Monday - 26th March - Sea Day

Well I decided today that I was having a rest day as I am tired from 3 days trooping around on land.  We now have 7 sea days in a row so am starting off by resting my body before I attack the gym again tomorrow.

I overheard a guy talking in the pool the other day whose wife had just received an email to say that she had one the major prize in an art union type lottery in NZ.  The prize was a fully furnished house valued at over $500,000.  Apparently his wife was organizing a bottle of champers for their dinner table.  I also heard that a couple was seen running down the wharf in Adelaide just as the ship was further than stepping distance from the wharf.  The captain waited an extra hour for them but not quite long enough.  I heard that they then spent about 18 hours in a train to get to Fremantle as they could not get a flight.  Our young table companions arranged to stay off the ship in Fremantle and hired a car then drove to the Margaret River spending a night there and a night in Perth before flying to Bali and spending a night there then rejoined the ship.  It was his birthday a couple of days ago and his wife bought him a TAG watch from the shop on the ship!!

I went to my usual art class that are only on on sea days.  The retired detective is hosting a murder mystery week where we there are 6 suspects that will be interviewed over the next week.  We are in a team of 8 which is our dinner group.  The aim is to find out who dunnit from information that we will be given over the next 7 days.  It is quite well done.  He even showed us a video of the “murdered” person lying on a bed in our hotel room in Singapore to set the scene.  A lot of people are taking it very seriously and asking questions as though it is a real murder!!

Tonight is black tie night so we are all dressed ready to go and listen to some pre dinner music.  We are booked into the special restaurant (where you have to pay) tonight so Lobster will be what I will be ordering.

We will probably go to the show tonight which is a pop duo called “The Merseys” performing music from the 60’s. 

Hope all are well and love to all.

Xo

PS: We are both still well and fighting off the dreaded cough although one of our dinner companions was just getting symptoms last night.

Sunday - 25th March - Langkawi

We arrived into Langkawi around 7.45am and were docked by 8am.  It was a beautiful morning.  I have actually seen the sun rise on more than one morning on this cruise which is a nice change.  We didn’t have a tour booked as we have previously spent a full week here and have seen most things except the main attraction which is the cable car.  Don’t know how we missed that but that is what our plan is for today.  We got off the ship around 10am and got the free ship’s shuttle to a small village where we negotiated the price for a taxi for the day… well we didn’t really negotiate we just accepted his offer of 200 ringgit which is about $65.  We did meet people at the cable car who got their taxi for 110 ringgit for 4 hours.  We had ours for about 5 hours so we were happy as he could speak quite good English, had a reasonably newish car that was clean and had air conditioning.  Firstly we went to the cable car which was a mistake because there were a number of buses from the ship their so we waited 45 minutes in a line to go to the top.  The cable car is located in the Oriental Village which is really just a tourist trap a bit like the village at Pokolbin with a few oriental bridges and water lillies complementing Japanese style buildings housing many souvenir and fast food shops.   Once at the top the view was spectacular of the islands.  It was a bit unfortunate that there was a bit of haze around so the view was not that clear.  Apparently it is often closed due to wind.  There was also a suspended boardwalk which was quite spectacular especially the engineering of it.  Langkawi is made up of 99 islands and is part of Malaysia but is very close to Thailand.  The Straits of Malaca separate Langkawi from the mainland.  We then headed for a Temurun waterfall in the northwest of the island.  It was in a very lush area and was quite a high waterfall falling in a number of cascading ponds.  It would be much more spectacular with a bit more water but was still quite scenic.    

After the waterfall we headed for the black sand beach followed by the white sand beach followed by the river and mangroves.  Our time was starting to run out fast now so we then headed down the middle of the island to the Mahsuri Tomb.  This is a shrine erected for Mahsuri who was a beautiful young maiden accused of adultery.  She put a curse on the island so that for the next 7 generations the island would not prosper and according to the locals this is pretty much what happened. 

This was followed by a quick visit to the Field of Burnt Rice where the Rajah/King had the people burn their rice to stop the Thai invaders from getting it.

We then made a quick dash to the duty free store as Langkawi is reknowned for very cheap grog but on comparing the prices to the ship they were pretty similar so didn’t bother.

All on board by 4.30pm and we sailed out pretty soon after that sitting on our balcony with a drink in hand.

There were only the usual 4 of us for dinner which was quite enjoyable.  Peter went to the show which was the P&O “Headliner’s Theatre Company” performing classic/swing numbers from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr, Bobby Darin etc.  I went to bed and enjoyed the peace of my own company and my kindle.  The clock’s went back one hour which was a bonus.

Further updates tomorrow…

Negotiating the wharf at Langkawi

 

Some monkeys we saw on the side of the road

 

The Oriental Village

 

The suspended boardwalk

 

Another view of suspended walkway.

 

The view from the top

You might notice a line in the water to the right side… this was a very long bridge that went across the water but the tsunami damaged the bridge.  You can see the break towards the right side of the bridge.

Cable car mid station to top including suspended walkway and viewing platforms

 

Rubber tree plantation

 

Temurun Waterfall

 

Black sand beach

 

White sand beach

 

The river and mangroves

 

A typical old style Malay house

 

Mahsuri Tomb

 

A very old bonsai in a local village

 

A local flower

 

A fountain in Independence Square

 

March 24th Kuala Lumpa

We decided to go on a ship’s tour at the last minute as the port is approximately a 1.15hr drive to the main area of KL.  Consequently there was limited availability so we decided on “The Best of KL” which was around an 8 hour tour.  We visited the National Museum which was very interesting see artefacts that dated back to the 7^th century.  After this we had a quick photo stop at the National Mosque and Old Railway Station then headed on to Independence Square where all the roads had been closed for a march and ceremony maybe to do with the Grand Prix which is being held tomorrow.  There is a lot of activity happening around KL to do with the Grand Prix.  Independence Square is the former playing field of the Royal Selangor Club and the place where many celebrations take place.  After this we made our way to the Central Market where we had about an hour of shopping time where we both indulged in having our feet chomped on by Doctor fish.  It is a really weird feeling having swarms of fish hanging off your legs.  No good if you have ticklish feet!!  From here we went to the Petronas Twin Towers where we could view this spectacular building and listen to some local rock group setting up for a huge concert tonight to celebrate the Grand Prix.  We then went to a magnificent buffet lunch at the Federation Hotel.  I have never seen so many delicious looking desserts.  After lunch we went to the KL Tower which is a bit like the Centrepoint Tower in Sydney.  Fantastic views from the top even though the day was a bit hazey.  We were back on the ship just after 4.30 and headed for a swim in the pool.  The Costa ship that was in Singapore with us was tied up alongside and followed us out of KL around 6pm.  Sailaway was very peaceful sitting out on the deck with my Pepsi Max.  We had our full complement of dinner companions tonight which facilitated some very lively conversations.  We gave the show a miss tonight as each show is shown about 3 times in this sector to Capetown.  Apparently the reason why the Seychelles was cancelled was not due to pirates but due to terrorists.  People have been hanging around the port trying to board ships with fake id and this has become so much of a problem that they thought it best to cancel the port all together.  It is a shame but can understand their concern.  Apparently we were lucky to actually stop at Bali due to the terrorists (?) attacks the day before.

Forgot to mention that our last sea day we both had a facial and massage in the spa which was very nice and relaxing.  Peter was very happy he had a girl whereas I was a bit put off having a guy… the differences of the sexes!!

To bed now as an early start tomorrow in Langkawi.

Love to all

xo  

KL - the old train station

 

The National Museum

 

Gravestone of Sultan Mansur Shah who died in 1477 and was uncovered in 1918

 

Courtyard in front of the National Mosque

 

The National Mosque

 

Nice old buildings close by to Independence Square

 

Selangor Club in Independence Square where the gentelmen used to go after they played cricket

 

Where the two rivers meet which is how KL got it's name

 

Doctor fish nibbling at our feet in Central Market

 

Central Market

 

Yummy food in Central Market

 

The Petrona Twin Towers

 

One side of the amazing dessert buffet at the Federation Hotel

 

View from the top of the KL Tower

 

Some type of lizard

 

The KL Tower

 

The Jewel Box where we had our Singapore Sling

 

Food at the local fast food hall

 

A very small snapshot of the thousands of containers where we were berthed in Singapore.

 

The Vivo Centre

 

Key Lime Pie - looks better than it tasted!

 

Friday 23rd March - Singapore

We arrived into Singapore around 7am this morning to a hot and hazy morning.  We had to dock in the container dock as the Arcadia is too tall to berth in the normal cruise wharf area as there is the cable car that runs over the top of the cruise wharf to Sentosa Island.  We did not have any tours booked here so we just took the free ship’s shuttle from the container dock into the main cruise liner wharf which was about a 20 minute drive through the very busy wharf area.  I have never seen so many containers and cars in one area.  We had a bit of a look around the cruise terminal area as there is the Vivo shopping mall there as well.  Quite a big shopping area with pretty similar shops to what we have at home.  The only purchase we made were cans of tonic water and pepsi max for our happy hour drinks in our cabin.  My intention was to buy the new Apple Ipad but that will have to wait till later or maybe till I get back home. 

We then took the cable car to Sentosa Island which basically is a big theme park similar to Luna Park.  We had a walk around and an icecream then headed back in the other direction to the top of Mount Faber which had a very nice restaurant called The Jewel Box where we took in the view with a Singapore Sling.  Not the best drink I have had but you have to have one when in Singapore.  After this we headed back the cruise terminal where we browsed the shops before heading back to the ship for some nice cool air conditioning and a rest.

We are now waiting for all the security checks to take place and some late passengers on a late flight before we can depart.

We really didn’t get to see that much of Singapore but left the main things to see when we have a two day stopover on our way home.

Tomorrow we will be in Kuala Lumpa where we have booked a full day tour as we dock at Port Kelang which is about 1.5 hours from the city area.

We have managed to have one alcohol free day since boarding which I am very proud of.

On our sea days I have managed to have a number of swims in the Neptune Pool which is the pool in the middle of the ship.  The water temperature has been ideal for me… not too cold!  Haven’t managed to get sunburnt yet but have exhausted our supply of sun cream now. 

We have also received an invitation from a couple we have met who are renewing their wedding vows on board so that will be nice and will be while at sea after Langkawi and before we get to Mauritius.  Our visit to the Seychelles has been cancelled due to increased pirate activity which is a shame as not sure if we will ever be going that way again in this lifetime.

Back after KL.  Hope all well and life is good! xo

 

The sea of cars at our berth in Singapore

 

A rose among the flowers (or maybe a thorn!)

 

The cable car to Sentosa Island

 

Peter's next boat

 

View from cable car over Sentosa Is

 

View in the other direction - note these ships are not ours as we were too tall to fit under the cable car

 

Our Singapore Sling stop with a view

 

Does anyone know what this tree is? It was a very large tree with fruit as shown.

 

Planting rice

 

Rice ready to harvest

 

The storm brewing as we neared the dock

 

Tuesday - March 20 - Bali

We arrived into Bali on an overcast rainy but warm to hot day.  We were booked to go on a ship’s tour called Scenic Bali.  We were advised to meet at 7am for our tender tickets so an early start to the day.  We ordered our breakfast for 6.30 which arrived as planned.  The shipped docked at a place called Benoa which is about 7 miles from Kuta.  The ship anchored quite a long way from the dock so a long tender ride was had.  We were directed to our bus which was air conditioned and very comfortable and quite new with leather seats.  There were only 22 people on our bus so quite civilised.  Firstly we went to Tenganan which is up near Candidasa on the north eastern side of the island.  This is a walled mountain village where the Bali Aga live.   From here we went to Klungkung Kertagosha, a building designed in 1710 by the best artisans in the country.  It is often referred to the Water Palace or Floating Garden.  There were beautifully painted ceiling murals depicting heaven and hell.  Next we headed for a Balinese lunch at a restaurant in Selat with the most beautiful views over the rice fields.  After this we then headed for Pura Kehen Temple near Bangli which was constructed in the 13^th century.  Our last stop was for “breakfast” which was actually afternoon tea at a local house where we could also see the various steps in the planting of the rice fields.  We then had a long slow trip back to the ship due to the increased traffic.    The traffic was very heavy as it was nearing the end of their year and there were many parades heading for any beach to cleanse out the old and welcome in the new year which apparently happens on the 22^nd March (or it could be 23^rd as different people were told different dates).  The last tender was at 5pm but we did not arrive back to around 5.40pm which meant we did not get back on board till after 6.  We were supposed to sail at 6.  As we were on a ship’s tour the ship had to wait for us plus there were about another 4 or 5 buses late due to the traffic all over the island.  All in all it was a very enjoyable day even though it was long.  I didn’t spend any of my Indonesian money so will save that for when I go back!!  It was a hawaiian them night with Gareth Oliver performing the nightly show which I actually went to for a change.  He is a ventriloquist who reached the semi finals on Britain’s got talent.  He was actually very good.  Two sea days now to Singapore. xo

Formal night at Orchid

We decided to go to one of the specialty restaurants for this formal night so we booked the Orchid Restaurant which is Asian inspired.  It was quite good but not as good as Luke Mangan’s Salt restaurant on the P&O Australia ships.