Woke up 5ish and we headed out about 6.30 for the emerald munzee garden in La Habra. It was very foggy and cold!!! Nice thing about early Sunday morning is not too much traffic, lol as I had to get onto the freeway for part of the way.

We had found a nice little park at the end of the GPS directions, but not being able to see much, we wandered around and munzeed for a while. Then headed for a field of mystery’s which proved to be at a shopping centre. Not quite like ours, this ‘centre’ took up all four sides of a large intersection, and was absolutely enormous!!!!!

Highlights included hearing and briefly seeing a hummingbird, the bit longer appearance of a lizard, a nice pair of mallard ducks near the concrete canal and several garden beds of lovely poppies! Stopped just after 10 for coffee & juice (we had yoghurt for brekky) and then stopped for the day about 5! As we had seen the local Vons supermarket on our walk we drove over to the opposite quadrant and did some grocery shopping. We have a little fridge and microwave so can be more self sufficient meal wise. Home again and tried to organise a timetable for the rest of the week. Will see how accurate it is as we go along!

Anyway now just about ready for bed so be good and catch you later!!!

Well it was a day+ of delays lol.
Had a very pleasant stay in the domestic business lounge, food was very nice. However the flight was delayed so instead of departing at 2305 it was 2350 before takeoff. Flight however was quite quick only 3 hrs 45 mins. Well that’s what my logbook had written in it.
Caught the airport shuttle at Brisbane to the International terminal and settled down to wait for Maria. Ron, Anna & Anna’s boyfriend Keegan came along to farewell us off.  Checked Maria in, quick coffee stop and we headed into the depths of Brisbane Airport!!!

Departure was supposed to be 1100, but apparently a baffle was not working in one of the engines and had to be removed so we were 2 hrs late leaving. However, the Captain said they loaded extra fuel and the flight was going to be 12 hrs rather than 13. Anyway it was a very bumpy flight, lots of turbulence!!! Got to LA and had to circle for about 45 minutes as the airport was closed because of low cloud (looked a bit smoggy to us lol) But it was still the 27th so it has been an exceedingly long day!

Got through immigration without to much time spent queuing and then had to wait about 30 minutes for the luggage to come out, so we reckoned they were scanning it all first. Then the queue through customs and we were out! Eventually found the shuttle stand and waited for that to arrive. We had an Indonesian driver and 3 other passengers to chat with in the 40 minute drive, freeway speed of 75 miles per hour was a bit fast lol.

Arrived at our hotel about 11 but as check in was at 2 they stored our luggage and we walked down to the hire car place and picked up our Too early to go back to the hotel we headed off to the AT&T store to get our sim cards. All installed, we had lunch at Subways and then found a grocery store for a few supplies.  We couldn’t find any fruit loaf (no toaster anyway lol) or muesli bars. When we asked the man working in an aisle he asked us to speak English!!!!! And we thought he was Mexican.

We did find some munzees along the way never fear, lol.

Checked in and unpacked, fiddled about a bit then went out for a walk up Disneyland Drive for the munzees of course. Getting dark we headed back and indulged in a very nice ice cream each, Maria had butter pecan and I had chocolate peanut butter!!! Now having 2 minute noodles for dinner!! Shower and bed, catch you tomorrow!

OK, closed the zip on the suitcase at 16.15 and did a few other household chores, sigh, so just about ready to go. Dad’s picking me up in 40 minutes. He was already going to the airport to pick up Grandma Janice, so I’m tagging along. Will catch the shuttle from the international to the domestic and be there with lots of time to spare, my flights at 23.05, LOL. However, I used my frequent flyer points to go business class, so can have a look at the business lounge whilst I wait! Meeting Maria at Brisbane and then a 13 hour flight to Los Angeles, so won’t blog again until we get there. Take care and do something fun  Lisa 🙂 xo

Took it even easier today, lol. We had breakfast at the cafe again, I actually had chicken porridge as well as scrambled eggs, it was very nice indeed. Back to our room until about 10ish so that the peak hour traffic had dissipated and caught a taxi to the Gardens and the Cloud Forest Dome. Well, it was amazing, this huge indoor waterfall and the living mountain around it. So many orchids, bromeliads, ferns, begonias, and almost everything else. There were displays of stalags again and lots of art pieces scattered around the gardens. One just kept walking up, catch the elevator to the next floor and then around another loop of walkway, 5 floors in all from the base of the waterfall and then 2 more floors below it. Once out again we took the shuttle ride around the garden and saw the topiary and the floating baby! I left Mum for a short time whilst I dashed through the gardens to grab a munzee and then we caught a taxi back to the hotel. The first taxi we asked didn’t have any idea where the Singapore Recreation Club was located, even when I showed him it on a map, lol.
Relaxed a bit whilst I sorted out photos. Mum had taken a few on her tablet, so included them in our collection. Had dinner, which was very nice I had another local noodle dish, and we shared a plate of rojak, a Singaporean salad which was very tasty indeed. Back in our room we wandered out to the beer garden once the nights lights came on and took some great photos. I must say I am very impressed with the quality of the photos my new phone takes as well as the new camera. Check out tomorrow is at noon, so will leave then for the airport,and spend some time wandering around looking at the gardens inside the airport, especially the butterflies. We should be landing just before midnight, so this will be the final blog! So catch you sometime soon!

We tried to take things a little easier today, still a bit tired from yesterday, it was a far to late night for me, nearly 11 before the lights went out.
Had breakfast in the Poolside Cafe, which was basement level 1. Yes, an underground swimming pool and gym and others things as well as the cafe. Very nice breakfast, freshly cooked scrambled eggs! From there we went out into the warmth of the day and caught the hop on hop off bus to the Merlion Park, as Mum did have to see Singapore’s symbol. Hopped on the bus again and headed for the Gardens and the Flower Dome. We had quite a long walk to get to the Dome, and it was the only one open today. (It will be closed tomorrow for maintenance) They had a special chrysanthemum display as well as the usual gardens in the Dome. It was amazing, so many plants, lots of fully mature trees and palms, in fact I would say nearly every plant was a mature specimen of its type. Several different specialty gardens, South African, Australian, Mediterranean, baobab, olive grove, etc. and ‘mums everywhere. Lots of sculptures, and little niceties amongst the plants, so well designed and displayed. The Domes are cooled, so it was very pleasant to walk around. You could tell the locals though, they were wearing coats as it was too cold for them, lol.
Did the walk back to the bus and a long ride home again. As it was 3 by the time we got back we had our cheese, pate & crackers as a late lunch and a relax (in fact a little snooze) and then we had dinner here in the Poolside Cafe, which was delicious. Mum had pork ribs and I had a local noodle dish and it was an inexpensive meal, especially when compared to the kebabs we had for lunch yesterday. Last full day here tomorrow, so a visit to the Cloud Forest Dome is planned.

Very late tonight, sorry, we’ve had a big day.
Had breakfast just after 6, then back to our room to do our packing. Relaxed a bit once finished and watched the docking at Singapore. Left the ship about 8.30 and joined the queues for immigration, security, customs and taxi. Got to The Residency at the Singapore Recreation Club before 10 and even though check in wasn’t until 2,they gave us our room. We got upgraded to their largest room, The President’s Room. Very nice it is, though not to sure about the beer garden outside the window, lol. Great views from it though, the triple tower boat topped building on one side, the city in front and city hall and cathedral on the other side.
We popped across the road to the memorial for a numzee and then over another road to Raffles City, and enormous shopping mall, which was full of Sunday shoppers. Had a wander around, a little upmarket for us, but we ended up in the basement dining area for a kebab lunch. On the way out found a supermarket for got some cheese and biscuits for dinner. Back to the SRC for a rest then we went down the street to catch one of the hop on hop off buses, however there was a lot of road works going on so the stand wasn’t there so had to continue on to the next one. One bus didn’t stop and then we missed the next one, but finally hopped on and paid for a 24 hour ticket. Had a drive round and got off at Raffles City. Once again back to the SRC for a refresh and then returned to the bus stop and caught another one headed for the Gardens by the Bay. This one dropped us off at the triple tower boat hotel which is enormous close up and had to walk past it to gt to the Gardens. Wow, they are lovely, lots of amazing things to see. Stopped at the batch of 3 supertree structures and sat for a while soaking it all in. These artiicaila trees have a myriad of plants growing all over the outside of the structures, like a living skin. There were 3 little doves all nestled together sitting on the ground. We then walked to the Supertree Grove which had 11 more of the structures, one even has a restaurant at the top of it and others support a skywalk trail. We sat and watched for the lights on the trees to come on and they slowly did, brightening as the night darkened. At 7.45 they have a light and music show and it was fantastic. Then another wait for a taxi and back for our cheese, pate and biscuit supper, lol quite different to our 3 course dinners of the last 2 weeks!

As our cultural experience tour for today was cancelled we had the pick of several, all which included shopping! Kuala Lumpur is about 1.5 hours from Port Klang where we left the ship at a very fancy docking facility. Our first stop was Independence Square, with the cricket ground in the middle, as of course it was the British who started building in this area. And, very exciting I actually scanned a real life munzee that had been sitting here since July 2014. From here we walked through back streets and alleyways to the Central Markets for half an hour of shopping and then back on the bus to be dropped off at the Chinatown. Several of us actually stayed on the bus for the half hour. Then on to The Pavilion, a very large, fancy upmarket shopping mall, with mainly brand name shops. However we found a puzzle shop on the 6th floor and indulged a little, LOL. After Subway for lunch and a little more wandering we got back on the bus for a quick photo stop at the Petronas Towers, sadly so smokey they weren’t very clear. Then back to the port and our final night on the ship. Once again the waiters put on a little show, but this time the chefs were included. They prepared 126,000 meals over the last 14 days. We have met lots of interesting people and had lots of interesting conversations. Singapore in the morning.

Had a great day today. Overslept a bit as we lost the hour we gained for Thailand, but still made breakfast in good time. No tenders today, yippee as it takes so much more time to get to the coaches. It was a nice experience to walk down the gangplank, lol. Langkawi is the largest island of Malaysia and langkawi is the local name for the Brahminy kite.  Our tour was at the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park up in the northwest part of the island, the ship was on the south coast. It was the 52nd world recognised UNESCO geopark. Our tour group was split into groups of 8 and we clambered into a small boat and headed for the bat cave! The entire region is limestone hence the caves complete with stalags and bats.  Also snakes, monkeys and other reptiles in the surrounding mangrove forests. We saw the small insectivorous bats in both caves, having to crab walk under a very low adjoining tunnel to get to the 2nd cave. We then hopped back into the boat and watched some of the local langkawi and other hawks being fed chicken skin scraps. They had to cut down on the amount of feeding as the monkey and snake populations increased greatly with their predators eating out elsewhere. Then a quick trip out of the mouth of the Kilim River into the Andaman Sea. From there a visit to a fish farm, the local archer fish in the river kept everyone amused. Then back to the coach and the ship. Left Mum having a rest and then I took a short walk along the pier to get a photo of the ship, and as I wandered along, there were a pair of white-bellied sea eagles soaring over the waters near the ship, brilliant to watch. I managed some moving footage of the kites feeding and of these eagles, just have to work out how to get them into the blog, probably not this time around.  We were luckily on the pier side so we watched the docking and will watch the departing as well.

Today we stopped at the island of Phuket. The sea was really flat once we could see it and our non-event sunrise. On a tender again and we had to get off at the customs port as the other usual one had another cruise ship in place, so this one wasn’t really designed for all the traffic of big buses, taxis, cars, etc and huge muddy puddles. Our first stop of the tour was the southern most point of the island and therefore of Thailand. Sadly all the smoke meant that the views weren’t as good as they should have been, but that’s just one of those things. There was a shrine thee surrounded by elephants of all sizes, the bigger the elephant the bigger the wish that was granted. From there we went to the Phuket Seashell Museum. An amazing place and so well arranged, it was delightful to see the shells and the fossils collected over the last 30 years. Then on to the Wat Chalong Temple, the guide saying it was the largest and prettiest temple on the island. Sadly it started to rain as we got there so didn’t see more than a couple of the buildings, and our shoes filled up with water when we went inside LOL. Mind you at 33 C it just added marginally to the already high humidity. Then on to the obligatory shop which had so much stuff crammed into it that it was just too much! Back on the ship just after 2.30, a late lunch and a note saying our Kuala Lumpur tour had been cancelled, for lack of participants. Oh well, we will find something else I’m sure.

Strange thing was that last night just as we were going to bed we could very plainly see the lights on the villages on the Malaysian coastline, but once again this morning we are surrounded by smoke. I even got some little bits of ash falling on me when out on the balcony after breakfast, but it does not smell smoky at all. Helped chase a small bird out of the dining room at lunch time, poor little beggar. We had formal dinner night again, and this time the waiters & bar staff put on a little show for us, parading around the dining room waving serviettes then standing on the stairs and singing a couple of songs, All good fun. Currently sailing up the Malacca Strait heading for Phuket, then we come back down again but stopping along the way. Oh and Mum scored 24 on the Legends of the Links course this morning!