Prepared April 23 and 24,
2012, Gulf of Aqaba and Aqaba, Jordan and Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt
March 28, 2012 anchored
off Ko Samui, Thailand: A Day in the
Sun or Not
After an overnight cruise
from Bangkok, we anchored at mid-morning in the Bay of Thailand off the small
island of Ko Samui where we were joined by the M/V Europa. Unless you wanted to
lay on the beach or snorkel, it was a port visit without much to visit. (When the local shopping guide's main item to
purchase is pirated copies of Western CDs and DVDs, you know you are in
trouble.) Except for some Buddhist
temples and a few tame elephants to ride, there just wasn't much to do. These
were not an attractive set of options to
J and E, and coupled with the long run into shore on the ship's tender (in
rather choppy water), we voted to sleep late, stay on board working on the
blog, and reading. About 6:00pm, we uped anchor and sailed for Port Klang, Malaysia.
Oh Great! Now Two Cruise Ships' Passengers Looking for Something To Do
M/V Europa, Hanseatic Line
Thai Long-Tailed Fishing Boat Off Ko Samui
In fact, we were in such a
low activity mode, we did not go to dinner in the dining room, because we
would have had to dress formal, but went to the La Terrazza, the ship's Italian
restaurant. (J still had to wear a suit,
which he claims has shrunk in the closet since the beginning of the trip.) However, the formal gods struck back and gave
J a night of communing with the commode.
Not a cruise experience to be recommended!
March 29 and 30, 2012 en
route to Port Klang, Malaysia: Here
a Ship, There a Ship, Everywhere a Ship!
Our course, through the
South China Sea, around Singapore, and into the Straits of Malacca, took us
through some of the most heavily-trafficked sea lanes in the world. Since we had little to do but play bridge and listen to excellent lectures by guest speakers, J photographed passing ships and created a mosaic that would give an idea of the variety of
ships and their density in these sea lanes.
All of the photos were taken within the daylight periods on 29 and 30
March as we passed near Singapore and entered the Straits of Malacca.
Shipping Off Singapore
The ship's doctor, hearing
via the ship's ever-active rumour mill of J's upset stomach, asked J to come in
for a consultation with him. The doctor
pronounced that J had a case of gastritis (caused by hyperactive acid glands) and gave him some anti-acids, and sent him on his way. Actually, the condition had passed by this
time, but the long-term effect was that J was more prone to missing meals and
less prone to over eating. Sadly, it did not help the suit problem.
On the evening of March 30, we had dinner with Fernando, the cruise director, and 7 other guests. Dinner with Fernando in The Restuarant is always a great
evening, because Fernando is a skilled raconteur and has many stories of his 30-plus years at sea on cruise ships. He is
also a diplomat and keeps even the most potentially hostile guest in a
non-combative mood.
March 31, 2012 in port
Port Klang, Malaysia: A Birthday
Party
Docking at Port Klang at
8:00am, we decided to sleep in, have a late breakfast, and stay on
board. Kuala Lumpur is a 30-minute
shuttle bus ride from Port Klang, and we decided a bus trip was not in the
cards. Besides, we have visited KL
several times and could not think of a single reason to suffer 60 minutes+ on a shuttle bus. Picky, Picky. We spent the day reading, working on the
blog, chatting with friends, and generally lazying about. We did bestir ourselves to the point of
attending an excellent classical piano concert in the early evening.
Tug Along Side, Port Klang, Malaysia
Tied Up, Port Klang Cruise Terminal
At 7:30pm, we were off to a
cocktail party (more club soda) and dinner to celebrate our bridge friends' (John and Pinky) birthdays. It was all-in-all an entertaining evening at a table for 12 in the dining room. Dinner and conversation continued into the
late evening and we did not return to our room until about 11:00pm. As a famous diarist said, "and so to
bed."
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