Day 20


We went on the tenders into Male. It is the largest island in the Maldives and capital of the more than 1.000 islands. Male is very Muslim; in fact, no other religion is allowed to be practiced. There is a stone wall surrounding the island and there are no beaches. To get to the beaches on the other islands you take a speed boat which we did with our friends. We went to a resort and relaxed on the beautiful beach and snorkeled in the turquoise blue waters. Many of these tropical atolls have been transformed into luxury resorts and are visited by people from all over the world. Jumbo jets land in Male and boats go to the islands. The resort we visited had the thatched huts going into the water. I saw yellow striped fish and bright blue fish. The water was turquoise blue. What a paradise! We watched Male leave our sights from the Observation Lounge in the front of the ship.

DAY 19


Today is Palm Sunday. Father Kelly is unsure if the palms ever got on the ship. We shall see as we are going to Mass now……Yes, the palms did arrive. We had a big crowd at church today. Father Kelly says a Mass for the crew at 11:30 P.M. each Sunday because everyone is through working by this time. We attended a lecture on the modern day pirates which was very timely. Another day at the pool with our books and our friends was most enjoyable. The entertainment tonight was big band music by the Regent band.; it was good.

DAY 18


It has been another lazy day at sea after our morning walk. I did visit the spa this morning for “personal maintenance.” John went to a lecture on spies. We hung out at the pool with friends reading our books and watching Captain Dag play pool volleyball. We are smack in the middle of the Indian Ocean, To our amazement there is a small bird by our pool, obviously a stowaway. Captain Dag hosted a pre-dinner formal party. He spoke to us about the pirate area we will enter. He said we will have “visitors” (added security) coming aboard for that part of the trip but not to worry about the pirates. We won’t. Our friends from San Antonio joined us for dinner

DAY 16


We docked in Penang at 9AM. The ride into the port was beautiful because Penang is an island with lovely beaches, tall mountains and very blue water. There are numerous 5 star hotels and huge high rises where many people come to vacation or have a second home because the cost of living is cheap. We were amazed at the luxury of the island.

Our tour today was to a butterfly farm. We walked among the butterflies and got some great pictures. The national butterfly of Penang is the Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing. It is black with green spikes.

We stopped at a spice garden and, much to our surprise, we saw 5 wild monkeys jumping from tree to tree.

We had dinner with our friends from San Antonio and Father Kelly, the priest on board. The guitarist we like put on his own show so we stayed up and enjoyed it. We met a dancer on our tour today. He is on the ship for 10 months. He said he had the perfect job--he can dance and see the world!

DAY 15--KUALA LUMPUR


Our 7 hour tour today was to show us the main attractions of Kuala Lumpur. Our guide told us that the country is divided into 14 parts, each governed by a sultan. Every five years they all meet and elect a King. Kuala Lumpur(or K L, as it is called) is a constitutional monarchy and gained its independence from Great Britain in 1957. There can never be a Queen here because the crown passes to the son or another male relative. Sixty per-cent of the country is Muslim. Our guide says all religions exist peacefully together. I hope that is true. The Muslim women usually wear the head scarves or the full burka. I think the black burkas are for the strict Muslims. The others wear pretty colored burkas and high heeled designer shoes. They, also, carry designer bags. Go figure.

Kuala Lumpur is prosperous with many high rises and huge shopping malls as nice as any we have in the U.S. You can see the British influence. The buildings and open spaces have a colonial feel to them. Unemployment is only 3% in K.L.

We visited the Blue Mosque; it is huge and can hold 25,000 people. Its 470-foot minerets are the tallest in the world. We saw the King’s Palace, the National Museum and saw the National War Memorial which honors all the fallen from 3 wars, The sculptor who did this memorial is the same man who did the Marine Memorial in Washington D.C. After a buffet lunch at one of many gorgeous hotels here, we visited a marketplace where goods were plentiful and begging to be bought!

Many global companies are here. They like the work force because English is the main language. From what we see, Malaysia is very prosperous. We sail at 8 for Penang.

P.S. The national flower is the hibiscus. The lamp poles have metal red hibiscus wound around them--very pretty!

P.P.S. This is for our kids: Dad and I ordered a pizza for dinner. We put on our I-Pod(Thank you, Patrick, for all the songs you recorded for us) and we danced on our balcony and watched the ship leave K.L. The sunset was beautiful and the stars were bright. It was another memorable night.

LAZY SEA DAYS

DAY 13--AT SEA


We enjoyed another morning walk on the deck 12 track. There are paddle tennis and shuffleboard courts up there too. I took a step class and then we attended a lecture on Malaysia, our next stop. The rest of the day was spent reading and relaxing. We ate dinner at the fancy restaurant, Signatures, with David and Maureen, our new friends from Newport Beach.

I have added a lot of pictures on my Bangkok blogs. I do it at 6AM. I, also, do the laundry at this hour but even then the machines can be full.



DAY 14--AT SEA

We sailed around the tip of Singapore and entered the Strait of Malacca which we will continue to follow until we reach Kuala Lumpur tomorrow morning. There have been lots of ships to look at and islands to see. John and I read by the pool and watched a rain storm come and go. We attend 5 o’clock Mass with a nice group. One person we met there, named Lloyd, turned 100 years old on this trip. He manages by himself with a walker. Our dinner tonight was with two couples we have met. One couple is from New York and the other from Ireland. We ate at the Prime 7 steakhouse and it was enjoyed by all.

MORE BANGKOK

DAY12 -BANGKOK, part 2


We traveled by bus and then “long boat” to the Floating Market. Here goods are sold out of boats and along the klong. It is a very colorful sight and bargains can be had if one is a good bargainer.   We visited a temple with beautiful golden Buddha statues on the way home.  It was interesting to watch people offer their food and flowers and to put gold paper on the Buddahs.When we returned from Bangkok the entire crew of 400 plus was in full dress and lined up to greet us. The Regent band played and there were signs saying “Welcome Back!” It was quite a sight. John and I fell asleep on our lounge chairs on the deck looking up at the stars.