Another day, another 5am wake up call from.. well, whatever the hell it is. That’s not strictly true. I woke up ten minutes before that, last night’s late water demanding an exit. Instead of going back to bed I ended up lying across it, and that’s when things got interesting. The 5am sound was different […]

Dawn brought a very pretty sight once I’d emerged from my cabin. I woke in darkness, but that’s because I don’t have a window, the sun already visible by the time I reached the deck. Waking up at 5am is because of the constant noise that occurs then. Looks like it’s not another passenger working […]

When I say ‘by the sea’ I do mean ‘surrounded on all sides, no land in sight’. Awake before 5am, up before 6, drinking coffee in the Lido for an hour before it opens for breakfast. Reading the news printouts; they’re dated yesterday and cover Friday’s news. It’s Sunday and I already know what happened […]

Last night’s film was interesting. I’ll have to watch again and this time stay awake through it. My body seems to be on East coast of Australia time and not Vietnamese. Hopefully I wont shift body clock just as I shift location. Up at 5am, a 5.30 breakfast (scrambled egg, sausage, bacon) and a quick […]

In bed and asleep at 9pm, slept through to 4am, another hour snoozing until 5. Not good for acclimatising my body clock to local time (although it may work ok for Singapore) but lovely to get some proper sleep at last. Sadly the Lido didn’t open for breakfast until 7am (unlike the 6am earlier in […]

Returning to the ship was straightforward. Curiously while sat in the Wyndham my brain had insisted we were swaying, which may be why the deep swell on the small boat didn’t bother me as we crossed the bay back to the Westerdam. I guess I’m developing my sea legs – something that intrigued me as […]

Another night of sleep scarcity, despite my best attempts to assure a long deep slumber. Maybe it’s the constant drone from the air conditioning or the motion of the ship or.. no, I don’t know.so fref Still, even with the clocks going back overnight it was 6am before I emerged to find us gliding between […]

An early start to the day, my final one in China. This wasn’t really by choice, six hours sleep is a luxury for this trip but meant I was awake at 4.30am. Even that didn’t dismay me, I just relaxed and drifted. Until 5am, when I needed to call Guest Services to report an issue. […]

We cast off a minute after midnight. I heard a strange wet sound and the pier slowly drifted off to the left on the bow cam. So I headed back upstairs with my camera! After leaving Victoria Harbour a tiny light on the sea changed direction, started heading perpendicular to the ship, its speed assuring […]

Ah, a blissful afternoon spent testing the softness of the cruise ship’s paper. More experimentation needed to find out whether it was the burger, the coffee or the water I drank in my room. A brief interlude to visit Guest Services and confess that I couldn’t find the light switch for one of the lights […]