Where in the World are Dave and Elizabeth?

Part 1  We arrived in Singapore early on Saturday morning.  Friends on the ship, Jae and Brad, lived here for a time. A group of us took them up on their offer to show us around.  As soon as officials cleared us to get off the ship, we were off on an adventure!  Brad and Jae Look at those Canadians and Americans using the moving sidewalk the Singapore way — standing to the left. Our first stop was the 200-acre Singapore Botanic Gardens. There was so much tropical beauty there, it was impossible to get it all on camera.  Our goal was to get to the National Orchid Gardens, which is located in the heart of the Botanic Garden. Once there, we got to see 1,000 orchid species and 2,000 hybrids.  Some of them were growing along outdoor walks.  Orchids which are found at higher elevations and slightly cooler temperatures were in the tropical Montane Orchidetum. The Orchidetum houses winding upward paths and a controlled climate to simulate ascending levels of t...

 This is Dave Yesterday, I took a tour of Saigon Vietnam.  Elizabeth was a little under the weather so it was just me and 25 others on the bus. After the Vietnam war, the victorious North renamed Saigon to Ho Chi Min City, however all the company signs and all the local people still call it Saigon.  It used to be the capitol of the south but now there is just one capitol in the north (Hanoi) We were docked in Phu My, so the bus ride was over 90 min to get to Saigon. According to our guide, after the war the main leader implemented pure communism. All farms became collective, and all produce went to the government. There was no personal property, and people had to use ration cards for everything.  For several years, the people were very poor.   That leader died in 1984, and the new younger leader decide to have a Communist government but a capitalist economy.  The farm land reverted back to the farmers and people were allowed to start businesses and own...

Hong Kong Day 2 and Vietnam Day 1 Sunday was sunnier than Saturday, and we got a few nice photos of the HK harbor.  These two were taken from one floor of the school where there is a church meeting for the  international group (non Chinese speaking residents of HK). We enjoyed worshiping with the Christians there and finding out what drew them to the city and what their lives are like.  We ate and played board games after service.  Dave and I made it home to the ship by a combo of cab and ferry. We had a lovely sea day and arrived in Danang, Vietnam the next morning.  Do you remember the show China Beach, which was inspired by the memoir of an army nurse who served in an evacuation hospital/USO unit? That all took place in Danang.(The nurse was stationed in Pleiku; the show moved it to the famous evacuation hospital outside Danang)  China Beach We rode a couple of hours away to visit Hue, the former capital of the country.  To my surprise, farmers in t...