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Sea Day #2 - Arabian Sea

March 12, 2025

We crossed the equator last night and have the certificates to prove it! I’m enjoying watching the water go counterclockwise down the drain. Another lazy day but we passed an absolutely massive pod of dolphins that went on for at least a mile. It was crazy beautiful and helped me with my stressing about all the garbage I’ve been seeing floating by. As they said in Jurassic Park – Life will find a way!

Admittedly, I’m a little nervous being so close to Somalia and their pirates. Tod says I’m overreacting to worry and that they only attack cargo ships. But I clearly remember Leon Klinghoffer (Google it if you don’t know the name) and I will rest easier when we get further away. Actually, when I first booked this cruise, we were supposed to go up through the Suez Canal, but our route was changed due to the current situation in the Middle East.

It looks like we’re heading into some rain this evening. Maybe the ship will finally rock a bit?

Tomorrow we arrive at Victoria, the Seychelles.

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Sea Day #1 – Arabian Sea

March 11, 2025

Another calm and restful day as we head to the Seychelle Islands. Not much to report except we’re starting to see a disturbing amount of trash in the ocean. Ugh. As I sat looking out at the sea, some object of trash floated by about every couple of minutes.

We cross the equator about midnight tonight. I wonder if we’ll feel a speed bump? ;)

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Malé, the Maldives

March 10, 2025

The Maldives is another one of those destinations that we had to research before we embarked on our trip. About all I knew is that it’s in the middle of nowhere and has a bunch of islands where celebrities come to escape to exclusive resorts and stay in overwater bungalows. It turns out that is all true but there is so much more to learn. It’s a strict Muslim country with 99% of the population following Islam. In addition, Malé the capital, is a 3.5 square mile island with an elevation of 4 feet above sea level, with 225,000 people jammed on it. It’s one of the most remote, flattest and densely populated places on earth.

When I looked at the offerings for shore excursions, they were astronomically expensive and were primarily aimed towards snorkeling and seashore activities. Since our beach days are behind us, it didn’t make much sense to spend a crazy amount of money, so we decided to spend the day just checking out the city. That is, if we could find a place to stand. HAHA – It must be “rear ends and elbows” there as Tod would say.

We were happy that the lady from the hospital responded to Tod’s email but as we figured, she couldn’t offer any solutions other than selling him a new pair. Disappointed, but not completely out of options, we boarded a “tender boat” (a motorized lifeboat they use to ferry people to and from the town since the ship is anchored in the harbor) with high hopes of getting some help.

Before we disembarked, we were schooled a bit on the local culture. No alcohol on the island and since it was Ramadan, don’t expect to find anything to eat because everyone was fasting. The correct greeting was “Ramadan Mubarak” and between that and keeping a low profile, meaning don’t be typical loud Americans, we should be fine.

Getting to town only took about 15 minutes on the boat and we immediately plopped down in the shade on a crumbling wall (funny, there seem to be a lot of those) and I pulled up Google maps and entered “hearing aid repair near me”. Eureka, I got a hit! Soon we were navigating the “streets” of Malé to find the indicated address.

Believe me, walking through this city is not for the faint of heart. Between the 2-foot-wide sidewalks (and those were the wide ones), missing street bricks, traffic driving on the left, delivery trucks, cars, other pedestrians and about a bajillion scooters we picked our way to the center of town. There were so many obstacles I could constantly hear my Mom with her squeaky voice in my ear saying, “Keep your wits about you!”. No vehicles ever stop at the crosswalks, they just veer around you. If you stop, stunned in the middle of the street because a scooter is coming straight toward you, you’re toast. If you keep walking, they will just swerve around you. I guess we learned a thing or two in Sri Lanka.

After a hair raising 20 minutes of picking our way, we found ourselves at our destination. A pleasant gentleman on the street directed us up one flight to the clinic. Slowly and cautiously opening the door and absolutely unsure what we would find, we were met with an incredibly frigid (or maybe it just felt that way after our hot and perilous journey) blast of air-conditioning. Entering the small reception area and waiting room, Tod approached the ladies behind the desk, dressed in chadors* with a friendly “Ramadan Mubarak!” at which they smiled weakly and responded in kind. He then went on to explain his situation to the one that obviously spoke better English. She took his devices and asked us to take a seat in a long line of chairs where a woman and her son were also waiting and she took the hearing aids to the back.

Tod without his hearing aids on started chattering loudly “isn’t this awesome?” and I instinctively made the “zip your lips” gesture to him remembering the advice to keep a low profile. Why do Americans seem so loud anyway? They don’t ever seem that way at home, but I digress. He nodded that he understood, and we sat in silence for about 10 minutes until the clinic door opened and in walked a man and his wife, dressed in a full niqab**. I instinctively gave her a smile but not sure of the response because all we could see were her eyes and she was wearing glasses to boot. The man spoke incredibly softly to the receptionist, they remained for a few minutes and left. Not too much later, the English-speaking receptionist returned and said that they had tried several things but unfortunately, they weren’t familiar with the brand, and they just couldn’t get them to work. Thanking her profusely, we offered to pay, but she said, “no charge” and off we were back to the heat and the chaos of Malé.

One good thing I can say about the town is that it is virtually impossible to get lost because it’s so tiny. Per usual, I wanted to find some postcards before we headed back to the ship and some food. We saw that the next street over would give us a direct shot back to the dock. We assumed, correctly, that we would find at least one souvenir stand nearer the dock area.

A friendly man on the street ushered us into a small shop with none of the annoyance and hard sell that you can find in other countries. Feeling like pros at this we said, “Ramadan Mubarak!” to the staff who met us with big grins and the same words as a response. Although on first glance I could see no postcards, so I thought, here we go again and I meekly asked if they had any. Oddly enough, the lady went to a pile of paper and pulled out 2 Maldives postcards. I smiled broadly and said, “That’s great! Do you sell stamps too?”. A man sitting at a desk who appeared to be the owner gave me a look of consternation and said he was very sorry but there were no longer stamps in the Maldives and soon mail would be eliminated altogether. WHAT?? Everything now is electric he replied. Tod hissed under his breath, but how will they get their Amazon? I elbowed him in the ribs and headed off to find a few souvenirs and a top that caught my eye. As I was paying, she handed me the postcards and said, “these are complimentary!”. HAHA – she was undoubtably glad to get rid of those relics from the past.

We safely fought all the obstacles back to the dock and before we knew it we were back in familiar territory on the ship. The few hours we were in Malé could easily be described as an “out of body” experience. It’s definitely something we will laugh about for many years.

On to the Arabian Sea as we sail to our next stop, Victoria, capital of the Seychelles.

*chador = a long, flowing cloak typically worn by Muslim women covering the body and the hair but leaving the face exposed.

** niqab = is a long garment worn by some Muslim women to cover their entire body and face, excluding their eyes.

Malé from the air (I downloaded from the internet)

Probably the most open spot on the island

Tod with the Zuiderdam in the background

So called King coconuts native to Sri Lanka. They’re supposed to be not as sweet but much more nourishing than the other ones. Their juice is supposed to be the ultimate hydration because of electrolytes very similar to body fluids. I really wanted to try, but because of Ramadan didn’t get a chance.

Leaving Malé. I forgot to mention that they got hit pretty hard in the Tsunami. Not so much with the wave but rising water that killed dozens.

A couple of the “exclusive” islands but the jury is out as far as I’m concerned. Float planes circled the skies like big mosquitoes. I wouldn’t find that very relaxing or private!

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Sea Day – Laccadive Sea

March 9, 2025

We are on our way to the Maldives (pronounced Mahldeevs), a huge chain of islands and their capital of Malé, today via the Laccadive Sea. I sure don’t remember that from 4th grade geography. Regardless, it’s another beautiful day here on the Zuiderdam. The days are consistently in the mid 80’s F. with a pleasant breeze as we scoot along to our next destination. But I guess it had to happen – this has been a nearly perfect trip so far and today we had our first calamity.

Tod’s banging on keyboards in rock bands for the last 60 years finally caught up with him, and last year he had to break down and get hearing aids. Of course, he brought them and all the corresponding paraphernalia on the trip. They require a modicum of maintenance which he would admit he slacks upon sometimes. This morning, he reported that the left one was no longer functioning. We did our due diligence by going to every website and video we could find on the subject to see if we could fix it ourselves. Sadly, that failed so I suggested contacting the local hospital in Malé via email to see if they had any suggestions. It would be our next port stop, and we had nothing in particular planned for our day there. Tod found their email address and fired off an inquiry to see if they could recommend anyone that could assist. We’d wait until tomorrow to hear back.

Other than that, it’s been a wonderfully lazy day. Hanging out on the promenade deck on the lounge chairs has become our favored location to spend sea days. It’s very peaceful, nothing like what happens on the pool deck which tends to have group events in the bright sunshine all day. Plus, up there is a smoking area with several bars and the commensurate activities that go along with that. Nothing against it mind you, we might have been up there with them a few decades back. Now, since we’ve given up those habits, I guess you could call us the “elder statesman”. We prefer the peace of staring at the passing seas in the shade as we listen to books or music without any periphery action.

We’ll see if we get any response to the email tomorrow morning. On to Malé!

Laurel Dauer 3/11/25 Laurel Dauer 3/11/25

Sri Lanka

March 8, 2025

We had done a fair amount of research with You Tube about Sri Lanka, so we felt somewhat prepared for our 2.5 hour bus ride to the center of the island and the Millennial Elephant Foundation. Tod opened the curtains of our stateroom to reveal that we had docked at the industrial area of the port of Colombo, and we gazed out to dozens of cranes and a yellow brown haze. Huge, shiny high rises were far in the hazy distance. He stepped out on our balcony and made a horrible face and immediately came back in. The heat, humidity and the horrible smell followed him in. The smog must have been a mix of coal smoke, vehicle exhaust and who knows what else. It reminded me of LA in the 60’s (lol) only hotter and more humid. Soon after, we heard loud drumming and stepped out to see a local troop performing their cultural dance with beautiful, colorful native costumes by the gangway. Too bad we couldn’t linger and watch, but we had a bus to catch.

At 9:00AM we boarded another beautiful, air-conditioned bus and headed for our usual spots in the back. We had found that in addition to having great visibility and no rush to get off, the rear seats are about a foot elevated above the rest of the seats on the bus. Therefore, we could dangle our legs a bit between the seats in front of us, relieving our backs on long drives. Shortly before the bus was scheduled to depart a big, tall white-haired guy going about 280 pounds and I’m guessing in his late 70’s boarded with I assumed his wife and friend and came straight to the back where we were sitting, gave us a sour look, sighed and turned around. We really weren’t paying too much attention with our noses in our phones but soon the tour guide came back to us and said that this gentleman had a “bad knee” and needed us to move. We gaped at each other, and I thought to myself, oh geez – is this going to turn into a battle of the maladies? Tod was about to get up and I grabbed him and told the guide that yes, we’d be glad move. Remaining in the back seats I scooted over to the window on my right side and signaled to Tod to scoot to the one on his left side, and I said happily, “Sure, he can have the middle seat!”. The tour guide said OK and back came the big guy. He was not happy, grunted something to Tod (which he couldn’t understand) in an Aussie or NZ accent and plopped down in the center seat. Off we went on our Asian elephant adventure.

Getting out of the dock area was an experience in itself, due to the fact there was a huge amount construction going on. It’s not like they routed us to a decent road around the construction because I don’t think there was one. I signaled to Tod to put on his seatbelt, as we jolted and bounced about a mile until we made it to the flat asphalt.

One thing of note that I haven’t mentioned before is the Asian dog. At least that’s what I call them. We saw them in Malaysia, Thailand and now here in Sri Lanka. They wander around and are seemingly well fed and are always very slow moving, usually looking for a place to plop down for a snooze. The males have their, “well, you know”, and most of the females look like they have been nursing a litter of pups somewhere. They all look alike and seem to vary only in their coloring however the tan color is the most prevalent. I’d say they’re similar to a coyote in size and coat, yet they are not wild, clearly an eons old mix of domesticated dog. Anyway, the reason I brought this up is that they were wandering around the construction site seemingly oblivious to all the heavy equipment. They’d lay in the dirt and when a huge front-end loader would barrel toward them, they’d look up, yawn and slowly walk to another, safer place to drop down to continue their nap.

Back on a decent road, well kind of anyway, our guide, again in perfect English started to explain about Sri Lanka. Soon we would be on the “Kandy Road”, a major A1 Road on the island that led to the town of the same name. Kandy is one of the holiest sites in Buddhism and has a shrine with a tooth of Buddha (obviously rare). It has played a huge role in the politics of the country for centuries, in that who controls Kandy, controls the rest of the country.

He explained that the English had colonized the Island in Victorian times, and it used to be called Ceylon. I can remember that from 4th grade geography. The name got changed to Sri Lanka in the ‘70s long after the Brits left. Although we could see the remains of their influence with some signs in English, it didn’t seem to be as dominant as it was in Malaysia and Singapore. Top commodities grown on the island are tea, rice, rubber, coconuts, pineapples and cashews.

We barreled on for 2 ½ hours with our fearless driver who navigated the chaos that is the Kandy Road with ease. Tod was brave and looked more than I did. Having been in a head-on collision in my life, I tightened my seatbelt and spent the drive looking to my right out the window - I simply couldn’t bear looking straight ahead.

The highway was about as wide as a back country road in the US or as a so called “B” road in the UK and Europe. It had to accommodate: Big rig trucks, multiple types of delivery trucks, scooters, motorbikes, government buses, public buses, tour buses, tuk tuks (covered 3 wheeled vehicles used as cabs and called that because of the sound they make) personal vehicles, bicycles along with pedestrians of all shapes and sizes including moms with a kid on one hand and an umbrella in the other. Dozens of roadside vendors complicated matters narrowing the road even more. Tod described to me that in towns everyone appeared to follow the stop lights and street signs, yet on the open road the center dividing line seemed only like a suggestion. Lane direction appeared optional and everyone was all over the place. Passing he said was basically “at will” and if you wanted to pass someone, you just did it despite who or what was coming toward you. Yikes – I very happily spent the trip gazing at the sights to my right. I even spotted a little monkey climbing a telephone wire. I’m assuming it was a rhesus, but I haven’t researched it. I’ve kind of been off monkeys lately.

After our long drive that rivaled any thrill ride Universal Studios could dream up, we arrived at the Millenium Elephant Foundation in one piece. Deep in a jungle, it is privately sponsored and has 3 missions. First is to protect and harbor the Asian elephant from abuse, second is to educate people about the creatures and lastly is to produce paper products from their poop (no joke).

I’ll let my photos below tell basically the rest of the story, but it was a fabulous experience that we will not soon forget!

An equally exciting drive led us safely back to the ship by 5:00PM and we wondered, how can these days get any better??

Sea day tomorrow as we navigate to our next stop, Malé, capital of the Maldives, one of the most densely populated places on earth.

Typical street scene in small towns on the way

Jack fruit tree. The leaves are a favorite of the elephants

Buddhist temple with rice paddy in the foreground

Our guide explaining the difference between the Asian and African Elephants. I never realized how different they were. They can’t have babies together.

People lining up to wash the elephant. We gave it a miss… Needless to say the elephant was loving every minute!

View from the bridge of the elephant washing and the jungle

Local dog using the crosswalk to visit his pal across the street. Probably an inbred necessary instinct!

This is outside the Sanctuary. These guys are stopping traffic as they head to the river. We saw at least 30+ elephants during our time there

Tod on our balcony bidding farewell to crazy and wonderful Sri Lanka.

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Sea Day #3 - Bay of Bengal

March 7, 2025

This is our last sea day on our way to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The weather continues to be glorious and today the seas are about as calm as I’ve ever seen open ocean to be. It looks like we could water ski. We’ve been so lucky with the weather and calm ocean. It doesn’t seem like we’ve felt the ship rock once.

I went downstairs today to check out a group representing an organization called “Project Linus” (as in Linus from “Peanuts”). Apparently, this is their 25th year of being sponsored by Holland America Line (HAL). It is a group of men and women that knit and/or crochet afghans for kids with cancer while cruising on these uber long voyages. Since I’m an avid knitter, have trouble sitting doing nothing for extended periods of time, and am always up to support a good cause, I thought I’d check them out. They had mountains of yarn in every imaginable color, patterns and everything you would need to start a project. I perused some patterns, chose my yarns and now I’m official “blanketeer”. I have a big project for the upcoming sea days of which there will be many.

Tomorrow morning we should open our curtains in Colombo!

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Sea Day #2- Bay of Bengal

March 6, 2025

Another relaxing day on our way to Sri Lanka. We are in the shipping lanes because there are lots of big ships to see. This must be the equivalent of the Interstate on the Indian Ocean. Fortunately, they’re all about 2-3 miles away per Tod!

We decided to work out a bit and go down to the “promenade deck” which is on deck 3. It has a wooden decking and goes completely around the ship. Three times around = 1 mile. It’s all under shade so it is a nice alternative to going to a crowded gym. I set my watch for an “outdoor walk” and was pleased and shocked to see that I completed 14.87 miles in an hour with an average pace of 4.03 minutes per mile. Move over Usain Bolt! Tod needed to remind me to put my watch on “indoor walk” because the watch was using GPS to track me. Since the ship was moving while I was walking, it was tracking the ship and not me. And here I was all ready to enter the Senior Olympics in race walking…

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Sea Day #1 - Bay of Bengal

March 5, 2025

Today was our first “sea day” meaning we don’t stop as we’re heading to another port, specifically Sri Lanka. We are relieved to have a leisurely day to finally get our room organized a little better, get some laundry done and simply take a break. Both of us have been afflicted with some back issues since we’ve gotten old so spending a good percentage of the day laying in lounge chairs is quite a relief!

One of the few places I can think of (Newfoundland being the other) where there is a half hour time change!

Laurel Dauer 3/9/25 Laurel Dauer 3/9/25

Phuket, Thailand

March 4, 2025

Phuket (pronounced Pookette not Fookette) is a small island off the west coast of Thailand. Sadly in 2004, it was decimated by a massive tsunami that killed 5,400 people including 2,000 tourists. It rebuilt and continues to be a huge tourist destination from all countries with tops being Russia by far, then India, China, Germany and Australia. Most everyone speaks English which is pretty much becoming the common language of the world luckily for us. It’s quite a small island, half the size of Oahu but it has a population of ½ a million.

We decided that perhaps we needed to pace ourselves after all our adventures and we hadn’t really gotten over jet lag yet to boot. We opted to just take a tour bus into the Old Phuket Town where we would remain for 3 hours on our own and then we’d catch the same bus back.

We stepped out into another gorgeous day and although it was quite warm, it was nothing compared to the heat and humidity of Malaysia and Singapore. Or maybe we were acclimatizing? Anyway, on to the bus we climbed and headed to our usual seats in the back. The main reason we like sitting in the back is that when we come to a tourist stop, there’s no rush to get off. Some people are in such a hurry for whatever reason, so if you’re in the middle seats you get the major stink eye if you don’t dive off in short order.

We had a lady tour guide for a change and as usual, very good English speaker. On our ½ hour ride to town she talked about the island and the history of Thailand, and she was proud of the fact it had never been colonized. Considering every other country nearby had been over-run by the Portuguese, Dutch, British or French in at least one point in their history, Thailand remained independent and strong. She said it was because of the great kings. I couldn’t help thinking of Yul Brynner as the King of Siam (old name for Thailand) in that old movie musical from the ‘50s, “The King and I”.

She also told a few fascinating stories about tsunami survival, and one grabbed my attention. Apparently, there was a lady who was running for higher ground when the water started to catch her, and she grasped a tree root which was the only thing she could find to grab and held on for dear life. As the water climbed higher and higher and she was sure she would drown, the tree root started moving and pulling her toward the higher ground. She continued to hang on until she got to safe ground and then realized she wasn’t holding a tree root at all. Turns out it was a 20-foot-long reticulated python just trying to save his own skin and took her along for the ride. He slithered off, she was safe, and the rest is history.

By this time, we had arrived in the Old Town which was indeed old and a little run down for such a popular resort island in my opinion. The street wiring which I have pictured below is a complete crack up. Heaven knows where all the wires go – looks like work by PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric – our power company). HAHA

The town is on the east side of the island and it’s the west side that took the brunt of the tsunami, so not much new construction here. We got off the bus, back into the heat with a mission to do 2 things. We wanted to get postcards to send to the grandkids and we wanted an authentic Thai lunch as both of us are huge fans of Thai food. They dropped us off at a small 2 story shopping mall that was air conditioned, as our first stop. We got a few Thai Bhat (the currency) from the ATM and found an intriguing drink seller and picked up a couple of lychee sodas. Revitalized, and with local currency in hand we headed back outside to find post cards. I spotted a young guy in the same red shirt our lady tour guide wore, so I figured he was a safe bet to ask where we should go. He had a long stringy goatee of about 10 hairs, and he reminded me of an Asian version of Shaggy from Scooby Doo. “Excuse me,” I said politely. “Can you tell me where I can find postcards?”. He gave me kind of that ‘oh good, another white-haired lady asking for something weird’ look and responded, “a WHAT?”.

“A postcard”, I replied. He looked blank. I continued, “You know, one of those square cards that have pictures of Phuket on them that you send in the mail back home when you’re on vacation?”, gesturing the size of a postcard with my hands. He looked over my head as he responded, “Oh no, we have NOTHING like that in Phuket!”. Thanking him I walked away with Tod and remarked that it just isn’t our world anymore.

Undeterred, we walked over to a crumbling wall in the shade and sat down. I pulled out my phone, went to google maps, entered “souvenir shops” and immediately about 20 popped up in our immediate vicinity. So, we walked 2 blocks and came upon a souvenir shop with a huge display of postcards. Go figure. The proprietress was very kind, and she even sold stamps! We picked out the cards and asked her if we could just write them there. She gave us pens and directed us to a tiny table near the till where we furiously wrote short sentiments and handed them to her for the stamps. She grabbed a bottle of water that she used to dampen the stamp – no licking allowed apparently. We picked up another couple of trinkets and at the cash register asked her where the nearest mailbox was, and she frowned. She said it would be best if she just took them home and mailed them the next day on her way to work. Sure, I said and thanks. Heaven knows if they’ll ever get them but hey, we tried! I think post cards will be vanished from the earth in the next couple of years.

As luck would have it, right across the street from where we were to be picked up by the bus was a restaurant called “Raya”. I recognized it from being featured by a guy we follow on You tube (Mark Wiens) who travels the world to eat different foods and films about his adventures. This is perfect I told Tod and although it was a bit early for lunch at about 11:15, it was open, so we went in. Very friendly and beautiful ladies met us with the typical Thai greeting of folded hands and a bow of which we responded in kind. One led us to a table and handed us a menu that was the size of a small book. Although all the items looked very tempting, I suggested we just go for the classic dishes we can find at every Thai restaurant in the States to see if we were getting the real deal. Tod just loves the fact that Thai people eat with a spoon and fork, his favored utensils. We ordered: pineapple fried rice; Pad See Ew (thick rice noodles in sauce with pork and Chinese broccoli); Tom Kha Gai (Coconut chicken soup); and Green Mango salad along with 2 Thai iced teas. Scroll down to see the look on Tod’s face and you’ll see how pleased he was with the meal. It was absolutely fabulous! We like spicy food but we’d asked for no spice because sometimes, even if you say mild, it’s so hot the meal is ruined and I wasn’t taking any chances. She brought us the typical Thai condiment (Prik Nam Pla) that is basically fish sauce, lime juice and garlic with sliced chilis floating in it, so we could add as much heat as we wanted. What a great experience! Afterward one of the beautiful ladies brought us a sliced-up mango and said, “compliments of the chef”. Admittedly, neither of us are huge mango fans so we grimaced. The ones we get at home always seem to be under ripe or over ripe so we dejectedly looked at the plate knowing we should eat it as to not offend the chef. After taking a small bite, all I can say is WOW – what have we been missing! Apparently, there are over 2000 varieties of mangos and 19 are commonly found in Asia. This was definitely not what we were used to eating at home and had no problem polishing off the entire plate.

We walked out completely stuffed and were thrilled to see a bus that was returning early to the ship so we climbed aboard and started a snooze that would be continued in our stateroom when we got back on the ship. Another awesome day.

Looking forward to slowing down and having 3 days at sea as we chug to Sri Lanka.

I wonder how a violet potato latte would play at Starbucks?

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Langkawi, Malaysia

March 3, 2025

Since I knew so little about Malaysia, I certainly had never heard about Langkawi, a small up and coming resort island off the west coast of the country. We had had a relatively easy tour the day before in KL so feeling courageous, I booked us on a tour described as “strenuous” and it was titled “Bat Cave and Eagle Feeding Adventure”. It sounded harmless enough. At 9:00 AM off we went into the searing heat and humidity for our ¾ mile walk to the muster point. Fortunately, we had great hats, water, cooling neck cloths (thanks Amazon) and 70+ sport sunscreen so we were somewhat prepared for the death march to the bus.

Completely wilted we clambered onto a big tour bus and its air conditioning, were handed a very welcomed bottle of ice-cold water and headed to our preferred spots at the back of the bus. Soon, everyone was aboard, and we were off. Again, we had a great tour guide who spoke perfect English and we headed to our bat cave on the other side of the island. If I was looking for where the 3rd world type area was in Malaysia, I found it here. Very much like a Caribbean island as I remembered, a few high rises in the far distance that must have been luxury hotels and then we traveled through the real Langkawi. That is, open-air everything from restaurants, mosques, shops, schools and homes. The guide explained that when he arrived on the island some 30 years ago, the population was 20,000 and was now about 90,000. Add another 30,000 in tourist season. He said that the wildlife on the island basically consisted of dozens of beautiful indigenous and other birds including the hornbill. No tigers or orangutans but giant pythons and cobras up to 10 feet long. But not to worry, the giant snakes could detect footsteps over a football field away and would head for the hills. I marveled at the mountains in the distance which must have been the Malay mainland. They were about the height of the San Gabriel mountains by LA that run from 6,000 to 10,000 feet. Tod even thought he saw snow on some of them. On we traveled listening to more interesting info about the area and in about 1 hour we arrived at our embarkation point for our boat trip to the bat cave.

They split us up into a few groups, so about 18 of us boarded an open-air boat protected from the sun with a canvas covering with 9 of us on each side. It had padded seats and albeit a little rough and ready, we felt safe and comfortable. We had a new guide climb in, and we were off. It wasn’t far to the cave area that had a small dock, and we filed out and awaited further instructions. While waiting for our group to gather I noticed a big sign with a picture of a snarling monkey with huge teeth that said, “Warning, beware of monkey – you have been warned – not responsible for injury or death”. At first, I thought it was a joke. So, I went to the tour guide, pointed to the sign and he said, “Oh yeah, that”. Wait, WHAT??? You’re saying I could be murdered by some rampaging primate, and you just call it “that”?? He gathered us all together and said that he needed to explain. Yes, please! Apparently, there is a group of monkeys (crab eating macaques to be exact) that live in the cave, an alpha male and about 20 females. He said you MUST remember not to do 2 things. That is, don’t look the male in the eyes and whatever you do, don’t smile and show your teeth because that’s a threat and he will attack you. Dang that Colgate Optic White toothpaste. I could just see tomorrow’s headline in USA Today, “Elderly California Woman Tragically Killed after Smiling at Malaysian Ape”. He then said to just avoid the male, and you could easily identify him because he had the very big, “well, you know”. I thought, how am I supposed to avoid the monkey with the very big “you know” if I can’t look at him? What if I met his eyes? What really amazed me was that no one in the group seemed even slightly concerned as we all paraded off to the cave and we passed at least 4 more large signs warning us of our possible impending doom.

I considered completely baling and not going in, but Tod seemed game and not wanting to be “that” lady, I kept my mouth shut and reluctantly followed the group. I thought of wearing my sunglasses as an extra precaution but soon realized that wasn’t going to work in a cave, duh. So, in we went with me staring at the path and looking up only once to snap a picture of the bats. After about 50 yards of hanging bats and no sign of monkeys, the guide announced we were coming to a very narrow area where we would have to crouch way down for about 10 steps to complete the cave loop and anyone who didn’t want to do this, could just turn around and go back the way we came in. You bet, BYE, I thought, grabbed Tod and we nearly sprinted back the way we had come. In the sunshine, I remarked that it was odd that possible death at the hands of a monkey was not part of the tour description. Soon, the rest of the group came out the other side, happily all in one piece and reporting no monkey sitings. It was back to the boat for the next part of the tour which we hoped wouldn’t involve risking life and limb.

We were off to the mangrove swamps that are a key part of the ecology of the earth and are literally the lungs of Malaysia providing tons of oxygen every day. It was fascinating to learn all the fine points of the ecosystem. We toured the Kilim Geo- Forest Park that was a beautifully preserved area – if you ignore the huge white Hollywood-esque sign marking the entrance. The guide happily offered to take anyone’s picture in front it but there were no takers. I think we all felt the same sentiment, that it was a blight on this otherwise pristine area that we didn’t care to memorialize. On we proceeded to the eagle feeding which also included kites (the bird, not the toy). All the birds appear when the guy driving the boat revs his engine. They throw chicken innards in the water and the birds swarm and descend to pick up an easy meal. The guide said a ton of the birds died during Covid19 and I thought, gee, I didn’t know birds weren’t susceptible to the virus. Then he said they died of starvation because they had become so dependent on the tourist boats for food, they didn’t know how to hunt. Hmmm, I would have hoped they would have stopped the practice after that being so concerned about the balance of the ecosystem and all, but I’m trying not to judge these countries we visit. Who knows why they do the things they do and I’m not visiting to judge or criticize (except for the whole killer monkey thing).

The boat driver kicked it into high gear and soon we were back to the dock and the bus. We took the same route back to the ship and I thought to myself that if Hawaii was considered the 2025 Cadillac of tropical tourist locales, Langkawi was the 1964 VW Bug. It gets you to the same place of gorgeous beaches and plenty of activities, it just lacks a bit of refinement.

It was our lucky day because they were running a shuttle the kilometer back to the ship. They probably reasoned passengers keeling over from the heat of the afternoon as they walked back wasn’t a good look. We were met with icy lemonade and cold, wet towels by many smiling crew members and climbed onto the gangway after another incredible day.

Tonight, we sail to Phuket, Thailand.

Laurel Dauer 3/8/25 Laurel Dauer 3/8/25

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

March 2, 2025

Before I realized we would be visiting Malaysia, my knowledge of the country was extremely limited. I knew about the missing Malaysia Airlines plane (MH 370), Michelle Yeoh (the actress) and Ronnie Chieng (the comedian) and I had some t-shirts with “made in Malaysia” on the label. Tod was pretty much the same, so before we left home, we watched a few You tube videos about it and armed with our newfound knowledge looked forward to visiting Kuala Lumpur, the capital city.

It's just a whoop and a holler from Singapore, so when we got up Sunday morning and opened the curtains, we were greeted with brilliant sunshine and Port Klang, the harbor for the city of KL (as the locals call it). Tod was amazed that there were container cranes as far as the eye could see. Probably for all those t-shirts. We busily got ready and still fighting jet lag stepped out into the blistering heat and humidity to find our air-conditioned bus that was fortunately parked nearby. It was a full bus, so we headed to the very back seats which were comfy and had great visibility.

Off we went on our way to KL – which was about an hour away. Fun facts about Malaysia include; it’s the fastest growing country in Southeast Asia; It includes about 25% of Borneo which it shares with Indonesia and Brunei; it was colonized by the British so most people speak English; half the population is Muslim, a quarter are Buddhist and the rest are a mix of Hindus, Christians etc); they have a King; they used to have the tallest building in the world, the Petronas Towers, until Dubai beat them with the Burj Khalifa ; they have orangutans, tigers, sun bears and leopards amongst other animals and saltwater crocodiles. We had a great tour guide who spoke perfect English, so it was a pleasurable ride in. The cars were primarily Chinese, particularly the Proton. We’d never seen Chinese cars and they seemed nice enough. Gas was $2.50 a gallon – no wonder the Singaporeans jump the border! It seemed to be a thriving area, no signs of third world type communities, but I imagine they’re outside the big city. They had beautiful freeways, but we must have stopped for tolls at least 5 times in the hour drive in with the tolls being around $0.35. Seemed hardly worth putting up toll booths.

We continued into this massive metropolis with a skyline dominated by dozens of exotically designed high rises. I thought they were beautiful, Tod (the engineer) not so much. Although I thought they were stunning, it looked somewhat like architects run amok, they were all so different. As the guide described them it was always by an American architect or an architect that now lives in America. There was a sharp contrast with all the leftover colonial buildings that remained from the British that we had also seen in Singapore. Come to think of it, we should be seeing a lot more of those type of structures as most of our upcoming port stops have been places colonized by the British.

First stop at the King’s palace. They think a lot of this guy and the guide rattled off about his history and the history of Islam in the country. He said that today was the first day of the holy month of Ramadan and that all Muslims would be fasting – no food or drink from sunrise to sunset for the month. We made a few more photo stops and then off to the Petronas Towers where we would stay an hour. As we walked in, everyone was stopping to take a picture of a formula one (at least I assume so) type car perched above the entrance. I took a photo too thinking it must be important. But we don’t follow car racing, and the last time I saw a Formula One race was when I saw the film Grand Prix starring James Garner in the 60’s. So don’t trust me.

We had an hour to explore the 6 story mall while some of our tour mates opted to go to the top of the towers.. We tend to avoid super high places, so we wished them well and set off to find the food court to get a cold drink. It was very much like any mall and food court you’d see in the states, except for the addition of all the Malaysian food. We stopped at a fresh fruit drink bar, a Malay version of Jamba Juice. After getting our delicious juices, we cracked up to see a sign advertising a “Ramadan special smoothie”. This mall was only open until 6 PM so we looked at each other and just laughed and shrugged. Far be it from us to understand Islam.

Off we went to find a Watson’s (a Hong Kong chain store equivalent to Walgreens or Boots) to pick up a few sundries. We were directed up one floor, so we took the escalator up and marveled at all the American chain stores. We even saw a Columbia store filled with down jackets and the like. Doesn’t seem warm clothing would be a big seller in a place so near the equator but there were lots of people in there. We found Watson’s and Tod stood staring at his phone while I shopped. I just needed a few things and there was certainly a lot of staff in the store. There were about 6 young women in hijabs kind of standing around, so I asked one for what I was looking for and she directed me to it. “They’re buy one get one free”, she said. “Oh, that’s ok, I only need one”, I replied. Crestfallen she said, “but it’s FREE!”. Reminded me of an SNL skit. I just said, “ok, I’ll take it” to avoid a scene and went off to find my other items. Sure enough another girl popped up telling me about the various special offers. I was ready to check out loaded with double the items I didn’t need and I signaled to Tod to meet me at the cashier. We waited in line briefly and then after the very nice lady rang it up, she pointed to an extremely large display behind her with dozens of items and told me since I had purchased so much, I could choose something from the display behind her for 50% off. Again, I politely said, “no thank you”, and again I got the deflated look and she remarked, “are you SURE??”, “OK fine, I guess I’ll take that” and pointed to a box of Colgate Optic White tooth paste which was the closest thing to her. She pulled down three boxes and said, “which variety would you like?”. Ack! Who knew there was 3 varieties of the same toothpaste? “Uh, I’ll take that one” and randomly pointed to the one in the center. She smiled broadly and rang it up and we were off. Admittedly we were surprised at how little all that had cost us. Capitalism is alive and well in KL. As an aside, we’re feeling very much like we are representing the US when we have these interactions. Americans are not exactly viewed positively these days to the rest of the world, so we make an extra effort to be very polite and courteous.

On the bus back to the ship, the guide started his Malaysian sales pitch saying what a great place it was to come for medical tourism. He said you could get face lifts, tummy tucks and all kinds of elective surgeries for cheap. It would only cost $5 to deliver a baby and a C-section was only $150. I leaned over to Tod and whispered I wondered if that included the anesthesia. He also said it was a great place to retire and that a couple could live a rich life on $2000 a month and that included a car. Actually, in my YouTube viewings I had seen one where a British couple had done just that, retired in Malaysia. They remarked that everything was wonderful – the people, the accommodations, the food and the car but after a year they were returning to the UK. The one thing they found they simply couldn’t tolerate was the tropical climate. Can’t say as I blame them!

Soon we were to the Port and the guide’s last words were “Tell all your friends about wonderful Malaysia!”. So, consider yourself told!

Off to the Malaysian resort island of Lankawi tomorrow.

KL is in the blue section to the left. Note tiny Singapore at the bottom.

Laurel Dauer 3/7/25 Laurel Dauer 3/7/25

Boarding the Zuiderdam

March 1, 2025

Jet lag effects people differently but we had a good nights sleep before our boarding day. Up early we had another Singaporean breakfast and Hilton accommodated us with a late check out at 1:00PM. Cab to the Cruise Port which was 2 miles away was a breeze, and after leaving our bags to be delivered to our stateroom, we walked right on the ship. Apparently, there were only 250 new passengers that got on so that’s why things were so quiet. It sure beats boarding with thousands of people and the resulting chaos that ensues.

We were assigned room 8062 which is a balcony cabin right below the pool and buffet deck on the port (left) side of the ship. Luckily, we’re very close to the elevators which is quite convenient, and we have found the staff to be lovely, unstressed and accommodating. This world cruise must be a nice break for them because on 7-14 day sailings they are constantly having to deal with new passengers and their assorted issues every week or two. Plus, apparently a huge percentage of the staff are from Bali, and they all got to go home and see their families as Bali was the last stop before Singapore. They were all jovial and happy.

As far as our fellow passengers go, everyone seems quite pleasant but admittedly we feel like the new kids in junior high having to start mid semester. But as I stated before, we’re not joiners anyway. As far as demographics go, we estimate the average age is about 65 years old, probably 90% Caucasian and primarily from English speaking countries. That is US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

We completed our mandatory safety tasks in short order and unpacked quickly (we’ll have plenty of days to get more organized). At 7:00PM local time we waved good-bye to Singapore and marveled at how the Captain maneuvered his way out of the harbor. It was so crowded with these giant tankers and container ships it felt like we were trying to get out of the Costco parking lot on Christmas Eve. How they coordinate these throngs of giant 80,000 ton plus vessels with no incidents is beyond me.

We were too exhausted to go to the dining room so got room service and fell into our lovely bed as the gentle rocking of the boat swayed us into a deep sleep as we steamed towards Malaysia.

Taken from the air as we flew in. This only captures about half of the ships we could see.

Laurel Dauer 3/6/25 Laurel Dauer 3/6/25

Singapore

Friday - February 28, 2025

Singapore is one of the few “city states” in the world which means it’s a city, state and country all rolled into one. It’s the second largest seaport (in volume) in the world behind Shanghai and has a population of about 6 million. It is a tiny little island located at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula and is just 85 miles north of the Equator. It’s only 284 square miles – about ¼ of the size of Maui. The British took it over in the 1800’s and they left a huge influence on the Island upon their departure. English is the primary language despite the fact that 75% of the population is ethnic Chinese. And they drive (as most countries we’ll be visiting) on the left. They say it has 2 seasons – hot and hotter. Luckily, we hit during hot season. HAHA. Suffice it to say we were pretty uncomfortable in heat and humidity after a chilly (for us anyway) winter in the Bay Area.

Nonetheless, we drug our jet lagged selves out of our comfy airconditioned room to see the sites after the quintessential Singapore breakfast. That is, kaya toast and 2 poached eggs with a dash of soy sauce. Kaya toast is 2 pieces of thinly sliced crispy white toast made into a sandwich of sorts with a huge pat of butter and kaya (coconut jam) liberally slathered on the center. Num! We then chatted with the concierge inquiring about the best route to walk down to the Marina Bay to see the famous hotel that has a swimming pool that spans the top of its 3 towers and the “Merlion” fountain which is the symbol of the city. She was very considerate to route us through airconditioned malls so our walk in the heat was minimized. We took the touristy pictures and then headed back to the hotel to venture out on a self-guided food tour. I had been watching You Tube videos for months about the food culture in Singapore, and though we only had one day there, I was determined to make the most of it with my very willing accomplice.

A video I had seen about a famous bakery making banana coconut pie really piqued my interest. As the story went, about 40 years ago, a guy in a small bakery on the other side of town created a scrumptious pie consisting of a crisp buttery crust, filled with local bananas at the perfect degree of ripeness, local shaved coconut and topped with a huge mound of chopped, toasted almonds. No sugar was ever added as he relied on the natural sweetness of the ingredients. He was assisted in the bakery by his stepdaughter and her friend all those years and did a land office business. He became an icon for this pastry in the City. When he passed away a few years back, the stepdaughter and her friend got into a massive feud over the recipe and the bakery. Apparently the friend insisted on adding some sugar to the original recipe to satisfy younger palates and the other flipped out, and said absolutely not. So the friend subsequently purchased the shop right next door to start her own bakery selling the revised pie. They don’t speak to this day. The video told this story, then showed 4 of the top Singaporean gourmands doing a blind taste test and the results were split two against two. I was so intrigued, I had to find the bakeries so we could judge which we thought was better. All I knew about the location was that it was at the Katong Shopping Center (wherever that was) so we went to the hotel bellman to ask him to hail us a cab to start our adventure.

“Where would you like to go?”, he asked politely.

“We’d like to go to the Katong Shopping Center please”, I replied.

He screwed up his face, looked very puzzled and said, “I’m sorry ma’am, where?”

“The Katong Shopping Center”, I repeated.

Looking even more confused he said he didn’t know of such a place, and I thought to myself, sheesh – your town isn’t that big buddy, you should know! Anyway, I tried another tactic and told him we were looking to find the famous banana coconut pie. His face immediately lit up and with a big, toothy grin he said, “Oh, you mean the KaTONG shopping center!”. Hmmm, I guess I put my emPHAsis on the wrong SyLABble as Tod’s Mom would say.

Instantly a cab appeared, and we were off to the KaTONG shopping center on our quest for the perfect pie. We found the shops easily and indeed they were right next to each other sharing a common wall. We got our slices which were identically priced and put them safely in the backpack for a taste test back at the hotel. Next stop was the Maxwell Hawker Center via “Grab”, the Asian equivalent of Uber.

Back in the old days, many Singaporeans made their living by selling very inexpensive prepared food from carts on the street to laborers as they went home. It’s so hot, and after working very long hours, few people cooked and instead opted to purchase and eat the wide variety of foods sold by these “hawkers”. Typically, a hawker would specialize in only one food item (usually from their country of origin – grandma’s recipe type deal) and after preparing the same dish for countless years, they became very adept at prepping it and developed quite a following (like the famous pie). Around the ‘60s the health department arrived and for obvious food safety reasons put an end to street food. The problem was that people had become so dependent on these hawkers, they were literally without a meal source. Subsequently there was a huge kerfuffle and so the “Hawker Center” was born. Here, in an open-air building with tables, chairs, bathrooms and electricity they congregated all the hawkers for a more safe and sanitary experience. Fast forward to today where there are over 100 hawker centers all over the city serving every kind of Asian food you can think of. I read a recent survey of residents that said 25% of them eat there every day and 50% responded that they eat there at least 3 times a week. Purportedly, the best is the Maxwell Center and we were on our way to feast. These centers are quite famous for drawing the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsey – the famous TV chefs. Also, it’s the only place in the world where you can have a Michelin star meal for less than $10 as many of hawkers have been awarded this famous honor.

Off we went and feeling quite sweaty and dehydrated, our first stop was for drinks. They are in separate stalls from the prepared food and are nearly as expensive as the food. Reason being, making and storing ice in such a climate costs a fortune so that jacks up the price. I had my sites set on fresh made sugarcane juice which I had in Hawaii and found it to be a delicious natural thirst quencher. The very nice lady talked us into trying it with 3 tiny local limes squeezed in and we were in heaven, it was so refreshing! Next stop was the Tian Tian Chicken Rice stall. Locals say it makes the best Hainanese Chicken Rice which is considered the national dish of Singapore. There is always a huge line waiting to buy this popular delicacy as evidenced by a Disneyland-esque line control set up. As luck would have it, we were there at 4 PM and there was no line! Many stalls sell chicken rice, but Tian Tian is the one with the Michelin Star and was visited by Anthony and Gordon, so it was our first choice. It’s a very simple dish of chicken that is poached slowly for hours in a flavorful broth and then that same broth is used is to cook the rice. Pacing ourselves, we purchased one portion to split and although it was quite good, we wondered what the fuss was all about. On to our next chance to try Singapore faves, oyster omelet and “carrot cake”. The omelet was filled with the tiniest oysters we’d ever seen and was delicious! If you were expecting me to describe the carrot cake as a small, sweet square filled with shredded carrots and raisins topped with cream cheese frosting – WRONG. It has no carrots in it and it isn’t a cake so who knows why they call it that, but don’t ask me, I can’t even pronounce katong . Anyway, there are 2 types, the dark and the light and they are both very popular. We had the light, and it was cubed daikon radish mixed with many vegetables and spices folded into scrambled eggs, quite tasty!

At this point we were about to keel over from jet lag, our adventures, the heat and all the food we ate so we caught a Grab back to the hotel but before collapsing into bed, we had to try the famous pies! Well, I think we’d file the pie into the same category as the chicken rice – very tasty but seemingly not worth all the bother.

Tomorrow, March 1, we board the ship for our Grand World Voyage!

Marina Bay Sands Hotel - with a swimming pool spanning the top of the 3 towers. (See movie “Crazy Rich Asians”)

The middle of 3 rows at the Maxwell Hawker Center

Tod digging into chicken rice. Chopsticks are only used with noodles

Oyster omelet (back) and Carrot cake (front)

View of the Merlion fountain from our room

Laurel Dauer 3/2/25 Laurel Dauer 3/2/25

The Flight and Arrival

February 27, 2025

There’s no way around it, a 17 ½ hour non-stop flight is brutal. They say flying from San Francisco to Singapore is currently the second longest non-stop you can take, with NYC to Singapore being the longest at 18 hours. It’s funny that planes leave from each city 2500 miles apart and yet they land within ½ hour of each other. It sounds like a high school geography question on how to calculate global air routes. Regardless, we were very lucky to fly with Singapore Airlines which is considered one of the top carriers in the world and we wouldn’t dispute that!

The plane was on time for both take off and landing, cabin staff was amazing, the food was delicious and there were literally hundreds of TV shows, movies etc. to watch. So considering all the things that could have made us miserable, it really was a tolerable trip.

The Singapore Airport is truly something to behold. They spent $1,000,000,000 fixing it up to a facility tantamount to a theme park. Sadly, we didn’t see any of the attractions like the world’s largest indoor waterfall at 120 feet or the butterfly gardens, as we staggered to customs in a stupor. We pulled out our passports, marched up to a couple of empty kiosks of out of about 100, inserted our passports as required, got our pictures taken and our little door swung open with a green light. It seriously took a max of 30 seconds. It was AWESOME. Things got even better when we got to baggage claim and all our cases were out by the time I came out of my pit stop to the ladies room. We headed out the exit and within 10 minutes a guy showed up with my name in bold letters on his tablet and we were off. From deplaning to getting in the car couldn’t have been more than half an hour.

It was dark and of course we were rummy and exhausted so we settled in for a snooze for the drive to Conrad Hilton Centennial Hotel (let’s hear it for Hilton Honors points!) at the Marina Bay. Our driver was a really nice guy but kind of a yakky doodle. The drive was peppered with constant jabbering like “How was your trip?”, “Where are you coming from?”, “Have you been to Singapore before?”, “Look, there’s the light show at the famous Marina Sands Hotel and gardens! Have you heard about them?”, “What can I tell you about Singapore?”. Tod baled and turned his hearing aids off so I was stuck with trying not to be rude. I figured I could get him to stop asking questions by encouraging him to go into detail about how much it would cost me to buy a car in Singapore of which I had heard was quite costly. He was happy to prattle on about it but of course, had to ask another question, “How much do you want to spend on the car?” Drowsily I said, “60 grand”.

“Oh, you could NEVER buy a car for 60 grand in Singapore!!”

Eye roll, “Ok – 120 grand” I moaned. He was off and running . “Well, first you have to get a COE – a certificate of entitlement which is permit to own a vehicle which is the cost of the car you want to buy. But that is only valid for 10 years. So now you’re up to 250 grand. Then there is 2 grand for your driver’s license, an Additional Registration Fee (ARF), Goods and Services Tax (GST), and Excise Duty. Then there is the insurance and a road tax that is based on the engine capacity of the car. Of course, insurance too is based on the value of the car. After that, gas is $l0 a gallon and parking costs are astronomical. The speed limit in Singapore is only 80 km (50 miles) per hour so if you buy a Ferrari or something and want to drive fast, you have to jump the border to Malaysia where the speed limit is 110 km (68 miles) per hour. Do you still want to buy in a car in Singapore? HAHAHAHA”.

Good grief, talk about crazy rich Asians. It makes California and it’s gas prices look like the bargain basement for cars. Luckily, we were at the hotel at this point and we thanked him profusely for the friendly and informative drive in. Check in was a breeze and in no time, we were on the 27th floor staring across at the Marina Bay Sands hotel ($700/per night) and the gorgeous Singapore waterfront at about 9:00PM local time. We weren’t really hungry, but I told Tod that if we didn’t eat something substantial, our eyes would pop open in 4 hours, we’d be starving and no food would be available. He agreed so we picked up a couple of burgers from the Shake Shack across the street. We fell into bed at about 6:00AM our time and Tod growled, “I can’t believe we’re in freaking Singapore eating Shake Shack burgers”.

“Things will look up tomorrow, I guarantee it! Night night”, I said before I fell into a very deep sleep.

Written March 2, 2025

Laurel Dauer 3/1/25 Laurel Dauer 3/1/25

Backstory

We took our first cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary and we have enjoyed them occassionally ever since. However, I would describe us as not your typical cruisers because we stay away from shipboard activities and pretty much keep to ourselves. We cruise because it takes us places we want to go with the luxury of unpacking only once and most of the traveling is done while we’re sleeping. Plus having your own bathroom and shower and sleeping in the same bed every night is very appealing.

Most cruise lines offer around the world (ATW) cruises every year and although the routes and destinations differ, they typically last about 120 days. We chose to sail on Holland America’s 2025 offering which started in early January from Fort Lauderdale and will return there sometime in May. We decided that was way too long for us so we opted for just a segment, from Singapore to Athens lasting 49 days. The ships name is the Zuiderdam and there are about 1800 passengers on board and probably ¾ of that group is doing the full cruise . The Zuiderdam is far from the new megaships of today that have roller coasters and zip lines because ATW cruises use smaller ships that can easily maneuver in the more remote locales.

At each port stop you can get off and if you like, take a “shore excursion” which is a tour of the local area. These can vary from strenuous (hikes, bike tours etc.) to basically just sitting on a bus with a guide describing the scenery, and everything in between. We’ll be getting off at each port and our adventures will be what I document in this blog.

Lastly, I am a very inexperienced blogger and I will no doubt make some mistakes and/or could do some things better. So apologies in advance but hopefully, despite my amateur status you will enjoy following us along on this trip of a lifetime!