We decided to jump on a cruise to see the eastern Indonesian islands as well as Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.   It was a good idea for two reasons, after reading on the area we still can’t figure out where we want to go and it will be great to not unpack every few nights.  We are averaging about 3.5 nights per hotel stay, so the cruise will be a real treat.  At first glance the ports don’t have that much to offer, it is not just that we have seen a lot of the region or that we have seen the Bali’s and Gili’s of the world. They just aren’t that nice but at least they are still different.  Different goes along way in peaking ones interest.

When the small things in life still amuse one it is a good sign or maybe a sign that we are starting to loses it a bit.  A few things kept us amused and away from the 24-hour cruise buffets.

1) Remember the boogeyman? Well, we saw him.  The name came from indigenous people from Indonesia.

This is not the Boogeyman! Just a sweet lady in Indonesia.

2) Why does every city have a Chinatown, even these remote islands with smalls town have area dedicated to “china town”. I think we should have an Americatown everywhere.

3) We are proud to announce that after a 12-day cruise we never took the elevators, yep call us crazy but we walked via the stairs all week.  Even late night leaving the casino, which can be a feat in itself just getting back to the correct room.

About the ship, the average age was about 70 and it was great because: we had the restaurants to ourselves since everyone was eating at 6:30 pm, we had our own private pool since everyone was napping during our afternoon swim, there was no pressure to talk to everyone, they thought we were the dancers or Pilates instructors since we were so young and when we did speak with a few guests we could say anything we wanted because they couldn’t hear us.  J Yahoo!  Also, since we are now in our forties, it was nice to be considered the “young ones.”

On a more serious note we made a few good friends.  Roz and Jerry from Connecticut were our new BFF’s.  Jerry being a former Pediatrician turned Artist (even showing pieces at the world renowned Art Basal in South Beach), and Roz’s practice as a Therapist has slowed down by her choice so she could focus on being a fabulous Photographer (yes, of National Geographic caliber).  We made friends when dining side-by-side one evening, which evolved in to is having a few ‘double dates’ on the cruise.  One evening before we landed at Port in Kota Kinabalu which is a city in Saba, Malaysia (part of Borneo Island) Greg and I were chatting about how we really should have booked something with the excursion desk. Right on cue, Roz and Jerry waltzed by and Roz mentioned that she was going alone for a fully packed day of sightseeing as Jerry had signed up for a different activity and she was gracious enough to invite us to join her. Perfecto!

On our Roz day, we learned about Headhunting, which thankfully as of 1929 for one tribe and 1948 for another, no longer exists. It is bad enough worrying about Malaria, cleanliness of food, etc…we’d sure hate to add being beheaded to the list!  In a nutshell, a Priestas (always female) is told by the spirits during a ritual how many human heads she needs in order to fulfill the spirits so that she can cure or protect. Then the tribe warriors go out and first paralyze their prey, which are warriors from a different tribe, by way of a blow dart. Once paralyzed they are quickly beheaded and the skulls are cleaned, dried and remain out front of homes, places of worship or around their Village to ward off evil.

House of Skulls

We then went to see some wonderful Orangutans (all of which are from Borneo and have 99% of our DNA) that are being rehabilitated.

Feeding time for our little friend

It was fascinating seeing them, but equally as fascinating seeing Roz photograph them.It was feeding time so these bad boys came swinging down to their food platform and munched away as we clicked our cameras away.  Lastly, was a mangrove cruise, which was reminiscent of our good ole Florida. It was great to hear Roz and Jerry’s stories of travel, shifting of life interests and to know that they still have such a zest for life after so much change.

Adorable kids we met before the mangrove boat ride.

Of course, we also had a handful of Brit friends from the late night piano bar, I didn’t realize their accents get thicker with each drink they have:)

Another cool factoid we learned about the large Chinese population in Malaysia is that at age 12 kids are allowed to make their religious decision, so they are mostly Christian locally, however mainly Muslim elsewhere in Malaysia.

The next stop was Brunei, a new country as of 1986, some rich sultan basically decided he wanted his own country.  Take note Ukraine, it’s that easy for Russia if you don’t watch out.  So I guess a country wasn’t enough so the Sultan went out and bought 5,000 cars.  Not just any cars, all luxury.  Try on 536 Ferraris and 137 Bentleys as just a few examples of the collection.   I think the fast and furious 7 should take place in Brunei and steal all the cars and sell them so the proceeds can go to charity.

After spending the day in town I realize there is nothing that special about having your own country.  It’s just land unless you do something special with it.  So for those of you who thought about owning your own country or island like Sir Richard Branson don’t fret. Just spend your money traveling instead.

In-between ports of call Linda, being the dubious geek that we all know and love, took full advantage of the lectures, art and iMovie classes all week.  We are feeling very westernized again, like we are being brainwashed and prepared to re-enter American life.

Last call Singapore.  Modern, clean as anything we have ever seen, with a booming economy and a major hub for shipping.  The Government puts its money where it’s mouth is, getting a car is an example.  They want to encourage public transit, so you pay a tax equivalent to the price of the car.  Capitalism or some sort of government manipulation at its best. Everyone is in business attire, first place in 9 months where we saw a business environment.  It was strange or at best a wake up (not a wake up call).  We learned that Israel and Singapore have a lot in common and worked closely together in building Singapore.  Israel helped Singapore by teaching them survival and prosperity through brainpower and innovation.  Neither country is large, or has natural resources and both have hostile neighbors.  Both are prospering and growing so they must be doing something right.  If you have an interest in this subject Google the “order – justice” paradox, we learned about it but are still trying to understand it.  Singapore is certainly worth a few days if you are seeking a modern western city in the middle of a developing region.  The irony with Singapore’s success is it’s age…1963 they declared their independence from the UK and joined the Federation of Malaya.  Then in 1965 Malaysia basically kicked them out, they weren’t Muslim and too culturally different, Malaysia probably wishes they could be an Indian giver (oops not supposed to use that term). So, on a side note since we are all in to the origin of words and phrases these days…the “Indian Giver” phrase originated due to a cultural misunderstanding that arose when Europeans first encountered Native Americans. Europeans thought they were receiving gifts from Native Americans, while the Native Americans believed they were engaged in bartering; this resulted in the Native Americans finding European behavior ungenerous and insulting so they took the gifts back.

Back to businesss…Singapore is technologically advanced and we like automatic stuff so it’s a good fit.  Glass doors magically open and toilets lights change color and flush without touching.  Our hotel was the most modern architecture we have stayed at, still trying to figure out how the building is standing with all the open areas and even our 34th floor was with open-air hallways.

View from our hotel down a few floors! So cool!

The river walk is the center of town and reminds us of the same setup in Austin, Texas.  Or just take Reston Town Center and add water.

Our pool at the Singapore Park Royal Hotel

We met a good buddy for dinner, Ray Jefferson, who recently moved to Singapore from DC.

Our buddy, Ray, showing us around Singapore

We had a great dinner and he showed us a few local sites.  A former Special Operations military guy who felt like DC was too restrictive so he moved to Singapore.  Nice idea.  We also hit the infamous Singapore zoo.  Check out the Orangutan trying to grab my hair.  Funny!

He almost has my hair in his little hand! Tarzan, call me Jane!

We have unintentionally started to brainwash ourselves with western style visits recently.  Between the cruise then Singapore and now heading to Japan we are hopefully back in the swing of things “American style”.  We loved all the developing countries experiences, which have been about 95% of our trip, but it is also good to be in a modern environment again.

As we wind down and start reflecting on the beginning of the trip we now realize how much we traveled with new eyes because, well, everything was new.  Now in more western cultures we are feeling like we are traveling with old eyes.  A little bit of “seen it” and we keep reminding our sleeves we haven’t really, it’s still different but just not as extreme as what we experienced earlier in our travels.  Which is fine, we now know what we really love while traveling.  We love all that is “different” as compared to what we grew up with.  People, cultures, views, governments, landscapes, challenges.  The differences really spark our desire to learn and challenge everything we have learned previously

All aboard, last stop Japan!

PHOTOS:
– Cruise: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei
* Indonesia: Bali, Nusa Dua, Surabaya, Semarang, Makassar;
* Malaysia: Kota Kinabalu;
* Brunei: Bandar Seri Begawan