Colourful Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan is a beautiful sight from the water. Photo / 123rf
Cherie Howie cruises from Taipei to Singapore with Norwegian Cruise Line and motors down the marine highway via the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam
I’m sat on my bum, sliding on a piece of plastic down a smooth stretch of northern Philippines sand dune and life is pretty sweet right now.
Northland’s Te Paki Sand Dunes, this ain’t. Neither the enormous Swakopmund dunes of Namibia.
It’s not even that high, but the descent feels pretty fast, and definitely fun.
I’m rather far off the tourist trail on this 4-wheel-drive/sand-sliding adventure at Paoay Sand Dunes on the northern Filipino island of Luzon, but there’s nothing to worry about.
I’m among friends.
The local guides are lovely and I’m surrounded by fellow travellers, and although we’re squarely on terra firma now, we came together on the water.
Two days earlier we’d boarded the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship in Taiwan, with another 10 days and more ports in the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam before we’d motor down the maritime highway to Singapore.
Veteran cruiser Lucy’s flown from Christchurch for this gentle journey through the maritime heart of eastern Asia.
“It’s good because it’s safety in numbers”, she says.
The day before, in the Taiwan port city of Kaohsiung, she and her husband had rescued ill-prepared American cruisers who’d exhausted their local currency before boarding a public ferry back to the ship.
“So”, says Lucy matter-of-factly, “we paid”.
“They couldn’t understand it. They were so rapt and they wanted to pay us back, but it wasn’t anything, it was like 50c. They were just surprised Kiwis would do that.”
Mostly, the couple love that the hard work of travel - getting around, finding somewhere to sleep and food to eat was “done for you”.
“You get on board, you unpack once and off you go. And you get to see a whole lot of different countries.”
Usually, Lucy says, “there isn’t too much paperwork”.
The night before wasn’t good, she adds.
Some cruisers endured long queues and crowds for entry stamps as Philippines immigration officials checked passengers and their paperwork in person.
The usual country arrival procedure had been agreed, but was changed the day before arrival by Filipino officials, and without Norwegian Cruise Lines being told, Norwegian Jewel general manager Hannah Han says.
“Every single [challenge], we learn from. So next time, we know exactly how to do it.”
It’s a fair voyage that doesn’t boomf into the odd roller.
It’s also Norwegian Jewel’s virgin return to Asia since Covid-19, and Philippines is a new addition to their Asian offerings.
And what a beauty.
As we sail from Luzon early evening, navigation set for the capital Manila 391 nautical miles (724km) away, the sea offers barely a ripple as the sky cycles through a kaleidoscope of colours and the overlapping ridges ashore slowly morph into a single, bold landscape.
Daybreak, bang - a busy city of 15 million waits beyond the passenger door.
There are organised excursions to Tagytay Ridge, where you can peer across to Taal Volcano - the world’s smallest and lowest - or ride in a flamboyantly-coloured jeepney, Filipino transport-turned-cultural-icon.
But I go solo, turning left to walk 20 minutes along Roxas Boulevard to Manila’s 16th-century district Intramuros.
If you want easier in the relentlessly hot and humid conditions, pedicab drivers are only too happy to swap pesos for motor power.
It’s fun to haggle the price, and Tourism Philippines warns you shouldn’t pay more than 20 pesos per passenger for short hops, or 200 per half hour (they take US dollars too).
But you don’t have to look far to see poverty here, and with 100 pesos converting to NZ$2.80, overpaying isn’t the worst idea.
When I hop on a pedicab later, driver Mac Mac proves speedy, funny and cheeky - of course he asks for a tip, so if you’re watching pesos, factor that in.
The city’s oldest district, Intramuros - and the defensive wall the colonising Spanish built around it - is the main attraction in waterfront Manila.
Sturdy footwear is a good idea as you negotiate the cobblestoned streets to Manila Cathedral, where the Romanesque facade looks ancient, but isn’t.
Although the cathedral dates from 1581 it’s been rebuilt seven times, most recently after Japanese bombers levelled the capital during World War II.
But its cool marble floors and, of course, high ceilings offer a welcome break from the heat and the hawkers while you take in the stained glass windows and mosaics.
A couple of blocks north is Fort Santiago, where giggling kids dash between half-millennia-old fortifications that sadly also carry dark stories of imprisonment, torture and death.
Outside a dungeon entrance near the Pasig River a sign reminds visitors they’re entering “hallowed grounds” - 600 Filipino and American World War II prisoners died of suffocation and heat exhaustion inside.
A single white cross nearby marks their mass grave.
“Please conduct yourselves with dignity and respect”, the sign further reads.
Manila’s downtown port is excellent for independent travel - there’s no tender and the sights are nearby.
However, while ship-organised excursions cost much more, they’re great for those unsure of exploring independently, or self-insuring against being left behind.
Those not keen on YouTube infamy as unfortunate “pier runners”, if a late-returning excursion is ship-organised, they wait.
Still, pier running’s less common than it appears.
He’s seen the videos too, Captain Vicente Amicone says.
But that’s all.
“Knock on wood, we haven’t left anybody behind in my three years as captain.”
Our remaining Philippine ports pay worship to the beach towel and bikini line, beautiful but hectic Boracay, and Palawan, where you can paddle through an underground river or pop over to the white sands and clear waters of tiny Cowrie Island, massages and mango shakes extra.
An overnight hop and we’re in Borneo, an island politically divided between Malaysia, Indonesia and oil/gas-rich microstate Brunei.
An all-day shore excursion includes a visit to a floating village, but even the half-day tour, which whizzes past a handful of sights including a gold-domed mosque and various royal residences, is worth your time.
It’s not the sights, it’s the narration.
Everything but oil and gas is imported, our guide says.
There’s no income tax and so little crime sometimes police have nothing to do, she adds.
But it’s also nearly impossible to get citizenship - and therefore its many benefits, like 20-year interest-free home loans and free university education - unless you’re Brunei-born.
There’s also no booze (non-citizens can bring in a little), only 50 taxis and public transport doesn’t exist.
On the other hand, petrol costs NZ60c/litre.
It all leaves plenty to ponder as we sail across the South China Sea to Vietnam’s beach resort city of Nha Trang, and then south to Phu My.
From there it’s two hours by road to Ho Chi Minh City, but as Graham Greene wrote of Vietnam in The Quiet American, “whatever you’re looking for, you will find here”.
It’s still true in the city formerly (and still informally) known as Saigon.
Museums, pagodas, street food, the landmark French colonialist-era Notre Dame Cathedral and the vibrant Chinese quarter land inside city limits; beyond is the Mekong Delta and the Vietnam War Cu Chi Tunnels - don’t worry, an early emergency exit’s been dug in for claustrophobics.
Then it’s south, across 775nm (1435km) of maritime highway to the sparkling city-state of Singapore, where a whole new adventure beckons.
And just like that, you’ve sailed East Asia.
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
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