Oct. 26. 2019

I was wide awake at 5:15a.m. what the heck! It's hard to figure out but i think we're about 14 hours ahead of British Columbia so it's about 7p.m. last night there and i'm living in the future here. It might have been an ideal time to phone home but then i don't want to disturb my neighbours even though they disturb me with their tv on way too loud too early too often but i won't play that game. If not for that adjoining door i'd be more comfortable knowing it's pretty sound proof  in cruise cabins. But sometimes you take what you're given and this is the cabin that was assigned to me and it was a bargain so i took it.
All there is to do this early is play my IPad game so it's a good thing i brought it. Actually that's not technically correct as the casino is open 24 hours when at sea and there's food to be eaten and probably passengers to talk to in the Lido but who wants to do either at 5a.m?

I was ready well before 9a.m and the plan was that Judy was going to knock on my door at 9:15. I decided to go to the Lido and find her there and save her the trip. I took my new water bottle with me to fill it with the awesome mango juice that's available only in the mornings. So i walked through both main sections looking for her and when i didn't see her i returned to my room and would you believe in that short of time Anthony had already vaccumed, dusted, made my bed, removed my garbage and laundry, left fresh towels, turned the thermostat down and left me a very cute towel animal.
Judy arrived a couple minutes later and we took off for the Lido so i could get my breakfast and she had already eaten so she just had coffee.

We then went to the Morocco room for trivia and dance class was still in operation. Annie came to our table to tell us of a galley tour that was going to be held today and we hadn't known about it because the info about it was sort of buried in the Fun Times program and i guess i skipped over it. I know that everyone wants to be in on these kind of tours and i'm thinking there'll be lots of people attending. I did a galley tour on HAL years ago and it was awesome and free to see the area where all the food is prepared but now-a-days i think some cruiselines are charging a fee. So we def wanted in on this one.
Well. as it turned out we got the last seats available in the back and the room was full with at least 300 or 400 people. The head of the food dept. gave us a rundown of it and then he said we'll leave from the back of the room and use the stairs to go down to the galley. Luck was on my side and i became the 5th or 6th person in the lineup! It was very cool to see and hear what goes on on deck 0. We didn't get to see any actual food preparation but it was cool to see the place with the fridges, stoves, freezers, grocery and all sorts of other lists and the spic and span stainless steel. I didn't find out until later that Judy and Florine didn't make it; they couldn't do that many stairs so they just hung out in the casino.

We went from there to another trivia game in the atrium and out of 20 questions we got a few but nowhere near to ship on a stick fame. From there we went to the spa where we could win a nice prize like a 3 day spa pass or a massage pkg but we didn't win either. So we went to another trivia and it's subject was scary movies and lots of passengers came dressed for Halloween. There's been a lot of people around the ship today with their costumes on and some were really pretty awesome. Surprising that people will make the effort, take the time and use a lot of space in their suitcase to bring all the stuff they bring.

We went for lunch in the Gold Pearl and i started off with a glass of an awesome fruity whatever it was with floating chia seeds in it. and then a salmon and veggie dish and banana cream pie for dessert. Since i've been home i've found those drinks in my fav grocery store and i've been enjoying several different flavours of them ever since and they're actually real good for you too.

I walked with Judy and Florine to their cabins so they could get their swimsuits and go for a little swim and then i walked to my cabin to take a little break and phone my hubby. My timing was pretty good; it was 11:30 p.m.on Fri. the 25th at home and 1:30 in the afternoon of the 26th here on the ship so i am a full 14 hours ahead of him and living in the future.

Later i went to the casino and found Judy and Florine and we played the slots for awhile. I didn't win anything but Judy picked up $50. We left there and went for dinner in the Black Pearl and sat with a mom and her son from Australia and then Florines roomie  arrived so we had a table of 6. During dinner the Aussie mom revealed that she had been chosen to make a dress for Queen Elizabeth! What a feather in her cap that was. I would have liked to chat with her about it, the whys and when and how it all happened, the fabric and fitting etc. but she was on the opposite side of the table from me and the din in a crowded dining room makes conversation hard. It was a fun lunch with a lot of people in costumes a little early but what do i know of American traditions, maybe they celebrate a few days unlike us who just do on Oct. 31st. But i guess because we'll be off the ship on that date it can be a free for all for a few days which is a lot more fun.
My last cruisemate Annie and her friends were all dressed up as witches and they were all very beautiful witches. Another witch i saw had a huge spider on her shoulder. There were all sorts of costumes everywhere and another one i liked was a monk and then there was a nurse pushing a wheelchair with a very cleverly made pillow person sitting in it. Lots of guys too dressed as the devil or an animal but most went the way of the macabre.

There were free drinks today in the atrium and i was going to take a blue one until Annie recommended the pink one and it was very nice, and that one drink made me tipsy.A drinker i am not,lol!  I went back to the casino like a glutton for punishment, left there and saw a jewellry clearance sale was going on so i took a look. A couple rings tempted me but i ended up not buying because i've already got way too many rings.

Soon it was time to head into the Spectacular showroom and it was a really good show tonight with 50's music; a lot of Elvis and the members of the Glee club doing partners dances to a variety of the songs of the good ol' days which the audience also sang along to. I think it was the best show of this cruise so far, only 3 more to go before we depart.

Everyone is out and about tonight but i had such a full day and am too tired for any more celebrating. so I returned to my room to rest and prepare for my excursion to Vietnam in the morning.

Oct. 25, 2019 Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, Malaysia

I was up way too early again playing my game. I won and i lost and then won again so it was a good time to stop playing. I showered and got ready for my excursion to Kota Kinabalu and still had time to go for breakfast where i saw my friend Vivian in the Lido. I was relieved to see her because calls to her room had gone unanswered but she said her husband found the phone to be in a bad location so he had put it in a drawer. I know exactly what he means because there's only one electrical outlet in the room and it's right behind the dam phone. As well not for him but for me when i use the curling iron it gets twisted up with the curly phone cord as well.  It also gets caught in the top drawer alot because thats the drawer you use the most, right? Well, i knew exactly what he meant by it being a huge PITA.
Anyway Vivian has been sick in bed for several days now and this was the first time she had ventured out when i saw her in the Lido. I was so glad to see her because i had thought they might have left the cruise in Guam for some reason.  We didn't have much time to talk as i had a set time to debark and it was time. We said goodbye for now and then i walked off in the wrong direction so took a lot of extra steps again today.
So i got off the ship and the heat outside at 9 in the morning was stifling and it was quite a trek to get into the terminal building and then out the other side to where a zillion buses were waiting but i made it thanks to my little three legged canvas chair that i took with me.
I found my bus and was one of the first to climb aboard and the ac felt awesome. Once we were full we took off for the hills on the wrong side of the road until we arrived at our destination which was the cultural site.
After a short walk we came to a bridge and let me tell you that was one scary bridge! Only 5 people could be on it at one time and it not only had strange uneven slats on the floor but higher ones as well and they were randomly placed. It was a swinging bridge with hand rails....not real rails but more like a rubber hose and you had to hold on to both sides as you watched your every step and with the bridge swinging as it did well, i was sure hoping we wouldn't have to come back the same way because the river or creek below was vicious and fast running with a lot of rocks and twists and turns and waterfalls. I made the mistake of looking down at it and it was so scary it made me dizzy so i concentrated on my footing. Some people chose not to go over it and they turned back and went and sat in a little covered platform sort of an outside room that had benches all around, toilets and a water dispenser.
I made it across the bridge and carried on down a very rustic path and little did i know but you were supposed to stay with your group but who knows everyones face from a full bus? Especially since i sat in the front. There were at least 10 bus loads of us and we all arrived at this destination about the same time. So, i was having to watch my steps and not looking for familiar faces. I just fit myself into whatever we came to next.  It was also a case of some people lingering longer at an exhibit than others so i just moved along with the crowd to the next exhibit at my own pace. I thought that was what we were supposed to be doing anyhow. I had no idea if i was near anyone from my bus; i just moved along through the whole complex and when i saw my tour guide i asked him if we'd be going back the same way we had come or would we be carrying on to another exhibit. He said we will be going back the same way.

I don't know why or how i interpreted that to meaning that our tour was coming to an end. I decided to get a little head start because then i wouldn't have to rush and i could take my time and sit on my little chair when needed rather than sprinting up that hill to keep up with all the spry ones. It was so hot and i just wanted to get back to the bus. I was also having a hard time breathing or i should say trying to breathe and it wasn't happening naturally. I even said to myself OMG i can't breathe i must have asthma or something and i was on the verge of a panic attack but somehow managed to make myself relax and breathe. I think i've always had something wrong with my lungs but it never became an issue because i'm never in a position like this where i knew i wanted to keep up with my group and that meant i'd be huffing and puffing all the way back and then someone would make a big deal out of it. I didn't want any of that sort of drama so i just kept on going back up that hill by myself, in little increments, sitting every 30 feet or so. When i finally got to the swinging bridge i was the only one there and suddenly there's two employees at my side offering to help me across and one offered to carry my chair. I was so grateful for them being there as i would have probably waited in the beating sun until my group and guide caught up to me.
I forgot to mention that part way on my way back there was a couple from my bus and the husband had taken a bad fall. His wife told me that he had hit a slippery spot and fell with one shoe flying off and he tumbled into the bushes and came close to falling in to that raging river. His knee and knuckles were scraped and bleeding and his shoulder was out of whack. She said the emergency squad had reponded real fast and they were actually cleaning his wounds and applying banages and eventually they had been able to bring a medical van down fairly close to the location. Then they put him in a wheelchair to get to the van and drove him up to the top to wait for the bus.

So, there we were, the rebels and the wounded and me, the one who didn't know that our tour wasn't over yet and the rest of my group were still way down there enjoying a show of the local dancing. Well, we all had to wait and it took forever for our bus to finally appear. By then i was well rested and cooled off and had been enjoying some time spent with Judy and Florine who had chickened out at the bridge and so hadn't been anywhere. I think we waited for close to 2 hours there right where there was shade, toilets and drinking water, a friendly dog and two cats.
Still though i know i missed out on a lot of awesome entertainment that had gone on down there and apparently a gift shop too.
The drive back to the ship was uneventful but took a while because of rush hour traffic. By the time i got back on the ship and into my nice cool cabin i was totally exhausted.

I rested a while and then jumped into the shower and got myself together just in time when Judy knocked on my door. So off we went to Florines room and then we all carried on to the Black Pearl for dinner. We sat at a big table with an Aussie couple and the Aussie twin guys that i had met way back on day 1 or 2. I had a huge dinner of soup, salad, turkey, potato's and when i saw succotash on the menu i had to have that too because i'd never eaten it before and then an awesome almond cake with a honey sauce.
Afterwards we carried on to the casino where we all lost some money but didn't stay long enough for it to become a big waste. I didn't like this casino from day 1 and i still don't like it now; way too tight for the minor penny players, too loose for the people who can play $8. or $10. per hit, old fashioned machines and then to top it off those stupid backless stools. And along with it being a smoking casino well, nah, i'm not fond of this one at all. But then again most if not all cruiseships do allow smoking in the casino and sometimes it doesn't bother me that much so maybe it's because they have better air filtration.

Later we went to see the mind readers show in the showroom and he was ok, a little egotistical but it was all fun for him and he did read peoples minds amazingly too. Judy and i walked together to deck one and she went one way to the odd side and i went to the even side and we were both exhausted from this day. Funny how you always look forward to a port but then it's often a hard or tiresome day and you have to recover from it. I guess we get kind of soft on a cruise, especially one such as this one with very few ports and lots of sea days where you get a little spoiled. Port days are often like this, maybe always like this. But it beats staying onboard because the boredom and the usual over eating scenerio that can get you down worse than the exhaustion. I think typically the only people who stay onboard on a port day are the sun worshippers or those who are ill. Or the ones who miss their excursions for whatever reason.
All in all it was a very good day and we have departed and are on now on our way to Vietnam.

 Making fire, holy shades of Survivor!