March 9, 2019 - Bintulu, Malaysia- Saturday, Day 62

March 9, 2019 - Bintulu, Malaysia- Saturday, Day 62

Today started out poorly. The pilot did not come out to meet us on schedule. He was half an hour late. As we approached the harbor the freighter that was leaving our dock lost power and had to be towed out to the anchorage. We docked over an hour late.

Then their a problem setting up the gangway. It took a while for the port to place their gangway. This turned out to be a very steep stairway down to the top of a cargo container. From there another stairway was put in place to get us to the ground. In their defense this is another working port and we are one of the first cruise ships to ever stop here. They are still working their way through things.

The final challenge was that the port would not let anyone walk the gate because it is a working port. OK. But to further compound matters they would not let in more than 3 tour buses and 2 shuttles. Those had to be loaded and out of the port before the next ones could come in. This took a long time and the grumbling grew fierce.

This is the first port of our new cruise and the natives were not happy.

We had booked a tour so we endured the wait, but things really did go smoothly once they got started.

On the tour coach our guide, Cornelia, introduced herself in flawless English. she was very easy understand, very knowledgeable and very enthusiastic.

Our first stop was a Chinese Temple. It was very beautifully renovated a few years ago, but the original structure is over 100 years old. Cornelia and a member of the temple committee explained various aspects of the worship process to us. One thing we learned here that we had not heard before was that besides burning incense and making offerings there is another way to pray. That is to pass beneath the altar from one end to the other on one’s knees. A true sign of devotions.

Outside the temple we were treated to a Dragon Dance. There were 2 dragons. 4 talented young men wore the hot costumed and performed with vigor for us. The musicians also showed great stamina. This was greatly appreciated by our group.

A disappointment was that the person who was to teach us how to fold paper into lotus blossoms did not show up. Cornelia gave us samples, but we could not learn the process. These are also used as offerings in the temple.

Our next stop was to be the market, but we had been told that dollars would not be accepted because tourism has not been established, and vendors do not know how to change the money for Ringitts. Cornelia led us all a few blocks away to a money exchange she knew of. this was so that only a few people could change money. While that was happening 2 men went off to find something for a camera. they said they would be back in 10 minutes so Cornelia agreed. 15 minutes later there was no sight of them. in 20 minutes they returned. I hope we are never on the same tour again.

We walked to the fish market. It was fantastic. There were more varieties of fish than we have seen in other fish markets, and it was clean. Everyone was friendly, and they all encouraged unto take pictures. What we do not understand is how so many vendors of the same thing can survive. How do you sell your wares when the people right next to you are selling the same?

From the fish market we went to the produce market. Many of the fruits were the same as we had seen in other countries. The advantage here was that Cornelia bought some of several fruits for us to sample. This was an interesting treat. We are not sure we will look for them at home.

Cornelia called for the coach and we returned to Maasdam. On our way back to the ship we passed some old shop houses ( store on ground floor with living quarters above) and a development of new shop houses under construction.

Cornelia also pointed out some detached housing and some attached housing.

And we observed some poor housing.

Some views of the port. Truly a working port.

Port Control Tower and Administrative Building

After lunch we spent some time transferring pictures to our computers. Organizing them is taking far longer than we expected. This is because we are taking more pictures than usual. We will archive them for our memories. We will not burden you with these except for the few I include in this blog.

There was an announcement in the afternoon that the priest had been found and Mass would be at 5:00. We attended. The priest explained that he was a Holy Cross priest. Amazing. Hole Cross Seminary is where I spent my 4 high school years in preliminary study for the priesthood. Even more surprising is that he is from Chicago. He practices clinical psychology there. Every 4 months he tries to minister on a cruise to refresh his powers of memory and organization. He apologized for missing the ship. When he booked his flight, he failed to account for crossing the dateline. He arrived a day late and the ship had sailed. We hope this respite does improve his sense of organization.

Dinner repeated a special culinary council menu. This features selected appetizers and entrees by the 5 chefs on the council. This provides an ample selection so that even with the same menu it is highly unlikely you repeat the same meal. We did not. Everything was good.

Another fine day.