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Friday 18 March 2016

Last day in Singapore


I have been getting over a cold which came on 2 days ago - fortunately in Singapore and not on the ship.  So catching up with rellies and shopping has been interspersed with sleep.  I got on the MRT after lunch today and didn't even see the next station.

Caught up with BL, CS and Sharon yesterday over an Indian lunch.  Discovered that the chef has included two Indo-Chinese dishes on his menu.  Always adaptable - just as Chicken Tikka Masala exists in UK but not in India.  But whatever it is, it still tasted good.  

Today I went looking for the old fabric section behind People Park.  I saw this construction site next door - always a worry. means it may not be here the next time I come.





In the seventies, the fabric section covered two floors.  Now it covers half a floor but has some lovely linens and one shop even specialises in Liberty cottons and other nice fabrics.  Marginally cheaper than retail in Sydney.  But didn't buy any.  I bought some sewing gadgets and then went to the old food centre below.  It hasn't changed since the seventies - still no air-conditioning.  This is ice kachang here - and 20cents cheaper than in the shopping centre.

Tomorrow (Friday) we catch the plane home.  The same flight as usual - SQ211.  

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Singapore

We have arrived safely in Singapore.  Departure from the ship was early but quite painless - one advantage of a small ship.  Then to the airport, flight on time, and to our hotel.  We will catch up with BL and Ah Pa later tonight.  Had a lunch of teo-chew noodles - the first non-French food for many days!

Sorry - no pics today - but KM in the process of posting his jungle photos.  See separate tab...

More on Sandakan

This is some of the rest of the days tour of Sandakan.  This is a HUGE and new Buddhist temple.  Think Nan Tien outside Wollongong.

But they are not keen on bell-ringing.  I guess Christ Church St Laurence doesn't let visitors touch the ropes either!


 A church - a catholic one.

And the house of Agnes Keith.  I had not heard of her, but she was an American author married to an Englishman and they lived in Sandakan before the war.  She wrote books of her experience  before and during the war.  A beautiful house that was destroyed by bombing and has been rebuilt by the Sabah Historical Society.  Obviously she wasn't bad at real estate either!

Tour of Sandakan - War Memorial

We are leaving Sandakan on Tuesday for Kota Kinnabalu and then fly to Singapore, which is the land of fast wifi.

I went on a local tour while KM came home from his rumble in the jungle. He will post when he can.

The tour took us to the Sandakan memorial for the Australians and Brits who died on the death marches. I didn't realise that half of the Australians who died in the war died as POWs. Being on tour, there wasn't as much time as I would have liked to read everything. But took some pics and will google the rest when I get home.

Needless to say, it was very evocative and reading the boards in the heat and humidity brought home what they suffered.
 The entrance


 There are plenty of boardwalks to make it easy to get around.


Some of the lovely planting in the park.


 Part of a board with some details of the suffering.

And just outside the main area, the 4 flags - Malaysia, Aus, UK and Sabah state flag.

Sunday 13 March 2016

Sandakan

Today, Kin Mun went for the overnight stay at Kinabatang Londge, and so far he has seen birds, monkeys, a viper (shotguns are not part of the reptile management here), hornbills and wild elephants. I know all this because there is a mobile phone signal in the rainforest.

I opted to stay near to the comfort of the air-conditioned boat and went into the city today. Tomorrow we go on a historic tour of Sandakan and hopefully will see the memorial to the death marches.

Some pics of the town centre below. 

I wandered into the nearby market and saw the fish section. 

Not sure what this is. Looks like it has a meal or two in it.

The bus station.  

A street scene.

Saturday 12 March 2016

Food

We are in a French flagged ship. Like Air France, they show their Gallic pride and where else but in their food. This has been one of the most elegant onboard presentations I have seen in my limited cruising career. We eat in the buffet because it has dinner earlier than the more formal restaurant, and we don't have to change out of our shorts.

The food has been lovely, but after a week of one cuisine, we are scouring the buffet for food that doesn't have butter and cream, and KM also looking for rice. Looking forward to some Malaysian food tomorrow, and Singapore and shall be ready for a walk to Eastwood when we get back home.

Today is a sea day, so no scenery etc to report.

In the meantime, here are some shots of the buffet.  Entrees first.




And of course, french desserts.




I love meringue, but I think I have had enough for a while!

(Updated). Friday March 11. Pulau Saronde

Today our ship is moored off Pulau Saronde – one of the thousands of islands in the Indonesian archipelago. It is very like Green island off NQ, with beautiful white beaches, blue and green waters, snorkeling, coral, coconut palms. We went onshore and saw the Captain (and us) receive the third welcome dance of the voyage. We began to wonder if the captain did any driving! There seem to be plenty of other duties to keep him busy.


I continue to be amazed at the amount of handling involved in these visits – as on the previous cruises too. Staff take over umbrellas, drinks and other comforts for guests. I guess it all has to be packed up at the end of the visit.

Transfers have been made by RHIBs, or zodiacs. They are unsheltered, and there is a very precise protocol for getting us on and off. We are directed where to sit, when to stand, etc etc.

Hopefully pics below.
 Lovely colours of the water around Pulau Saronde


And a close-up of Le Soleal in the bay.  

Thursday 10 March 2016

Tangkoko National Park

This afternoon we went for a walk in the Tangkoko Nature Reserve. It was humid as usual but being in primary jungle with no undergrowth, it was shady. It was easy to walk through as well. Easier than bush-bashing!

We saw tarsiers (very small) which are the smallest monkeys on the planet. We saw a cuscus (a monkey? A mammal anyway – not much chance to google these things). And then the macaques. There are 4 troops of them in the reserve. Apparently they are critically endangered, but certainly not in this reserve! There were so many of them.

A wonderful experience to walk through the jungle/rain-forest.

Above is a pic of a macaque.

Below is the tarsier.  It has big eyes, so we were specifically warned against flash photography.  It is smaller than it looks in the pic - about 3 inches not counting the tail.

Macaques crossing the road.  One inspected a lady's bright pink joggers but decided they were not edible.

Another macaque.

 And a cuscus.  Obviously a male one.

  Walking in the rain-forest.  Very shady and easy to walk through.

Wednesday 9 March 2016

Total Solar Eclipse on 9 March 2016

At around 9.45am Indonesian time this morning, we witnessed the 2016 total solar eclipse on board the Le Soleal off the coast of Sulawesi. The condition was perfect for the 3 minutes of darkness, and once again a hauntingly beautiful experience to inspire us to plan for the next!

All kinds of viewing aids from high tech telescopes to home-made filters.
Another view of eclipse viewers.

The sun blocked by the moon, with just a crescent visible. (through a Mylar filter)

Sun's ray through the back of a wicker chair cast crescents onto the deck floor.
Close to totality, the "diamond ring" appeared for several seconds. Note red prominence on sun's surface.

The sun at totality.


Tuesday 8 March 2016

Tuesday March 8th. Ternate


We have left Ternate on our way to our eclipse position tomorrow. The last news we got was that we are going to a different position for the eclipse – a position that is less likely to have cloud but where the eclipse will be 2 seconds shorter. Must ask for a refund!

First I must say that the weather is not to be underestimated. Here, and in Naera it is hot and humid. I perspire at the drop of a hat so you can imagine. The good news is that both these places are volcanic and apparently that means mozzies are not a problem so it has been good not to have that to worry abut. I am told mozzies come later!

Having said that, Ternate (and Naira) have been wonderful experiences. There are few tourists. We have had such a warm welcome. The big ships cannot get here, and there appears to be so little tourist infrastructure. We were brought back to the ship for lunch. The transport for our tour was a mix of buses and cars. The majority of the buses were police buses – hired for the day. The air-conditioning starts at 80kph so long as the windows are down. The local people came down to the wharf to check us out and wave and to have photos taken with us! Now we know how locals feel when we want to take photos of them. Departure was also lots of locals waving us off with music, singing, waving etc. This must be what celebrities feel like!

We saw the sultan's palace. He died last year and they are organising the next one. Not direct inheritance as in many royal families (he didn't have a son apparently) but they have to find a suitable relative. Not a bad idea actually – some protection against unsuitable heirs!

They provided a morning tea with no end of cakes, some similar to the Malay cakes in Singapore. I ate everyone of them, so if I have diarrhoea, we won't know which one to blame. Maybe it was a change from french cuisine!

Eclipse tomorrow. 

Hopeful piccies below - a fort and farewell from Ternate.





Tuesday - Ternate

Arrived Ternate this morning.  Quite a big place (100,000 + population) but not on the usual tourist trail. But more people here now because of eclipse tomorrow.  We are also the tourist attraction - locals come out to see us and we to see them.  Someone took a photo of us on our balcony!

Pic just not downloading - will try again tonight.

Monday 7 March 2016

Monday

Monday 7th March

Getting adventurous updating blog and attempt at piccies.

Today is a day at sea. There was a crossing the equator ceremony. We didn't attend as we were advised to wear swimsuits – but we could have been tempted if they had put ice down our backs as on Hurtigruten crossing the Arctic Circle!

There was a 'rehearsal” for the eclipse in terms of choosing a spot on the boat and you could see just where the sun would be on eclipse day. It is 45 degrees, at 9:48am, so a good time and angle.

Tomorrow we go onshore at Ternate – anther island in the Indonesian archipelago. Indonesia is such a diverse country – so many islands and cultures that you wonder how it ever got to be the one country!

We have come to appreciate the food Рit is very elegantly presented, even for the buffet. There are little glasses of mousse, or cr̬me brulee with fois gras! Will take a pic later.

Today's attempts at piccies below are KM at Bandar Naira, a colonial building at Bandar Naira, a fort with the ship in the distance, and a sunset photo with the island of Rhun on the left. The story is told that the English (who got Rhun) did a swap with the Dutch (who got New Amsterdam now known as New York). Such was the lure of spices! KM says colonial squabbles at the expense of the locals.





Sunday 6 March 2016

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday:

We boarded Le Soleal on Friday (4th) afternoon. Today (Saturday) has been a packed programme of lectures, tomorrow we go onshore at Bandar Neira, a small but historically significant island in Indonesia.

The ship is small – 200 passengers. It is new and furnishing and colour schemes are modern. It is a french ship, so french champagne and wines not to mention french desserts are mandatory. There isn't a buffet available all the time as in most cruise ships. If you are hungry between meals, there is room service, which is a full-on meal menu! Nothing fast-food about the french. It took me a day to discover that you can phone through and ask for cakes and biscuits.

The expedition team are all Australians! They cover outings, lectures on botany, marine life, excursions etc. So enough Aussie humour to go around – I wonder if the others catch all the slang.

There have been quite a few familiar faces on this trip and it has been lovely to catch up with people we have met on previous eclipse trips with Travel Quest. An unexpected bonus.

The sea has been very smooth – none of the rough seas we got in Norway – so far. Internet though is as bad as ever on board. However I will type this up and “copy & paste” when we get some connection. And digital photography has finally caught up with cruise ships – photos are taken and you go to a computer to view and choose them. None of the wasteful printing and displaying that we have seen on other cruises.

Sunday:
We went ashore at Banda Neira. A delightful small town – we could hear the cocks crowing as we sailed into the harbour. There was a welcome ceremony and a walking tour. It was HOT and HUMID!! We were warned. But I did pike out and came back early to the ship. I discovered that water alone is not enough – sugar needed as well!

Piccies to be posted when we get to decent wifi – I know when I am beat!

Friday 4 March 2016

At last on the Ponant Le Soleal

Boarded!

Japanese graves at Darwin cemetery

We came across a cemetery right next to our hotel. It shows the multicultural history of Darwin with Greeks, Chinese and Japanese among them.

About to board the boat. Sending this by email. Further posts depend on wifi! Watch this space... Will try to attach piccy of ship. Kay

Thursday 3 March 2016

More Darwin tourism.....

The temperature was much more pleasant this evening, so went for a walk. Below is an iconic Darwin building - the Parliament House.  Darwin reminds me of Canberra with different climate.  Who wants to be a state when the Feds pay for everything?


There is some interesting history here - an aviation museum and a fellow who does tours of the wartime sites including the bombing in WW2. But we won't have time to explore these, nor the inclination given the weather. 

But they have some good food.....



Touristy Darwin

We got to the airport and everything worked well.  We noted that we were flying half-way to Singapore.  At Darwin, the heat hit us even before we had left the plane.  After all, we are here in early March because there is an eclipse on, not because it is the right season to come to Darwin.
We have been accommodated at Sky City - a casino/hotel complex. Tonight, when it drops to 30 degrees, we will catch a cab to town and walk around the main street.

But there are some beautiful tropical scenes, but no people!   Just outside our hotel.

KM walking along the path next to the beach, outside our hotel.

And our hotel.