This was another quiet relaxing sea day. The morning brought us a lecture by Valerie Mock on spices and how the exploration of spices led to the exploitation of many Asian lands. Spices today are still an important export of Indonesia and a significant part of the economy.

We then had lunch in the dining room with our friend Tom and one of the engineers onboard named Rabina and her girlfriend, Inge. The afternoon included a lecture by Bill Crews on the final voyage of the Emden, a German war ship destroyed in the Indian Ocean during WWI. We were not familiar with this ship but it evidently destroyed many other ships in the sea before finally being destroyed by an Australian naval ship.

Mark attended the watercolor class while Kent chatted with Charlie Vose, a singer on board, and attended the Indonesian Tea in the dining room. The evening’s entertainment was a comedian and violinist named Dave Levesque. Not good!

Today there was a shore excursion talk on Colombo, Sri Lanka, as well as a location guide talk on the practical information for our next port.

A new lecturer is onboard by the name of Major General Bill Crews who spoke on the Sea Route to India – Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese. He examined the early European exploration and colonization of South Asia and beyond. He gave such an incredible amount of detailed information that it was difficult to follow.

The afternoon included a lecture by Valerie Mock on the Story of Silk where she discussed how silk is harvested and processed. She also talked about Jim Thompson, who revitalized the Thai silk industry with his line of fabrics and pillows before he mysteriously disappeared.

The evening brought a repeat performance for us of the Rotterdam singer and dancers show titled The Midnight Hour.

Kuala Lumpur National Monument

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Tower

Kuala Lumpur Sultan Abdul Samad House

Malaysia is a country the size of New Mexico with some 31 million people located on the South China Sea, south of Thailand and north of Singapore. A second portion of the country is comprised of the northern third of the island of Borneo. They export electronics, oil and gas, palm oil and rubber.

Kuala Lumpur is the largest city in Malaysia with 6.8 million inhabitants and is the major hub for finance, insurance, real estate and the arts in Malaysia. It is considered Asia’s most dynamic and fastest-growing cities. This city, located about an hour’s drive from the port, is the 6^th most visited city in the world with over 9 million tourists a year. Shopping is extremely popular as well with over 65 shopping malls.

Our tour this day was titled “Kuala Lumpur Highlights”, unfortunately Mark was still not feeling well enough to venture out so he stayed onboard while Kent toured. The tour took Kent to the King’s Palace – the official residence of His Majesty the King of Malaysia for a photo stop. The stately mansion is set within a beautifully landscaped garden.

Next stop was a visit to the National Monument in the Lake Gardens of Kuala Lumpur. Here renowned designer Felix de Weldon, best known for the Iwo Jima Memorial at Arlington, designed this impressive monument in memory of all those killed in defense of the country.

Then it was a visit to the National Mosque with its contemporary expression of the traditional Islamic art, calligraphy and ornamentation. The mosque includes a minaret that towers 240 feet above the umbrella like roof. Next door to the Mosque is a beautiful old railway station inspired by Mughali architecture. The station has a grand stately façade with seven minarets.

Independence Square, the former playing field of the Royal Selangor Club, is a venue where important events, celebrations and street parades are held. Kent also saw the nearby Sultan Abdul Samad House, which served as the government office during the British era. Nearby was Saint Mary the Virgin Anglican Church. Most notable of the day was a photo stop at the famous Petronas Towers. These twin towers remain the tallest twin towers in the world, although not the tallest tower in the world. They are taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Mark was feeling well enough to have dinner in the dining room and attend the show. Davie Howes was the entertainer of the evening. He plays the piano, a variety of horn instruments as well as a few silly instruments. He plays a garden hose, a shower sprayer and a walker. He has an incredible amount of energy and was all over the stage.

This was the end of the round trip Singapore portion of the cruise for many of the passengers. While they may have been disappointed to be leaving, many of us staying on were happy to see them go. Not nearly as many passengers were embarking the ship for the next segment, so it will be easier to find a seat in the Lido for breakfast or in the showroom for a lecture or show. The ship can accommodate about 1,400 passengers but we are told that we only have about 1,000 onboard at this time.

Mark has come down with a bug of some sort so he is not feeling well enough to venture out in the heat and humidity. Kent decided that he would venture ashore for a massage and a visit to the Bugis shopping area.

All aboard time was 4:00pm followed by another mandatory lifeboat drill where they take roll call at your emergency lifeboat. This is our third such drill this cruise. The evening’s entertainment was a woman by the name of Dale Kristien, who stared on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera with Michael Crawford. She has a remarkable voice and sang some songs from Phantom as well as a variety of other songs.

Singapore Light Show

Singapore Folkloric Show

This morning we attended a lecture by Barry Dreyer on the Rise of Nationalism, War with the Dutch and Freedom at last. Here he discusses the overthrow of colonialism and the freedom under Soekarno. In the afternoon Barry and Valerie Mock did a joint lecture on Indonesia: Today and Tomorrow where they discussed how far Indonesia has grown and how they see the future shaping up. In general, they are positive about the future of Indonesia, but like all nations today, the world economy and their relationship with slowing China may cause them trouble.

By 6:00pm we had arrived in Singapore for an overnight stay. We decided that we would take the subway to the Clarke Quay area near the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and convention center. Here we saw the laser light show over the man made lagoon. They project lasers off the tops of several buildings surrounding the lagoon and many of the buildings have lights on them that change colors to the beat of the music. Along the Clarke Quay they have one seafood restaurant after the next with tanks of fresh lobsters, crabs, mussels and fish.

We returned to the ship by 9:30pm to enjoy a local Singapore Music and Dance performance. They had several groups who performed dances from their native lands, including four large Indian men wearing very colorful costumes who did a very acrobatic routine.

This morning we attended a lecture by the shore excursion office for our upcoming port of Kuala Lumpur, followed by an afternoon lecture by the location guide David on practical information for the port of Kelang in Malaysia. Valerie Mock gave a lecture on the port of Singapore and how it is the second busiest port in the world next to Shanghai. More than 1,000 ships are in the Singapore harbor at any given time waiting for a spot at a terminal where they can be loaded or unloaded. Singapore is in the final construction phase of building a new container port that is capable of handling the new larger cargo ships. Once this new facility is completed they will disassemble the current cargo container area near downtown Singapore and redevelop it. This will allow room for many new residential and office towers to be built in town.

Several of the folks that we have meet on the ship will be leaving us in Singapore so eleven of us got together for a farewell dinner in the dining room. Dennis and Alex will return to Berlin. Many of the group will continue to South Hampton or Rotterdam. After dinner we enjoyed the Rotterdam singers and dancers in their show titled “Dance”.

Surabaya Dancers

Surabaya Cigarette Factory

Surabaya Flower Market

Surabaya Crocodile and Shark Statue

Our tour was titled “ Surabaya Sights” where we had the opportunity to explore the capital city of East Java called Surabaya. Our fist stop was at the House of Sampoerna, a clove cigarette factory and museum owned by a subsidiary of Philip Morris. The old buildings, which once housed the factory, are built in the Dutch colonial style and date back to 1858. The buildings were initially used as an orphanage. Here you can see displays and photographs of the Sampoerna family, who started the cigarette factory more than 100 years ago, and has passed down the family several generations. You see a replica of the family’s original cigarette stand, a printing press that printed the packaging and many family photos.

At the rear of the museum there was once a movie theater for the public, but has now been converted to a factory for the making of hand rolled tobacco/clove cigarettes with no filters. Here you see five hundred women sitting and rolling cigarettes, clipping the ends or packaging the cigarettes at lightening speed. They get paid by the piece, so the faster they work, the more money they can make. On average each woman rolls more than 2,000 cigarettes a day. They are so fast at what they do, that it is like watching a piece of film footage that has been sped up. The smell of the cloves is wonderful as soon as you enter the museum.

Our next stop was at the Mayor of Surabaya’s office and residence. Here we were treated to a folkloric show with traditional Javanese music and dances. After the show we enjoyed local pastries, bay coconut and fruit drinks, coffee and tea. We were also given batik printed fabric hats to wear and take home as souvenirs. Some young local men and women gave us a tour of the building, including a bomb shelter bunker in the basement. These young people are required to give service to the community for one year and are ambassadors for the local tourist industry. They were beautifully dressed and wore sashes stating that they were Mr. or Miss Surabaya.

A KRI Pasopati 410-type Whiskey-Class Russian submarine was our next stop. This submarine was built in 1952 by the Russians and used by the Indonesian Army in 1962 for surveillance and for silent raids. It remains a reminder of the fragile alliances forged throughout Asia in the post-war era. You now access the sub from doors cut in the side so the access is a bit easier but you still must transit the length of the sub through small portholes, which was difficult. The submarine is 249 feet in length and about 20 feet in diameter. The interior is much better suited to short people than tall people. To relocate the submarine to this central city location, it had to be cut into 16 sections and then reassembled.

The Kayoon flower market located on the western bank of the Kayoon River was our next stop. Here we wandered the narrow walkways of shops busy preparing arrangements for locals, hotels and many wedding parties. The market is open 24 hours a day and they prepare the flowers very differently than we do in the states, so it was very interesting. None of the shops were particularly inviting, clean or eye catching, but this is how they do it here. Kent had to use a toilet (his mother always said, “Don’t pass a toilet when on tour!”) and was led to one at the rear of the market. He was asked to take off his shoes to use the toilet. The floor was wet, as people use a hose to wash themselves after using the toilet. So, Kent’s socks were wet for the remainder of the tour. Always a new experience!

We departed Surabaya about 4:30pm after a shore side performance by the local musicians and folk dancers. The entertainment was a variety show featuring Mario D’Andrea and Ashley Carruthers.

Surabaya Temple Ruins

Surabaya Hotel pool

Surabaya is the commercial and administrative capital of East Java and is the 2nd largest city in Indonesia with a population of nearly five million. They have a very busy international cargo port and is a major shopping destination for Indonesians with several large malls. They export local sugar, tobacco and coffee. The name Surabaya means Shark and Crocodile so you see these symbols represented in statues, manhole covers and other places around the city.

Our tour on this day was titled “Archeological Trowulan”. Trowulan is a town that is located about a 90-minute drive southwest of Surabaya. Here we began our tour at the Trowulan Archeological Museum where they have an extensive collection of Majapahit sculpture and pottery from East Java. In this area there are archeological sites of the Majapahit Hindu Kingdom that ruled here from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The sculptures are mostly of Hindu gods like Vishnu and Ganesh. While at the museum we also were able to see a short music and dance performance by some local performers.

After the museum we visited some ruins of the Bajang Ratu Temple built from red clay brick with sculptures of Kala Heads (Dragon like faces with large eyes and big teeth). While at the temple we saw a young local couple having their wedding photos taken in very elaborate traditional clothing. We understand from our guide that most people rent these clothes for their wedding and that most people have their wedding photos completed prior to the wedding. At a wedding the bride and groom stand in a receiving line for as many as five hours and will change outfits a minimum of three times.

Next was a nearby portion of the old temple complex called the Segaran Pool. They believe this to be the largest ancient pool used as a place of recreation for the Majapahit family. The pool is also made of red clay brick and is sunken into the earth with a large decorative tower in the center. There is also a Tikus Temple used for bathing and cleansing.

We then visited a nearby local village where they make clay bricks from the earth for use in building homes. The bricks are more of a gray brown color than a red color but this is what they get from the local soil. We saw many local homes, which are mostly very modest with an outdoor toilet and sink for bathing with a bucket. Many of the homes are built of brick and when they can afford to, they will then stucco over the brick and paint the structure. In this local village they also have a community mosque that is quite simple with a three-tiered tile roof. Everyone in the village contributes what they can afford and the village builds and maintains the mosque, chairs, silverware and other items that the community can then use for festivals or parties.

From here we drove about 30 minutes up into the local hills to a lovely hotel where we had a delicious buffet lunch in an open pavilion. This hotel had extensive grounds that were lushly planted with tropical plants and were beautifully maintained and manicured. They have a large sparkling pool surrounded by large statues that looked extraordinarily inviting in the heat and humidity. The hotel had mostly bungalow style rooms scattered around the lush grounds.

A short drive away, but still on the hotel property, was an extensive medicinal herb garden display. Here we had a guide who explained about the different types of herbs and trees, how they prepare the plant as a medicine and what ailments they should cure. Many of these herbs required some time to prepare by drying, boiling, grating, mashing, etc., for use as medicines.

On our way back to the ship at the end of the day, we had some rain and drove through areas that must have had significant rain because many streets, shops and homes were flooded. Children were joyfully playing in the flooded streets. For a place that has a significant amount of rainfall, they do not seem to have much a drainage system in place to deal with it.

Back onboard we were entertained by a young man from Australia by the name of Ashley Carruthers. He holds the Guinness Book of world records for the fastest piano playing and has a great sense of showmanship on the stage.

The weather remains very warm with temperatures in the high 80’s and high humidity. Yesterday at Komodo Island we reached the furthest point east we would travel and we have now begun our journey back west towards Singapore. We attended a lecture by Barry Dreyer who spoke on the Dutch Colonization of Indonesia, the competition with the East India Trading Company and the events that led up to the Japanese conquests of WWII.

We enjoyed lunch in the dining room with a couple of lesbian’s Claire and Heather from Toronto. They are very sweet and filled a lifetime of stories and experiences.

The afternoon included a lecture by Valerie Mock on how coffee and cocoa are contributors to the Indonesian economy. Then we attended another Q&A session with the Rotterdam singers and dancers and a behind the scenes tour.

The evening was a gala or formal dinner where guests were encouraged to wear sarongs and batik dresses or shirts that they had purchased in Indonesia. The entertainment was a young woman by the name of Sarah Chandler who played the saxophone.

Komodo Island Landscape

Komodo Island Landscape

Komodo Island Komodo Dragons

Komodo Island, named after the Komodo dragon, has a population of only 2,000 people and is 60 square miles in size. The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard on earth and can grow to more than ten feet in length and weigh more than 300 pounds. The dragons have long yellow deeply forked tongues and enjoy a diet of deer and wild pigs. From 15 to 30 eggs are laid after a nine-month pregnancy period, although many of the eggs do not survive. Once hatched, they can live in the trees for up to five years before becoming land animals. They can live for more than 30 years.

Our tour this day was titled “Komodo Island Trek” and was about two hours in length. We tendered ashore to meet our guide and naturalist who took us on a nature walk (about 2 hours) to see the Komodo dragons. The island is very diverse in its landscape with mountains as high as 2,000 feet in height, deep arroyos, canyons, savannahs and monsoon rain forests. The area that we trekked through was fairly level and fairly densely forested with palm trees, tamarind trees, cycads, mint and a variety of other vegetation. The paths are well traveled and many have been lined with rocks on the edges and filled with coral bits from the sea to cut down on the muddy trails. We saw some birds, wild deer and butterflies on our walk.

After a mile or so of walking in the heat, humidity and a bit of rain, we finally reached a watering hole where the Komodo dragons are known to hang out. They hang out here because the deer come to this location to drink the water and so it is a place where the dragons feed. We were able to see four male and two female dragons resting under a canopy of trees near the watering hole. We were able to get within fifteen feet of the dragons as the naturalist watched the dragons behavior with a long forked stick. They use the stick on the dragon’s sensitive neck and nose if needed to stop an animal that may be going after a tourist. They are not particularly beautiful animals but we can now say that we have seen them.

Also on Komodo Island you can find an unusual pink sand beach. The beach gets its unusual color from a mixture of both red and white sands that get mixed together. We were not able to see the beach as it was on the other side of the island but it sounds interesting.

The afternoon was quiet back onboard the ship, but we enjoyed the cool air conditioning. We had a beautiful scenic sail away in the crow’s nest bar. We sailed through many small-uninhabited islands that were a beautiful shade of green in the afternoon sunlight. The evening entertainer was a gentleman by the name of Mario D’Andrea who is an Italian from Australia and performs in Las Vegas. He sang a variety of songs, played the electric guitar and was very popular with the guests.