Category: Uncategorized

Well, that was a record setting day yesterday! We needed to be in the Princess Theatre at 7:15 am in order to meet our Tour Group for the day, the illustrious (or notorious!) Purple 3 Gang. Thankfully, Purple 3 was devoid of any mobility-challenged passengers which made this tour move along at the speed that only an age-challenged group could muster! When that Tour was complete, around 2:15 pm, we went back on board for a grand total of 45 minutes until we met Shah, our Tours-by-Locals guide at 3:00 pm. Back out we went, and we didn’t get back aboard for the night until after 9:00 pm. But what an adventure!

                   I will warn you in advance that this is going to be an extended post, and the rights to turn it into a mini-series are being negotiated as I write this.

Forewarned is forearmed!  😊

Ok, so it’s Geo-Political Class today!

                   What in the name of all that’s oily and sandy is an ‘emirate’?

                   Why would it be united and why would the Arab aspect of it be of any significance?

                   These and many more questions that you never needed to know the answers to, or even cared that you did, or didn’t know, will be revealed in short order.

                   First, a word from our sponsor, we’ll be right back after this:

                   “Folks, do you suffer from a lack of excitement in your life?”

                   “Do you long for the days of yore when daredevil acts of stupidity made your life worth living?”

                   “Well, fret no more! We here at P&D Travel Experiences have the abilities to transform your life into that wished for sensation that will turn your life upside down….. Literally!”

                   “Here on the windswept shores of the Persian Gulf, we can arrange for you to have the ‘Bungee Jump of a Lifetime’! Hurled off of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, you will plummet more than two thousand vertical feet before our patented (but untested} “Life-Altering Umbilical Ripcord” hopefully brings you to a grinding halt just inches above the newly paved streets of the most modern and ostentatious city in the Middle East and maybe the entire world…..  Dubai!”

                   Run, don’t walk to your nearest phone, and call this number:

                             1-800-What-the-…….

Operators will be standing by as soon as they stop laughing at you!

                   Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

(Hey! Someone’s got to pay for this trip!)

Let’s talk about those emirates.

What are they and why do they exist?

Emirates are geopolitical regions ruled over by an emir, a title of importance in the Muslim world. There aren’t many of these types of entities left in the world anymore. Most have been absorbed by larger countries and have gone the way of the camel caravan. But there are just a few left, both Kuwait and Qatar are emirates, and there is a tiny spot at the bottom of Afghanistan that is claiming this title but is unrecognized. Our biggie for today is the U.A.E. or the United Arab Emirates. This collection of individual emirates (states) has been somewhat united since 1971. I say somewhat because they all still can’t get along all the time! This would be akin to Illinois fighting with Ohio and Indiana not having the power (or interest) to intervene. Such is the way when the rulers of these emirates are the heads of the families that have been in power for centuries!

There are seven different emirates, and I could list them all, but you really don’t care and would never remember all their names anyway, so let’s just concentrate on the most famous one, that of Dubai.

Dubai is both the name of the Emirate and name of the capital city. It is the most populous city and state of the U.A.E. but not the largest. That honor belongs to the one other emirate that you may recognize, Abu Dhabi, whose capital is also named Abu Dhabi. I guess they like to keep things simple over there!

Dubai has been around for a long time, like centuries, but the modern day descendent had its start as a lowly fishing village back in the 18^th century. (1700’s) If you harken back to your Bible History lessons and World History classes, you will remember that human occupation of this area of the world has been well documented for millennia. Trading links between Mesopotamia (remember that one?) and the Indus Valley ran through this area. Even the pearl merchants of Venice knew about Dubai in the 1700’s because of its renowned pearling industry. Apparently, this region of the Persian Gulf was once a good nursery for oysters. Even the good ol’ Sumerians liked it here because of the metals that could be found and worked, namely copper and bronze. Remember, the size of the Middle East is relatively small. The distance between Jerusalem and Dubai is similar to a drive from NYC to Miami, so these old wanderers and civilizations intertwined with frightening regularity.

In the early 1800’s, Dubai was still that little fishing port with only about a thousand inhabitants. It was off the main drag, with only two paths leading out of town. One went down to the creek and the other one went the other way and eventually hooked up with a few caravan routes. The families of the influential folks were fighting from time to time (as was their custom) when the big guy of the day, Mr. Maktoum, beat up his neighbors and became the ruler of the area. The Maktoum Dynasty is still the Ruling Family of Dubai, so I guess this guy had, and has, some power!

          Enter the Brits (It’s always the Brits!) in the mid 1800’s who were trying to secure trade routes and the only way to do this was to try and get all these warring families to settle down and cooperate. With the help of the British, the united (not United) families were able to defeat a rival family (that eventually became part of the whole) and Britain then agreed to help with the defense of Dubai and its buddies in return for the usual trade concessions and exclusivities.

          Ok, now we’re gaining some momentum! In 1901, Maktoum al Basher Maktoum (that’s Sheik Maktoum to you!) a descendent of our original Mr. Maktoum, decided to make Dubai a free port! You all remember from the Singapore post what happens when a port gets an identity as free?

 Yahoo! Free Trade! Lets’ all go to Dubai!

Evidence of the success of this policy can be found in the travels of just one example of the many ships that plied these seas. A steamer from the Bombay and Persia Steamship Company used to make only five visits per year in 1901. This escalated to twenty-five visits a year by 1906 and made Dubai the port of choice amongst the emirates. But all was not great forever in Dubby-Land. A storm crippled their pearl fleet and the Great Depression, along with the emergence of cultured pearls further hindered that industry.

“So Don, when do we get to all the oil and that kind of stuff?”

Funny you should ask that. Dubai never had a lot of oil. It was extremely jealous of its unfriendly (and relative on Mom’s side) neighbor, Abu Dhabi, who had gazillions of barrels within its borders. Dubai searched in vain for years, finally coming up with relatively small deposit of crude just offshore. That did not happen until 1966!

Up until then, the forethinking Sheik Rashid Maktoum (same family!) tried his best to modernize and keep Dubai in the forefront of the region’s, if not the world’s commerce. After the pearls went south, he used his influence to secure some loans for the building of modern utilities, phones, water, and electricity all came to Dubai. With these in place, buildings followed, foreign interests became “interested”, a modern airport was constructed and slowly but surely, the world came to Dubai.

Let’s fast-forward a few years and jump to ‘present’ day or so. Things really started jumping in the 90’s and 2000’s. Business was good, lots of international monies flowed in and out of Dubai and many top corporations made their “vacation” homes here. As I said, business was good. The Sheik redoubled his efforts to make Dubai the envy of the region and a go-to modern city both for business and pleasure. They restructured their coastline, making artificial islands in the shapes of palm trees and a map of the world made up of many, islands. It is quite the sight as you will see!

          However, this expansion did not come without some negative press. It seems that several of the companies that were contracted to build everything confiscated the passports of their imported (Indonesian) workers so that they could not leave the country, even if they did not like the working conditions.

          Think indentured servitude.

          Oh, and the Sheik owns 97% of the interests in the buildings and companies. Speaking of owning property here, you must be a Dubai national in order to own property anywhere, but there are a few caveats in favor of expatriates. Dubai has set aside some areas called freehold sections that foreigners are allowed to buy into with leases up to 99 years, so I guess you sort of own property but not forever? Everyone else must rent their places. But, if you are from Dubai and you get married, the Sheik will give you enough money to buy your first house. But only to the guy.

          Women’s rights have come a long way here, but still have a long way to go. Just a small example of this is in their transit system. Back in the day it was difficult for a lady to travel unaccompanied, that is, without her husband or escort. Today there are “women only” cars on the trams and there is a fleet of pink taxis that are reserved for women traveling alone….. and they are driven by women!  Step by step…..

          This is what comes of a culture deeply seated in Islamic traditions, and Dubai is not as strict as some of the other countries in this region. We will be visiting Muscat in Oman in a few days so we will be able to gauge the difference between a more liberal leaning country and a stricter one. Report to follow!

          Let’s move on to one of the primary reasons that people flock to this city.

          The architecture! (as modern as that may be!)

One of the first buildings to capture the eye of the world is that of the Burj Al Arab Hotel. This is the one that looks like a sail from a sailboat. But not just any sailboat, they wanted to use the sail of the most majestic and iconic sailboats ever to ply the waters of the world. Those are the J-Class boats used in the America’s Cup races during the 1920’s and 1930’s. The design emulates the spinnakers, the sail that billows out in front of the boat on a downwind leg. I can’t help it; I’m going to show you one here as these boats are my absolute favorites of all time!

Just so you can see the resemblance!  😊

This hotel is an engineering marvel, not only for its design, but also for its construction. Back in the hey-day of Middle East oil and new-found global wealth someone decided that they wanted to build a 1000-foot-high hotel on the shores of a windy sea. But that’s not hard enough! Let’s pour some sand in the water and make an artificial island! You know, like down the shore at the beach where everything is about as unstable as it gets! The result is a building put together by an international collaboration of the best architects, engineers, and building designers ever assembled.

Before we get to the next one, guess what the word burj means? Give up?

          Tower!

Burj sounds so much more, I don’t know….. something!

Having the coolest hotel design in the world was not enough for our Sheik guy. Nope, let’s build the tallest building in the world! Nope, still not good enough. Let’s blow away all the rest of the other “loser” towers and really make it something that will last as the tallest for a really long time!

So, we’re gonna make it 2717’ high!

 Almost 700’ higher than the next tallest (at the time), the Shanghai Tower in China.

Hah! We’ll show ‘em!

Hence, the Burj Khalifa. The very same building that was highlighted by our sponsors in the beginning of this post!

          Just as a frame of reference for us East Coasters, the Empire State Building stands at 1200’ tall. So that makes the Burj Khalifa more than twice as high! But not as famous! Until someone remakes “An Affair to Remember” (Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr) or “Sleepless in Seattle” ( Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks) with the Burj Khalifa as the meeting point it doesn’t stand a chance! And with the way “Public Displays of Affection” and romance are frowned upon over here it’s not gonna happen!

           Harold and Sherry, (Sherry was here back in 2006) were our travel companions all day, including Purple 3. They were also with us with Shah. As I said, it was a long day but what the heck! We had the entire next day to recover! Having a local guide in this part of the world was probably the best thing that we could have done. With customs and traditions so foreign to us Westerners, Shah was able to bridge any differences, give us insights, and ensure that our visit here was as memorable as it could be!

                             We gleaned many a tasty tid-bit of information from both our morning guide and Shah. One theme that came bursting through was that both of these guys, one from Jordan, the other from India, could not have been prouder or more supportive of a country that has yet to “adopt” them, even though they have both been here for an average of about ten years. The locals, or Emiratis, as they are called, only make up about 25% of the population, leaving the rest to everyone else. But in speaking about their home-away-from-home, they were quick to extol its virtues and praise the ruler, the Emir, the Sheik, the current Mr. Maktoum, Rashid.

                             And we could see why.

                             Without going into a dissertation on the benefits of, or negatives to, the differences between a democracy and dictatorship, we will just highlight some of the facts about living here.

                             Zero percent unemployment. If you don’t have a job, thank you, go home!

                             Zero percent violent crime. If you’re bad, you go before the Shia Court, and if you are not an Emeriti, thank you, go home. If you are an Emeriti, you may just disappear. The result is the same, no murders, no rape, no muggings, no break-ins, no nothing.

                             Zero percent (almost!) traffic issues. Not that there isn’t traffic, its just that they don’t tolerate “Road Rage”, running traffic lights, blocking intersections, speeding, or anything! Hence everyone is “courteous” whether they are that by nature or not.

                             There are many other examples of social programs and educational programs that they both recited. A lot of these plans were once only available to the Locals, but little by little, things are changing for the rest of the people who live here and most of them are not citizens! Visas are the norm, but these “visitors” love being here! I guess that when it’s all said and done, we may have the perfect example of Benevolent Dictator that I’ve ever seen, with the most positive attributes of both of those terms being applied to the Emir.

                             But we’re here for only a day and a half, so our ability to garner all the facts is limited. I will state that the place is cleaner than Singapore which is saying something! The urban planning is mind-boggling, and the architecture reminds me of the first time that Dorothy and her companions come out of the Woods and gaze across the fields of poppies at Oz. That is not an exaggeration! There is a haze over, and about the city stirred up by the winds of the area lifting teeny-tiny, microscopic bits of sand that give the whole city a surreal look. It definitely looks Middle East and if you’ve ever seen any of David Roberts engravings and illustration’s from the 1850’s you will know what I mean. Hopefully some of the photos will demonstrate this.

                   Our primary destination in the morning was the Burj Khalifa, that crazy tall building. We went to the 124^th level which is way up there! We were lucky that on this particular day, those pesky particulates that I referred to were at a minimum, so it gave us a relatively rare opportunity to have a really good viewing experience from our vantage point. Our guide told us that these days are few and far between, like maybe a handful a year. We’ll take it!

                   Our other stops in the morning included some “Drive-By’s” of mosques and impressive buildings for photo ops.

We also visited two incredible malls. The Mall of the Emirates and the Mall of Dubai are something that need to be experienced. Even if you are not into malls and shopping, these monolithic examples of retail houses of worship were something to behold.

                   And they were crowded.

                   And it was the morning of weekday.

                   We came to realize that with the sweltering weather here, any type of outdoor leisure activity is not going to happen. So, indoor, air-conditioned, trips to these multi-multi-leveled sprawling destinations is a nice respite from what ails you.

                   Some frames of reference for you:

                   Dubai Mall was once the largest in the world. It has since been surpassed by many malls, primarily in China and Southeast Asia. The huge Mall of America in Minnesota is about 75% of the size of it and for local contrast, Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, which was once one of the largest in the world when it was constructed back in ’69, is seven times smaller! We won’t even try to slide Rockaway Mall into the equation.  But size isn’t everything it’s the total mount and quality of the chocolate shops that are tenants that make the difference! In the Dubai Mall, right smack dab in the center atrium where two of the best chocolatiers around! See’s Candies (1921) out of California (my domestic favorite) and Neuhaus (1857) out of Belgium (the finest in the world according to me) were directly across from each other! Nirvana!

                   Our tour with Shah was nothing short of incredible. He brought us to little spots that were hidden but gave us the best views of some of the local sights and sites.

He was a veritable fountain of information as he drove us around. The day was still on the magnificent side, but the cool of the evening could not come soon enough. It arrived at the perfect time when we travelled to Old Dubai, several miles outside the metropolistic (Little Miss Spell-Check is having a baby ‘cuz I made that word up!) part of town. Here is where all the worker-bees live and congregate.

Read, “real people.”

Our destinations were someplace to eat and some local souks, or markets. You haven’t experienced shopping until you’ve visited a third world type market. It is a sensory overload experience! And if you’re not a bargainer, don’t even try to purchase anything!

We first had dinner at an outdoor place which was on the side of that old creek that I mentioned back in the beginning. But the old, small creek has been “enhanced” over the centuries and is now part of a very navigable arm of the Persian Gulf. Dinner was interesting, lots of pointing to pictures in the menu, and getting explanations of everything from Shah, who remained with us at dinner as our guest. Wraps were the order of the day and one must be careful when visiting these parts of the world because things are not always what they seem, or look like. Ask Paula about the “pickle” that she popped into her mouth only to find out that it was “pepper” way hotter than a jalapeno, and she bit into, and chomped on it before she realized (too late! ) what it wasn’t! What it was, was a great source of entertainment for the rest of us!

          When that fiasco was over, we piled into one of the water taxis that constantly cross this creek. These are old wooden boats from the middle of the twentieth century, that still ferry folks back and forth. We were headed to the souks, one spices and textiles, the other gold. 

          This might have been the highlight of the day! Not that the rest of the day was disappointing, quite the contrary, but as I alluded to in the previous post about being a “tourist” or a traveler, this experience thrust us into the belly of the beast and emerge as Travelers! There is nothing that I can compare this to so a few photos will have to do, and I recommend that when and if you get to a country that has deep ethnic market traditions, that you embrace these experiences and just visit them, at least once!

Turning north after sailing around the bottom of India, we all knew what gauntlets lay ahead.

                                      The Arabian Sea.

The Gulf of Oman.

 The Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.

The Gulf of Aden.

And eventually we would enter the Red Sea, a thousand-mile-long body of treacherous waters that in order to enter, you must first sail through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow passageway with Yemen and Somalia on either side, that makes the Strait of Hormuz seem like a wide-open freeway….

                             Beginning in the mid 1600’s, generally considered to be the beginnings of the age of piracy, this area of the world has “shivered the timbers” of many a seafaring man.

                             Nothing has changed.

                             The first signs of our ship being prepared for this exciting time came the other day. While walking the Promenade Deck on Deck 7, we noticed some of our maintenance crew setting up some type of apparatus. We thought at first that they may be getting ready to wash the large “picture windows” that line the public areas of Deck 6 as there were hoses involved.

                             Upon further inspection, we realized that these were not the usual maintenance workers that can be seen daily on the Promenade Deck chipping paint and then repainting. These were our Security Team dressed in white coveralls for this job. Looking even closer it was determined that the hoses were of the “Firehose” kind, you know BIG. Now, we all knew that those windows on Deck 6 needed some pretty heavy cleaning and rinsing, but not that much!

                                      The word spread quickly among the passengers.

                                      Pirate Precautions!

                   This “scuttlebutt” was further verified when our daily newspaper, the Princess Patter, was published the next day with the usual daily log of fun activities listed. There it was, surreptitiously nestled between ‘Bingo’ and ‘Trivia Time’…….

                                      “Piracy Drill”!!!

                                      Unfortunately, it went on to explain that it was for the ‘crew only’ and that us passengers were not needed to be involved. There were visible signs of dejection written all over most of the male passengers faces. You could tell that some of the older fellows were just itching to be involved. You know, a bunch of overweight guys dreaming of their glory days when they (we) were practically invincible! Some of the former military retirees could be seen quietly planning a response strategy if needed.

                                      The actions necessary to repel pirates involves various tactics. The most effective are those already installed high-pressure fire hoses that can be laced with an eye-stinging soapy solution for further effect, and the use of sonic cannons, emitting screamingly loud and /or ultra-sonic sounds that incapacitate anyone that it is directed at.

                   Back to our dejectedness.

                   When the Hour of Anti-Piracy Practice commenced, the Captain got on the ship-wide public address system. It began with those usual tonal notes that are the prelude to an Important Announcement.

                             “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking,” (we already knew that but it’s good to hear it anyway) “As you all know, we are going to conduct our Anti-Piracy Drill. This is just a drill, but bearing in mind that we are now entering a relatively more dangerous zone of waters, it makes sense for us to be prepared. Ladies and gentlemen, the accounts of maritime piracy have fallen off in recent years, but these things can pop back up at any time, and there have been a few reports of coastal unrest in the past few months, hence our drill. This drill is for the Crew only, but…. If…. anyone else wants to participate you are welcome to.”

                   An obvious stir was detected among the passengers as the Captain’s words reached our ears.

 Yes!

We could be part of the action!

          “The best thing that you can do is vacate your outer staterooms, first locking your sliding door, and then secure yourselves in the hallway. If you are in one of our public areas, especially near the outside of the ship, please find your way to an interior room and stay with your fellow passengers.”

                             Another audible sigh of displeasure was heard, this is not what we were waiting for!

                             “Unless”…… the Captain continued….

                             “Unless you would like to be part of the Repelling Team. If this is so, please proceed to Deck 4 down by the Infirmary and report to the Master-at-Arms who will issue you the appropriate weapon according to your experience level. Your weapon rental and ammo will be charged to your onboard account. There is a limited amount of grenade launchers available on a first-come, first-served basis. You must report there now and register so that there is no delay when the time comes to act.”

                                      Now this is more like it! That audible buzz was now reaching levels that rivaled the nightly opening of the Dining Room!

                                      One guy in our cards-playing group couldn’t hold it in any longer, “This is awesome! We were on a cruise back in ’98, a whole flotilla of those Somali bastards, oops, sorry ladies! Well anyway, these guys, they came flyin’ across the water in those high-speed little boats, the Captain sounded the alarm, and those guys didn’t have a clue as to what they were in for! I had an RPG and had rented the optional scope with it and some extra ammo! The guy next to me had an AK-47 with tracer bullets in it! What a sight it was! All of us passengers we blew those pirates to pieces! Even my kid bagged two of them! This is gonna be great!”

                             Luckily, I was one of the first to arrive at the Master-at Arms, so I was able to procure a very nice Gulf War Era Grenade Launcher, and yes, I did get the optional scope.

 My eyes aren’t what they used to be, and I wouldn’t want to fire on Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, or Kiera Knightly by mistake!

          Normally I would start a post with a brief outline of “The Three W’s” of our current Port. You will have to wait a bit for that information because first I am going to apologize, explain, and give you all some traveling hints. I deliberately did not say “traveling advice” because advice can only come from someone who knows decidedly more about something and who has also considered your personal preferences on a subject, hence I will use “Hints”.

                   The backstory.

                   When we first enrolled ourselves in this World Cruise deal, we were really looking forward to seeing and experiencing each and every port to the best of our limited time ability. That feeling has not changed but the modus operandi of it has morphed considerably. If you go back to the beginning of the Posts and read about this subject you will see where I was singing the praises of using a Princess Tour for all the right reasons, one of which, the guarantee of getting us back to the ship before it sails, is a huge one.

                             It is a safe decision.

                             Albeit, it come with costs, and one of those is what happened to us yesterday.

                             Hence, my Explanation and subsequent Apology.

                             We had booked ourselves on the Highlights of Columbo, Columbo being the Capital and largest city in Sri Lanka. You may think that that decision would be a good one, and at times, it may be. What we have come to discover is that any “Highlights” or “Best of” tour is a veiled description for mediocrity. And, in our case on this particular voyage of four months, one should have figured out that the average age of our fellow voyagers would be considerably higher than what may be considered agile (because one needs to be retired or ‘old’ to take this much time off!). I will state that we’re no spring chickens, but we can move with the best of them and are capable of traveling at a good pace. By now you know where I’m going with this as I’ve commented on it before, mostly in jest.

But now It’s serious.

After this much time on board and with half of our ports already visited, I can speak with some authority on this subject. Consequently, yesterday we knew in advance what we were going to experience on this “Highlights” tour, and unfortunately, we were prematurely underwhelmed, and it cast a pall on the day. It is hard to start into something when you know that it will not in any way meet your new, higher expectations and desires.

Besides, it was a cloudy day, and the photo opportunities were notedly thin as we did not get anywhere interesting.

I’m afraid that all of this has tainted this post with its mediocrity.

Now that the apology and explanation are dispatched with, I will give you our “hints” and promising outlook for the future.

                   Just as with driving the Motorhome around the country, our best times have been off the beaten path. Get out of where everyone else is going, try a different route, away from the touring masses.

                   Now there’s something to consider…. Are we tourists, or travelers?

                   When we started out, we were definitely Official, Card Carrying, Camera around our neck, Tourons. We are desperately trying to move closer to a Traveler identity and it has come with the help of some of our new friends on board. We have met tons of Tourists, and just a few Travelers.

                   In order to enter the Traveler category one must be willing to press the boundaries of your comfort level. I am not good at this, and I know it! This is where some guidance from someone you trust comes in really handy!

                   Let’s take Harold and Sherry for example. I don’t know where they haven’t been. Sometimes it seems like everywhere!

          Do they take Princess Tours?

          Sure they do, but they try to find the ones that are not cattle-car  events. This comes with experience.

          Do they strike out on their own like, “We’re just gonna get a taxi and head into town.”

          Yup…. They do that a lot.

          Do they use another reputable tour company like Viator or Tours by Locals?

          Definitely!

          And this is what we’ve done for the vast majority of the remainder of our cruise. With their help and along with Sandra and Darla, we have scoured the rest of the ports using Tours by Locals to find interesting and immersive experiences to throw ourselves into.

          “But Don, what about the possibility of missing the ship?”

                             That does enter the equation but there are some safety nets built into these decisions like…. What are the chances that it will really happen?

                             Answer: Slim to none, but still….

                   What will they do about it?

                             Answer: They will put you up and get a flight for you to re-join the ship.

                             Hmmm….. not something that you would want to happen, but at least it’s something!

                             In today’s age of Internet Information and Ratings, it’s hard to fool everyone for an extended period of time. These guys have been in business for years and have garnered more Five-Star Ratings than the Chatterbox ever did!

                             So, it now comes down to a ‘comfort level’ that should only increase with experience. We are thankful for Harold and Sherry’s experience being passed along to us to ride on until we get our own, which I am sure will be by the end of this voyage.

                             Now that That is all out of the way, I can say with some conviction that the rest of the World Cruise will be something to experience. There are no more “Best of” tours booked (we are still on a few Princess tours, but they are specific in nature) and although these decisions to go “Private” comes with some added expense, it is not enough to break the financial bank, and has the distinct ability to add to the “Immersion and Satisfaction Bank”!

                   So let’s get on with it!

Sri Lanka or Ceylon?

                             I guess that it depends on when you were born and subsequently attended school.

          The first question would be, “Was Geography taught as a subject?”

                             The second question would be when?

                             Ceylon became Sri Lanka in 1978 and there was a whole lot going on for the last few hundred years for that name to change. Like any other country in this area of the world, its history is entwined with the three main seafaring countries of old Europe. The Dutch, Portuguese, and finally the British have held sway over this area, each leaving visible and social evidence of their one-time dominance.

                             I will say that Sri Lanka could be the friendliest place that we have visited. Granted we were in a fancy tour bus, which identified us as such, but I doubt if random construction workers in NYC would stop and wave at a tour bus there! We experienced this many, many times over the day! We only made a few stops on this half-day tour, the Museum, a Temple, a nice hotel where all the tours met for a light lunch, and a very nice State-Run Souvenir Shop, where we did drop some rupees!  (It was about 3000 rupees to $10.00 US.)

                             Speaking of rupees, Sri Lanka has the second highest per capita income in Southeast Asia, but it is not high compared to the rest of developed countries where it ranks 117^th, with a dollar index between $2500 and $5000. This was not readily obvious from our tour but remember we were in the largest city and the capital, to boot. And…. In the nicer part of town. After speaking with some of our friends who went to visit an elephant preserve about two hours away who were able to see firsthand the poverty level of the folks outside the city, we realized that what we had witnessed was not the norm for the country.

                                      Sri Lanka’s modern history dates back a few thousand years but there is evidence of human occupation that is around 125,000 years old. If you look at the top left of Sri Lanka, (especially from space) in the northwest corner of the country, you can see a long set of limestone shoals and islets that when the sea level was lower, provided a land-bridge over to mainland India. There are many speculations about this “bridge” and its influence on the pre-history of Sri Lanka as its names, Adam’s Bridge (as in Adam and Eve) or Rama’s Bridge. Rama is one of the major deities in Hinduism. In the Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being. So, it would seem that at least in the days of the past, this land-bridge theory had its supporters!

                                      We stopped at the Sri Lanka Museum which holds many of the countries past archeological finds. As in any civilization or country, keeping track and studying these relics of the past is an important part of their culture. The displays were in three languages, Sinhala, and Tamil which are the official languages, and the third is English which is a recognized language. The Sinhalese make up about 75% of Sri Lankas population and are primarily Buddhists, while the Tamils make up most of the remainder of the population and are primarily Hindus. Evidence of both cultures was widely on display in the Museum.

                                      We also visited another Buddhist Temple, but we did not go inside. We were not dressed appropriately, and we knew that before we left our stateroom. Long pants and long-sleeved shirts were not something that we wanted to wear on this hot, humid day. Had we not experienced similar temples in Penang, I’m sure that we would have reconsidered. But as I said before, we were already not looking forward to this outing.

                   Had we to do this all over again, we would have gone out and hired a Tuk-Tuk and its driver to take us all around the city.

                   Lesson learned!

Ok, before we start this one, we need a lesson in pronunciation of a few places.

                             Can everyone please say:

                             Poo – Ket

                             Pooket.

                   Good, now let’s look at the spelling and why I had you know the correct pronunciation. It is spelled:

                             Phuket.

                             There is no PH sound like ours over here, so get that right out of your minds!

                             Second lesson.

                             Our excursion yesterday was to the Phi-Phi Islands.

                             Not Fye-Fye.

                             Not Pie-Pie.

                             It is Pee-pee.

                    Ok, now you can start laughing.

          Yes, we went to Phuket to visit the Phi-Phi Islands!

                             This entire area just screams old volcanic activity, and it is shown nowhere better than these off-shore Islands. The entire bay is filled with these outcroppings of rocky sentinels. The beaches are far-flung as most of the islands are made of vertical walls falling directly into the sea.

                             But where there is some sand, it is magnificent!

                   The day started off on a questionable note as this was another “tender” port and by now you are all educated as to the pitfalls thereof. This port was no different as the wind had picked up and it made it very difficult to get the tenders close to the ship. We were even using some big, 300 passenger ferries from the port instead of our itsy-bitsy ones, but even they were having a tough go of it. The Captain got on the intercom and announced that we were going to switch sides and try it on the Port side instead of Starboard. It is always interesting to notice passengers’ reactions when the now familiar melodic tone that precedes a “General Announcement” comes on, followed by the now too-familiar voice of our fearless leader. “Ladies and Gentlemen..” instantly you can hear an audible, collective groan emanate from the assembled masses.

                   They did manage to get things under control and although we were late arriving on shore, arrive we did! There were four boats that were going to whisk us the 40 kilometers out to the Phi-Phi Islands. Whisk is the operative term here and also a relative one as the aforementioned winds had decided to get a tad stronger making our whisking seem more like a beating. I have thousands of hours of boating experience under my (now too large) belt, and there were times that I probably would have turned back. But there were paying passengers on board, some of them disposing of their breakfast into handy little bags, that wanted a nice day in the sun, wind be damned!

                             So, Slam! Bounce! Straight into the wind we went! I kill for a good boat ride, but even I was uncomfortable. I am quite sure that my slipped disc was either cured or further mangled, only time will tell!

                             Our first stop was at the Phi-Phi Islands National Park where we could walk into the interior of the island and emerge on the other side at an incredible inland cove that belonged in a brochure or a movie!

                             The problem was getting there.

                             First, the boat needed to back into a giant floating, bobbing, heaving, dock which we were hoisted, pulled, and thrown onto. If it weren’t for the gracious assistance of our courageous crew, we would have lost many passengers overboard, where they would have been squished between the transom and the “dock”. Mind you, we were not the only ones doing this. By my somewhat crude (but accurate) estimates, there were about 10, 000 other victims here and they all had to undergo this “Disembarkation Ritual”.

                             Then the “March” began.

                             We had no idea what to expect and it was not until we climbed the large set of steps that led into the interior that we saw the rest of humanity splayed out in front of us.

                             Shuffling forward, just following the rest of the marchers, we came upon Headquarters and the “bathrooms”.

                             Have any of you (I know Lorelyn has) ever experienced the bathrooms in the backwaters of Southeast Asia? The level of sanitary conditions are akin to, well, let’s just say, nonexistent? There was nothing there except a makeshift toilet of sorts that you would never sit on. Of course this affected Paula more than me, so when the time comes you can grill her and get the grisly details.

Or not.

                             By now you are wondering why we did this. I’m sorry that I’m painting such a negative picture of this experience, but an experience it was!

                             And it does get better!

                             Out of the relief station and back on the trail with the other inmates, we eventually came upon our Destination which was nothing less than glorious. Every adjective that you can possibly imagine describing an idyllic island-type scene can be expunged from you minds because even they don’t do it justice!

                             (How’s that for setting a bar too high!)

                   After we visited that spot, we hiked it back to the heaving dock where we were thrown aboard for our next visit to another secluded cove. Along with everyone else! This place sets new parameters for the word “popular”!

                   A short 15-minute ride away was another island, the main one, that had all of the services like, resorts, restaurants, and shops. It was here that we had our lunch at a very nice open-air catering(?) facility. Food was good, and the little resort on the beach was a place that one would like to return to, boat ride or not!

This was a beach loading situation and by now we were professionals. Up and in we went, next stop was for swimming and snorkeling at tiny, uninhabited, Bamboo Island where the waters were fabulous, the sun way too strong, the beaches perfect, and just the right amount of time to swim and catch a short nap in the shade of some shrubbery up behind the tide line.

                   The boat ride back to the mainland was far nicer than the mornings jaunt. Smoother water, and we were going with the wind which made the ride altogether a pleasant boat ride. And it took about half the time!

          We arrived back at the ship via the same large tender that brought us out. A little late for dinner, we made it to the Dining Room by 5:25 where Sherry and Harold were holding down the fort at our table with the help of some comforting glasses of wine. Daytime reminiscing ensued until we all were ready to call it a night.

Zzzzzzz !

Our next stop as we proceed north from Singapore was supposed to be a Malaysian port named Langkawi. But we are not going to go there.

Not because of high wind and waves in the harbor.

Not because the local authorities won’t let us in.

But because there is border skirmish with Thailand over a road that seems to be in dispute and the busses, etc. cannot get through. Such are the issues when a cruise is planned a year or so in advance. No one knows what may pop up in the meantime!

So… we’re going to another nearby port named Penang.

Penang is a province in Malaysia, consisting of two areas, one on the mainland, the other is an island. They are separated by the Strait of Malacca. Our destination is Georgetown on the Island. As you may have already ascertained by its name, Georgetown harkens back to the colonial days of Great Britain, having been settled (?) by Francis Light of the British East India Company in 1786. There were obviously already people living here, so Mr. Light made a deal with the local Sultan to give him the protection of Great Britain thus making the Sultan quite impervious to his rival warlords. In turn, the Brits were given the island part of Penang.

          Guess why Mr. Light and his B.E.I.C. wanted this place?

          Yup! Spices!

          Mr. Light made Georgetown a ‘free port’ (no taxes), trying to lure business away from ports settled by the rival Dutch East India Company. Georgetown became the busiest port around and was thusly name the Capital of this region under British influence, eventually becoming a Crown Colony. In fact, it was the first British trading post in the Far East. Even Singapore was under this regions Governor. But not for long! Singapore, with a more strategic location, soon outshone Georgetown, became busier, and the Capital designation was moved to Singapore.

          I’ll ‘cut to the chase’ here and leapfrog to the late 1950’s when this part of Malaysia gained its independence from England. It has since gained the status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Colonial Architecture and its world-renowned “Street of Harmony” which reflects the influence of the many cultures that have made this little city their home. The citation for this designation was quite complimentary saying  “….. unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.”

 I guess that about sums that up!

                   All of this became readily apparent when we arrived. We were on a “Face Book” Tour. This is not anything organized by Mr. Zuckerberg, but by a group on board. We were informed about it by Harold and Sherry, and it was quite popular. About 50 of our fellow passengers were involved and the organizers on land worked Herculean efforts to bring this jam-packed day to fruition. First of all, it was supposed to be at Langkawi. Everything was in place, nice and neat. Then the “Road Revolution” began, skirmishes ensued, roads were closed, and all of a sudden, we’re pulling into a port 30 miles south.

                                      Brakes screeched to a halt.

                                      A flurry of activity followed, and Mr. Pak Abu and his staff totally changed itineraries and put together a day that will be remembered. We never stopped! We were whisked from one venue to another in our little vans with the precision of a military assault with Mr. Abu showing up at each place to make sure everything was proceeding accordingly and there were no loose ends, or passengers left behind! We arrived back at the ship drenched (it was really hot, but what should we have expected this close to the Equator?) and beat, but really pleased with what we had seen all day.

                                      I’m afraid that I took too many photos and you will be sorry for this because since everything was not what we normally see or experience, making them all special, so how am I to decide which ones to include?  😊

I know!

I’ll just put most of them in and let you decide!

Is there any way to not take a plethora of photos when the Buddhist Monks say it’s OK to take all the photos you want? (just take off your shoes please)

Gold trim everywhere!

Highlighting every color of the rainbow!

A photographer’s Paradise!

Street scenes!

Exotic places!

I do have to say that we could state here that Penang did not have the same littering rules (or punishments) as Singapore… in fact, we wondered if there was a reward for littering! Oh well, maybe it just added to the atmosphere!

We first went to an old Mansion, the Pinang Peranankan Museum that is now part of the UNESCO sites, which are scattered all around Georgetown and in their totality make up the heart of this area. This museum goes back to those Colonial days and the way that the upper crust folks lived.

          We then visited a Batik factory and store. This is a cool process and very simple to do. The batik factory was conveniently located next to a coffee and chocolate store which was air conditioned and maybe the only reason we stayed so long! Not that the coffee and chocolate weren’t good…. It was just that it was obvious why we were there and besides, the chocolate would have melted in about 3.7 minutes had we purchased any!

                   Did I mention that it was HOT!?

We then had our lunch stop at a Malaysian Seafood Restaurant.

We had the place to ourselves, and they kept coming out of the kitchen with more and more platters of different foods. There was a giant “Lazy Susan” (why is poor Susan so demeaned?) in the center of each table that we just rotated around for everyone to get served. I let the giant bug-eyed shrimp go by several times along with the squirmy squishy tentacle things. I stopped it when the chicken, rice, and rolls made an appearance in front of me. Paula did a little better than I did, she at least stopped the twirlerizer when the vegetables came around.

After lunch, our next stop(s) were two Temples that were conveniently located directly across the street from each other. One was a Thai Buddhist Temple, the Wat Chayamangkalarm, which means ‘reclining Buddha’ and the other was Burmese (now Myanmar) Buddhist. Shoes were required to be off in both places. I did observe some monks in the Burmese Temple, they were scanning their “Handheld Electronic Devices”.

Modern is as modern does!

One of the large statues in the temple also had a touch of modernism as radiating from his head was a multi-colored L.E.D. halo!

Now across the street to the Burmese Temple. The woodwork was very intricate, and the roof lines were magical as you will soon see!

We then went to the base of Penang Hill where we emptied out of our little bus and got in some smaller vehicles capable of making the climb to the summit without toasting the trans on the way up or smoking the brakes on the way down! The road was filled with switchbacks and extremely tight turns, which our driver took with skill and excessive speed! When I commented about some cyclists coming down “the wrong way” he corrected me and said that it was a two-way road! This thing was barely wide enough for one vehicle! The view from the top was impressive and it seemed as though everyone from town had taken the afternoon and went there!

                   After enduring the Death Ride coming down the mountain (where Moses was not, but we did almost meet Jesus a few times!) we piled back into our little bus and made our way over to the old section of Georgetown where we stopped in an alley and were given a concoction that we could not quite wrap our heads around.

It is a local favorite, a desert-type sort of mix of some green noodles and semi-frozen stuff that had, shall we say, an interesting taste. We smiled and nodded our thanks, turned and tried it, and then when no one was looking we deftly stashed them where they would find them upon clean-up time, if there is such a thing here. From the alleyway we went for our tuk-tuk rides over to Chew Jetty, the original Chinatown section of the city. Our tuk-tuks were bicycle powered. Think Rickshaw with the cyclist behind the sit-in part. The ride and the guys were a hoot!

 Cars? We don’t see no stinkin’ cars!

Trucks? We don’t see them either!

WEAVE, BRAKE, WEAVE, BRAKE, TURN, WEAVE, ok, we’re here!

Phewf! What a ride!

When we arrived at Chew Jetty, we had no idea what it really was. Back in the day, like way back, like in the 1800’s when a lot of Chinese came to town, they settled down by the harbor and built a wharf out into the water.  This wharf, or jetty, contained their businesses and their homes that were attached to them.

                   This practice of living and working here continues to this day, albeit to a lesser extent. But it turned out to be everyone’s favorite part of our tour and the perfect way to wrap up this whirlwind of a day!

Someone took a group photo of our haggard looking troupe that I will include in one of the “Random Pic’s from the Last Few Days” posts.

Thanks for getting to the end of this one!

It was a very full day today in Penang, Malaysia. Temples, markets, mountain tops, and tuk-tuk rides filled a jam-packed day for us and tomorrow in Thailand will be just as busy! So, there may (will be) be a day’s delay in getting the next post out! But I took lots of pics so it will be worth it 🙂 Thanks for reading!

          It’s a bird!

                             No! It’s a plane!

                             Not even close!

                             It’s Two, Two…

                             Two mints in one!

                   What in the world are we talking about here?

                   Well, In the World is a good place to start, and no… it’s not Australia this time! But our new topic/destination does have some things in common with Australia, such as being several different things at the same time.

                                      Singapore!

                                      It’s a City!

                                      It’s an Island!

                                      No! it’s a country!

                                      (Now we’re getting close!)

                                      It’s three, three…..

                                      Three things in one!

                   Yes, our Port of Choice today is the Island City-State of Singapore. Singapore sits at the very southern tip of the Malay peninsula, which is just south of, and connected to, Thailand. It consists of the main island of Singapore and sixty-three other, very closely connected, smaller islands all served by an impressive mass transit system.

                   Singapore is obviously a very well-known place in the world, conjuring up exotic images in our minds, but how much do we really know about this far-flung place that is guilty of placing those imageries in our minds eye?

                   Some cool facts  would be a helpful place to start.

                   Singapore ranks 175^th in area out of the approximately 190 or so countries in the world. I say 190 because depending on one’s definition of “Country”, there are several different totals, but you get the idea. I think that we can all admit that on a world scale, it’s tiny!

                   Next item….  Singapore takes a jump here and ranks 118^th  in population with roughly 6,000,000 very close inhabitants.

                   Now, here comes the biggie…..

                   Singapore soars up the charts here and ranks 3^rd in population density! Well, what do expect when you take a tiny land mass and squeeze a bunch of peeps into it!

                   But even though there are all of those humans jammed into it, Singapore consistently ranks second or third (behind Tokyo) as one of the safest cities in the world. This safety is not brought about because everyone here is super friendly. They may be, but the real reason is the local laws and customs. Singapore is quite strict and borders on oppressive when it come to some of these categories.

                   I tried this one on my kids years ago… NO gum chewing!

                   I was just trying to prevent them from looking like cows chewing their cuds (and a fortune was spent on orthodontics!) But why here in Singapore?

                   The answer is simple, and the real story has been somewhat relaxed over the years, but the bottom line was that “Gum Vandalism” had risen to heights unimagined. Totally new rail systems were brought to a halt as gum was stuck on the sensors that automatically open and close the doors. This is just one of the ailments that this city found itself grappling with over the years. So it is illegal to import or sell chewing gum here. Exceptions are made for medicinal and nicotine gums prescribed by a doctor, which brings us to the next ban….

                   Smoking in public places is taboo. You can smoke outside, like on a street, but you’d better have your tape measure out and make sure that you are five meters away from any door openings and the like. And don’t even think of crushing that butt under your shoe. Wham! Littering Fines galore!

                   Singapore uses harsh fines, prison sentences, and the public humiliation of printing any offenders’ names for the general population to read, as tools for enforcing these local laws. There are many of them and I will not detail them all here, but I will tell you that even visitors are subject to these penalties, and leniency is rare.

                   We were very careful!

                   On the lighter side, they have a charity event here called The Great Singapore Duck Race and yes, it consists of those little yellow rubber duckies! Back in 2002 a record was set when more than 123,000 of those bobbing darlings were released into the Singapore River!

                   There is no language barrier here as English, along with Malay, and Mandarin Chinese, are spoken fluently. The taxis are all metered with the rates plainly listed so there are no issues when hailing one, trying to tell the driver your destination, and then wondering if the fare is correct or not. They all take credit cards too!

                                      Excursions Part l

                   We had an interesting evening last night. The ship was a bit too tossy and turny for Paula’s tastes. Consequently she received no sleep and spent a good portion of the night making intestinal offerings to the ocean gods…… if you get my meaning. So, that meant that feeling well enough to go on the Excursion was questionable. We were supposed to go to the National Botanical Garden which, sitting down here in a tropical climate almost directly on the equator, means that those gardens are nothing less than spectacular! I was hoping to shower you with photos of stunning florals but that did not happen for another unrelated reason.

                             Needless to say, Paula was not quite up to going out on the town (or bus!). It was decided that I should go, and Paula would stay. We have other plans for later on in the evening to go and visit those giant tower-like structures that light up, so Paula would still get the opportunity to get out in Singapore. The weather here today is questionable at best, you know, 70% chance of storms and showers, but it’s warm! That was the other factor in Paula making the decision to stay on board for the time being.

                             Reluctantly, I went down to the Excursion Meeting Area to sign in and get my Tour ID Sticker (Purple 11 was todays). I say reluctantly because I wasn’t sure that I even wanted to go. I don’t like doing things by myself, and I really didn’t want to leave Paula back on the ship. Besides, it was raining and as I said, the forecast was not good. Had it been better, then I am sure that myself, and possibly Paula, would have felt better about the Excursion.

                             I waited for Purple 11 to be called and having been forewarned about having my Passport (the actual one) on me and some other official documents, I patted my pocket to make sure that they were there. This is the first port that made us bring our passports. I guess that most just trust that Princess is not harboring any Baddies and let us come ashore and drop oodles of money in their laps.  I made my way with the other lemmings outside Deck 6 and into the extended walkway (think airport) where we came to a grinding halt.

                                      We waited.

                                      And waited.

                                      Then we started moving.

                                      About fifteen feet, where we stopped.

                                      And waited.

                             This was definitely not looking good and hindsight being 20/20, I should have bailed right there. The problem was that I did not know the end game, where we were going, and what lay at the termination of this seemingly endless line.

                             But noooo….. I stuck it out. I let the thought of reversing my steps tumble endlessly in my head for 45 minutes too long.

Do you know the feeling when you finally make a decision?

Right or Wrong, at least you have a plan?

Well, that’s how I felt when I did an about-face and marched back through the excursion groups of Purple 11, Green 18, Orange 9, and all the rest of them.

I occasionally came upon some shipmates that I knew, and they peppered me with questions that I could not answer. I told them that all I knew was that I should have made this decision 45 minutes ago. The look on their faces….

                                                Post Script.         

I hung around the gangway for awhile and listened to the Deck Officers who were as frustrated as the passengers. One made a comment about a two-hour delay.

Ouch!

I went aboard and found Paula starting to recover nicely. We decided to try a bit later when the line had subsided, and she felt up to it.

Further reports to follow.                                          

Excursions Part ll     (Later in the day)

          Well, THAT could not have gone any better if we had planned it!

          I am referring to our late day excursion into the wilds of Singapore.

          Our good friends, Harold and Sherry, who have been everywhere multiple times, had been to the place that we wanted to go to just this afternoon.

                                      How convenient of them!

                             Detailed instructions in hand, info about taxis, ticket booths, sights, etc. we left the ship again but this time without the throngs of folks all trying to get through Immigration at the same time. We zipped through, got our taxi, and arrived at Gardens By The Bay a few minutes later. You may have seen photos of their gigantic “Trees” that light up at night. More on that later.

                             It was about 6pm and “All Aboard” was at 9:30 so we had a few hours. I’m the guy who wants to get to the airport two days in advance never mind two hours! So, getting off the boat with a deadline three and a half hours hence was a little trying. But it was worth it! The taxis and the ride to the Gardens went exactly as Harold and Sherry said it would, so there was an air of familiarity already.

                             While those “Trees” in the Grove were certainly the initial draw, we were kind of blown away with these two “Domes” that are there. One is a Botanical Garden on steroids and the other is a botanical “Cloud” experience complete with a waterfall.

                             The expression “Takes your breath away” should only be used when that, in fact, happens. No worries here as that is exactly what happened! Someone had a vision and then planned that vision to the N’th degree. The engineering of these marvels was as impressive as the contents within.

                                      You will see.

                             There will be no problem showering you with those photos of florals that I had wanted to do before canceling the morning Excursion! Please enjoy your tour of Gardens By The Bay, Singapore!

After the Flower Dome we went across the way to the Cloud Forest. There was an Avatar: The Way of Water experience in residence at this time. I can’t think of a more perfect spot on the planet to put this exhibit.

By the time we exited the Cloud Forest it was getting dark, and darkness is a very important ingredient in the light show that was to be given by the Trees in The Grove. Just wait!

All of these lights, and there were probably all-totaled, millions of them, all synchronized with music. The show lasted for about 15 minutes or so and was on the other side of spectacular!

Today we found ourselves on the Island of Komodo.

                   I’m fairly sure that everyone has heard of this island mainly because of its most famous inhabitant, the Komodo Dragon.

                   The Komodo Dragon was only recently officially “discovered’ and studied. Rumors abounded over the several hundred years that the Dutch held sway over this vast area of the planet. Spices were the subject of their interests and as we all know, the Spice Trade was very lucrative and dangerous, having wars and skirmishes fought over them for centuries! It was not until the 1920’s that the Dutch sent a scientist to investigate the rumors. Much earlier, some Dutch sailors had reported a fire breathing dragon estimated at almost twenty feet long!

          It sounds like these sailors were spending just a little too much time at the grog tank because although it is the largest lizard (really a Monitor) on earth, the Komodo Dragon rarely exceeds seven feet in length.

          I wish that it were twenty feet and breathing fire! It would have made an already exciting visit to this island especially stimulating because it would have raised the Possibility of Death Index just a tad higher! These critters are already capable of hunting down and killing a human, just ask any of the indigenous people that got attacked and eaten!  Well, I guess you can’t ask them because of obvious reasons, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it. But over the last thirty-five years or so, there have been twenty-four KD attacks and of those, five have been fatal. When visiting, you are not allowed to have any open wounds, i.e., anything that would have the smell of blood, including a menstrual cycle. Although they can outrun a human for short distances we are not too concerned as there are bound to be any number of passengers in the “Mobility Challenged” category, so we think we can outrun them!

                             These guys are not a Hollywood fabrication, they are a serious predator and will feast on anything that lives or is dead. They are so good at grave robbing that the folks on Komodo have stopped burying their loved ones in anything but hard clay-like soil and they now cover the graves with piles of rocks to help thwart the graverobbers.

                             Komodo Dragons possess shark-like teeth, meaning very sharp and serrated, making the tearing of flesh a snap. If you get a chance to glance into a KD’s mouth you may ask, “Where’s the teeth?” Hah! They are hidden under their gums and become engaged at just the right moment as their success rate of foraging can attest to.  If that wasn’t enough, they also possess a venom of sorts that is not injected by fangs, it is contained within its saliva. These guys are the epitome of a monster-like creature as this saliva is quite prodigious and literally drools out of its mouth, no special effects needed! So…. when a KD bites and just wounds, it waits and tracks its prey for a few hours and thunk! It keels over and becomes dinner.

                   They do not make good pets.

                   Let’s move on to topics less gory, and just as deadly, but still germane to this Island.

                   Volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis are all very much entrenched in the locals’ everyday thoughts. Komodo and its 17,000 (!) island neighbors are all a part of the nation of the Republic of Indonesia. This country is the largest “archipelago country” and fourth largest populated country in the world. Plus, it contains some very exotic sounding and well-known places, such as, Java, Bali, Sumatra, and Krakatoa.

                   In December of 2004, on the day after Christmas, was the date…. and Sumatra was the closest site to that horrendous tsunami that came ashore after a 9.2 offshore earthquake. Its effects were felt over thousands of miles, any shoreline that was in a direct line from that epicenter was affected, some had their tsunamis measured at around a hundred feet high. Over 225,000 coastal living people were killed that day.

                   Not to be outdone, the tiny island of Krakatoa also had its day in the annals of geologic history. Over a several-day span in August of 1883, this island’s volcano blew up with a force not ever seen in recorded history. The blast was heard three-thousand miles away as the estimated decibel level of the explosion was over 300db. The pressure wave that it generated circled the globe more than three times. Anyone remember the 1968 film, Krakatoa, East of Java? There were some Hollywood luminaries in it such as, Maximillian Schell, Brian Keith, and Sal Mineo, it garnered one Academy Award for Special Effects but don’t go rushing to Netflix because after that, it was unremarkable. But it did have the eruption of Krakatoa as a main theme and that is our present subject.

                             For all of you teachers out there, or relatives thereof, a wonderful book was written in 1947 by William Pene Du Bois entitled, The Twenty-One Balloons. It received the 1948 Newberry Award and that is all that needs to be said to give it credence! Anyway, it is the story of 20 families that live on the island and mine diamonds.

A lot of diamonds!

 They periodically leave the island with just enough diamonds to get rich without crashing the diamond market. They know that someday the island will blow its top, so they have an invention of sorts, it is ring of 20 balloons that when danger is imminent, they inflate them, and all 20 families soar high into the atmosphere and escape.  When they are safely away the balloons disengage from each other and the families go their separate ways, wherever the winds may take them. I will leave how the 21^st balloon got involved to your reading pleasure!

It’s a great story…. buy it for your grandkids!

                                      The End.

Enough about Krakatoa and the region. But ever since reading that book back in 1966 in Sixth Grade, this area of the world (and Krakatoa!) have been favorites of mine. Unfortunately, I do not think that our course will bring us near enough to see Krakatoa’s offspring, Anak Krakatoa, which first appeared in 1927 and subsequently has had several eruptions and has triggered a deadly tsunami in December of 2018.

                   But…..  tomorrow we are going to a Captain’s Reception for the Platinum and Elite levels of Princess passengers where the Captain and the Senior Officers will be present… So, who knows! 😊

                   On to Singapore!

Apparently, I promised all of you a Lesson (history or otherwise) on Australia. One of your fellow Blog Readers who will go un-named (Barb in Vermont) called me out on it. I guess I was going to work it into the last post from Australia, which would have been Darwin had we gone there.

                                      But….. No Go Darwin, Big Wind, and Waves!

                   So, as promised, a short missive on the wonderful Country, Continent, and Island of Australia.

                   The previous sentence wraps up Australia quite nicely. It is the only country on our planet that is, in fact, all three of the things mentioned there. Those attributes, in part, also help explain how, and why, this unique spot has as many of the exceptional characteristics that make it so special.

                   Ever wonder why Australia has so many species of plants and animals that can only be found there? Before we tackle that one, let’s admit that there are many unique things that can only be found in any number of places around the world. Franklinite, a mineral that has phosphorescent qualities can only be found in our own backyard in the mines of Franklin and Ogdensburg, New Jersey. There are some species of Tree Frogs and Wild Orchids that can only be found in the Pine Barrens section of southern New Jersey. We could go on and on, naming and numbering plenty of endemic species of different critters and such around the world, but Australia kind of takes the cake here with regard to strange and totally unique animals that only live here and live nowhere else, including old, related guys somewhere else down the family tree.

To get to the roots of that tree, and reasons behind them all, we need to re-visit our old friend Mr. Plate Tectonics!

Actually, we’re going to visit his great-great-great grandpappy, back in the very early days of our planet when the seas were still boiling off and volcanoes spewed their volumes of ash and pulverized minerals into the still forming atmosphere.

Way, way, back in the day, say 1,000,000,000 to 600,000,000 years ago, there was a landmass named Rodina. But Rodina was fidgety, had itchy underwear, and couldn’t sit still. So, squirming around, Rodina split apart, and her various parts started drifting, eventually meeting new friends and colliding with them. These collisions gave way to the start of mountain ranges as the pieces pushed against each other. As these newer pieces moved around, a new super continent in the southern hemisphere came to be. Her name was Pannotia.

Pannotia had Restless Leg Syndrome and she couldn’t keep still either. She also suffered from schizophrenia, and she split up into three distinct parts, Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia. These parts started drifting away and headed up north to start their own play group, eventually forming North America, Europe, and Northern Asia.

At this time, about 500,000,000 years ago, Pannotia became pregnant and some of those basic life-forms, namely with the single-cell itsy-bitsy critters that became the building blocks for later life forms. When Pannotia left to trek north, following her old lost friends, she left behind her twin brother with a really cool sounding name, Gondwana. Gondwana, who was a land baron, owned an incredible amount of property. His holdings included the areas that would eventually turn into South America, Africa, India, Arabia, Antarctica, and the subject of this whole essay, Australia. Little did they know, but the Bad Boy on the Planet, the guy that was pulling (literally) all the strings, was old Grandpappy Plate Tectonics, who after pushing and pulling all of these landmasses into each other, and then tearing them, and the still new (but further evolved) critter families apart, split them up with some parts drifting north to form the new kid on the block.

                              Her name was Pangea, who most of you have probably heard of. Now we’re into a more recent time period, say, 200,000,000 years ago, All those Itsy-Bitsie’s have grown up and become Biggies. Biggies with BIG teeth, like T-Rex and all of his friends and relations. We’re now into every kid’s fantasy land, the Age of the Dinosaurs! Mind you, all this time, Mr. Plate Tectonics, the hardest working guy on our still forming planet, was relentlessly doing his job, slowly and deliberately pulling these squished together landmasses apart. This started about 150,000,000 years ago and it took him about half that time, about 50,000,000 years to separate Pangea into two (still really big) not-quite supercontinents during the Triassic Period. These divisions, replete with the same types of rocks, fossils, and other traces of themselves is the way that present day scientists can re-imagine this giant jigsaw puzzle that once was one big happy (?) place.

Fast-forward another 55,000,000 years and we find ourselves in a rather familiar sounding time, that of the Jurassic Period! Big things were still happening on our planet. Asteroids slammed into us causing massive changes to our atmosphere and Poof!  Barney and most of his friends croaked.  Now we’re at 50,000,000 years ago and all of our present-day continents roughly resemble what they look like today. Antarctica and Australia finally parted ways, and Australia never got close enough to anyone else and remained a loner to this day.

The End.

Well, not really.

There is still evidence of our ever-evolving planet shoving her crust around. The Himalaya, the highest mountain range around is still growing by measurable amounts each year. Mount Everest grows higher by around a 1/16^th  to 1/8^th of an inch a year. This is because the subcontinent of India, who sits on her very own plate is pushing northward onto the Eurasian plate who is a lot bigger and stronger than the India plate, so this collision area has only two places to go, up or down.

It chose the loftier goal here and is growing upwards forming some really high mountains that we get to climb and challenge ourselves with.

So Don, what has all of this to do with Australia?

Actually, plenty!

          Remember how Australia and Antarctica finally split all those years ago and pulled away from Gondwana? Well, that left our heroine all by herself to evolve some really cool species of her own. Mind you, there are some obvious relationships with other animals around the world. They were connected way back in the day, but the Big Separation occurred long enough ago for Australia to take matters into her own hands and mold some really different life-forms, ones that everyone loves, and wants to see!

                             A full 93% (!) of Australia’s fauna (and lots of flora too) is endemic to that continent! The totals are 3000 vertebrae and 18,000 different plant species! This is because when Australia separated from Big Brother Gondwana those millions and millions of years ago, she still had the old (but constantly evolving) lifeforms on her. Left to their own designs, not being influenced, or molded by any others on the planet, they were left to their own devices and decided to become different, unique as it were, and provide us with lots of animals to go and visit on, say, World Cruises 😊, or other enlightening trips “Down Under”!

                             Here is a partial list of those “Specials” that can only be found here in Australia, or on the continent of Australia, or on the island of Australia!

                                      Kangaroos

                                      Dingoes

                                      Wallabies

                                      Wombats

                                      Kaolas

                                      Echidnas

Bandicoots, and a host of other lesser knowns.

                                      And leaving the best for last, the Egg Laying, Duck-Billed, Webbed Footed, Furry, little Mammal, the Platypus!

                   So Barb, that about wraps it up! I hope that you and your fellow readers have gotten something out of this lesson. Our next lesson and post will be on Komodo Island, which we are dropping anchor at as I write this!

Darwin is a bust.

                                      Apparently, there is a mini-cyclone of sorts that is/will be affecting this port today. The Captain got on the squawk box last night and informed all of us that the Port Authority of Darwin (Australia) did not recommend, nor even want us in port today. Winds up to 65mph (or 100 kilometers per hour down here) are forecasted and, believe it or not, being at sea and in control of one’s destiny is favored over being tied to a pier where the bashing and grinding of metal on concrete is not the favorite activity. We’re talking about ships here, not boats. If we were a smaller vessel, say like a cabin cruiser or some other pleasure type boat, being in harbor may be of some advantage.

 Remember the old adage… “Any port in storm” ?

 I guess it only applies sometimes!

But…. as I write this (4am here) the winds are non-existent, and the seas are calm. I do not know our present location as Google Maps chose not to pay attention to the “location” part of its App, it had us back in Fort Lauderdale and unless we invented Warp Speed travel overnight and had it installed, there is no way we are in Florida!

We could be in a calmer part of the approach to Darwin as we still need to meet up with the Pilot Boat and disembark the Reef Pilot that we’ve had on board to help us navigate the Great Barrier Reef. It is bad business to have the ship hung up on one of the more cherished and protected reefs of the world!

Or… even worse, the weather stooges may have “Oopst” it, and the weather is now fine, but all of the Excursions have already been canceled and trying to get them up and running again would create more chaos than it would be worth.

If we don’t get into port, then it means that we will be at sea for six looong days as we don’t arrive at Komodo Island in Indonesia until three days from now. That means that when I get bored, I get to bore you to death with a Topic du Jour of my picking, probably having to with the natural history of something 🙂

          So… here’s hoping that we will in fact get some Rockin’ an’ Rollin’ going on the High Seas today! At least there would be one person on board not disappointed!