Days 1 & 2 In Washington DC

Washington DC

*HEALTH WARNING*

*Looooooong series of consolidated posts (3 posts in total).*

*Do not read if you do not have 36 hours to spare, or are a law student/lawyer, who has already been sufficiently tortured by all the font 6 textbooks which run into thousands of pages, or the innumerable badly written convoluted judgments.*

*For the rest of you… enjoy!*

We spent a total of 4 nights in Washington DC, which was the 3rd part of our honeymoon. We thoroughly enjoyed Miami and the Caribbean Cruise (and its ports of call), so it was with a lot of excitement that we arrived in DC because we were expecting it to be just as great if not better.

I am glad to say that DC did not disappoint.


Day 1

We arrived in DC from Miami on 20 June 2008, and checked into Hotel Harrington.

Hotel Harrington is an old hotel, so it was pretty much no-frills, but yet clean and very affordable. The great thing about the hotel is that it is extremely conveniently located. It is a stone’s throw away from the subway, and many of the sights in DC.

We could (and did) walk from the hotel to all the museums at the Mall (more on that later), to the White House, and even to some of the monuments (although the monuments were slightly farther away).

[Day 1: Hotel Harrington]

After we checked in, the Wife and I went food hunting as it was approaching dinner time. As we were just several streets away from DC’s Chinatown, we decided to check the place out and assuage our Chinese food craving (we had, afterall, been away and deprived of Chinese food for almost 2 weeks by then).

Chinatown in DC is fairly small. It covers only a couple of streets, but is marked at its entrance by this huge Chinese Archway.

[Day 1: Chinatown]

There are numerous eateries along Chinatown, and I am glad to report that we had the good fortune of fortuitously picking an extremely good one, and that was our dinner place for 3 nights out of the 4 that we stayed in DC – Yes… we love and missed our Chinese food that much, and the food there was really THAT GOOD. : )

After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll back towards our hotel and that took us along Pennsylvania Avenue, where we took this nice shot of the US Capitol.

[Day 1: Night Shot along Penn Ave of US Capitol ]

Really could not have asked for more for our first day/night in DC. Hugely satisfying dinner, leisurely stroll, and a nice night view… we were in Heaven.

Day 2

I was responsible for planning the DC leg of the honeymoon, and in accordance with my character, decided to pack our days with numerous places of interest to visit (which the Wife found out to her horror meant loads and loads of walking on end from sight to sight and point to point - sorry darling, I will plan less walking in future… heh).

Our first stop was the National Museum of Natural History.

[Day 2: Museum of Natural History ]

[Day 2: Inside the Musuem Lobby]

The Museum is huge and has many different exhibition halls/rooms showing various different displays of natural history, including the dinosaurs, natural gemstones, mammals, African history & evolution etc.

We spent several hours at the Museum, caught an IMAX film on dinosaurs, and we loved the time we spent there.

The dinosaurs section was fun and exciting and obviously a crowd favourite. From the exhibits, I learnt that there are three broad eras in the evolution, namely the Paleozoic Era (570 to 230 million years ago); Mesozoic Era (230 to 65 million years ago); and Cenozoic (the past 65 million years up to now).

[Day 2: T-Rex Attack]

Also, did you know that apparently modern man assumed his distinctive form at least 35,000 years ago?

[Day 2: Shot of Skull of a Homosapien - 35,000 years old]

The gemstones section was interesting (they had on display the world’s largest blue diamond (which as the myth goes, is cursed – see, told you girls that diamonds are EVIL! : ); unfortunately, the Wife was not too convinced though, sigh).

[Day 2: World’s largest Blue Diamond – but its cursed ]

The African history one was highly educational (and I wished we had more time to linger on), but we had to rush off to catch a film at the National Museum of American Indians and didn’t have more time to spend there.


So, off we went to the National Museum of American Indians…

[Day 2: Wall Motif in the National Musuem of American Indians ]

[Day 2: Us with a sculpture in the Musuem of American Indians ]

The best part of the visit to the Indians’ Museum was the short film - “A Thousand Roads” that we caught. It’s a 40-minute film on the contemporary living of some Indian descendants in the modern world.

They featured 4 different individuals from different parts of the Americas and how they had such different lives, but yet were rooted in their origin and calling for their own people, their own land etc. They were, afterall, the native people living in the Americas before the immigrants/colonial conquerors/explorers found and settled in America.

It was inspiring and moving.

Both the Wife and I agreed that it was a fantastic film. Glad we caught it.

The rest of the exhibits were slightly depressing, as they showed how the Indians were being marginalized by the new settlers, and by the immigrants, and forced out of their lands and their natural and traditional way of living.

Many of the tribes were forced to resettle after losing the battle for their homeland and traditional way of living. Yet… they resolutely seek to hold on to their roots and some of their traditions, so that they and their children will always know from whence they came and who they truly are.

It’s a timely reminder for the Wife and I that we need to always remember our roots, culture, and tradition. No matter how progressive we have become, its important that we always remember from whence we came, who we truly are, and hold on to our roots.


Next stop – and still on day 2 (told you I packed our days… grin…) – was the Museum of Space and Air.

We rushed there to try to catch another IMAX show – “3D Sun”. It’s a documentary about how the astronomers, astrophysicists, and space people came up with a way to take shots of the Sun in 3D, and how it is important in developing a more sophisticated way of monitoring the sun and the space storms which are caused by the Sun, which have a significant impact on the Earth and all the planets around.

It was a highly technical film, and somewhat boring (albeit highly informative and educational). The Wife didn’t like it at all – science is not her thing, but I quite enjoyed the information that the film provided. It was not the best of the 3 films, but certainly no less informative than the rest nevertheless.

The coolest part of the visit to the Space Museum, however, was the shopping at the gift shop – grin.

We bought freezed-dried ice-cream that were designed for spacemen to eat in space. So Isabella, Charlotte, Rachel, Rebecca, Ryan, Regan & Rowena, look forward to some cool spacemen ice-cream. We got one for each of you!

We bought some glow-in-the-dark stars & planets for Rachel & Rebecca (cos we remembered Rachel & Rebecca wanted them a lot).

We bought glow-in-the-dark t-shirts for Ryan & Regan, and many other cool stuff : ).

[Day 2: Museum of Space & Air]

After we were done with the museums… we took a long long walk (and the Wife will gladly confirm that it was a LONG LONG LONG walk) back towards our hotel, with the objective of stopping by the White House enroute.

It was a nice walk for me… I love walking leisurely while on holiday, but it was a little too much for the Wife, who would have preferred a taxi ride any day, particularly since there were no shops and stuff along the way to distract her from the monotony and exertions. To be fair, it was several kilometers, it was midday in the middle of summer (so it was fairly warm), and not many Singaporeans will be accustomed to walking such distances to begin with. I therefore really appreciate the Wife for putting up with it and not complaining (well – not too much anyways) about walking all the way with me.

Love you darling, and thanks for being a sport!

Along the way, we walked past the US Treasury Department Building, and the Wife (after several kilometers of walking), had a stroke of inspiration. She whipped out a dollar note for a photo at the Treasury Building.

It’s a cute shot, no?

[Day 2: US Treasury Dept Building & The Wife with an American dollar bill]

After the photo, and a few more blocks later, we finally arrived at the White House.

I must say it actually looks really ordinary in real life.

Had it not been for the police patrol cars, innumerous photo-snapping tourists, and US flag, it could so easily have been passed off as some normal run-of-the-mill rich guy’s private residence.

In any case, we took a picture of the White House. I mean, after all, we are tourists, and we should be doing all the touristy things since we were there…don’t you agree? Heh heh.

[Day 2: The White House ]

And so… that capped the end of a packed itinerary of sightseeing for our 2nd day in DC.

- WWCS

Washington DC - Day 3

We started our 3rd day in Washington with a visit to the Arlington Cemetry.

[Day 3: Arlington Cemetry ]

It was a lovely cemetery.

Sombre, and filled will lots of history.

After Day 2’s exertions, it was just not right to make the Wife walk through the cemetery in the heat. : ). So, we signed up for a mobile tour, which brought us through various of the famous sights in the cemetery.

We could hop on and off at 3 different locations:- JFK’s tomb, the tomb of the unnamed soldier, and Arlington House.

First stop, JFK’s grave.

[Day 3: Carving at JFK’s grave, a shot of the view from the tomb, and JFK & His Wife's headstone]

The next stop was the Amphitheatre at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where there is a change of guard ceremony every half-hour.

It was a nice ceremony.

Simple, but precise and filled with dignity, and honour. As a mark of respect, everyone watching the ceremony maintained absolutely silent.

[Day 3: Amphitheatre at the Tomb of unknown soldier where there is a change of guard every half-hour ]

And so… with the end of the change of guard ceremony came the end of our tour of Arlington.

Next up on the itinerary were the Library of Congress, US Supreme Court, the Capitol, and Union Station.

Enjoy the photos…

[Day 3: Pictures of the Library of Congress ]

[Day 3: US Supreme Court ]

[Day 3: Capitol Hill ]

[Day 3: Union Station ]

And yes… we visited them all by foot.

Some might argue that I was torturing the Wife by making her walk soooo much. I suspect I was even reported to Amnesty International for cruelty against a fellow human being… but hey… it was fun…Besides, most people in DC walk everywhere anyways!!!

Anyways… after all the exertions… we decided to reward ourselves, and check out the highly recommended Cheesecake Factory at Friendship Heights for some lovely and well-deserved desserts, and boy-oh-boy was the dessert fantabulous!

[Day 3: Friendship Heights – The Cheesecake Factory ]

The Wife will blog more about the food part of the trip, including of course our lovely raspberry and godiva chocolate cheesecake with whipped cream!

Finger-licking good!

- WWCS

Washington DC - Day 4

Day 4 in Washington DC belonged to all the famous monuments in DC.

We had planned a visit to the Washington Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.

But, before we even got to those, we chanced upon what I thought ought to be the MOST FAMOUS AND WELL REGARDED Memorial of them all…

THE WILSON MEMORIAL!!!

Heh. I always knew I was born to be rich, famous, revered, and will have a memorial named after me.

LOVE MY NAME!

[Day 4: Wilson Memorial enroute to Washington Memorial ]

Ok ok… I was being indulgent… the Wilson Memorial was to commemorate James Wilson, but hey… its close enough.

Do you even have a memorial which shares your name? No right… ha! See.

Wilson 1 and Blog Reader 0.


So… shortly after we did a must-have photo at the Wilson Memorial, we arrived at the Washington Memorial.

The only disappointment there was that we arrived too late to get our free tickets to go to the top of the obelisk, so we could only admire the view and the majesty of the monument from the foot.

It was nice and breezy, however, and a good photo opp. So no regrets going (for me anyways).

[ Day 4: Us at foot of Washington Memorial & Washington Memorial Shot]

Next up, and in the vicinity of the Washington Memorial was the WWII Memorial.

Did you know that if your relatives served in the US Armed Forces during the WWII and, ermm, died… you can check their names and particulars at the registry located right next to the WWII Memorial?

Quite cool right?

I mean, you can actually check if you are a descendant of a war hero.

[Day 4: WWII Memorial ]

Directly across the reflection pool (which is a sort of rectangular pond), directly opposite the WWII Memorial, is the Lincoln Monument, which was our next stop.

[Day 4: Lincoln Monument]

After the monument-memorial visit for touristy pictures, we took a subway train to spend the rest of our day in Georgetown.

Georgetown is a university suburb in DC.

It reminded us a lot of Holland Village in Singapore, except its bigger and has a more “atas” feel to it.

It has nice shopping along its main streets, although credit to the Wife for her self-restraint, we did not actually buy anything!!!

Well, we did not buy anything save for some fruits from Dean & Deluca, which we had been craving for the past few days.

Being away from home, and not having our lovely mums to cut up fresh fruits for us, we were having serious withdrawal symptoms from fruit shortage… (ok ok… I am exaggerating)… so when we chanced upon Dean & Deluca with its stacks and stacks of fresh fruits and delicious looking food, we gave in and bought a couple of bananas, 2 nectarines, and some chocolate croissant (for the next day’s brekkie).

I would have bought much much more – the scrumptious looking cookies, the chocolates, the chips, and other delicious looking food, had it not been for the Wife forbidding me to.

Apparently, we have both put on too much weight since the start of our honeymoon, and we have to exercise self-restraint, or actually exercise. The former was the easier option… so there… no cookies, no chips, no nice food… no taste of heaven although we walked right through the “Pearly Gates” (aka Dean & Deluca).

[Day 4: Georgetown & the fabulous Dean & Deluca]

We did indulge ourselves at the end of the day though, when we visited another highly recommended dessert café, Kramers.

The raspberry pie there was quite good, and it was such a joy to have.

With the raspberry pie warming our stomachs, we made our way back to the hotel… and had a taste of another sumptuous Chinese food dinner at Eat First, which brought an end to our lovely time in DC.

DC was a lovely city to visit.

Thanks for the monuments, the history, the museums, the sights, the fabulous Chinese food, the desserts (and well… for me… the walking!).

So… up and on… and NYC here we come!


- WWCS

A taste of home - Eat First in Chinatown, Washington DC

(Check out the chilli sauce in the foreground)

As we get older, W and I often find ourselves missing chinese food when we are away from home for an extended period of time. Guess that is why we found ourselves heading straight for Chinatown after we checked into the Harrington Hotel in DC.

Chinatown in DC is pretty small. Just a couple of blocks but as with other Chinatowns that we have been to, the Chinatown in DC teems with people and activity. Every few steps we took, we were greeted by bold signs pronouncing that they served the most authentic chinese food ever. Then we look at the menu, see dishes such as "egg rolls" and "Singapore noodles" and are unimpressed.

So it was certainly a stroke of good fortune that brought us to "Eat First" (Shi Wei Xian - or "Food Comes First" which has somehow been translated to the doubtful "Eat First"). It was a nondescript Chinese restaurant, much like those that we passed earlier but W decided to try it anyway. Really really glad we did.

You can imagine how good the food was that we had 3 of our 4 dinners in DC at this restaurant.

Having tried Chinese food in various western countries, we had learnt not to expect too much. But the first sign that things were different at "Eat First" was that there were a good many Chinese guests dining at the restaurant.

More impressively, the restaurant actually had Chilli sauce. Not the Maggi variety but good old chilli sauce made from ground fresh chilli. Think the chilli that we have with our chicken rice back home and you get the picture. W was of course sold by then but I decided to reserve judgment until the food arrived.

The food was very good in itself and was exceptional when you consider that this is DC. We have learnt that most "authentic" chinese restaurants in the western countries adapted the flavours of their dishes to suit the western palate (but not so pleasing for the Asian palates, unfortunately). However, the dishes at "Eat First" retained their original flavours and the sweet and sour chicken that we had that first dinner was arguably the best that I have ever had.

W even remarked that if "Eat First" was a restaurant back home, he will not hesitate to journey there for a meal.

Over the next few days, we tried dishes such as claypot tofu, stir-fried prawns/beef/chicken and I am glad to say that not a single dish disappointed.

It was only later that we found out that this small chinese restaurant had not escaped the attention of the city's food critics and it had previously received awards from the Washingtonian. There was even a photograph of John Travolta dining at the restaurant, stuck on the wall.

So if you are ever in DC and if you are craving a taste of home (like we were), do check out "Eat First". It will not dissapoint.

Eat First Restaurant

609 H Street, N.W

Washington DC, 20001

- M

P.S: This is a series of food posts that I will putting up on DC as we had the good fortune of trying out some really good places in DC. W will be blogging about the sights that we saw in DC during our short stay.

Hello NYC, goodbye DC

Have been a little behind in posting about our DC experiences.

Anyway, just to update everyone that we are now in NYC.

Had a lovely dinner and catch-up with two old friends, K and C. More on that later.

- M

Now, thats what we call SERVICE!

As our cruise drew to a close, we are, needless to say, sad to be leaving behind some wonderful memories, times, and new found friends.


Yet, we are at the same time earnestly looking forward expectantly to a brand new experience on our honeymoon - spending 4 cool days touring Washington DC!

As we disembarked from the ship, one thing remained etched firmly in our minds as we recall how blessed we had been to have met the wonderful crew onboard the ship, who had pampered us with impeccable service over the last 8 days.


Our dining room waiters, Tetyana & Rex, were excellent. Not only did they carry out their tasks and duties with admirable precision and professionalism, they were warm, jovial, and most of all sincere. Often times, it was as if we were friends, and they were hosting us at their "home", taking pains to ensure we were comfortable, well-fed, happy... and the banter, numerous stories, and jokes shared will always remain one of our very prized memories.

(Rex from India & Tetyana from Ukraine)

Our chambermaid, Oscar (from Nicaragua), was also fantastic.


He made up our room at least twice everyday, once in the morning and once in the evening. On some occasions, he made up our room three to four times a day.


What is most amazing is the fact that he seemed to always have the knack of knowing exactly when we were out of our room, and when we were going to be back. Its as if he was "stalking" us, and the moment we stepped out of our cabin for meals or to take part in some of the ship's organised activities, he will spring into action. The next thing we know (when we next return to the room - sometimes a mere matter of tens of minutes later), the room will be impeccably made up, the towels changed, the used cups washed, the bins emptied, and the toiletries freshened.


In addition to all that, we were also pleasantly surprised each night when we returned to our cabin, as a little towel animal would be waiting expectantly to greet us and to bid us "Good Night"! Here are some of them...

(Towel Swans)

(Towel Elephant)

(Towel Puppy)

(Towel Monkey next to "The Blue Monkey" - aka the Wife! lol!)

And finally... ...

(Unidentified Towel Animal! Can anyone tell us what this animal is? : ) )





The towel animals we discovered each night never ceased to put a smile on our faces.


A wonderful way to end our day.


So, to all these fabulous people (friends), who have pampered us for the past 8 days.


A warm, sincere, and BIG "Thank You" from the bottom of our hearts.


- WWCS

Hola! - Cozumel, Mexico

Cozumel, Mexico was our last port of call. For us, Cozumel was the highlight of the cruise as we would get to visit the Mayan ruins at Tulum, located approximately 90 minutes from the port of Cozumel at Mexico.

At the port, we boarded a ferry that would take us to the island of Playa Del Carmen (where the ruins of Tulum are located). When we got off the ferry, we were greeted at the pier by our guide, Sal (pronounced “Saul”) with a friendly “Hola!”. Sal speaks really fast with many grand hand gestures but he was also highly engaging so we had no problems following his speech.

These are some of what Sal shared with us about Mexico:-

a) Mexico is a federation of states, like the USA. Mexico City is the capital of Mexico.
b) Spanish is the official language in Mexico. However, some Mexican people still speak the Mayan language (or a variation of it) today.
c) There are some 34 different ethnic groups in Mexico and it is the 4th ranked country in the world today in terms of the number of different languages spoken.
d) Mexico only has 2 climates – “Hot” or “Very Hot”.
e) Playa is a major tourist attraction today, due to the Tulum ruins. During the peak tourist season, Playa sees up to 40 cruise ships a day. Yet, not too long ago there were only some 200 farmers in Playa.

Enroute to the ruins, Sal also shared with us some information about the Mayans:-

a) The Mayans were the first people who invented the binary system. This is the system which present-day computers are based on.
b) The Mayans were obsessed about time and they had a pretty sophisticated calendar made up of 216 days (or 38 weeks), which is the gestation period for a baby. Interestingly, the Mayan calendar ends on 21 December 2012, which is a mere 4 years later.
c) The Mayans had their own written language and archaeologists believe that the Mayans had some 30 books of knowledge. However, when the Spaniards finally conquered the Mayans, the Spaniards destroyed the books of knowledge save for 3 of them. Sadly, none of the 3 remaining Mayan books are in Mexico today. Spain, Dresden (Germany) and Paris (France) now house the 3 remaining books.
d) Mayan culture and civilizations inexplicably died out between the 12th and 15th centuries. Till today, scholars are unable to definitively determine why this happened, although many theories have been postulated.


When we got to Tulum, our second guide, Juan took over. Juan is somewhat of an authority on the Tulum ruins and it was his responsibility to lead us through the ruins and explain the significance of them.

According to Juan, Tulum means “walls” in the Mayan language. Indeed, the compound of Tulum is surrounded by stone walls. As such, Tulum is also known as the “walled city”. During the time of the Mayans, Tulum was an important religious and ceremonial centre for the Mayans. About 200 high-ranking citizens in the Mayan hierarchy (such as nobles, astronomers and priests) lived within the Tulum compound. Outside the walls of Tulum lived some 20,000 ordinary Mayans such as the farmers and the fishermen.

Due to the plundering Spaniards and other grave-robbers, much of the former glory of the temples and buildings in Tulum can no longer be seen today. However, the foundations of the buildings still remain and those are what we would see on our tour. This is in itself no small feet, given that the compound was built more than 1000 years ago.

When we finally entered the compound of Tulum (after going through an arched walkway – one of 5 in the entire compound), we were greeted with many stone structures that were once temples. Juan walked us through some of the most important buildings in the compound and explained the significance of various symbols and carvings that are still visible on the buildings today.
(entering Tulum)

(the temple)

Finally, we got to the highest point of Tulum, which was also where the most important temple in Tulum was located. The view from the temple was amazing. It overlooked a stretch of sandy-white beach and deep blue waters. Juan explained that the Mayans had clearly given much thought in locating their religious centre at Tulum. The beach provided a natural defense against invaders and the spring that runs under Tulum also provided a source of fresh water for the Mayans.

(the beach at Tulum)

Juan informed us that the Mayans were also very gifted at astronomy and at determining water movements and conditions. Scholars believe that it is no mere coincidence that Tulum overlooks the second-largest reef in the world (the largest is in Australia) and that at the highest point of the aforesaid temple, during the summer solstice (which falls in June annually), the sun’s rays pass through two specially carved windows in the temple and converge to form a single bright beam.

We were deeply impressed by the obvious intelligence of the Mayan people and were also deeply humbled to tread the same grounds as them. We are also now inspired to visit other places of ancient civilization (perhaps to see the Incas in Peru?) so do let us know if you have any suggestions.

The tour to Tulum was an all-day affair so we unfortunately did not have any time to explore Cozumel. However, Mexico radiated a really interesting and positive vibe so we will certainly try and visit again.

Tonight is our last night on the ship and it is amazing how after only a week, it already feels so familiar. We will certainly miss the comforts of cruising and the excitement of visiting a different port every day. We will be off to Washington DC after we disembark tomorrow and no doubt we will blog about that soon enough. Until then, hasta la vista amigos! (Spanish for “goodbye my friends”).

-M

Our First Disappointment

Our 3rd port of call was George Town, Grand Cayman.

The Cayman Islands, unlike Labadee and MoBay is very developed. In no small measure, this is due to the large amounts of money flowing in from the “Super Rich” who have set up trust funds or brought in obscene amounts of monies due to the fact the Cayman Islands is a tax haven.

It is clear that people here are much more affluent than many of their other Caribbean neighbours, and that the standard of living is extremely high.

The shopping in Cayman Islands is good, particularly for jewelry. The Wife got herself a pair of nice pearl earrings from one of the duty-free shops. We also got quite a number of other gifts and presents here.

The Island is also very cosmopolitan. You will find people of many nationalities living there.

The store manager from the duty-free store who served the Wife is from England. The sales assistant from the same store who sold the pearl earrings to the Wife is from Equador. The souvenir shop owner from whom we bought matching t-shirts, a lovely CD, magnets, and some presents hails all the way from The Philippines. There was a Chinese working in the ice-cream parlour where we had a scoop of papaya ice-cream… and the list goes on.

So… our visit of the Cayman Islands was all very nice up to this point.

Then came the first disappointment of our trip – the land tour, an Atlantis Submarine ride.

We booked ourselves on that tour as we thought it would be cool to board a submarine, and as neither the Wife nor I are divers, we thought we would do the next best thing to check out the marine life, which is to see it through a glass window from the submarine. And after hearing all our diver friends rave about the beautiful marine life, the colourful schools of fishes and reefs of corals, it was inevitable that our expectations were sky-high, only to be sorely disappointed.

The submarine was fairly small and squeezy, which would have been fine had the sights been breath-taking. But then the underwater sights were even much more disappointing. Everything looked to be blue and grey. We did not see any explosion of colours, and the fishes that we saw were also nothing to scream about.

We found out later that the reason everything looked blue and grey is because there was an absence of white light underwater.

And so, the submarine tour trudged on for 45 mins, which almost bored us to tears.
The disappointing tour cost us an arm and a leg, and we did not even enjoy it, save for the fact that we can now say that we had been onboard a submarine.

Hopefully this will be the exception rather than the rule for the rest of our trip.


- WWCS

Our new found friends

One of the best things about cruising is meeting people from all over the world. Take today for instance. We started the day at breakfast and befriended David and Eva from Florida. They are cruise veterans and this is their 19th cruise (and their 5th one on this very same route).

Then in Playa Del Carmen in Cozumel, Mexico (more on that later), we met a family from Maryland, DC who was traveling with almost the whole clan. Over lunch, we discussed politics with a couple from the Philippines and compared the contrasting fortunes of Philippines and Singapore.

We then shared dinner with Claudio and Mariena (our friends from Brazil). Muriel and Frank (from Canada) as well as Michelle and Michael (from Ireland) then joined our table for coffee and dessert. Just before we called it a night, Keith and Rose-mary from Malta came by to chat.

We have certainly been very fortunate to meet some very warm and truly lovely people on this cruise and on our other travels. That is the reason why we always try to return the gesture of friendship and to pay forward the warmth that we have received to other people in turn.

Now to share a little more about our new-found friends.

First up: Claudio and Mariena from Brazil. On the Liberty of the Seas, the guests are arranged into groups of between 4 to 10 persons for dinner. Interestingly, we were placed with two other honeymooning couples at our dinner table. Claudio and Mariena (who also got married on 7 June 2008) and an Italian couple who wanted to get married on 7 June 2008 but due to logistical issues, got married a day earlier on 6 June 2008 instead. It amazes me that 3 different couples from such different countries independently decided to get married on the same day (or almost the same day).

Then there is the Irish father-daughter duo, Michelle and Michael, who sent us a bottle of wine for dinner when they learnt that we were on our honeymoon.

Muriel and Frank, who have been married for 41 years and still going strong, shared with us that when they got married, they went on a 5 week tenting trip across Canada. Muriel shared that after the trip, she knew their marriage would make it no matter what since they already survived 5 weeks of tenting.

The cruise is fast drawing to an end. But we do hope to stay in touch with at least some of our new found friends. They have certainly made our time on board so much richer and more enjoyable.

- M

~Down the bay where the nights are gay~

~ and the sun shines daily on the mountain top, I took a trip on a sailing ship, and when I reached JAMAICA I made a stop…~


So here we are at Montego Bay, Jamaica (commonly known as MoBay). Mobay is the 2nd largest city in Jamaica, after the capital, Kingston Town.

We booked ourselves on a 4x4 Safari Land Tour run by a company known as Chukka, and were quickly whisked away by our guide, Owen.

With us on the tour were 2 other lovely couples (one from Alberta, Canada – Muriel & Frank, and the other from Malta – Keith & Rosemary), and a father-daughter duo from Ireland – Michelle & Michael.

This is a lovely bunch. Warm, jovial, humourous, engaging, and very very open and friendly.

Frank & Muriel have been married for 41 years!

Michelle (who is going on 16) and Michael are a laugh a minute… its extremely amusing to see how the father-daughter duo interact with each other, and its so sweet the way they are so close. Michelle is always keeping a look-out to ensure that her dad is alright, and it is obvious that she is the pride and joy of Michael’s life.

Keith & Rosemary are a loving couple, and its damn cool when we found out that Keith is a crane driver back home in Malta – as in he transports/drives the cranes from one point to another, sets it up so that the operators can use it for construction, and when they are done, he drives it away to another location again. According to Rosemary, it’s a fairly dangerous job due to its nature.

(Front L to R: Keith & Rosemary, Michelle & Michael)

(Back L to R: Muriel, the Wife, WWCS, Frank)

And Owen. What can I say… he is a cool dude, and even though it may be difficult to catch what he is saying some of the times due to his accent, he is a very good guide. He Is constantly coming up with nuggets of information about Jamaica, interspersed with numerous corny (and on some rare occasions, painful) jokes to liven up the trip.

(Here’s one of the corny jokes he came up with as we spotted a huge termite nest:- “Why won’t you find a single termite in this termite nest” – well… because all the termites living in the nest are married”. Get it? : ) )

So, again… we have been blessed with the fortune of meeting lovely people, and the land tour was made all the more enjoyable in no small part because of them.


Now… about our 4x 4 land tour of Jamaica:-

(a) we made a total of 4 stops;

(b) the first stop was on a hill overlooking the harbour of MoBay. It’s a lovely sight, particularly when you can spot our ship in the background. We were told that this hill top vantage point is the highest point in MoBay. Along the way… we also drove past the brewing factory of Jamaica’s No. 1 beer – Red Stripe Beer. Ming and I shared one of those at the end of the trip, and it was really nice. We can see how it achieved/earned its No. 1 status;

(Us on the Hilltop with MoBay as the backdrop)

(c) our 2nd stop was to a former “Slave Hospital”, that had since been converted into a church. The church also housed a private primary school with lots of adorable Jamaican children.

Owen told us that slavery was eradicated from Jamaica in 1838. Before that, the slave masters and the estate owners brought a lot of slave labour over from Africa & India.

Needless to say, the slaves were treated extremely badly, and those that tried to run away were punished by being flocked and hung on trees, as an example and warning to the rest.

In 1832, the slaves finally staged an uprising, and they burned down all the buildings save for 2 – The Slave Hospital, and a Baptist Church (which is over 300 years old).

(Former Slave Hospital)

(The 300-year old Baptist Church)



(d) the 3rd stop was a small waterfall along the longest river in MoBay. We had to make a very short hike through some vegetation to get to the fall, but it was all quite worth it when we arrived.

Apparently, if you immerse yourself in the falls, and got wet from head to toe, you will become younger by 5 years.

The Wife and I did not immerse ourselves. We were quite happy to be 31 and 27 respectively. : ) - (but the Wife may want to come back in 10 years’ time).

More importantly, we did not want to continue with the rest of the tour in wet underwear, and soaking wet t-shirts… grin.

Another thing I liked about the visit to the falls was the short hike, which reminded me of the good old days when I was scouting and tearing across such landscapes on a regular basis (in Ubin).

Its been eons (15 years) since I last did such a trek over such landscapes just for fun, and it felt good to be doing it again.

(enroute to the falls)

(The first signs of the falls)

(e) Our final stop was at a rest stop/souvenir station.

There is nothing special there (scenery wise), but what was great about it was that they sold some authentic Jamaican food there called Chicken Jerky, and also the Red Stripe beer, both of which we tried.

The dish was not really “Jerky” (at least not the beef-jerky type of food one would usually associate the word to mean). In fact, the chicken was tender and flavourful. It tasted of spice, and was very nice (albeit it had already turned cold). I would imagine that it would have tasted fantastic if it was served piping hot.

Red Stripe was also flavourful but light. And to top it off, it was served ice-cold, which was great given that we were out in the sun for most of 3 hours by then.


And so… that last stop concluded our trip to MoBay.

Its obvious that Jamaica is fairly poor, and there are lots of touting etc.

But what is great about the place is how optimistic its people are. No matter where you go, you will hear the phrase “No Problem Mann”.

Yes… the reason for this optimism and High of the Jamaican people could be the weed (which is extremely common place and easy to purchase) that they are on, but I would like to believe that it is their innate spirit as a people and free nation that is the real underlying reason.









- WWCS