Wherever We Go

Today we arrived in Semarang.   This is our second stop in Indonesia, and it is home to the other half of the ship’s staff.   One of our room stewards, Saeff, lives 30 minutes from the terminal, and he was very happy to be going home for the day, just like Jery got off at the Bali stop! They certainly deserve a day off, and we, as guests, gave them the days off.  By the way, Vi is blogging today for a change. Semarang is in Central Java.   Ever heard of “ Java Man ”?   Oldest human fossil was found here in Java in the 1890's.   We left the Semarang port under police escort as there is so much traffic.   Again, so many scooters.   We saw women riding scooters side-saddle!   Our first stop was at the Ambarawa Train Station where we boarded an antique steam train circa 1904.   It was so amazing to be on a train powered by wood!   Our train took us on a 30 minute ride through the countryside.   This is where we saw im...

Here we are in Indonesia.  Specifically, Bali.  Indonesia is very proud of her three B's.  When Indonesia is mentioned, these three things should come to mind.   They are:  Bali, Borobudur and Batik.  I am happy to let you know that Vialula and I have done all three now. Welcome to the port of Bali, Indonesia Today we were in Bali, the jewel of Indonesia.   What thoughts conjure up in your mind when you think of Bali.   I am not sure but Bali is all you can imagine and more.   Our only disappointment is that we only had one day to explore Bali.  Bali is not a big place but it is very much alive.   It's population is 4.2 million people and everyone of them has a scooter or two and is ready to run you over should you venture out in their path. The country has more scooters than people!   I have never seen so many Evel Kneivel's in my life.   Here we are on a tour bus and they fly aro...

I think Vialula and LeRoy are time travelers as well as ocean travelers.   We went to sleep in 2019 but we awoke in a time before time.  Back to the days when big reptiles ruled their world.  At least that is what it looks like from here on Komodo Island.   Here the big dragons still rule the land.  They are the king of their domain and not even the small group of island people can tame them.  There are dragons on four different islands around here but Komodo, by far, has the largest population of them.  It is difficult to determine the true count but it is estimated that there are about 3 to 4 thousand of them in the wild.   Some zoos display and keep dragons but they don't do well in a zoo and only live about 5 years in captivity. Komodo Island Komodo Island looks like a picture out of Jurassic Park.  The topography is very mountainous with everything covered in a light green vegetation.   The hill...