singermansatsea

Sticks

2008-05-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is a life of sticks. Sticks go up and sticks go down. Sticks disappear and reappear through cabin doors. They are suspended from magnetic hooks or door handles. They are the medium of communication between crew and passengers, passengers and officers, officers and crew. They carry homemade movies, music, photos, or just plain text and are the means of e-mail from and to the ship.
Oh, yes. They look like sticks of chewing gum. Maybe that’s why they are called sticks.

Panama Canal

2008-05-27T18:43:00.001-07:00

Living la vida loca on the canal
Locomotive and Happy operator
Locomotive with some line handlers hitching a ride
Rowing out for the lines for the ship. Second series of locks
The locomotives use a cog system to trave forward and back
Dawn on the Panama Canal
Filled to the brim (notice the walkway across the top of the lock) Going through a lock as seen from the Pilot Deck. Our cargo in the foreground. Silver Lining being lifted in the chamber ahead of us.
Life is tough here on the Canal

A lock chamber
A locomotive at work with two positioning cables
An example of how high the lift is Canal at night

The Panama Canal was a little anticlimactic after traveling around the world. A delay in San Diego caused us to lose our time slot, so we had to remain at anchor, outside the canal, from noon on Monday May 5, until 4:30 A.M. on Wednesday May 7. Our pilot, due to arrive at 3:00 A.M. on the Wednesday, was characteristically late. We were further delayed by the late arrival of twenty one (this is not a typographical error, I counted them) line men who came on board to handle the steel cables that attach us to locomotives which help us transit the canal. Mal and I had set our alarm for 3:30 A.M. We had lots of time to read about the history of the canal.
The Spanish considered a passageway through the isthmus as early as 1534.
However it was not until 1879 that the passage was considered an engineering possibility. A private French company spent10 long years, suffering the loss of many lives caused by disease and labor difficulties, before declaring bankruptcy. In 1894 another attempt was made, again by a French company, only to suffer the same fate.
In 1904 a third attempt was made, this time by the U.S. The canal was successfully completed, but the cost was high: 10 years, 75,000 laborers and 400 million dollars. The canal opened to traffic on august 15, 1914.
In 1997 the U.S. started to increase the Panamanian participation in the operation of the canal and on December 31, 1999 the Republic of Panama acquired the full responsibility and ownership of the canal.
There are three sets of locks in the canal, two on the Pacific side, and one on the Atlantic. Each set of locks has six chambers, arranged in pairs and operating independently. Ships can pass either way in parallel chambers. Each chamber accommodates ships up to 106 feet wide, with drafts no deeper than 39.5 feet. This is small relative to the size of many of today’s super sized freighters and cruise ships. Consequently construction is ongoing to build a bigger and more economical system.
Finally, at approximately 5:00 A.M., and still in darkness, we started to inch our way toward the first set of chambers. It is a myth that ships are pulled through the system by locomotives. Not only did I check our wake several times, but I also asked the chief engineer. A humorous fellow at the best of times, he looked at me, cocked one eyebrow and asked, “Do you know how much we weigh?” Ships are actually moved forward by an initial thrust of their own power. The pilots know exactly how much power and when to apply it. The locomotives task is to keep the ships precisely in the middle of the channel. The expertise of the pilots is such that most ships will have coasted to a stop by the time they reach the end of the chamber. However, just in case, the locomotives are also prepared to act as a precautionary brake.
Our bow was well into the first chamber when I spied a small rowing boat, with two oarsmen, bobbing precariously between our ship and the starboard dock. This was a line boat. A line was tossed from our stern to the boat. The line was tied to the bights of two steel cables, attached at their other ends to a locomotive. The cables were then pulled on board. A similar operation was taking place to port. Eventually we ended up with four locomotives, each attached to us by two cables, making eight cables in all. Thus we proceeded through the first three chambers, waiting patiently for the water to fill and raise us to each new level. The same procedure was used at each lock. We passed through 6 chambers on the Pacific side of the canal, but only three on the Atlantic side. The elevations and descents were correspondingly greater here. I have no idea why this is. I suspect that the incline up the mountain is gentler on the Pacific side.
The transit through the canal system usually takes 8 to 10 hours. Ours took approximately 15 hours. I suspect that we, along with six other ships, were fitted into a small window of opportunity that occurred in the system. We spent an unusually long time anchored in Lake Gatun, a large body of water just west of the Atlantic cut.
We started our transit in complete darkness, passed through the day, only to end in complete darkness again. Perhaps it was the length of the passage, along with the prolonged waiting periods, that eroded some of our initial excitement.
Not to worry. Soon we were on our way to Galveston.

The “S.S. Cork”

2008-05-13T05:06:00.000-07:00

Entering San Diego 4-27-2008 3-47-35 PM Preparing to launch with the crew looking on 5-4-2008 1-22-31 AM

So we transited the Pacific Ocean, all 5,618 miles of it, finally arriving at San Diego at midnight. What a sight. The ship, surrounded by the lights of the city, gently coasted through the bay, past the center of the city, to dock at the 10th. Avenue Marine Terminal, a mere 20 minutes walking distance from the down town convention center. We left Nagasaki on the 15th. April at 1:00 A.M. and traveled North East along the coast of Japan until we reached 40 degrees of latitude, 5 degrees lower than is customary. A severe low pressure area in the North Pacific caused us to take this slightly lower and longer course. The weather turned chilly and brisk in spite of our more Southerly route. Eventually we turned South East arriving in sunny California on the April 26. We crossed the International Date Line which provided us with two April 19th’s. This threw Heiner’s well organized diary into some disarray. His PC made an automatic adjustment, but his diary was not prepared to repeat a day! So how did we spend our time for 13 days? For the first three days Mal read and I became obsessed with a 1,000 piece jigsaw. Then the fun began. Among the many gifts that we received during the bon voyage party at Lillian and Ed O’Connors’, was a copy of an abcNEWS article, “River of Dreams: the First Cork Boat”, a tale of a 22 foot boat built out of 166,000 corks. (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4103111) We also received a wooden statuette of a peg legged Captain, complete with pipe, and, to everybody’s amusement, a bird in a bird cage, who responded to loud noises. If you read the blog entry on Genoa you will recall that Paul and Mal brought many bottles of wine on board. As we opened the first bottle, it occurred to me that it would be fun to build the “Second” Cork Boat in the World. We started to collect corks. With one chopstick, easily obtained in Asia, a box of toothpicks, courtesy of the ship, and a bottle of glue, purchased in Nagasaki, we were ready to proceed. Every morning Mal and I were to be found, hard at work, at the Boat Works, aka the passenger lounge. Our industry was interrupted periodically by the cacophonous serenading from the bird cage. Fortunately, for the sanity of all in her presence, the bird came with an on/off switch. Various bits and pieces were donated by the other passengers, including cordage for the rigging, and a set of flags representing the nationalities of the other passengers. A special thanks to Paul who diligently worked at increasing our cork supply. Our progress was monitored, with some smiles and head shaking, by the crew and officers. When we were finished we were very proud of our little Viking cat boat. We continued in the Rickmers tradition of naming their Pearl String line after ports, and named our boat the S.S. Cork. Our captain, Sir Beaufort O. O’Scale, in spite of his somewhat overly abundant proportions, courageously took the helm on launching day. In the presence of the Officers, passengers and crew, all well supplied with beer, wine and soft drinks, (any excuse for a party), we gently, and with great ceremony, eased the S.S.Cork into the swimming pool, by means of a sling and a fishing rod. Heiner supplied an iPod and speakers, along with the appropriate music. In the absence of champagne we formalized the launch with liberal sprinklings of beer. The “VIP’s and spectators” cheered. No sooner was our little craft launched than she caught a puff of wind and sailed magnificently to the other end of the swimming pool. Thank you to Dick and Pat Cooper for supplying this article, and to John Pollock who built the “First” cork boat that inspired this project. We and our fellow passengers had a wonderful time sailing across the Pacific.

Sunlight on the Deck Cargo - Crossing the Pacific 4-26-2008 4-52-28 AM
The Shipyard with assembly of the The SS Cork in an early stage 4-18-2008 9-02-55 PM
Photo of Sir Beaufort O. O'Scale (the O stands for Out)
The SS Cork under full sail flags flying 4-26-2008 8-36-24 PM 3872x2592

A TALE OF TWO CITIES.

2008-05-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

OAt the Spring Festival in Nagasaki with some of the locals

Puccini was inspired to write Madama Butterfly by events in what is now Glover Garden

Schoolgirls on Holiday in Nagasaki

Artificial Food Display Outside A Restaurant

Do I HAVE to do this

Getting ready to perform at the Spring Festival

Industrial Art

Life imitating Art in Glover Garden

We visited two cities in Japan, Kobe and Nagasaki, each with distinctly different personalities.
If Kobe seems to have a familiar ring to it, yes, it is the home of Kobe beef. A very modern and dynamic city, it has had to reinvent itself twice in recent history. It was badly bombed toward the end of world War 11, sustaining extensive physical damage and loss of life. Fully recovered and thriving it was again devastated in 1995 by a severe earthquake; 7 + on the Richter scale. Some of you may remember the earthquake. It made world news because many bridges buckled and collapsed, making recovery efforts difficult.
Fully rebuilt, it is a beautiful world class metropolis. The many teenagers bubble with energy and happiness. Children of an affluent society, they have a funky, fashionable, attractive dress code of their own. Lots of short shorts, knee high boots, mini skirts and outrageously wonderful tops, all coordinated with a balance of color and style uniquely Japanese. The center of the city is one large shopping center with every well known retailer present, side by side with local shops and boutiques. It was a joy to get lost there, window shopping and people watching. No purchasing allowed, mind you. The rate of exchange made everything in Japan very expensive!
Nagasaki is different. The pace of life is slower, the atmosphere more traditional. There is a quiet elegance. For many years it was the only port of entrance for visitors to Japan. Sadly Nagasaki has also had to reinvent itself because of the atomic bomb. Unlike Kobe, it elected to restore and preserve its inheritance. Some of the temples, originally built by the Chinese merchants and mariners, have been restored to their former splendor. Havens of quiet beauty, they encourage peaceful reflection.
Mal and I visited Glover Garden while in Nagasaki. Glover was one of Japans first foreign entrepreneurs. The estate is on a hill overlooking the bay. Supposedly it was the inspiration for Puccini’s opera, Madama Butterfly. I had difficulty clarifying if Puccini actually visited the garden, but there is a statue of him, and also one of a famous Japanese opera star who is identified with the role of Butterfly.
I took the opportunity to persuade Mal to find a Japanese steak house so that I could taste some Kobe beef. It is, indeed, deliciously tender, but not worth the premium price exacted by New York restaurants.

A Cross Cultural Encounter

2008-04-26T17:02:00.001-07:00

After a day of wandering around the city of Chang Wan, we decided to head for the Restaurant district for a light informal supper. We spotted a brightly lit place with all the earmarks of a restaurant in the throes of a grand opening (Balloons, large flower displays with broad ribbons inscribed in Korean, etc). As we studied the picture menu, we were invited inside by smiles and gestures.
After we were seated, we asked “Does anyone here speak English?”. An 11 year old girl who was hovering nearby volunteered, “Yes.” She immediately became our interpreter and guide. Her vocabulary was extensive and stretched well beyond the usual, “How are you?” and, “How old are you?” Another sister, possibly two years younger, joined us periodically, undoubtedly to practice her English too. However, every time she opened her mouth to speak she would collapse in giggles. They, in turn, were joined by their baby sister who was dressed in a pretty pink party dress, complete with a pink crown.
She wasn’t the least bit shy and babbled happily in Korean, not at all perturbed that no one was responding to her.
Eventually their Father joined us, concerned that his children were annoying us. Quite to the contrary, we were thoroughly enjoying his family. Very soon he joined us too, lifting the toddler onto his lap.
Suddenly the toddler became unusually quiet and developed a look of deep concentration. She reached out her index finger and tentatively stroked Mal’s forearm. She collapsed into shrieks of toddler delight, looking toward her father for approval. Her Father, embarrassed by this seemingly presumptuous act, started to apologize. He then realized that Mal was charmed by this spontaneous act of exploration and was encouraging her to continue. Soon father and daughter were both lost in their own small universe where the child was learning that there are some men, mostly non-Korean, who have hair on their arms and that it is sometimes considered a sign of great strength and courage.
Given that the arm in question belonged to Mal, out of two isn’t bad!

The Masan fish market

2008-04-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

Old Port in Masan 4-6-2008 4-17-00 AM

A lesson in Korean 4-6-2008 2-58-14 AM

I'm watching you 4-6-2008 2-59-37 AM

Korean Fish Mongersette 4-6-2008 3-01-33 AM

Live Prawns 4-6-2008 3-03-48 AM

One of the many advantages of visiting countries by sea is that we always have fresh fish available to us in the most of the restaurants. In Asia, at least in the costal areas, fish are kept alive in aerated fish tanks until they are prepared for consumption. We decided to visit the Masan fish market, in Korea, to learn more about how this is accomplished. Like most markets in the world we found rows of vendors displaying their wares, except that in this case, the wares were very much alive and swimming. Most of the vendors were female and we were greeted with smiles, broken English and much laughter. This is a place where everybody appears to be happy and there is a shared sense of camaraderie. Everywhere was spotlessly clean and the market had a wonderfully sweet smell of fresh fish. Live fish don’t have much of a fishy smell. I say fish, but actually there was an abundance of seafood too; crabs, oysters, shrimp, prawns, mussels, whelks, octopi and squid to name a few. There even was a lonesome frog for sale.
Water is piped in from the nearby harbor so that the water tanks can constantly be replenished. Open gutters, covered with grills, return the excess overflow. Open gutters paint a bad image, perhaps, but like the whole market, the water that flowed through these gutters was clean and sweet smelling. I suspect that the vendors have another method of disposal for their fish waste. A hint of one bad fish here could spell doom to the whole market.
So how do the fish get from here to their destination alive? I noticed that every vendor had stacks of Styrofoam boxes in every size. The large restaurant cooler sizes are filled with seawater and fish, and are delivered by truck. Smaller individual purchases are put in sealed plastic bags, similar to how a goldfish is transported in the U.S. Other fish are killed and wrapped and taken home for prompt consumption. Octopi and shell fish etc., which don’t need moving sea water to stay alive, are packed in crushed ice, of which there was plenty.
The fish market covers approximately five or six city blocks and there are stalls of spices and herbs, fruits and vegetables around the periphery to allow for the convenience of one-stop shopping. We arrived slightly before nine o’clock on a Sunday morning when the market was still quiet. We had no difficulty losing ourselves here for two and a half hours. This early in the morning the vendors had time to spare and enjoyed interacting with us. We were taught the correct Korean pronunciation for many of the fish. These lessons usually involved three or four vendors who insisted on being party to this activity, much to everybody’s enjoyment.
By the time we left the market was busy and we realized that we had been there at the best time of the day to allow for these fun filled interactions.

Food in Masan

2008-04-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

At the fish market 4-6-2008 2-57-35 AM

At the fish restaurant 4-5-2008 5-55-09 AM

At the Masan Fish Market. All thise fish are confusing 4-6-2008 2-55-42 AM
Our Korean Meal 4-5-2008 5-55-02 AM

Our first adventure with food in Korea was interesting. Mal’s olfactory senses found us a restaurant where we had to remove our shoes and sit cross legged on the floor. Nobody spoke a word of English. We used our picture card, pointed to a fish and indicated that they should choose our meal.
We were each given our own dish of chili sauce with a teaspoon of wasabi tucked under the lip and another of sesame sauce. Shared accompaniments were chopped sweet green pepper, chopped garlic, sliced green chili pepper and peeled chestnuts. We had a small serving platter of chicory with a vinaigrette style hot and sweet dressing and a slaw of cabbage and sliced cucumber dressed with a white hot and sweet sauce.
The first course consisted of two large prawns, two raw oysters on the half shell, dried cooked baby octopi and a pancake whose main ingredients were eggplant and zucchini.
The main course was an elegant platter of thinly slice raw fish that had been happily swimming in a fish tank when we first sat down, steamed mussels in a broth, and the grilled head of the aforementioned fish. These were accompanied by a plate of red leaf lettuce and sesame leaves, which were palm sized , looked like a stinging nettle and has a mild mint flavor. Our waitress showed us how to tear up a leaf, dip the raw fish in the chili sauce and place on the leaf and add any, or all, of the accompaniments folding it into a small edible packet.
Our last course was a freshly made egg custard which the waitress spooned into the remaining sesame seed sauce.
The entire meal was splendidly delicious. Had I realized that it was going to be a surimi style lunch I might have rejected it. Confronted with a choice of raw fish or hunger, I chose to eat the fish and I’m glad I did. I was even enjoying the fish head until the eye fell out. I generously offered the rest of the head to Mal!
All of the restaurants that we saw had fish tanks filled with all manner of live fish and shell fish, guaranteeing that all fish is 100% fresh. Would I go out of my way to eat this in New York? Probably not.
We chose beer again as our beverage. Asian restaurants don’t seem to carry a large selection of wines and I would assume from this that it is not well liked, except that Carrefours, a well know French department store that we found in China, carries an international line of fine wines. Even Wal-Mart there has a wine aisle, but I noticed that many of these were labeled “The Great Wall of China” vintage. We had already tasted a bottle of this brand with dire results.
Our appetites had not yet recovered by six thirty in the evening and so we chose to eat a simple meal in a modern Korean restaurant with high tables and chairs. We ordered a chicken dish containing sliced carrots, mushrooms, scallions, onions, potatoes and hot red peppers. It was served on a bed of with transparent rice noodles. I thought that the Irish were the only people crazy enough to eat potatoes and noodles together! The dish came with a large, heavy duty pair of kitchen scissors. Was it to further cut up the already pieced chicken? The answer was provided by the waitress. I was trying to serve myself some noodles, hot pot style, when she approached our table, borrowed my chopsticks lifted some noodles and elegantly chopped them off. Mystery solved.
This meal, like all our meals in Asia, was interesting, tasty and a complete gastronomic success.

A Farewell to China

2008-04-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we left Qingdao. It was a sad farewell. Contrary to my expectations, I fell in love with China. In all of the ports we visited I found happy, gregarious and caring people. The young children, with their good looks and spontaneity, are especially charming. Heiner, a fellow passenger, who has a salt and pepper beard, and a head of dark brown curls, appears so extraordinary to them that, in Heiner’s words, “their eyes widen with surprise and they cover their mouths and start to giggle. When I smile and wave they giggle even harder. If I imitate them and cover my mouth and giggle too, they burst into peals of laughter that is so infectious that even the accompanying adults laugh.”
Mal and I frequently seek the non-tourist areas of the cities we visit. Here the shop assistants speak very little English, and our Chinese is limited to please and thank you. The Chinese naturally use hand gestures, so, with much giggling and laughter we communicate well and shopping is a pleasure.
Even the restaurants are fun. In Northern china there is a cuisine called Hot Pot. Raw, thinly sliced food is brought to the table and the diners immerse it in a simmering highly seasoned broth until cooked. The first time we stumbled into a Hot Pot restaurant we had no idea how to order or cook the food. The restaurant was large and filled with many six to eight person tables of dark suited business men, as well as other couples like us. Realizing that we would need assistance, the Hostess allocated two young waitresses to our table. I am not sure who had more fun, our waitresses or Mal and I.
We’ve had lots of similar, and equally enjoyable, experiences. In our wildest dreams Mal and I never imagined that this trip would be so much fun. To add to our enjoyment Heiner has a video camera and movie making software. His wit and humor, combined with his highly skilled ability to manipulate his images, and his uncanny ability to find the right music for each occasion, frequently leave us rolling with laughter.
As Qingdao started to recede, a handsome sloop came scudding out of the Olympic harbor. It was a perfect day for sailing.

China Pictures

2008-04-26T16:30:00.001-07:00

The Chinese loved to get into our photographs 3-31-2008 3-55-35 AM
You have been warned 3-17-2008 7-05-46 AM
Kindergarten Outing 3-30-2008 3-33-52 AM
Mal and Friends in Qingdao 3-31-2008 3-55-01 AM

Mei....The Wind 3-17-2008 6-55-53 AM

Our next dinghy. Now taking orders for 2009 3-30-2008 4-14-48 AM

Sailboat with Qingdao and the Statue Mei in the background 4-2-2008 8-51-07 AM

Even the Statues are smiling. 3-31-2008 7-46-51 AM
Getting Ready for the 2008 Olympics 3-18-2008 2-25-21 AM

Impromtu Chinese concert at the new Olympic Center 3-30-2008 4-05-03 AM
Its all in the technique 3-30-2008 5-52-35 AM

Jonathan Lito and Mark having some fun with Lifeboat Drill 3-13-2008 5-06-44 AM

Are you sure Issac Walton started this way 3-30-2008 4-18-30 AM
Bethoven in Qingdao 3-30-2008 4-00-21 AM
Breakfast at Tiffany's 3-30-2008 8-40-24 AM
But i know my new car would look terrific with these decals 3-30-2008 5-06-22 AM
Even the Manhole Covers are ready for the game 3-17-2008 6-54-15 AM

Beijing

2008-04-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

I woke up on the 27th March to a day that could only be described as a perfect 10; clear blue sky, low humidity, buildings whose glass sparkled in the reflected sunlight and sidewalks remarkable for how clean they were.Welcome to modern Beijing. Any one booked for the August Olympics is going to be pleasantly surprised. Even the public toilets have attendants imbued with a single minded intensity to ensure that these facilities remain clean.I hope that western visitors come forewarned about the standard "floor"model. Our hotel, hoping to avoid this 'sticky' problem, cleverly installed toilets whose height is halfway in between!
Mal and I spent most of the day walking, hopping a taxi only to take us to one of the Hutong districts. These are areas of old Beijing that have survived centuries of crises in the city and now find themselves threatened with extinction in the twenty first century by something mistakenly considered progress. Here we found the last redoubt of the once ubiquitous rickshaw, now used solely to transport tourists. Our guide book recommended these as the best way to explore the area.
During the seventh century Beijing was built on a system of grids. Within each grid there is a labyrinth of small streets and lanes. These are created by small, single story houses which surround a shared courtyard.The back doors open onto the narrow lanes, or hutongs. Most districts still carry the name of the craft or skill that they were formally associated with such as millinery, weaving etc. Normally passed from generation to generation, I saw some evidence that these houses are being purchased and renovated by young ambitious Chinese.

Commercial Beiling appears very prosperous. All the cars, including taxis,look brand new. Mal suspects that older models are banned because they are more likely to contribute to pollution. People are fashionably dressed,especially the young, and there is an energy about the city that is infectious.
There is little evidence of the rebelliousness that caused the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. I suspect that full employment, because of the Olympics,leaves people either too busy or too tired at the end of the day to have time for adverse politics. Not that all is well. The army is omnipresent throughout the city and there is still serious censorship. I was watching CNN news when my screen went blank. It frustrated me that the stations on either side of this channel were working perfectly. Suddenly CNN returned,thankfully, because I was giving myself a bad case of Nintendonitis with the remote control. Later, when it happened again, I realized that the trigger was the mention of Tibet. All the news about Tibet is censored. This censorship extends to the newspapers. A story, as reported by the International Herald Tribune, is distinctly different to the same story as reported by the state run China News.
Please appreciate how wonderful it is to live in a free world - in spite of all the warts - and the National Enquirer!

Beijing Pics

2008-04-05T20:17:00.001-07:00

Hutong Backdoor 3-26-2008

In a gardern just outside the Forbidden City 3-26-2008 3-48-57 AM

Some Hutong lanes were built just wide enough for a man on a horse 3-26-2008 7-26-32 AM

The dining room in a wealthy Ming period courtyard home 3-26-2008 8-14-24 AM

Tiananmen Square. Did we mention what a perfect day it was 3-26-2008 3-17-48 AM

A feeling of peace pervades this temple courtyard 3-26-2008 7-39-48 AM

A group tour in Tiananmen Square 3-26-2008 3-19-29 AM

A Rickshaw in the hutong district 3-26-2008 7-17-01 AM

Chairman Mao 3-26-2008 3-24-57 AM

Downtown Beijing 3-25-2008 10-53-39 AM

WHAT ALL MY FEMALE FRIENDS WOULD LIKE TO KNOW BUT HESITATE TO ASK!

2008-04-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

Most of the cities that we visit have two distinct personalities: old towns filled with centuries old Chinese residences, store front retail shops,butchers, green grocers with neighborhood flavors and idiosyncrasies peculiar to each area, and new towns, less than twenty-five years old,filled with modern hi-rise buildings, built to meet the demand of new industries and the prosperity that these industries have generated.
Dalian is different. It is two cities merged into one. In the nineteenth century, Russia took a small fishing village and turned it into a thriving port, Port Arthur, to house their Pacific fleet. One day in 1904,completely out of the blue, (Oh goodness me!) the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet. Next day the Japanese declared war and the Russo-Japanese conflict became official. China eventually regained the port and it remained Port Arthur for many years until they decided to merge it with a neighboring city. They named this megalopolis Dalian.
There are many beautiful beaches that stretch on either side of the port leading to a thriving tourist industry. In the summer Chinese and Russians gravitate here en masse. We don't visualize the Chinese or Russians in swimsuits having fun but if we did we would realize how alike we are.
Mal and I hired a driver to take us to the "Old Town", hoping to explore the old city. Imagine our dismay when we found ourselves at the foot of a large mall. Unlike its U.S. counterpart this mall extends vertically as opposed to horizontally. The format is similar to some large U.S. hotels. There is an atrium in the middle with upscale retailers filling the peripheral areas.
We decided to abandon the mall and seek greener fields in the city streets.Before leaving I suggested we visit the "W.C.", (a term the Chinese undoubtedly adopted from the Brits), on the grounds that they would be modern and clean. I found beautifully tiled walls, polished stainless steel cubicles, automatic proximity faucets and hot air hand driers. Inside the stainless steel doors were pristine, white porcelain toilet bowls....set into the floor. Billions of Asians have used this arrangement for centuries so I doubt that it is going to change, and, in fact, I've grown accustomed to it. What seems a little odd, although it really shouldn't, given that this is a very modern mall, is that these toilets are self flushing, and like their U.S. equivalents, they don't give any warning before they flush!
Oh, yes. No toilet paper. There was a vending machine that dispensed small packets of tissues for a few cents, but, what every Asian woman, and at least one westerner, knows -- always carry your own toilet paper.

Food for Foodies

2008-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Mal and I followed Alex’s advice and ate in the, “Made in China” restaurant in the Hyatt hotel near the Forbidden City. What a delicious meal. The cuisine is local to Beijing.
The nibbles, which accompanied our aperitif, were pickled fava beans smothered in an unfamiliar green herb, and pickled pieces of lotus and turnip served with pieces of dried fish.
Our main course consisted of duck livers served with scone-like pancakes,(sorry, don’t know how else to describe them) scallions and hoison sauce, a pie made with shortcrust pastry, filled with ground lamb, seasoned with cumin and cardamom, and pork in brown sauce (menu description) with cashew and macadamia nuts.
The sommelier, Heiko Roeder from Nuremberg, helped us choose our wine; a superb organic Sauvignon Blanc from Argentina. It was a little more fragrant than we are accustomed to, and was a perfect complement to the spicy food.
We rounded the meal off in the Lobby Bar by sharing a dessert of Crème Brule served with a compote of plums, accompanied by cognac and aged port.

Shanghai

2008-04-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

Getting a haircut in Shanghai

On the way to the haircut

Shanghai is like no other city in the world. Home to 17 million people it is the largest economic and transportation center in China,and yet it is breathtakingly beautiful. Mal and I stayed overnight in a hotel close to the "Old City" or "Nanshi", as it is known by locally. The city is so diverse that even a week spent here would hardly be sufficient to do it justice. Perhaps the easiest way to understand the multicultural aspect is to look at its history.
1,000 years ago it was a small fishing village.
In the 13th century it became a recognized town, frequently attacked by Japanese pirates.
In the 16th century a wall was built around the city to ward off the above pirates.
In the 1842 the city survived the opium war.
In the late 19th century /Early 20th century the city became a glamorous, if risqué, international port, home to people from all over the world.
In 1916 the city dismantled the wall.
In 1921 the Chinese Communist Party was formed in the French Quarter.Mao Zedong was present.
From 1937 to 1945 the port was occupied by the Japanese.
From 1945 to 1949 it was ruled by the Guomindang Nationalists.
In 1949 it reverted to Communism.
In 1965 The City gave birth to the Cultural Revolution.
In 1990 the city entered its "skyscraper" period. There are 3,100high-rise buildings. At one time the construction was so intense that it caused a shortage of building cranes throughout Asia.
Most of the newest skyscrapers are in Pudunk, an area along the north bank of the river Huang Pu river. They represent, collectively, the best designs of the world's top architects. Each building is a strikingly beautiful work of art.
Mal and I had arranged for the hotel's car service to drive us back to the port. Unlike our inward journey, our outward journey was in a modern minibus, with a driver who spoke English. Even at 7:00 at night we had to struggle with downtown congestion, so it wasn't until we were speeding up a ramp onto an elevated highway that I experienced the full impact of the city's beauty. Many of the skyscrapers were lit up against the night sky, some in abstract design, and others silhouettes of their buildings. The display was dynamic, quietly sliding through a rainbow of colors,consisting predominantly of green, purple, red, blue and gold turning the city into a symphony of color and light.
As we sped away, I watched this panoply of color and design until it receded into the distance, knowing that I would probably never see this extravagant display again.

The tale of the peek-a-boo toe

2008-04-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Envrionmentally Friendly clothes dryers

Happiness is a new customer

Shoe repair while you wait, Qingdao style

We only had one day to spend in Qingdao, so Mal and I decided to hire a guide and a driver for the day. In his haste to leave the ship Mal caught the toe of his shoe on the underside of the metal gangway. In one of those strange occurrences in life the shoe made contact with a sharp piece of metal at exactly the right angle, and with exactly the right force, that the stitching joining the top of the shoe to the front and sides got cut leaving a two centimeter hole. These are Mal's, "long distance," walking shoes and their loss would be significant. When our guide asked us how we would like to spend our day, Mal tacked on a request for a shoe repair shop that could possible repair his shoe while he waited.
A mention of the sad plight of the shoe didn't arise again until late in the afternoon when we were returning to the ship. "Ah yes," said our guide, and directed our driver to exit the highway. We were immediately plunged into a world of narrow cobbled streets and alleyways awash with overhead laundry.After squirreling around for five or ten minutes we were suddenly treated to a chorus of the Chinese equivalent of, "Eureka". There, on the sidewalk,was a little old shoe repair lady, complete with sewing machine, and surrounded by her neighbors and friends. Mal was offered a small stool to sit on and the offending shoe was removed and replaced by a brocade slipper.
Twenty minutes and one dollar twenty-five cents later Mal's shoe was returned to him looking like new. There was no evidence that it had ever been damaged.
Our guide explained to the group that we were going around the world by ship, so after the shoe was returned to Mal, there was much bowing and nodding of heads. They asked our guide to tell us that they were very happyto be of service to such distinguished guests.
Signed
Your distinguished guest
Anne Marie

Shanghaied On the Way to Shanghai

2008-04-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Heiner - Who learnt what is meant to be Shanghaied 2-26-2008

Typical of many ports that we visit, the commercial terminal for Shanghai,Luojing harbor, is a distance from the city. We were advised that we were approximately 20 miles away from the city center, and that transportation might be difficult to find.
We didn't realize that the miles were "Irish Miles", where "a mile or so down the road" is Irish lingo for a distance measuring anywhere from 1 to 10miles. As for getting there, we had several candidates willing to arrange transportation for us. The first person who approached us appeared to speak English, always a plus, and seemed nice. He offered to get us a taxi that would take us to the city for a total of $30.
The taxi left a little to be desired, especially the clutch. The taxi driver spoke and understood little English. Mal had carefully written the address and telephone number of our hotel on a piece of paper which he handed to our driver. He immediately became a little distressed and called his dispatcher. At the same time he kept telling us, "No go Shanghai."After a very animated conversation in Chinese, he handed the phone to Mal.It appeared that the original agent's command of the English wasn't so good afterall. He thought that we wanted to go to Jaiding, a large town much closer to the port. The dispatcher, who spoke excellent English, told Malthat a trip to Shanghai would cost US$70. After much negotiation the price was reduced to $60.
Problem solved, or so we thought until Heiner's GPS showed that we were actually heading away from Shanghai. Any attempt to learn why this should be was answered with, "No go Shanghai". Mal assured Heiner and me that the dispatcher knew that we wanted to go to downtown Shanghai and there was nothing we could do but have faith.
An analogy might be arriving at JFK and asking to be driven to Greenwich Village only to have the taxi head toward the Riverdale section of the Bronx. I muttered to myself, "Shanghaied, by golly, in Shanghai."
Eventually we arrived literally at the feet of the dispatcher where we changed to another car and driver. Our new driver, needless to say, took us directly to our Hotel.
The explanation lies in method that the City of Shanghai uses to cut down traffic congestion in the city. There is a finite number of license plates issued, and these coveted plates are allocated by lottery. Our driver's "Nogo Shanghai" was an effort to tell us, "I don't have a license plate that allows me to drive in Shanghai."

Huangpu

2008-03-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

It is 11:00 AM and I am standing on the pilot deck in Huangpu, a coal port,surveying the world around me. To get here we spent almost five hours traveling up the Pearl River, a shallow and congested waterway. Beneath my vantage point is a coal black dock. In the distance I can see the city of Huangpu, barely. It is shrouded in smog. The air is damp and the port is bleak. In the near distance are three football-field sized coal bunkers.The two outer bunkers are busy. Front loaders in each bin are shoveling coal into dump trucks. There is a miasma of coal dust added to the smog that shrouds the port. With each scoop of coal into the dump truck, a third layer of billowing coal dust temporarily rises up in great black clouds.The coal dust hardly settles before the next load is added.
Welcome to working China.
Next to us is the stern of an Iranian bulk carrier. She is empty and they are preparing to leave. Two tugs, fore and aft, sit in readiness to pull her away from the dock. There are two mechanical windlasses, three crewmen,and one officer. Three stern lines and one spring line are released from the dock. At one windlass the extra crewman is tailing and coiling the line. At the other windlass the lone crewman is trying to wind and coil at the same time. An order is given. The crewmen are taking too long. They speed up the process letting the lines fall where they may. Another order is given. The men remove lines one and two from the windlasses and wind on lines three and four. But wait! Lines one and two are not completely wound in. Another order is given. Lines three and four are now removed and lines one and two returned to the windlasses. The Captain and the Chinese pilot are leaning over a rail on the bridge deck. The pilot is shaking his head in disbelief. The stern deck is in complete disarray. It is a combination of Laurel and Hardy meet the three stooges. Finally the ship is completely cast off and an order is given to the tugboats. The ship slowly moves away from the dock.
We are next to leave. I am glad to be underway again. The hypochondriac in me is making me cough. Our next stop is Qingdao, home of the famous Tsingtsao beer and site of the 2008 Olympic aquatic events.

Huangpu pics

2008-03-30T19:34:00.001-07:00

Our next door neighbor 3-15-2008 4-22-10 AM

Rice paddies on the Pearl River 3-14-2008 9-55-27 AM

A ferry on the Pearl River 3-14-2008 9-13-24 AM 3
Bulk Storage in Huangpu 3-15-2008 5-45-18 AM 3-15-2008 5-45-18 AM

Coal dust rising 3-15-2008 4-25-34 AM

Line handlers arriving at the dock in Huangpu 3-15-2008 5-06-58 AM

Next trip I'm packing dustmasks! 3-15-2008 5-33-33 AM

CALL SEA TOW

2008-03-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

I'm learning a lot about commercial freighters. We went aground at Ho Chi Minh City. It all started off with what is known as, "berth congestion".We were anchored off the Mecong delta waiting for a combination of high tide and an appropriate berth, knowing that there was congestion in the port.Time is money in this business so knowing this, port authorities make every effort to accommodate their customers. I surmise that it was because of these factors that we ended up in a less than perfect slip. As I mentioned before our stern extended out beyond the dock, and our stern lines were tied to a floating buoy.Heiner, Mal and I arrived back from Ho Chi Minh City at noon on Sunday. The Captain likes to have every one on board two hours prior to departure as a precaution against, "lost taxis" or "wayward crew members", so I knew that he must be planning to leave at 2:00 P.M. Imagine my surprise to find that,at noon, the ship was sitting up out of the water - Always safe aground - as they say. I watched the tide come in with some cynicism. Two hours didn't seem like a lot of time to refloat the ship. By 2:20 P.M. the pilot was aboard and the tugs in place to move us off the dock. Every departure requires a different technique so it is always fun to watch the preparations from the pilot deck. We were facing up river so we needed to get turned around. One tug had his nose to our starboard bow to hold us to the dock,while the second tug planned to pull our stern out into the channel; enough to allow the first tug to push the bow counter clockwise, and therefore point us in the right direction. No problem here except that no matter how hard the little tug tried to pull (she was just a little tug after all)nothing happened. This fruitless effort lasted almost twenty minutes.Finally the forward tug tootled down along the starboard side, passed behind the stern, and lined up with her nose to our port. Once again, but this time with a push as well as a pull, the tow boats tried, with all their might and main, to move the stern away from the dock. Nothing doing, we were really stuck in the mud. Finally the tug boats retired and, using our own bow thrusters, we moved the ship forward and out into the channel, being careful not to clip the stern of the boat in front of us. The tugs eventually helped us to turn around further up the channel. The elapsed time - one hour.

Call Sea Tow pics

2008-03-30T19:23:00.001-07:00

Bargaining for fruit at the edge of the dock just before casting off 3-9-2008 7-46-46 AM

Call Sea Tow 3-8-2008 5-36-40 AM

One of our little tugs 3-9-2008 10-02-29 AM

Pulling with all her might and main. 3-9-2008 9-51-42 AM

Up the Mekong for a Bike Ride

2008-03-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday our ship meandered through the Mecong delta along a very narrow channel. We had a pilot on board. In spite of the many buoys and ranges there were moments when I held my breath as we circumnavigated some of the hairpin bends, especially if a ship was approaching the other way. Our slip, when we eventually docked, was unusual in that our stern stuck out beyond the dock. This wasn't a problem because loading and unloading cargo takes place in the forward two thirds of the ship. It was already dark by the time we got settled in so Mal and I decided to go into town the following morning.
Heiner, a fellow passenger, joined us as we left the ship early the next morning. The plan was to exit the port before calling a taxi. The guard at the gate looked at us a little quizzically, checked our passports, and wished us a happy day. As we walked down the narrow street we became aware that we were being stared at, not rudely, but with curiosity. Lotus Port isa working port and I imagine that there are not a lot of passengers passing through. We hadn't gone far before we were accosted by some young motorcyclists who wanted to take us to the city. This is a common mode of transportation in South East Asia. They are not regulated or metered and we had no intention of using them in spite of their telling us, "TAXI NO COME HERE!" To cut a long story short we each ended up riding pillion passenger to the nearest taxi stand. Heiner managed to capture a rear view of Mal and me on video. It's titled, "Hell's Angels Visit Viet Nam!" Our cyclists were very charming and promised that they wouldn't go too fast. They kept their word, but I think we were all a little relieved to climb into a taxi for the rest of the trip.

Mekong Pics

2008-03-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

A river boat 3-8-2008 11-10-59 AM
Coming at you...around a bend in the Mekong 3-8-2008 11-05-19 AM

Harbor Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City 3-9-2008 10-19-42 AM

Harvesting Rice in the Mekong Delta 3-8-2008 10-47-56 AM

How the other half cruises around the world. Top price staterooms $600K and all fully booked 3-8-2008 11-48-33 AM

Ho Chi Min

2008-03-30T19:07:00.001-07:00

Family Transportation- Face masks for polution protection. 3-8-2008 2-26-48 AM

Greeted by a brass band playing La Paloma at 8 AM in downtown HCM City 3-8-2008 2-25-46 AM

It will cost you two bucks 3-8-2008 3-33-21 AM

A swarm of motorcycles 3-8-2008 2-52-38 AM

Bangkok

2008-03-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

My daughter Alex has a very good friend in Bangkok, Eric. When they heard that we would be close by, they organized an overnight trip to the city.Eric arranged for a tour guide, Mr. Rabbit, to pick us up at the ship and take us to Bangkok. Alex very kindly treated us to our hotel. As fate would have it Eric's parents, Adrienne and Howard, were visiting from New York. We had met Adrienne and Howard previously and were looking forward to seeing them again. Mal and I requested typical Thai food for dinner so we arranged to meet at a local restaurant in the neighborhood where Eric lives.But we had a lot of sight seeing to do before dinner.
Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, was built in 1782, the same year that Los Angeles was built. The two cities had no knowledge of each other and yet they both named their respective cities, "City of Angels". In Bangkok modern sky scrapers sit comfortably side by side with century old Buddhist Temples and royal Palaces. The temples are still loved and revered by the Thais. In historical times they served as centers of education and places where the sick were treated.
As with the rest of the country side, Bangkok is a blaze of color. Taxis come in every color imaginable. My favorite was pale purple with a pink stripe. There are not as many motor cycles in Bangkok. This is because all the people who would own motorcycles elsewhere in Asia drive cars in Bangkok. And yes, as you might imagine, rush hour starts early in the morning and finally ends at midnight.
Mr.Rabbit has taken care of Eric's guests before. He was an excellent choice; young, enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and he spoke excellent English. Our first stop was the flower market. The flowers were surprisingly similar to flowers at home, except for the orchids. These were magnificent. They came in every size and color imaginable. The market is open 24/7 so there are lots of food vendors who supply food to shoppers and flower sellers alike. Mal was in his element. He and Rabbit started outwith Thai iced coffee:
Take one small tumbler and add:

2 heaping teaspoons of sugar

Black coffee

1 tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons of coconut milk

Stir well and pour over a large glass of crushed ice.
It is actually cool and refreshing.
My favorite nibble was sliced papaya with sticky rice. After more nibbles of different foods we were whisked off to the royal palace. Given my limited writing skills it is impossible for me to describe the splendor of this compound. I hope the photographs tell the story.
The next part of our tour took us on a canal ride. My first impression, on seeing our gondola, Super Locky, was that I had stepped into Kevin Costner's movie, Water World. The boats are propelled by truck engines which have a very long (at least 15 feet) propeller shaft with a small propeller at the end. This propels the boat and also acts as a rudder. A lever extending from the engine block moves the entire assembly up and down, and back and forth, to control boat speed and direction. Our boat moved very fast and gave us a fun ride.
After a side trip to see the reclining Buddha we checked into our hotel.
Dinner with Eric and his parents was a fun filled affair. Eric, the expert on Thai food, ordered for all of us. Each dish that appeared from the kitchen was better than the one before. Even the Pad Thai was deliciously different. But the "piece de resistance" was the fish dish. Our waitress brought a small open brazier full of glowing coals to the table. She put a metal serving dish, filled with a raw fish covered with herbs and spices.Then she ladled hot stock over the fish until it was covered. We watched while the stock came back to a boil, gently poaching our fish. It was a case of good food, good company and good wine.
Mal and I have fallen in love with Bangkok. We realize that one day is only enough to give us a glimpse of what the city has to offer. We are already making plans to return.

Want to drag for beers 3-4-2008 8-28-18 AM

Our helmsman 3-4-2008 8-15-01 AM

Mr. Rabbit and Me 3-4-2008 9-00-11 AM

Cabs come in every color of the rainbow, and then some 3-4-2008 10-11-09 AM

Who ARE these guys 3-4-2008 6-32-32 AM

The Start of our Tour at the Royal Palace 3-4-2008 7-03-28 AM

One of the many Palace Statues (on left) 3-4-2008 7-06-06 AM

The levelof perfection with all the inlay is awesome 3-4-2008 7-11-26 AM

The Colors are wonderful 3-4-2008 7-12-07 AM

Our Canal Boat - The Super Locky 3-4-2008 7-50-09 AM

One of the many murals in the Royal Palace 3-4-2008 7-13-58 AM

Thailand

2008-03-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

It was a bless my soul, rock and roll pink and purple lifting crane 3-5-2008

Even the buildings are colorful 3-6-2008 9-36-52 AM.JPG

Not your typical Little Black Crane 3-6-2008 9-13-34 AM

Even the Concrete Blocks are painted 3-6-2008 9-18-05 AM

The pink truck 3-6-2008 9-45-29 AM

On the road to Laem Chabang 3-6-2008 9-13-26 AM

Port of Laem Chebang in living color 3-6-2008 9-10-31 AM

The Colors of Thailand are wonderful

Thailand is a land of color. We docked at Laem Chebang, a commercial port about two hours driving distance from Bangkok. Everywhere I looked there was color. Cranes, trucks and even the buildings are painted every color of the rainbow. In some ways the colors are a reflection of the people. Thaisare charming. They adore their present King, Rama 1X who, during his 60year reign, has shepherded them successfully into the 21st. century. The country is a democracy in spite of the recent coup by the army. The irony is that, when the army organized new elections, the people voted for the same party that the army tried to get rid of. Just the Prime Minister had changed.
There is a cute story about the King. He gives a "state of the Union"address every year on the eve of his birthday. A few years ago he was concerned that his subjects were not putting enough money aside for their retirement and so he advised them all to start saving. He obviously did not discuss this in depth with his economic advisers. The King is greatly loved by all, so his subjects did as they were bidden and saved. Goods started to pile up on store shelves, inventory started to back up, and factory orders dropped. Soon workers had to be laid off. The next year he was heard exhorting his subjects to "Spend! Spend!"
Thailand, which means freedom, was called Siam until the end of the First World War. It has been ruled by the same family for centuries. Rama 1V was the first king to be educated at Oxford University, a tradition that has been followed since. His son, Rama V abolished slavery, no doubt an unpopular decision at the time. He was also responsible for building many of the palaces scattered throughout the country. Afraid that his concubines might not get along harmoniously he built a palace for each of hem. Then he spent most of his time visiting these palaces. Reputedly he was heard to mutter, "Does it get much better than this?'

Food Blog

2008-03-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

I try to keep details about food out of my main blogs because, for many,it’s boring. Mal and I are in food heaven. Everything we eat, unless otherwise stated, is incredibly delicious. Having said this I will try to keep superlatives out of my copy.
The food in Singapore is diverse, a fusion of Chinese, Indian, Malay and Tamil.
Last Wednesday we ate lunch in the Empire Café, a restaurant in the famous Raffles Hotel. First course was Hainanese chicken satay accompanied by sweet red onion and cucumber, with a side of sticky rice prepared in a banana leaf. The chicken was so well flavored that it hardly needed therich chunky peanut sauce. This was followed by an eggplant dish which, I guarantee, would convert the most ardent anti eggplant person into a lover for life. It was served in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce, unlike any I have tasted before, liberally infused with sesame seeds. We also had a prawn dish served in a home made chili sauce, accompanied by potato chip papadums and a chutney of ginger and mango. The base for the chili sauce was a strong fish stock. Not my favorite but Mal loved it. All of this was served on steaming fragrant rice and washed down with a local draught beer. We finished the meal with perfect coffee.
At night we ate dinner in Little India in a restaurant famous for Singapores signature dish, Fish Head Curry. I had misgivings about how I would respond to a fish head floating in a sauce but I overcame them, fortunately, because the reputation for this dish is well deserved. The waiter delicately removed and served the fish which, by the way, was red snapper. The sauce was a classic curry sauce with a hint of star anise, the best I have ever tasted. We ordered an equally delicious vegetable dish prepared with yogurt and coconut milk. Again we enjoyed a large platter of steaming fragrant rice. The beverage this time was an Indian beer called Kingfisher.
You may wonder, “why so much beer for wine lovers.” Singapore is predominantly Muslim and so by levying a hefty import tax on wine the government can pass the expense onto the tourists. The selection of wine is modest and the prices unattractively high. The selection of beer, on the other hand, is excellent.
That night our taxi driver told us that if we wanted to experience authentic Indonesian food that we should go to Clarke Quay on the Singapore River.There we would find a restaurant frequented by the locals called The Indonesian. We went the next day and were not disappointed. Again we started with perfect chicken satay. This was followed by a noodle dish with squid, prawns and vegetables, served in a spicy brown sauce. We also had crab balls, the Indonesian equivalent of crab cakes, served in a crab shell.Once again the draught beer was cold and delicious.
We keep forgetting to photograph our food before we eat it and so mostly we have only empty platters to show you. We will try to do better in future!

Food Pics

2008-03-09T21:44:00.001-07:00

What part of 'No Chopsticks' don't you understand

Oops - Forgot to take the 'before' picture of Fish Head Curry

Hawker Stall in Singapore

Chicken Satay in the Emprire Cafe at Raffles

BIG DAY IN PORT KLANG.

2008-03-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

Up, up and away....

This is the size of a small house

The Project Engineer

The Project Engineer absolved himself of any responsibility at this point

The Chief Officer (First Mate) Organizing Lifting Cables

Some of the spectators

Some of the other spectators

Making the deck ready for cargo

It makes the boat look smaller

inch worm, inch worm, measuring a mountain block...

Easy does it....

Do you think we're going to make it?

A port employee

We made a small detour to Port Klang, the port for Kuala Lumpur, to pick up a piece of equipment measuring somewhere between 55 feet and 60 feet tall,the size depending on who the Captain spoke to. This is large even for us.Rickmers sent a representative from Germany for the occasion.
During the overnight passage I was awakened by a spectacular display of pyrotechnics in the distance. I was witnessing a typical (I'm told)tropical storm. Sheets of lightening turned the night sky into day every 5to 10 seconds. Occasionally a prolonged flash would backlight the clouds and the result was startlingly beautiful. This was followed by torrential rain and I now understand why parts of Asia experience such devastating floods. We handled a lot of water in a very short time. The storm brought cool, dry weather. The following evening Mal and I found ourselves on deck marveling that, as close as we were to the equator, we were enjoying springlike weather.
The cargo didn't arrive until this morning, and it was indeed huge, the size of a small house. Mal and I disembarked to get a better view of the operation and found ourselves standing next to the Project Engineer. As the cranes inched the equipment off the truck he turned to us, with obvious relief, and said, "Well that's the end of my responsibility." This opened a conversation. The equipment is destined for an off shore oil well in china.It will be used to remove sulfur compounds from the seawater pumped into the wells to maintain the well pressure. These sulfur compounds, if not removed,would emulsify the oil and clog the wells. We also learned that some of the components were manufactured by Victaulic in little old Pennsylvania!
The total cost of the equipment, $250 million.
A logistics company was hired to transport the equipment from the plant to our deck. It took two of our cranes, working in tandem, to lift the 360 ton structure and there was a little breath holding as it swung from truck to ship. The local media and yours truly, were present to cover this rather tricky transfer.

2008-03-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

Wondering how the market did yesterday..

Trees in downtown Singapore

The Means You!

The Mail Box

Not everything in Singapore is perfect, but notice the trimmed grass

Lucky Chinatown

Is that Guy Carrying a Durian?

The front of the Raffles hotel

Clarke Key on the Singapore River

Singapore

2008-03-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

The difference between Jakarta and Singapore is the difference between darkest night and brightest day. Where Jakarta is covered with grime,Singapore is super clean and landscaped with a large variety of trees.Tourism abounds and downtown is filled with ethnic shopping centers, such as Chinatown and Little India, filled with every manner of South East Asian shopper. Retail categories are clustered together. Sim Lim Square and the immediate neighborhood, for example, are dedicated to electronics. Arab Street is famous for fabrics. Find one restaurant and, bingo, you have a whole row of restaurants. This is capitalism at its best in spite of the fact that Singapore is a very socialist city state. Everything is negotiable and, for the person willing to take the time, an absolute best price is available.
The metro rail system is automated from the dispensing of tickets to the driverless trains. The ticket is a plastic card, carries a $1 deposit, an dis scanned without insertion when entering and exiting the system. It can be recharged and reissued. When I finally was finished with my ticket a machine took it and returned my dollar deposit. The trains are similar to Newark airport, a two door system. One is on the platform and one is on the train. There were lines on the platform suggesting where I should stand while waiting to enter the train, and lines on the platform to direct me when I exited the train. I felt as if I was in a futuristic city.
Singapore might be described as a paradise except that Paradise would be filled with lots of happy bubbly people. Singaporeans are a somber lot.This collective lack of energy could be cultural or related to the climate.Sitting just north of the equator there are no seasons and the temperature ranges from 72* F to 93* F with high humidity. Or the ennui could be due to politics.
Technically the form of government is described as a procedural democracy,but the ruling party is the People's Action Party who has ruled the city-state since 1959. There have been three Prime Ministers: Lee Kuan Yew1959-1990, Goh Chok Tong 1990-2004, and Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan's eldest son, 2004 to the present. My impression is that the country has been run like a huge, very successful corporation. Every detail of the city has been carefully thought out, including how Singaporeans should lead their everyday lives. There are fines, usually $750.00, for public nuisance disobediences. These include spitting, putting out a cigarette on thesidewalk, taking food or beverages on the train or bus, jay walking or riding bicycles in pedestrian underpasses to name a few. This is a successful benign dictatorship where emphasis is put on the collective good and there appears to be little room for individualism. The government owns the media and it is illegal to own a satellite dish. Crime doesn't pay.There are no jury trials and Amnesty International has accused Singapore of having the highest execution rate per capita in the world. Besides jail,fines and execution there is also the cane!
This morning we took on some extra cargo, so Mal and I found ourselves with some free time. We decided to go to a local metro stop and soak up the local ambience. Imagine our surprise when we found a typical indoor shopping mall. If, in my imagination, I removed the faces, clothing and local signage I could have been in any American mall, food court and supermarket included. Of course it was Singapore and the faces were Chinese, Indian and Indonesian and the clothing ranged from burkas to short sand tee shirts. The food court had strictly South East Asian food..No pizza here!
In spite of the feeling that "big brother" was watching me, I had a great time. This is definitely a city that should be on everybody's "must visit list."

Jakarta pics

2008-03-03T05:22:00.000-08:00

Our next trawler

Our slip in Jakarta

Foresail

Tug at Jakarta

Ironwood Boat

Entering the Old Port in Jakarta

At the old port in Jakarta

Fisherman at the old port

Going Ashore

Inquiring minds would like to know...

Acres of containers

A family outing - the baby is in the mother's arms

Jakarta

2008-03-03T05:17:00.000-08:00

JAKARTA SYNOPSIS
The Jakarta blog is long. For those who are not particularly interested in Jakarta, I offer this synopsis.
Jakarta is big and grubby with a population of 12 million+. It is a city of extremes: abject poverty to great wealth. The infrastructure is totally neglected with some of the main thoroughfares more like dirt roads. The streets are badly congested with cars and motorcycles. Many of the motorcycles carry as many as four people, a mother with her baby at the back, And an older child, who sits in front of the father. In spite of this we were able to find an upscale department store with pleasant clerks. The Indonesian people are very nice. My impression is that politically they are very backward.
I was very glad to say good bye to Jakarta.

PORT AND CITY OF JAKARTA
On Sunday 24th we entered the port of Jakarta, the third largest port in Asia. We were surrounded by thousands of containers, extending as far as the eye could see. So began our Jakarta adventure.
Jakarta started as a small fishing village in the mid fifteenth century.Almost one hundred years later the Dutch conquered it, named it Batavia, and made it a pivotal port of the Dutch east India Company. After world war 11Indonesia gained independence and named it Jakarta.
Immediately after breakfast Mal, and fellow passenger Paul, hired a guide for the day. Immediacy is not a word in the Indonesian language. The immigration office called our Captain and told him, “There has been a death in the office and we are temporarily closed for the funeral.” With only one day to spend in Jakarta we, with the other passengers and off duty crew members, were left to languish until one o’clock. The captain was furious.We were philosophical. Welcome to Indonesia.
When we finally disembarked our faithful guide, accustomed to such delays,was waiting for us. After traversing some dirty, oily muddy ruts dockside we boarded a van with a driver, hired by our guide. After some jolting,rattling and bumping we accessed the main road. I know it was the main road because there were traffic lights at the intersections. However the road surface didn’t change. We rattled, shook and plunged in and out of potholes for most of the day. The roads are also filled with motorcyclists. They flit and dart in and out of traffic like dragonflies. At the intersections they weave their way to the front of the traffic and, when the light turns green, they burst out in a cloud of exhaust and speed away……Totally unnerving.
Outside the port the streets are lined with small flea market style stores hawking everything from mobile phones to groceries. Our road traveled along a canal filled with floating detritus. On the opposite bank is a,“cardboard city”, a huge slum of homeless people. Their water supply has to be from the dirty canal, and I dread to think about their sanitation arrangements. The smell tells the story. This is one of many such slums throughout the city. Our guide explained that there is no employment for these people in the rural areas. They migrate to the cities where life is,unfortunately, equally harsh. The population of Jakarta is over 12 million,and there is no welfare system as we know it. Next to these slums are tall modern buildings with signage reading Toyota, Nikon and Sony etc. There is no transitional area. Even wealthy residential areas stop and start just as abruptly. Jakarta is a large sprawling mess. Periodically a large,colorful, windowless building, (an enclosed mall), or a large white edifice,(a modern hotel), rise out of the grey, dirty, concrete jungle, isolated from their surroundings by their height. There are no glass fronted retail stores as we would know them, only a multitude of small, grubby open fronted stores. Interspersed between these stores is every variety of Western fast food restaurants. Even McDonald’s looks shabby. We drove past a Starbucks café on one of the corners of a major intersection. Little do the people of Jakarta know how many more are on the way!
Our first sight seeing stop was the old port. Our literature describes this as restored, but, like everything else in Jakarta, we found it dilapidated and dirty. The boats, however, are fascinating. Made of iron wood, they are direct descendants of the original sailing ships. They are still being built at a cost of $250,000 per boat and still continue to carry a token foresail. Nowadays they are powered by a diesel engine. With a captain and crew of 16 they transport rice and cement to Borneo and the Indonesian islands. All the crew members come from one island and are called Bogeymen.They are responsible for sailing and maintaining the boat. Cargo is loaded by hand by stevedores who run up and down a plank. The boats carry 1.5meters of free board when fully loaded. Not a happy place to be in a storm.
Next we stopped at an antique flea market comprised of block after block of small shops 20 feet deep and 10 feet wide. Paul, who claims to be knowledgeable about maritime antiques, commented that the prices were very reasonable, but I had a little echo behind me that kept repeating,“Remember, no more stuff!” I looked but didn’t buy.
Finally we decided to do some shopping. Mal wanted to buy an inexpensive printer. Our guide shunned the large colorful malls and took us to one that had a large upscale department store instead. Here we saw another side of Jakarta. It was clean and the store clerks were delightful. The stationary department, which sold office equipment, was on the sixth floor. Mal purchased a H.P printer for $70. This floor also housed the bathrooms which, like the rest of the store, were also spotlessly clean with lots of running water, soap and a hand dryer. The first toilet I entered had no toilet paper. In the next toilet the toilet bowl was on the floor! The next toilet was normal but I now realized that there were no toilet paper dispensers. Mercifully I was not in a hurry and was able to purchase some tissues in the stationary department. I assume Indonesian women know to carry this indispensable item with them.
It was time to eat. After a few false starts we found a restaurant where the food was excellent, the price reasonable, and we were able to wash it down with pitchers of locally brewed Carlsburg beer, chilled to perfection and served in iced mugs.
Later in the evening Mal and I shared a nightcap with Heiner, another passenger. Heiner and I both agreed that we would be very happy if we never returned to Jakarta.
We sailed for Singapore the next morning.

Pirates MV Jakarta style...

2008-02-28T05:15:00.001-08:00

Pirates

2008-02-28T05:13:00.000-08:00

On February 15th, we exited the Red Sea and entered the waters between Yemen and Somalia - pirate territory. We knew that this was a risk when we booked passage. The reality of the situation was brought home when the Captain announced that all outside doors would be locked overnight, and that extra crew members would be assigned to "lookout" duty on the bridge. Then he gathered the passengers together to discuss the subject of pirates.
Should the ship be boarded we would offer no resistance. The locked doors would slow the pirates down, but not stop them. He explained that their countries were very poor and that they would take everything that wasn't nailed down. The Chief Engineer had been on a ship boarded by pirates, and they took all the bedding, including the mattresses, leaving the crew in only their underwear. Fortunately high jacking has not been successful fort hem. On one ship that they commandeered they demanded a ransom of $ 1million. The price was eventually reduced to $250,000. This was no bargain,however, because the pirates had already inflicted millions of dollars of damage to the ship. On another ship the crew fought off the pirates,killing some in the fray. Two years later, in spite of the fact that thes hip had been sold and traveled with a different crew, the ship was attacked again. This time, everyone in the crew was murdered. "This", the Captain explained, "is why we offer no resistance. The commercial shipping world has no desire to enter armed warfare with the pirates. Everybody would lose."
Interesting fact: Israeli and Russian ships are never attacked!
After all these "war stories," and an uncomfortable rise in my adrenalin level, the Captain then assured us the we are an unlikely candidate for attack. We have a very high freeboard, travel comparatively fast, 18-19knots, and don't have an attractive cargo.
Still - I was happy to enter the Indian Ocean.

The Suez Canal and the Red Sea

2008-02-28T05:08:00.000-08:00

The Suez Canal is full of surprises. It joins two large bodies of water and so I assumed that there would be a lock. Wrong! There is just over one meter difference between both ends.
Second surprise, it is a one way system, a consequence of increasingly larger cargo vessels. At a speed of 5 to 6 knots it takes about 12 hours to transit the full length of the canal. This is broken into two six hour passages. Northbound and southbound traffic start at the same time and meetin the middle of the canal where there is a series of small lakes. Both convoys stop here and regroup before proceeding with their journey. There are two convoys each way twice daily.
At 5:30 A.M. on Thursday 11th. February Mal and I found ourselves on the bridge listening to Port Said traffic controllers communicating, in English,with ships at anchor waiting to transit the canal. We had watched the Jakarta glide to a halt and drop anchor earlier. At 6:30 A.M. we we redirected to pass buoy 8 behind the container ship Ym Tianjin and in front of the bulk carrier Daewoo Ace and thus we became part of the long convoy traveling south along the canal. Daewoo Ace was in such a hurry to join the queue that he set off our "imminent collision" alarm causing a little early morning cardiac exercise. I wondered if he perhaps thought he was in New York harbor where I understand that right of way belongs to the helmsman with the most guts! So began our long trek south.
We followed a long seawall into Port Said harbor where we were met with frenzy of activity. Ferries of all shapes and sizes traversed the harbor,at seemingly reckless speeds, with little regard for the freighters in their midst. It was at this point that Mal and I became spectators to a strange custom. It happens to every ship that passes through the canal. A small motor boat with three men pulled along side our ship. A line was thrown from the ship which was tied off to the boat. This line was gradually played out until the boat was opposite the poop deck and traveling at the exact same speed as our ship. The hook of our aft crane was then lifted out of its cradle and lowered until it hovered just over the boat. A loop from the boat was passed over the hook. The crane then lifted the boat out of the water to the level of the poop deck. Three men with large sacks disembarked from the boat. We had instant bazaar, everything from plastic pyramids to cheap perfume. These boatmen, as they are known as, stayed with us for the entire duration of our trip through the canal.
Eventually we passed out of Port Said and into the canal. The East bank quickly gave way to an undulating dessert which remained with us for almost the entire journey. A deserted dirt road separated it from the canal.Occasionally we would spot army personnel in fatigues and helmets, carrying very serious looking guns. I suspect that the canal is under surveillance at all times. Think for a moment how important it is to global commerce.The west bank of the canal was much livelier. Here a super highway with toll booths paralleled us. Had the bill boards not been written in Egyptian we could have been anywhere in the civilized world. We passed green cultivated fields, shanty towns, houses beautifully landscaped and even towns and cities. Finally we reached....a bridge! This is surprise number three. There are only two bridges that cross the canal in its entire length, and one is a railway bridge. At the end of the first leg we passed under the Japan-Egypt Friendship Bridge, the only road connection between the African and Asian continents. This helps to explain the frenzy of harbor traffic at Port Said.
Shortly after passing the bridge the canal divided. Here the convoy stopped. Linesmen in boats took our lines and tied us off to the port side embankment. It was 2:00 P.M., six hours after we entered the canal. The northbound convoy now proceeded to enter the canal. There were a lot of ships and it was 8:30 PM before we cast off and continued our journey south through the lakes and back into the canal. Again there was desert to the east, but the west bank also became less populated. At 3:00 A.M. we reached Suez. Our boatmen left us, no doubt to hitch a lift north on the next convoy. Finally we passed into the Red sea.
What can I say about the Red Sea. It's not red, it's very wide and it's very long. The shipping lane is in the middle so we only caught occasional glimpses of land and suddenly we were in the Gulf of Aden, pirate territory.

About the MV Jakarta....

2008-02-28T05:03:00.000-08:00

MV Jakarta
This is a happy boat. Everybody smiles. The crew is a mixture of Romanian(Captain and Chief Officer as well as ship's carpenter), Sri Lankan(Cadets, training for eventual positions as ship's officers, who alternate between crew duties on deck and classroom training with the Chief Officer)and Filipinos, who serve as Mates and crew. The Filipinos, especially, are a happy lot. The have a great sense of humor and a sense of fun as well.They love to party and to sing. Parties on board the ship are usually on a Saturday, held in the Blue bar, and are open to everyone. Good food, beer,booze, music and singing are the order of the night.
The ship itself is one of nine, the Pearl String, owned by Rickmers LinieGmb & De KG that continuously circles the globe. It is 600 feet long (two football fields) and 86 feet wide. Equipped with four Superflex heavy duty cranes it is built to handle heavy, out-of-gauge cargo. The two middle cranes lift 320 metric tons each and, when combined, can lift more than the weight of a fully loaded 747. Cargo can be stored above or below deck, but the below deck area is ventilated and dehumidified. This allows us to carry extraordinary cargo not suited to container ships or roll on/roll offs.
As you might expect, maintenance is an ongoing chore for the crew. Saltwater + Metal = Rust. The noise of wire brushes and the smell of fresh paint are constant companions.
The aft section of the ship, known as the bridge house, has eight decks:main, poop, A,B,C and D decks (the living quarters), pilot deck (home of the Blue bar), and the bridge. The Blue bar is furnished as a bar but is really only used when there is a party. There is no elevator. We were well warned, prior to booking our passage, that we would need to be comfortable ascending and descending at least five flights of stairs regularly. We are housed in the owner's suite in the middle of D deck. The Officers Mess is on the A deck. At this point I can safely say that Mal and I are developing"buns of steel"!!
The food is excellent. Our chef worked on a large cruise ship prior to joining us. Breakfasts are cooked to order, anything from Eggs Benedict to cereal. Lunch and dinner consist of soup, salad, main course and dessert.The cuisine is best described as eclectic. It includes food from all nations, is always delicious and is beautifully presented. Dessert today was Crepes Suzettes.
The working bridge takes up the entire top story of the bridge house. It contains all the charts and instruments, a bathroom and a small kitchen.Bridge policy is left to the individual captain of each ship. Our captain allows us on the bridge at any time as long as we don't interfere with the operation of the ship. This is a wonderful privilege. The instruments are similar in concept to those on a small boat so Mal and I have no difficulty reading and understanding them. An exciting moment was watching the latitude drop to 00.00.
Our days pass quickly here, even when in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Our fellow passengers are interesting and entertaining and so far our adventure is proving to be very successful.

X marks our room - Third porthole from the Left top row below green stripe 2-10-2008 3-21-27 PM

2008-02-28T05:02:00.000-08:00

More Boat Pics

2008-02-28T04:50:00.000-08:00

Genoa the city of Small Cars....

2008-02-16T19:46:00.001-08:00

It was still dark when we pulled into Genoa on the morning of February the6th. Mal and I looked out of our porthole and were greeted by a beautifulcrescent of dazzling lights. The city rises up out of the Mediterranean Seaand is guarded by a semicircular ridge of mountains which sweep down to thesea on either side. Development is limited to a crescent on the foothills.The original port is nestled to the east of the bay, close to the center oftown. Eventually Genoa needed a larger port to accommodate commercialshipping. They expanded in the only direction that they could, into the bay.The new port is built on reclaimed land and land fill and sits to the westof the original port. The Jakarta was quietly coasting into the bay towardthe commercial port.
Never let it be said that Mal or I ever our confused our priorities. We hada limited amount of time to shop in Antwerp before boarding the ship and soour liquor supply consisted of a bottle of brandy, a bottle of whiskey and afew bottles of wine. The house wines on the boat are Inglenook and GreatWall of China whites and reds. The Inglenooks leave a lot to be desiredand, in all honesty, we didn't even try the Chinese wine. Our first orderof business was to hail a taxi and request that he take us to the nearestliquor store. As we approached the center of town I realized why the carsare so small. All the streets are narrow and cobbled and follow no geometricpattern. Most of them are two way because to try to impose one way systemswould be very difficult. None of the streets run parallel, wonderful toshop in, difficult to negotiate by car. Fortunately none of the oldbuildings have been razed to make room for modern high rises and so itremains charming. The people we met were equally charming.
We brought Paul, a fellow traveling companion, with us. By the time wefinished our shopping we had purchased 53 bottles and Paul had purchased 36.It is a long way to Jakarta, our next stop. Our cabin is 6 levels up fromthe main deck, which, in turn, is a long gangway climb from the dock. Thereis no elevator so getting our wine to our cabin was quite a challenge!Needless to say we are enjoying every hard earned drop.
We left Genoa in the evening and were rewarded with the same dazzlingdisplay of lights. I would love to return when we have more time to explorethe city.

The Storm

2008-02-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

We left Genoa in the evening and made our way down the west coast of Italy.At approximately 7:30 P.M. the next evening Mal and I noticed scatteredlights to starboard. We went up to the pilot deck to investigate and wererewarded by the sight of Mount Vesuvius erupting into the night sky. Twohours later we were negotiating the straits of Messina between Italy and Sicily. The lights of the towns on either side were so bright that they litup the night sky. The passage is narrow and full of boat traffic so we hada pilot aboard to help us navigate.
Later that night I was rudely awakened out of a deep sleep by theshuddering and pitching of the boat. We were in a storm. Very soon theboat was rolling from side to side. We are 600 feet long, two footballfields, so we were able to ride the waves but occasionally we pitch poledinto a large trough caused by an extra large wave. The impact of the boatsinking into the water caused the whole boat to shudder. There was verylittle sleep the rest of the night.
The next day the storm abated. It was fun to watch it from the shelter ofour room. I tried to imagine what it might be like in a 40 foot sail boat.Let me just say that Mal and I have no plans to sail around the world.
By night fall the storm ramped up again. It looked like another restlessnight. We had some respite for a couple of hours as our course took ussouth of Crete and into the shelter of the island. By the next morning thestorm had finally run its course and we were able to enjoy the beautifulMediterranean weather we had anticipated. The entry in the ships log wasforce 10 winds on the Beaufort scale for both nights (winds 55 to 63 milesper hour) Force 12 is a hurricane.

The inevitable lifeboat drill

2008-02-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

This "out of space" looking life raft holds 36 people, 3 more than thenumber of people aboard. As you can see it is stowed on an incline.In order for everybody to be in a sitting position when afloat, wemust lie on our backs prior to launch. Each seat is numbered. Maland I are 10 and 11. The launch of the life raft can be quiteballistic so, during the drill, a crew member adjusted our seat belts. They will remain this way for the rest of the trip. I'm afraidpeople who are claustrophobic would find this drill very challenging:there is approximately a 26" clearance between seat itself and themolded support for the seat ahead.
The raft has propulsion and steering capabilities. The last man toenter the pod is the helmsman. One has to wonder. If the boat issinking in the middle of nowhere where exactly would he be taking us?The thought crossed my mind that it might be easier to don one's lifejacket and jump overboard!

Pics from the Singermans at Sea

2008-02-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

For those of you interested, here are some pictures from the ship....

Update on the Adventure...

2008-02-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

Our adventure started sooner than expected. Mal’s briefcase was stolen in
Brussels airport. Gone were our passports, boarding tickets, visas for
China and Vietnam, money, jewelry, telephone, which doubled as Mal’s phone
book, camera, and saddest of all, our faithful cribbage board, a gift from
Jerry and Joyce Tully, that has traveled the world with us. It happened at
the baggage carousel while were distracted by our suitcases. The police were
familiar the modus operendi of the thieves, gave us their condolences and
wrote up a comprehensive report. This happened on a Sunday and so there was
nothing to do but find a centrally located hotel from which to launch our
recovery plan. Sunday was a bleak day.

Our good friend, Bert Willitt, once counseled that the difference between
disaster and adventure was attitude – and yes, the word attitude arose on
several occasions, but by the time we retired on Monday night, we had:
Two brand new U.S. passports
Two new Chinese visas in our brand new passports
Copies of our yellow fever vaccinations, a must have to enter China, in the
Fed. Ex. system winging their way to Brussels
Money also on its way, courtesy of American Express
A promise by the port agents that we could board without our
tickets

The Vietnamese embassy was closed on Tuesday so we spent the day picking up
the wired money, getting our suitcases aboard the Jakarta in Antwerp, and
returning to Brussels to beat a path to the suburb of Ganshorn, where our
good friends Francis and Deirdre, who were in Edinburgh, put their flat at
our disposal.

Wednesday morning we were issued our Vietnamese visas and at 3.00 P.M. we
boarded the Jakarta with an E.T.D. of midnight. Miraculously we had replaced
all the documents needed for our trip except our proof of vaccination
certificates. They were scheduled to arrive at Francis’s flat on Thursday.
Mal and I stayed up to watch the crew cast off. At 1.00 A.M., in the
absence of any activity on the boat, we retired for the night expecting to
awaken in the English Channel. Not so. We awoke still docked! The fuel
company had filled us with the wrong fuel. It took most of the day to
correct the problem. Meanwhile our vaccination certificates arrived in
Brussels. Francis, who had returned from Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon,
hopped in his car sans shower or breakfast and drove all the way to Antwerp
to deliver our certificates in person. What a friend! By the time we
sailed, we had managed to replace all of the documentation necessary to our
trip.

We cast off Thursday evening at 7:30 P.M. The port of Antwerp is one of the
largest in Europe. It is on a river which stretches from the city of
Antwerp to the Netherlands. It takes 6 to 8 hours to navigate through the
river and estuary to reach the English Channel. At approximately 1:00 A.M.
Mal and I were rudely awakened by the thumps of moving objects in our
cabin. We had just cleared land and were heading out into a storm in the
channel. It took some tidying of loose objects before we were able to get
back to sleep. The pilot who guided us out of Antwerp was still onboard.
Several attempts to get him into the pilot boat that same night failed
because of the storm. Scuttlebutt was that he was planning to disembark at
Folkstone.

Friday morning found us running along the English coast. We had just
finished lunch (food is great)when a crew member invited us outside to see a
helicopter hovering very close to the ship. There was a man dressed in an
orange suit suspended from the helicopter. He had a microphone strapped to
his chest but he appeared to indicate his wishes using hand signals.
Imagine our surprise when he gently swung toward us as if to land on our
ship.

Could the man in the orange suit have anything to do with our pilot?

We watched with interest as he made several more failed attempts to land on
our boat. Suddenly the helicopter withdrew reeling up our man in the orange
suit. As they prepared to take off they waved us all a hearty good bye.
The British coast guard was carrying out a training mission and chose our
boat as their target vessel.

We are two of six passengers, two Canadians, one Brit and one German, all
men, and all very companionable. The Officers and crew held a welcoming
party for us on Saturday night. I will let the photos speak for
themselves. So far Mal and I are having a wonderful time. As I write this
we have passed Gibraltar and are heading through the Mediterranean sea
toward Genoa.

The difference between a disaster and an adventure is attitude...

2008-02-01T03:50:00.001-08:00

Well, our trip got off to a rather "adventurous" start. While retrieving our luggage in the airport in Brussels, our briefcase containing our passports, visas, camera and cash was stolen from our luggage cart. Upon reporting this to the authorities, we were met with a lot of solemn head shaking...apparently this sort of thing is quite common in that airport. Sunday was a bleak day....We had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would have to spend several days in Brussels, and fly to Genoa to meet our ship in the next port; however we were determined not to let this incident get us down.

Early Monday morning, we were at the doors of the American Consulate. They were so helpful, we were actually able to replace everything in a day and a half, and I am happy to report that I am dictating this to our daughter, Jennifer, (from the one cellular phone that wasn't stolen) from the taxi on the way to board the Rikmans Jakarta here in Brussels! In true Singerman fashion, we were also able to fit in some fabulous Flemish meals in between visits to the consulate and the American Express office.

Bye for now!

Anne Marie and Mal

About our Trip....

2008-01-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

We will be leaving on Monday, January 26th for a trip around the world…heading East. The first leg will be on Continental Airlines to Brussels, then on to Antwerp to board our “tramp steamer”, the freighter Rickmers Jakarta (http://www.shipphoto.net/rickmers%20jakarta.htm or http://shumsw3.tripod.com/rickmers/rickmersjakarta050914.jpg or http://www.rickmers.com/index.php?id=489&uid=36 for photos and more information about the ship).

From Antwerp we are off to Genoa, then through the Suez Canal and on to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore (not necessarily in that order) with a possible stop in India as well. Then it’s across the Pacific with possible stops in California, through the Panama Canal, and then to Houston where we will disembark, and fly East to get home to Pennsylvania.

Our ship carries a maximum of 8 passengers, usually less than that. The projected duration of our voyage is 90 days, but can be longer or shorter since the ship’s ports of call, true to the ‘tramp steamer” tradition, vary according to the demands for its services.

Anyone who wants to follow our journey can do so by using the following steps:

Click this link: http://www.rickmers-linie.com/index.php?id=343&L=2
Click on “more >>” in the Ship Position Box
Click the “Asset Map” Tab under the “Map” tab
Scroll all the way down to “Rickmers Jakarta” in the “Asset List” box and click

A map of the world with the ship’s position in green will appear.

All the best to you and yours.

Anne Marie and Mal

Welcome to Singermans at Sea!

2008-01-14T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

If you have found this blogspot, it means you have some interest in the around-the-world journey of Mal and Anne Marie Singerman. We set sail in a week, and we are raring to go. I thought we would start the blog with some pictures of our Bon Voyage party hosted by our very good freinds Lillian and Ed O' Connor.