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Published: March 6th 2010
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First, updates from the last blog to answer all of your questions … much like we just missed several cyclones in the South Pacific and flooding in North Australia, we now just missed landslides on Java and … an actual Komodo dragon attack on Komodo Island. A couple of days after we left, a dragon attacked one of the guards, grabbing him by the ankle. Fortunately, the other guards were able to drive the dragon away with their “forked sticks”, the guard was sent to a hospital in Bali and is recovering!
We saw no signs of the tsunami after the earthquake in Chile earthquake, and thankfully our sister ship (the Mariner) had left Chile and was on the east coast of South America. We were off the west coast of Taiwan as they were struck by yet another quake and past Sumatra when they had theirs, but no tsunami there either! Whew!
Finally, one of you also asked how the “doo doo” coffee actually tasted … the answer is … not bad! They put the grounds in a little cup like a tea strainer and poured the water over it, which I thought made it a little grainy.
I’d like to try it in our coffee maker at home before I give a final judgment on flavor!
So we arrived on Singapore on Thursday, February 25th scheduled to spend the night and depart the following afternoon. Singapore is a city, island and country all in one, and I think my favorite of all Asian cities I’ve visited so far. It was for many years a British Crown Colony, then joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, then finally gained sovereignty and elected its own President in 1965. The city is beautiful and clean and consists of a variety of religions and cultures all that get along beautifully. It is a very safe city largely due to the harsh punishments inflicted upon law breakers. You aren’t allowed to spit on the sidewalk, throw gum, litter and selling drugs is punishable by death! The fact that the people actually follow the laws is what makes the city so nice to visit! We went with a friend again who had hired a car and stopped at Chinatown (the cleanest Chinatown I’ve ever seen), the Arab and Indian area, and took a panoramic drive of some of the sights before retiring
Chinese New Year
Singapore Decorations for the night, and then sailing off the next day.
After a day at sea to catch up, we arrived in Maura, Brunei on Sunday, February 28th. Brunei is a tiny sultanate tucked away on the northern side of the island of Borneo and is unique in that it has been ruled by the same family since the 14th century. This was an interesting place and some of us got very excited for a few minutes … no income tax … 0%. They pay $1 for a consultation and tests with a doctor, and then all medical treatment is free after that. They pay about 50 cents per liter for Petrol, and $1 per liter for water, the government subsidizes housing, and all education is free. At first it seemed that a government funded largely by their country’s natural resources (i.e. oil) was perhaps reasonable, except for the enormous control they exert over the people. However, we then asked our guide what the average salaries looked like. Like the US has now become, the government employees make more than the private sector (even though they don’t really do anything productive). However, all salaries are sooooo much lower than ours
and they really don’t seem to have a middle class or anywhere near our standard of living! The more we see, the more we appreciate what we have at home, or at least what we used to have and hopefully will again if we can elect some really smart business people into office! At any rate, we had a nice panoramic tour of the area and then headed off to Manila.
We arrive a bit late in Manila on March 2nd due to some more minor engine problems but still had a long enough day for many of our Philippine crew members to visit their families. This is also a day where we typically lose many crew members and pick up new ones, so it tends to be quite an emotional day for many! We had at least a couple hundred family members on board touring the ship, and there was also a function at the famous old Manila Hotel for crew and family members to gather in one of their ballrooms. This function was hosted by two of our fellow world cruisers, Hilda and Yarmo from Canada. It was an incredibly generous gesture and appreciated by many! Last
year Bruce and I did a tour of the city on the way out to a great canoe adventure, so this year just walked around the area where the ship was docked and made a visit to the Manila Hotel. We’d been pretty busy so it was nice to have a more relaxing day for a change.
One of our celebrity lecturers this segment was Cathy Rigby (of Olympics gymnastics fame) who was on board with her husband, two really interesting and very nice people who were a pleasure to get to know. Cathy beat up on Bruce pretty badly in ping pong, but he didn’t seem to mind, at least at that time. We’re all a little bit concerned though about his recent behavior. We aren’t sure if it was getting beat by a woman, all the near catastrophe misses, all the jewelry shopping, or maybe his exposure to our shipmates the “Kings of Bling” or his desire to visit the Sultan of Brunei, but as you can see from the photo, Pooty has gotten a little extreme in his evening attire! He’s now taken to wearing my jewelry and I think I’m going to have to wrestle
Mosque
Brunei him to get it back! So we cruise off towards China as he dresses in Chinese attire and gold jewelry and we wonder … what will Pooty do next?
We’ll be off the ship after Shanghai to visit some interesting interior places in China before re-boarding in Hong Kong … to be continued sometime after that!
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Barbara
non-member comment
So loving participating in your journey!
Hi, Kathryn, Such a wonderful trip you're having! Thanks so much for sharing. I've been thinking of you. Looks like so much fun. Can't wait to hear about your experiences in China. Warmly, Barbara