Farewell, Madiba

I never had the opportunity to meet you face to face or even shake your hand but we’ve been connected spiritually for over half of your 95 years. At the tender age of 17, in my heart I knew there was something very special about you; the handsome, 49 yr old South African freedom fighter, then political prisoner.
School wasn’t important the one day I cut class in L.A. to go to Will Rogers Park in Watts to attend a “Free Nelson Mandela” rally led by Stokely Carmichael. You had been incarcerated for 3 years at that time. Even though you were sentenced to life, I always held onto a glimmer of hope that one day you’d be freed but never in my wildest nightmare did it occur to me that your incarceration would span 27 years. My high school English Term Paper was on the “Injustices of the Apartheid System”. The very thing you fought against.

It took me 40 years to make the trek to your country in 2007 and since that time it’s been my work to take fellow Americans there to walk in your footsteps; from little 7 yr old Lina Reid to my travelers well into their 70’s. I’ve taken them from your early years in Soweto, to Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, to Robben Island in Cape Town, to Madiba House when you were under house arrest the last 18 months at Victor Verster Prison in Paarl,where you and Winnie took the long walk with upraised fists on the day the world shook, February 11, 1990 when you were released. Then you became the beloved 1st black President of a racially divided, post apartheid torn country——Unbelievable!! One of your quotes that I love, “In my country we go to prison first and then become President”.

Madiba, you fought a good fight, you finished the course, you kept the faith. You changed the lives and attitudes of not only South Africans but people worldwide and your contributions to mankind are too numerous to count.
Get your crown and rest on Gentle Giant.

*****Readers, this concludes my blogging for this trip. Hopefully you enjoyed the ride. Late 2015 there is a plan in the works for a land package back to Southeast Asia —- I love Vietnam, Bangkok, probably will add Tokyo. The captain bypassed Hanoi due to weather and we docked in Halong Bay. It’s 3 hrs from Hanoi. Nothing here excited me. They could have left me in Danang but only if Fitzroy was here :)*******

Danang On My Own

Danang is the 3rd largest city located in central Vietnam. My China Beach tour with lunch was cancelled due to weather, however, the weather was just fine as far as I was concerned so I decided to just do my own thing. The cruise line offered several all day tours for the surrounding area some of which some of our group signed up for but those all day things and I just don’t get along.

The cruise is winding down now, only a few more days left so my writings will be limited. You can though expect a few pictures with captions. Robbie and I took the ship’s shuttle to downtown, found a decent cafe with wifi and handled our respective businesses all for the cost of a Pepsi, tea and coffee (80 cents). As we walked the streets of Danang, stepping in and out of shop after shop, we encountered many friendly people. One lady told me I looked like her sister, Sisi and they just loved our brown skin. My guess is that her sister’s daddy was a black man.

We found a driver and negotiated and agreed upon a price to go to Hoi An (35 minutes away). We learned this was the gastronomical capital of Vietnam with the best seafood. We had already researched the best restaurants in Hoi An so 328 Restaurant was our choice.

On the way we passed lovely beaches, resorts, beautiful villas and stores after stores selling massive marble Buddhas, pagodas, lion heads, and fountains all with the Matble Mountains in the backdrop. The contrast between Ho Chi Minh City and Danang is like night and day— Danang and Hoi An are so clean, laid back, modern; nowhere near the congestion and street crossing is not an issue. It appears great numbers of Americans, Canadians and Brits come here for holiday and spend weeks at a time. Hoi An such a small pleasant town, one I could easily fall in love with.

Lunch was incredible — $7 apiece. On the way back we stopped off at China Beach for some photo opps. It is absolutely gorgeous. A perfect place for some R and R.
Our driver, Lee, who waited for us at all stops including lunch, met his natch today. The deal was he’d take us back to the ship but he didn’t tell us that taxis could not enter the port. He had to drop us a good distance away and we would have to walk through the container yard. He was co-signed by 2 surly, mean muggin’ no English speaking Immigration Officers. Oh hell no we repeatedly said. Our heads shaking side to side and theirs were too. Finally after much back and forth, Lee claims he paid them off with 50,000 VD ($3). LOL so he could drive us all the way. When we get to the ship, in addition to what we owed him, Lee wants the 50,000 bribe money back plus a tip. I gave him a tip and some advice, “here’s what we owe you, give me back my tip, and have a nice day”!

Tonight 4 of us had dinner in the other Specialty Restaurant, Prime C. It was fabulous, my choices: crab and shrimp chowder, lobster salad, rack of lamb with cafe de Paris butter, baked potato, creamed spinach and for dessert chocolate lava cake and the four of us toasted flutes of Vueve Cliquot until it was gone.

Seaborne Legend pulling in next to us in Danang. High end– maybe next time

Nem crevettes for lunch

Lunch at Restaurant 328 in Hoi An

China Beach from beach vat at Sandy Beach Hotel

China Beach

Day 2 In Ho Chi Minh City

At my cooking station

For 2 months I’ve had a reservation for a private class with the Saigon Cooking School and I was so looking forward to it on this day. Robbie and I met our Chef at the Ben Thanh Market at 845am. It was a 10 minute walk from the Rex Hotel downtown where the ship shuttle dropped us off. This huge market has several entrances so we had to make sure we arrived at the right entrance and on time. Chef would be wearing a white polo shirt with Saigon Cooking School. Soon we found ourselves traipsing through the many aisles of fresh seafood, vegetables, meats and spices with Chef Khang. We were shopping for ingredients needed to prepare our 4 course meal: Sweet and sour soup with prawns, fresh spring rolls with prawns, pork and rice noodles plus 2 dipping sauces, char-grilled beef salad with kumquat, lemongrass and white baby

Grilled blue leg prawn

aubergine, and lastly, the popular beef noodle soup– Pho Bo (pronounced fu as in fun or fudge, not foe).

As we shopped, we saw some huge prawns called blue leg prawns. Since they only import lobster here and it’s very expensive; this is the next best thing. Chef said if we wanted to purchase, no problem. Don’t think we said no. Cost: less than $5 ea. Robbie and I thought we’d prepare during the course but Chef surprised us by grilling for us at the end. Actually we skipped dessert (passion fruit custard) and ate the prawns instead.

Meeting Chef Khang at the market

Crab in the market

Fresh crabmeat, shrimp meat

Everything we prepared was cooked to perfection and delightfully divine. Normally the classes are held upstairs in the restaurant’s kitchen but due to renovations today they were held in the courtyard at the same time there was a group class going on with another chef. Group is less money and a very limited menu. The restaurant, Hoa Tuc, is in partnership with the school. It is rated #43 out of 1100 restaurants in the city. The meaning of the name is flower as in poppy and next door is a restaurant named The Refinery. The history of this site is that from 1837 until the Vietnam war it was an opium refinery.

At the end of our class Chef presented us with a nicely packaged collection of the recipes. Wow, what a wonderful culinary experience! Class cost- $95pp and well worth it. Chef Khang is patient, knowledgeable and makes the class fun. I’d highly recommend this in a heartbeat.

1st course sweet and sour soup with prawns

Fresh spring rolls and dipping sauce

Pho Bo

Good Morning, Vietnam!

The day before we were to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City we had a relaxing day at sea with a most wonderful jazz brunch. They had everything good imaginable on the spread. It turned out to be one of the best meals thus far. Sailing into the port we were welcomed by music and lovely ladies holding bouquets of balloons that were later released into the Saigon Sky by the time we were disembarking for our tour of the city.

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, is lively, bustling, chaotic, congested and I love it! It happens to be the largest city in Vietnam, conquered by France in 1859. The influence was so great it was called “Paris in the Orient” for its wide boulevards and magnificent French villas. Now crammed on these lovely boulevards are over 4 million motor scooters. It’s a sight to behold. The pedestrian has no right of way and taking a big risk dodging the traffic. Occasionally, you will find a traffic signal or a policeman so you can safely cross the busy streets. You are suppose to be 16 to operate a scooter but I swear some look 13, ladies riding with pumps, moms riding sleeping toddlers and 90 year old grandpas riding mama San.

Our 4 hr tour stopped at Notre Dame Cathedral, the post office that looks like a train station but never one, the city museum where we saw a water puppetry show, the former Presidential Palace where North Vietnam tanks crashed through the gates in April 1975 ending America’s involvement. It is now called the Reunification Hall.

Can you believe I endured this tour? I couldn’t wait for it to be over. Robbie and I had a plan. We had the bus drop us off downtown and we hot-footed it to a very popular restaurant. Normally, there is a long line but we were seated immediately. We had a noodle dish with vegetables, shrimp and fish, some chicken wings with hot chili sauce and to top it off—-steamed crab cracked table side by our waiter. The crab was served with a dish of black pepper, salt and fresh lime. You squeeze the lime juice over the mixture and dip the sweet, succulent crab meat. Mmmm Mmmm, a wonderful new taste that dazzled my taste buds. Total meal cost $17 each.

Sailing into Ho Chi Minh

Welcome committee

Notre Dame

Look closely for the old building where US helicopter lifted Americans

Millions of motor scooters everywhere

Dining at Nha Hang Ngon

Cracked crab table side

Foodies will walk a mile in the dead of night for some good food!

An AzAmazing Evening But Get Me Outta There

Azamara offers a complimentary evening excursion in selected cities each cruise. Ours was in Bangkok at the Ancient City of Siam, a 200 acre site filled with reproductions of Thai architectural forms: Temples, Shrines and Palaces. They bused over 500 guests 45 mins away. After our arrival, a short tram ride to the venue and we were welcomed with cocktails and appetizers. The set up was absolutely beautiful. The chairs were on the grass and as I sat there I could feel mosquitoes biting my legs. Now some of you know I can’t stay anywhere too long as it is and the mozzies were making it worse. Before all was said and done, the Hotel Director had arranged for an electric cart to take me to the 1st bus scheduled to leave and turn on the AC while we waited. All this was after they summoned the nurse and her BP cuff. Thank you Jesus!, I was on the first thing smokin’ out of there. I hated to miss the cultural performance of which everybody said was fantastic but for me, comfort first by any means necessary.

Welcome to Ancient City of Siam

Lovely set up

Palace at Ancient City

One of the Temples at the Ancient City

My foodie pal, Robbie didn’t get our cooking class confirmation until very late and I had made other arrangements. I’m still quite upset that I missed such a fabulous cooking experience at the Silom Thai Cooking School. There were 8 in the class, from all over, no one from our ship. They went to market with the Chef, returned and then They ate each course after preparing each one. She said, “That was the best Thai food I ever had and I cooked it! They prepared the spicy shrimp soup, Tom Yum Goong, sweet sticky rice and mango, green curry chicken and chicken Pad Thai. I do have the Saigon Cooking School to look forward to but now I’ve got to listen to Robbie do her comparison thing. Lord, let it be just as good. You can believe this school will be on my return itinerary for late 2015, a land package that will allow plenty of time in Tokyo, Singapore and Bangkok.

Green curry chicken prepared at cooking school

Leaving Bangkok—daily ferry crossings for motorbikes

Goodbye Bangkok!