Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia 2015

Among our favorite ports of call is Benoa, which is the port city for Denpasar, the capital of Bali, Indonesia.  We were delighted to again meet with our friend, Nyoman Sulastra, who we met on our first world cruise in 2013 thanks to Janis Jones, our travel agent (read "travel expert") who can be reached via email at janis.jones@venturetime.com.  

We visited the John Hardy jewelry factory and succumbed to buying beautiful bracelets and later that evening we dined with friends, Bill & Larry and Gwen, at a local resort named Amandari located on the outskirts of the artisan village of Ubud in central Bali. 

 

The next day Nyoman took us to Uluwatu built along the coastline and he posed with Steve who is wearing a sarong which is required dress for men when visiting a Buddhist temple and Steve's outfit even drew a crowd of admiring local resident monkeys.  Later we stopped for lunch at Bebek teba Sari, another great referral by Nyoman and one of his favorite restaurants featuring Balinese cuisine and also separate water-front dining rooms for romantic dinners.

Before returning to the ship, Tom enjoyed more shopping as we visited the John Hardy retail store located in Mulia, a luxury resort hotel near Kuta, Bali.

Our next port was Semarang in central Java, Indonesia and the highlight was our visit to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in Indonesia.  The traffic to and from the site was heavy, but our bus was provided escort by tourist police and this enabled the driver to pass everyone, even in the oncoming lane, haha. 

Tom put on the customary sarong as we entered the remarkable temple grounds and we were joined by friends, Larry & Bill, plus Sandy & Jack and their friend.

The temple is enormous and we climbed to the very top before Steve was photographed apparently holding two of the distant stupas in his fingertips.

After lunch, joined by our friends, we traveled back to the ship on an historic train that passed through the rural rice fields of this largest island of Indonesia.  

The beautiful sunsets in Bali are memorable and this one certainly does not disappoint as our ship departed for Jakarta and then on to Singapore.

Singapore is a spectacular port and our friend, Kris Hartley, joined us again as we explored some of its attractions, including the Singapore Flyer, with new friends, Bill & Larry.  

Seeing Marina Bay Sands from the Flyer offered quite a view and we went to the bar, Ku De Ta, atop the hotel to once again get photos of the infinity pool.    We toured the beautiful Gardens By The Bay and its indoor floral displays before heading off to Raffles Hotel. 

On this world cruise we traveled north along the Malaysian coastline to Port Klang, the gateway to the great city of Kuala Lumpur and the Petronas Towers, now the 7th tallest buildings and the tallest twin towers in the world.

We met Tobias Gebhardt who was traveling across southeast Asia from his home in Germany.  Steve was impressed when he looked up to see the tall, young man as we entered the elevator taking us to the 86th floor. 

Before leaving Malaysia, our ship stopped in Penang where we visited some more beautiful Buddhist temples, including one that houses a reclining Buddha. 

We have enjoyed the first half of this world cruise and Tom is walking through the circular doorway as we leave Malaysia and head to the subcontinent of India.

Thanks for following us on our adventure.  Be sure and check back in a couple of weeks to see photos of our visit to the Taj Mahal and the rest of our stops as we circumnavigate the planet.