Sunday, March 3, 2013

Our 115 day World Cruise,day 57, Pasar Malam Indonesia

Coffee was most interesting...Sandi, the other one...was feeling her oats.she actually was on a terror!

It is either my way or the highway! says Sandi.  I don't know about you but I am shaking in my boots!  lol!   Actually she is just posing for this picture....seems like I heard her say something about them repairing the highway.  lol!                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                           
    Dinner at Applebee's with Josh and Mark.  We all ate diet and had no dessert...boo hiss!  Tami will be home this month.  We all have missed her!  She is coming home just in time to get in the pool!                                                                            
                       

     Here we are in Chile, April 2010.  That is about all I know....can't remember what little village!                                                                                        

                       I always like pictures like this....gives a feel for the place...to bad I don't know the name ....starts with an A, I think!                                                                                                                                      



Where we did not go today....but the Amsterdam did!

 Pasar Malam Indonesia




































As part of each World Voyage we have a big party somewhere in the world….  Last night it was while we were in Bali and the theme was Pasar Malam Indonesia or Night Market.  The amount of work that went into transforming the Lido deck into a bit of Indonesia was very impressive.  A great time was had by all… great food, drink, entertainment and  unbelievable  surroundings….  What a night!

 Posted by at 
Postcards from Paradise!
Today marks the 57th day, and it happens to be the halfway mark of this world cruise. As the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun. We are quite certain that the crew havesweet but sad feelings about leaving the port of Bali yesterday, home for many of the ship's crewmembers. It took the better part of the day for the fellows to tear down the elaborate decorations from yesterday's affair. What remained were the numerous pots of tall rice plants, and the huge potted palm trees. We learned from florist Eddie, that the rice will be taken off tomorrow, but the potted palms will stay indefinitely. One hundred and forty seven of these palms are lining the window areas of the Lido pool under the dome. Another dozen of them are now surrounding the back side of the spas. They really look nice, and they should since it cost HAL almost $15,000. to supply them for the Indonesian party. It should be interesting to see how well they do when the ship does the Alaskan cruises this coming summer. Anyway, we really like the tropical look they give the Lido pool area.

We ran into our host Tom M. while walking the promenade deck this morning. He often comes around 10am to relax on the teak lounges for a while before going to Chat Time on deck five. Because he is so friendly, he is seldom left alone to enjoy his coffee. It was our turn today to ask how he liked the party. He told us that he spent the whole day with a suddenly ill passenger, who happens to be onboard with his wife of four months for his honeymoon. Anyway, this fellow had to be admitted to the local hospital in Bali because he was having heart attack symtoms. Seems like all of the ship doctors take the highest precautions by putting people off in the next port. Sometimes it saves their lives. This was Tom's 9th medical disembark so far for this trip. He is most helpful, because he helps pack the guests luggage, then accompanies them to the hospitals. He stays until he knows they are settled. Not many other hosts would be that good with the folks, who seldom expect these things to happen.

Shortly after resuming our walk, we looked overboard and saw rafts of garbage flowing by the ship. It lasted for mile after mile. Our guess is that it was carried down rivers from the islands, then out to sea. Plastic bags, diapers, paper wrappers, plastic containers, tea bag covers, foil containers....you name it, we saw it. Where are the "green police" when you need them? Now we understand why some islanders, such as in French Polynesia, often burn this type of debris to get rid of it. It cannot be thrown just anywhere, and not expect it to be taken away to sea in the runoff water from storms. Wonder where all this stuff ends up? Antarctica?

A new Exploration speaker, Dr. Adrian Cooper, has come onboard with knowledge on oceanography, island ecosystems, and tropical forests in Southeast Asia. Hmmmm, perhaps his lectures would be better suited onshore. Today his talk was about life on coral reefs.

Barbara H. talked about things to see and do in the Phillipines, which is coming up soon. One of the stops will be a new one for us, Puerto Princesa. Apparently, the tourist infrastructure is not the best yet, so how they will sell their three tours there, we don't know. There is a warning with each of the tours not to expect a lot. That speaks for itself, we think. We'll be on our own that day.

We had company for dinner tonight.......Aileen Bridgewater and her husband. Wish we would have payed more attention to her biography that was written in the daily newsletter last week, but that one got by us. They have lived in Hong Kong for the last 20 years, and her talk today was all about their close neighbors that are fish farm men, agricultural farmers, and handicraft workers. By her accent, we could tell they were British, and by luck, they sat next to Van, Martha, Barb, and Diane, who talked to them all evening. Martha, who had invited them, also chatted away the evening. But then, she always does. We can always depend on her to fill in the quiet spaces. In our humble opinion, sometimes it is not always comfortable having guests that we do not know. It can disrupt the chemistry of your table, and for that reason, one by one, our tablemates began to leave the dining room early. When our friend Barb jumped up and said she was leaving to brush her teeth, we knew that was the signal to leave too.

Will try to get to bed early for we have a tour tomorrow with our travel group. The port is Ujung Padang, Sulawesi, also a new one for most all of us.

Bill & Mary Ann


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)