Review Part 2 - Sun Princess to Asia 17 June

[Sailaway John]

SUN PRINCESS REVIEW – Part 2

S911 Fremantle to Asia – June 17 – July 3

Tuesday June 23, 2009: Today we arrived in Penang, Malaysia:

What a sight whilst sailing to our mooring, and then being tendered to the wharf. There were that many ships all waiting to unload or load goods that the harbor was saturated – I would easily say that over 150 ships that I saw were waiting to unload. The capital city is Georgetown, although a lot of people call the capital Penang. We did not take any of the organized tours but decided just to visit Georgetown and see the sights of the city. Lucky we did because it was so hot that all you wanted to do was to go from store to store and get back into the aircon. We visited the main shopping centre which went up for around 8 floors and all but one carried some sort of electrical and clothing merchandise. Decided to return to the ship and go to the Trivia – a favourite with the wife, then the Pizza Restaurant for a late pizza.

 

The show tonight was called Tribute which was a jouney through the musical highlights of the last few decades – very good. Then back to the Wheelhouse Bar for quiet time listening and dancing by Apasionado.

 

Wednesday June 24, 2009 – Phuket, Thailand:

Another hot but beautiful day was predicted. We decided that we would do the “James Bond Island Tour “ with a visit to the Muslim Floating Village. This was very interesting. You went out on an open but roofed boat and we visted the Island where the James bond movie was made . we then visited the Muslim Floating Village, and had to get on and off the boat by climbing through a open window. Of course when you got off you were surrounded by people selling goods and there were people with little monkeys that climbed all over you but the catch was that you had to pay to have your photo taken with them. We moved on to the school that was at the back of the village were fortunate to see the children receiving their midday meal from a village elder – rice, beef and some sauce – soy I believe. We did not go to the beach areas around Patong, Karon or Kata as we have been there before.

Back to ship and tonight after dinner went to the Vista Show Lounge and saw Dave Burke, comedian.

 

Thursday, June 25, 2009 – Langkawi, Malaysia:

This is really one of the best holiday destinations in Malaysia. Langkawi has some really nice beaches and best of all is a duty-free port where goods can be obtained much cheaper that on the ship and any where else that I have been to. We took the shuttle bus to Pantai Cenang which is a shopping centre but not the main town centre. Had a look around but decided to go and have a look at some of the small stalls and barter and bargain for some goods. We then went over to the beach area and watch the para-sailing and had a couple of nice cold beers at a beachside bar. Still very hot and humid but on the beach you got a nice breeze. Then back to the ship, freshen up for tonight was a formal night and after dinner went to see Ash Puriri who sangs songs from the eras of Tom Jones to Pavarotti. Then off for nightcap at the Wheelhouse Bar.

 

 

More soon.

[Kinkacruiser]

Thanks for sharing this part of your cruise with us. Ours is still such a long way off, but I revel in reading about everyone's experiences on the "Treasures of SE Asia" cruise.

Cheers,

Anna