Sunday 6th April

We slugged our way up The Malacca Straits which is the main shipping channel linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans carrying a quarter of the world’s goods (including 15 million barrels of oil) on 50,000 vessels per year between Asia’s major economies, so it’s a bit busy. It is a ten mile channel approach to Port Klang (posh people spell it Kelang because they think Klang sounds vulgar, but when we arrived at the Ocean terminal, written along the top of the terminal was “Welcome to Port Klang” so if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me). It is an apt name for this town because there was rusting metal everywhere. It is an industrial town as well as being Malaysia’s leading port and was formed at the confluence of the rivers Klang and Gambak relatively recently in 1857 when a group of tin prospectors founded the settlement after discovering tin in the region. Klang subsequently grew rich on the proceeds but as so often happens with industrial towns, the wealthy moved some 28 miles away and Kuala Lumpur was built on the wealth created in the port.

Klang has very little of interest for the tourist, other than a gigantic shopping mall and as we didn’t fancy the one and a half hour drive to Kuala Lumpur for a two hour visit (having previously stayed there for a few days) we opted for the mall. It turned out to be the better decision when we heard the tales from those who had chosen KL. According to them, they were whisked around the sites and then dumped in a market until it was time to head back through the traffic. Talking about shopping, you may have seen photos of Carol entering an M & S store in Singapore and leaving one in Hong Kong. These were taken as evidence that we come halfway round the world for Carol to shop in M & S. Though she did say that the styles were different and there were a lot of smaller sizes, so that’s OK then. Anyway we didn’t spend long in town before finding our way back on board. In the evening we went up to the Commodore Lounge for a couple before dinner and listened to the hair-raising account of William’s escape from Tower 2 of the World Trade Centre. I’ve got a graze on my chin from where it hit the ground when he was relating it. Island of Penang tomorrow, temperature predicted to be 37°C

Tuesday 8th April

Got an extra hour in bed last night as the clocks went back another hour again, we are back to six hours ahead of you. We spent the night transiting the last part of the Malacca Straits then heading west north west across the northern entrance of the Straits before skirting round the northernmost tip of Sumatra through the Nicobar islands and then turning due west across the Bay of Bengal, (which at 839,000 square miles is the largest bay in the world) heading for Columbo, Sri Lanka, leaving the busiest shipping lanes well behind us. Even with the extra hour in bed we were up late and went to breakfast at a sensible nine o’clock.

Carol spent some of the morning worshipping the sun as we haven’t had too much of it lately. It’s been very hot but there has been a lot of cloud about. Perfect for me but Carol likes the sun, but she will get a lot more of it when we head into the Middle East. Temperature today is 30°C with just a slight breeze, the sea is flat calm, slightly glassy in places. Flying fish break the surface occasionally and this morning whilst at breakfast we saw a couple of schools of porpoises busily porpoising along, they were on a mission make no mistake. Tomorrow’s weather is forecast to be the same as today’s.

Tonight before we went up to dinner we sat on the balcony having a couple of drinks and the sunset was a typical African sunset (I know, we are nowhere near Africa), but the flat glossy sea and the dark grey cumulus cloud formation climbing high into the sky with intensely bright red edges set against a gold background was a true African sky, which changed slowly as the sun set out of site behind the cloud formation. And as the light from the sun faded, a bright silver light from the moon directly overhead replaced it and altered the seascape from dramatic scarlet and gold to a monochrome silver dark grey, blue and grey, no less spectacular for the loss of intensity of colour. Formal dinner afterwards which was ok so we clambered back up the stairs to partake of the wines beers and anything else that was on offer. Extra half hour in bed again tomorrow, don’t ask cos I don’t know, but it is only half an hour

Wednesday 9th April

We woke to another peaceful days sailing on an almost flat calm sea with a cloudless sky, hot sun and the only wind provided by the ships passage at twenty one knots. We are still heading due west and it is remarkable that on such a huge open sea we are surrounded by so many other vessels of all shapes and sizes. Heading both in our direction and Eastwards, but when you think about the accuracy of modern satellite navigation aids used to automatically steer these ships along the most direct and therefore economical route I suppose it is no surprise to see them all following a similar narrow corridor and passing at a relatively high closing speed of close to fifty miles per hour, or overtaking an inch at a time like two HGVs on a dual carriageway, mile after mile but at achingly slower speeds. We were passing one ship half a mile off our starboard beam when we went up to lunch and when we finished some 45 minutes later we were only half a length ahead. We watched several schools of dolphins as we passed by and every now and then we spotted large fish leaping out of the sea as if being chased by some predator, well it was either that or they were showing off. Towards the end of the evening we saw the lights of the coast of Sri Lanka on our starboard bow, two days to cross the Bay of Bengal. The Far East already seems so far away, why does coming home always seem so fast when it’s all uphill?

Friday 11th April

Carol is confined to the cabin after spending and uncomfortable night with a combination of diarrhoea and being sick. I am free to come and go, but must eat in the dining room, or in the cabin, I can’t go up to the Lido. As things go at the moment it looks like it is a twenty four hour bug as she was hungry this afternoon with no further signs of illness. They are going to phone her tomorrow afternoon to see if she is still OK and if she is they will set her free and she can then run up the corridor, jump in the air clicking her heels and shouting yippee!

We rounded the southern tip of India into the Arabian Sea and are following the coast fifteen to twenty miles off the Indian sub-continent. Temperature is 33°C and at least Carol can enjoy the sun on the balcony. We can also expect to see an abundance of flying fish as they are the main prey of tuna fish and this area is rich in tuna. Flying fish can travel up to 40 miles per hour and over forty yards in one leap. The weather forecast is good for the next few days, calm sea, light winds, 33°C will remain through our transit up to Mumbai.

We had a piracy exercise today (which we were excused from). Everyone with outside cabins had to go into the corridor and sit on the floor. Those with inside cabins had to remain in their cabins. We were informed that there was an armed international military task force on board including the Royal Navy but it is unlikely anyone will attempt to board a liner travelling at 22 knots. (PS. Saturday am. Carol was released from custody first thing this morning.)

Saturday 12th April

Well as I said Carol was released first thing this morning as all symptoms had gone, so it looks like a bug she picked up in Colombo somehow. All she had to eat was a piece of sponge cake which we all had. The Ships news letter said that there had been an increase of reported gastric sickness in the last twenty four hours and a captain’s special announcement said that these were continuing, so special precautions have been introduced. No more self-service in the Lido for now and to cope with the extra staff needed two restaurants have been temporarily closed. They are worried about Norovirus but I don’t think that was what Carol had because I didn’t get it and it is notoriously contagious, to the extent that you can get it from touching lift buttons. Anyway Carols bug cleared up within twenty four hours.

Today sees us still in the Arabian Sea keeping a good lookout from Pirates, ahaar Jim lad! We were given a talk today by Lieutenant Commander Eedle RN on the background to Piracy in this part of the world, how they operate and what we can or can’t expect. It appears that the risk of a cruise ship being boarded is infinitesimally small as there has never been an attempt on a ship doing more than sixteen knots (we normally do eighteen to twenty two). The pirates require a freeboard (distance between the sea and the ships rail) of less than ten feet, to be able to climb on board easily and they like to board ships with a ratio of two to one or better in numbers (small crew sizes are easier to contain) six pirates holding three thousand people to ransom seems a bit unlikely. But it was an interesting talk and the origins of this spate of piracy plausible. The armed men on board are all ex Royal Marines and are provided by a company called Solace hired by Cunard to provide protection. Lieutenant Commander Eedle RN is a liaison officer for the international force patrolling in this region. He said that he had worked alongside Solace before and had the utmost respect for them, they were extremely well trained and well disciplined. This evening before dinner one of our table told us about the Yorkshire Ripper as he worked on that case as a detective when he was in the police. Hard work when you think there was no computerisation, no word processors and no mobiles. You get some interesting insights into other people’s lives on board.