Where in the World are Bill and Bob?

The island of Koh Samui (or Ko Samui) is often compared to Phuket. Phuket, on the Andaman Sea (western) side of the Thai peninsula is bigger, more crowded, and crazier. Both have beautiful white sand beaches and lovely resorts, but Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand on Thailand’s east coast has a more laid back feel. Hard to believe that pre-COVID almost 3 million people visited here. We took a private taxi tour to circumnavigate the island, stopping a various Buddhist temples, beaches, and even the stunningly gorgeous Four Seasons resort. After which I got a 90 minute massage for $30, and Bill returned to the ship for a nap. Big Buddha (49 feet tall) Wat Kunaram (Mummified monk temple)   Wat Lamai  Wat Plailaem temple complex Beaches Grandfather and Grandmother rocks  

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon and still referred to as Saigon by many locals, is a bustling megalopolis of almost 12 million, and is the economic and cultural capital of Vietnam (although Hanoi, slightly smaller, is the political capital). Even on Sunday when we were there, traffic buzzes, especially scooters which are ubiquitous, transporting business men and women, entire families with pets, and even tourists 😝. Our expectations of Saigon were locked in  1970s war footage, and we were surprised to see how developed it has become: nothing like communist capitalism! Our private taxi tour included the infamous rural Cu Chi tunnels laced with booby traps and secret entrances where as many as 1,300 Vietnamese lived underground during the war. Back in the city we saw Independence Palace, the Jade Buddha temple, Norte Dame church (under repair), the old post office designed by Gustav Eiffel, several other old buildings built by French, beautiful parks, the huge Bihn Tay market

Chan May is the deep water port nearest to two major tourist areas: Hoi An and Da Nang to the south and Hue to the north. Again, since we had been to both areas on an earlier trip (and not interested in long bus rides), we opted to stay “home” on the ship, and decided to hike up to the nearby lighthouse.