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.

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 😉

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.

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

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.

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!

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!!!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

Next on our itinerary was the nearby One Pillar Pagoda, a reconstruction of a temple originally constructed in 1049.

Then we walked to the Presidential Palace just around the corner. The grand yellow building was built from 1900 to 1906 by the French Colonial Government as the residence of the Governor-General of Indochina. After the withdrawal of the French, the Government of Ho Chi Minh used the Presidential Palace as its base. However, Uncle Ho refused to live in the palace but preferred to live in a small wooden house on stilts by the pond he had installed in the grounds of the palace.

A little later we met Rose in the lobby and she took us to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum first. We arrived just in time to watch the changing of the guards in front of the revolutionary leader and President´s resting place across from the Vietnam National Assembly.

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Day 12 - Hanoi After ending the last day of 2023 with a bang we woke up early on January 1st of the new year 2024 curious of what the year would bring. The first thing it brought for us was a good breakfast in the Hotel Anatole´s nice breakfast room. It was hard not to indulge in the well presented and wide variety of alluring local and western treats. However, we kind of had an idea of what to expect for the day so we limited ourselves to a nice selection of fruit and sweets.

No, we weren’t worried at all and had not problems at all. We trusted Rose to take us to places which were “safe”. The places she picked were all very popular. Yes, guides accepted tips. It’s Japan where tips are not so common but slowly making their way into certain areas of tourism. In Vietnam and Thailand it’s no problem. Rose gave us advice how much to tip.

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😞 OK, I fully admit this is were the Live(ish) report becomes more ish than live... I am working on the next and last parts of the report. Unfortunately, after our dream vacation, we are deeply immersed in real life and work again. More than I´d like to be... 🙂 So please stay tuned... 🙂

Tripplelights and Toursbylocals are my go tos in Japan. you might like our review(s) for tips. The latest from October https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2845307-october-24-2023-celebrity-millennium-12-nights-southern-japan/ Japan on HAL http://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html or our first one a few years ago http://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

Hmmmhhh, well we did stay in the Shinjuku area again on our last visit. Mainly because we liked the buzz. But in terms of convenient location and getting to places, both areas are great. Maybe Shinjuku station is a bit easier to master than Tokyo Station. Both are not small but Tokyo Station is a maze 🙂 So if you also enjoy a bit of unusual buzz, I´d suggest Shinjuku. We liked the Gracery Hotel. If you stay longer than a night book a larger room.

Thank you! It’s not quite over yet ☺️

Back at the hotel we thanked our fabulous drivers, and said goodbye. Birgit and I decided to go for a walk along the shore of the nearby Sword Lake. It was nicely illuminated and crowds of young people gathered to wait for New Year, even though in Vietnam the lunar new year (Tet Holiday) is celebrated on February 10th. We walked along the shore and enjoyed the vibe until we reached Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square. Thousands of young people gathered around a huge stage where a countdown concert took place. We bought a coffee and immersed ourselves into the crowd. On the stage Vietnamese superstars played their music. The lively atmosphere was infectious so we decided to stay. Rapper Double2T sang an apparently popular hit. And despite the fact that we had no idea what the lyrics were we sang the refrain “À Lôi” along with the masses. IMG_8510.mov When the female singer My Tam was announced, the crowd was ecstatic - no doubt she’s a big deal in Vietnam. IMG_8520.mov Time passed and suddenly there was a countdown on the big screens. So here we were - immersed in a young cheerful crowd on a square in the middle of Hanoi screaming Happy New Year. IMG_8521.mov IMG_8522.mov Birgit and I kissed, wished each other all the best for 2024 and, feeling blessed and grateful for all the amazing experiences, we knew without words that we both felt we could not have had a better day to end the year! Happy New Year, dear friends all around the world.

Filled and happy we drove back to the hotel through even heavier traffic. It was astonishing. To us it looked like absolute chaos. On the crossroads it felt like different schools of fish colliding and melting together. However, even though cars and whole families on two wheels passed each other by merely a few inches, there was no touching and scratching. We had noticed that only very few cars and motorcycles had dents or scratches. Amazing!

Our wild scooter ride continued past the nicely illuminated Ho Chi Minh-Mausoleum and the National Assembly Building before we stopped again at a roadside restaurant. IMG_8463.mov We sat down with our whole gang at the low tables and had Bún Chả. Bún Chả is a Hanoi signature dish. Grilled pork and rice noodles served with a very tasty dipping sauce, more like a broth. Since President Obama and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain had it in one of the restaurants of the french quarter in 2016 it’s also known as Obama Noodles. I am 100 % sure that no celebrity chef could have prepared the dish any better than the one we had. Only our already sumptuous lunch kept us from having a second helping.