Brunei

Dear Friends,

Now that I finally have made the time to update my blog….I can’t seem to get connected to it! Hopefully, I will eventually be able to copy and paste this writing into it.

After Marlyse left, I realized that I was far behind with all my regular chores, and my regular schedule continued unabated, such that I seemed to be either totally occupied, or totally exhausted, and unable to catch up. I am not sure yet, that I have totally overcome the respiratory virus that seems to have affected almost everyone on the ship; it has been going on for weeks, and every time I think I have overcome, it starts all over again. No fever, just coughing, coughing, coughing! And at its worst, no energy.

There is probably no way to recap what has gone on since Marlyse left in Sydney. Suffice it to say that the time in Brisbane, Cairnes, and Darwin has passed very quickly. I ate some kangaroo at some point, and found it delicious. I do have pictures from those places, and hope to upload some, eventually.

Yesterday, I visited Brunei and found it to be a place of huge contrasts: extremely opulent (wastefully so) and yet with many views of extreme poverty. There are no taxes to pay, and everything belongs to the “benevolent” sultan, who doles it out to the people, all of whom have the opportunity to go to school, and most of whom feel fortunate for all the handouts they get, but somehow, there is too much display of richness without any value that will guarantee a future. Too much show of gold and money spent just for the sake of spending, all in the name of the sultan. If oil should disappear, the whole country will disintegrate, and if some foreign army decides to invade to take hold of the oil, then Brunei will be no more.

Today, we are back on our regular sea day schedule, and that included: sauna and steam, Yamaha piano lesson, followed by bridge and Spanish lessons, lunch and then duplicate bridge. I am pleased and proud to report that my partner and I came in first place today! which was really a change from our near bottom of the listings in previous sessions. There a many very good players in the competition!

I also took time to practice playing “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” so that I can “perform” for the class tomorrow morning. I hope I won’t make a fool of myself! After tomorrow, we will be in Hong Kong for an overnight, and I am still hoping to get to a fish restaurant in Aberdeen while there. More later.

Hallelluljah! Today, I was able to connect!
Had a wonderful dinner last night at the Japanese restaurant. I'll post some pictures later.