Miaminice

After the visit of the palace we had a very nice lunch in a restaurant by the river. The Pineapple Rice and a Pat Thai noodles were delicious. A short drive took us to Wat Pho. Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest temples in n Bangkok. It is home to more than one thousand Buddha images, as well as one of the large reclining Buddha images at 46 metres (151 ft) in length.

Our first destination was the Grand Palace. The Palace was built 1782, when King Rama 1 ascended to the throne. To get into the palace we had to pass the security guards. They strictly enforced the dress code. We saw people being turned away for wearing ripped jeans or just a shawl over uncovered shoulders. If we had thought we had been prepared for the splendor waiting for us, we were wrong. It was almost overwhelming. From the murals of the gallery surrounding the temples to the Chapel of the Emerald Buddha everything was beautifully decorated and gold was the dominant color.

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Day 5 - Laem Chabang/Bangkok 1 Since Koh Samui had been cancelled, this was the first day with an excursion. We met our party on board, left the ship and soon found our guide waiting for us at the terminal. So we started our journey to Bangkok in no time. The 1 1/2 hours were filled with explanations of Thailand, the Thai language and interesting background information. When we reached Bangkok, we had to make an unscheduled bathroom stop at a small temple. The building and its delicate ornaments acted as a teaser for what was to come.

oh, I enjoy doing it. It’s also a personal journal for us. However, I am behind and will post more soon.

Thank you! We are just on the way back from Bangkok. Another beautiful day!

🎄 Feliz Navidad! IMG_7241.mov

yes, we will 👍

Good night, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all!

We celebrated Christmas Eve with a fabulous dinner in Blu. and then listened to the Christmas Caroling of the Solstice Officers. It was fun and everyone enjoyed the spirit. The kids also loved getting a gift from Santa 🧑‍🎄. After this joyful event we had a drink at the Ensemble Lounge and listened to Christmas songs played by the acoustic duo. When we went back to our stateroom we stopped by at the theater and watched the Christmas show for a few minutes. I have to say: a really good mix!

Well, what was to be an adventurous day in Thailand now turned out to be a day at sea. So we made the best of it, enjoyed Solstice and relaxed. And yes, had more food 😁 before we took advantage of the Persian Garden.

Haha, thank you! We only eat that much on vacation. Enjoying and trying different food is part of the experience for us. The problem is that it took me two or three weeks to get back to my normal weight after a trip when I was younger. Now it’s more like months. 😁

Ok, so it’s got to be something about us and elephants… in the past few years all of our tours which involved visiting elephant sanctuaries have been cancelled. So in case someone elso on board reads this - blame it on us 😉 On the other hand we also learned that guests on the Diamond Princess - she’s just behind us - are going through the same process. She also cancelled her call on Koh Samui. Anyway, there’s nothing we can do and we’ll just continue to enjoy our trip. However, this morning was a perfect example to me that sometimes things are not as they seem. When we had breakfast, and even when we were just about to leave our stateroom, the sea looked calm from “up here”. So when the announcement was made, my first thought was: “you’ve got to be kidding…”. Clouded by disappointment, briefly a bit of anger flickered up in my mind. Then I went out on the balcony and saw a ferry boat ploughing through the seas. The bow digging deep into the waves and the ferry covered by the sea’s spray. Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo. I realized then how much harder it would be for a small tender boat to make it through the waves and to tie up to the ship. Plus, I am trying to keep in mind that they have to consider the weather throughout the whole day… not an easy decision for sure. Announcements were made that they‘ll add a show in the afternoon, that they will change the opening times of the venues and that a new today paper with the revised schedule will be printed and delivered to the stateroom. I can imagine that none of the staff are bored right now but all are doing their best to make up for something that’s out of their hands. So I am trying to be grateful rather than to be disappointed.

unfortunately, it will be the only photo of Ko Samui I will get to take. 🙁 oh well… 😉

I guess it’s a sign… 😢

I guess it’s a sign…

we were, too. But then I saw a ferry boat ploughing through the waves close to us. That’s when I realized it sure looks different from “up here”. A tender boat would have considerably more problems with the waves than a ferry.

So close… but no cigar! We had breakfast while sailing towards Ko Samui where we actually stopped. Just when we were about to leave our stateroom to meet our party an announcement was made that tender operations would be unsafe. So we’ll continue sailing towards Bangkok.

Merry Christmas!

Just a heads up… it’s still dark outside but it looks like we‘ll make it to Ko Samui 😁 Feels much calmer and we weren’t tossed around in the shower. Merry Christmas 🎄

During the day the sea calmed down a bit and we are hoping that this will continue until tomorrow. Since our next stop Koh Samui is a tender port, there have been rumors that it might be cancelled. Optimists that we are, we are still assuming our visit is a go until we are told otherwise 🤞. Around noon Birgit surprised me with the suggestion to stop by at the Oceanview Cafe. Who am I not to listen to my dear wife?! 😉 As usual our dessert was a drink at Al Bacio. The afternoon went by quickly by writing some emails and a workout at the gym. If only to soothe the bad conscience of already looking at the Blu menu on the app. You know the saying: we come as guests - and we leave as cargo 🤷🏻 Mmmhhh, talking about it.. we haven’t tired the Escargot yet 😉

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Day 2 - At Sea We are on our way to Thailand, making our way through (warm) rain and rough seas. The night was pretty rocky and Birgit didn’t feel well - which is unusual. AndeEven I’ve had better mornings. Our way to cope with it was to only have a light breakfast at Blu. Birgit decided to sleep it off and went back to our stateroom. I took the chance to take a few pictures of Solstice.

yes, there was a separate line for people who don’t need visa. We have German passports and require no visa for Vietnam or Thailand. Except for one short wait, embarkation was a breeze for us. We basically walked right through.

Back at the hotel we picked up our bags, said thank you for the wonderful friendly service and took a Grab car to the pier. Check-in went smoothly and it didn’t take long until we were able to say hello to our home for the next two weeks. Aqua stateroom 1542 on deck 11. Our luggage arrived soon after we got to our stateroom, so we unpacked and settled in. Around 5pm we went to the Oceanview Bar to meet some of our fellow travelers and people we’ll tour with. Thank you, David @mahdnc for creating all the name tags 👍 We waved goodbye to beautiful Singapore and sailed away to a new adventure.

Time had passed and it was already noon. We couldn’t really have lunch but we still walked over to the People’s Park Complex food court. For us one of the most authentic ones. We got a pork bun at a stall we knew and then some more juice. It really couldn’t be fresher. Made to order when you are finally done browsing the expansive menu. On the way back I couldn’t resist one of the Salty egg custard buns… sooo yuuuuummmmy!