September 16, 2025

Today splurged to beat the heat and cover some ground in Shanghai!

We hired a luxury car with driver and private guide & started at Yu Gardens; they say you haven't been to Shanghai unless you see! The guide made heat and experience worthwhile. She brought us portable personal fans to carry and that along with our umbrellas it greatly helped. The luxury car with driver picking up and dropping off at entries, in blissful cool was WOW! Guide got us through w good stories and quickly thru crowds and directed best pics.

Next was the water village of Zhujiajiao, one of the best preserved ancient towns. It's a little over an hour outside the city of Shanghai and was established 1700 years ago. There are 36 stone bridges and numerous rivers connecting area. There are tons of shop and restaurants down the narrow streets that line the river, and many house stay accommodations, but no hotels allowed in old town. A monk raised the funds for the first bridge to be built to help out the people who lived in the area.

Then we traded a trip to top of the Shanghai Tower, for a new art installation area we heard about night before on Food Tour. It is called the Oil Drums and it is literally inside old oil tanks - very interesting space, with modern art collection that was very coolly lit.

Our final stop was a visit to The Fake Markets. I wasn't looking for anything particular, just wanted to see what it was all about with a local. There are several around town - this one we went underground, into a parking garage and then was escorted up an elevator, by one of secret vendors. He lead us to closed off room, with all the handbag knock offs. Then negotiations started!

TIOMAN ISLAND, MALAYSIA

By Pat Patrick • July 6, 2026
Fun day in the waters of Tioman Island, Malaysia snorkeling with friends. Life is good! It was nothing fancy, a boat & captain, who spoke minimal English and barely interacted with us, for roughly 7 hours. We started the outing spotting a group of dolphins and was quickly at anchor drop 1 of 6. The distances between the 6 snorkel spots was minimal, which gave us lots of time in the water (at least 45 minutes, at each spot) with an added stop for a lunch break at local restaurants. Even the restaurants were fast and efficient, definitely used to catering to the boat crowd.

HAPPY 4th of JULY from SE ASIA SEA!

By Pat Patrick • July 4, 2026
Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July! Here on the Odyssey we celebrated in the SE Asia Sea on our way to Tioman Island, Malaysia . We have such a talented and dedicated group of residents here, they put together a fun hour of things to celebrate and embrace a lot of what we collectively love about the USA. Even our residents from other countries - Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany , etc. joined in the fun! ( I lent my flag below for decorations)

BINTAN, INDONESIA - BUDDHIST TEMPLE

By Pat Patrick • July 2, 2026
Vihara Avalokiteshvara Graha or Guan Yin Temple is near 500 Lohan, so we also toured the grounds of this large Temple complex. It's dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy and is one the tallest brass statues of her in SE Asia. She is just over 55' tall, coated in 22 carat gold and is surrounded by scenic dragon fruit plantations. The tile work is intricate and textured with great details. The whole place is very tranquil and calming for meditation and prayer.