Monday 2 August 2010

An overnight cruise in the Straits of Malacca

The starboard aisle at deck 8
In front of a lift at deck 10 where my cabin was.
The open deck where you could enjoy the fresh and cool sea breeze.
The hugh ship "Pisces" alongside its berth in Penang. It has 11 decks.
I and my house scientist (wife) were doing our daily morning walk in the Lake Garden of Taiping. We met a relative. In the short exchanges she told us about the cruise. It was planned for 30 July 2010 (but eventually brought forward to 29 July). The price was RM250 per person. The actual fare was only RM130.00. The RM250 was inclusive of the bus fare to and from Taiping/Penang. A bit on the high side, I thought. I will organise my own trips in the future. It sounded good. It offered a good opportunity for me to look for good subjects for my photography. My wife was not keen as she couldn't stand the ever-moving / bobbing / pitching ships. She had a bad experience in Kuching in the 80s. I didn't get all my wish granted. The cruise ship set sail at about 8 pm and returned to Penang at about 8 am the next day. In the inky darkness, there was no spectacular sight that I could catch with my camera. Anyway, there were plenty of activities on board - dining, musics, karaoke, duty-free shopping, massages and a casino. In the overnight cruise, you are not suppose to sleep. It would be an opportunity wasted. All too soon, the cruise was over - leaving a feeling that I had not achieved what I came for. Photography was my main intention. Cruising in an open sea at night was not a good choice anyway. It would have been better to go into the deep jungle.

3 comments:

  1. Squad,

    Throughout my 25 years of service in MAF, I never had the chance to 'cruise' on board our RMN's ships. My only cruise was aboard Bangladesh's naval ship for 1 night in the Bay Of Bengal when I attended Staff College in 1981. We, the foreign students, slept on the deck under the open sky because the aircond was not functioning.

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  2. Squad,

    Sleeping on decks of ships is not new to me. I had slept on decks of small coastal ships in Sarawak when I was schooling in Miri from 1962 to 1967. I went home to Simanggang during the third term holiday. As there was no roads then,the only way was by the sea. The motor launch was small (but big to us then). You can imagine, for two days we were tossed about by the violent waves. I vomitted until there was nothing to throw out anymore. Today, I have got my "sea legs" - thanks to the experiences of the early days.

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  3. Hi...can you forward a nice photo I can use for next weeks Ex tanjong press release?

    Nice posting....thanks.

    address to changyi@streamyx.com

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