dine with friends Sandy and Mike in their Crystal Penthouse but those plans will be rescheduled as Sandy was under the weather.


Instead, we had Rao make reservations for us to dine at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant and we invited Cruise Director Rick Spath to join us.  We had a wonderful time at dinner enjoying a great conversation along with terrific food and service.  By the time we left, the restaurant was quite busy.

We each had salad, and then we had a small course of the pasta entree.

The highlight of the meal for us was the entree and we had the Lemon Sole Entree which was one of the two entree additions to the menu.  As usual, what made the entree so unique was not just the fish but it was the items that accompanied the entree along with its presentation.  It was very tasty and cooked to perfection.

For dessert Anne Marie had a gelato and Keith had the fruit plate.


About an hour later we enjoyed a nightcap in the Crystal Cove.  Well, maybe more than a nightcap.  We ended up sitting there close to three hours and enjoyed conversations with fellow guests and some senior officers.  We had a fun time.  We also listened to Pianist John Mentis.


It was very easy to fall asleep last evening.  We were exhausted between the full day tour, and going to sleep at a few minutes past midnight.  We slept very well and did not hear the horns from any ships while we slept.    


In spite of getting to sleep so late, Keith was up fairly early and back to the Fitness Center.  He put in a longer workout than usual as he was talking with fellow guest Brian for part of the time and that made the time go much more quickly.  After he put up some laundry he stopped by the Lido Cafe and there were quite a lot of passengers having breakfast as some were on tours today.  


Anne Marie slept a little later and she did some additional laundry before breakfast.


We called Rao about 45 minutes before we normally have breakfast  to see if it was not too much trouble if he could bring our breakfast whenever he had time.  We mentioned no rush and whatever time was perfectly fine for us.  Around ten minutes later, there was Rao with our breakfast.  Rao has just been a gem and we appreciate all that he does.


After breakfast, Anne Marie worked out for an hour.


During the day we each got caught up on some things that we haven't gotten to the past few days.  Keith did some reading and writing and organized some items related to our upcoming visits to China.  Anne Marie went through our extra supply of toiletry items that we keep in a suitcase underneath the bed and moved several of them into drawers in the bathroom.  


We each had salad entrees for lunch as we do on most days.


Tuna Salad for Keith

Chef's Salad for Anne Marie

In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis and also got together with friend Bob and heard about the overland that Bob and Glo did of Angkor Wat.  It sounded like a wonderful trip and Keith enjoyed seeing several of the photos from the trip.


The Crystal Spa and Salon offered a special on a Back, Neck and Shoulder Massage and Anne Marie took advantage of this offer and went for the massage.  This is the first time she has gotten a massage on this voyage and really enjoyed it.  


After two overnights, the Crystal Serenity departed Ho Chi Minh City at 3:00 PM and we are now sailing to our next port of call in Da Nang.

Back in the days of the Vietnam War The Beatles were one of the Rock Bands that often wrote about peace.  John Lennon release the song Imagine in 1971 about one year after the breakup of the Beatles and we thought this verse applies just as much to the world today as it did when he first wrote it.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY....

“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.” – John Lennon

Keith and Anne Marie