En route to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Arrive on 23-Feb. After I posted the Manila entry, Sandiwang Kayumanggi Filipino folk-dance troupe performed for us on board. They were amazing. The Band Balance Pick Me! Solo Song Purple! The finale involved Tinikling - where the dancers move between two bamboo poles that are being moved and snapped into … Continue reading Filipino Dance

Location: Manila, Philippines The Silver Whisper has almost 300 crew from over 30 countries, yet 40% of the crew are Filipino. So, as we docked in Manila for 14 hours it was wonderful to see all the families lined up to visit their loved ones - spouses, kids and parents. I saw someone's father in … Continue reading Manila

En route to Manila, Philippines. Arrive on 21-Feb. You may remember that the theme of this world cruise is "A Tale of Tales." Silversea gives us a book for every leg of the cruise, and has the creator on board as a guest. They usually give a lecture or two and a book signing. For … Continue reading More Books

En route to Manila, Philippines. Arrive on 21-Feb. Let's get this right out front - Sandakan, Malaysia, is not a town you visit for the wonderful architecture. I compare it to east Berlin after the wall fell: the buildings are left over from the 1950s. Sandakan used to be a huge boom town, but WW2 … Continue reading Sandakan

En route to Sandakan, Malaysia. Arrive on 19-Feb. As we travel from Bali to Sandakan we crossed the Equator again, and there were more poor souls who had never before paid their dues to King Neptune. See the first time here. Here, King Neptune's court marches to the stage. Seems our cruise director decided there … Continue reading Crossing the Equator (again)