Plastic Surgery and Other Seaworthy Subjects

DIFFERENT PLACES IN THE INDIAN OCEAN--April 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27

Got your attention, didn't we? Yes, we will blog about a passenger on the ship who has had eight plastic surgery procedures. But, first, we want to introduce the new passengers from Cruise Critic who boarded in Singapore. At our luncheon on April 23 that was hosted by our fearless leader MaryAnn, also known as Wowzo or Ken's new older sister, we welcomed Charlotte and Harold, Diane and Rob, and Gerry and Claire from Vancouver, Canada; Ben and Marilyn from Los Angeles; Elaine and Myron from Boynton Beach; Brenda and Frank from Oregon; and Kay and Jim from Albuquerque. Their photographs are at the top of this entry.

Now to the topic of plastic surgery. The passengers and crew on a small ship that is sailing around the world for 107 days become like a small-town community. We love the professional entertainment and speakers on the ship but we also like the showcasing of passengers as talent and speakers. They usually receive a pretty good turnout but nothing generated as much buzz and excitement as this announcement in the Princess Patter on April 22:

PLASTIC SURGERY POST OPERATIVE
Happily married for 39 years, fellow passenger Sue, between 2000-2008, underwent eight procedures to improver her appearance at a cost of $45,000. This includes a tummy tuck, liposuction, eye and neck lift, breast lift and breast implants for a total of 16 hours in the operating room. Now join Frankie and Sue in the Cabaret Lounge at 3:15 p.m. for "the rest of the story."

Who was this mysterious Sue? The Cabaret Lounge was packed to learn the answer to the question of the day. Frankie, the deputy cruise director, introduced the session by saying, "What if I told you Sue did not exist?" When he looked into the cold eyes of the crowd that implied, "How many passengers would it take to throw the Deputy Cruise Director overboard? (and we have more than enough), he asked everyone named Sue to raise her hand. After all the other Sues said they were not the Sue in question, he asked a very attractive red-head if she was Sue. Sue really did exist and was not hesitant in telling her story. After giving birth to three sons and becoming depressed about her "jelly belly," Sue had a tummy tuck, followed by liposuction, in 2000. Pleased with her flat tummy, she lost 30 pounds. Then she became "addicted" (her word) to plastic surgery and told the audience that anyone who was thinking about it should "Go for it." She stated that she had very little pain and no post-operative problems. A recovery room nurse on board commented that while she was happy for Sue, these procedures could result in major complications.

After several other procedures, of which it seems that no one can have too many liposuction procedures, she had the major overhaul in 2008. She did feel bad when she was having dinner with her 32-year-old son and the waiter told him his partner was "hot." She said her son's wife is gorgeous. Now, how bad would some of you feel if a person thought you were an attractive date for a man almost 30 years your junior? The wife of one of her sons who gave birth to triplets is thinking of having a tummy tuck. Ken said he recognized Sue from the gym but because Sara has been to the gym only once since boarding the ship, she had never seen her. We both agreed that she looks really good.

As for entertainment showas we all enjoyed the Liars All Game Show, hosted by Frankie and starring JJ King, our cruise director, and three of the entertainers. It was one of the funniest shows ever. Each of the panel members had his or her own gimmick that was incorporated into any of the answers. The word that most of the audience remembered was meacock. The cruise director reminded us that he had been on cruise ships for 25 years and that meacock was a nautical term for the mess that the crew made after eating and drinking too much. Tom, the magician, told us that he knew the meaning because his father owned a hardware store and a meacock was the plate that the door knocker hit. The lovely Scottish singer Kaitlyn, who had already mentioned a different boyfriend in each of her answers, replied that her college boyfriend ended up marrying another girlfriend who was rather controlling and henpecked him so that he became a meacock. Rikki, the comedian whom we learned was engaged to the beautiful Kaitlyn, wove pyramids and pygmies in Egypt into all of his retorts. Meacock was a game that the pygmies played with a shuttlecock when they were not working on the pyramids. The eight teams of passengers divided their votes between Tom and Rikki. But sweet, innocent Kaitlyn was correct with the hen-pecked husband answer!

Other homegrown entertainment that we have enjoyed included Dancing with the Stripes, in which each of the six dancers on board selected a crew member as a partner (made even more fun when we learned that all of the heterosexual partners were dating); The Pacific Princess Choir composed of passengers who practice every sea day at noon; and the talent show featuring our fellow passengers. We still have to look forward to the Crew Talent Show with our beautician, Allysa, exercising her beautiful voice in song. Many of the talent were discovered at karaoke nights in the crew bar. What we would really like to do before the end of the cruise is for the ship to offer a tour of the crew's staterooms and entertainment facilities on Decks 2 and 3.

We are sure that you now have a better understanding of why it is going to be so difficult for us when the cruise ends on May 15. Do you think that our precious pampered princess kitty Foxy, our postman, our paper carrier, Sara' students and classmates in her water aerobics classes, and our friends and neighbors will know that we expect them to sing, dance, play instruments, choreograph production numbers and entertain us in every way possible? Someone better let them know!

Simon's Mom--This one's for you!

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Kenwood Geigel" <kenwood.geigel@gmail.com>
To: "kenwood geigel paradiseken" <kenwood.geigel.paradiseken@blogger.com>
Cc: "sarameansc" <sarameansc@aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 11:04:27 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Simon's Mom--This one's for you!

We received a lovely note from a woman named Kate in South Africa who complimented our "eloquent" blog. More importantly, she mentioned that her son Simon was a junior waiter on the Pacific Princess who joined the ship in Hong Kong, and she had been following our blog to learn more about where her son has been. We met Simon on Sunday morning at the Lazy Sunday brunch and have seen him working hard on both Monday and Tuesday. Franz, the head waiter who introduced us, said that he is keeping Simon busy and out of trouble. Simon is doing a great job to please his passengers! He sends his love to his family and friends.

Mom, the pictures of Simon are for you!

Mumbai Magic

MUMBAI, INDIA--Saturday, April 24, 2010

It's time for Mumbai Magic. If you are like us and think this city is still named Bombay, here's the lowdown. The original name of the city was Mumbai, for Mumbadevi, the patron Goddess of the Kolis, a fishing community and the city's oldest inhabitants. The Portugese renamed it Bombay, which means beautiful bay. On August 15, 1947, India gained independence from British rule and on January 26, 1950, India became a republic. In 1996, the government changed the name back to the original name Mumbai to be more Indian. The government also changed the name of the Prince of Wales Museum to some extremely long name that can not be pronounced by tourists but forgot to take down the statue of the Prince. So what's in a name?

Credit for this fabulous tour should be given to MaryAnn and John who read the entry in the blog of 2009 World Cruise passenger Michelle (Greetings, Michelle!) that this was the best tour ever. Enough passengers signed up for two touring vans, and MaryAnn quickly became our Patron Saint of Mumbai. Traveling on our van, in addition to MaryAnn, John and we, were Mary and Ed, Adele and Ed, and Heather and Jens from Toronto, Canada. Special thanks should be given to our tour guide Vinita and the tour guide for the second van Jennette, who were fantastic. If you ever travel to Mumbai, our recommendation is to contact Mumbai Magic Tours at deepa@mumbaimagic.com. The tour is run by a women management team and Deepa is Deepa Krishnan.

India is a country that a tourist cannot just visit; the person needs to be surrounded by it and, sometimes, assaulted by it. Members of the ships crew who are from India and participated in a panel discussion the day before we arrived, asked us to enter Mumbai with an open mind. Yes, there is unbelievable poverty with the city boasting the world's largest slum. Much of the city is dirty, deary and run down. We always try to compare a new city to another city where we have been, and our first choice for Mumbai was the seedier parts of New York City but that was too easy. The poorer parts of Mumbai could easily have been in any city in which we have worked or lived. The contrast between the very rich and the very poor is overwhelming. The caste system is alive and well with four castes (the Priests, the Traders, the Warriors and the Laborers) with those who did not follow the rules of their caste being thrown out as the Untouchables, who were treated very badly. Always remember that outsiders do not have to like or embrace these traditions, they need only understand them. (The McDonalds in India does not serve beef.)

Before our tour, Mary asked Ken to take a picture of the jewel that her granddaughter Erin had given her to take around the world (much like the way we are taking our mascot Punxsutawney Phil). This picture is for you, Erin! Once we boarded our van, we drove through the port area, which is the largest port in India that handles 40 percent of India's trade where we saw day workers dressed in perfectly pressed long pants and long-sleeved shirts, looking extremely neat. In the city, there are no rickshaws and cows need to be tied and with an attendant who carries grass. Residents give the attendant money for the grass as part of their duty and then feed the cow, which may not even be the attendant's cow but a rental. Vinita told us that most of the buildings are Hindu/Muslim architecture with slightly Gothic influence.

We got off the van at the Gateway to India. In 1911, a plaster of Paris arch was built for the visit of King George and Queen Mary, which was filmed by Charles Urban in a move called "With our King and Queen through India." Later this temporary structure was replaced by a more permanent one known as the Gateway to India. We boarded the ferry to Elephanta Island about 10 kilometers and a one-hour ride away. Vendors set up shop on the boat to sell us their necklaces with genuine stones. (Does this remind you of Egypt, Judy?) We saw boats on which people lived and viewed men showering. We also saw many yachts that our guide told us may belong to the young people of India who pool their money to purchase yachts so they can go out on the bay and sea on the weekends. We were warned to watch the monkeys on the island and not eat anything in front of them because they will grab it.

Elephanta Island, which dates back to the sixth century, was named by the Portugese who, when reaching the island, saw a stone elephant and shouted, "Elephanta!" They thought that nothing else in the world could come to life breathing the spirit like this elephant. The walk up to the one cave out of six that is finished and open to the public is by 100 meandering steps with stores lining both sides. During the renaissance period in the next century, the Indians built a temple in that cave dedicated to Shiva, the three-in-one Hindu god with many arms and hands for multitasking who controls creation, maintenance and destruction of the world and his beloved Parvati in their Himalayan abode of Kailash. This was definitely a preview for the temples in Egypt. Larger than life-sized carvings depict the creation of the world, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, his destruction of evil who were trying to steal his wife, and our favorite, Parvati angry because she lost two card games and Shiva attempting to appease her by telling her that she could win the third. The opening to the temple in the cave faces East so that the foot of one statue catches the first ray of sun. After we toured the cave, we were drenched in perspiration. April is summer in India with hot and humid weather.

On the way down, we bartered with the vendors for necklaces, purses, saris, tunics, paintings on silk and other Indian treasures. If one does not want to walk, chair-palanquins carried by four men are available for a fee. We heard people running behind us and yelling for us to get out of the way. We looked to see Adele fly by, dismissing us with her hand and ordering the men to sweep us to the side (or at least that's what her facial expression conveyed!). She said it was one of the most frightening experiences of her life because the men ran so fast. At the bottom of the steps, we had the opportunity to photograph a cow that had come with its owner and was wandering freely through the stalls.

Once we had taken the ferry back to the dock, we walked through the Taj Mahal Hotel that the terrorists had captured and held staff and visitors hostage in 2008. It was built by a member of the well-to-do Tartar family, who noticed a sign at another hotel that stated "No Admittance to Dogs or Natives" so he had the building designed as a hotel. Legend has it that when the architect visited the hotel after it was completed, he found that the building had been constructed front to back but it is still one of the most beautiful hotels in the world. We ate lunch at a typical Indian restaurant. Melanie and Gideon, we wish that you could experience that culinary delight. None of the Indian restaurants in the United States where we have dined come close in flavor and spice. Ken ate everything (including a chili pepper that our guide wished he had not tried) and paid for it that night!

The afternoon tour included many of the must-sees in Mumbai. Every attraction has a story behind it so these are the stories behind the stories:

SMALL AND LARGE TRAIN STATIONS: Everyday 1 and 1/2 million people come through the small train station, which is called the small train station because 4 and 1/2 million people pass through the large train station daily as do 11,000 trains. It looks chaotic but our guide assured us that it is organized chaos. The lion and tiger that guard the large train station represent England and India.

CHOWPATTY BEACH: Empty during the day, the Chowpatty Beach transforms into a magical fair ground in the evening. Indian people like the sun but from the shade so they come to the beaches in the evenings.

JAIN TEMPLE: This beautiful marble shrine is used by the Jains, who want to separate themselves from earthly possessions and believe that every living thing has a soul. They are not farmers because tilling the soil could kill an ant or an insect. Before they sit, they brush away any insects so they do not accidentally kill them. One sect, that is not allowed in the city, walk around naked so that they have no earthly possession. The temple is a beautiful marble shrine.

BOLLYWOOD: Mumbai is the Hollywood of India. Our guide told us that actors and actresses are treated as if they were gods and goddesses and now they think they are. India used to produce only happy movies with good winning over evil, and the audiences clapping and singing at the end of the film. Now, the country produces more meaningful movies that are a bit depressing.

KAMALA NEHRU PARK AND HANGING GARDENS: When these gardens were laid our in 1881 over a series of descending reservoirs, the flora and fauna looked like they were hanging above the water. Now that the park had been filled in, this illusion no long exists but the topiaries and other plants in the gardens are graceful and lovely. The gardens also offer panoramic views of the city and bay. Sara's only regret is that she did not buy any peacock fans from the vendors that hounded us on out walk through the park and gardens. The peacock is the national bird of India.

TOWERS OF SILENCE: The Indians have an old tradition and an ancient practice of disposing of their dead by leaving on this hill to be eaten by vultures, which is the last ultimate sacrifice of feeding the birds. However, there are fewer vultures now and a lack of rain, so the government has installed solar panels to speed up the decomposition.

CRAWFORD MARKET: If we thought that the Night Market in Hong Kong was huge, we were overwhelmed by this market that comes to life in the late afternoons. There are stalls are on each side of the street with more stalls on the side streets. At the Thieves Bazaar, rumor has it that most of the goods are stolen and residents can buy back their items that were stolen, such as bicycles, at bargain prices.

PUBLIC LAUNDRY: This laundry was built by the British. Workers come to the homes, collect the clothes, wash them on stones, dry them in the sun, and return the sparkling, clean-smelling laundry within a week with no stains even though the water looks greenish black. Men with push carts return them to the owners. However, this is a dying profession because more people have washers or hire help cheaply who wash their clothes.

DUBBA or TIFFIN TIN LUNCHBOX DELIVERY SERVICE: (We will check the spelling when we get home.) According to our guide, Indian men are lazy because they were spoiled by their mothers. (Okay, all our women friends do not need to say that all men are spoiled by their mothers.) To satisfy the Indian male's need for a home-cooked meal at lunch, this delivery service was started. The wife or hired help prepares a lunch that is picked up by the service and delivered to the husband at his office. The error rate in 1 in 6 million, which has members of this service giving management training lectures all over the world.

Some final thoughts from our tour guide include that Mumbai is very kind to women. The buses have special seats for women, the elderly and the disabled. Women can go out at night and not be hassled. Parking in the city is terrible with 110 cars being added daily. Drivers honk their horns constantly. While there are silent zones in the city, no one knows where they are. Do not judge India at the first glance. More than one-half of the residents live in the slums where the buildings look bad from the outside because they are under rent control. In the slums, life is organized, the inside of the homes are clean, and the residents do not care about the outside. Banana vendors and beggars have cell phones. The people have a great sense of joy and are happy. Remember that for the people who are born here, life is normal.

The day after our visit, our deputy tour director Frankie held a discussion session titled "Mumbia: Delightful or Disgusting?" Frankie told us that it is another planet from what we are used to seeing. The hassle and red tape makes it not easy to get anything done, the city is much cleaner than what it was when he first visited Mumbai, and the richer a society becomes, the more selfish it becomes. Comments from passengers included that so much of what happens in the West is behind closed doors but in India, it is out in the open: American students know if a class has mostly Indian students, the Americans are screwed; and many found China so much more than they expected and India so much less.

One man who had taught in India in a walled city told us that most of his students arrived in chauffeured vehicles or drove Porsches. They never noticed the poverty outside the city. When he returned to the United States, he went to homes that experienced the same poverty. Some attendees wanted to know where he worked. Try any city in the US for starters.

The final thought from Frankie should be considered by all: Just by luck any of us could have been born in these countries. Everyday we should be thankful for what we have.

Male: Flower of the Indies

MALE, MALDIVES--Wednesday, April 21, 2010

We are now into the section of this cruise that can be labeled hot, hotter and hottest. Male, the capital of the Maldives, which broke away from Great Britian in 1965 as an independent Islamic republic, must be one of the hottest. After spending three-hours exploring one of the world's smallest capitals, we were drenched with perspiration, or maybe we were simply glistening. Finding information about the islands that Marco Polo referred to as "the flower of the Indies," was difficult. The most comprehensive was from a book describing world ports for cruises that stated travelers should be certain that their ship intended to "at least hold a beach party on one of the islands (almost any of the 1,190 tiny, palm-decked coral islands would do), otherwise stopping here is not very rewarding."

Our port talk speaker Martyn told us that when he had worked on one of the islands as a disc jockey for a year in the 1960s, he and his friends would write their names on the giant snail shells to see where they turned up (daily life was that boring). The major decision of the day was whether to walk around the island counterclockwise or clockwise. Also, the island where we docked required that ladies be covered from neck to knees if they wanted to swim on the one small beach. A few years ago, the young women of the ship's crew went swimming there in their bikinis. A group of men congregated to ogle them before the police arrived and asked the women to leave.

Honestly, the Maldives deserve better public relations than this. The natural beauty of these pristine islands, the cool turquoise waters, the submarine life and the fine white sand beaches of the 80 islands that have opened resorts are a water-enthusiasts paradise for scuba divers and snorklers and for honeymooners (very rich newlyweds). However, we toured the island that is a small city in which 25 percent of the country's population of almost 300,000 live. All of the islands bob only a few meters above sea level so the possibility exists that any or all of the island could be underwater in the future.

At 9 a.m., MaryAnn and John, Mary and Ed, Doris and Claude and we boarded the tender from ship to shore to take a self-guided walking tour of Male. Our first stop was the Islamic Centre that opened in 1984, also known as the Great Friday Mosque, with its shining golden dome best seen and photographed from the tender before we docked. Once again, the women did not meet the mosque's dress code and were given shawls to wear after they took off their shoes. The trip up the marble steps that were bathed in heat and light from the sun was worth it to see the beautiful walls decorated with woodcarvings and Arabic calligraphy, gigantic chandeliers and carpeting with person-sized sections woven in the design. This mosque, which accommodates more than 5,000 worshippers, even had a section chained off in the back for the women.

Leaving the mosque, we walked straight ahead to the Sultan's Park. When the country changed from a Sultanate to a Republic in 1968, the Sultan's Palace was demolished except for a three-story building that is now the National Museum. The remainder of the palace grounds were turned into a public park. Then we headed to the Hukuru Miskiiy, the old Friday Mosque, built in 1656. The compound also housed a number of ancient tombstones erected in memory of past sultans, heroes and nobles. Other highlights included the gleaming blue and white minaret of Munnaaru that was built in 1675 to call the faithful to prayer; the Mullee-aage, the current President's Official Residence, which was built by the sultan before the World War I for his son, both of whom were banished in 1936, when the house was declared a government property; the tomb of Abu al Barakat, the great missionary from North Africa who converted the Maldives to Islam in the 12 century; and the office of the Torture Victims' Association. Crossing a street that buzzed with cars and motorbikes to take pictures in front of the sign was torture.

By this time, the heat dictated that we abandon our self-guided tour in favor of the air-conditioned souvenir shops. We quickly learned that these storekeepers do not bargain because most of the goods were imported from Sri Lanka and India. Ed and Ken soon decided that they should try to find a bank to obtain rupees to pay for our Cruise Critic's tour of Mumbai, India, organized by MaryAnn and John, who, along with Doris and Claude, decided it was time to throw in the towel and return to the ship. Mary and Sara, who wanted to shop for souvenirs, were "befriended" by a Male man who really wanted them to shop at a relative's or friend's souvenir store. When they commented about the high prices for wooden items, he told them that they were made from mangrove trees and would last more than 100 years. Mary replied that they did not need items that would outlive them. They finally lost the self-appointed guide when they left the store and he realized they were not planning to buy anything there. They walked through the fish market, where customers could buy the fresh fish and have the fishermen filet them before they took their purchases home. They started to sense that they were wanted in the town. Neilly summed it up best by saying, "We weren't welcomed, we were tolerated." MaryAnn added that the residents needed to attend charm school. Are we becoming jaded because we were not greeted by a band or dancers (most likely arranged for by Princess Cruises) or do the citizens of this poor nation resent the tourists whom they imagine are fabulously wealthy and live like the characters on Desperate Housewives?

By 12:30 p.m., Mary and Sara were ready to leave the heat and return to the ship on the tender, which was the same one Ed and Ken had boarded. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing on the shaded lounge chairs on Deck 9 and swimming in the ship's salt-water pool. The sail away at 5 p.m. provided great views of the small island near Male that is home to the Male International Airport, with it runways that end right at the ocean.

NOTE: In a recent blog, we mentioned that we were trying to extend our trip by taking a cruise on Holland America's Eurodam from Rome to Dover, England, and then fly from London to the US. Unfortunately, Princess Cruises will not budge on the 100 percent penalty if we do not fly back from Rome on May 15. Our wonderful travel agent from Fantasy Travel, Debbie, spent 50 minutes on hold with Delta Airlines to confirm this policy. Probably part of the reason for wanting to continue this trip is that we never want this experience to end and are not ready to return to the reality of everyday, normal life. This cruise has been everything that we were ever promised it would be and more. So we should be back home on May 16 and prepared to grovel to receive forgiveness from the precious, pampered princess kitty, Foxy, for leaving her even though she has come to adore our wonderful house sitters. We love you, Foxy!

Also, we received a comment from a 2009 World Cruiser that perhaps we should go directly home with our already purchased airline tickets because of all the havoc that the ash from the erupted volcano in Iceland is causing travelers in Europe. (Hi, Michelle!) So we plan to enjoy the last three weeks of this cruise and look forward to returning to Florida in May.

Phuket: Thailand's Pearl of the South

PHUKET, THAILAND--Saturday, April 17, 2010

Tourist brochures about Phuket, the largest island of Thailand at 12 miles wide and 30 miles long, taut its tall jungled hills, its coastline with incredible white-sand beaches and azure waters and its forested limestone formations that make it a popular destination for travelers in search of rest and relaxation. Except for the overbearing heat and humidity, Phuket is an island paradise.

We selected our tour because the research we had done before our cruise stated that a cruise on Phang Nga Bay was a must. The trip also included James Bond Island where the Sean Connery movie Man With the Golden Gun was filmed and Panyi Island, home to a traditional Muslim fishing village with homes and restaurants perched above the water on stilts. Our guide's name was Sudjai, who told us to just call her Sue. She talked about the tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004, that destroyed some of the west side of the island. Fortunately, we were heading north to the east side of the island and would then cross a bridge to the mainland. In between the bumpy roads and the rattling of the air conditioner that was not functioning in the back of the bus, it was difficult to determine most of what she was saying. We knew that our trip on the beautifully appointed, although somewhat hot, bus with pink and green pleated valances and green fringed draperies would take 1 hour and 15 minutes before we boarded the longtail boat. Sue also told us that this tour had two shopping stops. That news produced cheers from the women and groans from the men.

Sue mentioned that New Year's Day had been April 13 and that we were still in holy days with the children being off from school. In Phuket Town, we passed the Spirit House and learned that the citizens were very superstitious. They believed that almost everything can give off vibes and during holy days would purchase garlands to give to the spirits to appease them. We also saw the Heroines Monument of two sisters, who in 1795 disguised hundreds of women in Army uniforms and paraded them through town to trick the Burmese enemy into believing that they were troop reinforcements from Bangkok and eventually force the Burmese to withdraw. What a great example of of "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar."

Sue also talked about education but between the rattling and her accent, we took a while to determine that she was describing how the residents send their monkeys to school for nine months for about $135 US. When they pick up the monkeys, the monkeys eat the same things as their masters, pick up coconuts, serve as entertainers, accompany their owners everywhere and even give them massages. The monkeys work very hard and usually retire when they are 10 years old.

The terrain and towns reminded us of Vietnam, with most of the buildings looking like they needed a coat of paint. When we arrived at the restaurant where we would later enjoy a typical Thai buffet, we boarded our boat that had a wooden roof to protect us from the harsh sun. The cruise took us around and under a labyrinth of forested limestone pillars rearing out of the salt water, which also was home to mangrove trees. Cacti also grew on the limestone pillars. Sue noted when we neared James Bond Island that it had been damaged by the tsunami but the vegetation was slowly growing back. It made us think that all living things must have a strong will to live. The boat driver's two sons were on board and entertained us. The three-year old really liked Punxsutawney Phil and having his picture taken with him.

AT Panyi Island, our boat prepared to stop with tires dropping down from the roof to serve as bumper guards. We debarked at the market in the village on stilts to browse through the wares of the village people. A woman put a Macaque monkey wearing a pampers diaper on Ken's shoulder and motioned for Sara to take a picture. Then Ken took pictures of the monkey hugging Sara. Our friend Ron of Ron and Neilly from our China Trip joined in the fun to have his photograph taken. Then the woman started to scream that Ken owed her $9 US for all those pictures, which he paid but felt that he had been taken for a ride. Sara toured the school in the village where she met a young schoolboy who wanted her to buy a packet of postcards. Even when she told him that she had no local money, he continued to follow her. Judy, if you are reading the blog, this boy has a good future when he grows up, moves to Egypt and makes a fortune as a vendor in Luxor, the harassment capital of the world! Maybe the woman with the monkey is the boy's mother. They both could move to Egypt.

Then we returned to the restaurant for lunch where one of our travelers suffered from heatstroke. Perla put on her doctor's hat and watched her like a mother hen. Our driver said that the high temperature could be almost 100 degrees while two days before, the high was 105 degrees. It was very easy to become dehydrated. The rest of us immediately drank more bottled water.

When we left the restaurant, we learned that Sue had the tour company send a new bus for us, which was equally attractive with a red, blue and yellow color scheme and baby blue pleated draperies with a floral motif. Did we mention how gorgeous this country is? On our trip to the store that provided us with the outstanding maps of the island where we could once again feed our shopping fix, Sue talked about the present king of Thailand Rama XI, who is 83 three years old and will soon make a decision about who the next ruler of the country will be. The royal couple has one son and three daughters. According to Sue, the son is a playboy prince who does not work hard for his country. The single daughter devotes herself to her country but having a woman ruler would be a first for Thailand, unless one wants to consider Anna as the adviser to Rama IV in The King and I, a movie that was banned in Thailand. (After the movie was shown on the ship the next day, we could understand why the Thai government may not like it.) Rama V, the student of Anna, was the most popular king in Sue's opinion.

Our port talk speaker Martyn and our Asian expert Joe had educated us about the current political uprising in Bangkok with the yellow shirts, who wanted the elite to return to power, in contention with the red shirts, who supported the common people's or the Thais Love Thais Party. Joe said that most uprisings in Thailand were over with quickly and the current one, which had resulted in 20 deaths, was the first one to turn deadly. He had promised us that we would not notice anything happening in Phuket because of the "it doesn't matter" attitude with the residents quickly returning to a smoother, more normal life. Phuket's significant tourism industry is evidenced by the city's sister relationships with Las Vegas and Nice. Two months after the tsunami in 2004, much of the debris had been cleared and there was no evidence of the storm.

While our tour was scheduled to return exactly when all passengers and crew were to be aboard, Martyn and Tim, our tour escorts, requested that the bus drivers have us back in time to shop at the extensive array of booths the vendors has assembled on the dock. We wonder if we will be seeing a lot of Thai handmade items at the next white elephants sale? (With the elephant appearing on every other souvenir we saw, these items would be very appropriate!)

Wedding Anniversary, White Elephant Auction and Book Club

SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA--Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Because we were in Hong Kong on April 4, we are having our anniversary dinner (No. 29) with MaryAnn and John, and Lu and Mike, tonight in the Steakhouse. Today is the 13th and 1 plus 3 equals 4. Also, 4 is bad luck in China and 13 is back luck in the US so today's date seems somewhat appropriate.

Frankie's International White Elephant Auction Sale Extravaganza and the Book Club led by Riz, of which Sara is a member, were held today. Many passengers were willing to part with their carefully chosen souvenirs from all the ports we had visited. Frankie, the deputy cruise director, tried to teach us how to act correctly at an auction but failed. Any money collected could be kept by the donor or donated to charity. We contributed a necklace from Rabaul that Sara had bought, which went before the auction started for $2 to the woman who is a Dramatic Winter who really wanted it, and a pair of genuine Gortex gloves that Ken bought in Tiananmin Square for $4 and wore on the cold, windy day at the Great Wall, which someone bought for $2. (We know that they were genuine Gortex because the word Gortex was spelled backwards on the one glove.) Sara added another $1 and gave $5 to Mary from Cruise Critic and the boat building contest to give to the Roman Catholic priest on board. (Mary and Ed are such good people!) Who said that you can't give away money even if you don't buy anything at a sale?

Hot sellers were a Rolex watch from Beijing, an alarm clock with Mao on its face, bottles of Australian wine, a mirrored wooden compact with an inlaid pearl geisha from Hanoi (bought by Frankie for $1 and sold for $10) and beautiful jewelry from countries we have visited. Many passengers negotiated individual sales before the auction started. Two souvenirs that covered a certain part of the male anatomy were a shield and an enlarger. Frankie promised another white elephant auction during the fourth segment of the world cruise.

Sara has been a book club that reads a new book each segment of the cruise and then discusses it over afternoon tea. The first book was The Time Traveler's Wife. Sara had listened to the first eight tapes of the book on her car radio before we left on the cruise, and then skipped three tapes to listen to the last one. She never learned how the couple had their daughter after the wife had had several miscarriages and how the time traveler had had a horrendous accident. Princess Cruises had sent only five copies to the ship so no one finished the book in time to give it to Sara to read the chapters that she had not heard. Of course, that did not stop her from going to the book club discussion. Then, Riz, our discussion leader from the cruise director's staff, gave her a copy of the book, which she finished. The book did not receive rave reviews from the group. (While a good book, it is somewhat confusing because of the time travel aspect and the main characters are at different ages during much of the story as one might expect from a time traveler.)

The second book was the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, which everyone liked. It was such a popular book that the author has written a number of sequels. Passengers showed up for the discussion who had read the original book and all its sequels.

The third book was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. The reviewers in an appendix to the book, either adored it, thinking it was the best piece of literature ever written, or hated it. Sara tried to plod through it, realizing she had never read it in high school and needed to read every word, sometimes more than once, to attempt to understand it. She compared notes with Riz whenever they were both in the beautiful library on the ship. Riz had started to read another novel that she liked much better while Sara had given up reading any other books on the ship because she thought she should be able to finish Pride and Prejudice. If someone is in a book club, that person should read every book even if he or she is not that enchanted by one of the selections. When Sara was still 70 pages from the end, Riz told her that every other member of that discussion group had already turned in their copies to her, saying that they did not plan to finish the book because it was too heavy reading for a vacation. Sara did finish the book but missed Darcy's second proposal to Elizabeth and had to reread that section. Fortunately, Elizabeth did recognize the proposal and accepted it. We assume that they lived happily ever after. (Note to Princess Cruises: Be careful about the books that the corporation chooses for its book clubs. This was obviously not a good choice. Who recommended it and why?)

Pride and Prejudice was replaced by Tuesdays with Morrie, a book that Sara had previously read for a church book club in Richmond, watched the TV movie, and enjoyed very much. She appreciated the book even more in her second reading. In seventh grade, Sara's English teacher made her students find a quotation from each book they had read that they deemed important. In Tuesdays with Morrie, the readers could find such a quote on almost every page. The one that meant the most to Sara was, "Death ends a life, not a relationship." (Okay, Princess Cruises, overall your headquarters has made good choices. We hope that this continues. Please continue to take your audience of passengers into consideration.)

Our book for today's discussion was Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, a chronicle of the author's year of spiritual and personal exploration while traveling abroad after her traumatic divorce from her husband (whom she never names) and a devastating breakup with her lover David that started almost immediately after she moved out of her beautiful house with her now ex-husband. The passenger in our discussion group who was born and raised in Great Britain and now lived in Canada said that she thought the author was a tad self-absorbed. We asked her, "How big is a tad?" But in the author's defense, aren't we all somewhat self-absorbed? Before we started the discussion, we learned that the book was on the New York Times Best-Seller list for more than one and one-half years, the author appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Columbia Pictures has optioned the book for a movie with Julia Roberts slated to star. Her sequel, called Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, was released by Viking in January. The woman in our discussion group who had read the sequel did not want to spoil us for us and would not tell us if the author had remarried and whom she married if, indeed, she did remarry.

The reason that the group gave for why the book had sold so well was that most women can visualize themselves in who the author is and can identify with many parts of the book. The majority of the group appreciated the 108 short chapters but most thought the book was too long. As for what the author learned in Bali, Sara asked the group members if they wanted a Brazilian lover like Felipe who kept telling her how beautiful she was and how he would love her forever. The group commented that your spiritual journey in your 30s and your concept of love was very different than what you have in your 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s. Now Sara is concerned that they view her as a hopeless romantic or a sex feign. The group rated the book a solid 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Then we dressed for our anniversary dinner with MaryAnn, John, Lu and Mike at the Steakhouse. We both wore black and royal blue. The adjective we would use for the dinner was magical. Absolutely everything was perfect. The meal consisted of appetizers (we had the scallops and foie grass), soup (black and blue onion soup), salad with all the extra ingredients, the main course (we had the filet mignon), and a variety of desserts. We had asked Steve, the bartender, to help us select the best wine. He chose a red wine from the House, or Chalet, of the Popes, from France that he said he could sip all day, which was a good enough recommendation for us. (Ken has a photograph of the label with the exact name.) John was overwhelmed by the wine. He told us that when they were on a cruise to France, one of the dining room's staff asked him to buy him a bottle, no matter what the cost. John claimed that it was one of the best wines in the world. We quickly ordered an extra bottle in addition to the two we had ordered before the dinner. In addition, the wait staff brought a small anniversary cake to our table and sang to us, including their rendition of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."

Somehow the conversation took a turn to older men who date and marry younger women. Mike commented that he, John and Ken were lucky to have married their trophy wives on the first go round. The three women at the table now want to nominate Mike for sainthood, no questions asked.

When we got back to our room, the anniversary cake was waiting for us along with a chilled bottle of Korbel (one of our favorite champagnes) with a note from MaryAnn and John. Three "happy anniversary" balloons decorated our door. It truly was a perfect day! In fact, because we have celebrated all three anniversaries together and have no more, the group decided we should eat one more time at the Steakhouse in early May to commemorate any other special events that may happen in 2010.

Singapore: Where East meets West in trading

SINGAPORE: Thursday, April 15, 2010

We know that all of you are breathing a sigh of relief because you have filed your taxes. We filed for an extension before we departed on the cruise and will need to file when we return. Spending the day traveling around Singapore was much nicer than waiting in line at the post office to file our federal income taxed.

Our overall impressions of this small city/country are very pretty, very lush and green, beautifully maintained parks, a good highway system and an impressive downtown area with British Colonial buildings next to modern high-rise buildings with an ultra-futuristic building resembling a space ship ready to take off in the background. Prior to visiting Singapore, our main impression of it came from the news story about the American college student who was to be caned for what many Americans thought was a minor offense, how the parents asked the US President to intervene, and how Singapore would not back down from the sentence but reduced the number of strokes. Caning is a horrible punishment with one stroke removing the skin from a person's behind. The Singapore government also believes in the mandatory death penalty of hanging for crimes such as using firearms, kidnapping, murder and possessing 15 grams of heroin. In the last 20 years, the government has hung 400 people. While it seems to be a great place to live if one likes one, long hot summer all year round, its citizens need to not mind minding their Ps and Qs.

On our tour, we learned that the government is very pragmatic and carefully plans how to provide its citizens with incentives to keep Singapore the beautiful city that it is. Our tour guide also was extremely good at providing the connections between history and society and how each impacts the other. He will remain nameless in this entry because he told Sara that she made him nervous because she took notes. He asked her to please not quote him because he liked his job. At first, Sara thought he was nervous because she always seemed to be the last person back on the van because she was so fascinated with the sights that she stayed until the exact time that we needed to return to the van.

While the social aspects of our guide's commentary were fascinating, we will devote this blog to the information about the Battlefields of Singapore, and maybe do a separate entry later about life in Singapore today. This tour could be part of our sub-theme for the cruise of visiting as many World War II battle sites as we could. Our first stop was the The Battle Box at Fort Canning. This bunker, with 26 rooms, was built between 1936 and 1939 to serve as the headquarters of the Malaysian command. On December 8, 1941, one hour before the bombing of Pearl Harbor but one day later because of the date change at the International Date Line, the Japanese invaded Singapore. General Percival, who had been sent by the British to Singapore to develop a defense plan, had 130,000 troops while the "Tiger of Malaya," Yamashita had maybe 30,000. Yamashita later said that the attack was a bluff that worked. Percival, a brilliant staff officer, had accurately predicted that the Japanese would attack from the north and recommended that the British should develop serious defenses at the river that separated Singapore from Malaysia. His superiors replied that would alarm the people. The Battle is enhanced with specially crafted wax figures that bring visitors back to the meeting on February 15, 1942, where Percival reached the fateful decision to surrender Singapore to the invading Japanese. The officers wrote terms for the surrender but Yamashita said he would accept nothing but an unconditional surrender and would not even allow Percival to scrutinize the terms of surrender. Poor Singapore! The true-to-life figures and skillful lighting created an atmosphere of watching a one-act play that the audience wanted to continue for additional acts.

We asked our guide why the Japanese were so brutal. He answered that was part of their nature and culture. They had been building up their war force and waiting a long time to use it so they were seasoned veterans. Many of the British and Australians were new recruits, ages 18 or 19, with little training. The British had few aircraft and no tanks.

To learn just how brutal the Japanese were during their occupation, we next toured the Changi Museum, which is dedicated to all the soldiers and civilians who suffered and died during the dark years of WWII. Changi Prison was designed to house 600 civilian prisoners. The Japanese imprisoned between 3,000 and 4,000 in it with an total of 85,000 in brutal captivity. Many other soldiers were sent off to other places as free labor. Through letters, photographs, drawings and personal artifacts, the museum chronicled the compelling story of the POWs and civilian prisoners for three and one half years. If the overcrowding, brutal treatment and lack of food did not kill or weaken them, the dysentery, malaria or cholera did.

The original Changi Chapel in the courtyard was built by the Australian POWs and is now in Canberra, Australia. The replica included the five murals painted by Bombader Stanley Warren, who had been a patient in the hospital. He started painted the murals while still ill. Then his health miraculously improved and he completed all five murals by May 1943. The Japanese converted the chapel into a store and painted over them. In 1958, a RAF national serviceman detected traced of color under the paint. The British located Stanley in January 1959 but he was reluctant to return and restore the murals because he had too many traumatic memories. However, he did return in the 1960s and again in the 1980s to do additional touch-up work. Seeing the beauty and Bible verses of the murals makes it easy to understand why they were a source of inspiration to the prisoners by giving them an uplift in morale and providing them the will to endure the brutalities of life at the prison. The most touching is Christ on the cross with the verse, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."

After touring the Battle Box and Changi Museum, Ken said, "There's really no reason to like what the Japanese did during World War II." Sara's retort was, "What took you so long?" (Sometime, I will write about my real feelings when we were in Nagasaki. Ken asked me not to write anything negative but after one of the speakers on the ship said that the Japanese are now trying to blame WWII on the Americans and Ken's change of heart, I may do so.)

Our final stop was the Kranji War Memorial, a cemetery of more than 4,500 graves of soldiers who died between 1939 and 1945, which is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. If we were to visit Normandy, which we would like to do after this cruise but probably will not be allowed to do unless we pay a heavy price (see NOTE at end of this entry), we would probably feel the same--a sense of extreme sadness but overwhelming peace. Our guide told us that the people who created the world cemeteries believed that if the young soldiers did not have peace in their short lives, they would have peace from now on.

The cemetery and the Kranji War Memorial at the top of the hill honor the three branches of the armed forces--the neat rows of graves are in columns to represent the Army, the wings over the walls of the memorial represent the Air Force and the periscope-type column in the center stands for the Navy. Many of the headstones were engraved, "A soldier of the 1939-1945 war is honored here. Known unto God." One headstone for H.M. Campbell of the Gordon Highlanders who died on the 9th April 1943, was engraved with this beautiful, poignant poem:
God took you, Harry, it was his will
Forget you, Harry, no, we never will.
The walls of the memorial are inscribed with the names of the Allied troops who lost their lives during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. The flowers neatly planted in front of the headstones were some of the most beautiful arrangements we have ever seen in a cemetery.

Here's a brief history of Singapore to bring the city to the present. Singapore realized that with no natural resources, its major advantage was it location as a port. It became the center for all Western goods to be redistributed to the East and vice versa. Post-war Singapore progressed from a Crown Colony to self-government in 1955. Lee Kuan Yaw, who came into power in 1959, was preoccupied with Singapore becoming a part of Malaysia because he could not conceptualize Singapore not being joined to the hinterland. In a case of be careful for what one wishes, Singapore became the 14th state of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, but was not prepared to pay the price. Our guide compared it to an ill-fated marriage. Singapore was the most attractive wife but it made the loudest noise and was asked by Malaysia to leave in 1965, when it emerged as an independent republic. Lee invited the United Nations to come to Singapore to advise the government on future development, which included a public transportation system, the new Changi airport and ways to attract and maintain talent, who are concerned with the advancement of the country, including low income taxes and high salaries. Singapore's government is based on pragmatism with most things be managed by the carrot and the stick concept. Dialoging is important with the goal of avoiding hostilities at all costs because people can sit down to talk and work most things out. The proliferation of museums, performing arts centers and, even golf courses, assures the residents of a reasonably comfortable life style. For all our friends in education or have children in the school systems, Singapore's schools still use corporal punishment. (This could be considered either good or bad.) Yes, there are prices to pay for living in this paradise.

To our guide, whose name Sara promised not to mention because we did quote him, but in a most positive manner--your explanations of the ties of history to society were superb. All of us on the tour have a better understanding and appreciation for Singapore's past, present and future. The first thing you told us when we boarded the tour bus was that this was the best tour we could take. You clearly exceeded all of our highest expectations. If you are ever in touch with "your good friend, Martyn," our port talk lecturer, he may direct you to this Website so you can read our praises. Thank you so much for a wonderful day and tour.

NOTE: We have decided that we would like to take a Holland American cruise on the Eurodam, which would sail from Rome to Dover, England, and then fly back to the US from London. The only "fly in the ointment" is that the corporate headquarters of Princess Cruises will not let us out of our airline contract from Rome to the US without a 100 percent penalty. Our last hope is our travel agent's discussion with Delta Airlines our air carrier. Unfortunately, we do not think this will work because of some underhanded dealings in Princess's Corporate Headquarters' contracts to obtain more money from passengers. Please, Delta, we need your help! We will let you know how this matter turns out but, for now, we are assuming that we will return to the US on May 16.