Month: November 2008

Contributed by: filbert Sunday, November 16 2008 @ 05:41 PM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-seven

November 4 (Tuesday, Day 49, Sydney, Australia) –

Filbert woke up around 5 AM to watch our arrival into Sydney Cove. Snookums woke up at 6 AM when the port lecturer started narrating our progress. We docked and once again we had the great view of the Sydney Opera House while the other side of the ship looked at the port terminal. We continue to be lucky.

More after the jump . . .

Sydney skyline

First view of the Opera House

The gallery assembled to watch the harbor entry

Opera House and Sydney Bridge

The sky was overcast and it rained early on, but by the time we were ready to leave the ship, it had cleared off and was in the mid-60s. Snookums bundled up and Filbert wore a long sleeve shirt.

We got off the ship around 9 AM and walked to the supposedly largest bookstore (Dymock’s) in the Southern Hemisphere. Filbert stayed there for a few hours (and bought three history books) while Snookums wandered around downtown Sydney. She got a pedicure and manicure ($35 compared to $100 plus tip on the ship!) and bought a dark chocolate ginger candy bar at Haigt’s Chocolates which has been in Australia since 1918.

Queen Victoria Building

Snookums went back to Dymock’s to get Filbert and his heel started bothering him so we walked back to the ship around 1 PM and ate lunch. Snookums went back out to do some more exploring and wandered around The Rocks which is the area that was first settled in the 1800s and right where our ship docked.

Purple-flowered trees

The Melbourne Cup (a famous horse race like the Kentucky Derby) was raced at 3 PM and we saw a lot of women in their fancy dresses and hats or fascinators (feathers and things on a comb that you wear in your hair in place of a hat) going to the race parties. We never heard what horse won, but a lot of drinking was happening.

We called a whale watching tour company from a pay phone to ask about the best tour to take tomorrow. We were told that the 4-hour one was the best and that it left at 1 PM so we scheduled that.

Since Snookums managed to blow off her workout yesterday she went to the gym. She realized that several of the new passengers that just got on in Sydney were there, too, since they were trying to figure out the machines. Several tours of travel agents walked through, too. (When the ship has docked in the bigger cities, there have been several tours given to local travel agents.)

We went to dinner and we were the only ones that showed up. We knew Gary and Charlotte weren’t going to be there but we thought that maybe Alice and Ivan would be. Ron, the wine steward, told Filbert that if Filbert managed to drink an entire bottle of wine at each dinner from now on, the extra bottles would be free. (Filbert bought a 36-bottle package when we first got onboard. Four nights ago Ron said that he had 18 left. We knew that Ron’s math was wrong [to Filbert’s benefit] but since Filbert tips him every now and then, we don’t really care. Filbert will be sharing lots of wine at dinner from now on.)

Opera House in the afternoon

November 5 (Wednesday, Day 50, Sydney, Australia) –

The sky was clear and the temperature was warmer and we decided to go out and find a barber since Filbert wanted a haircut. Most of the hair salons were closed yesterday for the Melbourne Cup but we were told a bunch could be found by a mass transit station about ¾ mile away. We went to the Wynyard Station and it was just like any other big mass transit station in Tokyo or Singapore or Hong Kong. It had lots of small shops on several levels and several hair salons. He got his hair cut for $16 (compared to $35 plus tip on the ship) and there was no place on the credit card receipt for a tip so he didn’t. (We had read that you don’t tip in Australia.)

We bought our picture for our travel wall at a small gallery co-op that sells items from a bunch of different artists. Our print is of the Sydney Bridge with Luna Park (an amusement park) under it. We could easily see this scene from our ship so we thought it was a great souvenir.

Luna Park

Contributed by: filbert Saturday, November 15 2008 @ 05:33 PM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-six

November 3 (Monday, Day 48, Cruising Tasman Sea) –

We woke up in time to go to the golf putting for Dam Dollars and Filbert won two while Snookums got the standard one. After spending time on the computers, we took a tour of the Penthouse Suite since Gary wanted to see it. (We could easily arrange it since we have ready access to a concierge in the Neptune Suite.) It really wasn’t very impressive. Unlike the penthouse suite that we got to use for two hours on a Regent Seven Seas Mariner cruise as we were docking in San Francisco, this was a poorly designed one. It had a single bedroom in it and did not offer a sofa bed so only two people could sleep in it. It had two televisions and a full-size Jacuzzi tub, a small shower, two toilets, a bidet, a dining room table for 8 and a sofa. It only had one balcony.

Photos after the jump . . . The Peter Stuyvesant Suite:

Snookums had every intention of working out today and was puzzled when Filbert came inside and started putting his dinner clothes on the bed. That’s when she realized it was 7:10 and not 5:30 like she suspected. Sunset was at 8:20 PM and it was so bright that she thought she still had a few more hours until dinner. Nope! Oh well, there is always another day for the gym.

Contributed by: filbert Friday, November 14 2008 @ 05:22 PM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-five

November 2 (Sunday, Day 47, Melbourne, Australia) –

Arriving at Melbourne

Filbert woke up around 6 AM to watch the docking process which turned out to be quite boring. We were behind schedule and were supposed to dock at 8 AM. We ended up being all done around 9:15 AM. In the meantime, the ship sailed through the bay which was wide open and “boring”. We got off the ship as soon as it cleared customs and immigration and bought an all-day Sunday public transportation ticket for around $1.65.

More after the jump . . . We took the tram to Queen Victoria Market which is a fixed price, open-air market that has been operating for more than 100 years. We were impressed at the variety of goods we found including Chinese trinkets that we could have purchased in Shanghai or Hong Kong (for about the same price). We also saw Ugg boots and several vendors selling Australian Rules Football jerseys. There was a food section, too, that sold fresh fish, meats, cheeses, produce, and baked goods. It was a nice market and very busy and we enjoyed being able to read all of the English signs. We bought some Australian wool socks and Filbert bought a $5.50 black polo shirt with a kangaroo embroidered on the chest.

We stopped at a cafe and Filbert had a Coke Zero while Snookums ate a huge piece of warm sticky date pudding with orange caramel sauce and whipped cream. We noticed that the breakfast menu listed pancakes and they were all were served with ice cream and we saw a few being served, too. Even the “American pancake” was served with ice cream and maple syrup. Strange.

After that well-deserved break, we took the free tourist shuttle to the Shrine of Remembrance which commemorates Victorians killed in WWI.

Shrine of Remembrance

Then we walked to the free Royal Botanic Gardens which is considered one of the world’s best. And it was.

The Royal Botanic Gardens:

We caught another tram back to the ship in order to get our laptops to find some free internet usage. Bill, our cruise friend in California, did a little web research for us and emailed us a list of free places near the ship.

Filbert decided to go to the grocery store at the end of the pier and pay the $4.35/hour but Snookums decided to venture forth and find the free ones provided by Bill’s web search. Filbert ultimately decided to go along with Snookums. After walking for about a mile and going to the establishments on our list and being told “no internet here”, we ended up returning to the grocery store. (Just goes to show, you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet!)

Filbert drowned his disappointment in a big bottle of Melbourne Bitter beer (a Foster’s brand) and posted a dozen cruise blog posts, while Snookums read email and checked on our various financial accounts. (Yippee, we still have money in our checking account and our financial trading account!) We got back to the ship with about 30 minutes to spare. While we were in the grocery store, the temperature seemed to drop from about 80 degrees to about 65 degrees and the skies clouded over.

Back onboard, Filbert showered and got ready to watch us leave port while Snookums sewed buttons on two pairs of pants and got the laundry ready to go out. An Australian warship had docked right next to the Amsterdam–an unusual sight.

HMAS Tobruk

There had been a motorcycle convention in Melbourne over the weekend. These folks were heading back home to Tasmania on the ferry docked across the pier from us.

Australian bikers

As soon as the ship pushed away from the dock, it started raining! We have had the best luck with weather. It’s just been amazing and we hope it stays that way.

Around 7:00 Filbert decided he was hungry (he didn’t have any lunch while Snookums pigged out on the huge piece of sticky date pudding) so we called our tablemates and told them we wouldn’t be coming to dinner. We ordered hamburgers and corn chowder and at in while watching “Flawless” on TV. Lights were out at 10 PM due to our long, tiring day.

Sunset enroute to Sydney

Contributed by: filbert Thursday, November 13 2008 @ 05:13 PM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-four

October 29 (Wednesday, Day 43, Fremantle, Australia – Continued) –

Last post, we were in the kangaroo feeding areat–but weren’t quite done feeding kangaroos:

The adventurers attract a mob

Look out below!

It was time to leave, so we wandered back to the entrance and loaded onto the bus. We got back to the ship and we immediately got on the free shuttle to downtown Fremantle. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining. We were once again blessed with a beautiful day in port. We got off the tram and found an ATM and then Snookums decided that her breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes had worn off so we needed to eat. We found a pasty shop (pasties are meat pies) and Snookums had a curry pie and Filbert had a steak and mushroom pie. Each cost $2.66 (U.S.) and they were a good snack although Snookums’s was tastier than Filbert’s was. We found the main post office and Snookums bought postcard stamps since they were $0.35 cheaper than what the ship was charging. The Fremantle post office looked more like a retail shop. It sold DVDs, cell phones, books, stuffed animals and all sorts of other items. Luckily it sold stamps, too.

Fremantle’s little pedestrian mall

We went to the grocery store and saw that there was an area for “home brew” that sold the yeast and various beer mixes. Otherwise, the grocery store was very similar to ones in the U.S. Liquor was sold in a store separate from the grocery store. We found some wine produced by one of the vineyards we passed on the way to the wildlife park so Filbert bought some. We walked back to the shuttle stop and piled on for the ride back to the ship.

The ship left Fremantle at 5 PM and by dinner we were rocking and rolling again but not as bad as the previous night. At dinner Charlotte gave Snookums and Alice a small clip-on stuffed koala holding an Australian flag and we all told our stories about our activities. Alice informed the table that the lady that fell the day before on the basketball court was taken off the ship this morning with a broken hip. Other than that, it was a quiet dinner since everyone was tired from the poor sleep from the night before as well as the busy day in port.

October 30 (Thursday, Day 44, At sea) –

We decided that today would be very casual. Lots of reading and blogging and watching movies on tv. We even told our tablemates that we would not be at the formal dinner. We did leave our cabin for lunch, working out and Dam Dollar activities. We also wandered to the Neptune Lounge and found a willing audience to watch the Bali underwater photo slideshow that Filbert put together. Everyone was very impressed with his pictures.

Earning Dam Dollars

Snookums watched the floral demonstration on TV and learned that the flowers on the ship had been coming from Holland but now the shipments were from Australia and when we get to Hawaii they will come from Hawaii. It’s impressive to think that for the past 35 days or so, the different flowers all came from Holland (by way of Seattle and Singapore).

Snookums watched “A Bug’s Life” on DVD and by the time our dinner arrived, we were watching the movie “Cloverfield” on tv. (Snookums was in her pajamas for dinner.) The movie was billed as “a heavily anticipated picture revolving around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people”. It was basically “Blair Witch Project” meets “Godzilla”. It was 1 hour and 15 minutes of utterly wasted time. It was the movie that was shown in the ship’s theatre the day before so we thought it would be good. We were wrong.

October 31 (Friday, Day 45, At sea) –

Snookums worked out before lunch and was rewarded with seeing a large pod of dolphins. We got more Dam Dollars by going to the three activities and enjoyed the Mongolian BBQ that was set up by the retractable roof pool for lunch. It was chilly so the roof was only open about a foot in order to let the cooking smells go outside. We filled our plates with various raw vegetables and then told the chef our meat choice(s) and our seasoning choices and stir fried it all together. It was very tasty.

Costumes were encouraged for dinner so we wore the Renaissance costumes that Snookums’s mother made. Everyone thought they were beautiful and we made a special trip to Yvan and Alice’s to trick or treat since they weren’t going to attend dinner. They were very impressed and insisted on taking our picture. Alice had feathered masks that she gave us since they weren’t going to use them and the colors of Snookums’s matched her costume perfectly. After leaving their room we went to the special VIP opening (for suite guests) of the Faberge Egg exhibit. Free champagne was being given out, too. Filbert liked the egg that had to do with the new world, but at $26,000 we decided to pass. (The salesman told us they go up 12% each January, though, and that the man had just passed away and only his daughter is left to make them so maybe they are a great investment!! The ship has at least 12 on display, for sale.) We sat in a bar, Filbert drank his free champagne and we watched the costumes go by.

At dinner the waiters were in different costumes and the dining room was decorated with all sorts of cobwebs, pumpkins and mummies. The crew has done a fabulous job decorating the ship for the various special events we’ve had. The amount of “stuff” that is on board for one-time use is amazing. On some formal nights we were served food on dishes that we hadn’t seen before and haven’t seen since. Plus at both entrances to the dining rooms are huge Buddhas or elephants or Chinese lanterns, depending on the theme of the dinner. And, when the black and white ball and the black and red Oriental ball were held, theQueen’s Lounge was decorated to the hilt.

In Halloween costume

After dinner we went to the Crow’s Nest for the Halloween Boo Ball. Prizes were awarded but we didn’t win any. It was very crowded and Snookums didn’t think that the judges got a good look at our outfits.

The Halloween Boo Ball

November 1 (Saturday, Day 46, At sea) –

Snookums slept until 10:45 and read in bed until 11:45 when she showered. She woke Filbert up at 12:15 and after he showered we ate lunch with Gary and Charlotte. We went to the 2:30 beanbag toss and Gary showed up, too. Gary managed to win two Dam Dollars for Snookums and each of us won one. Today’s tally was four Dam Dollars which wasn’t too bad since we slept through the first two activities. (The current total is 29.) Filbert spent the rest of the afternoon getting caught up with the blog and photos and Snookums wrote in the journal. The sky was overcast and the seas were relatively calm with just some little swells. The temperature was in the mid 50s.

Snookums wanted a picture of this flower display

While Snookums worked out, Filbert saw a 5-foot shark. He was on the verandah and happened to look down at the right time and saw a shark just lazily swimming along.

Catching up on posting

Sunset from the dining room

Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, November 12 2008 @ 05:04 PM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-three

October 29 (Wednesday, Day 43, Fremantle, Australia – Continued) –

We were half-way through our walk through Perth, Australia’s Caversham Wildlife Park when we hit our blog system’s 10-picture -per-post limit. So, we had just visited a cockatoo and a rather sickly looking Tasmanian Devil, working out way towards the kangaroo feeding area. On the way, there were more animals out and about:

Peacock in full display

More after the jump . . .

Who’s a pretty bird, then?

Peacock on the run

There was a lidded trash can of kangaroo kibble so we grabbed a handful. Before we knew it, kangaroos surrounded us. Their tongues are slimy and they probably have teeth, but neither of us felt any teeth, just their tongues. We saw a kangaroo with a joey in its pouch, too. There were probably a hundred, if not more, kangaroos in the enclosure. They were all sizes and some were even white. Too soon it was time to get on the bus and that’s when the first raindrops started to fall so it was just as well.

Feeding the kangaroos

An attentive audience

They’re licking my hand!

But it’s OK!

One wanted a hug . . . or more food!

They liked Filbert, too–at least his food

Mama roo and joey

We’re not quite done with the Caversham Wildlife Park. That’s the next post . . .

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, November 11 2008 @ 04:54 PM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-two

(Remember to click “read more” if you’re looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

October 28 (Tuesday, Day 42, At sea) –

We lost another hour last night and Filbert decided to wake up for the 5:23 sunrise. Unfortunately, the ship had forgotten about the lost hour and the sun didn’t really come up until 6:23. He was up anyway and took photos during the rainstorm. By the time Snookums woke up at 7:30, it was bright and sunny.

Morning showers

More after the jump . . . We went to the Soccer Kick and Filbert won two Dam Dollars while Snookums won one. Then an hour later it was time for the Frisbee Toss which was held inside due to the high winds. It ended up being Velcro darts and each of us won two Dam Dollars.

Filbert was feeling a little queasy and took seasick medicine just in case. The swells were up to 12 feet and the ship was rocking and pitching. He sat on the verandah to read and watch the seas and spotted a humpback whale around 12:45. He saw the fin and everything. Snookums was only able to see the spout and the foam from when it breached the water, but Filbert saw it all. Snookums took seasick pills, too.

A fine day

We went to the basketball free throw contest and saw a woman being placed in a HAL wheelchair by the nurse and another assistant. We guess she fell down while waiting her turn for the free throw. She didn’t appear to be hurt but the ship was rocking and rolling a lot. Snookums’s father would have had a hard time walking, even with a walker, since there were times that the motion would propel you forward, backward or sideways 5 or 6 steps at a time.

We both took a 3-1/2-hour nap before dinner. A combination of the motion sickness pills and the steady rocking took it out of us. Dinner was exciting since the ship was swaying so much. Alice grabbed the table at times since she thought she was going to fall backwards. Some dishes were on a waitstand and fell to the floor but that was the extent of the damage for the evening. We returned to our cabin but had a very hard time falling asleep.

October 29 (Wednesday, Day 43, Fremantle, Australia – 1.60 Australian dollars to the dollar) –

Windy morning at Fremantle Port

Wind turbine in the middle of Fremantle

Neither of us slept well but we managed to get up, shower and go to breakfast in order to get ready for our 8:45 AM departure for our tour of Caversham Wildlife Park. The weather was overcast and windy and Snookums wore her winter coat. Filbert brought a fleece jacket in case he got cold but just wore a long-sleeve shirt. One week ago it was 85 degrees in Fremantle and today it was 58. Oh well. After going through Australian customs and having dogs sniff Snookums’s backpack for food and other no-nos, we boarded the bus and settled in for a 45-minute trip to the park.

We had a nice commentary by our Swiss guide (yep, he was from Switzerland!). We drove by the Swan River and even saw its famous black swans which aren’t always easily seen. We also passed several vineyards. As we approached the entrance to the park, we spotted our first wild kangaroos. Just like the U.S. has deer, Australia has kangaroos. We got off the bus and made our way around the park. It was a small zoo but very nice in its setup. We went to the koalas and petted them with the back of our hands so that oil on our palms wouldn’t get on their fur. They were soft. Their diet consists of 17 kinds of eucalyptus and not much water and that’s it. They sleep for about 20 hours per day in order to digest the eucalyptus.

Photo Title

Cold wallaby

An American woman that had just graduated from a Louisiana university staffed the koala area. When we asked which one, she said Centenary (Shreveport, LA) and we told her that we had been there and saw a basketball game in the Gold Dome and that we saw the unveiling of the new mascot. Centenary is the smallest school in NCAA Division I and it has around 1,000 students. She played tennis so she knew the Gold Dome very well and was also on the mascot committee and was impressed to meet someone who had been there since she doesn’t get too many Centenary-knowledgeable folks in Caversham Wildlife Park. She told us that she has to tell people she is from a university since colleges are high schools in Australia.

Cold koala

Cold, sleepy koala

Then we saw other animals native to Australia including wombats, emus, Tasmanian devils, flying fox (bats) and lots of pretty birds like lorikeets and kookaburras. We noticed that many of the animals were curled up in order to conserve body heat since it was unseasonably cool. When we passed the dingo enclosure, they all started to howl. Dingoes are wild dogs (or maybe descendants of wolves) but they don’t bark. They howl. Anyway, the dingoes serenaded us and it got quite noisy. We wandered away from them and finally decided to enter the kangaroo enclosure.

Friendly cockatoo

Tasmanian devil

More from the Caversham Wildlife Park in the next post . . .

Contributed by: filbert Monday, November 10 2008 @ 12:12 AM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-one

October 26 (Sunday, Day 40, At sea) –

Snookums woke up and decided to work out and then went to the mandatory Australian passport check by 10:30 AM while she was still all sweaty. Filbert had woken up and showered in the meantime and also went to the passport check. Since we skipped breakfast, we were ready for lunch around noon and decided to enjoy the poolside special “Around the World” feast. Filbert enjoyed some Chinese, German and Indian foods while Snookums stuck to the Indian curries.

At sea again

More after the jump . . . After lunch we decided to perfect the art of relaxing on the verandah. At 3:00 we decided to attend Yvan’s “Democracy and the Public Interest” lecture. About thirty people showed up and he had more questions from the audience than at his first lecture so it was a good showing.

Professor Yvan holding forth

We saw two huge schools of flying fish today. There were probably 100 fish out of the water each time. But, we only saw them two different times. The Indian Ocean seems to be a lot like the South China Sea as far as not having any sea life that we can see!

Tonight was the black and red Oriental ball so we put on our formal black and red outfits and enjoyed dinner and then the ball. Snookums’s outfit was a black oriental style dress of Judy’s that Judy then added red piping and red buttons to. It received lots of comments, but maybe that was due to the slit up to the middle of her thigh! The large theatre was very well decorated in a red and black Oriental theme and 95% of the guests were wearing red and black outfits. Many people bought silk Oriental jackets from Vietnam, Shanghai or Hong Kong that were very appropriate for tonight’s festivities.

Black and Red

The Ball

October 27 (Monday, Day 41, At sea) –

Snookums woke up in time to make the 9:30 AM Dam Dollar ring toss and then managed to go to the 10:30 Dam Dollar hockey slapshot. She earned one Dam Dollar at each event. Filbert was up by the time she returned to the cabin around 11:30 AM and then it was time for lunch. We both decided that taco salads eaten by the pool would be nice and found a table somewhat protected from the winds. We explored the ship after lunch and managed not to get blown overboard.

Snookums found an area in the sun and laid out for about 1-1/2 hours and finished another paperback but didn’t put her swimming suit on since it wasn’t that warm to her. She returned to the room and convinced Filbert to join her at the Dam Dollars volleyball serve activity. It was really an activity that involved tossing a volleyball over the net to hit a life preserver. Snookums’s two tosses hit the preserver so she won three Dam Dollars. Filbert participated and won one which he then gave to Snookums.

Both of Snookums’s flowers (pansy, impatiens) are now growing but are a long ways from blooming.

Snookums’ Egg Plants

Upon returning to the room, Filbert sat on the verandah and listened to an AM radio station from Perth, Australia while continuing to write his novel and Snookums stayed inside and updated the journal. It soon got too windy and blustery for Filbert (even when wearing a fleece jacket) and he came inside. At some point during the day a fly came in our room but after about 5 minutes of hunting, Filbert was able to smash him.

Dinner was good, as usual. We ordered Soupe a l’Oignon, Cream of Chicken Curry Soup, House Salad, Roast Rack of Port with Caramelized Apple and Chicken Cordon Bleu. Dessert was Queen Elizabeth Cake and Sugar Free Chocolate Decadence Cake.

Starters and salads

Entrees

The wine of the evening

Filbert’s chicken cordon bleu

Photo Title

Next: Australia, here we come!

Contributed by: filbert Sunday, November 09 2008 @ 12:09 AM CST

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage – Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty

October 25 (Saturday, Day 39, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia – Continued)

Filbert bought a terribly overpriced 600 ml Bintang beer for $4 (it would have cost $1 if we would have had rupiah but by now we decided that U.S. dollars would work just fine and didn’t bother using the one ATM that we eventually found) so that was the tip. We ate lunch at the restaurant across from the Wayan’s store.

We ordered beer, pork/chicken/fish with Balinese spicy sauce and rice, nasi goreng (stir fried noodles, shrimp, chicken and vegetables – kind of like fried rice with a fried egg on top) and chicken satay. While waiting for the food a lady selling Balinese fabrics came by. Snookums started touching the fabric and Filbert decided he wanted shirts made out of them so we ended up buying three pieces of fabric for $40. She wanted $70 and we later found out we probably could have gotten them for $10 total! As our tablemate, Gary, says “It’s foreign aid”.

Foreign aid

More after the jump . . . Then a girl selling all sorts of trinkets and knick knacks came by and we ended up buying four postcards from her. We wrote them while waiting for lunch to come. Lunch looked very good, but really wasn’t that tasty. And, since we only had U.S. dollars, they gave us a terrible exchange rate of 8,000 rupiah to the $1 rather than 10,000 or so which meant that our lunch was $25. Once again, foreign aid!

Lunch

We decided that we had seen everything there was to see and since Filbert still had $6, we went back to the snorkel store and bargained for two warm Bintang beers and they happily took our last $6. Well, Snookums thought it was the last of our money, but that was not to be.

We went to the tender line and it was moving slowly. One of the ship’s officers explained that due to low tide, the tenders could only be half filled so it would be awhile.

The tender boarding line

That was okay since both sides of the fences were lined with vendors shouting at the people waiting and it was pretty amusing. Filbert explained that he still had money left so Snookums encouraged him to look at the readymade shirts out of the Balinese cotton. He ended up buying two, one from each vendor standing next to each other. The vendors wanted $15 each but he said $10 and they agreed. One vendor took the $10 and a $1 out of his hand while the other vendor only got $10. Whatever!

Capitalism at its finest. Hey, Mister! Hey, Miss!

We ended up getting on the tender and by now all of the passengers were kind of laughing about all of it. The vendors were nice and since they were behind the fences and couldn’t grab you and stuff, it was okay to have them yell their sales pitches. The people of Bali speak three languages – Balinese, Indonesian and English so language is no problem at all.

The Amsterdam awaits

We got back to the ship, showered and got ready to host another of our famous sail-away parties for our tablemates. While Snookums was picking up the room and putting laundry away, Filbert was working on putting together a slide show of the underwater pictures he took. At 6 PM the appetizers were delivered and our friends arrived. We traded stories of our adventures and everyone enjoyed watching our slide show.

Hors d’oeuvres

After being underway for about an hour, the ship started pitching to and fro although the waves were basically nonexistent. For the past two weeks or so, sailing in the East China Sea and Java Sea had spoiled us and now we were in the Indian Ocean. Oceans ARE different than seas! No one was getting sick, but we could tell we were on the ocean and we needed a few hours to get our sea legs back. Earlier in the day the Captain had also reported that the winds would be picking up between now and Perth.

We all went to dinner in Lido (the buffet) to enjoy the special Indonesian feast which tasted better than our authentic lunch, primarily due to having much better cuts of meat. It was a great way to end a very memorable day.

Fisherman at a rocky point on Bali

Next: Back out to sea!