A visit to Singapore isn't complete without a stop at Raffles Hotel. Built in the mid-1800s, its Victorian splendor is a must see, even if you are not a guest! You can sip a Singapore Sling at the Writers Bar, just off the main lobby, where Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maughm were regulars. Wander the grounds, visit the exclusive shops, and dine in one of several restaurants after a drink at the Long Bar. The hotel museum and shop are replete with correspondence, photos, and mementos of notable guests who made Raffles their home while in Singapore over the last two centuries. Raffles is still truly one of the world's grand hotels.

We enjoyed our stay in the twenty-first century splendor of the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore. With soaring spaces, avant-garde sculptures of blown glass, and magnificent service, this hotel has already established itself as one of the grand hotels of this century. A signature of the hotel is the luxurious bathrooms. Voted "The World's Sexiest Bathrooms" by the Tatler Cunard Travel Guide, each guest room features a spacious marble-tiled bathroom with an enormous picture window. Alongside a huge tub, the windows afford the bather(s) a spectacular view of the city. The hotel offers a Bath Menu that provides, for an additional charge, a butler who will draw one of several indulgent choices including a "Honeymoon Bath" with rose petal oils, flowers, and fruits, a Cream Bath, a Salt Bath, and a traditional Bubble Bath complete with your very own rubber ducky. I spent an hour in the tub enjoying the view from the 27th floor. I christened my bath choice, "Moon over Singapore."

We ate in the Greenhouse and were fortunate enough to meet the hotel's Executive Chef, Christophe Megel. This young, enthusiastic chef enjoys tooling around the Malaysian peninsula on his motorcycle and is just fun to be around. Originally from France, he has worked in New York at Le Cirque. Christophe manages a staff of over 100 chefs at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia and has embraced the exotic cuisines of Asia by incorporating them into his repertoire. According to Chef Megel, "the combination and exploration of Asian with Western cuisine is endless!"

He and his Asian culinary specialist, Chef Ng, prepared what some consider to be the national dish of Singapore - Fish Head Curry. It combines the intricacies of Chinese preparation with the powerful flavors of Indian spices.

Served in a beautiful China tureen, an entire Red Snapper fish head, along with a variety of vegetables, swims in a base of incredibly spiced brown curry sauce. Although somewhat unusual to Western tastes, the powerfully spiced dish is considered the finest delicacy Singapore has to offer. The meat from the fish head is as soft as butter and the sauce is served over rice or bread with fruit chutney. Be forewarned should you try it, locals would consider 5-alarm chili to be moderately spiced. For dessert, we enjoyed a selection of sweet Dim Sum.

Each summer, Chef Mengel and the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore host a weeklong food and wine festival. The event features renowned chefs and wine specialists from around the world. For more information about the 2002 event and the hotel itself, visit their web site at www.ritzcarlton.com.

Saigon-Ho Chi Min City

My feelings were mixed as we steamed up the Mekong River Delta for my first visit to Vietnam. I recalled the political upheaval of my youth, missing the Draft by a hair with a high enough lottery number and High School buddies lost. I remembered a July Fourth, not so long ago, in a small upstate New York town when a close friend dove for cover when the fire works started ...he had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome resulting from combat during his military service in Vietnam. Now that I was about to disembark here for the first time, I was not sure I wanted to.

Through the haze, the profile of the city's skyline, filled with recently built high rises, came into view. As we approached the quay, a crowd dressed in native costumes waved, danced and sang while they held up a huge banner that proclaimed, "Welcome to Vietnam". This touristy reception, typical of so many I had witnessed in ports of call around the world, filled me with the comforting realization the war was over... a long time ago.

As one would expect, the shore excursions arranged through the Silver Shadow's Tour Desk were excellent. The city tour encompassed the major sights, including The Museum of Vietnamese History, a Buddhist Temple where we were able to say a pray and light incense that would burn for a month, the Victorian Post Office and of course the US Embassy. We stopped at the Rex Hotel where we had time for a local beer on the infamous roof top garden which served as an informal "correspondents club" for news reporters during the war.

At the end of the tour, each participant received a gift in the form of a ceramic water buffalo and the guide thanked us for coming to Vietnam and for providing her with a job. It was genuine and, frankly, very touching. I came away from my two-day visit with a sense from everyone I came into contact with that we were welcome and our business was valued.

That evening all guests were invited to participate in a Silversea Experience which was included in the cost of the cruise. We were bused a short distance to the Saigon New World Hotel for an evening of "cultural and culinary pleasures." An attentive and engaging staff presented a sumptuous banquet of classic Vietnamese cuisine, with live music and traditional Vietnamese dance.

The next day, I attended a Vietnamese cooking class arranged by the Tour desk, along with several other shipmates at the Norfolk Hotel (www.norfolkgroup.com). We were met at a huge local market by the hotel's Executive Chef, who handed out a food market list of ingredients for the dishes we were to prepare. We then followed him through the market as he proceeded to point out and select all the fresh ingredients we would be using. It was fascinating, as we rubbed elbows with locals going about a typical day at the market. Although armed with only two Vietnamese words, Sin chow (hello) and Gama (thanks), it was clear that so many people wanted to communicate, welcome us or just shake hands.

We proceeded to the hotel where our instructor and his staff conducted a, most enjoyable, hands on, cooking class. Chinese cooking, Thai cooking and French cooking have a primary influence in Vietnam's exceptional cuisine. We attempted to prepare Vietnamese Spring rolls, Lotus root with shrimp and pork salad, Shrimp mousse on sugar cane, simmered Mud Fish in a clay pot and soft shell crabs. We also had a vegetable-carving contest, with several of the students receiving honorable mention for their flowers carved from carrots and radishes.

After class, we were escorted into the hotel's Terrazzo Restaurant where thankfully the restaurant staff had prepared all the dishes we had attempted for a memorable luncheon. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and continued to compare notes and cooking tips for the remainder of the voyage.

On my last afternoon, I went back to the roof top garden at the Rex Hotel to enjoy another beer. I then found a shop, behind the Opera House where I purchased a hand made wooden model of the Titanic, over two feet long'...for less then $25 dollars. As the shuttle bus headed back to the ship for our departure, I knew that Ho Chi Min City and the rest of Vietnam would very definitely be a part of my future travel plans.