Cochin, India - Saturday 31st March

Cochin (or Kochi) is in the state of Kerala in south west India.  This is another area that was settled by the Portuguese in 1500, then the Dutch then the British from 1795.  There are a high percentage of Christians in the area with lots of churches – mainly catholic I think.  Interestingly Christianity is said to have been  introduced to Kerala in 20 AD by Saint Thomas – I always assumed it was brought by the Portuguese.

Chinese Fishing Net

We docked at yet another container port, though this is a small one on Willingdon Island which is the centre of the trade and government offices.  We only had half a day to explore as the morning was taken up with immigration formalities – apparently the officials usually come on board early (e.g. at Sri Lanka) but this year they opted to do everything on the day.  We went for a walk around Fort Cochin, the historic part of the town,  and found it quite charming if you ignored the rubbish -  and certainly it was a gentle introduction to India for Keith as we only saw one beggar and no evidence of shanty towns or people living under tarpaulins as I had seen in Hyderabad.

Ambassador Taxi

There is a nice promenade and a sandy beach but apparently the sea is polluted here – there are lots of other lovely beaches in Kerala we were told – this one  was certainly popular with promenading couples.  It is famous for its Chinese fishing nets which apparently are built to a centuries-old design.  They look quite ingenious, working on a pully system.  We watched one being pulled up – they don’t get a very big catch but seem to dip them up and down quite regularly.

Typical old street

A lot of the old buildings have been converted into small hotels or ‘homestays’ and there are small shops selling crafts, clothes, jewellery and spices,  plus restaurants and cafes and the usual stalls on the beach with vendors selling all sorts of souvenirs.  We didn’t get too much hassle and bought a couple of shirts at reasonable prices – it certainly seemed like a pleasant place though not somewhere we are desperate to return to. 

All the lorries are decorated  in different patterns

Colombo, Sri Lanka – Friday 30th March

This is the capital of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) which is a large island to the south east of India. Apparently the country’s earliest inhabitants came from the north of India and the city of Anuradhapura, the first capital, was the home of Buddhism until it was abandoned following an invasion from south India.  The Portuguese landed in 1505 and took control of the west coast, then the Dutch took over followed by the English in 1796 – they of course introduced the tea for which Ceylon is famous.  The country became independent in 1948 and changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972.  There has been ongoing violence between the Sinhala and Tamil communities but the war officially came to an end in 2009.  There is still a strong military presence in Colombo.

The welcome committee

We docked in a container port again – problem with our ship being too big for the cruise terminal.  The local taxi union did not allow the ship to provide shuttle buses into the town so those of us not booked on a tour had the option of over-priced taxis or a long dusty walk to the dock gate – we  chose the latter – it probably took about half an hour and of course we were constantly harassed by taxi drivers telling us what a long way it was!  When we got through the gate we didn’t have clear view of where we were as we had been given the wrong location for the ship by our tour office!  We decided to utilise one of the tuk-tuks who offered to give us a tour of the sites.  As usual the ride was quite fun but a bit scary with all the traffic and sometimes suffocating with traffic fumes.

A typical street with waiting tuk-tuks

In truth there is not a huge amount of interest in Colombo.  We saw a few temples and the driver took us into one which was intriguing.  It had a sort of museum with cabinets stuffed full of antique watches, firearms, carved ivory and all manner of Buddha statues which we were told were real gold encrusted with real diamonds emeralds and other gems.  If that is true they must be worth a fortune.  There was also an old Rolls Royce which looked to be in good working order.  Outside we met the baby elephant shown in the photo.

Lots of ivory used in the decorations!

There are some remaining old colonial buildings such as the museum and telegraph office, and some nice developments and posh houses around a park area known as Victoria Park.  Also the sea front looks quite attractive and has some luxury hotel developments.  We did see a cricket ground where a game was going on (this the day after Sri Lanka beat England in the first test).  We were dropped off  at a large market which was very colourful and very loud with all the stallholders shouting out their offers – things were incredibly cheap but the quality of the clothes was poor – we had better luck in the small shops nearby.

We failed to find a bar or even an inviting café and were wondering how to get back to the ship as we didn’t really know where it was when an enterprising local offered to take us for 5 dollars!  Seemed like a bargain to us – he then engaged a tuk-tuk and guided it back to the dock gates – unfortunately the taxi union had managed to ban tuk tusk to so we had the dreary walk back, this time accompanied by lots of big smelly lorries.  Not our favourite port of call – however fellow guest tell us that we shouldn’t judge Sri Lanka by Colombo as most of it is a beautiful country.

As an aside, we have been told that we are now entering waters which are subject to piracy.  For the next two weeks we will have an armed guard on board and the ship will be blacked out at night – we had a piracy drill which consisted of everyone sitting in the corridor outside their cabins – in case anyone shoots us through the window I guess!  They are certainly taking it very seriously.

Langkawi, Malaysia – Tuesday 27th March

Langkawi Islands - early morning

Langkawi  (or more correctly Palau Langkawi) is the main island of a group of 99 in the Strait of Malacca off the northwest coast of Malaysia and within view of Thailand.  It is reported as having been a peaceful island of fishermen and farmers until it was granted duty free status in 1987 and the airport was opened.  In 1990 the Langkawi Development Authority was formed by the Malaysian government to transform the island into a major tourist destination.  It has certainly got all of the attributes to become one, and lots of world-class spa resort hotels have been built, but luckily to date it has not been over-developed and its inherent tropical beauty still shines through.

One of the many beaches

The boat anchored offshore and we took the tender into a small marina from where a shuttle bus drove us to a nearby beach where there is a duty free shopping centre and Underwater World, which was reported by other passengers as being a fabulous aquarium rivalling any they had seen.  Being keen we arrived  before anything was open and had planned to spend some time swimming and sunbathing on the beautiful beach.  We  had been warned about jellyfish by other passengers and called in at a hotel to ask about the danger – the receptionist replied that there was nothing to worry about as ‘only one guest had been stung yesterday and he was now out of hospital’  So there is a down side to paradise!  We decided not to take the risk and checked out some of the other options.  We were too late for most of the boat trips but we met a guy who said we could charter a motor boat belonging to his friend and go on a three hour tour  - which is what we did.

The inland waterway

The boat and friend turned out to be on the other side of the island, about half an hour away but it was interesting to see some of the interior and realise that the roads are in good condition and very uncrowded – there is no public transport so hiring a car would be a viable option for a holiday.  The trip followed a standard route but was none-the-less exciting for that – on the way we caught up with some of the other tour boats but felt quite privileged to have one all to ourselves.

Local Eagle

First we followed a creek inland through mangrove swamps – and marvelled at the beautiful scenery with craggy rocks and untamed jungle coming right down to the water.  Our first stop was to feed eagles – both small red ones and larger sea eagles – they swooped down to pick up chicken skin / tidbits  thrown by the boat drivers.  We weren’t too sure about the ecological correctness of this but decided that at the moment this is a very small operation and probably doesn’t have too much impact – it was great to see the eagles close up anyway!

Local Monkey

We carried on inland and passed through a very low tunnel in the cliffs, all stalactites and stalagmites  – it was like a Disney ride  but this one provided by nature – then we came across a pack of monkeys who were also being fed by the boat drivers  - they were climbing all over the boats and of course were very cute.  At our next stop we left the boat to walk through a cave full of roosting fruit bats.  I should have worried more about disturbing them if I hadn’t seen the ones happy to roost just a few feet above our heads in the walkways at Singapore zoo,  even so it was disturbing to see people taking flash photos when there were signs forbidding it!  Finally we called at a floating bar/restaurant (balanced on a lot of oil drums) which also had a lot of pens with different types of local fish, some of them huge – presumably you can eat  them in the restaurant.  Our trip finished with a high speed drive through open sea back to the starting point where the original guy was waiting to drive us back to the ship – we had been slightly nervous that he might not bother as we had handed over all of the money, but we should have been more trusting.  Obviously the locals are out to make money out of tourists but they do seem to be genuinely nice people as well and we certainly didn’t experience any hassle at all on this island.

Rainclouds gathering

We only saw a small part of the island, but we glimpsed lots of secluded beaches on our tour – and there are other small islands that can be easily visited.  There is also a cable car which takes you up over the rainforest and a Cultural Foundation and Crafts Complex.  I think  Langkawi is a super holiday destination – worth visiting soon before it gets over-developed but if we go we will look for a place with a swimming pool as the jellyfish seem to like these waters.

Penang, Malaysia – Monday 26th March

Penang

Penang is an island off the northwest coast of Malaysia, now joined by a 13.5 Km bridge.  It was claimed by Captain Francis Light of the East India Company in 1791 – he got an agreement from the Sultan of Kedah that the Company could have the trading rights in return for military aid against Siam.  When the military aid was not forthcoming the Sultan  tried to take the island back, but succeeded in losing another strip of land on the mainland, now called Seberang Perai.  The East India Company did agree to pay him 10,000 Spanish Dollars per year and the State of Penang still pays the sultan of Kedah 18,800 Ringgits per year (about 3750 pounds).

The ship docked in Georgetown, the island’s capital, and we spent our time there, but it does also have a major beach resort and several other beaches plus Malaysia’s smallest National Park.  We were hoping to at least get to the funicular railway that goes to the top of Penang Hill but ran out of time – a good excuse to go back and explore some more.

Town Hall

The dock was at Swettenham Jetty, right on the tip of the Colonial District of Georgetown and next to the Victorian Clock Tower, built to 60ft. to commemorate the diamond jubilee.  We walked around Fort Cornwallis, admiring the cannon, and passed some very impressive old buildings such as the Town Hall, the City Hall and the Penang Museum.  We stopped for coffee in a very traditional Chinese shop (high ceilings and wooden beams with a narrow road frontage due to the British tax on width of frontage) then continued to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel which was built by the Sarkie brothers in 1884 prior to Raffles in Singapore – like Raffles it fell on hard times but has now been renovated to its former glory and looks like a magnificent place to stay and much cheaper than Raffles.

Next we visited the Cheong Fatt TzeMansion  - or The Blue House – built by a famous Chinese entrepreneur in the late 19^th century.  It is a lovely house with 38 rooms and was built in Chinese style  but with western influences such as stained glass windows and a tiled floor from Stoke. The owners acquired it in 1990 and are still carrying out restorations – they have some rooms to rent – they looked amazing – full of period features and antique furniture. 

Typical old buildings in GeorgeTown

Tight squeeze in a trishaw

 We carried on with our tour of China Town,  a fascinating mixture of shops, workshops, temples and backpackers hostels (saw the mandatory old hippies who must have been there since the 60’s), called in at the atmospheric Protestant Cemetery (1792 to 1890)  - and looked  in a few hotels contemplating a future stay -  then took a trishaw ride down to the shopping mall as I needed a new phone battery.  That became interesting when we started going down a dual carriageway the wrong way, but the traffic seemed to flow around us so they must be used to it.  All  the trishaw drivers seemed to be old men so I guess it doesn’t appeal to the younger generation. Following that we visited Khoo Kongsi, the clan house of the Khoo – this was built in 1906 and is magnificent, decorated with dragons and lots of carvings. 

Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi

We continued our walk through Little India up a street full of money changers, stopped for a beer then made our way back to the ship exhausted as it was very hot.  Georgetown is certainly full of history and culture and deserves its world heritage site status, but it is annoying to see some really ugly modern buildings in the centre and some old ones crumbling away – it could easily get swallowed up.

We were expecting to visit Phuket, Thailand,  tomorrow but the captain announced that the officials  were insisting on doing a face-to-face immigration inspection and only providing 3 officers – he calculated it would take 5 hours to cover all passengers and crew so apparently after attempts at negotiation all day they decided not to call there and have arranged for us to visit Langkawi instead.  It was odd because we have already made two stops in Thailand with no problems at all, but maybe they have local rules in Phuket or there is a heightened security threat – anyway I expect there will be a lot of disappointed taxi drivers and tour agents.

Port Kelang, Malaysia – 25th March

The Cruise Centre is the only developed building in the area

This stop was designed for people to take a trip into Kuala Lumpur, but as we have visited several times and will be there again in June, we decided not to take the 90 minute drive into town.  We had planned to visit the town of Kelang (also known as Klang) which is nearby, but the  tourist information guy at the cruise terminal said there was nothing to see so it didn’t seem worth the taxi fare and we opted for a free shuttle into a local shopping mall – pleasant enough but nothing really to report (apart from the fact that Macdonalds had run out of Cadbury’s chocolate for the dipped ice creams – boo!).  I expect I will have more to say about Penang tomorrow.

Sheree painting the Captain

As an aside, we  had a celebrity artist on board up to Singapore.  She is called Sheree Valentine Daines and is known as an English impressionist.  We had never heard of her but she got known for painting sporting scenes like the Ashes, England World Cup rugby, Ascot and Henley and also celebrity portraits – she was on the Rolf Harris show painting Michael Parkinson and has also done Johnny Wilkinson and others I can’t remember – she is scheduled to do Elton John and Vivien Westwood.  Anyway she was great fun and did some demonstrations,  one of them painting the Captain in 1.5 hours  - though she did some more work on it afterwards, it was really impressive and he was recognisable in the first five minutes or so.  We are great fans of French impressionist painting and it was great to see someone painting in that style, so we ended up buying one of her smallest works – remains to be seen whether it will increase in value but we will enjoy having it on the wall.

Singapore – Saturday 24th March

Singapore is at the bottom of the Malay peninsula and lies 85 miles north of the equator.  It is 227 square miles and has a population of 3.8 million.  Its position on the main trade routes from Europe to South Asia and the Far East has enabled it to become the commercial capital of South East Asia and it is one of world’s greatest ports.  Until 1819 it was largely uninhabited and known as Singa Pura or Lion City (apparently a visiting prince thought he saw a lion when he was visiting!).  Sir Stamford Raffles claimed it for the British East India Company and it was run by them until it became a Crown Colony in 1867.  It was Britain’s key defence base in WW2 but fell into Japanese hands when they arrived by land from Malaya (on bicycles) instead of by sea as expected.  It joined the Malay Federation in 1954 and became an independent republic and member of the Commonwealth in 1965.  Since then it has grown continuously and changes are apparent every time you visit.

I have been to Singapore a few times and it is easy to like – everything is neat and tidy and safe – sort of a taste of Asia for wimps!  We docked in the huge container port – it took the bus 10 minutes to get us to the exit and it then drove us to the Harbourfront Centre – a big shopping mall with convenient connections to the  metro and also a cable car and monorail which go to Sentosa Island – this is a leisure resort with beaches, rides, a butterfly park and other attractions.  We didn’t go there though, having decided to venture out to the zoo.  This involved a metro and a bus journey and we were lucky enough to meet three young Malaysians on the bus  who had passes that allowed them to take guests in so we got free entry. It is super, being built in some original jungle, so automatically giving a good backdrop for the animals – even if they don’t actually originate in the jungle.  We loved the orang-utans – they could  walk  on cables about 20 ft. above our heads and I was terrified that a baby was going to let go of its mother, but I guess they are used to it. 

Freeloading Bats at the zoo

We also saw an elephant display and visited other big cats, white tigers, giant tortoises, giraffes and rhinos.  It was fascinating to see colonies of bats who had settled in some of the covered walkways and seemed quite at home  with all the people passing through.

After the zoo we headed for the Raffles Hotel and took out a mortgage on a couple of Singapore Slings (30 pounds for 2 drinks!)  It is an iconic spot though and still conjours up visions of the colonial era – although it has been redeveloped they have managed to keep it looking much the same as it always has done, and there is a very interesting museum packed with memorabilia form the stars of bygone eras..  We then had a look round the Harbour City Mall before heading back to the ship

Koh Samui, Thailand – 22nd March

Koh Samui is Thailand’s third largest island and billed as one of its premier beach resorts.  It was a self-sufficient community with no roads and remained undeveloped until 1967 when they started blasting rock and clearing jungle – once they had built a ring road in 1973 the tourists started to arrive.  We took the tender in to the port, Na Thon, which is unremarkable and, as seems to be the case with a lot of the ports we go in to, quite a way from all the recommended beaches. 

Our own Songtaew

We thought we would beat all the taxi drivers and tour touts at the landing and take one of the songtaews (converted pick-up trucks with bench seats in the back) which provide a bus service around the island.  Unfortunately it seemed that all the songtaew drivers thought they could make  more money by offering a taxi service to cruise passengers, so we gave in and hired one to take us to the beach – cost us 24 pounds but he did wait for us to bring us back – obviously didn’t need to earn any more for the day.

Beach at Bo Phut

We started the 13km journey on a bit of a bad note, and we were not very excited by the view of a fairly busy road lined with lots of fairly tacky-looking bars, guest houses and shops.  However by the time we reached our resort of Bo Phut the road was some way from the beach and we turned down a small lane into a much more agreeable place – still bars and shops but looking much more well-kept and quite attractive.  We stopped to have a drink at a small guest house/bar which was right on the beach and they invited us to use their sun loungers for as long as we wanted which we did.  We had a swim in the very warm sea and I was persuaded to have a massage at the establishment next door.  It was certainly thorough – lasted an hour and the woman was crawling all over me digging knees into me and stretching everything.  I actually felt quite good at the end but now, a few hours later, feel like I have been in a crash – maybe tomorrow I will be re-juvenated!

So, after a dodgy start we did end up being quite fond of this little resort and even had a look at some accommodation we could rent by the month – maybe for next winter.  We ended up by buying even more clothes in Na Thon before returning to the ship – it is difficult to resist the hugely attractive prices!  Of course we only saw one part of the island which has a circumference of 60km, the biggest resort with hotels is called Chaweng and there are lots of other beaches around the island as well as a national park in the centre – I see you can even go elephant trecking.

A Bo Phut Cricket

We now have a day at sea before a set of four ports in four days

Bangkok – 21st March

Arun Wat

The ship docked at Laem Chabang, a container port about 25 miles from Bangkok.  We took a coach into the city – not a hair-raising ride like the last one to Saigon, but because of heavy traffic it did take 2 hours.

Bangkok became the capital of Thailand (then Siam) in 1782 when King Rama 1 moved his court from the western to the eastern side of the Chao Phraya River and he built the Grand Palace and the temple Wat Pho beside the river.  The city expanded rapidly in the early 20^th century, and, following an occupation by the Japanese in WW2 it grew to a population of 8 million (there are 62 million in Thailand).

We had 4 hours to explore but this hardly allowed us to scratch the surface of this fascinating city.  We were dropped at a hotel in the town centre which is conveniently connected to a monorail station  so we took the train to the river bank from where we could catch a passenger boat up the Chao Phraya river to the area around the Grand Palace which is home to many beautiful temples and other old buildings.  The river is a main thoroughfare through this area and several of the top hotels are situated on the waterfront and have their own river boats.  Opposite the Grand Palace is the beautiful Arun Wat temple (Temple of the Dawn - see photo) which has a 259 ft. pagoda that can be climbed precariously from the outside.  We didn’t cross the river to visit it but have it on the list for next time. 

We headed instead for Wat Pho which is the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok and contains the country’s largest (150ft long and 49ft high) reclining Buddha.  That was impressive, but the rest of the temple is really beautiful,  – it is also renowned for teaching herbal medicine and traditional massage and it is possible to have a massage there.

Wat Pho

The Reclining Buddha

Unfortunately we couldn’t enter the Grand Palace (which is surrounded by a high wall) because Keith was wearing shorts  - we opted instead to engage a tuk-tuk (3 wheel auto rickshaw) to take us to two other temples recommended by one of the officials – he also negotiated the price of 40 baht (about 80 pence) for her to drive us around and wait whilst we visited each one.  Neither of them came close to Wat Pho in looks but they looked more like working temples so were interesting to see. The driver was very keen for us to also visit an official export shop which  had a sale of jewellery – we didn’t want to but she said that if we  just went in she would a get a free petrol coupon which obviously meant a lot to her!  The jewellery was all very fine stones and gold or platinum, not quite in our budget, so we didn’t stay long.  After a drive through a very interesting-looking market we got dropped off at the canal from where we could take a boat straight back to our meeting point.  We had read that the canal was built to provide an alternative means of transport and ease traffic congestion but that you had to be brave to use it because of the smell!  Actually it didn’t smell much and was preferable to the traffic fumes – also at 20 pence each it was a real bargain. 

Canal Transport

We finished the day with some lovely cold Thai beers  and are now full of plans to come back and do some serious exploring.

On another subject, back on the ship, having eaten a delicious Thai meal from the buffet, we have just seen a second performance by a mind reader called Marc Paul – he is amazing and we can’t work out how he does his act (unless he really does read minds of course).  Would be interested to hear from anyone who has seen him.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – Monday 19th March

The boat docked in the Mekong Delta as it is too big to go up the river.  We had a 2 hour bus ride to get into Ho Chi Minh City – still apparently called Saigon by all the locals.  It wasn’t a pleasant experience  - it seems like everyone in Vietnam has a motorbike or scooter and the roads were packed with them.  A Chinese motorbike costs only 200 dollars - some had 3 or 4 people on board and lots with large parcels attached – the  worst we saw was a pillion passenger carrying a large sheet of glass in front of him in his bare hands, also a baby balanced in a high chair on the front of a scooter.  Also there were lots of large container lorries, coaches and buses, not many cars  – couple that with no road signs, no lane discipline and a road that is still being built in places with lanes appearing and disappearing and some strategically placed potholes and we felt lucky to arrive unscathed – and even luckier to get back as the driver was taking even more risks because he didn’t want to be late for the ship.  Having said that we didn’t see one accident though there were lots of near misses.

Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam and the centre for the US military operations during the war.  The US left in 1973 and it finally fell to the North Vietnamese on 30^th April 1975 when it was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.  There are 9 million living in the city and around 90 million in Vietnam.  Interestingly our guide, who is only 35, referred to the American war as if it was America against the whole of Vietnam.  We also learned from her that there is no free education or free healthcare after the age of 6, so the socialist ideal has a way to go in this country.

Keith got a job as a coolie - said the load was very heavy!

On arrival we had the mandatory visit to a lacquer factory – to be fair they did make some beautiful boxes and trays but, not having compared prices elsewhere, not many people were tempted to buy.  We had nearly 4 hours to explore the city on our own, but we only ventured into Distict One (there are 19) which is the city centre – first impressions were it is very busy, motorbikes everywhere and difficult to cross roads.  The best buildings date back to the French colonial times, there is also the Reunification Hall (former Presidential Palace) where the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Flag was raised in 1975.  Otherwise there is a mixture of modern shops and restaurants plus more tatty places and markets  selling souvenirs and what I assume are designer copies, plus some quite elegant hotels in the centre.  We started the day with a drink in the rooftop bar of the Rex hotel which was taken over by the press during the war – very elegant and a welcome relief from the 35 degree heat.  We then toured the main buildings and visited the market – prices are very low and we picked up some bargains in clothes  and painting equipment for my new watercolour artist career.  It was interesting to see the city but nothing remarkable that would make us want to go back – and everyone seemed pleased to get back to our nice big air-conditioned floating hotel.

Notre Dame Cathedral built by the French in 1870's

The interior of the stunning post office, also French built

Next stop Bangkok.

Chan May, Vietnam - Saturday 17th March

Ship in Fog at Chan May

We got up early (5.30 am) as we had an early start for our trip to Hue and the Perfume River.  Chan May is the port, Hue is the capital of Thua Thien-Hue province and the former capital of Vietnam.  It was devastated in the war but has been restored and we were looking forward to seeing the Imperial City with pagodas and mausoleums of the emperors, followed by a trip on the Perfume River in a dragon boat.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be – there was thick fog when we arrived and the captain, having tried to get into port, stood off hoping it would clear.  He tried again two hours later but concluded it was too dangerous and we sailed away!   As you can imagine we were all disappointed – probably none more so than the 600 who had embarked at Hong Kong and for whom this was the first por of call. Anyway, we got over it and spent St. Patrick’s Day at sea (they had halved the price of all the Irish drinks so that helped). We are now proceeding slowly to our next stop of Phu My from where we plan visit Ho Chi Minh City.

Hong Kong – 14th and 15th March

Arriving at Hong Kong Early Misty Morning

As I’m sure you all know, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.  Actually it was not Hong Kong island that we had on lease – that had been claimed as a British colony in 1841, and the Kowloon peninsula, the area directly opposite on the mainland, was taken in 1860.  It was the land surrounding Kowloon (known as the New Territories) that we had on lease for 99 years from 1898.  Margaret Thatcher apparently toyed with the idea of keeping the island for a military base, but this was impractical as the power and water was supplied by China!

The last governor, Chris Patten,  worked very hard in the years leading up to handover to install a more democratic form of government into Hong Kong which allowed representatives  to be elected who were not entirely under the influence of China.  The Chinese took over with the promise of “One Country, Two Systems” allowing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region a degree of autonomy. This has apparently been working quite well but I did read in the paper when I was there in October that the huge influx of people from ‘mainland’ China, plus some re-arranging of administrative regions had meant that in the last elections some of the local ‘liberals’ had lost their seats.  It remains to be seen how things work out, but I have noticed, from my limited experience of visiting Hong Kong for work, that there are an increasing number of  people who do not speak English (especially the taxi drivers, some of whom don’t seem to know where anything is).  However, at the moment it still has a very familiar feel compared with mainland China with all signage in both English and Chinese.

One of the Star Ferries

The boat docked in a very central location – on Kowloon next to the Star Ferry for those of you who know.  The waterfront at Kowloon houses many luxury hotels and also provides a wonderful view over the harbour to the high-rise profile of Hong Kong centre.  There is a fantastic laser light show every day at 8 pm which lights up all of the buildings in different colours and sequences – accompanied by music and a commentary, in English on some nights – we were able to watch it from the deck.  It is easy to get from Kowloon onto Hong Kong island – either by the efficient metro system or, more fun, on the old Star Ferries which roll across the harbour about every 10 minutes – it is fascinating just to see the amount of traffic they have to weave their way through, and if you happen to get on in a typhoon as I did once, quite scary!

One of the narrow streets in Soho

On our first day we headed for the History Museum to view The Hong Kong Story – the whole museum is dedicated to describing the history of HK from the creation of the land to the present day.  It is a super exhibition, all very interesting, but becoming fascinating when it gets to the time of the opium wars and the British occupation.  They have preserved some whole shop interiors and recreated some of the old buildings to give a feel for the pre-war days –  of course there is not too much left on the island now.

Trams

We spent the afternoon walking around Soho – the area at the back of the town which can be reached by a long outdoor escalator – there are all sorts of little shops and markets and you can find whole streets or alleys dedicated to one trade e.g. shoe mending or the sale of material – also lots of little bars and restaurants to sample. 

Happy Valley Race Track

After a couple of drinks in the Happy Hour we headed off to Happy Valley for an evening at the races.  We had been to the big race course at Sha Tin (on the mainland) but Happy Valley is unique, being surrounded by sky scrapers and close to the town centre, it has a much more intimate feel.  We went by tram which was an experience in itself – they are very tall and thin and wobble a lot, quite scary sitting upstairs in the front with an open window in front of you!  After getting a winner in the first race we didn’t manage any more but it was great fun anyway and I don’t think we spent more than 20 pounds in the whole evening (the entrance fee is less than one pound!).

Jumbo's Floating Restaurant at Aberdeen

On our second day we took the bus round the island to Stanley – one of the first areas to be settled by the British and the home of a garrison for many years because of threats by pirates.  It is now a nice little seaside town known for its market selling clothes and souvenirs – touristy but still some things which are good value.  We then carried on to Aberdeen, a fishing port, as we wanted to re-visit Jumbos, a huge floating restaurant which can be reached by their free ferry – worth going just to get a close-up view of the harbour.  I persuaded Keith to sample some rather posh Dim Sum and he had to agree that they were rather delicious. We found a supermarket in Aberdeen and stocked up on wine and snacks for our cabin.   A very enjoyable two days and surprisingly the more I see of Hong Kong the more I want to go back.

We are now coming up to a busy period  around Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, hopefully I can keep the blog up to date as we go!

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo – Sunday 11th March

Borneo is the world’s third largest island after Australia and Greenland and, we were told, provides 40% of the world’s oxygen – just as well they have stopped the logging industry (in Sabah at least).  There are three countries represented on Borneo - Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.  Kota Kinabalu, (also known as KK) is the capital of Sabah, one of the 14 provinces of Malaysia and about the size of Ireland – it is just north of the equator and has a climate between 22C and 32C and so far has mercifully escaped major flooding and earthquakes. 

The Sabah area was under the control of Brunei, but was ceded to the British and became British North Borneo after James Brook arrived in the 1840s and brought an end to piracy.  At that time the pirates, who lived on their boats and are now transformed into sea gipsies,  used to attack all the ships trading with Brunei and James Brook managed to persuade the local tribes ( head hunters) to put their energies into attacking pirates rather than each other.  The head hunters were later on persuaded to give up their head hunting ways by missionaries – a difficult task because the tradition was that a woman would not marry a young man until he had made at least one kill and had the skull to hang up in his house.  The area is still predominantly Christian  (56%) and attracts Christians from other parts of Malaysia.  During the second world war, the capital (then known as Jesselton) was taken over by the Japanese and it was virtually destroyed by bombing, it was named Kota Kinabalu after the biggest local mountain after Sabah became part of Malaysia when it gained its independence in 1963. 

First View of Borneo

Village of stilt houses on the water

We arrived early in the morning and managed to catch the mountain (hopefully it is Mt. Kinabalu) in the sunrise.  We could also see lots of villages of stilt house gathered on the islands opposite the main port.  There was a lovely welcoming committee of dancers and warriors waiting for us as we came off the ship and we were given a bead necklace each.  We walked into the town, which is not at all picturesque, with concrete malls, lots of small shops and cafes and an indoor market – it is apparently very fast growing as tourism is rapidly developing.  There was also a Sunday market along the street.  However, what it lacked in beauty was made up by very friendly local people – with no hassle from the traders and very good prices in the markets – lower than Kuala Lumpur.  We did a bit of shopping, but the highlight for me was a Cadbury’s chocolate-dipped ice cream  from a Macdonald’s ice-cream stall – haven’t seen those in England!

Kadazan Warriors

In the afternoon we went on a trip to the Monosopiad cultural village which has been built in 1996 by the Kadazan/Dusun tribe in their own village around the (reconstructed) house of the warrior Monosopiad who was famous 300 years ago as a great warrior.  He collected 42 skulls of the champions of other tribes (this apparently involved killing all of the champion’s men first so represents a considerable muder toll).  The skulls are preserved in the rafters of the house, interspersed with dried palm leaves which help to keep the spirits quiet.  

Some of Monosopiad's Skulls

We watched some dancing and music and then had the opportunity to watch traditional crafts – we tasted rice wine and some local food, but drew the line at the big live grubs (actually the locals prefer them barbecued these days!).  We could also have tried using the blow pipes to burst balloons – but I reckoned I would be useless at it.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon and great to see the enthusiasm of the young descendants of Monosopiad to keep the culture alive.

After this brief visit we want to come back, see more of the local islands and the interior  and make the trip to see the indigenous Orangutans and Proboscis Monkeys – probably soon before the area gets further developed and prices go up!

Next stop Hong Kong on 14^th March