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    Travels of a Pink Slouch Hat: From Singapore to Japan on a Holland America Cruise
    Travels of a Pink Slouch Hat: From Singapore to Japan on a Holland America Cruise
    Travels of a Pink Slouch Hat: From Singapore to Japan on a Holland America Cruise
    Ebook161 pages1 hour

    Travels of a Pink Slouch Hat: From Singapore to Japan on a Holland America Cruise

    By SuzyP.

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    About this ebook

    Not just a travel book, but a delightful and humorous account of a journey taken by a retired couple from Australia.

    The trip starts with 5 days in Singapore, then 18 nights on a Holland America cruise, starting from Singapore. The ship visited ports in Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nagasaki and finished in Kobe, Japan. Then covers another week spent in Japan.

    This account describes their experiences on the cruise boat and with the local people in each country, also describing some history and points of interest that a prospective traveller would enjoy reading before embarking on a similar trip.

    The book was written by Stephen Kendall, except for the last chapter on Japan, as Stephen, sadly passed away a year later, before being able to complete it. His wife Lynn, completed and published the book in his memory.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris AU
    Release dateMar 5, 2014
    ISBN9781493131259
    Travels of a Pink Slouch Hat: From Singapore to Japan on a Holland America Cruise
    Author

    SuzyP.

    Stephen Kendall was born in England in 1934 and married Lynn in 1996. She was born in South Africa in 1942. He had had 7 children (5 still living) and Lynn had 5 children (3 still living).  They worked together in financial planning and real estate; travelled considerably and were very close, as husband and wife & best friends, also enjoying each other’s grandchildren.  They were married for 16 years.  Stephen could not complete this book due to ill health and went home to be with his Lord last year, 2012. Lynn completed the last chapter and dedicates this book to a man who was full of life, humorous, loving and very generous with his kindness and encouragement he seemed to bestow on everyone he met.

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      Book preview

      Travels of a Pink Slouch Hat - SuzyP.

      Copyright © 2014 by SuzyP. 511495

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2014902560

      ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4931-3124-2

      Hardcover 978-1-4931-3126-6

      EBook 978-1-4931-3125-9

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Rev. date: 03/06/2014

      To order additional copies of this book, contact:

      Xlibris LLC

      1-800-455-039

      www.xlibris.com.au

      Orders@Xlibris.com.au

      Contents

      Birth of the Hat

      The Journey Begins

      The First Week, Singapore

      The Cruise Begins, On The Volendam, Holland America Line

      First Stop, Koh Sumui

      Bangkok and a Visit to Pattaya Beach

      Back to the comforts of cruise life!

      The joys and woes of Cambodia

      Back on the Ship

      Nha Trang, a Vietnam Port

      The cruise continues

      Hong Kong

      The evening on the Boat

      Second day in Hong Kong

      And So the Journey continues

      First day in Shanghai –

      Visit to Suzhou

      Shanghai City

      Back to the ship

      and heading to Japan

      Nagasaki

      Disembark in Kobe

      and on to Kyoto

      Train ride to Hiroshima

      Return home Via Tokyo

      and Nerita Airport

      Chapter One

      Birth of the Hat

      Lynn and I went to Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. While there, we visited Hastings Street. A mild moment of Retail Therapy kicked in for Lynn and she just had to buy me a Pink Aussie slouch hat. How ridiculous, said I in loud tones, but as every husband will understand, common sense prevailed and I ended up wearing the Aussie Pink Slouch Hat. This is the story of the travels of the pink hat. I wore it with pride for 19 days on the good ship ‘Volendam’, with a week in Singapore at the beginning and a week in Japan at the end.

      004_a_lechengyawa.TIF

      Lynn and Stephen – Intrepid Travellers – showing the Aussie Pink Slouch Hat

      Chapter Two

      The Journey Begins

      We were up early the morning of the departure; Lynn had already packed the suitcases some days before, as she had to work the day prior. Things seemed a little heavy to me, but hay, the lady’s prerogative prevailed. We’re packing for different climates on this one holiday, Lynn assured me in that assertive tone that only a husband can recognise.

      Many hours had been spent selecting, washing, folding, reselecting, folding again, weighing - reweighing. This was done by weighing Lynn, and then again holding the case, with me shouting the result. The problem was one suit case had to be less than twenty three kilos; the other could go to thirty three. This weight might have strained one’s lifting-strength ability. Lynn is super fit from gym work but my weight-lifting potential seems a bit limited these days. My age is 76 and my beautiful wife is a young 69.

      I packed my ‘smog mask’. This is what I call my c-pap breathing machine, necessary to ensure my airways remain open at night to keep me breathing. It is a bit of a hassle but it continues giving me life and pumps good oxygen into me each night for replenishment. I seem to breathe during the daytime but at night when my body slows down so does my breathing creating a problem, and then I feel sleepy all day.

      Hurriedly, we packed the last few things, mostly toilet things. Our friends, Jim and Laura picked us up in time to deliver us to the Brisbane International Airport some two hours ahead, as required these days. Jim arrived driving a light truck; he must have considered the wisdom of Lynn’s packing and chosen the appropriate mode of transport. He picked up the cases easily, when loading, so I allayed my fears for others along the way.

      Lots of good bye hugs were exchanged on the airport footpath; one would think that our trip was a permanent one. Lynn and I both enjoyed that special thought our friends will miss us while we are gone.

      We had two hours to fill; of course I instigated the coffee shop option, after putting the cases through the check in without problems. Maybe the sales job we did on the young Qantas lady helped. Lynn still has the magic as top sales lady for real estate. A little honey outshines a bucket full of vinegar each time.

      After getting to my seat in the aircraft, I was a little bit concerned, as it had only two engines. I thought it was four engines on international flights but as we rushed down the runway on take-off I was thrilled to feel the engines had enough thrust to carry us, cases and all, to our first destination, Singapore. Lynn had ordered Gluten free food for my benefit. It was awful, a pure foods disaster, full of preservatives and sugar filled drinks. Not good for us trying to keep cancer at bay. There was nothing else so we ate as much as we dared.

      Chapter Three

      The First Week, Singapore

      We arrived at the Singapore airport and the passports and customs men were most obliging and got us through quickly. We had to wait in a queue outside the airport for a taxi to go to our hotel, when the first of the many helpful incidents occurred. We were second in the queue and an elderly lady, extremely well dressed, in front with her grandson, we supposed, insisted on letting us get into the first taxi available.

      It was a real blessing, as were exhausted with dragging our two big suitcases, and a smaller one, carrying the ‘Smog mask’, a small wheelie, carry-on bag and last but not least, to balance it all, ‘Lynn’s pillow’. This pillow, for her head only, has travelled the world, Alaska, Canada, America, Mexico, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Thailand to name a few places, giving comfort and support at resting places, cars, planes, etc. etc. We must have appealed to the check-in attendant’s heart and eyes, a couple of weary old travellers in need of urgent help. Luckily a taxi pulled up behind us as we finished loading the luggage.

      On arrival at the Furama Hotel, Lynn was horrified to find that we were to sleep in separate beds but pushed together. This was just not on she remonstrated My husband and I just have to have contact to sleep. I know we’re old, according to you young people, but we just have to have contact. Although the counter staff were sympathetic, there was nothing else available. We were promised a change of room the following morning and so we were led up to the offending bedroom, which was of good size, light and spacious, with good views.

      We slept apart for the first time. We could touch, but it was difficult with tucked in bedsides. I pretended it did not matter, but I did have a feel of her in the night, while she slept, but then one does not know if it was felt. I had a little reassurance of not being on my own. Even in an Intensive Care Unit, when I had stopped breathing some years ago and was being resuscitated with nurses looking on all the time, I missed her. A reassuring touch of a loved one is the gold of endearments. One does not even have to speak to win the race.

      In the morning, the promise was kept by the management and we again were reunited with sleeping together. The room, not so good, the view out of the window awful, room to store the luggage left a lot to be desired. But Lynn was happy as we could now resume our contact sleeping. Bliss was restored.

      The breakfast at the hotel was shown as $25.00 each, much too much as we, on our special anti-cancer diet, would not be likely to get value from. We walked to the local China Town and on the way encountered a row of shops that we thought was the China Town. A man stopped us and asked if we would like a cup of coffee. Yes, I said, which happened to be the wrong answer as it proved to be awful and quite undrinkable to my gentle Aussie pallet!

      However, I was happy and the man seemed very grateful we had purchased it. The food from the lady from the stall next door, soup etc. was palatable but uninspiring and quite wrong for our diet but they say we can be twenty per cent off, so we hoped that this was part of the shortfall.

      We walked on and found a great looking coffee shop. Lynn ordered and I was so pleased to get a coffee from a shop that looked like a coffee shop. When the young lady delivered it to our table, the coffee was in a great big latte glass for me and a usual size for Lynn. We laughed when we realised we had stuffed up again and we had again learnt a lesson; if you cannot talk the language, you must see the size of the thing you are buying.

      007_a_lechengyawa.TIF

      Stephen – Jumbo Latté Coffee – Size - Lost in Translation

      Venturing further, we came upon the food market proper. A very big hall, with lots of food shops, catering for all sorts of tastes at very reasonable prices and full of people eating and buying food, generally pushing and shoving as if each minute was precious. This was living life as the locals lived it and we were pleased to be part of it.

      Lynn went off and selected what she thought was right for us; I sat down at a nearly full table of about eight people. Language seemed no problem, they could not speak English and I could not speak, whatever they were speaking. I managed or so I thought, and tried to sit down. An old lady on

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