Day 108 Wednesday, May 1, 2024, Hambantota, Sri Lanka Arrival: 7:00 All Aboard 16:30 Departure: 17:00 After two sea days cruising the Andaman Sea, we are in Hambantota for our first of two stops in Sri Lanka. We have a booked a ship tour to Yala National Park with the hopes of seeing leopards. Our friends Karen and Tom were also booked on this tour. It was an early wake up call as the tour left the ship at 07:30. Vast amounts of rice fields can be seen o...

Days 104-105 Saturday April 27, 2024, Phuket, Thailand Arrival: 7:00 Overnight in Port We have changed back to the captain from the beginning of the cruise. He always arrives early to port. Today was no different. Janice has booked a Viator to an elephant sanctuary outside of the city. When we left the cruise ship terminal our friends Gayle and Gino were waiting for their pickup as well. It turns out that we had both booked the same tour which was a pleasant s...

Day 103 Friday April 26,2024 Langkawi, Malaysia Arrival: 7:00 All Aboard: 16:30 Departure: 17:00 What should we do today - well let's go on a tour with tonight's ship entertainer. OK I will explain what happened. We decided on a beach day to chill out, so we asked the information person from Langkawi who was on the ship. She suggested we hire a taxi who would take us on a mangrove tour and then drop us at the beach. This seemed like a good plan. A taxi outsid...

Day 102 Thursday April 25, 2024, Penang, Malaysia Arrival: 10:00 All Aboard: 18:30 Departure: 19:00 Prior to arriving in Penang a remembrance service was held on the pool deck to recognize Anzac Day April 25 which I attended. This is like Remembrance Day in Canada and the UK and Memorial Day in the United States. Anzac (Australia New Zealand Army Corp) Day recognizes those who made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts throughout their history. Many of the Aust...

Days 99-100 - Monday-Tuesday April 22 -23, 2024, Singapore, Singapore Arrival: 08:00 Overnight in Port Departure: 18:00 following day April 22 There are three overland tour groups returning to Insignia at some point today resulting in the overnight here. These included tours to the Taj Mahal, a visit to the pink city Jaipur and Bengal tigers and finally our tour from Nepal and Everest. As we make our way back from Katmandu, I notice a huge construction deve...