Day two at sea found all of us enjoying a very good day with smooth seas, mild winds, and mostly cloudy skies. It seems that the worst of the humidity has changed for the better. That might be only temporary because we remember Indonesia being very warm and sticky. During the afternoon, we sailed close to some large islands that may have belonged to Timor.
So here is some information on the country of Indonesia. It consists of 17,000 islands, but only 8000 of them are inhabited. The total population is 255 million folks that speak 300 dialects of Bahasa Indonesian. The capital is Jakarta, and many of our crew come from these islands. Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, and is situated on the Equator for 5000 kilometers. It is a land of so many cultures, animals, customs, flora, food and artworks, it may as well be 100 countries.
Their number one food is rice with spices and fiery chilies…the hotter the better. The Chinese, Portuguese, colonists and traders over the centuries have influenced the spices.
We only have two stops in Indonesia this cruise. They are Slawi Bay, Komodo Island and one of the most exotic islands we have ever visited….Bali. More about those stops to come.
Today while talking to our waiters and room stewards, we can feel their excitement about being so close to home. Many of them will have family and friends visit them while we are in Bali. But more about that in a few days.
Captain Friso had an "Ask the Captain – Q and A" in the World Stage this morning. He has done this on every world cruise he has done the last few years, as most of the captains do on their ships. At his noon time talk, he said he really enjoyed the session. He added that today was a great day with favorable weather. He hopes this stays the same as we get closer to Indonesia. He is still concerned about the anchorage at Slawi Bay and the tendering procedures. He is expecting cloudy skies and some showers.
It was a lazy day for us with a promenade walk on an almost empty deck before our lunch time. It was warm, but not that bad. There must have been better things going on inside the ship such as National Tortilla Chip Day in the Lido. Bet they served nachos….. There was evidence of that appetizer with many tortilla chip crumbs all over the carpets. And one thing worth mentioning is that the fresh fruit such as apples, bananas, and oranges are back in the Lido refrigerator. They re-appeared the minute we left Darwin, Australia.
Merge, the guest speaker, did the port talk for Singapore, indicating that Kimberly is still not well. She also delivered another lecture on Thai and Indonesian healing at 1pm. Dr. Michael Douglas spoke about big lizards, while many guests went to see a movie "The Sunlit Night" in the World Stage….complete with bags of popcorn.
It was a good time to make a sweep through the library and search for some books. Now that the second segment is coming to an end, many folks are turning in their pocket books to the exchange-a-book section. Good place to find something that is light reading.
While we were getting ready for dinner, we watched as the sun was going down. There were too many clouds for a good sunset, and when the sun reached the horizon, black clouds covered it completely. It simply sizzled away. What we did not expect was the sudden downpour we got around 9pm, when the skies must have opened up. This is typical Equatorial weather as we remember it.
Back to the dining room tonight, we had one Caesar salad, French onion soup, and spring rolls for appetizers. Our mains were one thinly-pounded deep-fried chicken with peri-peri sauce and one plate of cannelloni noodles stuffed with ricotta cheese and covered with a tangy tomato sauce. All good, one of us had the sticky date pudding which is not pudding at all, but a muffin-like cupcake. The waiter must have microwaved the date muffin because it was warm, but also crispy round the edges.
There was a comedian, Jason Russell, in the World Stage this evening. That was where to go to find out why cats are superior to dogs. Never knew they were.
Tomorrow we will be dragon-hunting in Komodo. As long as the dragons are not hunting us, we will be fine.
Bill & Mary Ann
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