Waiting for Sterlin.

Saturday, December 13th.


We are still waiting for Sterlin to arrive back home. Not only has his ship been delayed with a few weeks (tell me something new); there also seems to be some 'actions' from the stevedores (really tell me something new). All we can do is wait.
Some official also decide that the container will need to be x-rayed on arrival... what are they expecting to find? Guess who gets to pay for this special treatment...

Meanwhile we are slowly settling back into San Francisco life. Most of the boxes have been unpacked, most of our furniture is back (we are still missing our bed), computers and internet are up and running, 21st Amendment is still there....

Homeward Bound. November 29-30, 2014.

It had arrived: the last day of our 'Around The World Trip'.
That evening we boarded a plane in Ho Chi Minh / Saigon that took us back home to San Francisco.
Bittersweet really. On the one hand we felt sad that the adventure had come to its close; on the other hand we felt good about going back home again after 18 months.
The re-adjusting to San Francisco life could begin.

Ho Chi Minh / Saigon. November 27-29, 2014.

Thursday, November 27th

During the morning we sailed up the Saigon River, which was a little surreal. The river is big, but it feels a lot smaller when sailing in a cruise ship. By lunchtime we arrived on Ho Chi Minh city proper. We did a little exploring of the city, mainly visiting the markets in search of affordable silk cushion covers. We found what we were looking for. The heat was getting to us, so we only headed back to the air conditioned comfort of the ship.

The number of motor scooters in this town is a little insane. And we managed to cross the streets without get mowed down. The trick it seems is to not do anything unexpected, as the locals don't expect the unexpected. Of course we found the local Starbucks.

The old world and the new world.

Found the local Starbucks.

Friday, November 28th

We had great plans to head back into the city, but the heat kept us away. A little bit lazy on our part, but we were just happy enjoying our last days of luxury before returning to the real world.

Saturday, November 29th

We walked into town after lunch and did a little window shopping. Mum picked you a tailored outfit which she arranged the day before. Amazing that tailors can whip up outfits overnight like that, and for a pretty good price. We picked up a few Christmas gifts along the way. We were getting use to the heat again and could stay out longer, but as the sun started to set we headed back to the ship. Being near the equator, the sun sure does set fast here.

Nha Trang. November 24-25, 2014.

We stopped in Nha Trang for a day and did a little window shopping and a small walk around town. Very hot day, so we weren't out for too long.

Lizards anyone?

Or maybe Seahorses?

Fresh Markets

Daily Life

Hoi An and Da Nang from Chan May. November 21-22, 2014.

The World left Ha Long Bay at 8pm on November 20th and docked in Chan May around 6pm the following day. The ship was docked miles form anything so that evening we did not go ashore.

Saturday, November 22.

We hired a private car with driver and guide and set of towards Hoi An for the day.
First off was Da Nang with stops at the Cham Sculpture Museum, Marble Mountains, and 'China Beach', now Marble Beach. True, not much to see at this last one, apart from the beach, but I wanted to at least set foot on it because I liked the TV series 'China Beach' years back. We could see the remnants of the American airbase, but it looked all closed off.
On we went to the ancient town of Hoi An, another UNESCO World Heritage site. We had a lovely time wandering around and having lunch, before it was time to head back to the ship.

Marble Mountains, Da Nang.

'China Beach' today - Da Nang.

Hoi An.

Japanese covered bridge, Hoi An.

Hoi An.

Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. November 18-20, 2014.

Tuesday, November 18.

Around noon we reached Ha Long Bay, our entry point into Vietnam. The bay features some 2000 of limestone karst islets and islands in all shapes and sizes, which makes for stunning scenery. In 1994 the bay was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. While sailing into the bay and taking in the spectacular seascape, we enjoyed a bbq on the pool deck of The World.

Sailing into Ha Long Bay. With Alison.

Ha Long Bay.

Once docked and cleared by the Vietnamese authorities, we took a shuttle into Ha Long City for an evening stroll through the markets and along the riverbank. For us this also meant the last (new) country on our world trip.

Ha Long City riverside.

Garbage collection.

Picking up his wife after a day at the markets.

Wednesday, November 19.

That morning, loaded with our overnight bags, we boarded the transfer bus to Hanoi, where we arrived around noon.
After checking into the Sofitel Legend Hanoi, a beautiful French colonial hotel, we went walking around town. We liked Hanoi. It is full of old French colonial style buildings, some in better nick than others. Combine that with new construction and lots of motorbikes and you get an interesting mix. Dinner was at the Wild Lotus restaurant, after which we went for a night walk and a drink.

Thursday, November 20.

We went for a morning walk in the area around the hotel and found a Starbucks for coffee and breakfast. Around noon we checked out of our hotel and went to the pick up point for the transfer bus back to Halong Bay and The World.
All in all a very good idea to spend the night in Hanoi, as opposed to just a day; it gave us a bit more time to get the flavor of the city.

Sanya, Hainan Island. November 16-17, 2014

After  day at sea and on route from Hong Kong to Vietnam, we docked for 2 days at Sanya, Hainan Island, China.
Not much to this place really. It's being bookmarked at 'the Hawaii of China' because of its tropical climate, but other than that there's wasn't much to see.
We went for a walk in town and along the beach, had a sugary fruit drink and headed back to the ship. The second day Stephen ventured out for a bike ride with Alison.

Coming in to dock.

Hong Kong. November 10-14, 2014

After a long, tiring flight (these long hauls usually are) on Qatar Airlines from Brussels, via Doha - somehow we'd expected more of that airline... will have to try Emirates next - we arrived in Hong Kong. A pre-booked car was waiting for us at the airport and the pampering started as soon as we boarded the good ship The World. We had a relaxing afternoon recovering from a serious lack of sleep and a time zone shift.

The next day we met up with local friends Donna and Eddy who took us to lunch in Kowloon.
On Wednesday Peter joined us on a day trip to Macau. Macau, a former Portuguese colony, is one of two 'Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. So going there meant immigration in and out of the area, all easily done at the ferry terminal. Upon arrival there we took one of the free casino shuttles to get to the downtown area. After lunch we went for a walk to Macau's Old Portuguese Historic City Center Unesco World Heritage area. Our main objective were the Ruins of St. Paul's. This actually refers to the façade of what was originally the Church of Mater Dei built in 1602-1640 and the ruins of St. Paul's College, adjacent to the Church, both destroyed by fire in 1835. It was nice to be able to tick Macau off the list but we don't need to go back there in a hurry.

Old Portuguese Town.

Stephen and Peter in front of the ruins of St' Paul's.

The following day we took the Star ferry over to Hong Kong Island and took the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak, where we went for a walk. After enjoying a coffee we headed back down and went for a walk on streets and walkways, trying not to get too turned around. Donna and Eddy joined us for dinner on board that evening.
Before we had to back on board on our last day in HKK we did some last minute shopping and walking around Kowloon. The World sailed out of the bay at 8pm.

View from the Peak.

M/V The World docked at Kowloon.

Gent and Eeklo. November 5-9, 2014.

November 5-7.

Caroline took the 12:58pm Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussel Zuid (naturally there was a 25minute delay entering the tunnel), and from there continued onto Gent to stay 2 days with Hilde and family. One evening we went to the delightful Pizzeria Da Toto (corner Handbalstraat and Koning Albertlaan), highly recommended. After walking around town, which is always enjoyable, I caught up with cousin Lucile and Frans.

St. Baafsplein.

Some favorite street art in St. Paulusstraat.

With Lucile and Frans.

San Francisco. November 2-6, 2014.

Stephen flew back to San Francisco to organize a few things. Uneventful trip, which is the best kind. Caroline stayed back in Europe.

London. October 31 - November 5, 2014.

Friday, October 31.

We flew into London City Airport - which not only was a first for both of us but also rather spectacular with The Shard and Canary Wharf passing just beneath us - and 45 minutes later Wayne picked us up at Balham Station.
We opted for an evening in, catching up with good friends Silvia and Wayne.

Saturday, November 1.

Saturday morning announced itself with beautiful sunshine and rather gentle temperatures; keep in mind that this was Nov 1st in London! So out we went for coffees on a local terrace in Balham. In the afternoon we headed over to Putney to catch up with Pete, another of our long time friends. We had dinner in The Coat and Badge.  But we didn't stop there: via Facebook's 'nearby friends' feature we found out that Matt, Stephen's Everest buddy, was in town, and he and Rhiannon made the trip to The Devonshire for a quick catch up. All in all a very successful day seeing friends!!

How's this for a sunny November 1st in London! With Silvia.

With Pete.

Everest friends reunited.

Sunday, November 2.

This day was a strange one: Stephen got up very early to board his 10:30am flight to San Francisco; and would you believe this would the first time we'd be apart for a few days since the beginning of this adventure! He flew over there to have a few 'chats' with people.

Around 12:30pm Silvia, Wayne and I drove to the The Hideaway Jazz Club for lunch, followed by a fun performance of The Jive Aces. We didn't need much dinner after that and stayed in for the night.


Monday,  November 3.

I decided to brave the crowds and rain and went queueing up to see the Poppies Display at the Tower of London. Truly beautiful. This trip we have visited lots of War Memorial and this was a very fitting tribute to add to the list.

Impressive Display.

Tuesday, November 4.

After gloomy Monday, today was sunny again - at least till about 4pm. I went for a walk around what is still one of my favorite cities in the world and passed via Spitalfields Markets, lunch at Wagamama's near London Bridge, Tate Modern, across the Millenium Bridge, Covent Garden, and when the rain started, back to Balham. All in all a good day in London.

Rothko Room: my favorite room in one of my all time favorite galleries/museums

From the Millenium Bridge - Tate Modern on the right.

Rotterdam. October 30-31, 2014.

Thursday, October 30-31.

We left Eeklo mid-morning towards Rottterdam to drop off our faithful 'travel companion/vehicle'. We took it easy, stopping for lunch and coffee close to Veere. Sterlin's drop-off address turned out to be in the middle of the fields in Zwartewaal. After double checking our coordinates we drove up to a gate and some buildings, and what do you know: Sterlin's container was already waiting for its 'passenger'! It all looked a bit disorganized but they were expecting us, and after some paperwork, we said good-bye to Sterlin. He is scheduled to sail on Nov 3rd. We'll see him again in Oakland, California at the end of November.
Getting from there to transport to get to Rotterdam could have been a bit of a challenge were it not for one of the people at the drop-off giving us a lift (for a small fee) to Spijkenisse from where we could take a train to Rotterdam. (And just for the record: Spijkenisse train/bus station is just about the filthiest one we've come across on this whole world tour - we simply did not expect that there).

Sterlin's last moments in Eeklo.

Stroll on the dike in Veere.

Sterlin waiting to be loaded....

...into his container.

After checking into the brand new Ibis Rotterdam City Center we went for a walk around town in search for a drink and a meal.
The next day our flight to London wasn't until 6pm so we had time to explore a bit more, and slowly the place grew on us. We fell in love with some ceramic statues in a gallery but the owner was totally not interested in arranging to have it send anywhere for that matter. Oh well.

Street Art Rotterdam.

Eeklo - Mostly Again. October 24-30, 2014.

Friday, October 24th

We drove from Luxemburg City to Eeklo by way of Bastogne, where we visited the Bastogne War Museum; another very well done museum, very worthy of a visit; and the American Memorial / Mardasson Memorial. We spent about 3 hours taking it all in.

The Soldier and The General.

The Memorial.

After battling rush hour traffic on the ring road around Brussels we eventually pulled into Eeklo. Naturally, after parking Sterlin, we headed to De Kabouter for some well deserved libations after a long day driving and visiting museums.

Luc, Peter, Conchita, Caroline and Stephen.

Saturday, October 25th

A relaxing day. We moved a couple of mattresses into Stefaans new apartment. And a nice place he has. In the evening, Caroline and Hilde drove to Antwerpen to see the Chippendales with the free tickets Caroline scored in Switzerland.

Sunday, October 26th

We started to clean Sterlin for his trip home. First up we tackled the fridge and the rather dusty fridge slide. It was not long before we gave up on that and decided to help Stefaan move into his new apartment driving a load of goodies from his old place to his new place.  In the evening we had a few drinks and nibbles with Erik and Kristin.

Monday, October 27th

Sterling got a proper clean. First was the carwash followed by a vacuum session back at Caroline's mum's home. The main event of the day was a visit to Tante Erna's place with Roland, Alice and Magda. We had the usual Belgian fare of coffee/tea, cakes (2 rather nice and large ones), a wee drink followed by vast amounts of cheese. It was all very nice.

On the way there we made a flying visit to the Canadian War Memorial in Adegem, just outside of Eeklo. Wikipedia link to the Canadian War Cemetery.

Evening drinks with Stefaan.... in De Kabouter - where else.

Tuesday, October 28th

A long day spent packing everything into Sterlin for the trip home. We had to keep behind just 'enough' clothes to survive for the next month until we get home. We had very nice drinks with Isabelle in 'Eethuis De Raedt'.


Wednesday, October 29th

Spent the day cleaning the car and removing the tar. Damaged Sterlin's paintwork in the process. Eventually found a way to remove the tar using some magic product that Erik fixed me up with. Eventually completed the packing and made inventory.

That evening we had a lovely time catching up with Hilde (Caroline's cousin), Peter and their son Victor.

Stephen, Caroline, Hilde and Peter.

Thursday, October 30th

Drove Sterlin to Rotterdam.