Cruising along the Mekong River in Style - Gorgeous Asian Chinoise Style Rooms

One of the countries I really love visiting in my travels

is Vietnam. Vietnam is still beginning to open up and

isn't to the point where it's over developed yet. It still

retains much of it's essence and unique blend of Asian

with French influences.

I think cruising is one of the loveliest ways to see a place

or country and what better way to do it than to do it in

luxury and style!

This boat is called The Jayavarman and it is run by
the Heritage Line. As you can see, the staterooms on
this little ship are completely luxurious and unlike
any staterooms I've seen before on a ship. It looks
like a high end hotel room instead of being on a
riverboat.

Each stateroom has a balcony with a table and

two chairs to lounge in while gazing at the scenery.

Even the bathroom has distinct

Chinese styled cabinets and doors.

They really did a fantastic job with blending modern

luxury with traditional Chinese and Asian aesthetics.

The wood work in the rooms are just amazing.

At dusk, the the lighting and the

scenery are romantic and peaceful.

The cruise either departs from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

and proceeds upstream to Siem Reap in Cambodia or the

other way from Siem Reap downstream to Saigon. I still

prefer the name Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. Saigon is so

much prettier.

There were no photos of the suite but I

thought this was a gorgeous rendering.

The open deck on top looks even better with daybeds,

gorgeous coffee tables and billowing curtains.

What you saw above was the deluxe room, this is the

superior room (or what you would call a standard room.)

Even the standard room is quite gorgeous. Take a look
out the window in this photo. Amazing isn't it?

I love the panels of plants and birds used

as a headboard in these staterooms.

It's tea time.

If you plan to decorate any of your rooms in Chinoise style,

hopefully this post has given you some great ideas on how

to blend modern luxuries with a more traditional asian look.

Wouldn't I love to be cruising down the Mekong in this boat...

Photos from Heritage Line

Back from Cruise! ~ The FOOD. YUM YUM.

And my final post on my cruise is of course surrounding FOOD~ Lots and Lots of it !! I definitely gained weight on this cruise and so now I must go on a diet to shed this excess :( During one of the formal nights on a cruise, all major cruise liners have something called the Midnight Buffet which literally starts at midnight. It usually involves miles and miles of delicately carved and prepared food, ice carvings, and etc. Every cruise liner does it differently. Here is is, the midnight buffet.

They cleared out all the tables to fit in the buffet area.

Loads and Loads of food!


Food Carved Bouquet of Flowers.

I really loved this table of breads.

And the cutest was this bakery with a baker making

croissants - all made out of bread. Soo cute!


One of my favorite photos of the wine table.


And of course, no midnight buffets can be without ice carvings.

Here's the grand finale of a dragon carved in ice.

Back from my Cruise! The Ports ~

Today I'm showing the ports that I visited on my cruise. I visited ports in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. I've a photo or two of every port I visited. It's been pouring and cold here in San Fran and going to warm weather made me realize how much I missed the sunshine. I moved to San Francisco about a year ago. Prior to that, I lived about an hour away in Silicon Valley which is much warmer. Mark Twain has quoted that he thought San Francisco has among the coldest summers in any city. I've found that I had to replace all of my summer clothing with fall clothes for the summer. Anywho, come with me and take a look at where I was last week.

St. Thomas has an amazingly beautiful deep water part. The cruise ships can dock o

right up against the island. Cruise liner ships extend 26 feet or more beneath the

surface. The cruise ship in the back is a Disney ship. It was soo cool to hear the ship

toot its horn and play the Disney theme before sailing off.

Another look at the port of St. Thomas. St. Thomas has really great

duty free shopping. Perfumes, jewelry, liquor, you name it.

Most especially diamonds!! Gotta be into the bling.

No visit is complete to San Juan without a visit to the largest

Bacardi factory in the world :) My favorite is the Bacardi

coconut flavored rum. Yum Yum...

The Dominican Republic has beautiful rain forests and beaches.

I particularly liked the colors of this Tapas and Bar.

This is a replica of a church in the Dominican Republic.

Many famous people have vacation homes in Dominican Republic such as

Oscar de LaRenta. I took a photo of this home while we were sailing away.

Massive...and a gorgeous spot.

Haiti has some pretty amazing beaches. Nothing like a barbeque

on the beach. Going to Haiti from the Dominican Republic is interesting

because it's actually two separate halves of the same island - yet the

two different halves are very different.

Back from my Cruise! The Boat.

I'm Back!! Many thanks to Felicity from All Things Bright and Beautiful who made some guest posts for me while I was away. The rest of this week, I'll be posting bits from trip. Today I wanted to show some photos of the ship that I was on. I took a 7 day cruise in the Caribbean on Celebrity Cruise line.

I think this is about my 8th cruise. My parents started taking us when we were young and the habit never died ;) Cruising is a great way to be pampered and leisurely travel. Great for headache and a relatively details free vacation because everything is planned for you and you can choose to do whatever you want while you're on the ship. I slept in every day and ordered in tea and room service every day ^_^ Meals are all inclusive on cruises including the room service, it's what I LIVE for on these cruises. Celebrity has really great service which is one of the reasons I prefer this line.

There are many other lines out there that are great as well. I've personally been on Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and a smaller Greek liner in the Mediterranean. If any of you are thinking to plan a cruise and have questions about cruises or any of these lines, feel free to email me! I highly recommend cruises for a relaxing vacation - great for singles, couples, and families.

I was on the Millenium on Celebrity Cruise Lines.

We booked a balcony stateroom.

Sofa and balcony area. It's hard to see from here, but I

specifically booked a balcony room that had 1/3 more space

than the average balcony and you pay nothing extra. The

way you do this is look at the ship/deck plans when you book

and request the specific stateroom that has this extra deck

space. A great trick that many travel agents use to get a bit

more bang for the buck so to speak.

And the lovely balcony. Nothing like enjoying tea and

reading a book while enjoying the views and feeling the

sea breezes out here.

Balcony staterooms usually come with complimentary

champaigne and fresh fruit every day. I, for one, am

not complaining.

~ Bon Voyage ~

I am off on a cruise in the Caribbean. I'm quite excited as I'll be visiting some islands I've never been. The itinerary includes San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Dominican Republic, and Haiti over the course of 7 days. During the time I will be gone, I've invited Felicity from All Things Bright and Beautiful to do some guest posts while I am away, so stay tuned!

My itinerary :-)

And I couldn't resist showing you these fabulous leather Passport covers.
Pretty in Pink ;) I do actually have one of these myself.
They're available from Vera Bradley.

The ship I will be boarding --->
Celebrity Cruise Line's Millenium

I will be back soon!