Monday 7th April

The alarm got us up at 6:00am this morning as we were on an early trip, Flora, Fauna and Spices. This meant that we were up at breakfast before we were alongside, something we have not done for a while. However it did not reward us as it has so often done previously. The approach was very uninspiring and the only thing of note, sadly was the line of pollution laying above the skyscrapers which was very prominent because it and the buildings were lit up as the sun rose behind us. Georgetown lies on a flat area of land between two ranges of hills and from where we were, it looked like they were at sea level which made them seem vulnerable to rising sea levels and global warming. As we drew closer we noted that they were a few metres higher so no panic yet. Just tsunamis to worry about and we saw a couple of tsunamis warning sites on WiFi when we finally got ashore.

Careena was our guide and for a tiny Malaysian girl, she had a powerfully clear voice and knew her stuff. We went to the botanical gardens first which she proudly told us were natural and had not been created like other botanical gardens. She reeled off facts and figures and descriptions of various plants and trees. One which springs to mind was the cannon ball tree which had seed pods the size of, yes you’ve guessed it, cannon balls. These don’t just look like cannon balls, they explode like them scattering their seeds far and wide. Luckily none exploded while we were there. The gardens were extremely well laid out with formal areas in the centre and less formal on the periphery. One area was a path through typical Borneo jungle, with the bird calls and monkey shrieks you see and hear in the old Tarzan films. We could have spent much longer there as it was so peaceful, but we had to move on to the spice gardens which were just as interesting.

Careena handed us over to a spice expert for this part of the tour and he was also a mine of information. His rapid fire delivery was punctuated by his handing out of various crushed leaves, seeds and stems for us to sniff or sniff and taste. All of these were good for various conditions backed up (he promised us) by scientific research. Up hills and down valleys we trailed marvelling at each new fact he gave us on every plant or tree we passed.

And, finally on to the Butterfly farm which needless to say was just as good. Some trips are poor some are OK and some are great, this time we were on a great one. Entering the main area we were surrounded by hundreds of tropical butterflies of dozens of varieties, their chrysalis hanging and hatching. The only problem was it was extremely difficult to get a decent photograph as they didn’t keep still for long. The farm didn’t just have butterflies, there were spiders, beetles, frogs, cockroaches and other creepy crawlies (unscientifically put, I know) fortunately these were for the most part behind glass. That was it as far as the visits were concerned and we finally boarded our coach for the half hour drive back to the ship. We stopped off there for a bite to eat before heading back ashore for a brief walk around the port area as everyone was due to be back on board by 4.00pm. A good port bearing in mind that the publicity for the port and tours was not very positive.

By the way, if anyone has any ideas what we can do in Haifa that does not involved churches, mosques, or sites with religious overtones can you advise. All the trips that have just been released for this port (in place of Egypt) are to the many religious places in Israel, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee etc. Carols seen these and I have no particular interest in seeing them. As this is all that is on offer, we are on our own for these two days, so I thought perhaps we could draw on your collective experience. Fingers crossed.