It’s complicated

I’m not sure what to say about South Africa. It’s very old country. It’s a very young country. It has deep wounds. And huge potential. But that potential, for most people will not be realized.

And then there’s the water situation in Cape Town – a city of 4 million and they are weeks away from running out of water. And the distrust of the government is so great that many people don’t believe that there is a problem. I don’t think I would want to be here when the water stops – apparently there are plans to set up water distribution points through the city but it boggles the mind to think of how that would work.

Against the back ground of the water crisis there is the city, which is lovely. Table mountain rises up behind the city, often draped in a tablecloth of fog.

(It is mist rolling down the mountain in the morning that keeps things looking green in spite of the drought. Mist that ever quite becomes rain)

We stayed at the Table Bay Hotel – probably the most beautiful hotel we’ve ever stayed at. It was a great place to catch our breathe after two overnight flights. The mall next door had a restaurant with great Japanese food

And since politics is rarely far from hand – the display from a nearby bookstore.

That’s why we’re here

No trip to the African continent would be complete without animals, and animals we have seen. At our stop in Port Elizabeth, SA we took a tour to Addo Elephant Park. It sure lived up to its name!

Our guide’s name is Xolani and he is Xhosa. They use clicks in their language- the X represents a click. Turns out making that click sound as part of a word is a bit tricky. I managed a sort of version of his name, which made him smile. Given the repertoire of click sounds in the language I was a bit nervous that I might be saying something rude but no diplomatic incident occurred so all good.

Port Elizabeth is the departure city for Addo Park. It’s not quite fully into the Indian Ocean, but things are changing from the Atlantic side. Not quite as dry and rocky as the Cape area. We drove through areas of orange groves. Turns out the elephant park was created when the citrus groves were first planted – the elephants would come and trash the trees to get the fruit. At first they would kill the elephants but eventually they decided to remove the farms and keep the elephants in that area. Now there are some 500 in the park, along with many other animals. It was all very exciting to see and since it was just we three in our van we could sit and watch for long stretches of time.

Elephant on the right is protecting the little one. Elephant on the left was being a bit chippy. Just out of the frame are two patient zebra waiting their turn. While we were watching another Big elephant entered from stage left and everyone got out of the way!

Although this area is suffering from the drought it is not as bad as the Cape area. The water supply is managed – but sometimes things need repair. The work crew is always accompanied by a fellow with a gun – just in case. You can see why when you see these guys staring down a herd of thirsty buffalo. Good thing they are herd animals and one will follow the others. If they ever got themselves organized…. although the males would circle back and stare down the humans just in case that would move things along.

You think you have a tough commute?

Most ports on the world require the use of a local pilot to guide ships through the particulars of their situation. This is true for tanker ships and cruise ships. Sometimes we have seen the pilot arrive at a cruise ship – a bit of a challenging manoeuvre, but the real challenge is probably boarding a big tanker in high seas.

Last night our on board newsletter had a note saying that the pilot for Richard’s Bay would be delivered around 03:30 by helicopter. We tried to decide between us if we had seen a helicopter landing pad on the ship – pretty sure we hadn’t. Would they lower him from the helicopter? I had reason to visit the purser’s office, so I asked them. Sure enough- he would be lowered to the upper deck.

At 03:36 there was a mighty clatter and a light outside. I went to the veranda door – trying to decide if I should go out to look. Just then the helicopter banked away and the prop wash sent a big wash of moisture down the side of the ship. Good thing I wasn’t out there!

So – next time you are moaning about the Colwood Crawl, or lamenting the traffic on the Deerfoot….. at least you don’t get lowered out of the sky onto a ship deck in the middle of the night to start your workday!

Since I don’t have a picture of that event you’ll have to make do with the Valentine’s Day cake on the buffet tonight!

The bakery on board is amazing!

Morning routine

We’re nearing Durban,SA. It’s been a bit rolly, so we went to the gym rather than stagger around the outside deck. After a session on the treadmill my phone was congratulating me on a new personal best 2:02km/min! 9km in 26min! Yeah. There must be a setting somewhere that lets me tell it I’m not moving but the ship is! I think I get extra points for doing lunges when the ground is moving, though.

I made the run for morning coffee and found everything well secured:

The forward lounge has an early breakfast laid out without an attendant – everything is strapped down just in case!

This or that

As a Canadian I believe I am contractually obligated to rabbit on about the weather. And let me say – this winter? OMG the rain. We had a skiff of snow and cold in October (!). And then it has rained pretty much since then. Day after day it looks like this:

2018-01-08 14.00.09-1

There is, of course, a silver lining. The firehose pointed at us has come from somewhere in the south pacific, which has meant it has been uncommonly warm. 8 to 10 degrees most days. (that’s above zero, my Eastern friends!) There is water water everywhere – lakes and ponds in new places, waterfowl taking up residence on lawns, ditches full almost to overflowing. Warm weather, lots of water – that means flowers!

2018-02-02 14.09.50-1

The early rhododendron is really early this year! There are also cyclamens, primroses and miniature daffodils blooming already.

After looking at all that rain there was only one thing to do. We came here.

Switching out cool, grey, wet coastal BC for the sun of Cape Town, South Africa. Took three flights over 27 hours and we’re a bit shattered – but here we are. Drinking cappuccino while we wait for our room, enjoying the view of Table Mtn.

Seems like a good trade!

Gotta catch em all

If there’s an aquarium in a city that we are visiting – we are there. I mean, really – what’s better than the cool blue light and fantastic sea life.

This tank is full of all kinds of rays – manta rays, sting rays, big, small all sorts. We were able to sit on the floor and watch them sail by. Most people were very busy taking selfies and not looking at the sea life.

 

And yes, that frog really is that blue. And very poisonous !
There was a special exhibit at the aquarium – a Pokemon research project. Although we know nothing about the game, admission was included so in we went. And we were there when the big guy himself appeared:

 

And at the end of the game we answered our questions correctly, or correctly enough and we each received a hat:

 

Which we proceeded to wear for the rest of the day.

 

 

Once again, Sharon and Wilf amusing the locals. (But really, people wanted to know how we got them! Before we got back to the subway we found some random little kids who seemed happy to have them)

Save

Expressions of faith

While Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country, it was on Bali, which is mostly Hindu that we saw and felt the connection of the people to their faith. Every morning offerings were layed out for the day. Pretty much every vehicle we saw had an offering tucked up on the dashboard.
Here is a young woman laying an offering on the alter outside her place of business.
Just down the road this woman was adding to what appeared to be the community alter.

 

The offerings are small trays or baskets woven from palm fronds which contain flowers, fruit, sweet things, little representations of objects. There is usually one at the entrance to a business, so we leaned to watch our step.
And at Tanah Lot this group was preparing to visit the temple with big offering bowls.

 

Here in Singapore there are small shrines outside many businesses, including the food centres. These are not Hindu shrines, but rather related to Chinese folk religions. Usually incense sticks are burned but other offerings are common such as fruit.

 

 

Breakfast in Singapore

It’s always interesting to me to see what the local breakfast is when we are travelling. Singapore has not disappointed! Exploring local breakfast has meant checking out the hawker centres.

Wait! What? Hawker centre? Back in the day itinerant cooks would set up business on the side of the roads, in alleys, wherever, and cook up cheap fast meals. Great if you want something quick, but not always safe and or sanitary. The government here decided that the solution was to build food centres with commercial kitchens. There are three within a five minute walk where we are staying. To you and I they look rather like the food court at the mall, except they are usually free standing. Food stalls around the outside, tables in the centre. Each stall tends to specialize in one thing, and there are stalls that are just for beverages.
On our first day we went to the Tiong Bahru market. The food centre is the second floor – the first floor is a fresh food market and upstairs there are 80 food stalls. The building is a triangle open to a multi story courtyard. But when confronted with so many choices, mostly in Chinese – How to choose? The Coffee guy advertised a breakfast set, so we went for it. A cup of coffee with condensed milk, two soft boiled eggs and two slices of buttered toast for $3.00.

 

That lady is about to take pity on us and explains how to deal with our eggs. Breakfast arrived in the form of a small pail of very hot water with four eggs in it. After 8 minutes we were to take them out and eat them. She showed us how they are to be cracked into the provided saucer.
 The buttered toast is actually spread with kaya, a type of coconut jam and butter. And the coffee is hot and strong and sweet.
The lady who was so helpful to us with eggs explained to me some of the other things we must try, so back we came. The stall with the biggest line up provided this:

 

The white are little cakes made of steamed, pounded rice almost like a firm custard. They are topped with a mixture of fried radish and onion. Yummy!  We also had fried carrot cake!

 

Which is not a cake and contains no carrots. Whatever! Radish, not carrots, and strips of the rice pudding all mixed with sauce and seasoning and fried together with eggs, which makes it stick together, hence the cake.
It was all good, but I think I’ll be ready for my usual fruit and yogurt once we get home.
We didn’t limit our hawker fare adventures to breakfast :

 

Small plate of beef noodles (and snails, go figure). Food was 3.00 , beer was 5.00,
 It all comes out of a tiny kitchen

And almost across the street from us – duck over rice. And beer.

Nom mom nom

It had to happen, eventually

So there I was, picking out a salad on the Lido deck, when I hear a voice say ‘excuse me’. I turned, and looked at the woman and she looked at me and we went ‘ We know each other, don’t we?’  And sure enough – a gal I know from Sidney (population 13,000). Viv Harding! We laughed over the fact that we hadn’t seen each other around town in years, but meet up on a cruise ship in Indonesia.

Two days later we met up again in Singapore at the Gardens by the Bay
Wilf and I visited the gardens when we were here in 2013 – it was all brand new back then and we were curious to see how things looked a little later on. Short answer? Fantastic!
Super trees are still super.

 

 

But everything has grown up and filled in tremendously.

We checked out the interior gardens , too. I love visiting the incredibly huge and ancient olive trees. How did they get them here?

 

Over in the mountain dome they had a special display. Not only the usual pitcher plants

 

But pitcher plants made of Legos!

 

And a giant Lego Venus fly trap!
No one seems to be able to resist the big waterfall!

 

Of course, being local kids they thought it was cold and immediately began pulling on jackets. Not me!

 

Bali!

Usually when cruising the arrival of a ship carrying a thousand passengers or more ripples out through the community, one way or another.

That’s not how it goes on Bali!
A few facts. The island is about 145km by 80km and is home to about 4 million people. So, a lot of people on a small, mountainous island. In 2016 they were expecting another 4 million international tourists and about 7 million domestic tourists (so says Mr Google). 1400 people on a cruise ship – doesn’t even register
What it means is the island is busy busy. I was very happy to see that it didn’t look like Waikiki when we arrived. (By which I mean no rows of condos on the beach)
Wilf had connected with Bali Island Tours on the Internet, and owner/operator Nyoman Ariasa was waiting for us when we docked.

 

Say hi to Nyoman! Born and raised on Bali he was a terrific guide for our two days on the island. Unlike most of the rest of Indonesia, Bali is a predominantly Hindu island, and Nyoman shared the history, culture and faith of the island with us, along with the sights.
So, what did we see?
Some jewelry making

 

Some batik production

 

Weaving

 

Woodcarving

 

Hindu temple in town

 

And the most photographed temple on the island – Tanah Lot

 

It was high tide so the temple itself was inaccessible. That didn’t stop people from edging out there

 

We also visited a coffee company that, amongst other things, sells Lewak coffee. Don’t know what that is?  Does it help if I tell you that a Lewak is a civit cat? Cat eats the coffe beans, a little fermentation happens, cat poops out the coffee beans, some lucky person collects and cleans them and then roasting, grinding and preparations take place. And you know what? It tastes exactly like. – coffee! I guess I don’t have a very sophisticated palate ’cause I couldn’t tell. (Or maybe the truly terrible coffee on the Volendam has changed my taste buds. Great ship, great food, lousy coffee) Local joke is that instead of a cappuccino you get a cat poopuccino. . Hahaha. I’ll stop now.
Nyoman took us up to see the town of Ubud, known for its arts and crafts production and its yoga retreats. Only problem was that about 1 million of the tourists on the island were also there! After the movie ‘Eat, Love, Pray’ Ubud got even busier than it once was.
We did get to see the famous rice paddy valley – in the pouring rain!!

 

Should you decide to go to Bali – look up Nyoman at baliislandtours.com and he will take great care of you. And book more time than you think you need – it takes a lot of time to move around the island.