10/28/2011
What a great few days it’s been! Bali was surprisingly awesome, so let me tell you all about that:
I got up at 6:30am and got ready and then met up with a small group of people from the division and we waited to be let on to a tender boat that takes us from the ship to the pier because the ship itself is too big to get into the pier. The group was me, the musical director Dave, my boss Jason, his wife Lauren, one of the dancers named Cori and then one of the other stage staff, Adrian and Jason had reserved a car to drive us around for the day.
We finally got off the ship around 8:15 and got over to the pier and told our driver that we wanted to see as much as possible before having to be back at the pier by 5:30pm. We decided to see the biggest Hindu temple in the world, ride Elephants, do a little shopping, and figure out what else we could see on the way.
First stop was the Elephant riding place—it was $52 to ride an elephant for 15mns so we decided that that was too expensive so we opted to do the $15 admission which was basically go in and take photos with an elephant. So we go in to the area and Cori, who is this super nice and super cute little dancer girl, goes up to one of the employees, puts on her best flirt face, and asks him if she can just sit on an elephant and take a photo. He said yes! So we all got to sit on an elephant and ride around a little bit in the arena area and it was just as worth it and much less expensive!
Next we drove for another hour+ up through the mountains and little towns and we made it to the temple. We stopped at a small shopping area to get sarongs to wear around our legs since you cannot go to the temple with your legs showing. The temple was absolutely breathtaking and SO OLD! It’s from the 8th century, so it’s not the oldest but it is the biggest. I didn’t know that Hinduism is the #1 religion in Indonesia, so it was cool to see and learn about those practices. I actually got to pray with our tour guide and it was really relaxing and peaceful.
After spending a good amount of time at the temple we made our way out and we got lunch and then did some more shopping and saw rice terraces where they will be harvesting some rice in a few weeks—it was cool to see how it was laid out and everything.
The only thing that sucked about Bali was how much everyone harassed us for money and tips and everything. They let us pay with American money because the dollar is so much stronger than their currency but then everyone wanted a little bit here and there so that got really frustrating. It was the worst when we had this little girl following us around the temple and asking us for dollars and trying to get us to buy postcards. We kept telling her no, but, she followed us around until we left the temple. It’s sad but annoying!
Then today we were in a little town called Port Headland, Australia where I think about 14,000 people live. I didn’t take any photos but let me tell you that we all kind of decided that that’s what Mars would look like because everything was a dusty red color—from the dirt on the ground to the buildings. We took a shuttle from the pier to the “town” which was basically a little street and then from there you could take another shuttle to the shopping center which was a small Wal*Mart type place, a clothing store, an electronic store and a few little restaurants. So Nick, the Light Tech, and I loaded up on some supplies from the Wal*Mart type store (which is actually called Woolworths), I bought a small USB drive so that I can give people photos and such and not lug around my laptop, had a bite to eat, and that was pretty much our day in port! A cruise ship hasn’t come to this port in 14 years (because there’s nothing to do) but we went because we needed fuel, and the townspeople were VERY welcoming and excited to see us go, and Adrian said that when he was out on one of the decks having a cigarette as we sailed away that the whole town had turned out to see us pull away! Adrian said it was like the scene in Titanic and that he wished he had a handkerchief to wave goodbye at them—he’s so hilarious.
Now I am sitting backstage in the theatre writing this blog post while this evening’s entertainment is going on. The last few entertainers have been……interesting to say the least. Here are some names, in case by some miracle you’ve heard of any of these people: Hal Frazier, Danny Elliot, Carl Doy (he was allegedly on Oprah), Darren Williams and the Australian Illusionist John Taylor. I am forgetting some, but, those are the ones who have performed most recently—the one performing right now is named Patrick but I don’t know his last name, he’s Australian though. He is performing country music but much of it is American…and he’s doing this weird mash up/medley of all of these different versions of the song “If I Were a Rich Man” and it’s freaking me out a little but….that’s ship life: acts that are all really similar in style and content and not super amazingly good but just good enough to keep the guests happy!
Yesterday I told Jason that I would probably be willing to fill in for Kerwin, the Head Stage Staff, when he goes on vacation in March which would mean my contract would be extended to May when he came back from Vacation. That would mean a little more money in each paycheck and I would get to do a few of the Alaskan cruises and also see San Diego and/or San Francisco because the ship stops in one or both of those places before heading up to Alaska after Hawaii.
Sorry if any of this has been a repeat from a prior post, I can’t remember what I tell whom and what I post! I have each post saved in MS Word, but, I don’t feel like going through and re-reading them all. My apologies!
In other news, I have yet to see a Kangaroo or a Crocodile…or any strange creature for that matter…though back in Brisbane I did see some sort of Dolphin or other small sea mammal with a dorsal fin popping in and out of the bay so that was cool. And in Darwin there were some funny looking birds that we came across.
Lastly, a few phrases I am trying to hold on to and keep using from the Australian vernacular:
Cheers—used anytime you’re saying goodbye to someone. “Have a good day, cheers!”
Whinge—to complain. “The Aussies love to whinge about the schedules on board the ship.”
How ya going?—the Aussie version of ‘what’s up’ or ‘how are you’. “Hey mate, how ya going?”
Hope all is well wherever you are, dear reader!
Much love
Cheers!
B
