Cruising as an Introduction to Southeast Asia – Part 2

In Part 1, we talked about our how and why we came to take the cruise and the following ports of call: Singapore; Koh Samui, Thailand; Bangkok, Thailand, and Sihanoukville, Cambodia

More Ports of Call While Cruising Southeast Asia

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Here was our first real upside surprise! Nha Trang is a very nice smaller (not too small) city in Vietnam. Again, we ventured out with Angela. (Unfortunately, Raul had been a bit under the weather, and the dust and dirt in Sihanoukville didn’t help). After escaping the port melee, we contracted with a young, enterprising (used voice feature of Google Translate to communicate with us) taxi driver to take us to Long Son Pagoda, wait for us, and then drop us off at the beach.

The route to the pagoda took us through the town and around two traffic circles. Seeing the melee that passes for traffic control while safely inside an air-conditioned taxi was worth the price of the ride. Hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles and mopeds all trying to enter the traffic circle at the same time, with two lanes of cars. Ian was sure glad he wasn’t driving. We had heard many stories about trying to cross the street in Vietnam but it’s hard to understand until you see it.

Long Son Pagoda is a picturesque (aren’t they all!) temple with a white Buddha perched 152 steps above.

Climbing to the top provides a nice viewpoint for Nha Trang. Well worth a visit! The city is cleaner and more modern than we would have thought.

The beach is very long with a beautiful boardwalk running the length of it.

On the day we visited, the waves were a little rough, so we decided against going any higher than our knees. (But braver Angela went in!) There was a cyclone in the Philippines (due east), which might have made it rougher than normal. The water temperature in late December was probably in the low 70’s with air temperature in the low 80’s.

A Definite Possibility

Nha Trang is definitely on our list of possible places to return, as the temperature was cooler and more pleasant than elsewhere we had been in Southeast Asia in late December.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The port, Phu My, for Ho Chi Minh City is about an hour and a half drive from the city. We opted for the Saigon Highlights tour offered by the cruise line for $75 a person. Just as an example of the scale that a cruise ship brings when in port, we were on (full-sized coach) bus #13 out of 20 for this tour. Even with 20 buses, at most sights we saw about 3-5 buses because the operators visited the sights in different order. What a contrast to our tour in Bangkok! Everything was organized, and the tour guide was experienced and knowledgeable.

First, we visited the Giac Lam Pagoda, which is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the city, a nice visit even with lots of tour busses.

Next up was Bình Tây Market in Chinatown, about 1000 stalls selling everything you can imagine, a bit of a zoo.

It’s mostly a wholesale market, so if you need 10 or 20 or 100 of something, this is the place.

Then, a lacquer factory that employs people who are disabled as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. Beautiful, well-crafted pieces for sale, but alas, no room in our carry-on luggage.

After the factory, we had a break for an excellent lunch at a restaurant, Lemongrass, recommended by our guide.

After a Delicious Lunch

In the afternoon, we headed to the old French Colonial section and visited the Saigon Central Post Office, built in the late 19^th century when Vietnam was part of French Indochina. Inside was an interesting mix of operating post office and tourist shops.

Across the street from the post office, we saw only the outside of Notre-Dame Basilica because it was undergoing some reconstruction. From there, we could see the CIA building where the iconic photo of the last helicopter leaving Saigon during the war was taken.

The final stop on our tour was a visit to the former Presidential Palace, now known as Reunification Hall, rebuilt in 1962 after a bomb exploded in the old colonial palace.

The most interesting aspect here was that it’s a time warp. Everything is just as it was in 1975 when Saigon fell, all the furniture, the equipment, both commercial and military.

Just like Bangkok, we are glad that we visited but have no desire to return. Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City, is a hot, smoggy city of eight million people and a lot of traffic. Bangkok has cooler-looking buildings, but Ho Chi Minh City is less smoggy, at least days we visited.

Singapore for New Year’s

On our return to Singapore on New Year’s Eve, we stayed on the ship that day (practically had it to ourselves!) and then watched the fireworks over the Marina Sands Hotel from the ship. The fireworks lasted a full hour, with pauses every 5-10 minutes either to let the smoke clear or to reload. Even though the fireworks lasted a full hour, we were still more impressed by the visit we did to Las Vegas for New Year’s a few years ago. That said, it was rather special to be in Singapore for New Year’s Eve, one of the earliest places on the world to ring in the New Year.

Cruising the Malacca Straight

On January 1, we spent a full day cruising through the Malacca Straight. We’ve been on lots of cruise ships and most sea days, we may see one or two other ships. Not through this stretch of water! The ships were constant, heading in both directions. Really gave us a true visual of just how many ships sail through these waters, and why Singapore is so important as a major port.

Phuket, Thailand

We have heard lots of mixed things about Phuket, how over-touristed it is, how it’s all about the adult nightlife, how it’s expensive, etc. Plus, we’ve heard about the beautiful beaches.  Well, this island blew us away! It’s hilly with lots of vegetation, which reminded us of Hawaii. (For those of you who might not know it, if money were no object, Ian would choose to live in Hawaii.)

We anchored off Patong Beach, which is overrun with tourists and from what we’ve heard, adult entertainment at night. The water wasn’t very clear, the sand was a greyish color, not a place we wanted to stay. Having done some research, we headed with Angela and Raul (detecting a theme yet?) over to Kata Beach. What a beautiful beach! While it was crowded on the north and especially the south end, the middle wasn’t too bad, and we were there on one of the busiest weeks of the year, New Year’s, and a cruise ship (ours) was in port. The water was clear, with little or no waves, with an easy entrance. So, unlike some other beaches, it was easy to get in up to our necks. (The beach reminded us of North Beach in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, but with more sand).

A Glorious Day at the Beach

We waded out in the water up to our necks (because we could), and the water was so clear, we could easily see our toes. Just hung out there in the water for four hours (heavenly!) until it was time to head back to the ship.

We stopped for a bite to eat and drink at a restaurant at the north end of the beach, and the prices were quite reasonable. We were so impressed with this beach and island that we returned for six days later in January 2020. After spending that amount of time, we would be able to determine if it’s feasible to come back another year for 1-2 months. 

Note: One negative about Phuket is that the tuk tuks are expensive, and Grab Car isn’t much cheaper. Our 30-minute ride from Patong to Kata Beach cost 500 baht (about $16). When we returned later the same month, we discovered a local bus and other lesser expensive options.

Penang, Malaysia

One of the ports we were most looking forward to visiting, Penang has a large expat population and an easy three-month tourist visa waiver, unlike Thailand which only gives a month. As luck would have it, we ended up having breakfast one morning on the ship with Linda and her friends. Linda was born in Kuala Lumpur, lives in Penang in the winter and Toronto in the summer. Naturally, we picked her brain about what was so good about Penang. It’s inexpensive, everyone speaks English, and the food is delicious. Also, it has good infrastructure, and short-term rentals are easy to get. Furthermore, George Town has an historical old town from when the English controlled Malaysia. Penang also has a My Second Home program, whereby you can get residency by buying a condo. Plus, beaches!

Our Day in Penang

Upon arriving at the port in George Town, we headed to the historical old town and wandered around a bit, looking for the free tourist bus. We kept seeing the bus pass but couldn’t find a stop. Even stopping in at the tourist information office didn’t help. (Funny, when we returned to Penang by ferry a month later, we saw a sign for the tourist bus as we were exiting the port.)

While searching, we just stumbled across a stop for bus #2, the bus that Linda had told us to take to Batu Ferringhi, home of Penang’s main beach. It is also the neighborhood where Linda lives. It’s about a 60-75-minute ride on the bus which costs only about $ .75 (US) each. Along the way, we got to see a few different neighborhoods, which are mostly made up of towers.

Once there, we walked along the beach and sadly weren’t that impressed. It fell down on both the walking factor (too slopey) and the wading factor (the water isn’t that clear), but it was okay. Leading us to the conclusion that if we were to make Penang our winter home, we would live closer to George Town and then take the bus out to the beach when we wanted, rather than live at the beach and need to take the bus into town.

We’ll Be Back

We found enough characteristics to like about Penang (except maybe that it’s really hot all the time) that we decided to return here for two weeks at the end of January/early February 2020. We’ve been on the go since the end of October, and it’s time we stopped for a couple of weeks. Rent an apartment with a pool and get caught up on reading, chilling, etc. Not to mention the need to still figure out where we’ll be from mid-February through early-mid March, when we fly back to the US for a couple months.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

If Phuket was the big surprise on the beach side, Kuala Lumpur was the surprise on the city side. We really liked this city! The port for Kuala Lumpur, Port Kelang, is about an hour to an hour and a half outside the city, so again we would need to book a tour. This port stop was also much shorter than Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City, so we weren’t sure if it was even possible given our limited time. The cruise ship didn’t offer any tours that attracted us (once we were aboard, others that would have worked were added), and the secondary source we used for Bangkok didn’t offer any tours here.

Ann did some research and stumbled across a site called Withlocals. She found a driver/guide who met us at the port, showed us around the city, including lunch, and returned us to the port for $80 each. Turned out to be a great day!

Our Whirlwind Tour

We started off with Batu Caves, several caves in a huge limestone hill which houses a 100-year-old Hindu temple. We took a few pictures and then headed up the steps, 272 of them. About halfway up, Ian started to get uncomfortable; he doesn’t like heights and these steps were steeper than normal. Add to that all the other tourists who kept stopping, and he turned around and went back down.

Ann and the guide, Akmal, continued on to the top. Akmal had brought some food to feed the monkeys on the way up. One of them slapped Ann on the side the head, knocking her glasses off. After that, she chose to interact with only the less aggressive female monkeys. Inside the temple at the top were amazingly intricate and colorful carvings along with various altars where people were praying. Plus, the opening of the huge limestone cave at the top. Apparently, the monkeys come down from there, and several could be seen on the walls.

A Mini Lesson in Hinduism

Once Akmal and Ann came back down, we wandered around the temples at the bottom, and Akmal filled us in a little on Hinduism. Unfortunately, neither of us knows very much about this religion, so it was a learning experience. One of these temples housed images of the various Hindu gods, with larger images and space given to the most important ones, for example, the god for family. Akmal pointed out family members dressed in matching clothes waiting to pray to this god.

Unfortunately, when we visited, the Dark Cave which houses the bats was closed. Akmal said that it was to give the bats time to recover from over tourism.

From there, we headed to a Chinese Buddhist temple, Thean Hou Temple (aka Jackie Chan Temple). This is a six-tiered temple of the Chinese sea goddess, Mazu. From here, we got a good view of the city, plus a distant hill that houses a resort for weekend escapes.

Additional City Highlights

Next, we drove through well-kept Little India, then got out the car for a tour of the Central Market, which was very clean and modern. Most, if not all, of the booths feature products and handicrafts of Malaysia. Back outside, we walked past the River of Life and Independence Square on our way to the Kuala Lumpur City Gallery.

At the gallery, with the displays and Akmal’s help, we got a quick (remember, we had limited time, had to get back to the ship) overview of the city and its people of numerous cultures.

We then returned to the Central Market to a local favorite for lunch, the only one of the White Coffee chain to serve food. Akmal helped us choose traditional and delicious nasi lemak, asam laksa, the tarik (tea), and white coffee.

We wrapped up our whirlwind tour of Kuala Lumpur with a visit to the outside of the iconic Petronas Towers, before heading back to the ship. We were a tad bit late, but so were several of the buses (we passed them on the highway) from shore excursions offered by the cruise line.

Our Overall Impressions of Kuala Lumpur

The traffic wasn’t bad in the city; it was Sunday, but Akmal said that it doesn’t get a whole lot worse. It was easy to cross the street, partly because there are more cars, fewer motorcycles and scooters, than in other major cities in Southeast Asia. People here can afford cars as Kuala Lumpur makes their own brands, whereas imported cars in other Southeast Asia cities are very expensive. The food is yummy, the city has a good infrastructure with a metro, an airport with great connections around Asia, and living is relatively inexpensive. If it was on the coast, we would seriously consider spending an extended time here. But given that Penang is on the coast with a beach, that city is more our speed.

Cruise Wrap Up

What we didn’t mention above is all the great people we met on the cruise. We met people from all over, Australia, US, Canada, etc. We met Angela and Raul at dinner the second night. As is our way, we told the hostess that we would share a table, and they got seated with us. We did the normal small talk and found out that they are doing the exact same thing as us. They sold all their stuff and house and have been traveling the world for almost a year so far. Hard to believe that we’ve been doing this for two and a half years now! What are the odds that on a ship with 3000 people we would be seated with them?!

As you can tell from earlier, we clicked and we hung out with them a lot. We also met and hung out with Janice and Brent from Perth. Brent’s second job must be for the Australian tourist board because he kept reminding us of all creatures that would like nothing better than to eat or kill us if we visited. We also met Kim and Todd from the Gold Coast, Kathy and Richard, Rhonda and Emily, and Barbara and Mark all from Sidney. Hmm…looks like most of the people we spent time with are from Australia. Also, Toni and Leon from Florida, and other people whose names we’ve forgotten from other parts of the US and Canada.

The cruise far exceeded our expectations and was a great overview to Southeast Asia. After our Singapore training wheels and the two-week cruise, we felt ready to tackle more of Southeast Asia on our own.

Next up: Beach time in Ao Nang, Thailand

Ian & Ann