Last lunar new year, I spent ten days on Crystal Symphony with my relatives on a cruise that started in Hong Kong and ended in Singapore. Cruises are not for everyone but I think it is one of the nicest ways to go on holiday when you’ve got less mobile octogenarians in the group. Along the way, we stopped in Hainan Island (China), Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Since I live in Singapore, it was a convenient journey for me but familiarity with these stops meant that the cruise was not that spectacular (nothing compared to the Mediterranean) but the aim was to spend time with the family.
Hainan Island is a built-up commercial resort island that I thought had little charm. So all I did here was to find a decent place for lunch and get my nails done. However, our next stop – Hoi An in central Vietnam – was probably a highlight of the cruise. This is a quaint and well kept town, which is possibly a bit touristy these days but fun to walk around nonetheless. The ship docked near Danang, and was around an hour’s drive from Hoi An. We had a choice of visiting Hue instead but opted for Hoi An with its cute stores and alleyways.
After Hoi An, the ship continued onto Ho Chi Minh City. Since I was with relatives who had been to HCMC before, they weren’t keen to do the touristy things. So all we did was to have lunch and shop. Vietnam has really nice lacquerware. It’s not as fine as Japan’s but much cheaper and handy for daily use. But near to HCMC are historical sites such as the Vietcong’s Cu Chi tunnels.
One of the nice things Crystal Symphony did was to have a superb buffet spread to celebrate Lunar New Year.
Koh Samui was not an ideal stop – it would have been better for us if the ship visited Bangkok instead as there’s not much to do in Koh Samui other than to visit the beach (I did get the best massage I’ve had in a long time, though). Unfortunately, due to political unrests in recent years, the ship opted to skip Bangkok.
Following Koh Samui, Sihanoukville was probably the least favorite for my relatives. It’s a garbage strewn city. The reason for stopping here is that cruise guests could opt to spend a day visiting Cambodia’s Killing Fields. It’s a long journey to the Killing Fields so I opted instead to visit Ream National Park and a typical fishing village. I enjoyed the village and the folks there were very welcoming, which allowed me to get some nice photos.
One thing nice about being on board a ship is that you see things from a different viewpoint. As it was nice to sail out of Hong Kong and see all the city lights, it was also interesting to approach Singapore by sea. We cut through the parking lot of container ships to arrive at the cruise terminal near Sentosa. An end to our trip.
