Around the world in 113 days; our epic voyage.

‘LIFE is a journey, make the most of it’. Unknown.

 

Why do it? We looked forward to retirement but with no specific plan other than that we will not fade away. On the day after his retirement General Norman Schwarzkopf in charge of American soldiers in the Gulf War is quoted as saying “ Yesterday I commanded 100,000 troops, today I can’t even command my dog.” There are many exotic places in the world still to be discovered and this journey fulfilled a lot of those untold stories. We were left a quote almost every day relating to our journey and I’ll include some of the more pithy ones.

‘To me, travel is more VALUABLE than any stupid piece of bling money can buy’. Raquel Cepeda.

The trip started in Fort Lauderdale. Thankfully my wife had the foresight to allow a day in town before the cruise started. Because we left a day early we managed to avoid one of the most debilitating storms of the year which closed down New Jersey. Fort Lauderdale is well, Fort Lauderdale, quintessentially American, wide boulevards with large cars sprinting and lurching between traffic lights only be held up in another jam. It is the epicentre of ocean cruising closely rivalled by Miami. The city’s oceanfront is festooned with high-rise concrete blocks some as high as 30 stories or more. As a lifelong confirmed acrophobic (fear of heights) I could not imagine sitting out on the balcony at the top of these buildings looking down 100 feet or more. By the way vertigo is a term which is derived from the Latin vertiginosus which means to turn, hence it should be reserved for true rotatory dizziness. The port housing the behemoth cruise ships is slightly away from the busy centre of town. I find Florida confusing; on the one hand it is open sunny and somewhat welcoming but on the other hand sterile lacking charm and character.

Embarking on our ship Amsterdam was a tedious event with lines and lines of passengers but the receiving staff processed them relatively quickly.

“Do you have your yellow fever card?”  Asked the receptionist.

“Yes but we were advised at our age not to have the injection as it has more side effects than the disease” we answered. As we looked around we saw aging characterful faces with a variety of clothing reflecting previous cruises. We think of ourselves as a lot younger than the majority of the passengers until we pass by a mirror. The gangway was lined by glass; I hate this architectural phenomenon as I get systemic weakness and tachycardia (increase in heart rate) when exposed particularly when travelling through airports, Toronto airport being a particularly bad culprit. I don’t understand what the fascination with glass is and wish the offending architects could suffer as I do. On board our cabin is deck 2 with a window nicely above the water level but not high like the upper decks with the accompanying balconies to produce high-rise symptoms. The only initial requirement is the lifeboat drill and as normal there is always at least one person who does not understand the clear instructions to assemble at our designated station, but after some consternation she was found at the wrong station. I just hope we never have the situation of having to board the lifeboats in real life. The multiplicity of wheelchairs and motorized scooters as well as walking aids would make the evacuation a nightmare. On the other hand, as was pointed out, the cruise is a fantastic facility for those elderly and infirm who are living In their poorly functioning bodies with perfectly functioning brains. I understood that 75% of the passengers were over the age of 75 years.

Our luggage arrived as promised from our home in Canada but the four cases were impossibly large to store in our cabin. I said to our cabin steward “Robbie, our luggage is far too big for our cabin.” “Don’t worry I’ll take care of it” was his reply. To be fair when we came back to the cabin there was no sign of the luggage and only later did we find our cases hidden under the bed. “I suppose he’s done this once or twice before but I find it amazing” I said to my wife. So we only needed hand luggage for the trip from Nova Scotia to Florida.

‘I TRAVEL not to cross  countries off a list, but to ignite PASSIONATE AFFAIRS with destinations’.   The Cultureur.

After nightfall with minimal fuss the cruise left the dock unnoticed by the chattering diners making new acquaintances and renewing old. It was remarkable to see how often these professional cruisers met up with the reminiscences of previous adventures. As I write this we are passing the northern shores of Cuba soon to dock at Grand Cayman. Our cabin, our home for the next almost 4 months is quite adequate with a queen size bed and cleverly planned storage space for the amount of clothing needed for the voyage. A window gave us the reassuring view of the sea.  A television small desk and sofa completed the cabin as well as an en suite. Just think, no more wondering about what to cook or cleaning or finding entertainment for almost 4 months. Perhaps not a lifestyle but for a short time as a self retirement prize nothing can beat it. Others  make  cruising  a permanent lifestyle with up to 35 around the world voyages, but with a Presbyterian upbringing we find that difficult.

‘You lose sight of things… And when you travel everything balances out’. Daranna Gidel.

That night’s entertainment was a very creditable performance in tribute to the pop group ABBA. The audience for this was just about right demographically and my wife and others were up dancing away to the music bringing back memories of yesteryear. “It doesn’t matter what you do just do your own thing because you will never see the other passengers again” announced the leader of the band. The drummer offered to sing a ballad he had made up to the tune of ‘let it be’ lyrics of which were ’days at sea, days at sea’ in continuum reflecting the days at sea.

After two days at sea we arrived at Grand Cayman in conjunction with two other anonymous cruise liners and a downpour. Due to the limitations of docking all the ships are anchored offshore and the participating passengers are transported by tenders to shore. These boats double as lifeboats when necessary. We had previously visited Grand Cayman on a cruise but were somewhat disappointed with the banality of the local architecture and points of interest and opted to swim with the manta rays. They are very friendly and loved to brush by human forms giving both fish and man a thrill. The present weather precluded that. Most other tours involved scuba diving or some other sea sport. On this short trip we decided to continue with our book reading, sudoku and crossword puzzle solving. As it happened we discovered the memory card from our camera had disappeared and the rain stopped so we got on a tender and went ashore to Georgetown. Thankfully a memory card was bought to record our journey. . We had visited the island before and found it dowdy. Today it was even worse. I don’t know which is worse Nassau or Georgetown. They redefined the words cheap and tacky and full of tourist ‘tat’. Hamilton in Bermuda has gone downhill but not as much compared with these islands. The islands are named after a type of shark. I did not see any but there were many two-legged ones giving rise to the notoriety of a tax haven. Back on board my wife went to a lecture on how to understand Windows whereas I looked for the chess companion who had beaten me in three minutes the previous day for a fresh challenge. In the meantime my wife was developing a talent for trivia quizzes which are held several times a day.

‘If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your entries, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears’. Cesare Pavese.

It was interesting seeing our fellow passengers who were not particularly eclectic as almost all were successful retirees because working people could rarely take four months off. Being of Scottish descent I am a bit reticent for idle chitchat but my wife loves to meet people. In my previous job as a doctor I talked all day every day so I was too tired to talk after a heavy office. Indeed one American once told me I was a work in progress. On the other hand everybody has a story and it was occasionally interesting to share. Tonight it was a Gala night which meant dressing up in tuxedos and cocktail dresses which pleased my wife. I have to admit I required to loosen the waistband of my trousers. We were sat beside two emeritus professors of linguistics. This is where the egos began to shine. They talked incessantly about themselves. Try as we might we switched off. That was one of the problems with the seating arrangements at the formal dinner so we became much more selective about our dinner partners. The North Americans tend to exchange Christian names only and search for some commonality to prolong discussions as well as an earnest “you must come and visit us”.

‘If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal’. Paulo Coelho.

Another two days at sea and we arrived at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica which means rich coast. It was named by Christopher Columbus because of all of the gold owned by the natives but in fact the gold came from Peru. It is unique in the fact it has no army and depends on the benevolence of surrounding countries if one is ever needed. Its main export is technology followed by bananas and then coffee. We had briefly visited the country on a previous cruise but despite all the advertising for the booming economy and cheap housing on the Pacific seashore we eschewed further investigation. This cruise was not only interesting but informative. We learned that bananas develop from a rhizome in nine months from the shoot producing a bunch and the next year a different bunch. As our tour we opted for kayaking downriver in the jungle. In the surrounding heavy foliage we saw wildlife including birds as well as a sloth and monkeys. These latter have a tail used as a third hand and only found in North America. The two of us shared a kayak and required to paddle strenuously on our return upriver against the wind and found muscles which had been long forgotten. A refreshment at the end of the tour was in the form of a coconut with the surrounding copra and coconut chopped off at the top and a straw inserted to suck up the liquid inside. I had not seen this before. Overall we enjoyed the trip but it was not particularly stupendous.

 ‘Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world’. Gustave Flaubert.

The next day we entered the Panama Canal. From here on we were breaking new ground for the next several days. The Panama Canal was begun in 1904 after the revolution one year previously. It is a 80 kilometre waterway with a rise and fall of 85 feet and joins various lakes. Each ship moves 53,000,000 gallons of water and with 35 ships a  day water is a premium although the rainfall is 200 inches per year. Seventy five thousand workers were involved in making the canal and 25,000 died, mainly from yellow fever and malaria. They combated mosquitoes producing malaria with a mixture of oil and water. The Culebra cut was the most difficult to construct  going through mountains and subject to landslides producing multiple deaths. The locks pump water in and out to move the ships up-and-down. The lock gates are hollow making less strain on the hinges. Movement of the ships is aided by small train engines on the side of the canal pulling the ships forward.

The next stop was Panama City. We had no idea what this was going to be like and envisaged a small insignificant town but to our complete surprise Panama City has not only a long history but is a vibrant skyscraper bustling financial centre. We opted for a tour of the city with a tour guide who unfortunately did not have good English and had difficulty emphasizing important facts giving insignificant ones the same weight. We would have liked to know more about the importance to the world finances and industry. The walking tour was blistering and humid and the traffic as well as jack-hammers made hearing the tour guide almost impossible. Much of the city centre seemed to be under construction or rather reconstruction and the traffic disrupted our tour. At the end of this day we were very tired and dehydrated and needed to jump in the swimming pool on board to refresh.

The next eight days were spent at sea which in fact we both enjoyed thoroughly with lots of things to do. The sea was calm and it was cloudy. Initially on any cruise the temptation to overeat is incredibly tempting so I started doing a daily gym effort. Treadmill and weights were my tools to avoid weight gain and also I attended a bridge class to understand the basics of this challenging game. Lesley went to water colouring painting classes as well as drawing classes and developed great talent. Lesley was also keen on trivia quizzes but my only contribution was to correctly identify the reason for somebody who could not ride his horse somewhere in America, the answer being haemorrhoids. This by the way was also the reason for Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. The artist in residence teaching us how to draw was excellent and flamboyant reflecting his artistic personality. He taught the basics of shapes so that drawing portraits or other interesting scenes became easy. Unfortunately I cannot draw a straight line so I opted out of the drawing but was fascinated by his talks on the history of art. Microsoft employed someone on board to talk about their products. Unfortunately again I did not have the knowledge or expertise to fully benefit from these talks. My bridge lessons were getting complicated and I did not care for the teacher particularly so again I opted out this but played a simplified game with a pleasant American lady.” You don’t have to play that complicated team we are being taught, I have played for many decades in a simplified version which is just as enjoyable” she said. Another diversion was to ‘name that tune’. Some of Lesley’s trivia companions held a cocktail party in their upmarket cabin which was very pleasant meeting some other co-passengers. We crossed the equator for the first time but without any celebration which is a little disappointing but we crossed the equator on four occasions altogether so celebrations were withheld until the last one.

‘As you move through this life… You leave MARKS behind, however small. And in return life and travel leaves marks on you’. Anthony Bourdain.

There were interesting characters on board including Lynn a retired nurse who worked in the Congo, Bob and Marsha who owned an IT company, and Keas and Alexander who were nuclear physicists and computer experts. Robert and Bill were a retired gay couple who Lesley joined doing trivia and were great companions throughout the voyage. These two were almost professional cruisers. They had booked another cruise just after this one. In fact there was one lady who had been on a world cruise 35 times. Apparently she never worked a day in her life. Jackie an over 80-year-old American retired teacher was sharp as a tack and taught me a lot about bridge and in return I taught her Sudoku.  Lesley enjoyed the trivia questions but I was somewhat inflamed when the so-called answers were wrong so I decided to forgo that pleasure. I found the majority of the Americans were pleasant and outgoing but was to find later on this was not for all Americans. There was a gala night tonight followed by a masked ball. It sounds very exotic and exciting but in fact there were far too many people for the dance area and when we danced our seats were taken as soon as we turned round. There was no point in arguing so and confrontation usually ends up negative so we decided to return to our cabin and watched a movie.

Another day at sea with bridge and I attended the Microsoft tutorial on how to Skype and make interesting photographs. Another day at sea and the evening entertainment was absolutely dreadful with dancing and singing. Not being an expert in Opera, although I had experience of seeing opera singers as an ear nose and throat surgeon when they attended Edinburgh Festival, even I could tell the singers could not hold a note. I was reliably informed that this was vibrato but this was very poor. However Lesley enjoyed them.

‘We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, their souls”. Anais Nin.

Our next stop was TAIOHAE, NUKU HIVA in French Polynesia. At last land. It was roasting and bright and we awaited tenders to take us on over to our tour.  We were greeted on the dock by beautiful traditionally dressed ladies with accompanying Hawaiian style of music. In fact this welcoming became routine at subsequent ports. The surrounding scenery was lovely with mountains rising steeply and covered with trees. We climbed into a 4 x 4 vehicle. The road we took was very high and winding with a precipitous drop. Unfortunately the driver could only speak French so I tried my best with schoolboy French that was not particularly successful. We drove up high and then down into the valley to palm trees and coconut groves. The scenes have proven to be a backdrop for several movies. We were told that the tourism industry was in its infancy which became obvious from the lack of interesting stops. I was very disappointed with the whole trip but again Lesley enjoyed it. This trip was particularly overpriced which detracted from the experience. We were told that Herman Melville the author of Moby Dick and Typee was stimulated to write the latter novel from his experience on the island so he obviously enjoyed his stay.

Thereafter followed a succession of putting the clocks back between 30 minutes and one hour every two or three days.

‘Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life’ Paul Theroux.

‘When was the last time you did something for the first TIME’. Live learn evolve.

Another day at sea and then we arrived at Rangiroa. This is a small island still in French Polynesia and unfortunately on the Sunday we arrived most things were closed. So we walked from the beach into the town which is very small. We commented on the sea which was a deep azure blue washing up on the coral beaches. Not a lot there.

‘When in doubt, TRAVEL’. Anonymous.

The next stop was Papeete,  Tahiti which was fiery and humid. We had high expectations of this visit but unfortunately they were not met. On our tour we visited the house of James Norman Hall who was an adventurer soldier, a highly decorated pursuit pilot, famous author, essayist, poet and beloved father. He authored at least 16 novels and co-authored 12 novels. Several movies have been based on the island including Mutiny on the Bounty three times, The Hurricane twice and others. There are 118 islands in French Polynesia, 70 are inhabited of whom six were noted as the Society Islands founded by Capt. Cook. Overall there was not a lot to see although the vistas were spectacular. Unfortunately Papeete itself is very touristy and cheap and tawdry similar to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Grand Cayman.

‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page’. St. Agustine.

Morea, our next stop, was a beautiful island and we decided to take a catamaran tour. Overall it was a lovely day. We were late getting to the tender as our watches were running slow. The excuse could be the number of time changes we made on our voyage because going west we encountered multiple losses of 30 minutes to an hour with the time changes. Thankfully the catamaran waited for us at a distant pier. The wind was high and the hulls pushed through the increasing swell and white horses. After about half an hour of thrusting through the oncoming wind we headed starboard to a beautiful bay giving us a respite from the conditions. Our tour guide proceeded to tell us the legend behind the formation of the nearby islands. A God stood on Tahiti and hurled a spear through Moorea’s Mountain leaving a hole near the summit which is seen today and took the displaced rock further on to make another island. We then turned and sailed with the wind. The sensation brought back very fond memories of my time in Bermuda with a slap of the waves against the hulls, the sun, the incidental spray, at one the feeling of freedom reminiscent of Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.  The soporific undulations reviving basic human reactions in infancy to a mother’s nursing.  Oh, how I miss those halcyon days with friends, laughter and problems disappearing albeit only briefly forgotten. These sensations were topped by a sharp refreshing snorkel. Lesley found some Maori statues called teki in the water as well as fluorescent fish and I saw a manta ray.” That was great,  I really loved seeing all these fishes in the warm water. Again just like Bermuda.” She said. A refreshing rum punch sealed the tour.

‘Explore, dream, discover’. Mark Twain.

Bora Bora is in fact pronounced Pora Pora as there is no B in the Tahitian language. It is a nice group of islands with beautiful views but expensive. On our bus tour there were few places of interest and we were disappointed to see the poor houses with corrugated tin roofs as a result of the recurrent hurricanes which frequent the South Pacific. The sea approach is by a single channel but the port became important following the bombing of Pearl Harbour in World War 2. We were invited to refresh at the Bloody Mary restaurant which has been visited by many celebrities but were shocked at the prices so they did little business with our tour group.

The next day at sea meant an interesting talk of the geology of the South Pacific and the drawing class sketched Michelangelo’s David.

Raratonga, one of the Cook Islands, was difficult to approach with no anchorage and a heavy swell . No walking aids apart from canes were allowed on the tenders which was unfortunate for the disabled so only those who could walk could enjoy the island. It was originally an English colony and got its independence in 1968. Cars drive on the left. Our bus tour showed us some lovely sights but few places of interest. Another sea day followed.

‘I need vitamin SEA’. Anonymous

Next stop was Alofi Niue. Again  a small island with a sea swell making the landing difficult. Religion is important so as it was Sunday we were told not to swim near the church. As expected there was very little to see but we took a picture of government house and a law firm suggesting that if all fails my son and stepson could take their profession there. If truth be  told  overall our visits to Polynesia did not meet our expectations. We had followed the advertisements for the luxurious lifestyle of the islands but as I had discussed with a previous tourist the South Pacific is a very large place and the travel is not rewarded by actuality. Perhaps there was a  certain  sameness about the islands in a similar vein to the Caribbean islands.

Unfortunately I overdid the gym and hurt my back resulting in agony requiring heavy analgesia. We both slept well that night and crossed the international dateline which meant Monday, January 29 did not happen. All of a sudden we are in Tuesday and January 30. That is a loss of a day  going  East to West, going West to East gains a day which would mean two Mondays. Confusing? I stopped being gluttonous only having one course at breakfast and lunch and managed to lose 4 pounds. The captain who regaled us on a daily basis about the meteorological and navigational details warned us we are about to be hit by a gale and to stow everything tight. As it so happened there was some rain and increased swell but not nearly as bad as advertised and we hoped it would stay that way. Unfortunately the next day the rain became heavier and the swells increased. We were told we were caught between two systems between Australia and Rarotonga. The next day the swells became less and without rain. The sun came out and Lesley modelled jewellery at a fashion show on board.

Two more days at sea brought us to Auckland, New Zealand. I had mixed emotions revisiting the city where I sat the inevitable exam and became a fellow of the Australasian College of Surgeons. It was 35 years since I had last been there and obviously there’s a lot of new development. Both Australia and New Zealand have very strict laws about importing food so none was allowed from the ship. We docked in Queen Street  which is in the heart of the city and really it could be anywhere. There’s a lot of construction and high-rises all over. The population of New Zealand has now reached 4.2 million, when I was there it was only 3 million. Auckland itself has 1.4 million. It has been built on 147 volcanoes but no very large ones. There is a huge farmland area in the middle of the town called Cornwall Park, a great lung for the city. We took a private tour through their congested streets almost like driving in London England. There are lots of small areas and villages within the city and the horizon is dominated by the Sky Tower. House prices in the city range up to NZ$1 million or more but they are more reasonable elsewhere. I recall New Zealand used to be a haven for vintage cars or just plain old cars but now apparently Japan offloads its cars when they reach the age of eight years and sends them to New Zealand with the result now there are lovely rust free automobiles on the roads. New Zealand is now a multicultural society including Polynesians, Americans, Canadians and British. It is interesting that Chinese immigrants cannot buy  a  house , they have to build a house. I remember the paranoia about the potential Chinese overwhelming immigration to New Zealand. Our tour guide was very proud that New Zealand won the America’s Cup in Bermuda last year. Now Dubai wants to host next Cup at the cost of many billions. Now at least half of the crew must be from the country they are representing. Also only single hulls are allowed.

‘To travel is to awaken’. Lily Tsay.

Tauranga

This is a huge port servicing most of New Zealand. We took a bus tour to the other side of Rotorua to see the world-renowned steaming thermal pools. I had previously visited Rotorua with nearby thermal pools so cannot understand why we had to travel to the other side of Rotorua. I am very cynical about the tours and wondered what deal had been made. Eventually after some considerable time the bus pulled up on the wrong side of a lake and we had to pay $36 to get in the boat across the lake to the geysers. The hillside display was reasonable but not fantastic. Lesley went right to the top of the hill to take a panoramic picture. We had a quick sandwich, then bus began its return stopping at Wai-o-tapu a much closer thermal pool. For another $30 we could see this one but opted not to although it is said to be much prettier. Further on we stopped to take pictures of bubbling mud. There was not much to see  in  Rotorua town itself. We returned to the ship in time to miss the emergency drill but Lesley managed her trivia.

‘The JOURNEY is the DESTINATION’. Dan Eldon.

A visit to Te Puke , the kiwifruit capital of the world it is claimed, informed us of the different types, green and gold. We also learned that growing avocados is facilitated by grafting the rootstock similar to grape cultivation.

‘WANDERLUST. A strong desire for our impulse to wander or TRAVEL and explore the world’. Anonymous

The next port was Napier, North Island which is a lovely seaside town with a delightful esplanade.   It’s  main business is tourism. The grape industry was just beginning at my first visit but this has burgeoned enormously. A large export is pinewood. Overall it was a lovely day with lovely people.

‘TRAVEL is FATAL to prejudice bigotry and narrowmindedness’. Mark Twain.

Another day at sea before Dunedin. We were delayed in docking because another cruise ship, twice our size, had docked first and the wind made the manoeuvre tricky. Again there was a high gangway with glass sides but the more I was exposed to heights the marginally easier it became. A bus took us to the centre of the town from the dock in about 20 minutes. I had had high expectations of the city because of its close relation to our birthplace Edinburgh. Overall I was disappointed and felt from the architecture we could be almost anywhere apart from the municipal building, the Cathedral and the statue of Robert Burns. There was very little to remind us of our home town. The railway station was pleasing to the eye, but the showers on and off made us feel cold. The bright spot was lunch at the Best Café which served up the nicest fish and chips I can remember. Having nearly put the rest of my life in this land I have mixed thoughts about returning. The land is beautiful,   picturesque , green and almost idyllic if it were not for the people. Outwardly friendly but there lies an undercurrent of an inferiority complex to the rest of the world. Geographically isolated it is an impossible distance from anywhere. Thirty five years has seen a large step forward to join the planet with high-tech and better cars. Given the bad treatment I was shown here on my previous visit and the intellectual barrenness I doubt it could have been a long-term solution to my career. I remember I was greeted by my new colleague in Palmerston North having travelled from the UK with four children aged five downwards with the words “go home there is nothing here for you”. He then tried to get me fired but was unsuccessful. In fact he was a dangerous surgeon and I had to bail him out on several occasions to avoid him leaving a patient to die. I reported this to the powers that be in the hospital and was told if I tore up the letter I had written I would be made head of department whatever that meant. I refused to do this. Having said that I’m not sure of my choice of returning to Edinburgh was wise.

 

‘We WANDER for distraction, but we TRAVEL for fulfilment’.  Hilarie Belloc.

Our next sojourn was to the Fjord National Park on the West Coast of South Island. The iconic fjord is the Milford Sound. There are several sounds nearby but this one is the most spectacular. The sides are unbelievably steep sheer out of the water with snowcapped ridges. An  incredible  sight. The mountains rise more than 3000 feet perpendicularly. It was named after Milford Haven in the UK. Nearby there are several islands which have been rendered pest free to encourage near extinct birds such as the Takahe bird to flourish.

‘Once a year, GO SOMEPLACE you’ve never been before’. Dalai Lama.

 

Welcome to Sydney! The crossing of the Tasman Sea was fairly calm and the only thing of note was a previous New Zealand Prime Minister nicknamed Piggy Muldon who is quoted as saying ‘every time a New Zealander crosses the Tasman Sea the average IQ of both countries goes up’. The harbour is one of the most beautiful in the world according to Capt. Jonathan Mercer. We approached at dawn with an overcast sky and most of the guests accumulated on the veranda deck. Amazingly rude a lot of these passengers were who commandeered a superior photographic position and refused to let others to take their photographs. Disembarkation was a trial for me with my acrophobia. The exit was from deck three necessitating walking through the glass enclosed walkway down 2 stories then on to an escalator. Queues and lines were inevitable with passports presented by ourselves and then reclaimed by the Holland America personnel. Our tour bus took us to the Sydney Opera House. There is a picturesque tourist type walkway providing excellent views of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge which some of our recently acquired ‘friends’ set off to climb to the top.  Crazy. The tour to the opera was compromised because it was the opening night of Carmen and the main theatre was used for a rehearsal and therefore out of bounds for us. What a disappointment to be shown backstage with no opportunity to sample the acoustics of the operatic auditorium. The building’s architect was Jorn Utzon whose original concept apparently came to grief on several points, including finance, being rejected by the panel of judges deciding the format in the 1950s. However he was forgiven and eventually finished off the job. The featured lines of the roofs are well recognized across the globe and set in the Sydney Harbour backdrop to complete a magical and majestic command of the area. The tour of the opera house was extremely disappointing, particularly as we were overrun by myriads of Chinese. The bus then drove through the hinterland of the city of 4.2 million population bringing back reminiscences of villages and suburbs of London England. The city seemed stretch interminably up to 50 km we were informed. Some of the suburbs seem to be very expensive, nice but not awe-inspiring. Eventually we arrived at the world-renowned Bondi beach. Despite having seen pictures I was still gob smacked at the extent of the beach and the volume of exposed flesh of the younger generation. There seemed to be no inhibitions in sun tanning; I wonder if they have ever heard of melanoma? On the land side of the beach are several cafés.  Passing by brought back memories of the cacophony of a gannet colony on a sea-based rock. The gaggle was an overwhelming babble, incomprehensible although the players seem to understand each other perfectly well. A delayed but rapidly ingested cheeseburger and a beer drunk in the wrong unlicensed Café sufficed to assuage the pangs of hunger and hypoglycemia stimulated grumpiness. Altogether Sydney came over as okay but the traffic was unbelievable and not a place I would like to return to. As typical of a teaming metropolis downtown is marked by high-rise offices and residences with some genuine classic architecture of the beginnings of the colony. It was noticeable that the street names reflected those of the founding fathers of the city from England. In April 1770 James Cook landed at Botany Bay. Sydney was first founded on 26 January 1788 when 11 ships with 1400 people convicts, soldiers and others landed at the Rocks where they first erected their tents. It has now become an upmarket suburb. We overnighted at Sydney Harbour and the next day ventured back into the city. Great waves of humanity spilled out onto the streets. My wife left me to go shopping so I had the opportunity to study the onslaught. Pretty young and unattached teenage girls daring to bare as much flesh as was decent, young moms pushing their babies in prams and walkers, different tones of skin, many language snippets and all wanting to be seen rather than actually shop. And like any other large city with the pleasant anonymity of not caring about best behaviour. In another pedestrian precinct street performers pedalled their trade – guitar players, conjurers and immobile statues. Men are from Mars and there is no shopping there. By the time we got back to the ship it was too late to do any other tours so we looked forward to cast off heading to our  port in Tasmania. The Sydney tour was bad. We didn’t get to see the main auditorium of the opera house with acoustics and we have liked to see. The tour in the town was on the bus and the buildings only noticed enpassant. My suggestion is if the opera is not fully open to tailor the tour to see more architecture. It never ceases to amaze me how these extremely high-rise offices can be built immediately adjacent to water. Obviously it works but the engineering and geology and architecture are amazing.

‘Travel while you are YOUNG and able. Don’t worry about the MONEY, just make it work. EXPERIENCE is far more valuable than money will ever be’. Anonymous

Each city we had visited seemed similar except some landmarks. Is this the Western influence to normalize everything to be the same?

‘Take every CHANCE you get in life, because some things only happen ONCE’. Karen Gibbs.

We were going through the Bass Strait when typically the weather started acting up. At first the seas were only slightly choppy when we arrived in Hobart , Tasmania ,under clouds but entered a beautiful harbour. It is very protected and ideal for this purpose. Thankfully the gangway was only from deck one so it was not too anxiety provoking. We decided to do a hop on hop off bus which in theory was a good idea. The city was very pleasant with an excellent pedestrian precinct but otherwise not noteworthy. The next bus was never coming around so we walked back to the ship.

The weather started closing in and a storm force 5 to 6 was planned for Hobart so Capt. decided to give Port Arthur a miss and went to the east of Tasmania in the lee. The seas were a bit rough so the ship was slowed down and headed into the wind in a northwesterly direction towards Kangaroo Island. The storm built up with lots of rain and from deck nine the panoramic view was obscured. Overnight I lost my pencil sharpener overboard into the depths of the Bass Strait! What a disaster, I could not continue my blog with blunt pencils. The Valentine ball was cancelled! I thought it would be nice for Lesley to have a dozen red roses which I ordered. The seas were getting heavier and with one bad lurch the red roses were careered across the cabin as was the glass vase. The seas became so bad it was dangerous to continue at 16 knots so we slowed to 3 knots and in fact hove to ie.  stopped. The boat was still very unstable but we were promised that things would settle next day. I thought our ship Amsterdam was fairly large to easily outride the storm but compared with some other cruisers it was referred to as the blue canoe. However there was no real panic on board and everybody was cleared from the outside decks. The next day the sea had settled a bit and we were informed by the captain the swell had been 26 feet with gale force winds. Apparently this area is very prone to bad weather. We went back up to 16 ½ knots steering to the West despite the increased swell and rain. It was overheard in the restaurant when the captain’s wife was asked at her evening meal ‘are you expecting your husband to join you for dinner?’ ‘Hell no, he’s on the bridge’. Clocks back again and I was so confused I did it twice. At last calm seas again and the speed increased to make up the time to get to Kangaroo Island.

‘I haven’t been everywhere but it’s on my LIST’. Susan Sontag.

‘To travel is to live’. Hans Christian Andersen.

Kangaroo island. This was a desolate small dorp so we decided not to go to town because of the bad reports. Despite the name of the island we never saw any kangaroos. There was a cold spreading throughout the ship and I think Lesley may have the beginnings. I have no idea why this port was chosen by previous passengers and I certainly voted against it on this occasion. This is Chinese New Year with lanterns and Chinese paraphernalia in the dining room where there is no need for formal dress as opposed to the waiter service in the other dining room where formal dress was required. I’m looking forward to going to Adelaide tomorrow. The entertainment tonight was awful and I left; Lesley thought it was wonderful.

‘TRAVEL in the younger sort, is part of EDUCATION, in the elder, a part of EXPERIENCE”. Francis Bacon.

Adelaide was a lovely  city  with  nice  wide  roads  and  well  laid out. Our tour took us to Cleland Park where we saw lots of different animals, and hand fed kangaroos. The quiche for lunch was absolutely fabulous and the views from  Mount  Lofty  over  the  city  were  superb . The population is 1.2 million. The stores and malls were much the same as anywhere else with Target and Woolworth’s. The port where we docked is neglected with vacant decrepit factories. Apparently two passengers were removed in handcuffs from the ship probably due to drugs and their state room was taken apart particularly in the ceiling. On the dock there were hundreds of new cars because the car industry has been withdrawn from Australia and all cars are imported.

‘To travel is to live’. Hans Christian Andersen.

Albany was the last place in Australia for troops going to World War I. It is a one horse town. At last the gangway was flat and short. Why  is it that physically disabled people are given priority while I have acrophobia and no one pays any attention to that? The bay we entered was very nice and possibly second only to Sydney. And the shore side Café had free Internet. The town population appeared to double when the ship docked. I don’t understand why the ship goes to these crummy places when over 800 voyagers are repeating and want to go to other ports. On the other hand some passengers liked small places. I personally like historic buildings and architecture. My suggestion is a different route for 2020 round the world voyage but I’m not sure if I really want to go on another.

‘No more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sundrenched elsewhere’. Isabelle Eberhardt.

‘Another day at sea and we arrived at Fremantle. We disembarked from deck three but the gangway was short and covered so not so anxiety provoking or perhaps I am becoming desensitized. Fremantle is a  port, the town is small and pleasant with some old buildings. Some of the warehouses have been converted and there are several new buildings. One of note is the roundhouse which was originally a prison. We took a train to the city of Perth. On our tour there we visited several millionaire residences and went on to Kings Park which was beautiful overlooking the Swan River. The Perth skyline is very impressive and there are several motorways connecting the city. It has beautiful new architecture with glass buildings and sensibly is not overcrowded. The bus service is free in Fremantle and Perth and although they are 12 miles apart the buildings are almost continuous. We stopped off at the beautiful  Cottisloe beach on the way home. Perth has a population of 1.4 7 million and the beaches were quite clean. Lesley felt that if she was 20 she would move there. “It’s got everything”. Again hundreds of cars were lined up on the wharf being imported. So that was the last of Australia and the next part of the voyage I hoped it would be a lot more interesting and different from Western society.

‘Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road’. Jack Kerouic.

Entertainment  that night were the so-called divas singing again to screeching levels. I suppose 75% of the audience had   a high tone sensorineural hearing loss and could not hear the high notes. Hearing aids proliferated. In fact there are very few places on board free of unnecessary so-called recorded music and even in the library people talk loudly at each other. In any event I lasted about five seconds for the entertainment. Even Celine Dion’s recording  was screaming, like bagpipes welcoming tourists; awful. I have tinnitus so probably suffer more than most.

My emotions and feelings for the first part of this around the world voyage were really unremarkable in that it seemed to be same old same old. I hope the next part will alleviate that ennui.

There were three sea days to Bali. My only claim to fame on the whole voyage was doing a sport in which I have zero interest and zero talent, golf. I happened across a lot of men standing in line down a staircase and then I realised Lesley was officiating at the men’s putting. I stood in line and when my turn came the course was to putt from several steps up the staircase down to the deck where the hole was. I putted in a desultory fashion and the ball trickled towards the hole and just at the moment critique the ship lurched and my ball fell in the hole!  A hole in one! I thought I was wonderful alas Lesley did not agree. In any event I resigned at the top of my game and resisted attempts to reproduce the miracle. I also turned down the offer to buy everyone on board a drink as I am told is the custom after a hole in one. Drinks for 1600 people would wipe out my budget and more!

The Capt. informed us we would be passing through pirate territory so we had to make some preparations. So we arrived at Bali the port being Benoa with a flat gangway, hurrah! We went on a privately organized tour but were delayed so missed the dancing we were supposed to see. We saw some weaving of cloths but as usual on the tourist trip it was a rip off. The thing that comes to mind is the struggle with the horrendous traffic overwhelming the road system with the incessant buzzing of motor bikes and scooters which apparently outnumber the actual population. Indonesia is a country with 70,000 islands but only 7000 are populated. The population is said to be 270 million and is said to be the third most populated nation. We were warned not use a credit card as the likelihood of this being copied was high. We then went to Sangeh monkey forest which contained interesting architecture with many temples, a distinctive green mould on rocks and hundreds of macaque monkeys. These are small, long tailed and omnivorous. Their main foods are sweet potato, banana, papaya leaf, corn, cucumber and coconut. One tried to pick my breast pocket, another sat on my hat on top of my head. I hoped they did not carry rabies, so far so good. We then had a long trip to Kintamini a beautiful place overlooking the slopes of Mt Batur where we had lunch. Perhaps this is not the ideal place for me because there was a huge drop right next to where we were supposed to eat and the buffet meal consisted of noodles which I don’t eat. So I didn’t and was not in a good mood particularly as there was no air conditioning in our minibus. Although we saved more than $200 by not going on the official ships tour it really was not worth it. We had been advised by a fellow passenger who thought she knew it all to go on the private tour but given the rest of the expenses this was not a good idea. Our second day in Bali we visited a temple, Daya Tarik Wisata Tanah Lot, renowned we were told for the wonderful beach. We envisaged stretches of white pleasant sand but were more than a little disappointed to find minimal amounts of our expectations and mainly rocks. This was a total waste of time. The only excitement was a large branch of a palm tree fell down 2 feet away from me, a narrow escape. We had to pass a lot of vendors on the way out and were almost physically attacked to buy cheap T-shirts and other rubbish. The next stop after a one and a half hour drive was to see some rice fields and a nice restaurant for lunch. However given the previous experience we took sandwiches fruit and water from the ship as nobody told us not to. After lunch the next stop was another temple, the Royal Temple,Taman Ayun built in 1634 AD in the reign of King of Mengui to worship the royal ancestors and evoke prosperity for the people of the kingdom. The entrance fee only allowed us to walk around and not go inside. This was another unnecessarily long trip. The business of tourism was overwhelming and aggressive with physical contact from the vendors to persuade a transaction. I vowed to myself not to repeat the Bali experience.

‘A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving’. Lao Tzu.

 

‘There is still SO MUCH to see’.  Anonymous.

The next three days were sea days so we had a practice run to deal with any possible pirates. The crew were stationed outside on the decks dressed in full body armour including facemasks and helmets. Passengers were to stand in the corridors away from any portholes or Windows and the crew practiced antipirate manoeuvres. The captain issued a letter as follows:

During our transit of the Indian Ocean, towards Victoria, Seychelles we will enter the Indian Ocean high risk area. There has been a significant decrease in incidents in the past few years, nevertheless, it would be inconsiderate not to take precautions.

They include:

1. Amsterdam will be reporting regularly to UKMTO in Dubai. UKMTO is the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization who coordinates all of the coalition warships in the area assigned to antipiracy operations. We are being tracked during our transit and although we may not see them, warships are not far away.
2. A close radar watch will be kept on the bridge.
3. We have extra security guards and they will be rotating a 24-hour antipiracy watch.
4. We have four LRADs (long-range acoustic devices) rigged, manned and ready for immediate use. These are designed to paralyse any attackers with focused loud noises.
5. We will also have charge of water hoses ready for use on both sides of the lower promenade deck.
6. We are making high-speed, always a good deterrent.

 

In the unlikely event of an attempted boarding or even if we are suspicious of a vessel you will hear one long ring of the ships alarm followed by an announcement; testing, testing,  testing from the captain, staff captain or the officer on watch on the bridge. Upon hearing the announcement you are asked to move out of your staterooms and stay in corridors or an interior space, please move from the outside decks. Stay away from windows and doors; please sit down, as any manoeuvres attempted by myself may result in heeling of the ship as we will be moving at high speed, we are capable of 25 knots.

‘We need the possibility of escape just as surely as we need hope’. Edward Abbey.

We crossed the equator last night at 9 PM but thankfully no pirates. I had difficulty sleeping so I went out on the deck two stern to find one of the security guards complete with computer, telescope and other paraphernalia to identify any potential attackers. The Capt. had speeded up to 19 knots through the danger area. After that we settled down to 14 knots

The entertainment in the evening was poor with singers off key and flat and amateurish with the usual poor vibrato. There was also a so-called mentalist who claimed to see inside minds and set up with members of the audience some tricks. He said he was a professional poker player and magician and had been a mentalist for one year. He claimed to cure joint pains with hypnosis and superficially it sounded good but I suspect most of it was psychosomatic or a fake. He claimed to cure a passenger with a post radiation neck lacking in saliva but in the end the patient was fed up with the prolonged treatment and just said he was cured to end the session.

‘ALL JOURNEYS have secret destinations of which the traveller is UNAWARE’ Unknown.

Puerto Princesa. Philippines. The last visit of the Amsterdam in 2013 heralded the pilot coming on board from a dugout canoe! It was steaming and humid and thankfully a shuttle bus took us to a shopping mall. This was depressingly similar to North American malls. The traffic was dense with both cars motorcycle taxis and people. The city was founded on January 1, 1970. Some passengers went to the Subterranean River national Park to see one of the world’s longest underground rivers necessitating part of the trip in Outrigger canoes. There were unique rock formations and cathedral like chambers. When we docked for Manila we found four cruise ships in at once and again encountered horrendous traffic. It was 34°C and wilting. We went to Tagaytay to see the smallest volcano in the world, the Taal volcano which is a volcano surrounded by a lake within a volcano. We had a brief tour of Manila which is full of high-rise buildings and depressingly Americanized. It has been in turn invaded by Spanish British and Japanese as well as Americans. They have each left a rich legacy. The road signs are in English and one of the legacies of America are the presence of jeepneys. These are large taxis or small buses with very colourful decorations being one of the main sources of transport. There are few regular buses and no underground system. The city seemed to be mainly concrete with multiple high flyovers. We had a police escort for our buses as otherwise we could not move because of the traffic density. In Manila we visited the old city of intromuros (between the walls). Traditionally wealthy people lived in the area. Although Imelda Marcos, of a  thousand pairs of shoes fame, had a poor reputation internationally she did a lot for the Filipinos culture and new buildings. At present there is a major clampdown on drug pushers and dealers. In the hinterland high-rise buildings proliferated in the process of construction. They are trying to make a “city of dreams” with multiple casinos which abound not only in Manila but also throughout the island. The gangway was from deck one and I loved it. Much of new Manila is on reclaimed land. I wanted to see intromuros more closely so we hired a taxi. This taxi consisted of a motorbike with a side attachment for Lesley which was just at exhaust level and she inhaled copious amounts of carbon monoxide. I was on the pillion with my feet on the motor bikes exhaust which melted my sneakers. The traffic was awful and the young driver did not know his way around and we got lost. Overall it was very frightening and I was hanging on for grim death. For me this ranked among the worst lifetime experiences. I could not think of any worse at the time. We were very pleased to finish the tour. There was not a lot to see anyway.

‘TRAVELLING. It leaves you SPEECHLESS, then turns you into a STORYTELLER’. Ibn Battuta.

 

‘Travel  is… Getting to know yourself by facing new EXPERIENCES’.  Sofie Cowenbergh, Wonderful Wanderings.

‘Not I, not anyone else, can travel that road for you,   you must travel it for YOURSELF’.

Walt Whitman.

The next port of call was Hong Kong. This is a very busy harbour with a one-way system for boats entering and leaving. The ex-colony has a population of 7.5 million over 1100 km². It consists  of  the Kowloon Peninsula, New Territories and Hong Kong Island. It has a considerable amount of reclaimed land with multiple high-rise buildings. We were told the tallest is 118 stories and sways 3 metres in a typhoon. It is traffic bound despite the hundred percent tax on cars. We were delayed at immigration for about an hour. The gangway was high with several arms again with glass sides but I was not quite so anxious. The first stop on the tour was a flower market which was enormous and understandably all the flowers were imported from Indochina and Vietnam. There is no room in Hong Kong to grow them. Around the corner was a bird market where several hundred birds were in cages all contributing to the general ambient noise. I somehow don’t think this would be tolerated in the UK or North America. This was followed by a visit to a floating restaurant in Aberdeen harbour. This is named after George Aberdeen who at the time of founding was the UK Prime Minister. The lunch was typically Chinese with all carbohydrates.   After  that  came the Stanley market with all sorts of merchandise and was ideal to hone my haggling skills. Next stop was the Temple Street market under canvas; the sole commodity on sale was Jade which the Chinese revere. Yet another market was the Jewel Factory Limited. That is one of the downsides of being a tourist being hawked around these magnets. One has to be fairly hard headed to say thank you but no. I experienced this in a previous visit to Beijing. The tour continued to Victoria Peak where unbelievable high-rise residences and expensive houses are juxtaposed to government funded apartments. The descent was suggested in a funicular cable car which Lesley took but I stayed on the bus. Lesley loved the day with all  the  bustle but I was not quite so enamoured. There is a big United Kingdom influence after independence in 1997 without full integration with China. It will be several decades before that can be achieved. Driving is on the left and there were double deck buses as in the UK. The traffic was not as bad as Bali or Manila. There are 8 golf courses on the island each with a joining fee of $3 million Canadian. A small apartment (180 ft.²) was very expensive and with a minimal wage of six dollars per hour it seems impossible to be afforded. A lot of these houses are built on very steep hills. I had been offered after qualification to go to either Hong Kong or South Africa and I’m pleased I chose the latter. We stayed another day and walked to the Ocean terminal which is very pleasant with some interesting architecture and upmarket stores. There was a short distance to the subway to the main shopping district. There was nothing to buy there for us. The road signs were in both Cantonese and English. The whole city reminded me of George Orwell’s 1984 with everything too well-organized and routine. The crowds and traffic in the streets were reminiscent of Dante’s version of Hell with everyone dashing about their business and nobody caring about anyone else. Perhaps this is a reflection of a big city. Youths staring into handheld machines and even talking to them oblivious of traffic dangers, ear plugs dangling. Like rats living in coops coming out to a maze motion in the streets and going back when finished. Lesley cared for it, not for me.

 

‘To those who can dream, there is no such place as far away’.  Anonymous.

Yet another ’put your clocks back one hour’. Two days at sea. On Saturday, March 10 at 9.30 p.m. we were roused from our reverie by a sudden siren for a drill. This was for real. The ship had previously had several practice drills so we were instructed as to what to do. The first alarm was for the crew only. Nevertheless in the middle of watching a DVD in our pyjamas we donned warm clothing, shoes got personal documentation out of the safe, got our medications to the ready and waited. Thankfully five minutes later Capt. Jonathan announced from the bridge that the incinerator was giving up too much smoke and automatically sounded the alarm. 10 minutes later the all clear was sounded. A very professional approach, well done!

‘Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport’.   Unknown.

Ho Chi Minh City or otherwise known as Saigon, Vietnam was our next port of call. We docked at Phu My and a coach took us the 90 minute ride to the city. The road was lined with broken down stores, a few rice fields with water buffalo and egret birds. Vietnam is a long narrow country which borders on the east the South China Sea, to the north China and to the West Laos and Cambodia (Kampuchea) and further west is Thailand. It has suffered multiple invasions often with neighbouring countries. It was colonized by France in the mid-19^th century and subsequently America. Its population amounts to 90 million and it has two seasons, hot and very hot. It has a huge American inheritance with the road signs in both English and Vietnamese and the traffic drives on the right. Hanoi,  the capital city in the north, previously known as Thong Long was named after a dragon ascending. The rehabilitation of the country began in 1986 with fiscal reform. At present the economy is growing at 6% per annum and the median age is 28 years. It remains communist and education is paramount. In the south, Saigon has attracted international investment and now has the financial vibrancy of Hanoi. Our tour began in the militant Museum containing multiple statues of Buddha. Buddhism reflects multiple religions and ways of life. We were told about the multiple invasions and the Vietnam War which is now called the Civil War locally being the Vietcong versus the South. There were several tourist groups all very loud and drowning out our tour guides information despite a microphone. Our next visit was to a factory to see lacquered paintings , chinaware and chit chat. It was very touristy with elevated prices. The factory was all very congested and sweaty and again I resented being fleeced as a tourist. I think I was in a minority of one as it seemed very popular with my other companions. We then were taken to the sky deck which was a very tall building to be able to see over all of Saigon but the $10 charge was overpriced for the panorama by all accounts. I gave it the body swerve.  All   around   were multiple high-rise skyscrapers downtown with new buildings everywhere. We lunched in a very fancy hotel and had a buffet with hundreds of similar visitors.  I think some Americans need educated about what to stand in line or queue means. Politeness noticeably absent. We then saw the Opera house and the Notre Dame Cathedral from outside. The presidential palace was very impressive with a banqueting hall, cabinet room and a bunker below for protection if attacked. Once in 1975 a traitor flew over and bombed the palace creating some damage but not totally. We saw two residual tanks from the Civil War in the grounds. We then stopped at a cheap souvenir shop and were accosted physically by vendors selling cheap T-shirts and chit chat. We did not have US cash so did not buy anything. The tour guide advertised a book called the Tunnels of Cuchi authored in part by a BBC TV presenter describing how the Vietcong manoeuvred a subterranean approach to outwit the Americans in the war. I had to borrow $10 from a nice Canadian lady which I repaid when back on board. The next day was at sea  which was a great rest!

‘All that GLITTERS is not gold, all who wander are not LOST’. J. R. R. Tolkien.

Lesley was painting and  I played  bridge , with reading and writing and we saw that the hoses for the anti-piracy precautions had been removed. Every day at 10.30 am there was a walk around the periphery of deck 3 for a mile. Lesley did this every day and was joined by many others. For some the description was more a waddle than a walk. We are bound for Singapore.

We went through the Strait of Malacca which is the busiest sea lane in the world. After docking, to my consternation,  I  found  the gangway was from deck three and involved several glass walkways but on this occasion I found the tingling and numbness with some dizziness of my acrophobia had ameliorated so perhaps things were improving. Again there were huge areas of reclaimed land on which multiple high-rises were being built. We took a boat on the Singapore River right in the centre of the city surrounded by impressive high-rise financials as well as old buildings from previous Indian and Chinese traders. The architecture  was  very  impressive  mixing  avant garde with traditional. We visited a Buddhist temple and then went on to have a Singapore sling drink but unfortunately not at the iconic Raffles Hotel because this was being renovated. We drove through the Arab quarter and Chinatown. Overall Singapore is a very clean and tidy place with no litter or chewing gum and punitive charges for licenses for cars and scooters. This means the traffic is not nearly as heavy as other Oriental cities. They drive on the right and overall it is very westernized with a population of 5.6 million. Housing is very expensive. In the evening we went to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel   which has 57 storeys. The sky deck according to Lesley provided amazing views over the city,   I stayed in the lobby and had a beer. Then we took a trishaw around India town which was lovely and afterwards a repeat of the same river cruise but at night with lots of lights. The bars beside the river were packed with young people at night emitting a noise along with a band of about 150 dB’s and again I wonder how they can communicate. There were also street performers entertaining the crowd. I certainly felt my age at that stage. Singapore started as a small fishing village and was spotted  by  Raffles  who correctly identified it as a great trading post perfectly situated between East and West. It has a great harbour and freshwater supply from the Singapore River. Singa means lion and poura means city (Sanskrit) and hence the British named it Singapore. One of the early explorers thought he saw a lion but probably this was a tiger as there are no lions in the area. It is mainly a Buddhist religion followed by Malay and Hindu and many others. On our second day we went shopping via the underground and even the escalators move faster than elsewhere. The subway is very clean and efficient, the doors at the platform prevent people falling on the tracks which is a lesson that could be learned in London England. We took the wrong subway and ended somewhere at the terminus so returned and having drawn a blank at the shopping went to the Botanic Gardens. This was a haven of peace and quiet from the mayhem of the city. We had lunch near the orchid gardens. The food was very expensive and not very good. It would appear that foreigners have to pay to see the orchid gardens whereas locals are free.

‘Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God’. Kurt Vonnegut.

Phuket, Thailand is an island which is sweltering. We took a tour to the elephant Safari Park. We had a demonstration on how to grow rice and saw an ox with a plough to freshen the underwater soil. This was followed by sowing the seed, growing and whacking the grass to free the rice. This was then pounded. We then watched an elephant getting washed followed by a cooking class with Thai herbs. We were invited to smell some green sludge as a result but thankfully   I could not smell anything. Then we had the treat of the voyage, a ride on an elephant. I had forgone the opportunity 25 years previously just outside Delhi. Another box ticked! Were also shown how latex was harvested from rubber trees and elephants that were trained to hunt  bananas  even when hidden in a tourists clothing. These elephants also threw darts at balloons with some accuracy. I felt somewhat uneasy at the spectacle almost as if in a circus. Lesley was not happy that the tour was not as advertised so we complained and had a partial refund. On return to the ship we met several stalls selling T-shirts etc.

‘Travel is REBELLION in its purest form’. Anonymous

The next day was at sea to recover. The weather like all ports in that part of the world is febrile  with  incessant  sweating  (diaphoresis) the likes of which I could not remember as badly as this. I thought we had become acclimatized by this time. By this time we were in the Bay of Bengal.

‘Every  hundred  feet the world changes’. Roberto Bolano.

Throughout our trip I was absolutely disgusted with the hectares of redundant adiposity fed by the wheaten Tsunami of the North Americans. The undulating quivering flesh offended my clinical eye and in particular the amount of carbohydrates ingested in the dining room.  One could not help being disgusted by the gluttony of some passengers. Plates recurrently overloaded with food left half eaten with the eye larger than the stomach.  Bowls overflowing with blueberries which led to shortages for other passengers. One couple both of whom were diabetic and hugely overweight seemed to survive on carbohydrates alone. Another American ordered two entrees at every meal in case she did not like one!

‘Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends’.  Maya Angelou.

Colombo, Sri Lanka was hot and humid. However the mitigating factor was an easy gangway. We had a walking tour of old Columbia through a market, very busy and overcrowded and lots of Tuk Tuk taxis. These are essentially motor bikes with passenger seating. The island has been colonized by the French, Portuguese the Dutch and British. The tour began with a visit to the cabinet meeting and I felt angry that this consisted of several dummies sitting at a table. The tour guide thought this was highly amusing but I did not share his sense of humour.  The stores in the streets were specialized in areas, for instance the bag street. Most of the stores sold bling for the tourists. We visited a mosque and were told that 7% of the population is Muslim. The religion is mainly Buddhist which is a philosophy rather than a religion. The languages spoken are Ceylonese, Tamil and English. The old fort has been converted to the Grand Oriental Hotel where we had a drink. The Civil War with the Tamil Tigers lasted 30 years and only finished in 2007. Sri Lanka means the resplendent island. They have reclaimed 275,000 ha of land by mainly Chinese workers. We saw the Pettah district. In the past were incredible bazaar streets teeming with oxen carts and alive with the sounds and smells of the sea. Multiple spices were on display contained by sacks arranged at the front of the street stores. The sensory overload was overwhelming.  We saw the Jami Ul-afar mosque and the Khan Clocktower. Street stalls sell everything from textiles to electronics. The whole city was very vibrant. The commercial hub surrounded the fort. Vehicles were heavily taxed at 200% to avoid overcrowding. The heat was such that Lesley felt ill so we returned to the ship before the end of the tour. We missed the old Dutch hospital complex built in the 17^th century which has now been restored to restaurant stores and bars. The old Dutch and English architecture has been maintained.

 

‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes’. Marcel Proust.

 

‘Travel brings POWER and LOVE back to your life’.Rumi.

 

‘TRAVELING is not something you’re good at. It’s something you do. LIKE BREATHING’. Gayle Foreman.

Another three days at sea and we crossed the equator for the third time. Again there was the threat of Pirates so at night all lights were either turned off or curtains drawn. For instance on the sports deck no lights were allowed to play football. In 2009 there were several pirate attacks but none recently. We have constant plumbing problems with flushing and the cold water was extremely hot.. In about 200 to 300 AD Malays reached Madagascar in outriggers, hence the spread of civilisation. Our next stop was the Seychelles which is perfectly positioned for trading long before the Europeans. The unique fruit from here is the coco de mer. This is a fruit that takes two years to germinate and 6-7 years to mature. It weighs between 15 and 30 kg. It resembles an elephant’s behind. The shell is the expensive part and now has spread to India and the Maldives. The island was settled due to the Tradewinds in 1-3 AD and the discovery of sails. Vasco da Gama visited it. In 1608 a British East company ship was attacked off Zanzibar and escaped several storms heading southwest to land in the Seychelles in 1609. The first settlers discovered giant tortoises weighing 5 to 600 pounds. Pirates came from the West Indies to the Indian Ocean and raided enemy ships in their Corsairs. They were backed by France and as such if caught were regarded as the enemy and put into prisoner of war camps instead of being hanged as Pirates. Buccaneers were land-based hunters in the West Indies and sold meat etc. Privateers originated from French British and Dutch and prayed on Spanish ships. When caught Pirates were hung high with a short rope to avoid waste of the rope. Today the dock was full of industrialized large ships and the view was marred by several wind turbines. The surrounding land rises steeply and forms an ideal harbor. It is extremely hot and humid. The population is 72,000 and independence was gained in 1976. There are 115 islands 40 of which are granite and 75 coral. The exports are copper, cinnamon bark and vanilla. They are the oldest oceanic granite islands on earth. The centrally situated Clocktower in Victoria was a present from the UK but was dropped before installation and now the chimes do not work. I felt a bit ill so returned to the ship but Lesley continued the tour to the beach with lovely white sands, and the botanics  to see the coco de mer. Overall the tours were grossly overpriced. Unfortunately the exotic far Eastern ports did not match up to my high expectations and were somewhat disappointing. Mahe  isthe capital of the Seychelles and  the main industry is tourism on the south side of the island.

‘To live that is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all’ Oscar Wilde.

All the docks were ubiquitously populated by awesome huge cranes moving multitudinous legolike containers computerised to be precisely placed on board cargo ships. The scene is reminiscent of the outerspace machines straight out of a scientific movie such as theWar of the Worlds when the earth was invaded by Martians. Slow and careful are the watchwords and any aesthetic notions of the voyageurs from the Amsterdam were totally dispelled by the confrontation of the docks initially changing the delights of the hinterland of the exotic countries. To join the Navy to see the world is to be condemned to frequent the sterile activity of the mundanity of cargo shipping and rusting ugly pollution causing cargo ships.

‘No matter WHERE YOU GO, there you are’. Buckaroo Banzai.

 

We were supposed to visit Madagascar to dock at Nosey Be but they were suffering from bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Pasturella Pestis, similar to the great plague of London with a very high mortality rate spawning the nursery rhyme ’ring a ring of roses’. At the time judges had a posy placed before them in court to cover the smell of rotting corpses as well as the classic ring  rash heralding the onset of the disease. A fatal symptom involves sneezing and imminent death, hence the falling  down. The Holland America line wished to choose the safer and financially wiser alternative of Reunion island. We docked at St. Denis. The port is some way out of the city and the complementary shuttle bus took us along the coastal highway to St. Denis. From the docks the hillside graduates into  a mountain shrouded by mist and clouds. Sightseers at the top could view the valleys briefly before being cut off by the moving colloidal mass. The sight we were told is beautiful to see. Housing was creeping up the gradient but stopping well short of the summit. The road was a switchback all the way up inducing motion sickness with some of the travelers. The new highway to the city has been built 50 yards offshore to avoid any falling rocks. Having reached the city we were underwhelmed by the paucity of points of interest, so the visit was very short-lived and pointless. After a few days at sea we were due to arrive in mainland Africa, the dark enigmatic continent.

‘I read, I travel, I become’. Derek Walcott.

 

That night there was a celebration on board as the CEO of Holland America had embarked. Free booze and a band blasting from five to 6:30 PM. I personally was celebrating because it was 20 years to the day when I had my last cigarette. This was March 28, 1998 in Washington DC outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel!

‘Work,TRAVEL, save,REPEAT’. An adventure.

All public areas in the ship are adorned with potted orchids immaculately maintained by two full-time florists.

‘It is in all of us to defy expectations to go into the world and to be brave and to want, to need, to hunger for ADVENTURES to embrace change and chance and risk, so that we may be in know what it is to be FREE’. Mae Chevrollo.

Before the Civil War but Lourenco Marques was loved by South Africans as a playground with wonderful seafood. The Civil War decimated Mozambique and changed the name of the capital to Maputo. When I was working in Natal there was an outpouring of Portuguese from their colony and it is claimed that the government was left bereft of intelligence and expertise which delayed the revival of the country. I distinctly remember an incident involving a very large coal black Portuguese male nurse who when I worked on a sugar farm looking after diabetic and hypertensive Indians translated by speaking louder. These patients presented with a test tube of their urine to be checked for sugar. Unfortunately when I was putting on a blood pressure cuff on one lady she turned her arm and poured the urine over my immaculately white safari suit. I immediately changed my technique. These days Maputo has not recovered and is frankly a dump. The government wanted $75 for a visa to step on their land so we stayed in the ship. The view was not very pleasant with ugly high-rise. Reports we got from those that visited were not good.

‘We TRAVEL not to escape life, but for LIFE to escape us’. Anonymous.

Another day at sea and we were awoken at 5:30 AM to sheet lightning for half an hour. I was recalling my experience of my last visit to Cape Town 41 years previously. This was to sit the oral exam called the primary FRCS, the first stage in becoming a surgeon. I was working in Durban and was preparing to fly to Cape Town. I was very unsure if the cost on the plane trip was worthwhile. I went to the airport a day early and coincidentally met a colleague doing the same thing. On our arrival we were picked up by his cousin and driven to Groote Schuur (big barn) hospital for the exam next day. I was extremely surprised to learn that the exam had been brought forward by one day and hence I had to perform immediately. In one of the three orals I was asked about high blood pressure and it did the usual answers and then said one that was extremely uncommon. This was seized upon by the examiners, if you’re in a hole stop digging, but they did not realize I had just finished an academic paper on exactly that subject. I kept talking for the 20 minutes of the oral and did not let them ask any other questions. So much against public opinion I passed.

‘You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown. You travel for the unknown, that reveals you within YOURSELF’. Ella Maillart.

We approached the dock and found a cargo ship in our berth so we had to wait for it to be moved. We were delayed for four hours and then had to form a long line for immigration. All passengers and crew had to go to whether they went ashore or not. In Cape Town at the time there was a drought and water was at a premium . I wanted to go to Stellenbosch to see the architecture and Vineland. Thankfully the tour bus was rescheduled. The countryside is beautiful with vineyards all over the place.  I visited Blaukippen winery (blue stone) which was very well kept. No need for the South facing slope as in Nova Scotia, there is enough heat and sun to ripen the grapes. I tasted six wines but all were very mediocre. There was a push to buy, but Holland America charged US$18 to take the wine on board, meant  it was not feasible. They did not ship to Canada. Then I visited Stellenbosch with a population of 150,000 people, Cape Town had 600,000 and the surrounding area 3.7 million. The Republic of South Africa has a total of 50 million population. The architecture of Stellenbosch has a good reputation but I was somewhat disappointed with the sporadic old buildings. There were several tourist curio shops, again very expensive. On the way home we passed corrugated townships with multiple satellite dishes. Apparently no animals were allowed although goats (sign of richness) abound. Kaleigha is the name of the township of forced displaced Cape Town dwellers which is quite a distance from Cape Town. In the meantime Lesley traveled to the top of Table Mountain via cable car hence I stayed at sea level. She said the sights were fantastic.

‘Keep your EYES on the horizon and your nose to the WIND’. Clint Eastwood.

The next day we went on a safari (means journey) to Aquila Reserve (black eagle). We were supposed to start at 5:45 AM but there was no show from the driver. We began to think they had forgotten us but in fact the driver was told to pick us up at 6:10 AM which he did. A two hour drive would take us to the reserve. We almost didn’t make it. We were driving along in the highway  fast Lane at about 70 mph when a car in the slow lane appeared to drift off the road and then over corrected himself to cross 3 lanes and drive right in front of us do a 180 degree turn and miss us by about 12 inches. If we had made contact I fear I would not be making this report. We passed through the Drakenstay and Du Toit mountain ranges and a 3mile tunnel. We eventually arrived for breakfast and in all the journey took us three hours. The safari was in  an open truck with 13 people. He was a very good guide, black whose first language was Afrikaans but his English was very good. The first animals we saw were two male elephants. The African elephants have large ears which they flap to cool themselves, as well as hosing themselves with water from the trunk (they have two stomachs one for water and one for food) and sand and mud. The elephants have notoriously bad sight. While playing together the younger elephant appeared to grow a fifth rear leg. Once realization dawned on them there was hysterical howling laughter from the ladies at the back of the truck. The appendage continued to lengthen but with no recipient did not amount to anything. The elephants were surrounded by elands which are the largest antelopes in South Africa.. The next animals we saw were ostriches, the male is more beautiful than the female. The male has black feathers which warm during the day and give off heat to allow incubation of eggs during the night as the female does not incubate at night. Hippopotamuses were concentrated near a big Lake. These behave like ballerinas in the water and cannot swim. They require shallow water and kill more humans than any other mammal. They only attack if they are blocked from water when they become anxious as they have very sensitive skin and the water prevents skin rashes from the sun. They are vegetarians normally. The zebras are described as donkeys with pajamas. They have digestive problems producing abdominal gas. They are beautiful animals and each marking is individual. We then saw lions in their own enclosure basking in a postprandial somnolence with apparent self-content. There were three southern giraffes which are noted for good eyesight and high blood pressure. Springboks were plentiful and identified with a black marking from their eyes like tear drops. There were also several rhinoceroses, the southern white type which are endangered. They have remarkably poor eyesight. The male deposits faeces with urine to form a solid ball which tells the female he is nearby. The ball is eaten by baby rhinos and zebras. We had an uneventful return and on the way back saw some black wildebeestes which are like camels, a mixture of many different animals. The big five was the name given to the most dangerous and difficult animals to hunt on foot which are African elephants, black rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo, African lion and the African leopard. The lion and the African bush elephant is classified as a vulnerable. The leopard and the white rhinoceros are classified as near threatened. The black rhinoceros is classified as critically endangered.

‘TRAVEL is about the GEORGEOUS feeling of teetering in the unknown’. Anonymous.

The reserve totaled 10,000 acres of which all was fenced in and the lions  had their further enclosure. The headquarters contained a restaurant and several holiday rooms as well as rondavels which are thatched roofed small houses. They are often round. There was a group from Cleveland Ohio with families, the kids played rugby in a tournament locally and another group from the Wirral, England with schoolchildren playing  various  games against locals. We thought this was excellent to open up the idea of understanding and tolerance of those who are not brought up in the same vein as these protected boys and girls. The Hottentots, one of the first races to inhabit the area, believe if you have a good life you will become a springbok in the next and a bad life makes you a wildebeest. Our guide also showed us that by rubbing quantitate stone against the iron rich Redrock and water produced a dark brown warpaint. On the way back to Cape Town we saw the floors of valleys covered with grapevines. Some had a Y trellis system blocking out the sun to the floor and reducing weeds. Some had nets but some had been harvested just recently. In parts the vines  stretched as far as the eye could see.

‘TRAVEL. As much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life is not meant to be lived in one place’. The things we say.

The next day there is a thick fog on awakening. We visited a local mall which seem to become bigger in every port but was expensive. The adjoining market was full of cheap souvenir tat. On the way back to the ship the lineup to have an exit stamp on the passport was tedious. There is another emergency drill on board and then we had a’ sail away’ to a normal day at sea. It was a nostalgic visit for me after all this was a place where I first sharpened  my scalpel, got incomparable experience and passed the first exam to become a surgeon. I will always have some feeling for the country.

‘The eye never forgets what the heart has seen’. African proverb.

‘ Perhaps the gangway from deck one was very easy to negotiate kept me in a good mood.

‘The IMPULSE to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of LIFE’. Cherkasy.

Today it was Walvis Bay in Namibia. It garners a huge amount of rain at 2 inches per year. The day we visited was very foggy and overcast. About 7 km from Walvis Bay in Darob is the Dune 7 which is 92 -100 m high. Quite a sight. Then we went on to the Mendoza Township. The tour was classed as “the real Namibia”. We were shown the  warts and all of Oliver Cromwell. The original Township had lots of shanties with corrugated roofs and some new buildings. Some had electricity and sewage but the new townships adjacent did not. For some there were communal toilets or outside toilets. There has been an influx from the hinterland of those seeking employment but unfortunately only too often this does not work out. The youth unemployment is 46%. Apparently each lot is 300 m² and the occupants can build themselves their houses but the government is stopping further potential tenants. We were entertained to traditional food including fried worms beans and spinach. I chose not to partake although Lesley did. The population of this township was 65,000 but with abject poverty. Nearby is Swakopmunde which was a German colony prior to being taken over by South Africa. It was very helpful to the German war effort in the second world war. It is now an expanding city with some lovely houses. Some passengers went on 4 x 4 vehicles up and down the sand dunes giving them an exhilarating experience. The other industries are fishing and mining. The grinding unending poverty was reflected in the open air markets where all the state governed hygiene rules were ignored because it was a Saturday and no inspectors were working. Flies were ubiquitous covering dried fish and vegetables. Mounds of discarded clothing were laid out for sale to those unfortunates unable to afford better. The roads, were unmade, dusty and worsened by the encompassing extensive sand dunes. The flat desert leading to the surrounding sand dunes reminded me of the movie ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ which was where I worked in Northwest Saudi Arabia. Our tour guide emphasized that liberation from the colonial rule of South Africa gave the Namibians freedom. I could imagine he would be a leader in the revolution, however he was only eight years old on the day of independence in March 21, 1990. I did not want to go too deeply into the difficulties of setting up the independent state but he was confident in the future and on the face of it the country has vast resources with the potential of stability and economic viability although in my opinion this may take several generations. Overall we were impressed with Namibia and wish them well.

‘TRAVEL far enough, you meet YOURSELF’. Cloud Atlas.