2013 - OCEANIA - PHUKET, PENANG & KUALA LUMPUR

PHUKET

The day before arriving in Phuket I was sitting at the restaurant on deck, by the pool talking to Sandy & Jim. Jim was standing up & I was looking up at him when I felt ill & started to say " I am going down to my cabin". Got as far as down. Woke up on the floor with a massive black eye. The medics arrived & whisked me off to the clinic & , 1300 dollars later told me they could not find anything wrong with me.

Just fainted right out.

So - I did not get off in Phuket. Just sat sat in the shade on deck reading or watching the traffic. A nice quiet time with everyone else off the ship.

Had no recurrence so I don't know what that was. Too much sun? no. Too much alcohol? no. Not enough liquids? no. Not enough food? no. The doc did put some liquids into me. I felt fine before & after so who knows. I will talk to my doctor about it next time I go see him.

Some nice little boats going by...

PENANG

Today it's a pedicab ride around Georgetown, Penang - Malaysia.

Pedicabs are a nice way to get around. They totally ignore the other traffic & traffic rules, & in case of an accident, the other driver is always wrong, no matter what.

It all looks so incredibly cluttered. This is inside a museum..

This is a certificate of some kind - something to do with Opium perhaps..

Mary getting to know a local..

A couple of couples from the ship....

The cheapo English on foot & Jenny & Don in front of me in the pedicab. Spent a lot of time with them right up to Beijing.

A pretty mosque...

And a pretty temple...

I think that's Jenny & Don again at the front..

another temple & two of my favourite subjects in one photo. Laundry & satellite dishes..

I will be heartily sick of temples by the end of this trip, but they do have some very pretty adornments.

Moving on to KUALA LUMPUR

Nothing much on offer in the way of excursions at this port which is a long way from the city of Kuala Lumpur. So - I took the bus into the city & just walked around. When I got tired of that I got on the Hop on Hop Off bus which is always a reasonable way to see a city.

Lots of very tall buildings here including the Petronas Towers, once the tallest building in the world....

These kids were putting on a show for Chinese new Year.

Spent a few hours just sitting in a cafe drinking Bubble tea & watching the locals going about their business. A nice day but when you get down to it, just another big city.
Not sure what I would do if I were to visit this port again.

Singapore tomorrow & the end of the first segment of the cruise. Most of the Botswana people will get off there. There was a farewell party for them the other day which I missed as that was the day I was unwell. Never did get a group photo of them all. Not a bad crowd. American or Canadian with one Brit who is now Canadian.

At least 3 of them were quite ill with expensive Bronchial problems.