20231103 AAAA Trip - Sea Day in the Gulf of Thailand

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 48/105 - Gulf of Thailand sailing

Sea days are slow days and we're OK with that.  Today was that kind of day.  Slept in a bit, lazy breakfast, chatting with friends, until...Baggo!  Today, Cruise Director, Graham, decided to go a different way and asked guests to raise their hands if they were American.  Then he asked all non-Americans to raise their hands.  The split was close enough to 50/50 that he decided today's game would be the USA versus the world.  How fun!

The Americans lined up on one side, the Aussies, kiwis, Brits, Germans, Canadians, and more on the other. The US was ahead most of the game, but in the final round, the world team dropped three 5,000-point bags into the hole in the last round to take the win by 2,000 points. It was great fun.  

A highlight came in round #2.  If you've ever played Baggo (Cornhole), then you know the target is a slanted board with a hole.  You score points by landing a bag on the board and more points if it goes in the hole.  They mix it up here on the ship.  In round #2, the right-hand board was in its normal orientation.  The left-hand board was rotated to the right so the high end butted up against the right-hand board - like a sideways "T".  Contestants went halfway up the atrium staircase to toss the bags.  Bag #1 had to go into the left hole (the sideways board) for 1,000 points - no points for anything else.  Bag #2 had to go in the right hole.  Bag #3 had to land anywhere on either board, but not in a hole.  Bag #4 had to go into either hole, but you had to choose the hole - no points for anything else.  The total possible for the round was 4,000 points.  Unless... you were perfect through three bags and made your shot on the fourth bag, your final bag was worth 3,000 points for a total of 6,000 points.  Only one played had achieved that throughout this voyage until today.

This lovely young lady drained all four bags in round #2

That put the USA in the lead until the final round

It was a stunning performance and she received thunderous applause from both teams for her perfect round

As we sat talking to friends, there was a very bright *flash* followed very quickly by a very loud *boom* as we sailed through another thunderstorm in the South China Sea.  We were in and out of weather throughout the day, but the Captain does try to avoid nasty weather whenever possible.

We nearly won trivia today, but talked ourselves out of a couple correct answers and that cost us the win by a single point.  The misses:

• What are the three corners of the Bermuda Triangle?
• We had this before and knew Bermuda and San Juan, Puerto Rico, but couldn't remember the third and guessed the Bahamas.  It is Miami, Florida.
• What country did Celine Dion represent in the 1988 Eurovision song competition?
• We guessed France - she sang for Switzerland
• Every 12 days, your body generates a completely new set of...what?
• We guessed eyelashes - it is tastebuds
• What is the diameter of a basketball hoop in inches?
• We guessed 16", it is 18"
• According to Google, who is the most Googled person?
• This was controversial as it really is time-sensitive - the answer was Justin Bieber, but that's old information - she also gave credit for Taylor Swift which is a more topical answer, but there are so many ways to interpret the question, it just wasn't a good question
• What is the 11th sign of the Zodiac?
• We made the mistake of thinking that Aquarius was #1, therefore Sagittarius was #11, but since Aries is the actual #1, that means Aquarius is #11
• What was Marilyn Monroe's natural hair color?
• We talked ourselves out of choosing red and went with brown - of course, she was a ginger
• How many publishers passed on publishing Harry Potter (9, 12, or 15)
• We guessed 9, it was 12 - I'm sure they're kicking themselves now

Oh well, sometimes we win, sometimes we get smarter.  Today, we got smarter.

Fellow world cruisers and musicians, Susan Mazer and Dallas Smith are on this leg of this journey.  They always travel with their instruments and they asked Viking if they could do a private performance for friends.  Viking obliged and offered up Torshaven at 2 p.m. today for the private concert.  With about 40 people in attendance including many of the Viking musicians, Susan and Dallas played about an hour of their music with Susan on her travel harp and Dallas on flute and clarinet.  It was a mix of original music and their version of other pieces, all in their improvisational jazz style.  It was a nice addition to the cruise and certainly something out of the ordinary.

You can learn more about them at Mazer and Smith

Of course, we spent some time in the Explorers' Bar.

Explorers' Bar's main guy, Kristijen, makes the magic happen

Explorers' Bar's main gal, Ferlyn, whips up her own magical potions

The sunset tonight was very nice, with the sun playing hide-and-seek through the clouds as it sizzled into the ocean.

Even the east sky was beautiful.

The World Café featured a taste of Asia tonight.  Everything was superb.

It was a good day at sea.  We have a five-day port run coming up with two days in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and then three days in Laem Chabang, Thailand for Bangkok.  We will be ready for another sea day by then.