Singapore and Malaysia

We spent a marvelous day yesterday with our nephew Larry and his sweet wife Doreen in Singapore. They picked us up where the shuttle dropped us off in town at the harbor front and we went to the Botanical Gardens and walked through the Orchid Garden. We saw orchids of every shape, color, size, just hundreds of them. It was very beautiful and interesting: it was also extremely hot and humid; Singapore is only 90 miles north of the equator. Unfortunately Mel stubbed his toe in the garden and by the time he took his shoe off (thankfully he was wearing his Crocs) his toe was covered with blood. Fortunately Doreen had some Kleenex and we stuffed them around his toe. Larry drove us to a pharmacy and the assistant there was very helpful and showed us what we needed to buy and told us to go to a public bathroom to clean it up. As we were leaving the pharmacy she came running after us and said she would dress it. She did a great job and the toe is one messy piece of flesh. We are not sure it will heal properly but fortunately I am not in pain. Then Larry drove us around the city and showed us where they go to church, where the kids went to school, where the two of them work and pointed out some of the old colonial buildings. Afterwards they took us for lunch to a lovely country club, surprisingly large and beautifully kept with a championship golf course. We ate local (Singapore) food, which was delicious and not too spicy. After lunch we took a drive to where they live, saw their nice condominium and the grounds with several swimming pools. We had such a delightful time, especially since we had not seen Larry in over 40 years and had never met Doreen at all.

What a charming lady Doreen is. She made us feel so welcome and we had a kindred spirit with her. It was a nice time for catching up with events in Larry's life. We learned where their two boys are going to university in the U. S. and hopefully when they come to the U.S. to see their boys they will include us in their visit. On the way back to the ship we stopped in Chinatown, which seems strange for Singapore, says Larry, since the population is about 80 percent Chinese.

Well, what did we think of Singapore! It is a beautiful, clean city. Bushes and trees and flowers are everywhere and it is immaculate. Another Asian town with large skyscrapers and good roads. It's a heavily regulated place but it seems to work. Nothing looked to be in disrepair. There were electronic bulletins posted on many roads advising where parking was available, even down to the number of spaces. Larry said each parking space has a sensor that tells whether it is empty or occupied so the board changes instantly. Most (probably all) cars have transponders in them for collecting parking fees and road tolls. It seems like all the expressways are toll roads. We found out that before you can even buy a car you have to get a Certificate of Eligibility costing about 17,000 dollars and when you add the cost of a car it gets very expensive and the certificate is only good for ten years.

Our time was indeed too short and we were wishing we had more time with them. Thank you Doreen and Larry for showing us such a great day.

Today was Kuala Lampur in Malaysia. We picked up a taxi on the pier and drove into the city, which was about 40 miles away. Our driver took us there drove us around for a while and brought us back. The interesting thing about the taxi was it was powered by natural gas and we had to stop fill up on the way back to the ship. He had to go under the hood to hook up and you could hear the gas running through the lines to the tank in the back of the car.

The driver was a very interesting man and extremely well read and up on current affairs. He spoke about the bank failures in Britain and the U.S. and politics and sports. He loves English soccer and his favorite team is Liverpool. He knew all the standings and how teams were doing. He was just a very kind and unusual man. We liked Kuala Lampur. It is smaller than other cities we have been in but it looks like wealth is coming to this country because there were nice suburbs being built and there were several large shopping malls. Again, the people were very friendly and nice. We drove around the town and tried to get up the twin towers so we could walk the air bridge that connects the two of them. Admission was free but we could not get a ticket until 4:15 in the afternoon. Since our ship left at 4:30 we didn't think we ought to wait. We went around some of the sights and wound up in a market in China Town. We spent about an hour looking around there and saw the police come into the market in vans and on foot. It looked like there was going to be a raid. Folks in the market started taking down merchandise that was hanging for some reason or other, we didn't understand why and we saw the police haul off one cart filled with goods. This was about the time we were leaving so we didn't ever get an idea why. So we returned and now we are en route to Phuket, Thailand, our third stop in as many days. In five days we actually had four ports. It's hard work going ashore every day in a different place. We are looking forward to three days at sea in a row on our way to India. Trust you are all well. More after the next stop. Love and God Bless all. Mel and Morag

Bangkok and Koh Samui

Because we have not had a sea day in between you are going to have to suffer through two stops in one blog. Sunday, we docked at Laem Chabang, which is the big-ship port for Bangkok. We traveled two hours by bus through the countryside. It was extremely hot, over 100 degrees F with high humidity: in fact it was pretty exhausting doing sightseeing. We traveled through the old town and the new town of Bangkok and ended up at the royal palace. We weren't allowed inside but we could walk around the buildings and there was a large number of them to see with amazing architecture. There was tons of gold on the Buddhist shrines. Actually we walked by a gold building and Morag touched it and the surface was barely warm. On the other side the building it was cool to the touch. It amazed us that gold must not be a conductor of heat. After the palace they took us to an air-conditioned mall where we could have lunch and look around. Believe me the air conditioning felt good to us. We spent the next couple of hours inside the mall. We even ate lunch at MacDonalds or Macs Donald as our guide said it and it really tasted good. Speaking of businesses, 7-Eleven and KFC can be found all over Thailand. We didn't much like Bangkok. It was too hot, too busy, too humid, not too clean, and too many Buddhist shrines and temples. Having said that, all the people were kind and very polite to us. In fact, we have never encountered a rude person on the street or shop assistant in the places we have visited.

When we returned to the ship and went for dinner we had new table-mates. Since we have left Hong Kong we've only had one couple at the table with us. They are from New Jersey, near Philadelphia. Shall we say, to put it as nice as we can, we don't communicate on their level so it has been a little different. Last week we picked up a couple from England and he is one of the lecturers on the tour. He is extremely entertaining. In Bangkok we picked up a couple from New York who are business people so the conversation now at the table is very interesting and enthusiastic. In fact last night it was very noisy, with sometimes four conversations going on at once. So that was Bangkok.

Yesterday was spent at Koh Samui, one of the southern islands and a complete contrast from Bangkok. We loved it. It was a laid back, relaxing little island. We hired a car and driver for the day and he took us round the island. It really is a jungle island with nice beaches. Trees have had to be cleared to build the various towns around the shoreline. We saw spectacular coastlines, drove through some wee country towns (Morag's words). We saw some elephants and had an opportunity to ride one but chose not to. We saw water buffalo and some monkeys that were trained to climb palm trees and knock down the coconuts;. Our driver was named Joy and his name suited his personality. He took us entirely around the island and we ended up at Tesco, which we found extremely interesting. So we went into Tesco and bought some sodas and it was extremely nice.

On the way home Morag asked Joy how old he was. He replied, "26. How old are you?" To which Morag said, "71." And he said, "You are good to look." We took that as a compliment.

So, today is a rest day where we have to do some catching up and on to Singapore tomorrow. We will have another blog in a couple of days. So we sail on.

Shanghai

Here we sit in the harbor waiting clearance to leave Shanghai. We have been waiting since 7:00 last night, 22 hours ago. We're fogged in and the authorities say we can't leave. There is a big queue of ocean-going vessels waiting for permission to leave or enter the harbor. It is pouring rain outside so we can't sit on deck. It is not even a pretty harbor: it is a huge port with acres and acres of cars and more containers than you could imagine. Speaking of cars, we saw quite a few Buicks in Shanghai yesterday. There is an annual lottery for license plates in Shanghai and limited to 50,000 per year. (Morag heard 5,000, I heard 50,000.) They may go for as much as five thousand dollars (US) just for the plates. Shanghai residents have to have the plates before they can buy a car and the competition is fierce but they keep the plate the rest of their life. It can be put on any car.

Maybe by the time we finish this blog we will get permission to leave, but we are not counting on it. This will mean adjustment to ports of call but we haven't heard what yet. I think ports where passengers are scheduled to leave or come onto the ship are not negotiable so they will have to make ports like Bangkok and Singapore but intermediate ports can be skipped to keep the rest of the schedule.

Shanghai was the first port where we have had to show passports to enter and leave the ship and we were cautioned to be sure to have them with us at all times when ashore. There were Chinese immigration officials at the gangway when we left and returned to check passports. We had a long bus ride, about an hour, to downtown Shanghai and I don't know what we expected of it, probably a Soviet-style city with colorless, endless buildings; instead we found a modern, bustling, crowded but beautiful city with more skyscrapers of various shapes than we have seen in any other place including Manhattan. Another thing that surprised us was that the cars were mostly new, so unlike a Soviet place. Our guide told us that there was a sort of oneupmanship in designing skyscrapers to make them unusual and different. They certainly succeeded because there were lots of different shapes, sizes and colors. The Sheraton Hotel, for instance, had three skyscraper towers with no telling how many floors.

Our first stop was to go up what was once the tallest building in Shanghai and the ride up to the 88th floor observation deck took 45 seconds. The only way we could tell we were moving was that our ears popped. We were actually in the lower edge of a cloud so visibility was poor. Still it seemed strange to look down on tall buildings. Had we been able to see we would have seen where they are building what will be the new tallest building in Shanghai and second tallest manmade structure in the world but we could not see it for the mist. We had about 30 minutes to spend looking around before we went back down to our bus and then were taken to lunch in a very classy hotel. Our dining room was on the 14th floor and there was about 60 in our group and we were not the only ones dining in this place. There was another tour group also in the hotel and their dinner was served in the 12th floor dining room. That should give you an idea of how large this hotel was.

After lunch we went to some gardens in the old city. They were quite extensive and included unique trees, fishponds, fountains, sculptures and unusual rock formations. The place was absolutely packed and we had a difficult time keeping our tour guide in sight and keeping up. After going through the gardens we were taken to the Silk Museum and were allowed time to wander around and purchase silk items if we so intended. There were lots of dresses, scarves, blouses and bedding items. They were very beautiful and not very expensive. I think several from our group spent quite a bit of money there.

After the museum we went to a downtown shopping district where we were turned loose for a couple of hours. We actually only stayed for a few minutes and boarded the shuttle back to the ship because it was cold and windy and we didn't want to buy anything. We had an interesting day and were impressed by the cleanliness of the city and the way it was landscaped. There is an intricate network of elevated roadways and underneath they were well landscaped with greenery and gardens. Some of the elevated roadways had flower baskets hanging over the sides stretching for miles. For a city of over 25 million it was amazingly clean and the people seem very friendly to foreigners. We really enjoyed our day here. Morag was particularly impressed by the roadworks. The greenery consisted of neatly clipped hedges and it would be lovely in the spring when flowers were blooming. This was a worthwhile stop.

So we sat and waited for about 36 hours before we were finally allowed to sail. We pulled in the gangway just after 8:00 p.m. on Saturday evening and slipped our moorings at about 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Next stop is supposed to be Halong Bay, the stop for Hanoi but there will have to be some adjustment. So, until then.

Hong Kong

Greetings from the East China Sea. "Who would'a thunk we'd 'ave ever been here. Today is overcast, dull, with a temperature in the low 60s. We see a lot of ship traffic passing us because we are on the main route between Singapore and Korea. Judging from the port in Hong Kong, there are many ships to come. We heard three stories about Hong Kong shipping: it is the biggest, the second biggest, and the third biggest port in the world but whatever it is, it was the biggest container port we have ever seen. We were in terminal four of at least six terminals and there were hundreds of cranes and containers as far as one could see. The port is in operation 24/7. The logistics of this port have to be mind boggling. There are streets upon streets of containers and the bus driver taking us into town got confused as to how to get out of the port. He had to turn around several times before we made it.

So, Hong Kong: We found it to be a fascinating city in a beautiful location with many islands and hills and great vegetation. We have never seen so many skyscrapers and thin, too. It's a wonder how they stand up. May Hong Kong never have an earthquake. They have done a wonderful job with the traffic, it is very heavy but moves well. Public transport is excellent with buses, trams, subways and ferries. There are lots of pedestrian walkways to take you over the streets so the traffic can flow more easily without pedestrian interference. To our amazement, such a large city was spotlessly clean. When the buses come into their terminal at the end of their run someone cleans them out with a broom. The subway aisle was as clean as a hospital corridor. You could not mistakenly wander onto the subway tracks because there was a glass barrier up to prevent any misadventures. When the train pulled into the station the doors of the glass barrier opened for passenger entry and exit. The first day, after having obtained some money at the bank and also after walking around in circles we finally got our bearings. We went up to the Peak, but couldn't see too well. There is a great view from the top but the day was too hazy for a good look. We were finally glad to find a Burger King so we could use their toilet and we had lunch there. We're sure that was not the smartest thing to do with all the nice restaurants around but we felt that was the right thing to do since we had used their facilities. We took a tour of the harbor on the Star Ferry and actually stayed in town long enough to see the lights of Hong Kong at night. We came home exhausted after walking for hours.

The next day we got up and got on the shuttle bus early because we were determined to go to Stanley Market. Stanley Market was an hours drive by bus from Central Hong Kong but located in a lovely bay. It was interesting for us to go around but we were hard pushed to spend the rest of our money because we didn't see anything that really struck our fancy. It was a nice lovely sunny day so the drive back on the bus was very pleasant. We retraced our steps and headed back to the ship because we had to leave at 3:00. Now we are at sea on a rest day and it's wonderful. We are getting caught up with things like Morag doing some ironing, going to the hairdresser, etcetera. We have been invited to the Chief Medical Officer's table for dinner tonight. That's about all the news. More from our next stop, Shanghai, tomorrow.

Kota Kinabalu

B\It was hot and muggy Sunday when we stepped off the gangway onto the shore of Malaysia at Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Saba State. The temperature was in the 90s and with high humidity, even worse that August in Maryland. Kota Kinabalu is on the island of Borneo and Malaysia is one of the three countries on Borneo, the third largest island in the world. The southern part of the Island is part of Indonesia and the Sultanate of Brunei is the third country. We had decided to go into the town on our own in the morning and take a tour in the afternoon. The ship's shuttle bus dropped us off in the center of town near to what is known as the Philippines Market or the Handicraft Market. We took a walk through the market just browsing. While it was called the handicraft market, there was mostly food for sale. We didn't stay long because the place smelled bad. We had been told there was a place called the Sunday Market and we actually set out there. We had heard that one could buy anything there and that turned out to be true. Sunday market was a street market and was probably about a quarter of a mile long. We found everything from puppies to electronic equipment as well as all kinds of foodstuffs.

We wondered around in the town for a couple of hours and then took the shuttle back to the ship for a quick bite of lunch before our scheduled tour. The bus was air conditioned which made our afternoon much more comfortable. We were taken out along the seashore to visit the sights. There is a building here that is circular in shape built around a central column with steel girders used to support the various floors. It is one of only a few such in the world. Then we drove to the local university, really quite impressive, and to various other sights. The road we were on was built on reclaimed land and we saw some remains of communities that actually consisted of houses built on stilts. We had heard of them but never seen them before. After which we drove to the local museum where we toured primitive huts. There was a man dressed as a warrior who demonstrated the use of a blow gun. As you probably know, the darts would have been tipped with poison and would have been fatal if someone were struck by one. The good thing about Borneo is that they actually gave up head-hunting in 1942, so our pretty little heads were safe. Head hunters had to be licensed by the government and one potential hunter went to apply for a license and was told that it was now illegal to do that so he said, "Okay, and went away never to hunt heads again.

This is no nanny state. Health and Human Services are non existent here. Pavements were uneven, the curbs were very high and they had open ditches for rain runoff right next to the sidewalk so there is no way an infirmed person could get about. Electrical chords were strung all over the market place. It was a disaster waiting to happen. However the new part of the town was pretty nice, already landscaped, and they have started putting up big hotels and beautifying the area so in a few years this will be a nice vacation spot. The only houses on stilts that are still occupied are in a slum area and there are plans to remove them and relocate the people.

Today was laundry day. It's always packed. Usually the people are griping but today was rather pleasant. People from the U.K. would be more interested in this story than others but we will include it. There was an Australian lady doing laundry alongside Morag. She said, "Where are you from?" Morag replied, "Originally from Scotland but I live in the United States."//"What part of Scotland?"//"Edinburgh."//"Oh, we used to live in Edinburgh. We lived there for three years."//"Why were you in Edinburgh?"//"My husband was studying orthopedic surgery."//"Very nice, and did you happen to go to any church while you were in Edinburgh?"//"Yes, we went to Charlotte Chapel."//"Oh, I went there. Who was the pastor."//Alan Redpath, and the Church Secretary was Mr. Urquhart." So, the long and the short of it is they were friendly with Fergus Brown and knew Nan Purvis and Ian Balfour really well. Isn't it a small world! Their names are Philip and Grace Lind. Maybe some of you know them. Now that was a pleasant exchange in the laundry room. We had to keep this short and sweet. It was a much longer con version that that. They also are on board to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

We are on our way to Hong Kong and the seas are rough, gale-force winds and 4-6 meter swells. Tomorrow in Hong Kong is supposed to be cool and windy. We are here for 1 1/2 days. Will write more later.

Exmouth

Greetings to all our friends in the Northern Hemisphere who are going through the winter from the sunny 110 degree heat of Western Australia. We have just set sail from Exmouth on a four-day trip to Borneo. We went ashore this morning on a tender because the ship couldn't get through the coral reef. We went into the town and the ships visitors doubled the population of Exmouth. The commercial part of the town consisted of a little square with a dozen shops, a couple of cafes and a grocery store (IGA). We did enjoy a good cup of coffee at one of the cafes because we don't get a good cup on the ship. The principle industry is fishing and the people on the ship from Perth rave about the good fish from here. There was nothing much that we could see or that caught our interest but we did spot some emus walking along the streets. It does appear they are planning growth in this town because they have planted trees and done some landscaping, we guess to make it more hospitable for tourists who seem to come here in the winter months because the climate is good. We think that if we came back in five years we probably would not recognize this place. We find Australia expensive; for example two cups of cappuccino cost us eleven dollars. There were tours in glass-bottomed boats to the coral reef to see the tropical fish but we didn't go because we had this in Israel in the gulf of Aqaba. There were also tours to the outback but it didn't appeal to us to go off trekking in a 4-wheel drive vehicle in 110 degree heat so we stayed local. We came back to the ship for a late lunch, getting back about one o'clock.

At lunchtime there was a French lady at the table who didn't speak much English. We found out she could speak German so we managed to converse with her using bits of three languages. We were trying to discuss the weather in the U.S. and the floods in France. Not sure that we fully understood each other but we got by. Then this afternoon we were playing table tennis bearing in mind we have not done that in 40 years, which means we spend most of our time picking up the ball off the floor than actually hitting it back and forth. A young Chinese boy with Downes Syndrome came along and was watching us so Morag asked if he would like to play. Mel willingly gave up his bat so the boy got to play with Morag. He was unrelenting and they played for about an hour and about halfway through he said to Morag very loudly, "I think you are far too old to be playing this game." The barmaid nearly dropped her tray laughing and other people sitting around were laughing out loud at what he said.

So that was our day today. We are on our way, next stop Kota Kinabalu in Borneo and an adventure with headhunters. So if you don't hear from us for a while you will know that the headhunters found us. Until then.

Fremantle and Perth

Of all the places we have seen in Australia so far, Perth might take the prize. We docked at Fremantle, which is about 12 miles from Perth and got on a tour bus that was to take us to Perth so we could see the most interesting places. On the way we drove through suburbs with the Swan River to the right and the Indian Ocean to our left. Perth is a beautiful city, more laid back than Sydney, with many parks, wide streets and friendly people. There were a lot of skyscrapers and grand hotels,l It seems to be a wealthy city because of nearby mining for gold, copper, coal and iron ore. Since it was a Sunday the traffic was lighter and we moved quickly through the city. The city has a population of 1.2 million, very cosmopolitan with every nationality under the sun. When you consider the whole country has a population of about 24 million that's a lot of people in one place. It is said that the unemployment is very low in Perth. It was a very hot day, around 100 degrees but low humidity and there was a sea breeze so it was not unbearable. Basically we were driven around the sites and taken to parks where there were beautiful trees and good views of both the city and the river. Fremantle itself is a sort of country town but very nice, with lots of coffee bars. We think they must be into drinking coffee here because there were cafes everywhere and they were very crowded. There were many people on the streets and we thought this was unusual for a Sunday. They seemed to spend lots of time outdoors but this is understandable because the place is surrounded by beautiful, white beaches and turquoise water of the Indian Ocean, which we are seeing for the first time.

Instead of getting off in Fremantle to look around Morag decided she was too tired even to shop. She said she needs a buddy (read Carol) to go shopping with. Mel is not a bundle of laughs in the shopping arena.

So we were back in time to eat a late lunch on the ship. Again, as we pulled out of the harbor that evening people were lined up along the wharf, the dock and the breakwater to wave us off. There were a load of boats in the harbor also there to say goodbye and they exchanged whistle blows with the ship as we sailed out on our way to Exmouth. We saw the pilot boat come alongside the ship to take the pilot off. We don't stop. The boat matches speed with the ship and comes very close so the pilot can jump off the ship and onto the deck of the boat. Too scary for us but he made it. That's it for now as we sail towards Exmouth, our last stop in Australia.

We did get two new couples at our table last night, both from Australia and appear to be very nice. The two women were not born in Australia: one was born in Macedonia (Greece) and the other in Denmark. Until after Exmouth….