Singapore

Merlion in downtown Singapore

We were off the ship by about 8:00 AM and did a tour of Singapore in the morning, since our flight didn’t leave till 6:30 PM. Singapore is an island about 50 by 25 km. Seventy-five percent of the population is of Chinese descent. Singapore is an example of how a city should function: clean, little graffiti, great public transportation, effective health care, and lots of parks and green areas. We visited the modern downtown area and the historic European and Chinatown sections of the city. The law requires that all buildings get a fresh coat of paint every six years to keep the well-maintained look of the city. In the Chinese section we visited both a Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple. 

A top the Hindu Temple

The highlight of the tour was the Orchid Garden with 60,000 orchids including 1000 species and 2000 hybrids.

Singapore's Orchid Garden

A video of this trip is available on Youtube. 

Summary:

This was not one of our better trips. We both got sick during the trip. For some reason, we met fewer people than normal. We asked for first seating, and we were the only couple at a table for eight.  Loved our waiters but missed out on conversation with others. We found the traffic and pollution of Indonesia to be difficult to deal with. We were both surprised that Bali was so crowded. If you stayed at a beach resort, you would have a different impression. The highlights were my visit to Mount Bruno on Java and the VW Safari around Bali. Having a driver and guide dedicated to us was a real treat.  

Krakatoa

 

Krakatoa

We woke up at 5:30 AM to sail past the Krakatoa caldera. This volcano is famous for its 1883 explosion, the equivalent of 13000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs. The explosion was heard as far away as Alice Springs, Australia. At least 36,417 people died, and many more thousands were injured, mostly from the tsunamis that followed the explosion. The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa. The caldera today has several islands that are above sea level. The last major eruption was in 2018. We could see steam coming up from one of the low-lying islands in the caldera.

Steam escaping on right

Singapore History

Singapore began as a fishing village named Temasek. Legend has it that a Malay prince was shipwrecked here, saw a lion, and considered it good fortune. Singapore stands for Lion City and was established in 1323. It became a major trading hub, but the city burned down in 1613. Thomas Raffles, an officer of the British East India Company, established a trading post here in 1819. The city had over 10,000 inhabitants in 1822, with a mix of cultures and a chaotic use of the land. That same year the Jackson plan was established creating four towns: European, China town, Indians in Chulia Kampong and an Islamic town in Kampong Glam.  By 1880 there were 80,000 inhabitants, half of whom were Chinese. The city became a British Crown Colony in 1867. In 1939, a British Naval base was established, and guns were placed along the seacoast because of the threat from Japan, fuel tanks were established, but no naval fleet was sent. The Japanese attacked Malayasia on December 8^th, 1941. Rather than attacking Singapore by sea, the Japanese came down the Malay peninsula through the dense jungles  using bicycles. This allowed them to quickly traverse the jungle. The Allied troops withdrew to Singapore on January 31^st. Rather than attacking Singapore by sea, the Japanese used collapsible boats to cross to the island from the peninsula. They quickly gained control of the water supply on the island, forcing the surrender of 35,000 allied troops on February 15^th, 1942. They slaughtered 70,000 Chinese in the next few weeks. The British took back the colony after the war, but the move for independence had begun, since they had failed to protect the citizens from the Japanese. The island became independent in 1959.  It spent 1963 to 1965 as part of Malayasia, but major disputes arose since Malayasia gave few rights to those of Chinese origin. Singapore returned to a nation state in 1965 and built a strong national identity and an economy based on manufacturing, finances, and trade.

Singapore's Marina Bay Hotel

Jakarta, Indonesia

 

Children playing their instruments

Today we did the half-day tour of Jakarta. Jakarta is the melting pot of Indonesia with most of the ethnic groups represented in its 20 million people. We began the tour at the grade school that Barak Obama attended for 2^nd and 3^rd grade. He lived in Jakarta those years after his mother married his stepfather, an Indonesian. The children there played traditional instruments, others danced for us, and of course we were asked questions so they could practice their English. I was asked my name, where I lived, what work I had done, my hobbies, and how old I was. They were surprised that I was 75.

Praying in Istiqlal Mosque

Our next stop was the Catholic Cathedral of Jakarta, built in 1901 on the site of the previous cathedral that burned in a fire and eventually collapsed. For a cathedral, it was a very simple church. We then walked to the Istiqlal Mosque across the street. A friendship tunnel under the street connects the two. The mosque is the largest in Southeast Asia holding 120,000 worshippers.  It was designed by a Catholic who won the architectural competition. It was built between 1961 and 1978. We were able to tour the inside of the mosque.

Altar in Chinese Temple

Then on to a walk of Chinatown and a visit to some Chinese temples. For about 50 cents a bird, you could release the birds for your good fortune. Our guide demonstrated the ritual to ask the gods about an important choice in your life. It involves the selection of a numbered stick and then receiving the interpretation for that stick. Her result was "Her wish would be quite costly".

Port of Batavia

Our final stop was the old port of Batavia, the former name of Jakarta. Here there ere wooden boats loading up for trade among the local islands. The entire dock area had flooded only two days earlier so we saw quite a lot of debris and mud. The dykes were about 4 feet high. Parts of Jakarta are sinking at the rate of 20 to 30 centimeters per year. This is one of the reasons that the country is considering the move of its capital to a different island.

We spent a lot of time in traffic today. While that has been a problem in most large cities here, this was the worst. The average commute time from the suburbs to the city is 2 hours, twice a day.

Semarang, Java, Indonesia

 

Borobudur Temple

We were supposed to do a half day tour of the sights in this city of 1.6 million people. But I’m having intestinal problems today and felt that 5 ½ hours on a bus with no bathroom would not be a good choice. At the port talk, we learned that the most interesting tour we could haven taken is to Borobudur. This is the largest Hindu temple in Southeastern Asia, a UNESCO world heritage site.

Leaving Semarang

Indonesian History Lesson

 

We’re at sea today. Our lecturer gave us a lesson on Indonesian History. The word comes from Greek meaning “Indian Island”. In 1891, a partial skull, tooth, and leg bone were found here  1 to 1.7 million years old, homo erectus which went extinct about 100,000 years ago. About the 8^th century, wet field rice cultivation was discovered, allowing 2 to 3 harvests per year compare to on harvest of dry field rice. The first kingdoms were established in the 1^st century AD. The most important kingdom was the Majahpahit from 1292 to 1527. Trade with India and China became important. Buddhism came with the trade. This was followed by the introduction of Hinduism, Then in the 13^th century, the Moslem faith became predominant.

In the 16^th century, the Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Dutch came searching for spices to flavor their bland food. The heart of the spice islands was the Maluku islands of Indonesia. The Dutch East India company was established in 1610. The Dutch government took over the company in 1800. They found that to stay profitable, they required 20% of the farm land to be used for export crops like coffee, sugar, tea, and peppers. The Dutch treatment of the natives was cruel and led to starvation. In the early 1900’s movements for independence started to form. But in January 1942, the Japanese invaded making things much worse. The population declined for the first time during those war years. The Japanese sent many Indonesians as forced labor on the “Burma Railway” linking Thailand and Burma.  Eventually after the Japanese understood they were going to lose the war. They began training the Indonesians as an army and as government elite who could run the country. The Dutch expected to take back the country but accepted Indonesian independence in 1949. General Sukarno became its first president with an established parliament. In 1957, he introduced guided democracy, reducing the Parliament’s power. He joined the non-aligned nations trying to balance East and West. But foreign aid from the west was reduced and the economy had super inflation. In 1967, General Suharto toppled Sukarno and ruled for 30 years. During the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and 1998, there were massive riots and democracy returned. Indonesia is now the third largest democracy.

Lembar, Lombok Island

 

We had no plans to tour sights on Lombock Island. Our port is 12 km. from the nearest town and most of the sights were even farther. The fun part of the day was seeing the crew’s families come aboard, this would continue for the next two ports. Most of the staff are Indonesian in their early 30s so the kids and wife come aboard, often with parents. The crew members give them a tour of the ship, take pictures, and talk. When we get to Jakarta our waiter is going to visit his home for a couple of hours. Given that the crew works for eight months on and four months off, having a visit to an Indonesian port is special.

Mary with our cabin steward and his family

Komodo Island

 

Komodo Dragon

We’re moored off the coast of Komodo Island, home of Loh Liang National Park, established in 1980 to preserve the 3700 Komodo Dragons who live here and several surrounding islands. Approximately 2000 people also live on these islands. We walked one of the trails in the park for 90 minutes. We saw seven dragons in the forest near a waterhole which attracts animals. When a baby Komodo breaks out of its egg, it seeks protection from predators (including adult dragons) by climbing a palm tree and finding shelter in a hole in the tree. From here they feed on insects and small animals until 3 to 4 years old. Only five percent of the eggs make it to maturity of 7 to 8 years. The males can live as long as 60 years. They feed on other lizards and even the Timor deer we saw in the forest. They blend in with their surroundings and then can run as fast as 12 mph to bite their prey. The bacteria in their saliva will kill the deer. They can track the deer by their scent from as far as 5 km.

Dragon Nest

The animals are usually solitary except during mating season in June and July. The females will build a nest digging a hole about a meter deep where she will lay 20 to 40 eggs. The nest we saw on the trail was originally made by an orange footed scrubfowl.  The female dragon will guard the nest for a couple months until the rainy season in October. The eggs hatch in April. Sex is determined by the temperature of the egg. Today there are 3 males for every female. We finished our walk on the beach where we saw four Timor deer and another three dragons.

Timor Deer

Benoa, Bali, Indonesia - Temples and monkeys

 

Pura Taman Ayun inner courtyard

We started our day touring a 17^th century temple, Pura Taman Ayun. It follows the traditional design of three courtyards separated by split gates.  It has a large moat surrounding the temple and a smaller one around the inner courtyard.

Making Bali Cake

Then we stopped for a snack at a wonderful restaurant and they fed us a number of local specialties including Bali cake. On to the Sacred Monkey Forest with over a thousand macaque monkeys. Dating back to the 14^th century, the monkeys are considered sacred animals Apparently there are 3 clans, each led by a dominant male. Unfortunately, the “rangers” that guided us through the short walk, end the tour at their shop, where they sell souvenirs.

Sacred Monkey Forest

Our final stop was the Tanah Lot temple built on the rocks above the Java Sea. It is a temple to the sea god of Bali.

Tanah Lot Temple

I must say, Bali isn’t what I expected. I pictured an idealistic tropical island with beautiful beaches. Little did I expect the crowded island with vast traffic jams that we encountered. Still a fascinating place of Hindu culture, but not a place I would want to live.

Family Life and the Caste system in Bali

The first name is based on your birth order: first, second, third, or fourth child. More than four? Start over again. A variation of the name indicates male or female. Your Hindu caste is indicated by your title:  one of four castes. The lowest caste has no title. The women change caste when they marry a man from a different caste. There is no shame in marrying a different cast in Bali, even into a different religion. Yesterday’s guide had a Moslem daughter and a Christian son. When a woman marries, she moves into her husband’s family home. When the father dies, the ownership of the home remains with all his sons. Even if the wife is widowed she remains in her husband’s family home. They all share a kitchen, and family area, but have separate bedrooms.

Benoa Bali - VW Safari

 

Our tour today was labeled as a VW Safari. Mary and I were driven into the interior of Bali by a driver and our private guide, Navayana, in a VW Thing. We had a police escort again to navigate the fierce traffic. Our two-lane road often had 3 vehicles side by side with a scooter trying to pass between vehicles. This is the “Land of a Thousand Temples”, there are probably 100,000, many of the houses have a temple in their front yard. The making of temples, gift offerings to the gods and Hindu ceremonies form a large part of the local economy. Our first stop was a batik shop where they demonstrated how they used wax to create patterns from which they died the cloth.

Gangsa and Bonsa instruments

We continued through districts (former villages) specialized in statues, furniture, baskets, silver. etc. We passed many former royal residences and numerous temples. Our next stop was a shop that makes gangsa,  bonsa,  and gongs used to play gamelan music in Hindu ceremonies. The artisans were carving the wood, creating metal pieces and gongs, all carefully tuned.

Mount Batur

The road began climbing higher eventually to about 1000 meters where we had lunch with a gorgeous view of Mt. Batur, a volcano, and Lake Batur in the caldera of the volcano.

Village of Penglipuran

We visited a preserved 17^th century village, a UNESCO world heritage site, Penglipuran. The traditional homes usually had a family temple for the ancestors in front with a kitchen and the bedroom for the family parents. As children are married, they may construct other bedrooms behind the main building. Sharing the kitchen, courtyards, temples, and kitchen. Each home had an area for selling goods.

Pura Kehen Temple

Our last stop was a 13^th century temple, Pura Kehen Temple. This was the main temple for the Bangli Regency, one of nine kingdoms in Bali. The split gates represent a mountain. Lions often guard the entryway. Temples usually have three levels or courtyards. The outer courtyard features a 400-year-old Banyan tree. The last of which is only used for meditation or ceremonies and has a 11-tiered tower. I was surprised to see Chinese porcelain plates and cups built into the wall separating the first two levels.

Mount Bromo

 

Taking the ponies to Mount Bromo

Our excursion today was to climb 2329 meter Mount Bromo, one of seven active volcanos on Java. It last erupted in 2011. We started with a one-hour bus ride through the city. Soon we were climbing the mountain and even had to resort to first gear occasionally. We stopped for a snack at a hotel and transferred to 4 wheel jeeps to proceed. Four of us singles formed a group for the jeep: Linda from Las Vegas, Jeff from Ohio and Geoff from Melbourne. The road was narrow but paved as we climbed through the bamboo forest. As we proceeded, farms began to appear with vegetables growing on the steep hillside. Finally, we reached the caldera of the volcano. Here we mounted a pony who took us across the sand flats and started a climb up the crater. 

The final ascent

The final ascent was a steep staircase of 250 steps. The rim of the crater was 3 to 10 feet wide, so one had to watch your step. I could hear the gurgling of the steam, smell the sulfur dioxide, and see the steam rising. Occasionally the wind would blow the steam so we could see partially into the crater. I walked back to our jeep. We stopped at a viewpoint on the way back, but the clouds obscured most of the view. We had a good lunch. As we started back to the ship we had our afternoon rain.

Surabaya, Java, Indonesia

Mary and John at Bajang Ratu Gate

We spent all day on our tour to the Archeological sites of the Majapahit Hindhu kingdom. We left the 3 million people in Surabaya to drive into a countryside of rice, sugar cane, and assorted other fruits and vegetables. We had a police escort because even the freeways are bogged down by slow moving trucks and numerous scooters. We started at the Trowulan Architectural Museum. We were entertained by local dancers who shared a welcome dance followed by a dance to fight evil spirits.

Then we saw Buddhist and Hindu statues as well as reliefs from the temple. The museum was filled with kids on school trips, they were excited to say ‘hi’, high five, and wave with foreigners.

Lord Vishu mounting Garuda 

We went on to the Tikus temple, a ritual bathing pool, which contained the holy water from the mountains.

Tikus Temple

Sea day on the way to Indonesia

 

We went to several talks to learn more about Indonesia. The cultural talk today focused on Bali. Over 40% of tourists’ visits are to Bali. In contrast to the rest of Indonesia, Hinduism is the primary (87%) religion here. Islam came to Indonesia in the 15^th century, many Hindus fled to Bali. Bali’s style of Hinduism includes elements of Animism, making it more attractive to the people. Bali is known as the Island of the Gods with over 20,000 temples. There are some cultural taboos: the left hand is considered unclean, and one never touches someone on the head. The head is considered the seat of your soul. Nyepi the day of silence, is the day to convince the evil spirits that the island is deserted. Every business, school, and even the airport is closed. Throughout Bali, you will see Bantan, offerings to the gods. Caning Saui is a daily small offering. Banten Tegala is a stacked offering of fruit. The most interesting cultural fact is the Metatah ceremony where the canine teeth of the teenager are filed when they reach puberty, the ceremony to become an adult. Filing the canine teeth makes them human, different than other animals.

We began what would become a nightly ritual. We had first seating at a table of eight. Last night, we had one other couple Indonesia at the table, but we soon learned they preferred the Lido for dinner. Tonight, it was just us at our table of eight. After dinner, we would go to the Billboard lounge and listen to Megan and Gabe, who played hits on two pianos. 

At Sea on the Noordam

 

A video of this trip is available on youtube

We arrived in Singapore at 7:15 on Sunday morning after leaving Denver at 5:30 PM on Friday. We boarded the ship, Holland America’s Noordam, at about 1 PM. We’re learning about our ports of call and the culture of Indonesia during our two days at sea. Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands and 277 million people. It also has over 700 languages and more than 600 ethnic groups with unique cultures and ethics.

Torajan Houses

Our speaker explored the Torajan people who live in the mountains of Sulawesi island. The houses are unique in the shape of a saddle back, believed to have originated from turning their boats upside down. This culture is known for their death rituals, which last several days and involves the whole village and possibly nearby villages. It may cost up to $100,000. This requires the family to save up over years for the rite. Meanwhile, the body us mummified, dressed in clothes, and stays with the family. It is fed, clothes are changed and even given cigarettes if they smoked. The funeral itself can last as long as 12 days with meals of Buffalo and pig. The body is buried in the caves of the mountains with a wooden statue of the deceased in a balcony in front. Once a year, the body is brought out, dried and clothed with new garments, and paraded around the village.

Wooden statues in front of grave site