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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Feb 26, 2019 10:00 PM Postcard from Indonesia
Greetings from Batam - Riau Archipelago!
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Feb 25, 2019 10:00 PM To Indonesia through the back door...
In the early morning we docked in the Singapore cruise port. For me - with carry - on baggage only there was no need to wait for the call - at 9.30 am I was already ashore, to go through the immigration control and to walk thn to the subway station Marina South Pier... Ticket bought in the machine costme 2 SGD - to Harbourfront station. The te were one train change on the way. At Harbourfront shopping center it is not easy to find ferry terminal. Few different lines operates the route Singapore - Batam, you have to check on the monitor about next departure and than find the ticket office of the chosen company - they are on different levels! I paid 25 SGD for one - way trip.
So where I am going now? To Indonesia - using this back door. Most of the tourist are arrivig to Indonesia by air - to Jakarta or Denpasar on Bali. But the northernmost islands of Indonesia are already visible from Singapore - It is Riau Archipelago. And I am just taking this rarely used entry point to travel further island to island on domestic fares.
The trip to Indonesian Batam Island took us only an hour. In the Batam terminal I got without any fees a passport stamp: allowed to stay up to 30 days in Indonesia. Taxi to the hotel booked via booking.com cost me 80 000 INR - like 7 USD. And the a/c room with bathroom and TV - 9 USD per night. Funny, isn't it?
Welcome in the cheap Indonesia!
Our ferry (see picture) it was surprisingly small catamaran
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Feb 24, 2019 10:00 PM Visa for one day will cost you 40 USD
They will not say you that when you are booking the cruise. But you will see it on your ship's account. Nobody controls your passport or any other document when you go from the ship to visit Sikhanoukville. But immigration officers of Cambodia are coming aboard the ship to stick into your passport Cambodian visa and charge for it 30 USD pp plus 10 USD for them - for the issuance of the visa. People who declare not to leave the ship in the port also pay!
Hut the Cambodians (or Khmers) are nice - see the pictures.
Today we are sailing whole day heading back to Singapore...
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Feb 23, 2019 10:00 PM Once again in Cambodia...
Sihanoukville is the only deep port of Cambodia. And here we are today. Years ago I visited Angkor and the capital but I never been on the Cambodian coast. Once they took us out of the port the tuk-tukowners offered tours around the town. I prefered tokake the walk, meeting smiling people, taking pictures. It was hard day because nowadays Sikhanoukville is very hot and dusty place. Imagine that Chinese build here at least a dozen of high hotels in the coastal zone, 12+ storey each. After 2 years the landscape will change and the local people will change - there will be more Chinese on the streets and the people will not smile any more. On the central roundabout you will see a pair of golden lions - they are a symbol of the town.
I was surprised by the high number of the casinos - much more than in Macau, but not as elegant.
Wat Krom temple is worth a visit - also for the ornate chapels surrounding the main temple - they form interesting cemetery....
Walking all day I returned to the port at 4 pm. At the port gate local ladies are selling the beer - the can of delicious Angkor Gold costs 2500. Payment in dollars is accepted at the rate 1$-4000 local currency.
I must confess that I smuggled 2 extra cans to my cabin. :) Smuggled beer is even more tasty, don't you think?
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Feb 22, 2019 10:00 PM One more picture from Pattaya
Ooops, I cannot load more pictures to my gallery in February - the number photos per month is limited. So enjoy one more Pattaya picture here...
This was decoration on the coastal promenade for St Valentin's Day....
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Feb 21, 2019 10:00 PM Pattaya Beach
Our ship is docking today in Laem Chabang - Thai port in the moutch of Choo Phraya river. Ugly place - aviid it if you can! The cruise line offers from here expensive full day excursions to Bangkon (2-3 hours drive each way).
Since I have been to the noisy and polluted Bangkok many times I decided to take a shuttle (16 USD for round trip) to the seaside resort of Pattaya - just 20 kms away from the port.
Pattaya has great beach, nice palm- fringed promenade and plenty of hotels of different categories. Everything for tourists! But the people are not so nice...
I was lucky to meet a big group of Thai scouts and girl-guides celebrating jamboree just on the beach. Nice youngsters - see the picture, but the language barrier still exists...
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Feb 20, 2019 10:00 PM Ko Samui - one more beautiful island
Koh Samui has no port so our ship is anchoring in the sea and they are taking us ashore in the little motorboats. The crew on the ship is badly organized, the cruise director should be immediately fired. No announcements, passengers are going up and down 10 decks. Finally I landed on the shore in the little Nakhon settlement around 10 am. My Russian friends were waiting for me in the rented minibus who took us around the island..
The circle road is 52 kms long. We visited one by one 3 different temples, a viewpoint on the coast. But the highlight for me was Waterfall 2 waterfall (yes, such a strange name). It is hidden up on the hill slope in the lush jungle. Car will take you to the little park half of the way and than you must to climb step path some 20 min. It is better to have here good hiking shoes... The view at the end of the path is great - the waterfall or the cascade is around 100 m high!
On the way back we stopped for an hour on the one of many beaches....
Great day and one more island to my collection... :)
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Feb 19, 2019 10:00 PM We are sailing to Thailand...
For sure it will not be my favourite ship! It is not easy to navigate around - not enough markers in the labitynth of the corridors. The crew is rather rude and the amount of offered food is limited. Regarding the music in the evenings - they do not have a real band and the artists play to the playback...
The pool on the open deck is very small. The cooks had at the poolside the presentation of fruit carvings.
But I already found here new friends - the Russians from Moscow. We are planning to go together for the tour.
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Feb 18, 2019 10:00 PM Boarding the ship in Singapore
Once you landed in Singapore it is easy to get to the cruise ship dock. Take the free shuttle bus to station MRT near terminal 2, buy the ticket to Marina South Pier for 2,60 Sin dollars an go - is is the kind of thd subway. You have to change twice: Tanah Merah and Raffles Place on the same platform. Then you have to walk by covered sidewalk to the terminal.
For the first time ever I got the upgrade on the ship - I have a cabin on ghe lowest deck, but with a full - size window! The Captain send me (I am the frequent passenger of this line) the bottle of champagne and basket of fruits...
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Feb 17, 2019 10:00 PM Bye, bye hot Australia!
It was 8 am when I was already driving through the morning traffic jams to the Sydney airport. My white toyota corolla was returned there to Hertz without any damages after some 1600 kms drive. The average fuel consumption (due to the proper driving technique :) ) was only 4,9 l/100 km. I checked in for the Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur - I was lucky - they for some reason did not check the weight of my backpack - they do it and the offical allowance of carry-on is only 7 kg! Let's fly back to Asia!
Later in the evening:
After 8,5 hours flight I safely landed in Kuala Lumpur - the capital of Malaysia and the main hub for Air Asia low cost airline. I stay in a cheap hotel. Tomorrow I will fly onward to Singapore...
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