Celebrity Solstice - 12/22/2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Live(ish) Report

[Miaminice]

A short drive brought us to The Temple of Literature.
 

 

 

It was founded in 1070 to worship the Chinese philosopher Confucius and later It became the first university of Vietnam for over 700 years and taught hundreds of renowned scholars and mandarins. Like most Chinese style temples it was very ornate and almost overwhelmingly rich in decor - and fascinating.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Miaminice]

Then came the time for culinary sightseeing 😁 We went to an old colonial villa in the heart of the Old Quarter.

 

 

It was originally built in 1932 and housed just one wealthy family. In the 1950s it was divided into 16 separate dwellings. Next to pottery shops and family homes, Cafe Loading T is hidden in one space of the colonial mansion.

 

 

 

The cozy cafe was our destination. It was tough to choose from their extensive choice of coffees but judging by how good the one we had was, we couldn’t have gone wrong with either one on the menu.

 

 

 

It came with a cinnamon kick - not too rich, not too subtle… just perfect.

 

[Miaminice]

Our next stop was one of these hole in the wall restaurants right by the street.
 

 

We sat down at one of the low tables and had a “dry” Pho. The noodles and toppings seasoned with a dressing are served in one bowl and the broth in a second bowl.

 

 

 

I know the the use of the word delicious is kind of inflationary in this report, but I just can’t help it - it simply was!

 

[Miaminice]

A part of the Old Quarter are the “36 Streets” each of them dedicated to a specific trade or guild. We followed the tin or metal street to the next course of our menu - Banh Mi or Vietnamese Baguette.
 

 

 

 

 

Rose hat apparently picked a very popular place for it. Quite a few people stood in line to try the signature dish.

 

 

We just skipped the line because Rose had pre ordered the Banh Mi by phone. 

 

[Miaminice]

We followed another street to the next part of our culinary adventure.

 

 

 

 

This time a more daring part… a fried cake made of river worms. It was actually quite good! 
 

 

[Miaminice]

Dessert was next, so we walked through other pretty areas of the Old Quarter to a place specializing in sticky rice.

 

 

 

 

 

I love sticky rice! We had green sticky rice with coconut ice cream. To die for!!!

 

 

 

[Miaminice]

No visit to Hanoi is complete without trying Egg Coffee. At the square where Birgit and I celebrated New Year the night before, Rose took us through a small entrance in a vintage building and up a narrow staircase to Cafe Dinh.

 

 

Café Dinh was founded by the oldest son of Mr. Giang, who invented egg coffee in 1946.

 

 

 

 

It was unlike any coffee we ever had before. So unbelievably yummy!

 

[Miaminice]

The last place we visited in Hanoi was the Hoa Lo Prison. The French called it Maison Central and later it was known as the “Hanoi Hilton”. 
 

 

Then it was time to return to Halong Bay to catch our “ferry” to Hong Kong. Birgit and I had dinner at Tuscan Grill and enjoyed the view of Halong Bay port when Solstice sailed away and started the journey towards our final port of call. On our cruise all of our days in Vietnam have been fabulous. And Rose and her team had made every single one of them unforgettable.

 

[mimmy52]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip. It’s like a peek into another world. Beautiful photos, and I know it takes time.

[Jazzbo]

What a beautiful and rich experience! Thank you for taking us along. Love the photos and videos.

[Miaminice]

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Day 13 and 14 - At Sea and Hong Kong

 

It was nice to have a day at sea before disembarkation day. Many guests enjoyed the sun on the pool deck for a last time.

 

 

We had lunch at the Oceanview and chatted away the time with friends made in Blu, packed our bags in the afternoon and met for a farewell drink with our touring family. We sure had a great time together! We shared a common interest for food and all things exotic. Thank you, Lael and family! We’d tour with you again any day 😘 @educated palate

[Miaminice]

All good things must come to an end. So the next day marked the end of our fantastic cruise. Because we had some OBC to spend we had booked a transfer to the airport with Celebrity, although taking a taxi/uber would have been less expensive.
 

Our flight back to Frankfurt was at 11:45pm. So we had a day to spend and weren’t really in a hurry. We had breakfast at Blu and said goodbye to the awesome team there, before waiting for our number to be called. We had #28 which was scheduled for 9am. After the first few numbers disembarkation was suspended again and again because of slow progress and a backlog at immigration.

 

Quite a few people got restless and of course many knew how to handle things better. We didn’t really mind because we literally had all day. At around 9am the Celebrity App messaged us that it was our turn to leave - although our number hadn’t been called yet. Since we didn’t know how they would handle the delay with the bus, we decided to get in line at the gangway.

 

It took a while until we progressed to the exit and eventually heard that dreadful sound of the last bing when the card was scanned for the last time. A sad feeling every time - but especially this time after such an exceptionally nice cruise. A cruise that was dominated by great and outstandingly well organized experiences and adventures on land. Solstice was nice and we enjoyed our time on her a lot. However, for us the excursions and time on land had definitely left a deeper mark and the Solstice had merely served as our floating hotel - albeit a very nice one 👍.

 

When we eventually reached immigration we saw the cause of the delay. Despite of two ships arriving at the same time - a Genting ship and Solstice - only 8 counters were in operation. 

 

A while later we were on our way to the airport where we had planned to drop our bags. Unfortunately the Lufthansa counter wasn’t open yet. Not a big problem though. We had originally planned to only store our hand luggage at a place for luggage storage and now simply brought all our bags to the counter at the arrivals level. 

 

[Miaminice]

Then we followed the signs to the Airport Express train. Instead of queuing to buy tickets we scanned a QR code and purchased round trip tickets while walking to the train. The next train arrived soon and around 30 minutes later we got off at Kowloon station.
 

We have been to Hong Kong a couple of times before. My first visit was actually when it was still a British territory and today’s cruise terminal was still the runway of the famous Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport. So we had a few things on our agenda to spend the day and had plenty of time to see them. 

 

By now you probably know that almost every time our plans involve food ☺️. And it was time for lunch. Finding our way to the correct exit of Kowloon Station and through an adjacent shopping mall we walked to the Ocean Center in the Tsim Sha Tsui area.
 

From our previous visits we remembered a nice restaurant there named Crystal Jade. Actually a Singapore based chain with a Michelin Star, multiple Bip Gourmand awards etc. We like its modern, unpretentious design and good food at reasonable prices. We had their signature spicy Szechuan noodle dish and custard dumplings for dessert. Highly recommendable 😉

 

 

[Miaminice]

The Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower, the opera house and the Star Ferry terminal aren’t far away from the Ocean Center. There is a raised platform which provides unrivaled views of the Hong Kong Island Skyline. A view that seems to change whenever we visit this ever growing city.

 

 

[Miaminice]

Walking past the famous fleet of Rolls Royce limos and through the colonial style lobby of the iconic Peninsula Hotel we walked to Nathan Road.
 

 

 

 

 

We followed the street to the Temple Street Market and then continued to the Ladies Market before taking the MTR to Wong Tai Sin Temple.

 

 

 

 

 

[Miaminice]

Wong Tai Sin is one of Hong Kong’s most famous temples. We like it for its beautiful ornate architecture and lively atmosphere alike.
 

 

 

Before you reach the level of the shrine itself you are greeted by big bronze statues of the 12 Chinese zodiacs on a first platform. Being born in the year of the goat and the rat, of course we had to shake hands with our respective zodiacs before continuing up the stairs.
 

 

 

 

[Miaminice]

Thousands of visitors come to Wong Tai Sin Temple each year to have their fortunes told and to make a wish at the altar. They shake a bamboo cylinder until one fortune stick falls out. The stick, it has a number on it, is then exchanged for a piece of paper which tells the fortune of the worshiper. The air around the temple is filled with the smoke and scent of incense and the constant rattling sound of the vigorous shaking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few minutes later the air was also filled with loud announcements asking everybody to leave. Unfortunately they were closing down and we couldn’t wander through the nice gardens behind the temple this time.

 

 

 

[Miaminice]

We still had a lot of time before we had to return to the airport. In the past days my back had decided to tell me that it needs a bit more TLC. So I consulted the internet and we decided to get a massage before the long flight home. 

Using the uber app we called a taxi which took us to the center of Kowloon City and a massage parlor I had found online. English wasn’t spoken here but we still managed to communicate our wishes and got a couple’s massage for an hour. 
 

 

60 minutes later we felt like two pieces of kneaded dough ready to be shoved into the oven 🤣

 

The next MTR station was close by and we returned to Tsim Sha Tsui for some nighttime views of the skyline. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was time to leave we took another uber/taxi to Kowloon Station and returned to the airport. Shortly before midnight a Lufthansa A340 took off with us on its long way to Frankfurt - and back to reality for us after a dream vacation!

 

 

Thank you 🙏 as always for following along and for dreaming with us 😁

 

If you have any questions, please let me know…

[StopTheWorld]

Thank you again for a fabulous live (ish!) report. I love your writing style and feel

like I’ve been on holiday with you! 😍

[Miaminice]

Some practical advice:

Stay Connected

Before the cruise I purchased an Airalo Asialink eSIM 10 GB Data plan.

It worked very well in all our ports from Singapore to Hong Kong. 
Whenever I had a signal I used it instead of the slow ship‘s Wifi.

And although I posted quite a few pics here and on FB, 5 GB would have been sufficient.

https://www.airalo.com/asia-esim

 

 

Grab

Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand use Grab instead of Uber. 
We used it for rides in Singapore and even to pay for food at the hawkers. Rides are charged to the credit card linked to the app.

 

For payments, all you need to do is to top up the Grab wallet, scan a QR code provided by the vendor with the app and enter the amount. Then you just show the screen showing the approval to the vendor and that’s it.

 

The ride from Singapore Airport into Singapore by Grab was only S$ 25, so roughly US$ 19.

 

 

Uber in Hong Kong 
In Hong Kong we used the uber app for taxis. There’s a small booking fee but you can pay via the app and the linked card. Taxis in HK don’t accept cards, so using the app was more convenient. Plus you see the price for the ride to get an idea how much it is.

 

The ride to the airport from the cruise terminal in Hong Kong by taxi is cheaper than Celebrity‘s transfer. Around US$ 38.

 

 

[educated palate]

17 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Day 13 and 14 - At Sea and Hong Kong

 

It was nice to have a day at sea before disembarkation day. Many guests enjoyed the sun on the pool deck for a last time.

 

 

We had lunch at the Oceanview and chatted away the time with friends made in Blu, packed our bags in the afternoon and met for a farewell drink with our touring family. We sure had a great time together! We shared a common interest for food and all things exotic. Thank you, Lael and family! We’d tour with you again any day 😘 @educated palate

One of the best parts of cruising is making new friends. We too would enjoy traveling with @Miaminice in the future.  
 

It was an experience we cherish.

[Spif Barwunkel]

21 hours ago, Miaminice said:

We still had a lot of time before we had to return to the airport. In the past days my back had decided to tell me that it needs a bit more TLC. So I consulted the internet and we decided to get a massage before the long flight home. 

Using the uber app we called a taxi which took us to the center of Kowloon City and a massage parlor I had found online. English wasn’t spoken here but we still managed to communicate our wishes and got a couple’s massage for an hour. 
 

 

60 minutes later we felt like two pieces of kneaded dough ready to be shoved into the oven 🤣

 

The next MTR station was close by and we returned to Tsim Sha Tsui for some nighttime views of the skyline. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_8860.mov 56.32 MB · 0 downloads  

 

When it was time to leave we took another uber/taxi to Kowloon Station and returned to the airport. Shortly before midnight a Lufthansa A340 took off with us on its long way to Frankfurt - and back to reality for us after a dream vacation!

 

 

Thank you 🙏 as always for following along and for dreaming with us 😁

 

If you have any questions, please let me know…

Whether it is where we have been, or where we hope to go, your travels are the ideal reminder of good times past, or the perfect tease for what is to come. The late Anthony Bourdain plied us with food and drink then took advantage of our slight inebriation, taking us along, with motion pictures, wherever he wanted to go. Miaminice, with the written word, is of the same ilk. Expertly compiled and presented, in script and still pictures, it is a most enjoyable vicarious adventure. One is there, even though one is not. 

[Miaminice]

1 hour ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Whether it is where we have been, or where we hope to go, your travels are the ideal reminder of good times past, or the perfect tease for what is to come. The late Anthony Bourdain plied us with food and drink then took advantage of our slight inebriation, taking us along, with motion pictures, wherever he wanted to go. Miaminice, with the written word, is of the same ilk. Expertly compiled and presented, in script and still pictures, it is a most enjoyable vicarious adventure. One is there, even though one is not. 

😳 Thank you!!!

 

[kabmab]

Fabulous!  Thank you so very much!

[Miaminice]

17 hours ago, kabmab said:

Fabulous!  Thank you so very much!

it‘s my pleasure… it was a fantastic journey. Last night we watched a TV show about Vietnam… and missed Vietnam immediately 😊