23rd September 2018 Goodbye Shanghai, China

23rd September 2018, Sunday, breakfast then checkout, cannot believe it is our last day. A holiday jam packed full of adventure. A 2 hour drive to another city Suzhou, so much traffic. Only Shanghai number plates can drive on certain main roads and highways so the plates are as expensive as the cars and only a certain amount are released per year. Onto the humble administrator garden and then lunch. Food was great, 5 different plates including rice, prawns, peanuts and beef, pork nuckle roasted, chips, litchis, Chinese tea and beer. 

Tong Li is an ancient city where everything is kept as it was many years ago, with narrow streets and no vehicle access. People go to work by boat as the city is surrounded by water. We walked around the city, took a rickshaw ride, we mostly felt that we should be carrying the rickshaw driver as he was half my size carrying both of us. Then a boat ride in a Saipan. They have osprey that fish for commercial fisherman. Yes birds, they tie a loose rope round the birds neck stopping the bird from swallowing the fish. So the bird drops it at the fisherman’s feet and then goes back out to get more fish, does that the whole day. The fisherman then ties the bird up for the and feeds it some of its catch. 

Then back to Shanghai and a ride in the magnetic train. 45km in 6 minutes, had we driven in traffic, we would have taken 2 hours. A great final experience completed the holiday of a lifetime. Our first flight is at 00:05 on Monday the 24th September 2018, 9hrs flight from Shanghai to Dubai and then another 9hrs to Cape Town with a 6hrs layover-in Dubai. A lot of shopping, a visit to Jack Daniels for a bourbon and to Costa for a Frappuccino made the time go quickly, I am writing this on the second flight - from Dubai to Cape Town. Amazing!!

21st September 2018 Nanjing Street, Shanghai

22nd September 2018, Saturday, start of the lunar festival that runs for 3 days, lots of moon shapes and rabbits. A free day 8n which we entertained ourselves - once again along Nanjing road, every shop and multiple shopping buildings with floor after floor of clothing brand names, food stalls - anything and everything one can dream of. Michael got an haircut while I waited at one of the 100 Starbucks in that area, I have never seen so many of one type of establishment in such close proximity. Apparently every financial building that opens up, offers the downstairs premises to Starbucks for 1 year rent free. 

21st September 2018 Shanghai

21st September 2018 Friday, Breakfast of lots of different Chinese vegetables and pickles as well as hot soya milk and western style eggs, bacon, sausages. Walked along the river and then our guide fetched us. First stop Shanghai tower 632m of tower, the second tallest building in the world. Fantastic 3D game - a roller coaster beneath the 3 towers. Great view and a T-shirt for Michael. The most Eco friendly building in the world, then onto a propaganda poster museum Yoyouan Gardens famous for the owner being a silk and crab merchant - a split table with each side against a separate wall, no men visitors allowed as the man of the house is not at home. The table in the Centre with the two halves joined, male owner is home, male visitors are welcome. Lunch in a shopping centre was a little disappointing as we had had such good local food in the other areas, it felt strange to sit alone and posh. In the afternoon we walked around the former French concession precinct area and understood the west old Shanghai and east new Shanghai. The construction company’s buy the land from the government, build apartments or office blocks, selling them to the people of China for 70 years. After which the government inspects the structure. If it is ok, the owners at that time, relatives of former buyers or new owners begin to pay a tax to the government for the continual use of the apartment/ office. If the building is in disrepair, the owners are paid a small amount by the government to put a deposit down on a new apartment and the cycle begins again. 

A person from Beijing can buy property in Shanghai and work there but on retirement, must to back to Beijing even though he has paid tax in Shanghai. Children can also only go to public school in the city from which the parents come from forcing children to return to their grandparents in order to go to school. As Shanghai is a rich state with great benefits, people marry to get a Shanghai ID book. So very interesting.

We visited a tea shop and a tea ceremony with all the bells and whistles and tasted three different teas. Bought a purée tea that comes in a cak3 and is fermented. Very good for you.

Onto a acrobatic show and a cruise around Shanghai harbour. The skyline is magnificent, every building is lit up, paid for by the government. Then a walk along the Bund and onto Nanjing street, wow a lot of people. Michaels navigation got us back to the hotel. What an awesome day!!!!

20th September 2018 Through the 3 Gorges dam project

20th September 2018 saw us packed, checked out and at breakfast before 7am. Very efficiently done, after which we got on the bus and drove to the 3 gorges dam project Tourist Centre in Yichang city. It is the most magnificent hydro-electric project in the world, two ship lifts and two lochs one to upstream towards Chongqing and other downstream to Shanghai. Construction started in 1993 and ended in 2009 with an investment of 203.9million Yuan, around 408 million Rand, generating 18.2 million kilowatts. This is 3% of Chinas energy requirement. Most of other electricity requirements comes from coal. The dam helps control the flooding of the Yangtze River valley which until now was always unpredictable.

The army build the dam and still controls it and as a resource of extreme National value, the security is tight but fair. All the ships use the ship lifts 35minutes traverse or the locks 2 to 3 hour traverse for FREE. Only people that pay are the cruise passengers. Local people on ferries, boats, fishermen, cargo ships are all excluded from fees. What a way to promote economic growth.

We walked around the decks of the facility and it is truly a magnificent engineering feat. The fact that visitors are allowed, truly shows how far China has come in opening up her country to outsiders. The bus took us to the 9th pier in Yichang and our guide Fay and driver took us to the train station once again to board a timeous train to Shanghai. Eight hour trip through village after village that are either farming with plots of rice or vegetables and have smaller houses and/or massive cities with multiple condominium with building in progress. Every city has a massive amount of construction, we haven’t quite figured out why, perhaps they are building new, so people can move from the older rather run down buildings. Based on the economic activity and the earning potential of the man in the street, this is a distinct possibility. Other option is that the population growth is extreme.

Arrived in Shanghai and promptly collected by our guide who together with our driver, took us to our KingTown hotel in the west side of the city. Great hotel with every facility you can think of.

19th September 2018 Start of he 3 Gorges - Yangtze Cruise

Overnight the ship moved to Fendji, the start of the 3 gorges dam cruise. 19th September 2018, after breakfast, we opted to get off the ship and walk. China is so very progressive, not yet ready to receive hoards of tourists but setting up to do so, the amount of building is extraordinary.  Local people had not seen many whites, once again people stared openly. We saw museums and pagodas, temples and walked another wall, then back to the ship for, yes you guessed it, lunch.... 

Started the 3 gorges passage. Scenery different to what I have ever seen, high mountains. Steep and sheer cliff face for miles and miles, as Michael said, highest bunji 255 meters in SA... China can easily create one of 855 meters. Highlights were our included tour where we transferred to a smaller boat so we could get deeper into the gorge and then the optional tour which was transferring to an even smaller Saipan boat to view even further into the gorge. 

In 1979 a basin was flooded to create the 3 gorges dam and 1.3 million people relocated at the government expense. The ship was sailing over these people’s original houses. My understanding is that the Yangtze River only became navigable after this was done and the ship lifts and lochs created. It starts in the mountains in Tibet all the way to the sea in Shanghai. Back to the boat to the continuation of our journey through the 3 gorges to Yichang city. This sailing rivals anything I have seen from the side of a cruise ship and more. Explanation was in English but the volume so loud that it hurt our ears, well when changed to Chinese it tripled in pitch. Perhaps my ear is just not used to this, it actually hurts.

Onto the Captains farewell dinner, a served meal. Well that means instead of getting your own food buffet style, all of the dishes are placed on a lazy Susan for you to dish up onto your own plate, so like tapas. Not as nice as all the other meals. Then onto the cabaret, the dancers doubled up as our waiters, house cleaner, even one of the chefs. Lovely dances relevant to the 3 gorges and hot pot cooking, famous in this area. We were pulled onto the dAnce floor to do the marakena and ymca, lots of fun.

Hotpot cooking is a boiling pot in the middle of the table filled with water and spices. Uncooked food is placed on different plates which you then pick up and  cook by yourself. We did not try this. Too much hard work!!

18th September 2018 Fengdu - Yangtze Cruise

No luck, Wifi in the cruise ship available only in the bar and reception, 7:00 am on the 18th September 2018 Michael and I set off to the multipurpose room for TaiChi - slow stretching movements relaxed around 5 minutes then coffee break and then restart again and 5 minutes later a break again. The first 2 TaiChi moves done and dusted. Breakfast at 8:00, everything you could possibly think of on a Buffet except for bacon and cold milk. Cornflakes with hot soya milk for Michael, I have to admit that his palate is so much more varied. I have watched him eat pickled turnip, bean sprouts, Chinese cabbage, bamboo, chicken feet, baby fish. On the boat mealtimes are noisy and not sure if I mentioned, there is so much food consumed by such tiny thin individuals. Yu my new Chinese friend puts it down to green tea. Every day you must drink green tea, in the morning and again before 12:00, be consistent. Not after 12:00 otherwise you will not sleep. Wonderful to meet someone that speaks and teaches Chinese, I hope to see Wolfgang and Yu again as they have a house in Strand.

Onto our included tour, Fengdu the city of Ghosts. Chinese tradition is to worship/ respect their ancestors so there is a whole 7 story temple dedicated to ancestors and death. Walking up in the rain, I became aware that purgatory is alive and well in Buddhist traditions. The scenes depicting life after death show people being punished in horrific ways. Crimes committed in life, result in painful deaths. What are the crimes. Gossip, too much shopping, rudeness....

We walked back down, just in time for lunch, some story - huge buffet. In my view, there are lot as of positives in China, however as a Westerner, the volume of everything, singing, speaking, coughing and spitting is loud, very loud.

We attended the Captains welcome drink and games and Michael won a cap for speaking a Chinese word. They love gambling games and someone got the red jack and upgraded to the presidential suite. Others won Champagne and wine, both are extremely expensive in China. 

Dinner at 7:30 in the same style as breakfast and lunch, everyone extremely punctual as queuing is definitely a pastime in which everyone catches up on the days events.

Dressed and onto a bus for the optional tour, in the rain, not really knowing what to expect, we were blown away with a show of multiple stages in which the audience moves as much as the stage, war horses and soldiers, beautiful girls all performing on a water stage. Phenomenal lighting and sound, even though it was all in Chinese we felt every emotion. Suspended trees and suspended worriers, acrobats and dancers. Only criticism is that River Dance timing has not yet made it into this production, everything else, WOW!!!

17th September 2018 Monday, travel to the start of the Yangtze Cruise

Monday 17th September 2018, after a good breakfast at 6:30 worried about Monday traffic, we head off to the train station for our trip to Chongquing where we will board the cruise boat. Thank you to Susan and our great driver. (I never got his name)  for a unforgettable time in Xian. I got a lovely gift of tea and chilly sauce and will use it reservedly in the recipe for fish soup and in the recipe for stir fry vegetables. I cannot wait. Susan explained some of the way of life - with the minority’s allowed multiple children but the Chinese people having the one child policy until last year resulting in a very male and aged society. Thank you for your insights on the schooling systems. Chinese boys also have boarding schools. Your family sounds amazing. From prices of apartments to lengthy explanations of dynasties and terra-cotta warriors, Susan was happy to discuss and inform on everything.

Now on the train, going to find the dining cart. Apparently there is one. Michael has had a packet of equivalent to Lays potatoes cheese chips, as it seemed the safest bet. Lots of different options but we didn’t recognize anything else on the packet covers. I found hot water, had I brought tea leaves in my backpack..... so settled for hot water.

Arrived in Chongqing and transferred to the boat terminus, the worst area so far in terms of broken down stairs and litter. A bit of a shock when you compare it to other Cruise areas in both Europe and America. Checked in and then went for a walk around the area. Pointed at some pictures in a restaurant, I thought I was getting pork, beans and peanuts and I got chicken feet and chillies and Michael guessed at ribs and he got baby fish in batter. Anyway, I got some coke lights and yoghurt for the trip as beer or coke is R60 in the bar and outside in the supermarket R6.

Left the side of the terminus at night amongst magnificent buildings all beautifully lit up. Wow amazing skyline on both sides of the Yangtze River. It is a small cruise boat with 6 floors. Larger cabins than princess but much older. I am in bed typing this and I will hopefully put it day by day with pictures into the blog. 

15 September 2018 Xian Terra-cotta Warriors

Our breakfast on Saturday the 15th September 2018 was the best yet, more dishes, more lavish presentation - a really good breakfast with green tea now a permanent part of our morning ritual. It is raining and optimistic that it was going to stop we walked across the road into the gardens. The rain is that steady drenching type and after about a half an hour walk we accept that the rain was there to stay. With acceptance of the weather and acceptance of the large number of people we enjoyed the experience in the rain of the Terra-cotta Warriors, 3 pits of these warriors. As it is Saturday, all number plates are allowed to drive on the roads so the traffic jams are extreme. During the week, alternating days odds and even number plates with heavy fines for non compliance. People get around it by having two cars, one with odd and other with even number plate.

Lunch was really great -  a local restaurant crowded -  5 different dishes accompanied by green tea, ordered by Susan and enjoyed by us all. Michael is getting really good with the chop sticks!!

Next we headed for the Xian city wall, in the rain dressed like crazy people in shorts, sandals, loose rain capes, we cycled 10km around the city wall. What an experience. The government is spending millions changing all of the roofing in the inner city to match the old Chinese style. As far as the eye can see there are these building projects - as it was Saturday or raining (not sure which) all the projects get covered by this green netting to both visually improve the look and stop the sand from washing away.. I was very impressed with Michaels navigating ability as without any assistance and very basic directions - in the rain- we made our way back from the inner city to the outer city and our hotel.

Suckers for punishment and with firm optimism we walk out into a warm but rainy Xian night, our mission, to find a Starbucks. Sunday is going to be cold and rainy so we find a store that sells quality Chinese labeled outdoor clothing. I end up with awesome waterproof hoodie and pants and Michael a jacket. Ready for our next adventure, we find Starbucks and after our nightly sustenance we walk back to the hotel. 

16th September 2018 Big Wild Goose Pagoda

We wake up on Sunday 16th September 2018 to a wet and cold Xian, dressed for the weather, we eat a hearty breakfast and head to the big wild goose pagoda, we walk up the pagoda 7 stories with awesome views. Part of a gorgeous Buddhist temple. A monk walked from China to India to bring back the Buddhist faith! Onto the Museum - Many many people at the Shaanxi History Museum, two hour wait so we head off to another museum where we see the relics of the Han and Than and many other Dynasties and continue to the Muslim Quarter. We go through a bazaar and end up in the Great Mosque, dedicated to the moslem minority in China. Minorities which include Mongolians, have many opportunities, every year the mosque receives financial assistance from the government for improvements - this has led to a really large, impressive and well maintained structure.

Lunch at a moslem restaurant, 6 story restaurant older than 100 years, very well known for its dumplings. No alcohol. Once again delicious food - beef and lamb kebabs, spicy fish soup, green beens with chilly, special Chinese salad lettuce with peanut and delicious dressing and dumplings, I had to try them but not my favourite. Michaels noodles stir fry beef eaten with chop sticks. Leftovers taken home in a clean plastic bag.

Back to the hotel, rest, pack and then a walk to our favourite Starbucks for our nightly caffeine kick. 

14th September 2018 Beijing to Xian

The next day was Friday the 14th September 2018 - after a good nights sleep, we checked out and drove through the traffic to the summer palace where we walked through the beautiful garden of virtue and harmony and took a boat ride back to the entrance. Lunch of Peking duck, bread duck and seafood stew, amazing the taste and the methodology of the pancake, onion, cucumber combination. The youngsters, adults, people in general are all well mannered and the only disagreement seen is after an accident, there is so much traffic, millions of bicycles, cars, tricycles, battery driven motorbikes and tiny bukkies in Beijing. Everyone has to have insurance - compulsory and either Police or the insurance companies arrive on the scene and take pictures. Most were bumper bashing’s yet people got seriously upset. Coco kindly took us into the station, into the waiting room for our bullet train and we boarded the bullet train for Xian. The bullet train peaks at 350km per hour and is so quiet. Once again people are considerate and everything is impeccable.

Arrived in Xian station promptly met by our guide Susan and our driver around 18:30 who took us to the Titan Hotel, well what an amazing standard suite, it had a separate sitting room, both hotels with king size bed, complementary everything from toothbrush to sewing kits which came in very handy. We went for a walk and found the corner of the City wall that divides the city into inner and outer city. We were a bit hungry so stopped at a local restaurant, pointed at two pictures and got what we pointed at. Hehe, mine was beef with two types of chili, red and green, hot hot hot. The picture looked like beef with green and red peppers. Still delicious and we ate every morsel. Michael ended up with cold bacon and cucumber chili salad - also incredibly tasty but both of us ended the meal with runny eyes and nose.

13th September 2018 Beijing - The Wall

The next day Thursday, 13th of September 2018, we travelled 2.5hrs to Jinshanling to walk the wall. Certainly a different experience to what we expected. Wow - the first thing you notice is the lack of people, hardly anyone walks this section of the wall. The second is the absolutely awesomeness of this construction, it goes for miles and miles. Up and down and around we went, sections of slippery slate and sections of bricks arranged lengthwise - different to our wall construction technique. Clearly it works as it has been there since prior to the Kublai Khan invasion. We managed to go to the end and then took the scenic route down the mountain and exited out a different gate. Goes down as one of the great hikes ever!

Lunch was at a local house, I had beans and chicken and Michael had potatoes and beef. Plain and delicious, not spicy at all. Car broke down just outside Beijing, our guide was stressing a little and we were not allowed out of the car. Luckily we were off the highway. DI DI to our rescue, the China equivalent of Uber got us safely back to our hotel.

We duplicated our previous nights steps with a bit more adventuring into side streets - our orientation skills were tested and we passed. We are so full from lunch that there is no dinner requirement. There is always a need for a Starbucks Frappuccino and Soya latte so we generally walk with the idea of finding a Starbucks. Why do we not go to any other place??? The language barrier makes it difficult to explain that we want coffee or even tea, the answer is alway the same - ‘we don’t have’ even though we can see there must be. I asked for green tea on the train. Well that was my problem - there is hot water but you must be savvy enough to bring your own container and tea and then you can have it at no cost!!! Another example of differences is the coffee at Y31 equivalent 62Rands and a noodle and meat dish or a rice and meat dish at Y22 to Y28 so 44Rand to 56Rand clearly there are coffee taxes.

12th September 2018 Beijing

Slept very well even with the time difference, went down to the 2nd floor to a large restaurant for breakfast. Every vegetable and salad as well as eggs, soup, coffee, green and black tea - in my element I ate combinations of stir fry veg. Michael likes green tea and it now has pride of place beside Chinese beer.

Met our guide Coco in the lobby at 9:30 on Wednesday 12th of September 2018 to start our exploration of Beijing. We keep the same guide and driver for the 3 days in Beijing.

Our driver took us to the start of Tiananmen Square, traffic is crazy but it works, it just keeps moving. Very rarely have we experienced actual gridlock. The Chinese have crowd control mastered. Large areas to stand in, queues that always move forward. Everything is very modern and clean - people do not crowd you - no persistent hawkers. Even though in the middle of the city, the whole area around the square is very peaceful. We see the Mau Tze Tzung mausoleum from the outside, walk past the tower of independence and Memorial Day gardens. Many preparations in the various gardens for Memorial Day or it may be the day of independence, 1st October - with wire shaped constructions filled with plants and flowers. Works of art. We continued under the next road into the Forbidden City. The gate can be seen all the way from the start of our walk around Tiananmen Square, imposing in bright red.

The construction has 9999.5 rooms, as one of the emperor of one of the dynasties believed that god had 10000 rooms so out of respect..... so many colourful dynasties lasting different amount of years, for a foreigner you feel immersed in the history all around you. We can appreciate the relics and the amazing buildings but cannot keep the different families in order and give up trying. Every building entered had a threshold that did not open as ghosts cannot bend their legs, cannot jump so cannot get into the house.

Lunch at a local restaurant is an occasion - people here love food, order many dishes. A big discussion prior to ordering as to what each person wants after which one person places the whole order, that person also seems to be in control of dishing out the tea and soup. All of the dishes are shared. Whatever is not finished is taken home for the next meal.  Dishes of vegetables that we know and others completely foreign, stir fried noodles with either tofu, beef, chicken or pork, lots of different mushrooms and fungi. Fungi is a type of mushroom that is rubbery yet tasty, seems to take on the taste of the dish with which it is mixed. Lots of spicy food with such a a variety of flavors that it is impossible to describe. I am in my element, definitely part Chinese.

We move onto the Hutong tour in the DongCheng District in a rickshaw, with visit to a local house, very narrow streets with one family living in one room of a courtyard and their parents, brothers or sisters having other rooms in the same courtyard. There seems to be a communal kitchen for the whole courtyard with communal bathrooms for the whole Hutong like you would have in a caravan park in SA. I have used normal sitting toilets and squatting toilets all clean. Only bad experience was in a Starbucks. People’s policies seem to be strict but fair. Incredibly disciplined in their outlook on life. Long work hours leads to better income. Everyone believes in hard work, no beggars or people living on the street. Children are expected to study hard as it is their only responsibility. Government is cracking down on gaming addiction with 10Cent a large gaming company setting the standards on identifying young gamers and restricting their gaming time.

Next was the Temple of Heaven where all the emperors performed rituals for a good harvest and if they got it, they went back to give thanks and if they had a bad harvest, they went back to pray for rain. Again you are back in history with beautifully decorated structures all arranged in the Meridian line, East to West as China was the Centre of the world and all else radiated out...

That night we walked out of our hotel and 20minutes later we were at a night food market. We walked and experienced the night life of the locals, we always felt welcome and included, everyone smiled or stared. Being a tall largish woman with white bushy hair definitely is head turning for the average Chinese person, I often smiled at people, they stopped whatever they were busy with, just to stare. No worries from my side as usually the stare was quickly accompanied by a smile.

11th September 2018, Trip to China, Arrival in Beijing

We arrived in Beijing late on Tuesday night after two eight hour flights, Cape Town, Dubai, Beijing. I love everything about airports, they are magical places that transport us on amazing adventures. Beijing is everything we imagined and more. Efficient and modern with large passages enabling fast throughput of passengers past passport control and customs. Luggage took some time as it was a large aircraft and completely full. Our driver and our guide Coco met us with a sign - our name, easy enough to find - no evidence of long queues or governmental control. Leisurely drive to DongFang hotel. Good hotel, clean lovely towels with complimentary bottled water, tea and slippers.

Air BnB in Tamboerskloof a bird eyes view

We stayed at the highest point in Tamboerskloof , we went for dinner at a gorgeous restaurant in which Carolyn’s sister is the head chef. Michael recons it was the best meal he has had in a long time. I agree 100%

Wedding in Tulbach in the Western Cape

Congratulations Chantelle, Gregg on your beautiful wedding. Mike and Fleur, you must be proud. Thank you for inviting Michael and I, we had a lovely time.

10 April 2018 LA, Echo Park and LAX airport.

The cycling around LA was difficult, I had imagined Venice beach and Muscle beach not the hills of Beverly Hills and BelAir, Brentwood, Culver City and Santa Monica boulevard (really long road) also known as Route 66. We arrived late - as we exited the ship at 7:35 - per the schedule - it took one hour to get through customs - very efficient - and out ready for a taxi by 8:15. Taxi came and well let’s say that $105 later and finally we were in front of the bike shop at 10:15. Not just traffic, the taxi driver definitely messed us around. 

Finished the ride really tired and used the Lyft app to get a car to drive us to our Airbnb in Echo Park a lovely part of LA cost of around $14 - why a huge difference- even in temperament of driver.

View from the Airbnb - too tired to walk anywhere we used Uber to order food - it is a different world in the USA. The quantity of Chinese food delivered was enormous. We could not finish it. In the morning we ordered a Uber to LAX. Definetly longer than our taxi journey for only $35.

We are now Tuesday the 10th at LAX airport waiting for our initial flight to Dubai approximately 17hrs plus 7hrs in Dubai then 12hrs to Cape Town arriving on Thursday the 12th, driving back to SFB 7hrs on Friday the 13th. Until next time.

9th April 2018 Getting off the Island Princess in LA

Should be a fun day cycling from Santa Monica around LA. Had a lovely breakfast as usual. I am repeating myself, the food is first class.

Smoked salmon. Mmm.

Looking out onto Golden Gate Bridge and the LA harbour on the other side.

06 April 2018 Puerto Vallarta Mexico

A place of beaches. I am at the Starbucks in Puerto Valhalla Mexico - internet on the ship is terrible 😂 I have not been able to post about any of the other places but will go back and update. We have had 3 sea days in the last 6 days and have managed to go to lectures on the GoPro camera, learned a lot. Michael has had 6 lessons with a personal trainer and has enjoyed the gym. We have read and rested. It has been lovely. The previous port was also in Mexico and we saw the Aztec pyramids - these were more like mounds not pyramid shape. Prior to that in Granada beautiful buildings and a great tour of the Isletss - 365 islands which we took a boat ride around.

01 April 2018 - Puntarenas

Costa Rica and Por Vida is their slogan, brown sand beaches, coconut trees line the streets. Easter Sunday so everything is quiet very few shops are open. Imperial beer which we will sample on our way back - all a board by 18:30. We saw iguana.

Poe’s and Irrazul active volcanos can be seen on a clear day, unfortunately it was cloudy. They make fences out of living trees cut short. 

Lots of mango trees, different types of mangos to allow mangos for sale all year round. Melons and water melons are also farmed.

Cantonese Chinese not Sechuam style, come from the railway workers in the Caribbean. The land of crocodiles is an eco tourist park where we board our boat for our crocodile tour.

31st March 2018 Summary of Cartagena de Indias and cruising through the Panama Canal

There is another Cartagena in Spain, the one we just travelled through is the 4th biggest town in Columbia. We had not booked an excursion and were pleased to find a tour in a tram style vehicle. They took us to the fortress and the wall that surrounded the old city, a walk through the old and the new city.

28th March 2018 Aruba

Caribbean Dutch Island beaches and hotels - pubs. Lovely warm climate