Port of Singapore to Port Kelang; life aboard

Sunday 27th January 2013

Day2

I wake at 3:30am. As I rise, I see a tug outside our porthole. We must be about to leave. Roy agrees to come topside, on dockside to port, to watch our departure. It is dark with a full moon. I put on a dressing gown. There are lights everywhere and the ship has left the dock. Tugs are pulling us away from our berth. We see the lights of Singapore as we swing away towards the east then the ship turns in a huge sweep around to the west. We watch as a pilot boat pulls up alongside our ship, which has stopped moving. Somehow the pilot has clambered down to this boat and we see him walking on tiny deck, with such steady steps. His job is done. We head back to our cabin to sleep till dawn. It is so easy to settle down though now I can feel the gentlest rolling under my body as it interacts with the mattress. It is such slight and yet perceptible. These seamen onboard who spend six or nine months working must miss this feeling when the earth keeps so still. There is no unpleasantness here. All is calm. We wake at 7:30 am and I wake Roy because breakfast finishes at 8am. We have a quick wash. Outside it is ocean and some ships, all are being passed by this fastest vessel. We are expected for breakfast. Jeannette does not join us. Last night Roy was going to leave 50 euros under the plate but we decide to give it directly to Gary. It is a tip, mentioned in our details brochure, and needs to be direct. This morning we read that payment on board is in US dollars. I am sure I read euros were accepted. After breakfast Roy gives the 50 euros to Gary and he expressed surprise. What is this for? A gift, says Roy. He seems very pleased. I take the carton of orange juice back to our cabin. I do my teeth, shower and have boiled water for the Neti pot. Roy is sitting on a bench on deck with the binoculars. He had come in for me but I was showering. He lies down in bed to sleep. We can buy beers or spirits on board. We are eating meat again because it is the service here. We can return to our chosen diet in UK. :::: When Roy wakes and I have rested, as well as watching the ocean of the Malacca Straits passing by, including the disappearance of a fishing net with a long line of buoys which touched the ship's side, we agree to take a stroll down to A deck. As we pass by Jeannette's doorway she asks if she may come, too. Still only in French. Roy says, come on. We see that A deck is not yet the lower deck that runs around the ship. The outside stairs, going down, have a locked grill gate. We try the internal stairs and find ourselves right on the outside walkway that circumnavigates the ship. It is all in the shade. Jeannette starts to walk with us but she becomes unsettled looking up at the containers and worried about falling stuff. It isn't likely seeing as we are not at dock. We are traveling on the sea. Still she turns back and we go on to the bow. We stop for a rest, sitting on a stanchion. It is very calm and peaceful there at the very front, lots of big equipment; the largest chains for the anchor which pierces the deck to port and starboard anchors. Huge rope coiled on metal wheels, some fraying of the rope showing the nylon innards. We watch the movement of the ship from the very front and it is a wonderful view. A small fishing boat takes no notice as we pass. Roy points out the net dragging behind it. There are so many different types of ships, boats and we pass them all. We can see the coast of Malaysia to our right (starboard) and the mountains inland. It is impossible to image as there is a mist. We are thoroughly engrossed in the view. It is very hot in the full sun and I make myself comfortable lying on one of the round, flat topped, yellow and black painted stanchions. Roy joins me and we relax for a half hour just watching the coast glide by. There are lots of water and land items to take notice of. It gets closer to midday and I tell Roy we should go in for lunch. He claims he isn't hungry. Still we walk slowly back to the forecastle. Sammy the chef comes out to acknowledge us and this can only have been because of the tip. This is fine and we have a short chat but mostly smiles. I ask if he bakes biscuits but he says cakes are easier with so many mohths to feed. We have filled in a slop chest order. Roy orders Heinekin beers, a case, a bottle of red and white wine, two tins of nuts, a tube of Pringles, two Toblerones, whiskey and a case of Coke. After lunch Jeannette comes to table to join us though she has already eaten. This is a thawing. Unfortunately the ship's purser, Joey, also comes to explain some problems with the slop chest order. There's no whiskey, only gin. Roy cancels the Coke. Can we have tonic instead? There's a problem with this and he tries to explain. In the end he asks us to come to the store. We apologise to Jeannette and follow Joey. We see our order and others piled on the deck corridor. In the store on shelving are the minimal options available for choice. More nuts are selected by Roy. The tonic water case has an expiry date of 2011 and Joey is reluctant to deliver this. He must check with the Captain as he pays tax on this stuff (or not). We cannot just take it unless he checks first. Stuff must never just disappear without documentation and expired produce is troublesome. We take a case of Mountain Dew instead as we should have some mixer. We must pay before disembarking and I explain we have euros. This is fine. Crew cannot have any alcohol, only for passengers. We return to our cabin. We are approaching Port Kelang, Malaysia. It is just inland to Kuala Lumpur and we are asked if we wish to go ashore. I think it's a great idea and Roy goes along. I have also bought a new souvenir CMA CGM T-shirt. It is good quality and a nice reminder. I wear it. As we enter the lift to go to our F Deck Joey invites us to visit the bridge when he's on duty between 8am and 12am. We relax and wait. Gary brings our order and I stow it. There are plenty of huge bottles of still drinking water for our use. I ask for an ice cube tray and he brings it, from the next cabin. I fill it and we wait for ice. Although we have really just had lunch Roy starts to munch on nuts, drinks some beers and opens the Pringles. I taste the Pringles but they are so salty and over flavored. I do try some Toblerone, which unfortunately is white chocolate not cocoa. Roy plays solitaire with the cards we bought. Finally he reads and I go to watch as we approach the coast of Malaysia and the port. Later Roy suggests we go to get a tea from the mess. We step outside the exit door there and while we drink our tea we watch the port activity. We have docked and the gang way is lowered using a winch. Three men manoeuvre some green netting, dropping it to the dock then hooking it alongside, and under, the gang way for safety. It is quite a performance. About 50 men are waiting, given papers with containers marked then an impromptu lottery occurs. A foreman tosses some torn paper pieces onto the ground and the men grab a piece each. It is the fairest way sometimes. A crewmember joins us on the platform and locks the life raft, by which we are standing. He goes over to the other side too, as security for the drugs onboard. We have a perfect view of the activity on dock and we watch with avid interest. Everything is new and all the activity is a point to image before it becomes boring. We watch as the men come on board. Two Indian men work at releasing the ties that are attaching the lower containers to the deck. Neither wear hard hats, though I suspect a falling tie could damage a skull. Ignorance could lead to injury. We finally head back inside to our room. It is clear we will not be going ashore here. We watch more loading and unloading from our upper deck until it is time to go to dinner. We head down. Jeannette joins us and tries to talk but she keeps talking French and my vocabulary isn't up to it. The Captain's table is full with six members. We greet them but they speak a foreign tongue. Jeannette presumed it was English, but when I ask Gary, he says the officers all speak Croatian. That makes sense as Montenegro is just next door. I take our dirty cups to Gary who is preparing garlic. I say yum but didn't expect him to present me with half a dozen raw cloves. I return them and explain cooked is more tasty. We need to lie down. I use ball-in-the-bag massage releases but no TaiChi. We relax on deck when it is cool. Roy sits on the bench, I take out my foam roll and put it on the deck. We watch the cranes work, a container a minute. The rear dock crane breaks and some engineers, walk along access way to fix it. This is a delay. It is interesting to watch as the crane's chain end is stuck in the hold. The operator's cabin is vacated and this must entail a delay. Roy now pours himself a white wine. Too late I realise I cannot now roll up my foam mat as the black soot that covers the deck will cover the roll, and rolling it will make dirty the inside. In the end I fold it double, clean sides together and roll it doubled. The strap holds it together and I leave it with the tables and benches on deck. We settled inside and Roy pours another white. I keep writing my diary until I am up to date. Roy has also come to bed. The loading outside will be ongoing until 3am when we leave for a 17 day, non-stop journey through the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea, Straits of Gibraltar, Atlantic Ocean and our first stop at Le Havre, France, where presumably Jeannette will disembark. She comes from Marseilles. At last, at 10 pm, I have finished writing up the latest, and am exhausted. My pelvis is sore. Plenty of rest is needed. So we have begun our usual travel. How will we feel after a month? :::: 

Monday 28th January 2013

Day3

I wake at about 3:30am and check the cranes. They are still all down and working. It will be a while yet before we leave. I use ball-in-the-bag to relieve the back and pelvis tension then return to sleep. We both sleep well. I wake again at 6am and go outside on deck. There are some Indians with mops washing down the corridor. I step out and it is very warm. There is still loading going on to the front of the forecastle. I repeat the ball-in-the-bag releases to find the worst tensions. Roy initially says he's not hungry but I encourage him to come to breakfast, even if just for tea and fruit. I check out the laundry on D deck with Roy but cannot see any washing powder. Gary welcomes us. Jeannette does not join us. Maybe she ate earlier. The Captain Drako Certovic sits alone at his table. We are greeted but there is no further easy conversation. Only later when we ask when we are expected to sail, Gary asks the Captain. Probably at 10am. I ask about the laundry and Gary tells me there's a laundry on our deck. He will bring up some powder and softener for our use. We finish eating and head back to our room. I find the laundry next to the elevator on our deck. I gather together all our washing from Singapore. Gray comes to show me how to use the machine, it is a huge monster that washes and dries in one run. Every cycle has options. I find it difficult to decide which is the pre-wash compartment and which main wash. Gary tells me the provided washing powder and conditioner should remain in our cabin. I return to our cabin and collect washing. I fill the empty nut container with powder so I don't have to haul the large open bag, also fill a refill plastic bottle with conditioner for a single load. This means I am not carrying the wholesale pack back and forth. I set the load for pre-wash, cold wash, 2x rinse and a low temperature drier. This is best for my light blue shift. Roy falls asleep. While he sleeps I check on the load. I also go outside to watch the activity on deck. Just one last crane is working. I go down two decks to D deck with a much wider section of walkway which allows a view out to hull level. The men are hauling up the landing section of the gang way plank. It will be close to our departure. I watch fascinated but don't have the camera. I am carrying the binoculars. This D deck level walkway crosses to the other side. I check out the mangroves. There are nets laid there; I can see the line of buoys. I watch as two tugs together pull out the next berth's ship and it steams off south. I watch as a pilot boat flashes past heading north. There are fishing kraits and other ships coming and going. When I see the tug boats line up with our ship I check the other side. Yes, the crane has finished and it's lifted into the air. We must be leaving very soon. I see men standing by the lines to let us go. I go back to the cabin and wake Roy, because this is our last Asian port with no more stops for 17 days! Come on, sleep later. He does decide to join me on D deck. As we head down I point out a massive spit bbq down on E deck. Roy spots a sunlounge there too. We will commandeer this for my use. We watch fascinated as the tugs pull us away from the berth. It is so close and I don't have my camera. I decided to return to our cabin but forget the door key! This is too much and I return to Roy. I decided to just remember what we see. There is so much interesting stuff that could have made good images. The tug boats at close range, the amazing ability as they turn the ship athwart the river. It is spun by one bow tug pulling the front out into the river, the other pushes the stern towards the leaving bank. On the opposite side there is also a pushing tug at the bow. They are so clever at it. All in slow motion. Suddenly the ropes are dropped and hauled in, the pushing tugs pull away and we are heading down river. We pass a number of small fishing boats hauling nets. We presumably have a pilot onboard. I tell Roy that I watched the pilot boat at night when we left Singapore but it was dark. He stays to watch the port while I monitor starboard watching to find the pilot boat's arrival. I see in the next inlet one of the massive fishing traps that Roy nearly had a collision with so many years ago on Iona sailing ketch. As I check on Roy I see a hang glider above his head. He calls me over and I cross once again. The pilot boat is alongside and waiting, remaining stationary against our ship's side. Did I see the dolphins? No, I missed them. I have no camera to record these amazing sights. We watch as the pilot exits Thalassa's hull, there must be an opening close to the water. He climbs just a few rungs against the hull and lightly steps into the pilot boat. He ducks inside and the boat zooms off at great speed. So we are off. We watch the receding coast where many more pilings are being driven into the seabed. The port is being extended. Also in Singapore the port agent explained that a second port was being built. Such expansion does not sound like an economic slow-down. It is just shy of midday. We are both thirsty. We have to climb back to our own F deck to reenter the ship's forecastle. The other doors are locked. I check the washing and it is at rinse stage. We descend by lift. The crew must smoke constantly; in fact I think the chief officer Milos Churlic, who had his cabin just across from us, a quiet bloke, is smoking in his room and lift. I have seen him but he didn't respond with any cheer. I notice he has two cases of beer delivered to his cabin, so he is probably permitted to drink, too, when off duty. I make us a cuppa in the mess. Gary greets us but lunch is still 10 minutes away. We cross over to the Officer's Recreation room and finally I can lie down. It has been very difficult and yet the interesting sights are priceless. Roy checks his old wounds. The narrow boat accident injury is well healed. We relax. We enter the dining room and Jeannette is already eating. I ask also about the meals that the Filipino crew eat. We like Filipino food. He will talk to the chef. He mentions an option which I don't recognise. He then teases me with asking if I like 'balut'. It is the partially grown fetus chicken in the egg. We know of this but no, we don't eat that. We try to talk to Jeannette, too. She understands most of our conversations but refuses to try English. I continue to form French sentences. She has no children. Only a brother in Marseilles. Her answers go on for much longer than I can understand. Also to Gary she rambles on and on, though he admits to not speaking French either. It doesn't matter as long as we keep conversation open. It will give her company. We pass her cabin door constantly when we use the lift and she is always just lying down on the couch. Does she write? She used to but not anymore. We have two children, a boy and girl. We will email them soon. It is communication but slow and difficult. We finish our meal with huge wedges of watermelon, and have a conversation about the expected weather over the Bay of Bengal, this should be calm. We discuss pirates, and Gary says there is a watch kept. They had an attempted boarding at the Gulf of Aden but the navy captured them. So it does happen and water cannon are used. Jeannette follows the conversation in English although she speaks in French. Maybe she doesn't dare to try as we are all a bit shy in forming foreign sentences. We all need to rest now so return to our cabin. Roy sleeps until 3pm. I collect the washing which is perfectly dry, fold and stow. This makes it easy to keep on top of it. I wash the bathroom floor where we have brought in the black soot on our shoes. We forgot to take them off at the door. I catch up with my diary. I also try the Toughie crossword. This is so hard but I shall learn. When Roy wakes he has peanuts and beer. He won't play cards but reads. I have a white wine and orange juice. I shall check the skyline soon. Gary said we can watch movies by downloading them, from G deck admin office, onto a usb and plugging it into the passengers’ lounge TV. There are many to choose from. We also have our own on the laptop. I lie to rest after the upright morning activity. :::: Roy sleeps a long time and I sit outside on our own private deck. It is easy to just to rest against the railings with binoculars in hand and watch the sea. I check out the opposite side between the containers. The sunlight is catching the very tips of the curling waves. It is so bright and as I stare they become like brightly lit silver, molten and glistening as solid silver that has liquefied. I try to imagine how a child might see this without the knowledge of the actual waves and choppy water. It is beautiful. I use the binoculars to stare and something strange occurs. Maybe it is the polarization on the lens, combined with the constant one way movement of the ship. The waves which are just quiet chops on top of the swell change into apparent long, long roiling strands. These strands are thick like skeins of thread, closely roiling lengths of spaghetti or stretched taffy. The colour of these strands is like spaghetti, soft beige; not at all what I see when I remove the binoculars. The mass of 'rope' is endlessly twisting and being swept like tresses of hair in the wind always in long single direction but the silver tips so numerous on the port side of the ship, shift to appearing as if they are the background on which the strands are superimposed. My perspective changes, like looking at those Magic Eye pictures where an image emerges from a random blur. It seems I am now looking up at these strands, they are solid and the background is also solid silver sparkling like a completely star-filled, bubbling metallic silver shining expanse that is peeking through between the strands. It is compelling and so beautiful. As soon as I take the binoculars away the illusion disappears but putting the binoculars back up and it is an instant transformation into those constantly moving strands superimposed on a sparkling, endlessly beautiful silver background which just show glimpses between the moving mass. I get tried sitting and have to go inside to lie flat. Roy sleeps. When he wakes I show him what I saw. He pulls a bench out from the stack in the corner with a back rest for me to lie on. Inside I manage to do a round of TaiChi. At 6pm we go to dinner. We both eat because it is offered. We take a cup of tea back to our cabin. We go outside for a short while to see the stars. It is so warm and pleasant. The Captain catches Roy in the corridor and invites us to the bridge after breakfast tomorrow.  Roy falls asleep. I read some 'Life of Pi'. He is on the water in a life raft with a tiger. We have been told that the clock is set back one hour at midnight. We are moving westward and so changing time zones. I set my watch, the wall clocks are synchronized. Still I sleep well with only occasional waking.

Tuesday 29th January 2013

Day 4

I wake at 5am. I shower and dress. Roy comes too. We are both ready to check out the bridge so we return to our cabin first. We go up to the admin office to select some DVD films. The selection is extensive and yet we both have trouble choosing. We return to our cabin then at 8:30am climb the stairs to the bridge. I have my camera. It is a very open space with the console curved through its center. There is also a desk set at the back wall. We look at all the screens and rows and rows of buttons. One screen has the radar. Another, a more typical navigation chart. We don't know what we are looking at. Roy jokes about the size of the wheel. The Captain takes us out on to the extended deck, where he shows us the extra console for working at port, and opens a roll top. There are more controls with the tiniest wheel, just three inches across. It is raining and we step back inside. Roy says let's go, but what is the hurry? I ask about each screen. The navigation chart is used as a guide. It shows we are just crossing the northern tip of Sumatra, south of a small island of the Andaman chain. I look at the Captain's paper chart which has the ship’s route pencil marks. He laughs and says it is all done by GPS now. I show I know a little by asking about sextant readings with morning and evening sun. I take quite a few pictures. We also are shown the radar screen. We are at the centre of the concentric circle lines. The other ships and the land mass is in yellow. The ships moving in the same direction, there is only one, have a splash of radiating red lines on the eastern edge of their outline. The ones heading east have the radiations to their west. The land mass also has an eastern blurring. Captain shows me how he can outline each moving blob and identify its name, size, cargo, call sign and details. He points out the speed control hand under a perspex cover. It is super sensitive and connects to the engine room. His commands are conveyed by this. It is currently at its furtherest forward point.  Roy is ready to leave. Joey, who is also on the bridge and two other officers, makes an appointment with us at 1pm for a safety talk about signals, etc. on board. We will meet him in the ship's office on the deck below A deck, called U deck. We return to our cabin and decide to watch a movie in the passengers lounge. I learn to use the controls. We select a movie called 'Splice'. We manage just a short section and give it up. It is rubbish. Gary pops his head in. We prefer to return to our own space. Roy reads and falls asleep. I decide to watch 'Les Miserables' on my laptop, having checked with Roy first. It is a wonderful movie and I thoroughly enjoy it. The emotion stirred by the singing causes tears to flow. I stop it halfway and decide to compose an email to the family. I enjoy writing to tell our story. It is almost lunch time and I wake Roy. He isn't hungry and wants to stay asleep. :::: I go down alone and try to converse with Ginette. I spelt her name phonetically before but this is what is on the passenger's list. She continues to mumble along to herself when I don't understand after I have asked a carefully worded question. I take Roy a cup of tea and some bread and cheese. I remind him of our appointment with Joey at 1pm. He gets ready. We are on time at the ship's office on U deck. We arrive and Joey is waiting. He shows us the list of safety and security regulations. I have read them already in the folder in our room. The most important issue is when a general alarm sounds, seven short followed by a long blast, our muster is to the bridge. Whether fire or other problem we must go to the bridge where we will be informed. The only different scenario is if the general alarm is followed by piracy, piracy, piracy call. We must then proceed to the engine room. There is a bolt hole where we will be secured. This is because pirates tend to try to take the bridge and we must not go there. We will be kept safe downstairs. We must not go down by lift but go by the stairs. Joey takes us through the list of items, where is the safety equipment, fire hoses? Next he takes us to the rooms where life vests are stored. When we want to go for a walk along to the bow or stern, we must wear hard hats. Also call 20 to notify bridge that we are leaving and on our return. He goes by lift down to Engine Room level. The engineer is in the lift with us too and he berates the 2nd mate for not decking us out in safety gear. He tries to make light of this but his aim is to belittle Joey. Patting him on the head and saying, 'You should know better than this.' Joey just replies that we are not going in. We just watch and see the control room of the engines. Through a glass partition we can see the engines which apparently is a very, very hot and noisy space. It must be sound proofed. We are only shown the place we would need to go. Then we go back up to U deck. Joey finds us hard hats and we adjust them to fit, shortening the chin straps. On the way out to the deck wall we are shown the fire-fighting equipment room. Also the waste separation room. Nothing is thrown overboard any more. We take a full tour around the perimeter of the ship, along the starboard side, alerting the cleaning and grinding crew of our presence so they can stop to let us pass. High pressure hoses are used to clean the deck of soot. The men are working with metal grinders on the deck, where patches of surface rust are ground down. This is a never-ending maintenance task, apparently.  We stop at the bow to appreciate the calm. There is no wind at this point of the ship. Then we slowly head back to the forecastle. We continue on towards the stern, down some stairs into the huge stern underdeck. Joey explains that when we enter pirate prone areas barb wire is place across the back to prevent boarding. All lights are switched off, and the portholes are covered to prevent light leakage. Thus the ship is less visible for attack. We will be notified. We continue round to the other stairs and back to our exit. Joey suggests not wearing a skirt when we walk. I concur; the flapping cloth can get caught. We are ready to sign off and then thank him for his time then head to our cabin. I lie down and finish preparing my email. Soon it is time for dinner. Gary comes to the table with a bottle of red, he pours us a glass each. It is Merlot from Liban, Lebanon. This is from the Captain. Both salmon and wine was delicious. Roy pours himself a second glass. As I leave the mess, I ask the captain if I may use the email soon. He says come up any time. Roy doesn't want to come. I transfer the long, long email to the usb stick. I go up to G deck where the Captain's office is. He is in his day room and comes to show me how to do this. Open Microsoft Outlook, select the compose email and put in recipients. Then it is standard typing. We try to load the usb stick but it won't respond. I cannot access the memory at all. Perhaps it has been disabled by their IT department. I type an impromptu email adding as much as I can remember. It is now obvious that this email is readable by anyone who has access to this account. master@vessel.com. This also relates to any responses from the children. Oh well, probably a good thing that I don't send the original written message as the personal comments were not so flattering. I give them fair warning that these emails are very public. When I am finished, the captain comes over from his room and I thank him. He says I can send them anytime. We are again to set back our clocks an hour. Gary said it happens eight times. Roy is fast asleep when I come to the cabin and I settle down too. I read 'Life of Pi' and eventually start to doze. Lights off.

Wednesday 30th January 2013

Day 5

I get up at 11:30pm having slept. I drink heaps. I wake again at 5am. I read for a while longer. Also find the usb extension cable so the mobile can charge while I read as well as write diary. At 6am I shower and wash my hair. It is a long process and I use the fresh air on deck to dry it off. We compromise to manage. I wake Roy for breakfast. We are both hungry and it must be the sea air. Gary tells us that today dinner will be a barbeque on our F deck. Did that mean we are hosts? I shall bring out the box of my after dinner mints to share. Roy and I have decided to take another deck walk today. But first I must use the ball-in-the-bag to release tension. My neck and shoulders are aching. I spend almost an hour releasing the whole body. Even the neck and buttocks. There are many tight spots and painful. I need to rest after and watch the end of Les Miserables. It is so emotional and I cry a lot. I love the movie. There is a knock and Joey brings us a reply email. It is good to hear that normal things are occurring. Our daughter is thrilled to get our news. Next Roy and I take our walk around the deck. We don our hard hats and the Captain is in the ship's office so we tell him we are going out. We see at the stern that the barb wire has been placed. It looks formidable. I take lots of photos. We return on time for lunch. This morning I requested the Captain about filling the pool. He has agreed. I would use it every day. We ask Gary when we are expected to berth at Le Havre. He checks with the officers and it is on Valentine's day, 14th February. :::: We are not sure what the bbq will turn out like. Both of us need to rest. I decide to catch up with my diary entries and then I just attempt the Toughie crossword book. It is quite engaging, though I often have to cheat. Roy falls asleep. I go outside for a while and the tables and chairs have all been set up, cleaned and prepared for this evening. I watch the ocean, endlessly fascinating. I manage a full 85 form TaiChi despite the slight rolling putting me off balance. It is hard enough on firm land but although there is no difficulty with the slight rocking on this huge ship, when balancing for TaiChi I lose my base, my feet wobble. Still I practice daily to maintain my memory of moves and do my best. I see some activity on our deck. At one point the Captain comes down the outside stairs. When Roy wakes he pours himself a beer. I have a gin and tonic, with a slice of orange. We sit outside on the bench with backrest. Sammy the chef invites us down to check the bbq. It is being cooked downstairs. 

Click on link to view YouTube video of Malacca Straits 

Port Singapore to Port Kelang, Malaysia

Sunset over Singapore Harbour

We arrive at Port Kelang, Malaysia

Dining room for officers and passengers