CRUISING THE FAR EAST- A FEW IDEAS

As a warm weather winter option to cruising the Caribbean, a voyage in the Far East has more going for it than you might think. Flight time to the main embarkation ports of Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong is around twelve hours from London- about the same as in the other direction to Los Angeles; the weather is more or less guaranteed during the winter months, and there's also the chance to explore these amazing oriental capitals on a pre cruise hotel stay, too.

And there's far more of an exotic cachet about cruising these far away waters than is to be expected sailing in the often overcrowded winter Caribbean. Like slowly unwinding, serpentine wonders, the treasures of Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam contrive to unfold like a series of muffled drum rolls that will stay in your memory long after you actually leave them behind.

It's a beguiling mix of both the stupendous and the serene; from the glittering opulence of Bangkok's fabled Emerald Buddha to the lush, snow white sandy beaches of Langkawi and Phuket, an entirely different culture and way of life slowly opens up. The glittering harbourscape of sultry Hong Kong forms a stark contrast to the North Vietnamese tunnels at Cu Chi, just outside of fabled, still French accented Saigon.

And there is so much more. Rickshaws still race up and down streets lined with food stalls, and the scent of incense that hangs in the air each evening is bewitching. Gleaming pagodas sit next to bustling food markets, while hundreds of scooters buzz the streets of the great cities like swarms of maddened wasps. Delicate, beautifully styled 'spirit houses' sit in the shadow of vast, glittering new international hotels. It's a world of amazing contrasts perhaps unrivalled by anywhere else on earth.

And those sights vary between the space age and the sublimely archaic; from modern marvels such as Kuala Lumpur's vast, twin Petronas Towers and Singapore's Marina Bay, to the magnificent Buddhist temple complex at Shweddagon in Burma, the Far East is vast in scale and even larger in terms of variety. One thing is for sure; one visit will never be enough.

But there is more; sunrises and sunsets on this far away ocean are things of rare, incredible beauty. And, for all the hi tech wizardry of the big cities, there is still the feeling of being a million miles from everyday reality once you're out there, sailing under a starlit sea with a side order of moonlight glinting on the ocean.

Far out in the Far East? Too true it is. But, as they say, seeing for yourself is truly believing!