"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 53 Sailing Towards Benoa, Bali, Indonesia February 22, 2016 Monday Partly cloudy & 89 degrees

Sent: Monday, February 22, 2016 1:19:48 PM
Subject: Report # 53 Sailing Towards Benoa, Bali, Indonesia February 22, 2016 Monday Partly cloudy & 89 degrees

Report # 53 Sailing Towards Benoa, Bali, Indonesia February 22, 2016 Monday Partly Cloudy & 89 degrees

As we near Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, there is increasing excitement with many of our crew members who come from here, and will have family members joining them soon. One port in particular, Jakarta, will have the largest number of Indonesian visitors……over 1200 family members. And that does not include those that are under 5 years old. According to Julie, the Human Resources Manager, each crew member is allowed 6 guests (not counting little ones 5 and under). This event for the families will occur over the next three ports of Bali, Semarang, and Jakarta. If we recall correctly, there will be facilities pier side for food and shelter, while some of the visitors will be able to come on the ship to tour it, dine in the quarters on A deck, and find the pizza and ice cream stations in the Lido. We expect to see a lot of kids enjoying themselves, especially with the ice cream cones.

Anyway, here is a little bit of information about Indonesia, a country of 17,508 islands, not all inhabited. The total population, according to Lonely Planet's 2013 Travel Book, is 240,271,522 people with a staggering number of customs and cultures. The total area of these scattered islands is 735,163 square miles. It is bordered by the Malay Peninsula, part of Australia, Borneo, and New Guinea. It is considered the land of earthquakes and volcanoes. Religions include Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and animist tribes from Papua New Guinea. You can find temples, beaches, lush gardens, terraced rice paddies, and some of the most unusual animals, such as the Komodo dragons.

The better time to visit is in the dry season, May through September. Not necessarily now, in the wet season.

Things to see: Borobudur, the Buddhist stupa, largest in the world, is a must for the first time visitor. Shadow puppets, batik dyeing, and ancient death rituals are the next top attractions. Rice terraces up high in the mountains can be unbelievably serene, a most clever use of steep hillsides and water for irrigation. Various temple complexes are inter-woven with modern hotels and resorts. In the mix are the local shops, cafes, and one village after another.

Things to do: Surfing at Ulu Watu in Bali, as well as visiting the many dive sites. Orangutans at Tanjung Dating National Park, if we were stopping there, which we are not. Golf at the innumerable resorts on the islands. Listen to the gamelan, traditional orchestra of Java, Bali, and Lombok.

Eat: The "ubiquitous" nasi goring – a fried rice dish much desired by our Indonesian crew, and enjoyed by many passengers too. Each and every one of them will have a special way of preparing the dish. Spicy rendang – a beef cooked slowly with roasted coconut and lemongrass.

Drink: Kopi – coffee or if you are brave, you can try "civet" coffee, made from beans retrieved from the droppings of civet cats. Yes, really.

Random fact: The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard on earth, and is an occasional man-eater. A bite from one can be fatal, due to virulent bacteria in the dragon's saliva. However, we are not stopping there on this world cruise. Too bad.

It's probably not too late to book tours for Bali, tomorrow's port. Having been here many times in the past, we have done every tour available, some more than once. Starting at the lowest part of the island, you can spend an afternoon at a beach with many beachfront cafes and clubs. If you are interested in art and wood carvings, then a trip to Ubud and Mas is a must. Bring your wallet, as we remember some of these items can be quite expensive. Most of the high end hotel chains are located in these two villages, and cater to the international crowd, who love to vacation in this paradise. Then if temples are on your agenda, continue up higher to see the most fabulous Hindu or Buddhist temples in creation. If you are lucky, you may come across a procession, where the locals dress in traditional clothing and parade down the steep hillsides to a temple. We have even been in the middle of funeral processions in keeping with ancient tradition. Quite impressive and an unforgettable experience.

A few years ago, while on a tour to see the tiered temple on the mountaintop, we were required to walk ½ a mile to the entrance up a steep street. It began raining so hard, that our shoes filled up with the river of water coming down the street. It would have helped to have had a really good umbrella, and not a sun parasol. Duh….The good thing that happened was that we took temporary shelter in a souvenir shop, where a local man was selling the neatest wooden-carved wind chimes. Using different lengths of hollowed out bamboo, when the wind blows, it makes music. So we have a little reminder of Bali in our backyard at home, especially when it is windy.

We met Barb for lunch in the dining room today. Since there will be no lunch in here for all of the Indonesian ports of call, we took advantage of today's service. With many of the fellows getting tomorrow off, there will be a skeleton crew working the Lido lunch only. During his PM talk, Captain Jonathon mentioned that rain is predicted tomorrow, as well as thunder storms. That might dictate what we will do in port. He added that the temperature would be in the high 90's with extreme humidity, making it seem even hotter. Not what we wanted to hear.

The seas have smoothed out with many sightings of flying fish finally. We did spot some jumping fish or small dolphins in the distance…hard to be certain since they did not break the surface enough to see. Last night, while watching the sun go down, we saw two small fishing boats as they drifted slowly past us. Surely, they were being watched from the officers and crew on the navigation deck. From here on out, we can be suspicious of all water craft until it is deemed certain that they are friendly. Behind the scenes, we are convinced that the security team are busy doing their job keeping us safe.

We kept cool by watching a movie in our room late this afternoon. It appears that our deck has remained well balanced as far as the air conditioning goes. The higher you go, the warmer it gets. The dining room has had the hardest time, mainly because of the windows that surround it. The staff does keep the drapes down when the sun is streaming in. The problem comes with the amount of guests that fill the lower and upper dining rooms at the early seating. This is when we are so glad we eat at 8pm, when most of the guests are done and gone.

The sun went down around 6:30pm, but there happened to be a gigantic black rain cloud that totally blocked it. There was some color, but it was mostly in the opposite direction. Heavy showers were coming straight down from the center of that cloud, a very unusual sight.

Our host, Tom M joined us for dinner tonight. He was coming to visit with Martha and Bob, also his clients, but they had other plans to join another couple at a table upstairs. Oh well, he stayed and we all enjoyed his company. Tom will try to come again before Bob leaves us in Jakarta.

We tried different entrees tonight. One of us had the marinated pork chop, while the other had roasted chicken. We split a plate of tasty tempura vegetables with a sweet and sour sauce, which was very good. Our dinners have been arriving extra hot, which is so much better than lukewarm.

Showtime was a performance by comedian, Paul Adams, who was billed as original, brightfresh and funny. Guess it has taken him 20 years to make complete strangers to laugh out loud, which would be a good thing for him in a big theater setting. And guess we will not know, because we got out of dinner too late to join the show.

Bill & Mary Ann

A most unusual raincloud