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Singapore                                                       Sunday, March 12, 2016

Joe has been to Singapore a few times while working, and always had favorable impressions of the city (it’s a city/State actually), so he was eager to return after 10 years away. Well, safe to say, Singapore has prospered and become even more enjoyable since his last visit.

First a bit of history that hopefully sets the stage: In the 1700s the British East India Trading Company was one of many trading in the Strait of Malacca and nearby places. Britain purchased Singapore (the island at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, about 250 square miles) so that trade through Asia could be chartered through the BEITC.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was the administrator for the BEITC, and he organized Singapore by setting out a plan of roads, trade routes and neighborhoods where locals of different origins could reside (a Chinese area, an Indian area, a Malay area).   The Raffles Hotel which still bears his name (as well as many roads in the city) are a testament to his planning acumen and vision).

Raffles’ stroke of brilliance was in designating Singapore as a free port – no taxes were paid on trades here, and rival ports which imposed taxes suffered as Singapore grew. By the end of WWII, Singapore was a British colony, and this heritage is still evident, even in the perfect Queen’s English spoken by residents.

So, Singapore prospered, but it became a messy place. Enter “Harry Lee’” in the 1950s. Lee Kuan Yew was brilliant local guy who had a vision for Singapore – Lacking in natural resources, Singapore would have to figure out a way for its people to make its destiny by providing value to others.   Harry urged Singapore to gain independence from Britain (which it did), and become an industrial powerhouse. He said, essentially, that Singapore needed to become a first world nation, not a third world nation.

Under Harry’s leadership as Prime Minister, Singapore reclaimed land and build up swampy areas so that businesses and residential areas could be formed. His government (Singapore became independent in 1956) offered incentives to businesses to build plants and employ people. Petrochemical and bioscience companies came to Singapore, and the government offered scholarships to students from other lands to study in Singapore (a period of service after graduation was required, and many students stayed even longer). The population enjoys a 97% rate of literacy, and English and Malay are the national languages. Military training is compulsory for males from age 18 on (reservist style training until age 40).

Many regulations were imposed in prior years to govern conduct, and taxes for violation were imposed (no tossing of cigarette butts into the street, taxes for failing to send children to school, no littering, etc.), and these continue to this day. Singapore is a place today where you get in a line for a taxi at a taxi stand, with no one running ahead of you as you might find in NYC or elsewhere. When a pedestrian crosses the street, the turning cars just wait until there is no one in the intersection. It’s very civil and calm.

There are 2 casinos in Singapore, but the government discourages gambling by locals (a local must pay $100 to go to a casino, but it’s free for those from outside Singapore).

So today we have an island that is largely Chinese (75%), then Malay, Indian and other folks making up the balance. While religion still defines many of them when they discuss themselves, we decided on this trip to Singapore not to focus on the houses of worship, to give you a break from the endless temples, shrines, etc.

Part of the calm that a visitor enjoys in Singapore is due to the small number of cars. On an island of 5.5 million, only 10% of the population owns cars, due to regulations that limit the number of cars. If you wish to have a car and drive, you first must obtain a certificate through a government auction that permits you to drive – this is a ten year permit that costs (base car price) about $45,000 (Singapore dollars, about $35,000 US). Now you buy a car for about S$45,000 (basic Toyota model), pay some registration and insurance fees, and then you can drive for 10 years.   Thankfully, a great mass transit system allows the bulk of Singaporeans to commute to work, school and elsewhere without the need for a car.   The road system, by the way, is very organized and impressive.

Singapore is often quoted as the world’s most expensive city, but we understand from locals that this is due to the auto expense. Our experience on this visit is that the travel/taxi, food, incidental cost is not even close to the expense in NYC.

We’ll post some pix to show the varied architecture of Singapore – it is very diverse, as well as pix from the Gardens by the Bay, the aquarium at Centosa Island (which is a giant resort complex), and the Toronda Bird Park.

The Gardens by the Bay complex is incredible – very environmentally sophisticated and designed to promote consciousness of this aspect of life, but also lots of fun and very colorful.

Tomorrow we are on the road, so to speak. We’re headed to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China in the next several days.

Hope this finds you well.

Best,

MA

Temple of Borobudur, Java, Indonesia                   Friday,            March 4, 2016
Yesterday we visited the Temple of Borobudur in Java, Indonesia. On the long (2+ hour) trip to the temple, we learned a ton of geographic and historic facts about Indonesia and the islands and neighboring countries, but I can’t remember much of it. Suffice to say that it is much more complex and diverse than I knew! On the ride we also passed mosque after mosque; each village and town has one, and you can see all shapes, sizes and colors of domes as you drive along.

We arrived at Borobudur, which is the world’s largest Buddhist shrine and place for pilgrims, and the most visited place on the island. Of course there were tour groups from all over, but it was surprisingly peaceful and quiet despite the number of visitors and vendors (selling kites, puppets, wood carvings, items made from batik and colorful fabric, souvenirs, etc.). We donned sarongs as is customary to cover the body and show respect, and walked around the perimeter of the monument with our guide, learning its history and significance.

Borobudur was built in the early 800s (yes, that’s the 9^th century, not the 19^th), over the course of 80 years. Stone cutters brought large pieces of gray andesite stone through the forest, and constructed the temple by laying the stones together – no mortar or similar material adheres the stones to one another. The monument is about 400 square feet, and over 100 feet in height. Narrative reliefs (1460 of them) describing the life of Buddha and the way to enlightenment are carved into the stone panels, and stupa (dome-shaped structures) house various statues of Buddha. A pilgrim or visitor can enter the lowest level of Borobudur, and walk a circular path through the monument to the top, progressing through the Buddhist stages – the worlds of desire, form and formlessness (nirvana).

There are many explanations of the symbolism of Borobudur, and we learned that the stupa reflect 3 of Buddha’s attributes: the substantial base stands for wisdom; the dome reflects an inverted alms/begging bowl, standing for charity; and the stick that protrudes from the top of the stupa represents Buddha’s walking stick, which stands for leadership. So, a person who strives to follow Buddha will show wisdom, charity and leadership.

Borobudur fell into disuse due to several factors (including volcanic eruptions nearby, the rise of Islam), but was restored in the early 1800s due to the efforts of Sir Thomas Raffles (of Raffles Hotel, Singapore fame). The temple is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

We were fortunate enough to be able to ascend to the top of the temple and look out over meticulous grounds and gardens, very simple and peaceful despite the number of tourists. At mid-day we heard the Islam call for prayer to Allah, as we looked at the Buddhist temple.

After an hour or so in the hot sun climbing the steps (and nervously descending where there were no handrails and the steps were steep and uneven), we went to a beautiful pavilion on the grounds of the temple, and enjoyed a traditional dance performance (and some local beer).

There were many from our cruise who took this long trek to Borobudur, and when we returned to the ship in late afternoon to depart for Malaysia, everyone was remarking on how beautifully spiritual the day was.

Hope that you enjoy the pictures we post – as with so many things, they don’t do justice to the reality.

Best,

MA

Java, Indonesia                                                          Wed. March 2, 2016

Tomorrow we land on the island of Java, the most populous island on earth (140 million people), and the place that was heart of the English and Dutch trading posts in earlier times. In fact, the Dutch East India Company (or so we have been told) was the first “megacompany” in the world – 4800 ships, huge profits, shareholders, employees and slaves, and its own colonies and quasi-governmental processes.

Java was ruled by the Dutch for about 350 years, endured Japanese occupation in WWII, and eventually obtained its independence (as part of Indonesia) in 1949. In its history, Indonesia has served as a melting pot of sorts for many ethnicities and religions from China, India, Arabia, Europe and other places. Today Indonesia is largely Muslim (except for Bali, which is largely Hindu). Temples, mosques, pagodas and churches abound, and Java is home to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument in the world. We understand that the country is largely harmonious, with certain exceptions such as areas where Sharia law prevails and tolerance is limited.

After obtaining its independence (the fight led by Sukarno), Indonesia was courted by Western powers to prevent its alliance with communist powers, so that its valuable natural resources (copper, nickel, bauxite, forests, etc.) could be available to major western companies, and its critical location would be a platform for western influence in southeast Asia.

Suharto became President of Indonesia in 1968, and the country enjoyed three decades of substantial economic growth (Suharto was forced to resign due to widespread corruption, but he enjoyed a “severance payment” of US$15 million).

We’ll post pictures as we can – the connection via satellite to the internet is not so reliable as we hoped.

Hope you are all well.

Best,

MA

Indonesia                                             Saturday Feb 27, 2016 6pm local time

Well, we’ve officially entered Indonesia, and we’re sad to leave Oz behind (especially since my favorite advertisement is from Oz, for flip-flops called “Slappas”).   We’ve had a few days of on-board lectures about Indonesia, and especially Bali, where we land tomorrow.  Hard to believe but our trip is now 1/3 complete!

We’ve learned that Indonesia consists of 17,000 islands, of which 6,000 are inhabited (recall that the volcanoes in the Pacific Rim form the Ring of Fire, and account for many of these small islands here). While Indonesia is largely Muslim, Bali was a refuge for Hindu believers, and is inhabited by many Hindi (in addition to Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and others). Indonesia is sometimes referred to as the land of 20,000 temples and shrines, and we’ll be seeing some of them.

The Spice Islands of Indonesia brought English, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese traders to this region years ago, in search of the very profitable nutmeg, cloves, mace, etc. that was so valued in Europe as a means of flavoring and preserving food. The Dutch ruled for a long while before independence was obtained, and spices are now just one of the many exports from Indonesia (coffee, rice, cattle, vegetables are among the others), which has fertile mountains and lots of rain.

We arrive in Bali tomorrow, and start 3 days of fairly intense sightseeing, so Joe will be snapping lots of photos. We plan to see UNESCO world heritage rice terraces, temples, the courts of justice, orchid gardens, etc. We are expecting a barrage of colors, smells, sounds, etc.  While we probably will not miss the NJ cold, I know the heat and humidity will remind us of what we like about the winters on the east coast of the USA.

Hope that all is well with you.

Best,

MA

Food, Glorious Food!                                                                                               February 27, 2016

I was able to take a short tour of the main kitchen for the ship (tours of various places are offered to guests when time permits), and thought you might enjoy some of what I learned. The ship holds 1,000 passengers, and crew of 655. The staff of the galley for the main kitchen is 100 people, and they work hard. There is a large main dining room, and food is served at several other locations on the ship (including high tea each day).

A shopping list for each leg of the cruise is prepared on board, and emailed to the Crystal purchasing department in Los Angeles; the purchasing dept makes arrangements around the world for purchase, delivery to the pier, and quality/freshness checks. Food that is accepted is stored in various places (special meat lockers, produce coolers, etc.) until is needed for meals.   Fish is always fresh, so it’s brought on board in most ports.

The breakfast team (10 chefs, cooks and assistant cooks) starts in the main dining room at 5 a.m., and the race is on to prepare and serve breakfast throughout the ship (staterooms, the main dining area, the buffet areas).

At 7:30 a.m. lunch and dinner preparations begin, and the work continues until everyone’s final meals are served (generally 11 p.m.), and the dishes, glasses, silverware, pots and pans are cleaned and put away. The night cleaners finish their work in the galley just before the 5 a.m. breakfast team starts all over.

There are 7 pastry chefs and 4 bakers on board, as well as 15 people who prepare cold dishes, and 6 people who deal with fresh vegetables, pasta and soup dishes. There’s a butcher shop, dedicated coffee pantry staff, sauciers and fish prep team. Ten dishwashers are joined by a team of 4 people who scrub and polish the pots, pans, skillets, etc.

Here’s some data for those of you who like numbers; the daily average service of various food items follows:

• Ice cream *                  170 quarts
• Salads                          200 lbs
• Fruit                              2,000 lbs
• Cooked veg’s           2,000 lbs
• Pasta                            150 lbs
• Beef                              500 lbs
• Poultry                       850 lbs
• Fish, seafood           750 lbs
• Coffee                         100 gallons
• Eggs                               2,300
• Milk                               90 gallons

*Ice cream is top priority for those who live near Hoffman’s!

So I guess Joe and I will not be complaining when we get back to NJ and have to prepare our own little meals for 2!  Hopefully our guests will benefit from what we have learned about good food while on this trip!

Best,

MA

Just in case you wonder why there are no posts from Thursday Island, it’s because we couldn’t stop there on our way to Darwin.   The sea was a bit rough, so the tender boats could not safely ferry people to the island.

And plans for Bali and Shanghai have changed; we will have less time in each place.  In the case of Bali, some weather/tidal issues will have us land late.  In Shanghai, new security restrictions after the explosion in Tianjian mean that we have to stop at a foreign port in between stops in Shanghai and Tianjian, so we’ll lose a day in Shanghai.

So I guess travel plans on a ship are just as variable as anywhere else…