PCWalton1 Posted April 30, 2018 Author #576 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Great pictures, thanks for posting. We just kind of drove by as we were out of energy to do much more walking. It was a long 3 weeks. :D ;p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gliles Posted May 1, 2018 #577 Share Posted May 1, 2018 I really wanted to try the scorpion but with us flying home in the morning I didn't want to take chances. Next time. We are starting our cruise there so I'll eat one and report back :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coralc Posted May 1, 2018 #578 Share Posted May 1, 2018 We are starting our cruise there so I'll eat one and report back :) Taking one for the team! :D:D We look forward to hearing about your scorpion eating experience! :D What a wonderful live review and photos Bill & Marie! The ports look fascinating. But I don't know if I could live on noodles/shrimp/chicken for 3 weeks. I am not a cooked vegetable fan. Thanks for putting all of this together for us to enjoy! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzyluvs2cruise Posted May 1, 2018 #579 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Didn't try them but they're readily available on Snack Street on Beijing. Sent from my SM-J727T using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vavasmom Posted May 1, 2018 #580 Share Posted May 1, 2018 I read most of this over the weekend and just finished tonight. Thank you fur taking the time to share your vacation with us. Your pictures were amazing Sent from my VS987 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coralc Posted May 1, 2018 #581 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Didn't try them but they're readily available on Snack Street on Beijing. Sent from my SM-J727T using Forums mobile app Thanks for the photo Sue! Eeewww. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted May 1, 2018 Author #582 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Didn't try them but they're readily available on Snack Street on Beijing. [ATTACH]420520[/ATTACH] Sent from my SM-J727T using Forums mobile app I like how they were still wiggling. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzyluvs2cruise Posted May 1, 2018 #583 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Thanks for the photo Sue! Eeewww. :D You're welcome.... I like how they were still wiggling. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Ewwww, not me. Bill, would you have tried one if you weren't going home the next day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare bobmacliberty Posted May 1, 2018 #584 Share Posted May 1, 2018 There isn't much in Asia I would eat, but I definitely would take a scorpion (not live, of course) over pigs brains. Wasn't bad. Sort of gelatinous without a lot of flavor. My hosts told me that it's a delicacy, but I think that's what every local says to get a visitor to eat something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted May 1, 2018 Author #585 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Ewwww, not me. Bill, would you have tried one if you weren't going home the next day? Sure, they deep fry them first. But I would not have tried the silk worms. You know those would squish in your mouth. Yuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dani negreanu Posted May 1, 2018 #586 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Great pictures, thanks for posting. We just kind of drove by as we were out of energy to do much more walking. It was a long 3 weeks. :D ;p We were also meant to drove by, but then the driver hinted that he didn't had the opportunity to view the stadium from inside, so DH offered him to buy the tickets for all of us, in exchange for a short stop. He readily agreed, and he was so happy with the "deal" that he offered to take us to the Pool House too, but, as Marie and you, we also were too tired. The Olympic Torch Tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelgoddess1 Posted May 1, 2018 #587 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Didn't try them but they're readily available on Snack Street on Beijing. [ATTACH]420520[/ATTACH] Sent from my SM-J727T using Forums mobile app No no no no no --that's just wrong!:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetiger59 Posted May 1, 2018 #588 Share Posted May 1, 2018 No no no no no --that's just wrong!:p Karen I think you might be a little to hasty here. That deep fried scorpion might be delicious with a little Tabasco Sauce on it. You might want to eat another one. I think I would have to try it. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindyJohn Posted May 1, 2018 #589 Share Posted May 1, 2018 I feared I'd lose my breakfast when I caught a glimpse of that bowl of brains which is why I didn't quote/copy it. A thousand yucks:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelgoddess1 Posted May 2, 2018 #590 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Karen I think you might be a little to hasty here. That deep fried scorpion might be delicious with a little Tabasco Sauce on it. You might want to eat another one. I think I would have to try it. Paul Paul, I will gladly give my portion to you. :D :D I feared I'd lose my breakfast when I caught a glimpse of that bowl of brains which is why I didn't quote/copy it. A thousand yucks:eek: I'm afraid I have to agree. There are certain items that just should not be consumed. JMO, but I'm all about comfort food, not exotic "delicacies!" Escargots is just about my outer limit, lol! To each his/her own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted May 2, 2018 Author #591 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Someone asked earlier if I would review the ship so here goes an abbreviated version. I would say I liked it more than the Oasis class as it was not so spread out. A few locations seemed out of place. The Concierge Lounge is a long way from anything being all the way aft on Deck 12. But the size of it and the amazing view made up for all the walking. And we did as we spent the at sea mornings there with coffee and Kindles. The Focus photo center was on deck 5 will all the restaurants and bars rather than deck 4 with all the shops. I know, nitpicking but I am a slow learner so twice I went looking for it on deck 4. ;p Loved all the coffee bars in Windjammer, La Parisserie, Cafe 270. Saved me a trip to the CL if I wanted a latte. The ship is designed real well for tendering which is important since there are over 4000 passengers. They can tender from two locations and their tender boats are huge so they can get a lot of people off the ship quickly. Also when you come back by tender boat the area of the ship is also huge for processing passengers back on board. They can easily queue all the passengers from one tender boat inside the ship so no bottleneck get back aboard. Both ports that we tendered we were on the ship in about 30 minutes. Loved that the casino was smoke free (sorry smokers). It was nice after making our nightly donations to the casino gods not coming away with watering eyes and smelling like an ashtray. Loved the mandatory hand washing stations at Windjammer. On other ships I never cared for the squirts of hand sanitizer, especially since it does nothing to prevent Noro. Of course it's not fail safe, observed a family of 5 walk straight through the washing station. I being the master of subtlety called out it was nice to see parents raising a family of pigs but they never broke stride. I can say the ship is in great condition but it should be since it is only 2 years old. Found a couple elevator buttons that did not work but other than that excellent shape. We really like the Coastal Kitchen. I know it had some strange rules that others didn't like (but didn't effect us) such as no guests. For us the staff was great, friendly, funny and not too slow. Also ice that we could get the Diamond voucher drinks there so we didn't have to haul one with us. They had a bigger selection of wine too. Food was tasty and hot. Enjoyed that they made some off the menu dishes for us. That is all I can think of right now, maybe others that were there have some observations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare A&L_Ont Posted May 2, 2018 #592 Share Posted May 2, 2018 I feared I'd lose my breakfast when I caught a glimpse of that bowl of brains which is why I didn't quote/copy it. A thousand yucks:eek: Thanks for not quoting the pics. And I thought raisins were bad. :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gliles Posted May 2, 2018 #593 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Someone asked earlier if I would review the ship so here goes an abbreviated version. I would say I liked it more than the Oasis class as it was not so spread out. A few locations seemed out of place. The Concierge Lounge is a long way from anything being all the way aft on Deck 12. But the size of it and the amazing view made up for all the walking. And we did as we spent the at sea mornings there with coffee and Kindles. The Focus photo center was on deck 5 will all the restaurants and bars rather than deck 4 with all the shops. I know, nitpicking but I am a slow learner so twice I went looking for it on deck 4. ;p Loved all the coffee bars in Windjammer, La Parisserie, Cafe 270. Saved me a trip to the CL if I wanted a latte. The ship is designed real well for tendering which is important since there are over 4000 passengers. They can tender from two locations and their tender boats are huge so they can get a lot of people off the ship quickly. Also when you come back by tender boat the area of the ship is also huge for processing passengers back on board. They can easily queue all the passengers from one tender boat inside the ship so no bottleneck get back aboard. Both ports that we tendered we were on the ship in about 30 minutes. Loved that the casino was smoke free (sorry smokers). It was nice after making our nightly donations to the casino gods not coming away with watering eyes and smelling like an ashtray. Loved the mandatory hand washing stations at Windjammer. On other ships I never cared for the squirts of hand sanitizer, especially since it does nothing to prevent Noro. Of course it's not fail safe, observed a family of 5 walk straight through the washing station. I being the master of subtlety called out it was nice to see parents raising a family of pigs but they never broke stride. I can say the ship is in great condition but it should be since it is only 2 years old. Found a couple elevator buttons that did not work but other than that excellent shape. We really like the Coastal Kitchen. I know it had some strange rules that others didn't like (but didn't effect us) such as no guests. For us the staff was great, friendly, funny and not too slow. Also ice that we could get the Diamond voucher drinks there so we didn't have to haul one with us. They had a bigger selection of wine too. Food was tasty and hot. Enjoyed that they made some off the menu dishes for us. That is all I can think of right now, maybe others that were there have some observations. Thanks so much. I think it was me. We are going in October in a GS from Beijing to Singapore so you can imagine I have been following this post daily and am almost as sad that your trip is over as you might be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetiger59 Posted May 3, 2018 #594 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Bill Thanks again for this great review and your comments on the ship. I've made a few notes for future reference. Hope you don't mind a couple more questions. You said that you didn't need a travel visa for Beijing and that you could stay there up to 144 hours without one. Is this 144 hour pass (or whatever it's called) something that you need to apply for? Were you satisfied with your Beijing tour guide Maggie? If you were, could you tell me what company she's with? There are dozens of tour guides listed on the internet but if you recommend her company I want to make a note of it. You do an amazing job on these reviews Bill. Thanks again. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted May 3, 2018 Author #595 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Bill Thanks again for this great review and your comments on the ship. I've made a few notes for future reference. Hope you don't mind a couple more questions. You said that you didn't need a travel visa for Beijing and that you could stay there up to 144 hours without one. Is this 144 hour pass (or whatever it's called) something that you need to apply for? Were you satisfied with your Beijing tour guide Maggie? If you were, could you tell me what company she's with? There are dozens of tour guides listed on the internet but if you recommend her company I want to make a note of it. You do an amazing job on these reviews Bill. Thanks again. Paul No you do not have to apply for the 144 hour transit visa exemption ahead of time. The ship works to assist us making sure we had all the required forms. Funny side note the ship gave us several forms to fill out and have with us when we went to immigration but once we actually got there all they wanted was passport, and copies of our confirmed flights out of the country and hotel reservations. But you do need to make sure you meet the qualifications. Obviously you can't stay longer than 144 hours but you also have to stay in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Also you have to show them where you will be staying and confirmed flights out. Lastly your stop before and after China cannot be the same. In other words you cannot fly in from the US and then fly back to the US. We qualified as our previous port stop before China was Korea and after China we were flying to the US. The tour company we used is actually based out of Las Vegas, www orientaltoursandtravel dot com. I would recommend them but when setting up be more specific than I did. For our two lunch stops we ended up in tourist restaurants (one even had just forks no chopsticks). That was my fault as I did not specify we did not want to eat in places like that. They were good at making changes. Two weeks before the trip we changed locations for where we wanted to visit the Great Wall. We moved to Matianyu rather than Badaling as it was more isolated and less touristy. The day before we were actually going to the wall we realized we were worn out so we had them change back to Badaling as it has a gondola going up to the wall making for much easier access. I would recommend Maggie, she is personable, articulate, knowledgeable, and speaks clear English. Marie really liked her and considered her to be her long lost sister. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted May 3, 2018 Author #596 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Thanks so much. I think it was me. We are going in October in a GS from Beijing to Singapore so you can imagine I have been following this post daily and am almost as sad that your trip is over as you might be! Lucky you, if I am looking at the right itinerary you get to make 3 stops in Vietnam and even a stop in Taipei, :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrylinden Posted May 3, 2018 #597 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Oh My that food is just gross( brains and insects ect. ) .See this is why I have no desire to go to any Asian country.They eat some nasty foods.My stomach wouldn,t take it!:eek::o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare bobmacliberty Posted May 3, 2018 #598 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Sorry Bill that my picture may have hijacked your great review. I really enjoy other cultures and cuisines, and it looks like this was an excellent itinerary to do so (other than a forced shopping trip :D). I hope that your trip was as fantastic as it appeared to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gliles Posted May 4, 2018 #599 Share Posted May 4, 2018 Lucky you, if I am looking at the right itinerary you get to make 3 stops in Vietnam and even a stop in Taipei, :D Yes, we were to make 2 stops in the Philippines but that changed which is a little disappointing but we know it happens. You think we lucked out? We are leaving in a few days for an Empress to Cuba, very excited about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted May 5, 2018 Author #600 Share Posted May 5, 2018 I grabbed a few more pictures off of Marie's phone. On the subject of pictures, I want to apologize for so many blurry pictures. It was an experiment that did not pan out. I shelved my Nikon with the big zoom lens for a Nikon Cool Pix to reduce the weight I would be carrying around. The Cool Pix was capable of decent pictures, it just did not have the response time that my main camera has. So I missed shots or they came out blurred. When we travel the Panama Canal on Vision in November I will be back with the old camera. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now