Lombok Indonesia,
This turned out to be a different day than the one we planned three months ago.
When we were in Darwin a few days ago I really minded the heat, Even with wearing a hat and drinking lots of water I was really suffering from the heat and my blood sugar went too low. Keeping that in mind we began to wonder about the stop in Lombok. Everyone kept telling us that it would be even hotter and more humid. I checked our tour ticket and it was marked as
” Strenuous”. Well I don’t feel that I am up to strenuous ever let alone strenuous in extreme heat and humidity. With that in mind we decided to cancel our excursion. It was not too late to cancel and not be financially penalized. The cancellation was on Wednesday.
Well last evening we received a letter from the captain informing us of the details for the tendering process today. The letter contained phrases like
Waiting in the heat can be frustrating and unpleasant
There will be no shade in the waiting area
Long line ups
We kindly ask that you respect your fellow passengers and our crew by remaining calm and patient
Tendering will be much slower
The ride ashore will be approximately 30 minutes each way. (tenders are not air conditioned)
At times there will be long lines of passengers waiting to return to the ship.
I f you are planning a visit to a temple be aware than shorts are not acceptable attire for either men or women.
Be aware that using your left hand to eat or give or receive items is taboo.
(Ken is left handed)
We put all of those phrases together and decided to take advantage of the many amenities that the Dawn Princess has to offer. We did not be visiting Lombok, Indonesia.
The sunrise was beautiful and we took many pictures while enjoying our coffee on the balcony. The sun rose around 6:20 and it was a perfect temperature up until that point.
It is an hour later and already the temperature has risen to an unbearable
Thirty degrees Celsius in the shade.
The harbor seemed to be very busy with many craft coming and going.
After cancelling the tour I thought I would like to go ashore for about an hour just to say that we did and to spend the 410,000 Rupiah that we purchased. I planned to take a picture of at least one price tag so I could put it in my photo book. ( one dollar Canadian equals 9500 Rupiah) But we scrapped that idea right after having read the letter from the Captain. Waiting in the heat in that line up would not be worth it.
There is a wonderful small pool up on deck 14. It is about 25 feet in diameter and is only about 5 feet deep with a flat bottom. It has a roof so the sun does not beat down on you and there is a bar right there. So we spent a good part of our day there.
We went back to the balcony for sail away. The view of the harbor was great. Young boys in outrigger canoes were in the water near to the ship, waving to and greeting the passengers on their balconies.
As we sailed out of Lombok we could just see Bali in the distance.
At dinner we got reports from our table mates.
They said it was not quite as hot as Darwin but it was hot. The area is very poor and the level of sanitation is deplorable. There were many begging children and the sellers were very pushy making it hard to even look at what was available.
The markets where foods were being sold were very different from what we would have considered safe. The food was in the open with no refrigeration or even ice to keep things chilled and flies abounded.
The temples visited were very run down and not architecturally exceptional. The traffic seems to have been a nightmare with scooters and horse and wagons everywhere.
Lunch at the Sheraton was a bright spot in that it was very good and there were better sanitation facilities.
So all in all it appears as if we made a right decision to stay on board the Dawn Princess.
It is an hour later and already the temperature has risen to an unbearable
Thirty degrees Celsius in the shade.
The harbor seemed to be very busy with many craft coming and going.
After cancelling the tour I thought I would like to go ashore for about an hour just to say that we did and to spend the 410,000 Rupiah that we purchased. I planned to take a picture of at least one price tag so I could put it in my photo book. ( one dollar Canadian equals 9500 Rupiah) But we scrapped that idea right after having read the letter from the Captain. Waiting in the heat in that line up would not be worth it.
There is a wonderful small pool up on deck 14. It is about 25 feet in diameter and is only about 5 feet deep with a flat bottom. It has a roof so the sun does not beat down on you and there is a bar right there. So we spent a good part of our day there.
We went back to the balcony for sail away. The view of the harbor was great. Young boys in outrigger canoes were in the water near to the ship, waving to and greeting the passengers on their balconies.
As we sailed out of Lombok we could just see Bali in the distance.
At dinner we got reports from our table mates.
They said it was not quite as hot as Darwin but it was hot. The area is very poor and the level of sanitation is deplorable. There were many begging children and the sellers were very pushy making it hard to even look at what was available.
The markets where foods were being sold were very different from what we would have considered safe. The food was in the open with no refrigeration or even ice to keep things chilled and flies abounded.
The temples visited were very run down and not architecturally exceptional. The traffic seems to have been a nightmare with scooters and horse and wagons everywhere.
Lunch at the Sheraton was a bright spot in that it was very good and there were better sanitation facilities.
So all in all it appears as if we made a right decision to stay on board the Dawn Princess.
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