Today is the end of Segment # 2, which was scheduled as Sydney to Hong Kong, but now ends in Bali. With the end of one segment, starts another, which is now the Magical Mystery Cruise to Somewhere.

You may ask, “Where is Somewhere” and the answer is any port that is on our route and will accept us. We are also rather special, with only 361 passengers remaining on our private yacht, being tended to by a full compliment of 464 highly attendant crew members.

Temperature: 28C/82F

Wind/Weather: Partly cloudy & showers

Sunrise/Sunset: 06:24/18:37

Clox: No change (Z+8)

Navigation

At some point in the middle of the night we moved from the anchorage to alongside the berth.

Meals

No special meals today

Activities

With our tour starting at 10:00, we had time for a leisurely breakfast in the MDR. As we walked to the table, we got a shock – OMG, we are alongside, not at anchor. We docked sometime during the night and never even felt the movement.

Tour

• Tour Type – Ship’s optional excursion
• Tour Name – Nature, Tradition & Religion
• Duration – 4.5 hrs
• Summary – visits to orchid garden, silversmith, wood carving and temple

Departing the port, we followed the same route as yesterday, making the first stop at an Orchid Garden, where we received a guided tour.

Please select any photo to view full size

A most enjoyable stroll through the gardens, which for me was probably the highlight of this tour.

The next phase of the tour was billed as observing craftsmen creating high quality items featuring unique and elaborate designs. What we actually observed was some of the worst, staged displays I have seen. What we observed were outdoor work benches, where at best they were creating very basic materials.

The stop at the Jewelry store was all about shepherding you into the store to sell, sell, sell.

Next stop was the wood carvers, where a couple of ladies sat on benches and they had a table at the front with some samples.

They mentioned the above piece takes about 6 weeks to create, but the lady working on it wasn’t creating any sawdust. On the back bench another lady had a tool and was working on a piece of wood, but we never actually saw what she was accomplishing, if anything. Again, it appeared totally staged. Just another stop to shepherd you into the showroom for sell, sell, sell.

Our next and final stop was at the Batuan Temple. Enjoy the photos.

 Please select any photo to see full size

Definitely an under-whelming tour that is certainly 2nd rate compared to the excellent Temple Wonders tour we did yesterday.

On return to the ship, we got cleaned up, changed and headed to the MDR for Passenger Sports, or Pax Emergency Drill # 3.

For dinner, we arranged to meet Alison & Ron at table # 151, but with the reduced pax count, we ended up with just the 4 of us, nobody else requested sharing to fill the other 2 seats.

OMG!! the lamb was incredible, so tender it fell off the bone and just melted in your mouth.