London Day 1a

We arrived in London on Sunday evening.  It seemd a long trip this time - the delay of an hour leaving Sydney and overnight in Singapore - and it IS a long way.  However I watched movies, played inflight bridge and Tetris and slept.

We are in our studio flat - with a bathroom larger than the tiniest kitchen I have ever seen.  But it is dry, warm, and everything works.

Today is sorting out local SIM card and a wander somewhere - fudge at Fortnum & Mason? -  before coming back to  recover further from our jetlag.

No sign of the upcoming referenum on the EU membership.

Cool and wet today - it is London after all - but rain is not heavy.

 A single unit with sink, two electric plates and fridge - all in one.

The bathroom - my knees almost touch the wall in front of the loo - but quite a big room.

Forgot to take one of the bedroom - will post later. And there is a small hall - such a good English idea.

Portugal becomes UK

Our planned walk from Porto to Santiago de Compostela has taken a detour.  Due to an episode of hip bursitis, I am following physio's orders to abandon long walking for the time being.  We went ahead and paid for our flights to and from Heathrow, and now have 3 weeks in the UK and perhaps Europe to fill in.  Plan B is looking appealing!  So here it is.

Saturday 18th June    SQ 232  Dep Sydney 11:00. Arr Singapore 17:35
Sunday    19th June    SQ 308 Dep 09:05 Singapore. Arr London 15:40pm

Tuesday   12th July    SQ 305 Dep London 09:25. Arr Singapore 05:30
Thursday  14th July    SQ 231 Dep Singapore 00:45. Arr Sydney 10:25.

Times:
London           BST     UTC +  1   hour
Singapore       SGT     UTC +  8   hours
Sydney           AEST   UTC + 10 hours

Accommodation:
19th - 29th June: Endsleigh Court, 24 Upper Woburn Place, London,  WC1H 0HA, England.  Reception: +44(0)20 7878 5861. 
30th June - 5th July: Ramada Encore, 84-90 Charles Street, Leicester. +44 11 6366 0150.
5th-12th July: Endsleigh Court.

Plan B.
1. We have booked a walking tour with Marx Walks.  Sights plus stuff about Marx and his ideas.  His analysis of capitalism is proving particularly prescient, given the events in the world lately.  After all, Trump and Sanders are symptoms of the same thing.   www.marxwalks.com

2. I have tried to get a foundry visit to Whitechapel Bells in, where else, Whitechapel.  They are booked out till September, but you never know.  There is no online booking - bookings only made by phone, which suits me fine.  We are on the waiting list.

But I did successfully book a tour with John Taylor & Co, at Loughborough, Leicestershire - 30th May.  In 1852, Taylors cast the first 6 bells for Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney (where KM rings, and I learn).  I had to make several calls to contact Mary who organises the diary.  I do like companies where you have to talk to a person - non of this impersonal on-line stuff.  BTW, Mary is a ringer herself and has rung at CCSL in Sydney.





3. Our Raffles project. We had planned to a do trip around present day Malaysia, Indonesia, and also Singapore and UK following in the footsteps of Sir Stamford Raffles.  But we will do the UK bits - the beginning and the end of the Raffles story.  At least the weather will be better than in Indonesia.  He has a statue in Westminster Abbey and his last residence is Highwood House at Highwood Hill.  Now an aged care facility I think. 

4. Leicester to see the new resting place of Richard III, and visit one of Kin Mun's bell-ringing buddies who has returned to UK.
 


5. Worcester Cathedral to see the burial place of King John, of Magna Carta fame.
 














6. Canterbury Cathedral, and York Minster (which has the largest manually rung bell in the UK).
 



7. British Museum and British Library, especially to see what we can see of stuff from Dunhuang's Magao Caves in China.  All nicked of course.



8. Basildon Church with its glass bellringing tower. Can see ringers and bells.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoOuWIxk1h4
 

9.  Enough Battle of Britain/aviation museums/memorials to keep me happy.  Not sure about KM!
Including a tour to the Battle of Britain bunker at Uxbridge for starters.



And certainly we hope to catch up with my niece at some stage!

Might have been less to do if we had gone walking.

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.  

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.

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.

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.  

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.