Taipei, Taiwan

Michael and I were on an all day tour to Taipei (he was the escort).  It was pouring rain in Keelung (which gets 200 rainy days per year) and were keeping our finger crossed that it wouldn’t be raining when we got to Taipei, about 20 miles away on the other side of the mountain.  The Republic of China (Taiwan) is located on the island of Formosa, but is commonly known as Taiwan.  Two thirds of the island is forested mountains with over 200 peaks that are over 10,000 feet tall.  Most of the population of 23 million live on the coastal areas, especially the flat western shore.

We passed dreary looking large apartment building on our way to Taipei.  Ah, upon arrival in the city we were lucky – NO rain.  Sightseeing in the rain is really a big pain and I had enough pain to contend with (the foot – by the way; the back is great).  The bus we rode on was quite different than any other I have been on for touring.  It was more like a double decker, with a spiral staircase to get to the lace covered seats.  My knees got quite a workout climbing up and down them.  Our guide, Felix, was great.  And no, Felix is not his real name.  We could never pronounce his Chinese name so he adopted Felix when he was completing his master’s degree in the US. 

Taipei is a mixture of the old and new.  The old looks weary, worn, drab, dirty and has air-conditioning units mounted on enclosed wrought iron “decks” that have been added to the brick buildings.  It is not attractive.  The new area of the city has nice parks, wide streets, and I would assume central air in the newer highrises instead of the A/C units.  They have a subway system (one of the main streets was torn up as they were building the second stage of the system), lots of yellow taxis, buses, and probably a bazillion crazies driving motor scooters (actually there are approximately one million plus scooters just in Taipei), which park everywhere including the sidewalk.  Taipei also has the distinction of having the world’s second tallest building (it was outdone by the Burj Kalifa in Dubai) and lots of high tech companies are located here.  It has a population of 1.6 million, but if you include the suburbs it is actually 6 million.  Eighty percent of the population is Taoist or Buddhist.   Many people wore surgical masks for protection from the vehicle pollution and from illness.  They got used to wearing them during the SARS outbreak in 2003, so they are comfortable wearing them.  They even wear them inside when exposed to the public.  OK, there are the statistics, now on to the good stuff.

Our first stop was the renowned National Palace Museum, which houses an astounding selection of Chinese Imperial Art, some of which is over 5,000 years old.  This extraordinary collection began during the 10^th century when Chinese emperors seized art treasures for their own pleasure.  Over the many years, it has been moved in crates from city to city to protect the treasures from invading armies.  The journey finally ended when Chaing Kai-Shek brought the collection with him when he fled mainland China in 1949.  We only had about 90 minutes to tour this museum, so we were pretty much limited to the jade, brass, ivory and porcelain sections.  We saw the world famous Jadeite Cabbage, a piece carved out of a solid piece of jade that is green at the top and white toward the bottom.  We also saw the Olive Boat, a miniature carving that was so small to the naked eye that we had to view it through a magnifying glass to see the details.  Incredible!  There was also a magnificent screen with jade carvings inlaid in wood.  Mary Lynn, I thought of you.

The Chinese had been making porcelain for centuries before the Europeans first learned to do it in 1709 (Misen was the first European).  I was fascinated with the techniques the different dynasties used to distinguish their era.  I won’t babble on about the technical stuff and who made what, but I will mention that the blue on white porcelain is exquisite.  The blue is so brilliant because cobalt, which is blue, doesn’t fade during the firing process like copper.  The Celedons of the South made sky blue porcelain that cannot be replicated to this day.  There was the white porcelain of the south that had designs impressed into the clay, black porcelain, and doucai porcelain that combined colors.  We saw brass and ivory pieces as well as paintings.  The Chinese painting perspective is like that of a bird soaring above and around while the Western perspective is from one angle.  I was impressed with this collection and museum and I don’t even like museums.

Our next stop was to the Martyrs Shrine, which is dedicated to people who have sacrificed their lives fighting for the Republic of China.  There is a whole lot of history of China and Taiwan and it is complicated and interspersed.  These people are Chinese.  They are a democracy now and would like a relationship with China, but do not want to be a part of Red China.  The Republic started in 1949 when Chiang Kai-Shek fled mainland China when the Communists took over China.  Previous to that, Taiwan was a Japanese colony for 50 years.  Our timing was perfect at this stop to view the changing of the guard.  Just like at Buckingham palace, the ceremonial guards do not move or blink.  They did a crisp march from the arch to the palace, then did a very crisp routine with the guns and footwork.  I have seen many changing of the guard ceremonies all over the world, but this one was one of the best and I was very impressed. 

Lunch was next at the Grand Hotel.  Hoo boy, this was something to behold.  It was so big that we couldn’t even get a picture of the entire building.  It was a bit gaudy in a Chinese way.  The buffet lunch was something like you might find in a Las Vegas hotel.  There was sushi, Chinese food, dim sum, noodle soups, salad, a few western dishes (even French fries) and some other stuff I was not able to identify.  We ate our full and were off for the afternoon adventures.  I could have used a nap at this time and Michael did.  He cannot ride in a bus for more than a few minutes before he falls asleep.  Some escort!

Now this was the best part of the excursion for me.  We went to the 270 year old Lungshan Temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in Taiwan.  The best way for me to describe this temple is that it is an amusement park for the faithful.  It is so hard to describe all that we saw:  the colors, the people, the rituals, the smell.  To enter the temple, you enter from the right side (the dragon) and exit from the left (the tiger).  The entire outer perimeter of the temple site was decorated with yellow Chinese lanterns and colorful animal lanterns.  Columns, not walls, hold up the building -- they were decorated with dragons.  Most of the activity takes place in the courtyard of the temple.  There was an entire animated display of all things bunny rabbit.  All of these elaborate displays were made of the same type of material that the Chinese lanterns were made of.  You turn around and there was another display, so much to take in that it was overwhelming and we hadn’t even entered the temple itself.  

Crossing the threshold, we were overcome with incense burning everywhere causing smoke with a heavy fog in the air.  It was fragrant and powerful.  Tables were ladened with flowers, cookies and fruit as offerings to the gods.  There were huge brass fire burners that people were praying in front of, hands clasped together at the forehead bobbing up and down.  Red candles burned on golden candelabras.  Everywhere you looked, there was something burning, someone praying and chanting, incense filling the air.  Color was brilliant.  I know that is a weird sentence, but the colors of the decorations, the offerings, the buildings was so intense.

Our guide described how people come here search for answers to their problems.  A person went to a drawer and picked a piece of paper that had a random number; then they lit incense sticks and prayed holding the incense sticks while bowing up and down; after praying for awhile, they throw wooden ying and yang symbols on the ground three times and depending on the way they fall, they would calculate a number based on the way they landed; finally, adding the numbers from the three drops, they compare that number from the number they drew.  If it matches, you get your wish; if not, you come back and do it again.  There were also gods to specific categories such as medicine and literature.  You pray to the god of medicine to heal you or pray to the god of literature so you can pass your exams.

Our final stop was the Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial, an exhibit hall and monument.  It is 1/3 the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing, which means this is one huge place.  Chaing Kai-Shek was the first constitutional leader of the Republic, elected in 1948 for one year in China and 26 years in Taiwan.  He fled mainland China to Formosa (Taiwan) in 1949 when the communists took over.   There were ceremonial guards here as well. 

We finished the day’s tour tired, but dry.  We drove back to Keelung and were greeted with sheets of rain.  The bus driver managed to maneuver the bus close to the building so that we never got wet.   The evening ended with room service for Michael and a muscle relaxant for me.  Just as well we turned in early as the seas turned ugly and sleeping through it was the only way to go.

Keelung, Taiwan

The only way to describe our time in Taiwan is with the senses.  This has been an extraordinary stop on our journey as I feel as though I am really in a foreign country.  Many of our stops on this itinerary have been to places that either cater to Americans (French Polynesia) or they speak English or look like home (Australia, New Zealand, Manila).

We arrived in Keelung, the port city for Taipei, around 6pm.  It was too late for any excursions, but we did get to go to the “night market.”  Boy oh boy, what a feast for the eyes and a bit of local color (and guess who forgot to take a camera -- drat).  The market does not start until around 8pm; we navigated the streets, dodging a crowd of mostly young people as we walked to the market from the ship, arriving around 8:30pm.  The streets are narrow and crowded to begin with; then vendors set up their booths in the street.  There was an array of junk, the money was burning a hole in my pocket and I could not find anything to buy.  My sense of sight and smell was on high alert as I tried to take in everything.  We walked the market as well as the crowded little shops that lined the streets the market was on.  Things were jammed together and there was little room to move.  Toys, shoes and clothing seemed to be the most common items sold.  The clothing appealed to the younger consumer.  I found a fur lined vest I wanted to buy for Deborah, but the sizes were so small that I didn’t think it would fit her.  The sales girl tried it on and it barely made it around her, so sorry Deborah.  I asked a few vendors if they had any larger sizes than petite x-small and they looked at me like I had two heads.

The food vendors were along one street, one vendor on top of another.  There must have been a hundred tiny little booths lining both sides of the street that would sit maybe five or six people on teeny weenie chairs.  They prepared food in huge vats and woks; it smelled delicious, but to my western pallet, looked suspicious.  We could hear the sizzle of the oil and see the steam rising from less than pristine kitchens.  The cooks would rinse the dishes and pans right there on the sidewalk or street.  There were fish mongers that sold unrecognizable stuff.  Those people we saw eating were totally focused on the process of eating with little wasted effort or socializing.

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The streets and sidewalks were crammed full of motor scooters, which is the principal means of transportation.  The sidewalks were a hodgepodge of stone, cement and whatever; you really had to watch your step as there were ramps or steps -- large, small and smaller.  And then there was the obstacle course of vendor tables and scooters.  Neon signs of every color lit the night, and radios (I think) were blaring Chinese advertisements (I think).  The area is not what I would call clean and inviting.  The buildings and store fronts (that is what most of the “regular” stores are) were somewhat dingy, but not really dirty (this is from pollution I am told).  The drug stores had many of the same products we use except there was Chinese writing added to the label.  The signage was in Mandarin, of course, but I was surprised to find many stores using English as well.  It was quite an exciting adventure.

Manila -- Tsunamis, Pirates and Amusing People

It has been a very busy few days and there is so much to tell you about.  I forgot about some stuff from the other day that I thought you might find interesting.

The Platters (two fat guys, a blind guy and one with an incredibly bad hair piece plus a gal who looked like she stuck her finger in a light socket) performed again and this time we danced and also joined the conga line dancing around the theater.  Now why is this important to mention?  This is the first time since my back surgery that I have danced.  It was a very special time as it was the night of my five month anniversary of the surgery.  It is so hard to believe that just a short time ago I could barely function without help and here I am now dancing.  Michael wouldn’t let me boogie to the really fast stuff, but this was a good beginning.

On the way from Bali to Manila, we sailed in a stretch of water off the coast of Borneo that is a haven for pirates.  Now I know that I have done the pirate story in the Gulf of Aden and I couldn’t hope to pull off another yarn spun out of my fertile imagination, but we were on pirate watch again.  The fire hoses were made ready on Deck 5 and security was on watch round the clock for the time it took us to transit the area.  Small skiffs were sighted and they were reportedly menacing large ships.  There was no general muster or fuss made about the preparations, nor were the decks closed to passengers.  Are we having fun yet?  Pirates, earthquakes, and now tsunamis.

I try to write things in order as they happen, but today is not one of those days.  Let me assure you that we heard about the earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami predicted for the Philippines – we are OK.  I will describe more details about it later on.  

When we arrived in Manila, immigration agents boarded the ship to clear everyone (including crew) for entry into the country.  We had to go in front of an agent and claim an entry card.  This occurs in many countries, and so no big deal.  But there was something that I had never experienced before -- a heat sensitive body scan to make sure you weren’t sick with H1N1 or the like.  We walked by a table with a guy holding a machine that looked like a hand held police radar.  Too bad it didn’t do mammograms!

Our cabin steward, Victor, was so excited because he gets to see his family for the short time we are here in Manila.  We gave him two days off so he could get his work done early, and several other passengers have done likewise.  We develop a special relationship with the stewards/stewardesses as they really get to see us in our natural state.  I try to keep a clean and tidy room, but that’s just me.  I have been in other rooms and I am sad to say, they have a very hard job cleaning up behind some very messy people.  Speaking of messy people…..

My next door neighbor, the arts and crafts instructor and her friend, got kicked off the ship.  Pow, just like that.   She wasn’t due to get off until Rome, two months from now.  The ship sent stewards to help her pack up her belongings.  They gave her a ticket home for the next day and had her spend the night in a hotel.  I don’t know how the companion was treated as we were off the ship when she returned from a tour.  All I know is that Victor was stripping the room first thing this morning.  The companion was a nutcase, demanding this and that and pissing off the passengers.  There had been numerous complaints and problems about them, but the swiftness of the boot was scary.

Life in a tiny fishbowl is magnified.  As we walked down the stairway from the ship to the dock for our tour, one of our bridge ladies was on the pier in a wheelchair.  She had just returned from the hospital after having an agonizing muscle spasm attack.  They gave her rest and drugs.  Yep, I know that routine.  Another bridge lady is a doctor who told me to forget about going to a regular doctor for my foot because they will take an x-ray and say nothing is wrong.  She is a physiatrist, a physical medicine specialist, who gave me some referrals to doctors in Seattle.  She thinks that one of the joints in my foot is wacky since the back surgery because I am probably walking differently.  I could have a pinched nerve or the bones are rubbing or some such thing.  It is incredible what you learn on a ship and more incredible yet are the people you meet.

Using my new handy little notebook, I took so many notes about Manila and the Philippines that I don’t even know where to begin so I am going to try a different way to describe things.  Michael and I were able to get on a tour of Old Manila (he was escort, I was passenger).  I like when we go on tour together because he carries everything.  We visited the following places:

Rizal Park – a beautiful park where the remains of the national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, lie beneath a monument near the spot where the Spanish executed him.

The old walled city of Intramuros -- a 4.5 kilometer wall with a moat, built to protect the Spanish settlement from the Filipinos and Chinese. The moat was filled in by the American forces during WWII because it was a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Today, the moat area is now a golf course.

Fort Santiago – Spanish fort started in 1571 and was completed 150 years later; it became a prison and during WWII, POWs were kept here; today it is a park.

San Agustin church – the country’s oldest structure, dating back to 1571. This has never

been destroyed or damaged, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Casa Manila – a reconstructed 19^th century mansion.

Ilustrado’s Restaurant – it was air-conditioned and I even had a beer.

It was a busy afternoon, but before we left, when the tours congregate in the theater to wait our turn to leave the ship and go to our bus, I mentioned to Ginger about my foot.  She said she had some ointment that is good for aches and pains.  With nothing to lose, I said I would try it.  She applied it to my foot because I couldn’t reach the area and goes, “oops, I put a little too much on.  I hope it doesn’t burn.”  No, it was ok.  Well, about the time we got to the church, my foot was on fire.  I had to take off my shoe and try to water it down.  She profusely apologized about the burning sensation and off-handedly remarked that they use it on horses!  Yep, I get it.  I couldn’t stop stomping my foot trying to put the fire out.  Maybe that’s why horses run so fast.  You don’t feel the pain because the fire on your foot is all that you can feel.  Sorry, Ginger, I had to get a few digs in but know that I love you anyway.

The bus dropped us off about a five minute walk to the ship.  My foot was really hurting as I walked back to the ship.  I was soaking wet from sweat and I was sure I stunk.  It was very warm and humid and we did a lot of walking on the tour.  I got the bright idea to take the shuttle to the mall so I could get shoe inserts and new socks to maybe ease the pain in my foot.  But that meant walking to the ship and then walking right back to where the buses were.  We had about an hour to cool off before heading back out with Pepper and Jim.

The shuttle bus ride to the mall took us along the waterfront on Manila Bay.  This is an attractive and active area and esplanade with no beach.  It went on for miles with parks, playgrounds, picnic areas, and plenty of places for tents and celebrations.  At night, it is gaily lite with colorful and interesting shaped light fixtures.  The Mall of Asia was a good 25 minutes from the ship and we saw plenty of the new city while in transit.  We passed the US Embassy, which goes on for blocks and blocks. We passed an amusement park; one of the features was a winter funland experience. 

We were surprised when we arrived at the mall – it was HUGE.  I later found out it is the fourth largest mall in the world (we have been to the Mall of America, Dubai Mall, now Mall of Asia; we are missing the mall in Toronto so we have been to three out of the four largest malls in the world).  Where to start….. this was an indoor mall with air-conditioning and surrounding this was the outdoor but covered mall.  It was extremely clean, with no trash or litter. There was an IMAX theater, a bowling alley, an ice skating rink, a concert stage, a kids museum, and more places to eat in this one area than one could eat at in a year.  Plus, everything was in English (more about that later); it was like being in an American mall except there were some different and interesting stores, and the usual assortment of American mall stores.  There was security at each entrance to the enclosed mall, with a line for females and one for males.  They checked bags and purses for females, and gave a gentle body search around the waist to the men.  At one point in our journey around the mall, there was a marching band!  The Mall of Asia marching band to be precise, just walking around playing their tunes.  It was about a 15 piece band.

The large department store was staffed by young clerks in uniforms who were so polite and friendly it was like being in an altered reality.  There had to be hundreds of them just waiting to help you.  I bought the inserts at a sporting goods store and some socks at the department store.  The flip flop shoe section was the size of a regular shoe store.  Deborah, you would go crazy here.  Almost everyone wears them, even when riding on motorbikes. Prices were a little on the high side but not too unreasonable.

It was time for dinner, but there were so many places to choose from we had a hard time making our selection.  Every American food chain is represented here.  There is a preponderance of fast food restaurants and were told that is because they are cheap and the average person only makes about $10/day.  We decided to eat at Max’s, “the name that put fried chicken on the map.”  KFC is everywhere you go here so we decided to try the local version.  First off, no mashed potatoes – you get either rice or sweet potato fries (they taste very different from what I have had in the US), no cole slaw type of stuff.  The chicken doesn’t come in pieces, it comes whole.  We ordered a family chicken and got one whole chicken chopped into four quarters – leg/thigh/back (2) and breast/wing (2).  It was a very small chicken by our standards.  It was good, but even the chicken tastes different than ours.  We capped off the meals with a DQ Blizzard.

We were dragging fanny so decided to go back to the ship.  After the long five minute walk from the bus to the gangway, I barely had enough energy to get back to our room.  After a quick shower, we changed and went to the National Philippine Dance Company show.  It was a spectacular show with beautiful costumes, with a lot of Spanish style dancing and music.  It was worth the effort to get there and I am glad I didn’t miss it because I running on fumes.

Day two in Manila had us on a Modern City tour, mostly just riding around the city.  The highlight was our stop at the American Cemetery, the largest American cemetery outside of the US, where 70,000 military members from WWII are buried.  The memorial was a moving sight, and the mosaic murals of key battles from WWII and the Asian theater were unbelievable. 

Our departure from Manila has been delayed by at least six hours.  The fuel barge was not able to take on fuel while the tsunami warning was in effect.  So instead of leaving at 6pm with a sail away party and local musicians bidding us adieu from the dock, we get to leave at 1am  which will delay our arrival in Keelong, Taiwan by half a day.  There was really no effect here in Manila from the tsunami as the bay is on the east side of Luzon Island and was not vulnerable.

I have taken copious notes about the history of Manila and the Philippines.  I will make it short.  The Spaniards were here for 300 years, so there is an incredible amount of Spanish influence in everything from language to culture to food.  However, the national language is Tagalog, not Spanish.  English is the primary language for instruction in schools and business so that is why everything is in English here.  Driving around, especially in the new section and in the central business district, you could be in any American city.  The Filipinos have liberally borrowed from other European cultures, and most of the government, infrastructure, education, and housing systems are based on the American model.

Some 7,107 islands make up the country of the Philippines (population 19 million).  Luzon Island is the largest and Manila, with 10 million population, is the capital.  85% of the population is Roman Catholic and the church has an inordinate amount of sway over people and politics.  For example, divorce is not allowed but legal separation and annulment is. 

So much of what defines the Philippines is her military history of war and occupations, especially during the time of the Japanese occupation of 1941-45 and WWII.  Much of Manila was destroyed and many of her people were tortured and killed.  The Philippines was liberated from Japanese occupation in 1945 by General MacArthur.  Fernando Marcos was dictator from 1965 to 1986.  He was overthrown and now they have an American-based democracy.

Here are just a few miscellaneous facts for fun.  The most popular and cheapest mode of public transportation is the jeepney.  That’s right, the jeepney, not the jitney.  The American army left behind their jeeps when the war was over.  Enterprising people bought the jeeps and cobbled together a sort of mini-bus.  They are independently owned and are customized; some are quite striking while others are outrageous.  The jeepney stops and you hop in the back.  They run on diesel and are a big cause of pollution.  While they have specific routes, a visitor would be well advised to steer clear of these because you can’t tell which one goes where. 

The country is named for King Felipe of Spain.  Do you wonder why the Philippines is spelled with a P and the people are called Filipinos?  Philip is the angelized version of Felipe.  The oldest hotel in Asia is the Manila Hotel, where General MacArthur had his headquarters during WWII.   

The traffic is horrible.  Foreigners cannot own land, but can buy condo or invest in businesses.  Imelda Marcos, the shoe lady, was a former Miss Manila.  Schools train nurses here for export to US.  The city is relatively clean; people collect twigs from the parks and make brooms with them and you see them all about the city sweeping sidewalks and parks.  They put pork in the hamburger meat to make the hamburgers sweeter.  A rental car comes with a driver; that is so you won’t steal the car.  The people seldom eat bread; they eat rice even at breakfast.  They carve beautiful furniture out of mango and acacia wood. 

            

The Cancelled Day

For only the second time since we have been cruising has a destination been cancelled.  We were supposed to be going to Sandakan, Malaysia but due to the late departure from Bali we are unable to reach the bar in time to cross at high tide.  Even at high tide we would have had only 1.5 feet of water under the props, and so literally there was no room for error.  We are now on our way to Manila, where we will arrive early, and so all the tours, both in Manila and Taiwan, have to be rescheduled as the days in port have changed.  I would hate to be working in the excursion office today as all the changes that need to be made must be a nightmare.

So that means that we work tomorrow.  Michael and I have been playing everyday now, but not with each other.  This one won’t play with that one, and this one wants to play with me but not her …. You get the drift.  So to make the passengers happy, we play.  I spend most of my day sitting in the bridge lounge in very uncomfortable chairs.  By the end of the day my back is so fatigued, but there is virtually no pain.  Dr. Hsiang did a great job!  Now I just wish my foot would stop hurting.

We crossed the equator today so we are back in the northern hemisphere.  There was a ceremony and party to mark the occasion.  The cruise director and his staff have done a wonderful job planning some interesting activities.  Last night they turned the restaurant where the breakfast and lunch buffet is located into Jimbo’s Diner, ala a truck stop.  The staff and dancers dressed up in trashy costumes, “smoking” cigarettes and drinking beer.  The atmosphere was loose and fun and we had a great time.

We played a few hands of bridge after dinner with Pepper and Jim before going to the show.  We had to do something to keep awake as the shows don’t start until 9:30pm.  Well, I am glad we managed to stay up for the show because it was the best one we have seen on this cruise.  We saw the World Famous Platters, the singing group from the late 50s/early 60s – from Smoke Gets in Your Eyes fame.  No, they are not the original members, but they were pretty damn good.  They really had the place jumping, and in this geriatric environment that’s really saying something.  People were singing along and dancing in the aisles.  They led the crowd in the “love train,” a conga line bopping around the theater.  We took a tour down memory lane remembering my prom, our first date, etc. and finished off the evening with a slow dance.  It was a lovely day.

Bali

Bali was a bust.  It seems as though I am destined to get the worst described excursions at any stop.  I was originally excited about escorting a beach resort excursion, but how can you have a beach resort with no beach!???  If only I’d known…. I should let Michael pick the excursions for me from now on.  I know that I seem to complain a lot, but I have either not been able to participate in excursions I would like because of my recent back surgery, or I have just been plain unlucky in the draw.  I am going to try and change at least the luck part.

We anchored in Padang Bai bay.  The tides were critical to the ship’s timing for arriving and departing as well as tendering into the pier.  There wasn’t much water under the keel.  Therefore, they decided not to load the tenders to capacity so it took longer to get everyone to shore for their excursions.  I had to report for duty at 7:25 am!!!   Good grief; that is the middle of the night.  I suppose it wasn’t too much of a problem as I have been waking up at 3:18 am for the past three nights – not 3:19 or 3:20, but 3:18.  We have had time changes for the past four days, so I guess my body is screwed up.  Hahaha, it is anyway!

Well I digress, so back to the story.  The escorts tendered to shore along with lots of luggage as people were disembarking today.  We were greeted with musicians and lovely young ladies tossing potpourri or flower petals in the air as we walked up the pier.  The guides were waiting in a long line along the pier wearing their uniform of a shirt, sarong and a swatch of blue cloth tied around the head.  I had 11 people on my bus; the bus was larger than a mini bus and much smaller than a regular bus.  It held about 20 people.  What was different about the bus was as you moved toward the rear, the aisle got narrower and narrower to the point that only really skinny people could fit between the seats to get in back.  I have never seen anything like this before and believe me I have taken some really interesting vehicles on our trips.  At least the A/C was good and the bus was in excellent condition.




 We arrived at the resort at 8:45am and went looking for the beach.  There was NO BEACH.  There was a gross breakwater.  We were told that even if there was a beach we couldn’t swim.  They wouldn’t allow it because you could get hurt on the coral.  We should swim in the pool.  Uh, if I wanted a pool I could have stayed on board and not gone to the hassle of tendering.  The WHOLE point of the excursion was to go to the beach and swim in the ocean.  There was absolutely nothing to do.  We had a buffet lunch and then returned to the pier.  The highlight of this experience was feeding a scrawny cat and getting a ten minute neck massage.  I later learned that the coral reefs were dug up or destroyed when the resorts around the island were built thus destroying the beaches.  I have no information about other “beach resorts” on Bali, so if you are planning on coming here for vacation, do your homework.

I was trying to get a group together to hire a car for a private tour to at least see some temples after we got back to the pier, but decided against it when only Sonnie and I were game as the other people who had agreed backed out.  I didn’t feel safe doing this with a 4’10” mature lady (who doesn’t act too mature) and myself.  Besides, the area where the taxis were was so chaotic with street vendors shoving crap in your face and I was carrying two heavy backpacks.  I felt sorry for the people but it is really annoying.  This is an area with lots of poverty and unfortunately they don’t understand that they drive away people who would otherwise like to shop.

So here I am, back in my room all nice and clean with the rest of my time in Bali sitting on a boat, feeling cheated.

Tonight was the deck party.  This is a festive affair with lots of music and an elaborate buffet.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and it rained and there was bright lightning and thunder, but we had a nice time anyway.  The temperature was comfortable and the humidity was acceptable.  Our friends from Austin, Ginger and Neil, finally boarded the ship late today after a long and exhausting trip from Texas.  We planned this about nine months ago and the day finally arrived.

About Bali:

My view about Bali is very limited.  What I saw was slums; poor, rundown, shabby, disheveled buildings/homes with jungle growing around everything; and lots of trash everywhere marring the natural beauty.  Life seems to revolve around the Hindu religion with daily offerings to the spirits in the shrines and temples.  Temples I saw were rundown and unkempt but were elaborately ornate.  There are 612 villages on the island and more than 1,000 temples with a population of three million people; some villages have a temple for each spirit or god.  People live in compounds and many have private family temples.  Motor bikes are like gnats (and sound like them too as the bikes are only about 150cc so they are very slow).  They carry so many passengers and shopping bags that it is surprising that they are even maneuverable let alone safe. There is no speed limit, the roads are only two narrow lanes (one in each direction), and they drive like maniacs weaving in and out dodging trucks and busses; it was amazing that there are relatively few vehicle accidents, but the bikes are a different story.  The minimum wage is $200/month and if you are unemployed, the government pays you.  They eat lots of rice.  If the guide said anything more on our short ride to and from the “resort,” I couldn’t understand him.

Michael’s turn:

I had a great time!  Poor Beverly; “The Tale of Two Cruises” continues.  I really did have a most enjoyable, though long day in Bali, but at times I felt like Alice in the looking glass as the Balinese culture is so incredibly different from anything that I know.   First let me get in the requisite factoids.  There are 3.5 million people living in Bali, which obviously represents a very small percentage of the 240 million people who live in all of Indonesia.  95% of Balinese are Hindu while 2.5% are Christian and 2.5% are Muslim.  Again this contrasts greatly with the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Indonesia.  They make up 75% of the population which makes Indonesia the largest Muslim country in the world, by far!  Balinese have difficulty traveling in the rest of Indonesia as the Muslims discriminate against them, or worse.  The Muslims seem to like to bomb Bali from time to time.

Indonesia is made up of 15,667 Islands, 30 of which may be lost this year to “global warming.”  There are some 250 languages spoken here and 300 different ethnicities.  They even have a Chinatown in Bali!  There are two seasons in Bali – the wet season and the rainy season.  Seriously, and other than that the weather is about the same every day.  65% of the population of Bali is involved in agriculture, with tourism being the next largest industry.  This is amazing considering that the very first tourist didn’t arrive here until 1963. Wait, you haven’t heard anything yet.  They didn’t get electricity here until 1970!  Today, only 75% of the population has access to electric power.  Oh and get this, there are only four first names in Bali.  Depending on the order of birth you get one of these names, and that it – no exceptions!

The Hindu religion dominates everything here.  As you drive around town viewing the shops and factories the majority of them are making or selling religious implements, and here is why.  Every home in Bali contains a temple, and not just one temple, but a temple in each of the four corners of the home.  These are called “family temples.” Without them people would contact illness, and they all believe this.  Beyond the temples you see offerings left virtually everywhere – the front door, the mail box, on statues, and so on.  Now, beyond the family temples there are some 5,000 public temples in Bali and some of them are very large.  It costs quite a lot to support a religion like this and I noticed that every time our van would stop the guide would pay somebody.  I asked and found that he had to continually make contributions to whatever temple was close by.

One’s life in Bali revolves around religious ceremonies.  In fact, the word Bali means ceremony in Indonesian.  As you travel through the city you come across one procession after another and then you will see a static gathering which is usually a group celebrating something to do with their local temple.   Like in India, they have castes here and they are very difficult to break out of.  A woman can marry into a higher caste but to be accepted in that caste she has to agree to disown her parents and any other relatives in her original caste.  Of course they have arranged marriages here.  Cremation is a very, very big deal here and everybody does it.  The cremation rituals are long and very complex, and can cost the average family up to $30,000 US. 

The Balinese are really lovely and very friendly people.  In fact, they have three ways of addressing you:  polite, more polite and most polite, and their desire to please dominates much of their lives here.  Other things you see everywhere are motor bikes, their main form of transportation, and a million dogs.  I saw as many as four people on a single bike.  They drive like maniacs, paying absolutely no attention to stop signs or any other traffic safety device like dividing lines.  The roads are very narrow and people drive all over them.  At one point our driver had to pass a pickup truck taking two water buffaloes to the slaughterhouse.  I thought we were going to die for sure!

People here are allowed to have 2.3 children and own one dog.  The dog has to be collared and tagged because of rabies, and any un-collared dog is shot on the spot.  There is no such thing as empty space in Bali.  Every square inch is devoted to homes, business or farms.  It is extremely crowded and appears to be ancient.  This is actually deceiving as the preferred architectural style here is to make everything appear old even if it’s not.  I went to one temple that I though dated back to the ninth century; it turned out to be forty years old!

Our first stop today was at the ancient Court of Justice in Klungkung, which was adjacent to the Royal Palace.   It was beautiful and contained treasures virtually left out in the open to rot, such as hundred year old manuscripts.  By the way, the king who lived next door had 20 wives and built himself this huge, phallic shaped pillar right outside just so that everyone would know he was the man!  We then traveled to the artist’s hub of Ubud and stopped at an art gallery with marginally interesting works.  However, at the next stop, the Neka Gallery, we saw some fabulous works of art in many different mediums.  I was surprised to find some truly pornographic paintings on display for all to see.  The gallery was also laid out in the exact shape of a typical Balinese compound.  It turns out Balinese families live in compounds.  Yes, all the relatives live together and precisely where in the compound they live is all highly proscribed, and has been the same for centuries.  It reminded me somewhat of the Amish.

It was time for lunch and we stopped at the Tepi Sawah restaurant nestled on a hillside overlooking the canyon of the Ayung River.  Lunch was memorable.  We started with chicken satay and then moved on the crispy duck – the best I have ever had.  We were entertained by some lovely Balinese dancers.  It was then on to the Kehen Temple, one of the biggest in Bali.  I had to put on both a sarong and a sash in order to gain admittance, and to affirm, along with everyone else, that I was not sick.  It is considered bad luck for Hindus to let a sick person in their temples.  We next headed out to a plantation where they grow rice, vanilla, cloves, ginger, coffee, bananas and other things.  I had heard about this place before.  It is here where they feed the coffee beans to a species of cat (a very large cat), collect the cat feces and produce the actual coffee that they sell from these feces.  It has something to do with filtration.

Well, we were finally on our way back to the ship and got to pass by some elaborate rice paddies, and as we got close to the water, some black sand beaches.  Oh, did I mention that cock fighting it very big and legal here in Bali.  It is closely overseen by the government, but for reasons that I cannot explain.  As you drive around you see hundreds of these fighting cocks living in their own, very nice cages.

Is Bridge a Contact Sport?

Is bridge a contact sport?  I was ready to test that hypothesis out today.  Only my good breeding kept me from choking my partner.  My duties as assistant bridge instructor is not to instruct, but to play when someone needs a partner or to fill out a table.  I never pretend to be something that I am not – that is, I am not a great bridge player who plays all the wacky conventions.  I just play everyday bridge.  I know why this lady didn’t have a partner.  She complained bitterly when I missed a cue bid (whatever that is) and then personally attacked me for not being as proficient as “my title” indicated.  All she did was moan and groan every time I bid or passed.  I couldn’t win.  I was tempted to get up and tell her to shut up and then leave the room.  But I kept my mouth shut and just suffered (and threw eye rolls to Michael) and vowed never to get near her.  I did not sign up for abuse. 

There are a few who think they are hot shit and take ship bridge just too seriously.  We are there for some fun and a pleasant way to pass the day at bridge.  There was so much drama today.  Two partnerships broke up and I swear we were at a kindergarten playground – she/he did this/said that…. Blah blah blah.  Grow up people!!!  Michael had more “Director Calls” today than all last week combined.

Enough ranting about bridge.  Most of the people who come for the lessons and games have been a very loyal group.  We have made some good friends out of this group and have enjoyed their company.  There are a lot of world cruisers on this ship (cruising for five months straight from San Francisco to Southampton, England).  They are without a doubt, a friendly and unpretentious group.  Then there are the segmentarians, the ones that are on for part of the trip (like us); I find a lot of them to be snooty and not very friendly.  It makes for an interesting contrast in the haves versus the have nots.  The world cruisers have treated us like equals while a disproportionate group of segmentarians look down their noses at us with the name badges.  Of course, I am making generalizations but this has been my experience.

Tonight we had cocktails in the Grand Master Suite, the biggest suite on the ship.  Oh how roomy and you should see the size of the bathroom.  They also had an adjoining room (the same size as ours) for wine storage.  Yep, wine storage.  Gene and Tove are such warm and down to earth people.  Gene is a gentleman of the first order; they don’t make them like that anymore.  He wants to play bridge with me.  Is he crazy?

Jim and Pepper rounded out the table for six and we had a delightful dinner sharing stories and jokes.  Tove is a cat lady; she has 30 cats she takes care of (nine are inside cats).  They all have their own cathouse.  There are also dogs.  Between the vet bills, food and litter, she spends a small fortune on these rescue animals.

We are cruising to Bali and the water has been smooth and flat.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that this trend continues.  At 10pm tonight, it was very hot and muggy on deck.