September 28, 2024
My fellow residents are celebrating final days in Belfast!
I am having a little case of FOMO since I found out the residents in Belfast already, are doing a bicycle beer cruises Sunday afternoon. They are making up signs to say " the boat people are finally leaving" and "bye, bye Belfast" and will pedal throughout the city with a photo stop at City Hall! Over 40 of them are committed so far. I also saw them partying Thursday, the start of Octoberfest with the locals. Love this Irish tradition with the song "don't rock the boat baby" !
Off the coast of Pattaya, Thailand a talented and dedicated group of residents, the Odyssey Troubadours , performed A Night of Broadway for the enjoyment of all the other residents and senior staff on board. The group of 20 performed, 15 Broadway songs that had some special Odyssey edits, personalizing them to our journey. We loved it ! Such a clever, talented and fun loving group. I was upfront and focused on getting candid pictures of the talented cast.
We were up for breakfast at 7 and then hired a private small tram to take us around the gardens, for an overview, because it came with a guide. Problem was, guide barely spoke English, so we had a hard time figuring out the history of this crazy place. Even with translate app his answers were questionable. Did it start as gardens? What's with all the statues? Is there a master plan? It seems to be growing with no real connections, that we could make out. Web & Chat GPT seem vague on details too! We had fun with it, finding more and more absurd things, until the heat won out!
I went on a 24 hour adventure with these fun shipmates into Pattaya, Thailand to explore Nong Nooch Wonder World. Noted on the web as one of the top 10 Botanical Gardens in the World, it is certainly the largest in S. Asia at over 500 to 600 acres. Since the place is so massive; open from 8am to 6pm; the heat is so oppressive and we are at a tender port, we decided to spend the night, so we could be there at the opening, the next day and make a fun night before too!