March 29, 2016 - Epilogue

Things have settled down since our return. Bags were unpacked, and laundry was done the day after our return. Three large containers of held mail have been processed, and the containers returned to the post office.

We saw doctors the day after we got home. The lesion that developed in my right foot 4 weeks ago is infected. X-rays show no bone involvement. The doctor excised the damaged tissue, dressed the wound and prescribed a stronger antibiotic. I will use a surgical shoe with padding for two weeks. Then we will schedule surgery to relieve the pressure on the foot. This is all easy stuff. Just inconvenient.

Alice saw the doctor who replaced her left knee. He has cautioned her for 2 years that the right would need replacing too. He believes she suffered some meniscus damage in Vietnam. X-rays do not show any broken bones. He injected cortisone, and said things should improve in 2 or 3 days. Then we will assess the situation and plan her care. She is not a candidate for arthroscopic surgery. If this does not work, a replacement is the solution. 

Fourdays after the treatment there was no improvement. In fact things were worse. Alice called the doctor to request an MRI. He iwas away for a week, but his partner ordered the MRI. It was done on Wednesday. The results would be available when her doctor returns.

The doctor's medical assistant called on Wednesday. He had called up Alice's file, and reviewed the MRI. It shows a fracture in her right tibia. She must wear a knee brace and stay off the leg. She has to use a walker, and just toe tap with her right foot. No weight. Of course this works the upper body because she has to support herself by pushing down on the walker.

We saw Dr. Cirrincione yesterday, his first day back. He showed us images from the MRI that showed accumulated fluid at the inner side of the tibia near the knee. This explained how he and the ship's Doctor thought it was a meniscus problem. Without any displaced bone x-rays alone showed nothing.

Alice will continue the same care program. Healing should take about six weeks. Remarkably she says the pain level had gone down on Sunday. It continues at a much more tolerable level.

These health issues are not insurmountable, but they do inject an element of stress. After talking it over, we have cancelled the Grand South America voyage we had booked for next January. That just added another level of stress. If all of this resolves well, we will find a winter cruise later in the year. Otherwise, this is a great country for road trips.

All things considered we had a marvelous experience. We met many new people, visited great ports, saw wondrous things and were cared for in first class style by the fine crew of Amsterdam.

Life is Good!

Thanks for following this blog.

March 16, 2016 - Travel Day

The alarm went off too soon. 3:45 is really early. Breakfast arrived at 4:30 on the dot. I think he came early and waited in the hall. He left 2 large bags, inside each were a pear, a bottle of fruit drink, a Kit Kat and a box with a croissant, 2 muffins and 2 Danish. We drank the juice, and put the rest in our hand baggage. At 5:00 the doorbell rang. The bellman must also wait in the hall before ringing. He carted away 4 heavy pieces, and assured us he would have them for us at he door.

At 5:10 we went down and checked out. At 5:15 our driver arrived. At 5:45 we were checking in at the JAL counter. There was no one else there. There was no charge for our 2 extra bags. We had decided to check the heaviest carry on also. I asked about the request for a wheel chair. She said she had not received one but no worries. She jumped up and walked away on the luggage belt. When she jumped off she grabbed a phone and apparently called dispatch. When she returned, she told us it was all arranged and had us step aside until the chair arrived. It was still before 6:00 so when the chair arrived, the escort took us to the waiting area near the door. Our flight to Tokyo was not until 8:30. It would start boarding at 7:40. We had a long wait.

At 6:00 a coach pulled up and disgorged what seemed like hundreds of people. The counter that was empty when we arrived was now seriously backed up. Our driver must have known about this and got us here ahead of it. About 6:15 a new escort arrived he would guide us through immigration and customs before taking us to our gate. This gate was far far away. It was not even open. There were a few seats outside the locked gate area. He parked us there, and told us another pusher would arrive about 7:30 to take through security (it is at each gate here) and down to the plane.

We killed time people watching and playing solitaire on our iPads. At 7:30 the same escort returned. He took us through security and we all sat at the gate. While we waited we learned that he was 60 and retired. He worked this job because his benefits don't kick in for another 3 years. He has a young son and daughter with his second wife. He creates beautiful batik. The boarding began, and he wheeled us down to the plane. Alice slowly made her way to our seats 3 rows from the rear in row 60. The cabin attendants were extremely helpful.

We took off on time, but were scheduled to arrive in Tokyo a little late because of weak tail winds. The flight was smooth and 7 hours long. The entertainment system worked well. And the cabin attendants could not have been better. As we neared Tokyo we learned that our connection time was cut to an hour. We would not have to collect our bags. They were checked through to Chicago. Saito, the flight attendant who had looked after us confirmed that a wheelchair would meet us. She also assured us that we would not miss the plane. Speaking of planes, I must report that this 767 was the roomiest that we have ever been on. The space between rows was fabulous as was the seat width. Now I understand why no premium economy is available. Who needs it.

We arrived in Tokyo with an hour to change planes. The escort met us at the door. Saito bid us goodbye, and we were off. This young man knew all of the shortcuts. All that slowed him down was my need to take out the computers and iPads for security. When he got us to the 787 Dreamliner, they had started boarding but were still in group one. We had a short walk to our premium economy seats in row 9. This flight is operated by American. We were really happy to have premium seating. Regular economy was scrunched. Alice's knee was glad.

Leaving Tokyo this was just one of many golf courses we flew over.

This flight was 11.5 hours long. As one would expect there were some bumps along the way, but it was a good flight. Meals were good, but we did not find the crew as friendly or helpful as on the JAL flight. We landed a little early in Chicago. Again we were met at the plane. 

This escort would take us all the way to the taxi stand. As we approached immigration the lines were backed up through several hallways. We wove our way through to the wheel chair dispatch center. There were about 60 occupied wheelchairs lined up here waiting for escorts. Our just had to check in with our passports and we were on our way. He took us to the global entry kiosks. Not one was being used. In just a minute we had completed the online questions after verifying our fingerprints. The kiosk spit out our receipts, and we walked through the open lane to baggage claim. Our luggage all arrived in a few minutes. Customs waved us through. Then we were calling a taxi and waiting for it. Alice got to the cab lane. I had the luggage trolley. Within a few minutes our taxi arrived. Half an hour later we were home. We had left Singapore a mere 27 hours earlier.

We were home safe. The house was fine. Nothing leaked when I turned the water on. The hot water lit on the first try. All is right with the world.

We had just returned from a great cruise. It expanded our horizons in ways we did not expect, and we met many good people. Time for a prayer of thanksgiving and bed.

March 15, 2016 - Singapore

Waking from a good night's sleep we got dressed and headed to Prago, the hotel's breakfast venue. Amazing! They had everything you could want for a breakfast. After each plate the efficient wait staff removed the plates and silverware. They replaced the latter every time. We thoroughly enjoyed the cuisine and the service.

We took a HoHo to Suntec where we boarded the green line. Our plan was to take this all around, but when it got to Gardens By the Bay we could not resist getting off. We had 45 minutes till the next bus. We would just get a few pictures of the huge metal trees, the sign and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

Hah! A short walk up the path convinced us that we would have to spend some time here. 3 hours later we were waiting for another bus on a bench in front of Marina Bay Sands on the far side of the gardens. We had walked almost everywhere. This was despite Alice's knee protesting. She just insisted on doing everything just in case we never returned to Singapore.

Our next ride was on the blue line. This repeated some of the stops of other lines, but it added many new ones and gave us a new perspective. We enjoyed it. Again we got off the bus across from the hotel. This time we went straight to our room.

It was 3:45. Alice had noticed earlier that Prago offered a sunset dinner special from 5:00 to 6:00. We headed down at 5:00 and had a delightful dinner. We were almost the only ones there. 

After dinner we used the escalator just outside to the lower level of Raffles City. We were on a mission to the Pandora store. Our practice is to buy a charm characteristic of the country. Singapore offered an enameled lotus blossom. We took it.

Under the escalator

Earlier we had been forwarded an email from JAL telling us we should print our boarding passes before arriving at the airport. We asked the Pandora clerk if she could help us do that. She happily tried, but we were missing a required password. Back at the hotel the concierge told us he could print them, if I forwarded the JAL email to him. I was not about to pay the $18 per day fee for the hotel's wifi, so it was off to Raffles City in search of free wifi. Found and sent I returned to the concierge. He printed the passes.

When we had entered the hotel lobby after dinner, we met the young lady who had checked us in. She asked how everything was and did we enjoy our breakfast. We told her all was fine and breakfast was super. In fact we were disappointed because we had a pick up at 5:30 the next morning and would miss breakfast. She told us she would have box breakfasts prepared for us. Was a 4:30 delivery OK? Sure. She bid us safe travels, good night. And please come back.

Upstairs we set our alarms for 3:45, called for a luggage pull at 5:00 and went to bed. It was 8:30.

March 14, 2016 - Disembarkation and Singapore

Our appointed time for disembarkation was 9:30. This was the last group to leave. We had Holland America transfers to our hotel. We had breakfast in the Lido and loitered in our stateroom. At 9:10 we went to the Ocean Bar to meet our wheelchair escort. We were all alone until 9:15, when Tina, the manager of the Pinnacle arrived. She explained that her colleague was collecting his passport, and would arrive shortly. She left. At 9:20 a young man arrived with the chair. We had been told of the long long walk to get out of the terminal. He pushed Alice gingerly on our way.

After traversing 2 very long halls we entered the immigration hall. It was full of people in the longest queues we had encountered the whole trip. Our escort took us to an empty lane for pass holders. A minute later we were done and collecting our luggage. As we identified our bags, 2 men put them on a cart and led us to the exit. Directly outside we were met by a young lady who was collecting people for the transfer. She directed us to a sitting area. Several minutes later our van arrived. Our driver seated us and another couple while he loaded our bags. He explained we had to wait for one more passenger, and went inside. 10 minutes later we were all present an on our way.

The drive into the city took about 25 minutes, and gave us a quick overview of some of the sights. Checkin went efficiently. We were soon in our room on the 22nd floor of the Fairmont. After checking our view, we were off to find the HoHo bus. Our doorman explained that we could walk about 5 minutes to the hub at Suntec Center or we could board a bus directly across the street. This was their last stop before Suntec. 

We crossed the street. A 5 minute walk was not in the cards for Alice. After a very short wait we boarded the bus, and were whisked to Suntec. This is an office and retail complex with a transportation hub. We walked up to the HoHo window, bought our tickets and got maps and timetables.

We enjoyed the sights along 2 of the routes today, the red and the yellow. They did a good job of covering different parts of the city. We could not go up the steps to the open deck, so we stayed on the lower air conditioned deck. The drawback was the goofy advertising overlays on the windows. Yes you can see out, but it is like looking through a screen. This sure messes with photography.

Views from the bus

The various markets and food halls looked most interesting. Every high rise building seems to have a mall in it. Somewhere along the line we downed energy bars to keep us going. We got off the bus across from the hotel about 6:00. This was the last bus. We think we got our money's worth today, and it is still good for tomorrow.

The Fairmont entrance is in the middle of the block, so we had to walk to the corner to cross. On our way we decided to walk into Raffles Courtyard. Long Bar is located here. This is where the Singapore Sling originated. We had been told it was $37 here, but we wanted to see the bar. You cannot get into the hotel unless you are a guest. Unfortunately Long Bar is on the second floor. We never found the elevator, but we did enjoy the courtyard.

Next we crossed to what looked like a beautiful church property a block from the hotel. This property named Chijmes (chimes) is an old convent and girls school that has been rehabbed and repurposed as  a shopping and dining. After walking the property we selected an Italian restaurant, next to a fountain, for dinner. We started with Singapore Slings. Served in pint Mason jars these were delicious and just $8.50. We topped this off with a delicious pizza. We were seated outside in a delightful breeze as we watched the moon rise and the lights come on the steeple.

But that wasn't the end. The walk back to the hotel took us past Raffles City. This large mall was directly next to our hotel. After a short stroll inside we returned to our room. This busy day left us tired. We fell asleep as easily here as we did on Amsterdam.

March 13, 2016 - Day 68 - Sea Day and Arrival in Singapore

Packing is all done. We came with 2 checked bags at 49 pounds each. We bought a bag in Townsville. Thank goodness. We now have 3 bags at 49 pounds each. And our 2 carry ons are heavier.

I did some more needlepoint today. Alice went to her final computer class. She has really enjoyed these. She and Kristin, the young instructor, have developed quite a rapor. This has been good for both of them.

The knee is getting worse. We have decided to request wheelchair assistance to get to and from the tour bus. We stopped at shore excursions, and learned that no wheelchair assistance is available for tours. We cancelled our tour and were able to get a full refund because there were 10 people on the waiting list. Our tickets would be sold, and two people would be very happy.

We went to our dinner table for the last supper. All were surprised to see us because they thought we would be on tour. This was Terri's birthday. We celebrated. Then we said our goodbyes.

Happy Birthday Terri

Diane, Diana and Pam

After dinner it was one more check of our bags before we put them out. It was with mixed feelings that we settled into bed. We had experienced so many wonderful things. We had seen so many new sights, and we had returned to so many happy places. We had met so many wonderful people.

March 12, 2016 - Day 67 - Sea Day

With only 2 days left, this is packing day. Alice threw me out so she could pack her stuff and our acquisitions without my scowling. I would pack this afternoon. I set off to the front desk to arrange for wheelchair assistance at disembarkation. They placed the request in our file, and told me where we should be 15 minutes before our time for disembarkation.

Our table mates knew we had a tour planned for our last night, so they ordered onion rings and Brussels sprouts as special accompaniments for tonight. This was great fun. It has been a few weeks since Andy discontinued the nightly onion rings. I love Brussels sprouts. They have only been on the menu 3 or 4 times. 

We bid farewell to our table mates after dinner. We hope they enjoy the remaining 7 weeks of their voyage. Our 10 weeks has been great.

Alice's knee has not improved. She is using the cane with vigor. We are glad to have 2 sea days before Singapore. We have scheduled a night tour for tomorrow. The ship will arrive at 6:00 PM. We will have until midnight to get our bags in the hall. Our tour will get back by 10:30. 

No problem.

March 11, 2016 - Day 66 - Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Another early start. We met our guide on the bus. He was very pleasant, and his English speaking was good. He provided excellent background and history as we drove through the countryside for 2 hours. Our destination was a farm outside the city of Kampot. Here we would see how the famous Kampot pepper is grown. My expectation was to find bushes producing some sort of hot pepper. So much for worldly knowledge. What we found were plants growing around and up poles. These plants produced small round peppercorns growing 20 to 30 to a stem. There were hundreds of these stems per plant. At harvesting, these are stripped from the stems and spread on trays to dry in the sun. No fertilizers or pesticides are used. All of the work is manual labor.

I had never heard of Kampot pepper. I will keep an eye open for it. We were told that most of it is exported to Europe.

Back on the bus we drove into the city of Kampot. This is a busy city of 100,000 located along a river not far from the sea. 

We walked into a large market. This was much larger and more crowded than the market in Saigon, yet the city is much smaller. We understood the size once we entered. This place was like a giant, but primitive, mall. It was divided into specialty areas. There were goldsmiths, silversmiths, shoes, dresses, scarves, meat, fish, rice, pepper and on and on. Unfortunately we had no time for shopping. This was only touring for us.

Then we drove through the city. We toured the center and some neighborhoods. We were surprised to see groups of young Americans on the streets. They looked like college students, but we saw no schools. This will require some googling back at home. 

The bus stopped at the river. We got off to walk along it toward the only bridge in sight. There were interesting fishing and tour boats tied up alongside. Again we encountered a group of American girls, but we could not stop to chat. We were kind of on a forced march as the guide strove to keep on schedule. We boarded the bus at the bridge.

It was time for lunch so we drove across the bridge and headed to our restaurant. This was not as luxurious as yesterday, but it was family style table service. I can't remember how many courses we had or what they were. I think I stopped counting at 6. I do remember a very good soup, excellent fish, great noodles, steamed vegetables, Kung pao chicken and, of course, rice. There was more, but I think I was in a coma by then. Satisfied, we reboarded the bus. 

Soon we came to another bridge over a river. We stopped for photos of the fishing fleet tied up along the shore. After a time our guide led us off the bridge and down a path to the floating fishing village. Young children greeted us, and the adults were very cordial. This village of about 140 had no sewage system. Fishing boats were tied up behind these houses. Some women were cleaning fish. A few men were fixing nets. This gave us an insight into how hard life can be for these folks. Yet they all smile and carry on.

It was time to head back to the ship. Part way there we visited a Buddhist temple and monastery. This was a very large complex. It even included a school for local children. Far in the back was a cemetery. The temple exteriors were ornate and pretty. With our mobility issues we did not take our shoes off to enter.

The remainder of our ride took us through the countryside again. This was the dry season. The rice had been harvested. In some of the rice paddies the rice straw had been burned. This not only clears the ground for planting the next crop, it provides a form of fertilizer.

We returned to Amsterdam in time to visit the craft booths set up on the pier. Alice found a very nice woman's scarf and a small purse with an elephant design. We boarded Amsterdam for what would be the last time on this marvelous voyage.