Bali, Komodo and the Queen of the Flute

Our second cruise started in Singapore, which unfortunately was a port-manning day for me, so I was unable to get off the ship and explore.  The ship requires some personnel to stay aboard at all times for safety reasons and Singapore happened to land on my day.  Since it was an embarkation day, I had to work most of the day by giving people their passports as they left, and then checking the new guests in and welcoming them aboard.  Every embarkation day has a captain’s welcome in the evening where we stand and greet and help guests to their seats.

This week I’ve hosted bingo, golf putting, water volleyball, tea-chat and a musical quiz.  Some activities are more fun than others.  I really enjoyed water volleyball, but I forgot sunscreen!  I didn’t burn, but with subsequent trips to Bali and Komodo, my face is much darker than it used to be.

I got to ride an elephant in Bali which was awesome!  My “driver” even made the elephant run, which was exciting!  The rest of the cast got a personal tour through the monkey jungle, temples and shops of Bali from Jane Rutter.  Jane is recognized as Queen of the Flute and is very famous as well as incredibly talented and personable.  I got to accompany her for two of her shows on piano!  She was extremely nice and I am sad that she is leaving the ship today, but she will be back in March.  Google and Youtube her if you aren’t familiar.

The next island we stopped at was Komodo.  The Komodo Dragons are gigantic and very scary looking.  I went with the guests on this excursion as well, so had to walk at the back of the group.  This was fine by me because it meant I had a guide with a stick next to me at all times.  When I asked him what he would do if a Komodo attacked our group, he said that he would climb a tree.  I’m not sure if he was joking.  Jason bought me pearls and a carving of a wooden Komodo.  There were twenty vendors on each side as we left the island, all calling my name thanks to my nametag.  Overwhelming!  Then, just before we got on the boat to take us back to our ship, all of the guides wanted to take a picture with the American girl.  It was ridiculously hot on the island and everyone was drenched with sweat.  Everybody took a shower when we got back.

We spent yesterday at sea and last night I played the second show with Jane which was an Irish Tribute.  This morning we are docking in Darwin, Australia which means we have to set our clocks forward by half an hour.  Very bizarre.  I’m so excited to see Australia and my goal is to hold a Koala.  I know Jason is excited as Australia is first on his list of places to see.  I hope they have good food!