Motorbikes are king in Vietnam. Literally thousands, everywhere you look.

So, after 3 days in Cambodia we departed Siem Reap, and flew to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam, to re-join the ship. Our shore tour was to the Cu Chi tunnels, some 120+ miles of tri-level underground passageways, living quarters, etc used by the Viet Cong resistance fighters in the 60’s and early 70’s. Utterly fascinating, in an innovative, depressing sort of way.

Cambodians *love* Christmas - there are elaborate decorations everywhere. 🎄

Probably the best Angkor Wat photo I got.

Not bad for a couple of old farts.

Angkor Wat was originally a Hindu-based construction dedicated to Vishnu, built probably in the 10th century (depending on who you talk to). It gradually became a Buddhist shrine in the 12th century, as Cambodian theology shifted. Cambodia is now 96% Buddhist.

After coming all this way, we were pleased at this.

We’re here ! (Angkor Wat)

Off to Siem Reap.

Evidently a traditional Cambodian Christmas table decoration is a bag of water. (on all tables - open to explanation)

Diet Coke:

more market stuff

Prowling the shrines & marketplace of Sihanoukville, before the flight to Siem Reap.

Having a nice lunch on the coast of Sihanoukville. The circled are individual pepper slices, each about half the size of a pea. I tried *one* and my mouth will apparently remain on fire for the foreseeable future🔥🔥

Ok, this morning begins the best part. We will be off the ship for the next several nights, staying in Siem Reap in northern Cambodia and thoroughly exploring Angkor Wat. This is the part that sold me on this particular cruise! Now waiting to disembark & head to Sihanoukville’s airport.

We did a water sport thing where they towed a two-person inflatable behind the zodiacs. I couldn’t get pics or video because one really had to hold the hand straps right, or risk getting thrown off. At about 30 mph we bounced around and got soaked, it was *really* fun!

There was a cluster of people about 50 feet out into the water, up to their waists. I waxed out - on a surfboard, they had a caviar and champagne station.

The view from our beach chairs.

Today we sailed into a little Thai island, Ko Kood, and just had a “get away from it all” kinda day. Tenders from the ship to shore. There was a BBQ setup, lots of water sports.

_

mmmmm, Beef Wellington.

More Sanctuary of Truth.

We went to the Sanctuary of Truth today, an all wooden building with overt influences of both Buddhism and Hinduism. There are no nails, every bit of the building and decoration is wood, fitted together with various kind of joints.

Merry Christmas everybody! It’s Tuesday morning about 8:00am and we’ve docked at Laem Chabang, the port for Bangkok. As we’ve spent time in Bangkok previously, we’ll do a shore excursion well south this time. Stay tuned.

A little radio-silent right up front, only because our first two days are sea days, before we reach our first port, Laem Chabang & North Pattaya in Thailand, tomorrow morning. Christmas morning! So anyway, no destination pix or stories yet, but life on board is, of course, wonderful. Five different dining venues to choose from, 2 lectures (at least) every day by guest speakers with great stories to tell and insights to deliver. And last night I wished out loud “maybe we could have a good ol’ South China Sea monsoon”......and right now the rain is horizontal & the wind is whipping! Perhaps good to have it while we’re sailing & not visiting ports.

.....it’s nearly midnight in Singapore (God knows what that is everywhere else) but we’ve just done the sail away. We had a wonderful dinner onboard, we’re settled in, and happy birthday to ME! (I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate, than to sail out of Singapore in search of adventure!). Stay tuned!

Ok, it’s nearly 11:00pm on Friday here, but our body clocks still seem to think it’s 5:00am Thursday. I think that’s it. Something like that. Anyway, helped along by a nice Singapore hotel, a wonderful dinner of 4 different kinds of grilled beef from Australia & Japan, and a nice bar with a “living wall” behind it.