Back in New York that is, around 4 weeks sooner than I thought I would be. It was actually back in late March.
After we left Australia, headed to Indonesia and on to Asia and India and the whole Mediterranean, the Executive Team at Viking in Norway announced something we were all expecting: our route would be fundamentally changed from the planned route up the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, which was to include Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Croatia (none of which I have been to) and then Italy, France, Monaco, Spain, Portugal, and finally to our last stop in London. They articulated the same reason as all the other ship companies along this route had decided: the terrorist ship bombings in the Red Sea required a completely new route. That route was around the continent of Africa. There were only 4 stops, and I had been to two of them: Capetown and Morocco. But the real problem was that it was vastly more ship time and less land time. And as you probably recall, I signed up for this cruise, my first ever cruise, because of the 58 ports in 6 continents.
There are those, quite a substantial minority, that could care less about this because to them, THE SHIP IS THE VACATION! They literally never get off the ship . . . . on in Fort Lauderdale, off in London 138 days later. They play bridge, mahjong, hang by the pool, read lots of books, and enjoy 3 robust meals a day. Of course there are also lectures and entertainment performances in the evening for all to enjoy. The ship is very luxurious, and as I like to say, for many it is “Assisted Living for the Affluent.”
But Viking made a very fair offer: anyone who decides to get off the ship will receive vouchers for every day that would be missed. I didn’t want to leave my trip early - - I just didn’t want to go the new route. So I made my decision to get off in Singapore, the one place where I could get a direct flight back to New York.
How wil I use the vouchers? For starters, I’m going this fall on a “Treasures of the Adriatic”, to Turkey, Greece, Croatia, and Venice. So I’m getting part of the Mediterranean after all! And I’ll have enough left over for another trip, and I’m giving thought to a Mississippi River cruise, from Minnesota to New Orleans. Or maybe Alaska, the only state I have not yet visited.
But I’ve gotten a little ahead of myself! After Australia, we went to Indonesia, land of 15,000 spectacularly beautiful islands, featuring Bali and Komodo, home of my favorite animal, the Komodo Dragon, when I was a 6 year old boy. I learned not to approach them and stay on an elevated track as I learned their method of preying on humans includes a poisonous bite, after which the dragon stands by you for 3 days until you die, and then eats you. Had I known that they never would have made my list of favorites.
We then went on to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, for 4 days. It’s a city of 9 million people, and 9.7 million two-wheel motorized vehicles. You might think it would be chaotic but in fact their driving skills are spectacular. They NEVER bump into each other even though they are going fast and are as close together as imaginable. They are kind of like fish in a tank, close together but no collisions. And the highlight was crawling through the Cu Chi tunnels, carved out of the ground for miles and miles by the Viet Cong. I crawled and duck-walked through them for a hundred yards, after which I was exhausted and could suddenly completely understood why they won the war.
After Viet Nam it was a day in Thailand and a couple days in Singapore. Singapore is like Disneyland with a Death Penalty, as one is expected to always be on your best behavior. But with a Starbuck’s coffee for $12 a cup, and a Singapore Sling for $47, 2 days was quite enough!
That’s all for now. My next post will be about my interim time here in New York, and the highlight, the guided walk I conducted for 60 people along the Hudson for Jane’s Walks and the Municipal Arts Society. Stay tuned!
