Darwin, Australia - April 30th

Darwin is known for several things - for being the capital of the Northern Territories; for being the focal point for the defense of Australia against Japanese invasion during WWII; and for its giant and very active saltwater crocodiles.

A Japanese invasion was a major threat from the day after Pearl Harbor until the battle of Midway Island, when the US carrier fleet sent three of Japan's four big carriers to the bottom of the Pacific, and effectively ended Japan's offensive capability. In between, Darwin was heavily bombed.

However, the crocodiles are far more interesting. We went to see them at Crocosaurous Cove, a Darwin aquarium where you can see them, feed them, and swim with them. First we saw an old guy named "Chopper." Good name for a croc! Here's a still, his cage caption, and then a video:

Time for swimming with the crocs (separated from them by a plexiglass cage of course), but they were all sold out for the day, But we got some good pictures and videos of some girls who were doing it. Looked like they were having fun. I had no idea a croc could snap its jaws shut that fast (second video).

Then it was time for lunch. Turnabout is fair play. We had crocodile for lunch, washed down with a couple of Great Northern drafts, the local beer of choice. Croc does not taste like chicken; it has a nice bite to it.

Next Mindel Beach, a beautiful wide strip of sandy beach on the other end of town. It was a beautiful sunny 92 degree Saturday afternoon, the water was warm ... and there was not a soul on the beach, to the left or to the right:

The problem was those pesky crocs! Seems that Thursday night two guys camping on the beach pitched their tent a little too close to the water. That night a croc came into their tent, grabbed one of the guys in his jaws, and dragged him out into the water. Being Aussie, the other guy chased after and beat the croc over the head until he let go. The first guy was badly injured but will be OK.

There are also jellyfish and sometimes sharks in the water. But very few humans.

We elected to do some shopping and sample a few more Great Northerns. For Bob's dinner, the local fish that is the chef's favorite in these parts: barramundi. Here is one in the Crocosaurous Cove aquarium; they get up to six feet long:

So it was a good day in Darwin. A couple of days at sea, and then we dock in Cooktown, also on Australia's northern coast, as we work our way east.

Komodo Island, Indonesia – April 28th

Komodo Island lies along the southern edge of the Indonesian Archipelago, meaning it is in the general area where the waters of the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans mix together. This makes it a place of unique and highly diverse biology. We are here to see Komodo dragons.

We anchored in a protected bay and were surprised to see that the climate is fairly dry. Going eight degrees south of the equator has taken us out of the monsoon belt. It’s hot here, and the dragons live in lightly wooded areas where they hunt deer, wild pigs and buffalo, but this is definitely not rain forest. To the southeast is the Australian Northern Territories, a desert climate.

This island has the largest population of Komodo dragons in the world. It is both a National Park and a World Heritage Site. So dragons we did see.

These ancient reptiles run from 6 to 10 feet long and are carnivorous to the extreme: they will attack and eat other dragons smaller or weaker than themselves, including even their own young. There is no parenting; baby dragons are on their own from the minute they hatch. They live initially on insects before graduating to small mammals.

Although appearing to be slow and lethargic, in short bursts they are as fast as an Olympic sprinter. Their claws and teeth are razor sharp. But they are cold blooded and need a few hours of sun basking in the morning before they are ready to hunt. We did our tours between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM.

Deadly bacteria live on the dragon’s skin and in its saliva that are infectious and, if untreated, fatal to mammals. So all they have to do is get one bite or one rake of the claws on a large animal like a buffalo and it will die six or seven days later. Easy pickings. I am glad I have a telephoto lens.

The rear claws are nothing to mess with either

This was a good day. Now two days at sea; and then we dock at the first of seven ports of call in Australia: Darwin in the Northern Territories, HQ of the WWII Coast Watchers.

Bali Day2 - April 27th

Well, not even Bryce Harper hits a home run every at bat; and today was a mediocre diving day. Warm water but poor visibility, only 10 to 15 feet at best and lots of debris stirred up by current, tidal surge, and rain this morning. Had to work against currents and surges to stay togerher.

 The fish weren’t real exciting

 Neither was the coral

 Should have joined everyone else para-sailing

 Did get a picture from the dive boat of the Oceania Insignia docked at the cruise terminal

Also got a picture of the Sun Princess anchored in the harbor. Too big to dock at the terminal, she had to tender her passengers to shore. 2000 passengers vs. our 650.

Rather than snorkeling, Joani made a good and prescient decision to go to a local Bali spa with friends Tanya and Drew for a three hour program that included a body massage, body scrub, hot stones, scalp massage, manicure and pedicure. Joani is relaxed and feeling fine and ready for Happy Hour.

Tomorrow: the Indonesian island of Komodo, where we of course hope to see Komodo dragons.


PS: The divemaster identified some of my "really cool colored fish and corals" from Kota Kinabalu:

 Table coral (acropora)

 Blue starfish (duh)

 Clownfish

Nemo Clownfish (since the movie)

Bali Temple Feast – April 26th

Bali is a resort island of 5 star hotels and white sandy beaches in the Indonesian Archipelago, the largest in the world with over 14,000 islands. Although Indonesia is 80% Muslim, Bali was settled by Indian traders and is 80% Hindu, giving it a completely different character than the rest of Indonesia.

We attended a “Bali Temple Feast,” which more accurately would be described as a “Bali Tourist Dinner Theater.” The event took place in one of Bali’s 40,000 temples, but we saw no evidence of any actual religious activity, such as incense burning, meditation, or prayer. However, beer and wine flowed freely; the Balinese food was excellent, and the costumes, dancing and singing quite colorful as the troupe re-enacted the love story of the Hindu God Rama, the most important incarnation of Vishnu. Yes, this is the Ramayana, the same story depicted in the 280 wall murals of the royal palace in Bangkok. No, we still do not understand it.

 Entrance to the Temple/Dinner Theater complex

 This Temple façade was the Dinner Theater stage backdrop 

Indonesian Bintang beer was the libation of choice

 The plot seemed to involve a lot of dancing girls:

Towards the end there was a fairly badly done sword fight:

But this Balinese-Indian version of Romeo and Juliet has a happy ending: the bad guy gets vanquished, Rama gets the girl, and they live happily ever after, including future incarnations.

Tomorrow: Bali Day2

Bako National Park, Malaysian Borneo – April 23rd

Bako Park is the country’s oldest national park, established in 1957. It is home to many unique and rare species, including proboscis monkeys and insect-eating carnivorous plants.

 This tree snake is a Bornean Keeled Green Pit Viper. They are poisonous with heat-sensing pits on the sides of their heads. I shot this with the telephoto.

 A red dragonfly. Joani’s former brother-in-law, with his Ph.D. in entomology specializing in dragonflies, would be jealous.

A red fiddler crab and blue fiddler crabs. They can be either left or right-handed!

Proboscis monkeys, unique to Borneo, locally called orang-belanda ("Dutch man") because the Dutch colonizers had similar big bellies and noses. Videos below:

Below, Mud Skippers, an ancient fish species that crawls out of the water and wriggles around on land for a while, breathing through a froth of bubbles around its gills. A very inconvenient fish for creationists.

This is a nest of stinger-less bees, which I did not even know existed.

This is a fairly poor picture of a Flying Lemur just hanging around on a tall tree trunk. Couldn’t get a good picture in the heavy canopy shadow. They don’t really fly; they just jump long distances from branch to branch.

This is a silver leaf-monkey, unique to Borneo. They also jump aggressively from branch to branch; which we saw them do, but too quickly to get a video.

 Joani is sweating heavily because we climbed up to the sandstone crown of the park, 1300 feet above the jungle floor. This is where the carnivorous plants are. You can see where the monsoon run-off has washed the vegetation away exposing the sandstone.. Because this is not volcanic rock, the soil is not particularly fertile and lacks minerals. The plants need their nutrients from somewhere; insects are as good a source as any.

This is a small carnivorous ant-eating pitcher plant, named because of its shape. The pitcher collects water and sweetens it with nectar to attract ants. They climb down and drink but can’t get out because the sides are slippery and have tiny downward-pointing spikes. The Hotel California for ants. The plant secretes enzymes to digest the ants and get its nutrients and minerals.

This is a bigger and different colored species of pitcher plant. It has flower-like coloring to attract insects. You can see it’s about the size of a 20 oz. water bottle.

Partially digested bug bits inside the pitcher.

This is an ant plant, an example of three-way symbiosis. It is a parasite and lives off the tree but doesn’t kill it. Ants make their home inside the pod, which also collects some rainwater at the bottom. The ants excrete wastes, and die natural deaths, and fall into the water at the bottom. The host tree recovers minerals from the nutrient-rich water in the bottom of the pod.

An orangutan, native to Borneo and locally called orang-utan ("Forest man"). Seldom seen in Bako, our friend Joyce took this picture at the Semenggoh Wildlife Center, about an hour inland from the park.

Next: two days at sea and then two days at the Indonesian resort of Bali. A recreational-not-educational stop.

Sultanate of Brunei - April 21st

Plato postulated that the best government would be benevolent dictatorship by a philosopher king, an ideal possibly embodied by the 29th and current Sultan of Brunei. Born in 1946, his father prepared him to be a 20th and 21st century leader, sending him to the best British prep school in Malaysia, Victoria Institute; then he graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (the British West Point, not an easy curriculum). He became Sultan in 1967 and his country is fifth in the world in GDP per capita (at purchasing power parity) due to its extensive oil and gas fields. Brunei's 400,000 people pay no income taxes, pay no property taxes, get a free house if they’re OK with the standard model, own 1.5 million cars; and receive free medical care. Unemployment is 6% and it's only that high because people are choosey about what jobs they take. There is no poverty.

Above is the Royal Mosque, completed in 1994. Islam is the state religion and Brunei is a dry country. However, only 66% are Muslim. 15% are Christian and the rest a mix of Buddhism, Hinduism and non-believers. Women receive the same education as men – free and compulsory through high school; free university if one passes the entrance exams, free foreign university if one gets accepted and agrees to return and work in Brunei for six years. Which everyone does, since a foreign degree guarantees a well-paying government job. Women can drive and are free to not wear burkas. 

Entrance to the Royal Palace with its 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, and 2 million square feet. It’s open to the public 3 days a year. On those days the Sultan personally gives a coin to every visiting child under the age of 12. There is a long line. Each kid can only go through the line 3 times. They keep track.

The Sultan’s net worth is estimated at $20 Billion. The story goes that his friend Bill Gates said to him, “I have enough money to buy many small countries,” to which the Sultan replied, “Yes, but some countries are not for sale.”

The Royal Barge that the Sultan rode to his coronation. It took 100 men to pull and push it. It has only been used one other time: when Queen Elizabeth II came to visit. It is on display now at the Royal Regalia Museum. Our guide told us not to ask him any embarrasing or sensitive questions while we were in the museum; but save them for when we were outside. Brunei does not have freedom of speech.

This is the Ministry of Civil Justice. Brunei has a dual legal system, with a Court of Sharia Law and a Court of Civil Law.

This is the former Royal Mosque (1958 to 1994). It is a very nice mosque, but by the 1990s did not possess the majesty and opulence to match Brunei’s wealth and prestige. So the Sultan built the new one. This one is now heavily used by regular people and is known as the Mosque of the 28 Golden Domes. 

Our guide, Mr. Han Sellah. He, of course, goes by Han Solo (“very sorry, Chewbacca could not join us today”). He describes himself as typical of most people in Brunei: “fat and happy.” Food prices are also subsidized. He got his standard issue free house from the government after a two year wait. He is happy with his modern 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse.

We saw silverback monkeys on the way to the Empire Hotel, an over-the-top complex built by the Sultan’s brother Prince Jeffrey. It now belongs to the state, as Jeffrey built it with embezzled money. Jeffrey is no longer Minister of Finance or of anything else, for that matter. The Sultan is now Finance Minister, and Prime Minister, and of course Defense Minister & Commander-in-Chief, putting that Sandhurst education to good use. 

A model of the Sultan's private plane, a custom 747. If the President of the US is going to have a private 747, then so is the Sultan. He also has one landing slot per day permanently booked at Heathrow, in case he wants to go to London on the spur of the moment.

Brunei was originally a water town; all the houses were built on stilts along the mangrove banks of the Brunei River. About 30,000 people still live in this traditional housing, although today it is to preserve the heritage. The boat driver with whom we toured Brunei’s Water Town is also a national champion body builder. He goes the name “Superman.” He and Han Solo are friends.

The swimming pool at the Empire Hotel that Jeffrey built. It also has a beautiful golf course. Jeffrey had plans for a private theme park and a floating casino but these projects were not completed before he got caught. Although Jeffrey lost his job, he was allowed to keep his 2,000 cars. The Sultan has 5,000.

That's a wrap on Brunei, a very interesting place. Next up: Bako National Park in Kuching, Malaysia (still on the island of Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world), and, hopefully, orangutans!