South East Asia…March 2011

Manila, Philippines…I’ve got to say being awake for a majority of the sunrises really never gets old…there’s something about it that’s so peaceful and serene. It’s so calm and relaxing pulling up to a port seeing the sun rising through the city and being out on the deck alone in my secret hideout witnessing the beauty. Pulling up to Manila was very special; a majority of the crew members are from Philippines and I’m close friends with a lot of them. So it was very special to see hundreds of the crew with their families on board touring around the ship. We also were lucky enough to get two days in Manila instead of going to Koror, Palau.

My friend Jupiter(Security Officer) from the Philippines grabbed me when I hopped off the ship just quickly and he and I toured around the area just for a bit. Traffic was crazy…everything was quite chaotic and very very busy. Dawn was coming quickly and it was getting a little bit darker outside…yet people weren’t turning their lights on while driving for some apparent reason. I clutched onto Jupiter as we were weaving through traffic just wandering around. He took me to a local fast food joint…where the meal was delicious and huge and so inexpensive! Of course there was rice included in the meal….always. Then this is where you would eat with a spoon in your right hand and a fork in your left…scoop the food into the spoon and enjoy! ; ) That is thee Filipino and Indonesian way I’ve learned.

The next day I had the day off and Violeta and I toured around Manila! Wheee!!!!! We snatched a taxi and we should have bargained for it more but we just went with it…we hitched a ride to the Mall of Asia and by golly it was quite the mall. It was pouring rain and we were laughing so much…of course we pulled up to the mall and went to the lovely Starbucks. The adorable barista’s were exclaiming compliments left and right! Showering us:“I love your hair color…I love your hairstyle…I love your name…” So nice…V and I were like little girls so giggly haha. Everything was so welcoming about this place…service was absolutely excellent!!

After spending a chunk of time at Starbucks using the free internet speaking with friends and family…we needed to get some shopping done..of course….we are in the MALL OF ASIA. After finding a few good buys…we came upon a shop that had dresses up the wazoo…Violeta found me a beautiful black lace dress and Asian sizes we had no idea if it would fit this American girl with curves…so I had to try it on. Well…you tell me what you think…if it fit me. Ha ha ha ha…Oh my goodness it didn’t fit at all. Awwh man my poor broad shoulders just wouldn’t fit and my healthy big hips were almost bursting through the dress. Haha it was so sad but so funny at the same time…Violeta and I were laughing so hard in the dressing room as there’s a long line outside. Ohh dear. Oh well. Alright so I obviously didn’t buy that dress unfortunately. It was so exciting to laugh that much about something so little and silly, my cheeks hurt and V wouldn’t stop laughing AT me!

 

Oh and before I forget…in the Mall of Asia unlike most other malls this one served beer in the food court as well as having a full on ice skating rink in the middle of the mall! See for yourself…

Overall Philippines was a very pleasant experience and I have many good friends from here and would be pleased to come back for a visit or two..most definitely!!

Hong Kong, China

Good Morning Hong Kong!! Yess…this picture was taken about 6am and pulling up to Hong Kong, Kowloon Island is just so thrilling! The lights…the traffic…the sky scrapers…ahh everything! Me and a friend, Bobby, were viewing this site bright ‘n early while handfuls of guests were doing the same thing. I’m awake…I swear!

 

 

Let’s see…I had to work the first day all day we were here…but once I finished with work a scrammed off the ship for a couple hours with my friend Jupiter again. We took the star ferry across to the Hong Kong island side…to one of the many malls and wandered around soaking it all in and grabbed something to eat.

By the way…the Star Ferry cost us maybe $2 Hong Kong…which is maybe 50cents American.

 

 

 

Very authentic of us, ‘eh?! I am a chop stick master after all of this traveling around Asia! So that was the extent for that night I’d say…I just love living and wandering all around in the moment of the rush of the big cities with the thrill of all the people around scramming to their own business.

Oh dear…and then another day begins with my dear Violeta…

It sure does seem like we’re always eating, doesn’t it? Haha. To be honest I’m not really sure what kind of meat this is…when it looks like a hotdog..uh, it can’t be healthy….and yes, a heaping pile of rice. Throughout all of my travels I definitely have eaten a handful of ‘mystery meat’…all of the cultural foods I’m experiencing are definitely character building.

 

 

We also decided to take the star ferry to the other side of the island…and our adventures begin. We wandered around the Hong Kong side and decided we needed some more excitement..so we grabbed a city bus that was headed to Stanley Market…Ooh the beloved Stanley market….oh so dangerous when it comes to shopping. dangerous meaning you can spend heaps of Hong Kong dollars. Ohhh Dear.

V purchased heaps more than I did…but we both definitely got our fair share of goodies. We both bought beautiful Asian-style dresses…and we ran into some casino folks from the ship…Grace and I had to try our dresses on over our clothing…then just yank our jeans down to our ankles.

Overall in Hong Kong I gained 3 new fancy looking wrist watches for $2 a piece…and a nice big suitcase for a very reasonable Hong Kong price. I wanted to be prepared…because I knew damn well I wasn’t going to be able to fit all my clothing and other belongings into the itsy bitsy suitcase I came with. hahahah oh well….you Live and you…let live! ; ) Simple. This is my first experience of a lifetime. Did I mention the bus ride was so twisty and turny…not my most exciting moments but I didn’t barf, so the bus didn’t win.

Once Violeta and I got back into town and took the star ferry back near the ship…we were hungry. Hey V…where did you want to eat? Remember…I have my suitcase I’m rolling around and we’re dressed…but not ‘proper’. We were browsing around to a few different places..came upon this fancy looking spaghetti-sort of restaurant…there definitely were cloth napkins who care, we’re hungry! We took a gander at the menu and we figured we would split something…okay now at this point we need to figure out how much Hong Kong money we had left…AHHHH! We’re dropping coins as we’re trying to count them (remember I still have my suitcase I’m rolling around hahaha) I have no idea how much money we really did have but it wasn’t enough to split a fancy spaghetti meal. BUMMER. Nexxxxxxt! I really wish I would have gotten pictures of this occurring because I will never forget the looks we were getting from people…we were giggling so loud and we were so embarrassed to be counting our coins outside of a restaurant. Oh well.

We ended up at our own version of  a ‘fancy’ Pizza Hut. Oh dear. We shared a pizza that was so small but we could afford it…oh but then we still have a couple Hong Kong dollars so why not…let’s get a dessert…(forgetting to include taxes)..My goodness we just failed completely but we laughed so much…of course people all around us were speaking in other languages neither of us understood. (probably talking about how ‘special’ us two are) I kept the Pizza Hut receipt…I ended up having to use my debit card…hahah so all of this was just a story to tell in the future. We had such a great time together! So many laughs…so many memories! Love you tons, Violeta! Miss youu babyyy!