I mentioned in an earlier post that there was an annoying intermittent rattle from the air conditioning system. The engineer didn’t fix it, but quite by chance, we met the people next door, waiting for the air conditioning to be fixed in their cabin. Theirs wasn’t working at all. As it happens, we can only assume that whatever was rattling, was part of their system, as we have had a night with no noise at all.
No rush to get up and an easy breakfast. Once again, info for future cruisers first.
Ship berthed on the starboard side
Our el Cheapo, $30 Vodafone pre-pay phones worked – ‘Welcome to Malaysia’.
We were advised to carry a photocopy of our passport (as issued by the ship) – wasn’t required.
We just walked off and our hand luggage was scanned at the terminal, but that was it as far as the formalities went.
Shuttle to town was about every 10 minutes for $8 each way.
Coming back in, a scan in the terminal building, then the proper scan on the ship.
There were three small tables of souvenirs in the terminal building, but we just hopped on the shuttle. It wasn’t far to town and taxis aren’t allowed on the dock. There were dozens of them outside the port gates and they were parked willy-nilly, making it tricky for the medium sized shuttle bus to negotiate. It would have been a really easy walk. The traffic however was surprisingly slow and congested, with locals seemingly keen to queue jump the right turns at the traffic lights. Very naughty.
The shuttle dropped us off outside a large, air conditioned covered market. We meandered around two floors but weren’t tempted to buy. Couldn’t even find a Nana we liked, but hadn’t realised there was market for them… We walked outside briefly to the waterfront, but we hadn’t gone more than a few yards when we encountered quite an unpleasant smell and turned back, so we never did reach the outdoor market or the food market.
Some of our group had opted to do a private cookery tour, which included shopping in the outdoor market first and they thoroughly enjoyed their day. Mike claimed that one of the curries had to be one of the best he’d ever tasted.
We, along with many others, headed back to the ship quite early and opted for the International café on deck 5. Once again, I wasn’t very lucky with my coffee – it was only tepid, so that had to go back. Whilst there, we had quite a chat with Donna Campbell, who had done her two shows a couple of nights ago but is getting off in Hong Kong. Nice lady to chat to and as I didn’t get a publishable pic during her show, managed to get one there.
Later on, we paid the Terrace Grill another visit on deck 14 and sampled the chilli this time as well as the pulled pork.
One of the other traditions is a sailaway drink at the rear of deck 11, but this time, the ship had also organised a load of tables (with cloths) and waiters bringing around nibbles, at the rear of deck 14, watered by the Sundowner’s Bar. This was a huge success and Jo bought a bottle of Peach Navel Fuzzy (or something similar!). I thought I’d try one too, at just 3.2% proof, it was easy to drink, but easy to see that maybe the real target demographic is teenagers.
Our dinner menu was Indian! Not Malaysian, but very nice anyway. Paula and I shared a prawn curry and a tandoori chicken, but maybe we should also have added the mushroom korma. Most people seemed very tired but we made it to the Pearson & Harvey, comedy variety show at 9:45. We’d seen them before - and not much had changed, which is a pity as they are very talented. Robbie Pearson did his Frank Spencer act again and also miming to the Frank Sinatra ‘My Way’, with the sound track either slow or sped up. It’s a good gag, but even one of the passengers did it in 2011 and I think this was the 3rd time we’d seen them. Time for a change lads. No doubt their second show will have his Billy Connolly monologue – again.
Talking to many of the well-travelled cruisers, there is a strong perception that the Australians get fobbed of with stuff that the Americans wouldn’t tolerate, on several counts. One couple who’d done back to back cruises even claimed that the shops were closed either for a day at the end of a USA sector or the beginning of the new Australian one, just to reprice the stock – upwards. Who knows?
Still no internet facility to send, or upload, but Mark had not only listened to my grizzle, but had put it in the Patter that we would be informed when the (land based) problem had been fixed. It does mean that as I finish this, just one day after, there are now 7 blogs already written and ready to upload. Not very impressive as in this day and age, these sorts of problems tend to be fixed within hours.
It would have been my late Dad’s 101st birthday today. Still miss him.
Two sea days ahead now before an overnight call into Hong Kong.
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