Whale of a time!! Off to Singapore - II

2nd mar 2005 (0414hrs Indonesia Time)

1st mar 2005 (lost count of IST!)

I planned to wake up early in the morning today, but slept very late last night due to the rains. So when I did get up in the morning (very late :-!) the clock had been put forward by an hour already. and it was very smoky.

We are passing the Sumatra region...Sumatra is very hot and dry which leads to lot of forest fires. The air smelt of wood smoke in the morning and the visibility was very poor. have been seeing fishing boats throughout the day today. What a contrast to the rains last night. It was just awesome...with nothing but water around you...Force 6 wind blowing in your face...raindrops were falling on my head...lalalala :-)

Also this was one of the more affected areas due to the earthquake and tsunami...Crew here says that they saw bodies floating all over during that voyage of theirs. PONL Colombo had just sailed from Colombo when tsunami had started, but the impact of tsunami is least felt by those in the middle of the sea than those close to the shores.

In fact also got to know that the vessel I am on actually killed a whale on one of its voyages. The whale got stuck in Bulbao's Bow. The crew could not understand why her speed was not as it should be. They checked out all over the place until, they realised that there was something stuck at the bow!! They tried to free the poor creature, but couldn't manage in time enough. These are indeed hazards of misusing nature in nature's context.

Coming to food :-)

vegetarian food? well the cook here is sweet and tries to make separate veg food, but I end up having soups, brown bread, salads, nutella ummmm...fruit icecreams, mayonnaise, thousand island dressing over everything, wine...if you notice..hehehehe...all things fatty save the wine :-P

Other than that you only have lots of beef, ham, sausages, fish etc etc etc....

Anyhow...i cooked in the galley today! They only had hamburger for lunch, so me went ahead and told them that i wanna make aloo ki tikki to make veg hamburger ;-)

Those people had no idea what a veg hamburger is :-o!!!

Preparing aloo ki tikki in the galley

Am sure have gained atleast 2 kilos here with cheese/mayonnaise/nutella over everything/icecreams with less ice more cream..or so it seems after i have had my fill ;-)

It 0930 pm Malaysian time. We are nearing Port Kelang now. the coast is glittering with lights all over...gotta go up on the bridge as do not want to miss anything.

In about half an hour, the pilot will berth the vessel. Am excited about the operations that take place right from the time the pilot comes on board till the time of berthing, so for now am off

Bye and take care

Lots of love

Me!