1st Port
Penang just of the North West coast of Malaysia and measuring 15 miles long by nine miles wide and encircled by a 48 mile long coast road. It is connected to Malaysia by an eight mile long bridge which is the 3rd larges in the world. 13 different languages are spoken here. Since we have seen reclining Buddas and temples we did a tour of the local area by trishaw. It was interesting but the man who mananged the trishaw ( a bike with a people carrier in front was a very old Chinesse, looked in his 80's , spoke no english) and I felt uncomfortable with his age having to bike up hills etc and on brick pavement with the combined weight of Gerry and I.
2nd Port
Phuket Thailand which features tall jungled hills, a beautiful coastline, coconut plantations, rice farms, white sand beaches. The island is 1`2 miles wide and 30 miles long and is famous for shell fish. There are 29 Buddist Temples here but we opted for nature. We traveled to Phang-Nga Bay. Here were beautiful dramaticly shaped rock structures and islands. One of the James Bond movies was filmed here. Panyi Island is home to a Muslim fishing building. These people live in very small homes mostly hooked together and built on stilts placing them very close to high tides. This area is naturally protected from Sunami (SP?) as the land itself sets a natural dyke area. The locals do shell work m, some sewing crafts and some wood carvings. Most of the time was spent on the water which was really peaceful.
3rd Port
LangKawi Malaysia...again we opted for nature by taking a small boat and exploring an ecosystem of winding rivers, mangrove forests, isolated islands, bat cave and limestone rock formations. We were able to see various types of Eagles that were beautiful and are attracted to the engins of the boats so fly around and dive into the river for fish.
4th Port
Port Kelang which took us into Kuala Lumpur. I especially thought of you Jeff. How much it must have changed since you were an exchange student there. Many Black Muslim vieled women but children in regular dress. English cricket courts are still used inside of the busy very modern city. The Twin Towers here are beautiful but house offices and shopping Center..one of the largest in the world and I might add extremely expensive....Prada, L.B. Channel etc. The town began with 87 miner- prospectors and 70 died of either fever or tigers. The arictecture is amazing....representing so many cultures. We have been here before so we opted for a walking tour and saw Chinatown, and Hindu Temple, Chinesse Temple, the Central Market, Moorish style train station, and the Blue Mosque. We also went to the Orchard gardens.
5th Port
Singapore We had been here before...that time I had broken my camera and we shopped to replace that so this time was much nicer. We went to a bird park and saw their bird show featuring huge birds. We also visited a Botanical Garden and walked up a huge hill to get a view of the city. It is a city of lights and noice and technology..

Now 5 days at sea....more bridge which keeps us busy. We have done some dancing but nothing late and the rocking of the boat rocks us to sleep. I get up at 5:30 a.m. to get my place in line outside the gym door which is kept locked until 7a.m By that time the line of people outnumners the 8 treadmills so it is necessary. I am always first in line and people joke with me but they also understand at seas days we are busy most of the day teaching or running a tournament. One older man said he was 80....he is there every day on the tread mill for 1 mile takes him 17 minutes...he has been married for 60 some years (same lady) and said she was his best girlfriend :). He said when you find a good thing and you are a farmer you know enough to keep it! He asked what speed how long etc about my use of the treatmill and he said...."Way tooo much" Then he asked how old I was....when I told him, he said "Well, you are only a baby!" All of life is relative!
Sorry about length as well as I am sure there are typos and mis spellings but computer use can be challenging so decided to do it this way!
Love to all