Shore Leave

First shore leave for this trip. Thought that Mao wouldn’t be able to come with me… but luck was on our side. Cargo stopped and Mao managed to squeeze the time to go for shore leave with Chinki. Nowhere fantastic thou… just the usual trip to Bestbuy and Walmart. Super Walmart here we come!
Quite a lot of us went out this trip… a total of 12 including us. Packed like sardines in the vehicle as theres some big guys. You know BIG guys… Mao looks tiny as compared and I of cos become weenie. Therefore tiny and weenie got the worst seating… hahaha. But who cares… we are going out!


First we went to Bestbuy to pick up the mobile internet connection which I am enjoying right now. Then it’s the usual walk again to the next destination as the transport only drop you at one place and pick you up later. We stopped at Wendy for a bite… here the fast food joints are not really fast. Most of the time only one counter is in service and they normally take order, do the cashiering, serves the food before proceeding to the next one in the queue. Therefore its kind of very slow.

The Super Walmart that we visited was not so super this time. Not as big as the one I previously went too. So kind of boring too. We picked up the necessities and lots of chocolates and chips as well. Later on I discovered that am not the only one into the tidbits. Everyone bought bags and bags of chips. The back of the vehicle was packed to the brim with all our shopping.



Left one more hour till the time the transportation picked us up. We walked across the street again to have dinner and for Mao to have a drink. Went to this place called O’Henry. They served peanuts and one can throw the shells on the floor… It wrote ‘Go ahead.. Throw them on the ground’. In our rush to eat and finish up I forgot to take the picture. But you know the concept… just throw everywhere you please. Suit my King very much.. Hahaha

Season 2 of sea voyage

This is a relatively new ship that we board now. The moment I stepped on the gangway, am impressed. No dirty thick oil stain on the ropes, the deck shiny. Pretty! We spent the first few nights in

the ordinary cabin for crew as the other Master and family were still on board. Bed was very small… therefore Mao and I have to

be squeezing each other in that. After the Master handed over and left. We shifted into the Captain cabin. Wow…. I like this so much

better! Have 2-3 chairs removed from the sitting area and immediately its so much spacious. Theres even carpets in both the

bedroom and sitting room which is so good as the linoleum flooring can be very cold with the aircon going 24/7. Like I told Mao… weather outside is perfectly normal and warm but in the cabins is suddenly winter. Next time we sail again.. All I have to pack will be winter clothes… Am practically freezing everyday in here.

Saw lots of these creatures that look like crickets/grasshoppers while we were in Venezuela. Looks kinda scary… yucks! Got a snapshot of these huge one outside our window enjoying the sunshine. Theres also these big birds that looked like kingfishers everywhere. They can soar in the skies for so long without flapping their wings. Okie… I know, by now I sounded like a country bumpkin. LOL But when you are on the ship… what can you do. One need to find little entertainment to keep oneself amuses.
Call me country bumpkin but I have to tell you this one. While on our 5days voyage from Venezuela back to States… Mao spotted this bird standing upfront on our vessel. Bird!!! Yeah I know by now you must be thinking am loony right… whats so special about a bird. Ahem… let me explain. Firstly my Captain said that we are in the middle of nowhere… land is very far away so there aren’t many birds around. And this special birdie on board has been standing there for hours. In fact it stayed with us for more than 36hours. Yeah I kept my eye on this special guest… even going to the extent of going up the bridge and observing it on the binoculars. And also kept pestering Mao to going on a walk with me upfront so that we can interviewed it… hahaha. You will find below the picture I have taken of this smart special birdie guest who hitched a ride with us.

Journey to Venezuela

We departed Singapore on Friday to Venezuela. First leg of the journey will be 12 hours flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Having prebooked our seating arrangement for bulkhead seats, I took comfort in the idea of being able to stretchJo my legs and enjoy the in-flight entertainment. The moment we stepped into the aircraft, all my wishes vanished. The air plane doesn’t have individual screen and the so called bulkhead seats the smart travel agent had booked was the row behind the emergency exit seats. Think he needs to go for serious refresher course! The next best thing that happened was we are seated with the other chief officer who happened to be on the same flight. All thanks to the TA once again as he must be the one who prebooked his seating too. Mao gave me the window seat which as compared was slightly more spacious and as result he got sandwiched between me and the CO. Poor CO doesn’t know that the guy who he played snatching the armrest with is gonna be his worst nightmare for the next four months. Therefore in his best interest we didn’t reveal our identity… or the poor guy would be rigid for the 12hours flight.
Arriving Frankfurt airport in the wee hours of the morning, we had a six hour transit ahead of us. My mission here at the airport was to go shower! With people all around us wearing warm clothing and carrying woolen. Mao and I set out for the mission of locating the shower rooms. As expected its empty, we paid Usd8 per entry and its bath time!!! Feeling nice and fresh after shower, we went to grab something to eat. After food we started our private tour of two of the airport grounds. Saw Hanutas selling at the store and for the first time I bought my own Hanutas (Previously Hanutas were courtesy from Michael and Drey) J
Finally arriving Caracas, Venezuela after another 12hours flight. We made our way to the immigration clearance for seamen. Most of the time while clearing customs, we are always standing at the counter. But over here for once we are seated. While the officer went through our papers, am sitting there sipping my coke. Hee hee
After collecting our baggage we spotted the local agent at the gate. While we were hoping that we could check into the hotel for a night rest before boarding the vessel. The agent broke the ‘wonderful news’ to us that indeed we don’t have to go to the vessel now cos we have another flight sector awaiting us. Jesus Christ, another plane ride and familiarization of the airport! This domestic flight from Caracas to Barcelona will take an hour and we have 4hours to kill again. Little did we know that the flight was delayed in the end and our gate was the only one left in the whole domestic airport still waiting to board after all stores and gates have closed. If the CO and the 3rd Engineer are not travelling with us, I would have lay on the floor and catch a shuteye. Totally tired and not able to stretch out and rest… torturous.
Getting into Barcelona Airport marked the end of our plane journey (phew… sigh of relief). Our wishes came through as well for the hotel stay which I regretted wishing so hard for later. Cos the hotel sucks… we have a room at the so called penth house (7th floor). However our suite was like those rooms that you saw in those old Shanghai movies. Miserable old bed, antique hot water flask with two kopi tiam glasses… Cool right?
At 7am in the morning when we woke, we realized that there’s no electricity and water running! Praise the lord! We tried our best to wash up using our rationed mineral water bottle. My darling Mao even managed to shave! Then we proceeded down for breakie. People often have candle light dinner, Mao and I have our candle light breakfast… Hahaha
After breakie we hung around as long as we could as both dread the climb of the stairs back to our penthouse suite. If the water and electricity don’t resume… we would not be able to bathe and we gonna have a hard time dragging our heavy luggages down. Only after going for a walk outside we realized that the whole town have no electricity and water. Cant tell you how much I miss my country and how proud of my country I am now.