I am still playing catchup with my posts

I booked us something to do today, March 4th, my birthday. We went quadding (ATVing) solo, near Ubud. We first travelled on rough roads through rice fields….just to get used to handling our machines. Then it was tearing up hills, through tunnels and a couple of waterfalls, crashing into the ones infront of us on steep declines (cuz even with using both front and rear brakes it was too steep and slippery). Of course the skies had opened up ….torrential tropical downpour. And then through a water course. It was so much fun. Our driver thought we were pretty crazy to be doing this at our age….lol!!!

Later we had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants on board the ship…..Jacques, a French cuisine. I had besides wine and appies, lobster as my main. They sang happy birthday along with a cake. What a feast! And we all got dressed up. A perfect day.

OMG it is soooo hot. We arrived here around noon and will be overnighting it. 

Our tour today is Royal Temple and Tanah Lot. 

Our guide is Rata. He tells us that Wayan is the name of 1st born boy, Gediyan is 2nd born (or is it the other way around…lol) and are not named for 105 days. They have no family name. 

No buildings are allowed over the height of coconut tree or 15 metres-5 floors. There are 57 districts on Bali with a total population 4,400,000. There are three religions but mostly here in Bali, 85-90% are Hindu. 

First stop was to a batik factory ……in the style of Bali. Part of “world heritage” since 2009. 

The swastika is “protection” for house like a cross is in front of Catholic home. A flower is needed everyday as offering. 

The Royal Temple

Tanah Lot built in 16th century …. Is in the sea. 

I took the day off….no excursions.  I only took pictures of ships in the harbour.  

Not much so decided to post other boats/ship we have seen along the way.

Some you have to wonder how they stay afloat.

Next post should be a little more interesting.

Today we are off to see Borobudur, a UNESCO World heritage site. It is the world’s largest Buddhist temple built around 800AD. This is a very long bus ride there and back (9hours). It is a 3 hour drive just to get there. The high today is going to be 31C…without the humidity factored in.

BTW….our buses were escorted by a police because were “VIP’s” and had only so much time to get there and back. It was kind of crazy all these big buses actually driving into oncoming traffic…making the motorbikes and other vehicles move over. BTW, it’s another country where they drive on the left. Amazing toll highways. 

Samarang is 6th largest city in Indonesia …. Is international port for import/export.  Name means Tamarang tree/ jungle. It is only 1.5-2 metres above sea level. There are 17,400 islands in Indonesia. 60% of the 287 million people in the country live on Java. Dutch colonized this area as well. 

It is the first day of Ramadan so no eating during daylight hours. 86.5% are Muslim. Most people in country are involved in agriculture. Those in city are mostly working for government or tourisms(hotels). There are more than 25 universities in the city. 

129 volcanos on the island and 27 of which are active. Every volcano has a temple, partly because material made to build is volcanic rock….readily available. Merapi volcano “is most active volcano in world” (I thought it was Etna)… average eruption every 4 years but hasn’t erupted since 2010.  Ungaran volcano is closed to trekkers cuz it to dangerous. 

Trees ….. teak, mahogany, jack fruit …. and Dorion . Biggest producers of rice, coffee, tea but biggest exports are oil, palm oil, textiles, 

The 2nd President after independence Suharto, decreed everyone should have semi-permanent housing made of brick and cement. Before they were made of bamboo and of course didn’t stand up to the flooding, typhoons and cyclones. Still some are made of bamboo but only the very poor. “Indo” and “nesia” comes from India and nation hence Indonesia…. where the Hinduism and Buddhism came from. 

Ambarawa … is the former Dutch settlement (very Protestant).  The Dutch were here 300 years…. It was a 5 year war to independence. Steam trains. Rice take 100 days to grow. Alternately vegetables and tobacco. Rubber tree…  is exported. 

Magelang meaning middle and ring. Is in middle or ring of 8 volcanos…. Has a military college. 

At the Temple of Borobudur you have to wear sandles..Only 1200people/ day allowed to enter into the UNESCO site since COVID. There are 150 of us…5 buses.. we will be the only ones allowed during our time there. Now it is “quality” tourism  where before it was “quantity” when 50,000/ weekend were allowed in.  It covers 85 hectares and is 1300 years old.

I went from karma or “Hell” at the bottom(first level) to nirvana, the 4th level at the top and back into hell. Thought I was going to be sick. But if you know me at all, you know that I am very determined. I thought “ I am here so I am going to make it to the top”….and I did.

After leaving the site ……midway around Magelang city is a rain forest and doesn’t it start raining. Makes for good rice fields though. Every city has mosque, Buddhist temple and Hindu temple. Guess what we see in middle of Java……Mc Ds and Starbucks. 

There is free health care insurance  for poor people….. under 5 year old children. Education …primary is free for 9 years and is mandatory. After that … you pay. 

Our guide is Ipzul (Saiful). He needs 5-6 million rupiah to survive…or 300 USD OR 438CAD/ month….for family of 4 and sometimes his parents …. OMG!!!

At one point the bus driver slams on the brakes, pulling over …. Cuz the luggage door had opened while we were driving. The brakes stank for a good 10-15 min. The way these guys are driving in order to get us to the port in time was amazing. We not only had a police car at the lead but now one at the rear as well… amazing. 

Huge highway construction 

Yesterday I did not go ashore in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo as I was very sick.  

Today I plan on going on a Mangrove cruise and a visit to a water village in Brunei.  Brunei is between Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo, the 3rd largest island in world.  The population is 450,000.  There are no high rises so our guide said but that’s not true. It is quite  well off. Most are in Brunei Muara area. It is a Muslim country so have to have shoulders and legs covered. 

The mosque that was built in 50’s, has 28 domes and made of 24 karat gold. In 1984 Brunei got independence from Britain.

We came across a group (not sure if that is the correct word ) of proboscis monkeys…. All females with babies. Generally they travel in packs of 20. Different than other monkeys in that they can swim across a river. When doing that they will sacrifice one of the pack to saltwater crocs if crossing. The bigger the nose of the males, the more handsome it’s considered. They weigh up to 30 kgs. Female nose is pointy. Probably there are only 7000 proboscis monkeys here… the only place in the world they are found. …. Consequently they are endangered. They are shy and will run away unlike the macaque monkeys. 

Water village… part of heritage is kept but they have all the amenities except a place to park car. It’s actually not aboriginal… not native. Disappointing. They are all in terrible shape atleast in the outside. Inside the one we went in (were served tea and sweets), it was typically Muslim in decor and in better shape than outside.  Less than 10,000 people live in the water village. It’s disgusting. Effluent is dumped directly into river. Catfish …. Full of nutrition …. Lol! 

In 1994 the last mosque was built. It has 29 domes… means the 29th ruler had it  built.  It is compulsory to pray 5 times for men and there is no opening of stores til 2pm or tours on Friday. The non-Muslim go to Kololuka(border with Malaysia) to drink cuz it is illegal to drink here. 4 wives allowed for Muslim’s but the husband has to have approval from the preceding wives and they all have to have the same value of home….treated equally.

There are only Shell petroleum stations here. .53 /ltr….in Brunei dollars(.59 CAD) But .98/… diesel

No interest is charged when buying a house, to people that work for the govt……otherwise 4-5% interest. It costs only 1$ to see a doctor.

This is the day that we crossed the equator and for those that haven’t already done that you get to kiss the fish, get covered in slime and then thrown into the pool. Great fun!

35,000 pop in this city, Puerto Princesa, is the only city on this, Palawan Island but the total of the island is about 1 million. Main export is cashew nuts. Tricycles are coloured blue or white depending on day so that is shared between drivers. Main course of income is tourism. Last ships is March and then not til November. 

Mango cannot leave this area cuz they have disease. Gas is 1.68 CAD/ litre…. Wow… how can they afford that? Some boat people from Viet Nam came after war but left to other parts of the world. A half hour into the drive we get a flat tire. 

Some of the homes have walls made of woven bamboo mats and bamboo floor-bahay kubo.., native house used as resting place or lunch area. Usually the very wet season is June July, August, and September and the other is the dry dry season but because of El Nina, they are experience rain regularly now. I would imagine wouldn’t hold up very well in a typhoon. They have been experiencing typhoons in December and January because of climate change….not “normal”. Along the way, we see some rice fields, but they are for personal use only. 

Pinoy is Philippine boy… pinine is girl.  Oops…..spelled it incorrectly before. We passed through a native village of topless women but they are not here right now. We are now in the protected area ….48,000 hectares….  Solar power is only source of electricity.

Destination is Saint Paul Underground River. It’s an hour and half drive to get to where we get a boat to get to the river. While waiting for our boat, the only food offered here is seafood. Lots of vendors trying to sell pearls that we all feel were fake. The part of the river that we going to explore, is 1.5 kms in length out of possible 8+ kilometres. The ride to the river is on a very noisy motorized boat. 

Once at the river, there is to be no smoking (not that we do that anyway) and there is no swimming in area. There are monkeys so no eating or having packages that they will grab from you. We all have to wear hard hats to protect us from the poop from the bats…. Oh and don’t open mouth when looking up…. Lol!

We went to the beach on Boracay. Wow…. !!!!! Pure white soft sand, beautiful turquoise waters. First and lastly we arrive to and from the island by tender. It was quite the thrill getting on and off. As a matter of fact, the ship cancelled all tender departures for a few hours in between cuz it was too just dangerous. 

I had expected to be able to snorkel but there was only very shallow sand ….. no coral and no fish. 

I am now back home so am able to post the pictures I could not during the cruise.

The Philippines is comprised of 7000 islands. It is very Catholic ….religious. 82.9%. Ethnicity… from China, Vietnam, Brunei & Thailand. Manila (15 million)is on Luzon. It is the size of Montana but with 120 million people. The per person income is only 2-4$ USD/day or 1400 USD PER year….pretty darned poor. Focused on education.. … everyone has access to education. English is spoken /taught from an early age. Most are trilingual. 92.2 % speak English.

Spanish influence (gold was what brought them here. There was more gold here than in South and Central America).

Three island groups….Luzon (Manila), the Visayas (Boracay), and Mindanao islands groups ….. Palawan Island(Puerto Princesa). There are 200 + active volcanoes with lots of other natural disasters

Did you know the Philippines flag can be hung with red on top and blue on bottom in times of peace and blue on top and red on bottom in times of war… hmmmm!

Day 27- Feb 22/25-Manila, Philippines 

Emma is our tour guide

“Intramuros”…is the name of the old city. Intramuros  “Intra” means inside and “Muros” means walls….meaning inside the walls…. Is the old part…. Spanish occupation since 1561.

St Augustine church is the oldest church in Philippines 

Manila is made up of 16 cities and 1 village. It has the biggest and oldest Chinatown in world. The population is made up of Chinese, Malay, American, Indian and original natives called Nagritos. Pinoys (are Filipino boys, Filipinas are Filipino girls) and chinos (mixed race of Chinese/Filipino).

Fort Santiago was the first line of defence. British occupied the Philippines first, then Spanish (for 330 years), then Americans, then Japanese, then Americans again. The 2 seasons are dry/dry and then very wet. May is the season of typhoons…. They hit here 1st. Most buildings are made of volcanic rocks. The fort stood for 245 years then was was destroyed in 10 years of war. 

When the Americans came they eliminated all standing waters and made a golf course (Intramural golf course is reclaimed from the moats surrounding the fort) except for this one moat because they wanted to destroy malaria by getting rid of all standing stagnant water. 

Outside the dungeons were found bodies…. They died from suffocation from lack of ventilation, food poisoning during the Japanese occupation. 

Imelda Marcos  1975- was all about rebuilding 

Plaza Roma…..1611….. oldest university

St Augustine church next …. 600 bomb deaths outside but those inside were protected by the Americans in 1945…. Now, when it was rebuilt it became a museum. Former convent is now the museum

It is built in Baroque style. The only survivors of the bombing of Manila were those inside the church. Bell tower was destroyed by earthquake, not the war. 

Largest park…Rizal aka Luneta park is 60 hectares in size. 

3 national museums ….. in archaeology, natural history and culture 

Unfortunately wifi has been very difficult so although I still am going on tours and taking pictures, I will delay posting anything until I get home.