Today we depart the ship and continue on the next leg of our holiday. We have put down 5% for a future cruise which is open ended and refundable if we change our minds. We have made some wonderful friends & have exchanged addresses. The crew got to know us pretty well too and the big difference was they knew our names which we found really special. Our planned Alaska experience may go on hold as we have decided we may consider the Caribbean- Panama Canal- South America part of the world. A whole group of us plan to catch up in the next year. The hardest thing was packing the bags, and relinquishing our suite for somebody else to mess up. We will be catching up with Mark and Lisa when we get to the Singapore. We are planning to do the Night Safari together.
With our flight being later in the day we elected for a tour/ airport transfer with 9 other passengers only possible if your flight departs after 4 pm. This tour takes us to the King’s Palace ( a re visit for us) and the Temple of the reclining Buddha, a wee shop if we had time then a drop off to the airport so we thought it a good plan to fill the day.
Our guide took us to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. I guess being Christians you don’t know what to expect but this monstrosity to Buddhism is enormous as the photos show. A cement statue covered in Gold leaf. I guess ever mindful of scams I was amused by the 120 or so donation bowls in each of which you may put a coin which equates to one wish and they have the bags of coins precounted for you in order for you to place a coin in each bowl. Despite this the buildings and architectural decoration are amazing, as our selection of photos show.
The King’s Palace was bit more of a mission. There was a protest happening outside the Palace. 6 people had been arrested by the time we got there. Apparently there are 5 political prisoners ‘accused’ of espionage in Cambodia which incurs the death penalty. Thailand and Cambodia traditionally do not have good relations with each other. The protest was about releasing these prisoners. The area was gridlocked; some local knowledge, determination and a drive by drop off got us there in the end. I passed the ‘dressing modestly’ this time test which did not delay anything. It was very hot and one of the ladies in our tour was displaying signs of Heatstroke. We found the heat comfortable as long as you consumed gallons of water. A few photos to rekindle the memories.
Observations on Bangkok. For my second visit I had a different experience. Bangkok is a lot cleaner than 4 years ago which impressed us greatly as our tour took us through China Town and the Flower Market. We also managed a quick shop for a silk shirt for Bill so all good.
It was then to the airport. The tours flights ranged from us at 4-45 to 7.30 at night. We are flying Air Asia for this leg, a 2 hour 20 minute flight to Singapore. We had prebought a 30kg allowance as we are flying Economy so that issue was covered and we are at that limit now. Air Asia use Singapore as their hub & is like Virgin Blue and Jetstar. Very budget and pay as you use although they are rated the best budget airline. The toilets are free though unlike Ryan Air in the UK. This is economy for Asians. The width of the seats is cozy and the legroom is terrible & worse when the seat in front reclines. Fortunately it was not a full plane so Bill and I could spread over 3 seats. I couldn’t wait for the flight to end, and end it did Yay….
Changi as always is very efficient. However like K.L is undergoing massive renovations adding 18,000 square feet to Terminal One. It should be awesome once it’s finished. Tonight we are staying at the Grand Mercure Roxy which is a free night, compliments of Accor. If it was closer into the city centre we would have stayed here the whole time. It is very nice and we were able to get a late dinner at their Chinese restaurant. You may or not be impressed to know; Bill and I are getting pretty good with chopsticks. They also gave us an upgrade to a deluxe Room. We gain one hour so we are now 4 hours behind New Zealand.
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