Sunday, December 26, 2010

Herbal Concoction for dissolving kidney stones?

A 58-year old patient has been on my clinic follow-up for hypertension for more than two years. On one of the routine tests recently blood was detected in his urine. In fact blood was persistently present in the urine in various amount on subsequent tests, He was informed that there are several causes of the presence of blood in urine: An infection (TB or non-TB germs), stones, kidney disease, systemic diseases like SLE and growth, either benign or malignant. Investigation, non-invasive ones, were put into place to diagnose the cause of the microscopic bleeding.

The patient is rather anxious as expected. In the meantime his hypertension was finally controlled after several combination of drugs for which I was relieved as he had subscribed his high blood pressure on anxiety when meeting with a doctor. In fact his former doctors did not really treat his hypertension as they agreed with him that he was suffering from a "white-coat" hypertension. However studies have shown that this so-called condition has to be treated as the sufferer is liable to a stroke.

He was referred to an urologist who was going to perform a cystoscopy ( a visual probe up the urinary tract) on him but was postponed on the patient's request. The patient did not turn up to my clinic for his subsequent appointment. Instead he took it upon himself to to consume a concoction of herbal mixtures to dissolve the stones ( by the way stones were not really visible on his ultrasound). He took the concoction on his own assumption.

He finally came to my clinic last week and apologised that he could not come earlier but according to him his medication was still adequate. I found his blood pressure had shot up compared to the four previous visits, I asked him what else he was taking besides his prescribed medications. He vehemently denied taking anything else. Then I offered to test his urine for blood which he promptly agreed. The urine microscopy was surprisingly clear. I persisted asking him what else he took for his condition. Elated at the urine result he finally admitted he was taking a herbal concoction for dissolving kidney/bladder stones.

I told him that his hematuria (blood in urine) may be relieved but the herbs are doing something to his blood pressure! He was crestfallen.  He went home to bring back the herbal samples and I noticed that all sorts of flowers, one of them the periwinkle which is supposed to contain an anti-cancer agent were labeled as ingredients of the concoction. He also took a herbal drink made of lemon, mulberry, screwpine etc. So this patient has been self-medicating himself much to my amazement. Apparently he was frightened of the cystoscopy!

Periwinkle plant

I told him that I cannot monitor him on the herbal use as there are  no guidelines as to its dosage and frequency of use and I am not going to be responsible for his deteriorating blood pressure if he insisted on his own "medication".  I painstakingly advised him to stop the herbal medication and take his regular medicine and return in two weeks for review of his blood pressure.

This is the frustration that we doctors face when our patients do not tell the truth about what they take and  yet expect us to solve their medical problems based on a false premise. Unfortunately this patient thinks that he can make a difference in the management of his case by surreptitiously taking other agents. Another factor which makes me worried for him is that his herbal concoction could be masking his symptoms while the process is still going on in his body. This would be a tragedy for him.

I am waiting to review his blood pressure on his next visit. I hope he returns to his senses for his sake.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Lunar Eclipse - A Celestial Wonder

I am always intrigued with the universe. I never cease to wonder those heavenly bodies and planets  floating beautifully and orbiting obediently around their respective stars. I am awestruck with celestial events now correctly predicted by  astronomers. The time, the location and the event are calculated to the nearest second! Simply amazing,  making me more grateful for each day of my life as these bodies are disciplined to sustain life on this earth. Any deviation in this orderly movement would spell disaster to life on our planet. Looks like Nature (God) is really looking after us, one of the creatures eking out a living in this world.

Lunar Eclipse in Progress as seen in this combination of images  -AFP

These pictures by Associate Press (AP) and Agence French Press (AFP) are priceless for those of us who want to record this rare event and yet do not have the state of the art photographic paraphernalia.


Lunar eclipse seen over Canberra - AP

Event seen over Switzerland -AP

A double exposure picture shows the moon and the monument of The Savior of The World in San Salvador during the 2010 total lunar eclipse- AFP

The phenomenon which occurs once in 400 hundred years was observed by thousands on 21 December 2010. It was the lunar eclipse which came into being when the three bodies in the galaxy aligned. Yes, the sun, the earth and the moon positioned in a line to give us the spectacular sight and to remind us that we are but one of those celestial bodies moving perpetually in space as  predictable as days alternating with  nights.

During a total lunar eclipse the Earth casts on the full moon, blocking the sun's rays. Some indirect sunlight still pierces through to give the moon its red hue. Wonderful and yet rather eerie. 
It is indeed a grand event which will only return in the year 2410, in about 12 generations from now!

Merry Christmas 2010

JOY TO THE WORLD


I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. As we celebrate Christmas in peace in Malaysia let us not forget those battling with extremely cold weather and missing celebrating Christmas with their loved ones due to delays in their flights home and those in areas of conflicts.

May people have the freedom to practice their faith wherever they are.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Pchem's fizzling debut

Pchem's listing today has been anticipated with bated breath  as it has been touted as  the largest IPO currently in South East Asia. Of course another stronger and more personal reason for my bated breath is the fact that my IPO application was successful, yes, the whole lot of it!

Despite the positive write-up on the listing and the main point it being supported by the Malaysian petroleum giant, Petronas, I have some misgivings about its short-term potential unlike MHB which achieved a much larger premium on its first day of listing. Pchem's opening price was 5.71, at 10% premium but by 10am it was already going downhill as more shares were being offloaded as predicted by some analysts. A couple of blogs I visited were not really upbeat about the stock and it was reported that the IPO was oversubscribed by 21 times but its first day performance shows otherwise.

A few factors could have contributed to this early waning sentiment. Firstly the general Asian markets today are down according to WSJ, the market players in America are in holiday mood as they just celebrated their Thanksgiving on  Thursday 25 Nov , the flaring-up of the Korean conflict as well as the plan by China to cool down its hot economy, all appear to have brought  dark cloud over the stock's performance. Say what you like, just like feelgood sentiment, the depressing atmosphere could also be as  infectious resulting in the stock being undervalued albeit the fundamentals are sound.

At the time of writing the price is 5.38 which is below its fair value at 5.60. So folks my Pchem IPO application is successful but looks like I have to wait out for at least one year to reap its benefit? And wait for all those high-spending and near bankrupt European countries to recover once their people learn to generate honest income instead of just spending other peoples' money.

Of course I am not going to wait for one whole year if let's say the stock manages to whet some foreign fund managers' appetite in the days ahead, who knows.

I am still smarting over my failure to grab some MHB's stock but in this game luck does play a role. I can see my friends' faces smirking away.... Hey guys, I am still going for those other forthcoming Petronas related IPOs and then have fun blabbering away like I am doing now.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Foreign currency cash leftover - the pitfall of keeping them

I went to London in March this year (2010) before the change of the UK government. Somehow I was comfortable having plenty of cash than relying on credit card for my financial transactions so I bought quite a lot of sterling at the then exchange rate of about RM5.3 to 5.4 to GBP1 before my departure.

As it was, I was using more of my credit card than the cash in hand so when I returned home I still had plenty of cash in sterling. As my luck would have it, by that time, the exchange rate had fallen to 4.7, no thanks to the high-deficit labour government then and talks of general election in June. So I was saddled with all this cash and would lose had I exchanged them back to Malaysian Ringgit. What was I to do?

Some well meaning friends have asked me to keep them till the exchange rate has gone up but till when? I even met a British engineer on the plane who suggested that I keep them and he was sure the rate would skyrocket in 2012, the year of the Olympics in UK. There would be a lot of interest in things British during the year and many visitors would come and the economy would swell so pound would soar... so sweet of him. Come to think of it, I should have made arrangement with him to get his Ringgit for my Sterling on his way out of Malaysia! But I was thinking of the profit I would make in 2012! ( Though in I was quite mindful of the prediction of the end of the world in December 2012... oh what the heck?).

Last week I needed to liquidate the Sterling as an additional fund to apply for the Pchem IPO. I reckoned  the price upon listing, if I were successful in the application, would somehow make up for the current loss due to lower exchange rate. So I made my way to the money-changers, surveying each one of them, looking for the best rate ( yes even the rate differs by a few sen between money changers, in case you all didn't know). If you changed a substantial amount, a few sen can buy you a meal at Starbucks!

I had all my Sterling in bundles of GBP20 so each bundle of 10 notes made up GBP200. I had stacks of them as a relative had also asked me to exchange for her as well. The lady at the counter used the machine to count them then she went through the notes one by one. I was wondering why she would do that. Then I saw her take out a few from each bundle and later came the shock.... " These old GBP20 notes are no longer accepted by us because there is a directive from the banks a few months ago. You can only change this in UK, the Bank of England" (equivalent to our Bank Negara I supposed). Oh no! When will I  plan to visit London again... not in 2012 certainly as I dislike crowds.

I was rather unhappy with Great Britain for changing their currency notes and actually more with myself for keeping this cash so long. It is not like travellers' cheques. I remember some years ago I misplaced  unused Thomas Cook Travellers' cheques bought at the exchanged rate of RM3 point something, and when I finally found them the rate had gone up to RM7 so I made a lot of profit when I returned them to the bank which issued the cheques! But this time my luck ran out with hard cash.

                          Old GBP20 notes no longer accepted by most local money changers

Not giving up, though my relative said she would go to London early 2011 , I went to another money-changer and meekly asked him whether he would take the old GBP20 notes. He took a look at me then offered at RM3.50 but I said that was too low, what about RM4 as the current exchange rate is RM4.97 and I believe is still going up due to the tight monetary policies of the new British Conservative government. He relented and there I disposed of my old 20 pound sterling notes at a great loss. At least the man accepted to buy them from me. Other money changers just flatly refused.

                                                       This is the new note for GBP20

So the moral of the story, do not try to capitalise on predicted profit when you are holding foreign currency cash as the respective country  can just change the policy on the circulation of their notes and you would be stuck with worthless papers unless you return to that country and visit their central bank.

This reminds me of my sudden discovery of RM1000 note while cleaning the house one day. I remember my husband used to like having them as he had less "weight" to carry. Well after Bank Negara declared that the note was no longer legal tender in Malaysia, he had them all banked in except this particular misplaced one. I found out I could not use it so I went to Bank Negara where I had to fill out a form and told them how I came about the note and where I found it, some time later they gave me 10 RM100 notes... well worth the effort so I understand the Sterling old note fiasco I am facing.

When you travel just change enough to buy small things and for transportation. The rest you can use a credit card.  I did that when I travelled to Bali once but unfortunately many of the shops in Tanah Lot where they sold beautiful handicrafts etc did not accept credit cards!! Till now I regret as I had really wanted to buy a few expensive and exquisite items there but unable to as I had very little  Rupiah and a "worthless" credit card.

Incidentally I still have some GBP50 notes and I asked the money changer whether there was any directive regarding them and he replied in the negative or not yet..... so I would wait a little longer till the exchange rate climbs up to past RM5.00?.... there you are I  still like taking risks.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

IPOs through electronic share application (ESA).. my misadventure.

As I have been preparing since July 2010 to apply for the well touted Petronas IPOs first of which is MMHE now referred to as MHB in October, I cleared my loss-making plantation counters and put all the proceeds into my regular bank account getting ready to perform the application through ESA facility at my bank. You see though I have an account with CIMB, the bulk of my income is channelled to HSBC which does not have an online share purchase facility. So I depend on ESA.

As soon as the IPO application opened on 6 October, I diligently went to my bank and applied. My mistake was I did not really check properly the slip coming out from ATM machine. All I saw that a record of the amount commensurate with the offer price of 3.60 was printed. When I checked online my networth two days later, I noticed that the amount had not been subtracted from my bank account. I made another mistake of emailing my query on this to my banker instead of texting her. She failed to reply my question and I went off yet another trip with my husband. The offer period ended on 15 October and some days later my relative informed me that her IPO share application through Maybank facility had been 60% successful and when I checked with MIH then I knew my application has never been received.

I went to my bank after my trip on the following Monday only to find out that on my slip, though the amount paid for the number of shares had been printed, the bottom line showed the word "NULL" which I failed to notice as it was in the evening when I performed the transaction. My bank account was healthy, no problem with it and I have never changed my account number, now what was blinking wrong? And I was riled up. The banker was as bewildered till she rang up her Headquarters.... now have I changed my ATM card? As apparently the card is linked to your CDS account. If you changed to a new card due to loss etc, you need to re register and link the new ATM card to the CDS account again!

Now, it has been a long time since I used my ATM card to perform ESA. The last one was AirAsia.... in 2007? Yes I misplaced my ATM card since then and had got a new one.... there, that was the reason for my failure to capitalise on MHB IPO... what a blunder. My relative made a cool 6000.00 and I made air! And as if it was not enough upset for us, my husband also performed an ESA when he was in the capital city and he inadvertently used his credit card which is not linked to his CDS account so he also missed being balloted for the shares. So we looked at each other and just shook our heads...

So ESA is not without its pitfalls. The system is dumb as it does not automatically  link the CDS account to the new ATM card and bank account instead it uses a third party way of doing thing much to the distress of the unfortunate investors like us. The bank also fails to establish an SOP to deal with this situation so that their customers do not suffer from this kind of loss through no fault of their own.


Alternatively just transfer your money to CIMB or Maybank whenever you want to perform this application as they have an online facility to do this. I am disappointed with my bank. I find it hard to "divorce" it as I have been with the bank for many years.... talking about being sentimental.

I re registered my ATM card on the same day and it is valid only after three days. I applied for Petronas Chemical IPO on 01 Nov and this time it was  successful as immediately I saw the amount was taken from my account. So here we go, Pchem is going to be listed tentatively on 26 November 2010 ... I need all the luck in the world!

Malaysian Market Surge - FBM KLCI has surpassed 1500!

I  have been following the index the last six months or so and made notes of its rise from 1200 to its current high at 1519. Of course if you followed closely the plantation sector has gradually woken up after being dormant for over two harrowing years for me. As I was looking forward to applying for Petronas IPOs, I cleared three of my plantation counters at great losses, Kwantas at 1.58 (now 1.98), MHC at 1.20 (now 1.78) and Swkplnt at 2.15 (now at 2.50). That was when the index was revolving around 1260. Just as well I keep my Thplnt and Unico as the prices are crawling up due to rising palm oil prices due to increasing  global demand.

The finance stocks have steadily gone up as blue chips like Maybank and CIMB are being snapped up like hot cakes (by foreign fund managers?). Other index-linked stocks such as Axiata and Maxis are holding up though the latter appears to be lethargic since its IPO launching but has managed to give comfortable dividends so far that I find attractive. My TM stock has also recovered from its post-capital 98% repayment days. In fact almost all my stocks, many not index-linked are rising, even my PICORP! I was having a regretful time with PICORP as it was hovering around 0.22 for a long blinking time. I bought this penny stock because of a relative who persuaded me to acquire it at 0.41. Currently it has gone up to 0.33 and am waiting to dispose of it when the calculation is right as I have a ridiculously substantial number! Looks like it has caught once again the investors' radar. Time for me to get off this roller coaster.

On a positive note, I am glad I keep some SIME shares despite friends' advise to dispose of it when it tumbled a few months ago. The reason I kept the shares actually to enable me to express my dissatisfaction by voting in the upcoming AGM. It is just a drop in the ocean  though as the major share holders such as PNB would still have the last say. Anyway now SIME has gone up past 9.00... luckyme!

My construction stocks have also up trended. MRCB has finally surpassed 2.00 and HSL is coming up very fast and am hoping for it to catch up with the former. I made a mistake of buying MMCCORP at 3.23 when it was trying to buy up PLUS, had only I known that its fair value is only 3.07! Fortunately I did not buy a large number. I re bought UEMLAND  at 2.29 after disposing it at 1.70 just before the Dubai Debacle. Honestly I did not know about its proposed buy-up of SUNRISE. The two stocks are rising as a result.

The worrying thing about this index reaching such a high level is its sustainability and would it herald  the need to leave the market while it is still euphoric? Does the low greenbacks have anything to do with the confidence in our market? What about the impression by some analysts that there appear to be a disconnect between the market and the prevalent global macroeconomic data? Are the foreign fund being parked in our so-called emerging market to extract maximum returns? If only we know the nature of this herd mentality which can be both exciting and frightening and certainly not for the faint hearted and risk-averse. This high index level is, by the way, reminiscent of the time before the crash in October 2008. Whatever it is I am sticking to my bluechips come what may.

It is  mood-elevating  that FBM KLCI has gone past 1500 as it brings back the market vibrancy but as investors we must not only know when to go in but also when to get out! I find the latter rather difficult as greed sometimes know no bounds.

Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia's declared lower -than - expected dividend

When I received the news of the declared dividend on 23 Sept 2010, I was relaxing on the Royal Caribbean Cruise to Venice from the Greek's island of Corfu. I decided to check on my email from the ship's 24-hr online center after a hectic stop at our last port of call. I was a little disappointed at the declared rate of 6.38% as I had expected it to be 7.0%. But if you look at the other declared dividends of PNB unit trusts like ASM, ASW and ASD  at 6.35 you would notice that AS1M's is just a wee bit higher by 0.03!

It does look like PNB is no longer able to give "special" dividends like it used to give to its  latest products like on previous occasions such as ASM (amanah saham Malaysia) and ASW ( amanah saham wawasan) prior to 2008. The SIME Darby's debacle publicized early this year could have contributed to this lower than expected declared dividend coupled with the prevailing global financial uncertainties.

At its height in January 2010, SIME stock was trading at 9.11 and it tumbled precipitously down to 7.20 at one stage due to investors' crisis of confidence following the news of the company's billion dollar loss. It didn't recover till late August following the new CEO's restructuring announcement. PNB's interest in SIME is quite substantial. So you do face risk even in unit trusts such as this, the only comforting fact is that your capital is protected unlike the variably-priced mutual funds.

But folks, ASIM's dividend is still the highest declared by PNB so far this year. And as I was hoping for that "whopping" dividend, I was encouraged to add more money  progressively into the fund as a result I received more than the amount had I otherwise stopped at my initial investment in September 2009 when the fund was first launched by the PM.

Look at this way, AS1M is just one of the PNB's stable of financial products that gives you an opportunity to earn more than your savings in the banks. Due to my bad experience with mutual funds, I would still put some of my investing money in PNB's unit trusts. Moreover the varying period of dividends' declaration of the respective trusts ensures a steady  income throughout the year.

Personally I would have made more money from my investment in AS1M had I not reduced it by buying a technology stock (JCY) 10 days before it tumbled pathetically! Some times it is hard to reign in your risk appetite.

Welcome then to the exciting world of wealth creation.

My Royal Caribbean Cruise Highlights- The Ports of Calls


Our first port of call was Dubrovnik a coastal city in Croatia. Our ship docked early in the morning after leaving Venice at 5pm on 18 Sept.  We rushed for our breakfast at the Windjammer and had difficulties looking for seats as there was already full of like-minded passengers.

Passengers for the different excursions were grouped in different halls and you had to wait for everyone in the group to come before they would give you your group bus number stickers. Then we marched out one by one after our sea pass had been swiped by the security machine.

                                                       


 The walled city at Dubrovnik
 The entrance to the city
                                                            

We had chosen our excursion called Panorama and the old city.  At the dock we assembled for our respective buses.  An immigration officer boarded the bus and we had to show a picture identification. You can show your IC or driver’s licence if you do not bring along a passport!  That was a quick check for everyone and the officer got down after wishing us all a good trip.

                                                        Panoramic view from the tour bus

The bus took us uphill through winding roads. I noticed the roads were well maintained and looked new. There was a high overhead bridge straddling two peaks with a deep valley below it. The route was scenic, overlooking the natural habour where our ship had docked.

Throughout the journey, the lady tourist guide, speaking in good English, related to us the history, culture and politics of Croatia. It was once a part of Yugoslavia and now into self-rule like Bosnia Herzegovina. Dubrovnik’s population is less than the tourists’ numbers in summers and autumn when the cruise ships come to visit. The city’s main income is derived from tourism.

Inside a church in the walled city. Beautiful purple natural marble is used here.

                     
We were later brought to the walled city of Dubrovnik. Years ago the city was populated by rich merchants who walled up their city to protect from invading outsiders. The city is complete with facilities like water and sewerage system. There are many beautiful churches along with a synagogue and a Moslem “mosque” indicating the city’s history of tolerance to multiculturism.
Rows upon rows of houses of similar design lined the streets. Apparently these buildings were rebuilt following a great earthquake. The old houses used to have beautiful balconies. Now many of the first level are turned into shops selling all sorts of crafts mainly jewelleries and local theme gifts. I bought sweet plums and dried figs which was exceptionally tasty at the market square.

                                                 Inside the ancient walled city at Dubrovnik

We were given a wireless gadget to listen to our guide as she took us through the city, actually only a part of the city due to time constraint. We returned to the bus at the specified time and place and returned to the ship by 4pm. At the dock, there were some more stalls being erected for our last minute shopping... more T-shirts and fridge magnets!

We sailed  at 6pm and our next port of call  was Kusadasi in Turkey. We had one whole day at sea before calling at the port as it was the furthest point in the itinerary. There were many onboard activities to go to. One of them was the briefing on the next three destinations. We were briefed about what to buy and where to buy and the time to follow etcetera.

We arrived at Kusadasi early in the morning and after the usual procedures we then found ourselves in the designated bus for our selected excursion to the Ephesus, ancient Roman ruins. I noticed that the town of Kusadasi is a walking distance to the ship dock. This time there was no more immigration inspection as we were from an EU country to another.

                                                          Port of Kusadasi, Turkey

Our bus, I noticed was not as good as the one in Dubrovnik. The wireless gadgets were also not as sophisticated. And our guide was a Turkish man who also talked about the history, culture and politics of Turkey. He took pain to explain that Turkey is a secular country unlike other Islamic countries. He also mentioned that Turkey has the lowest crime rate among the EU countries.

Our bus journey, once again was uphill. The roads are winding and narrow. We went to visit an old house said to be visited by the Virgin Mary. There were many tourists there and we were told to walk along the route and in queues to the house and be silent once inside. We were met by a nun at the entrance of the house which looked like a small chapel. On the way out we queued again to get to the spring “holy water” said to have miraculously emerged when the Virgin came to the house.

                                               

Lining up to enter House of the Virgin Mary

The bus then drove downhill for the visit to ancient Ephesus. The ruins were spectacular in its size. And at that time of the year the weather was hot. We walked for about an hour looking at the various ruined marbled architecture and listening to our guide who walked very fast ahead of us. There were other tour groups as well. As I walked, I wondered what kind of people who built these massive structures. There were houses with beautifully laid out decorative marbles. There are a library, a town hall and shops and temples as well as an open theatre which can seat about 20000 people. I felt a sense of sadness for a civilisation lost!  Apparently it vanished following a powerful earthquake. Ephesus used to be by the sea hundreds of years ago but it is now located about three miles from the coast due to cartographical changes over the years.

                                                                   The ancient open theatre

The library building in ancient Ephesus
                                       


One of the copies of marble carvings ( the real one in some museum) in Ephesus ruins.
                                      
            
                                                    Ancient Ephesian play put up for tourists


We left the ancient ruins after taking many pictures. There were many souvenir shops on the way out. We then left for our lunch at the hotel called Pine Bay. It is a 5-star hotel overlooking the sea. We had a lovely lunch with plenty of salad, fruits, fresh bread and succulent lamb kebabs. I love those olives, hard rolls, cheese and beetroot!

We returned to the town and visited a carpet shop. You should see how they rolled those carpets! The carpets have different designs according to the regions they come from. Most of them are exquisite. A lady demonstrated how a carpet was made. Some of the carpets took two years to complete. The quality and price depended on the number of knots per square inch, the more the expensive. As I had bought some carpets on my last trip to Istanbul some years ago, I just admired them this time. These people would ship the carpet door to door.  That is why you need to buy carpets from shops recommended by the cruise ship in case your chosen carpet is the not the same as the one you receive at home!

                                    Proprietor of Turkish crafts shop. Their leather goods are famous

We then went on our own around the town to shop for leather goods. Some good quality leather can be found in Turkey. The leather jacket that I fancied and finally bought was very soft with beautiful dark brown sheen. I also bought leather bags and wallets beautifully made by local people. Some jewellers were trying to make me buy their stuff but I declined as I did not see something that I like. They were quite disappointed. But you must leave fast and do not look at their eyes because they could persuade you to buy something you don’t want or need!
We walked to our ship and along the way I bought boxes of Turkish Delights, Apple tea and halva made of pistachio. And of course more carpet key chains and fridge magnets of Ephesus .
As usual we went through security check up like that at the airport once we entered the ship. Oh yes, going through the port complex, I was stopped by the Turkish custom officer asking me for the necessary documents from the shop I bought the leather jacket supposedly tax-free.

Our next port of call was Santorini and according to the man who briefed us earlier that this was the highlight of our tour in terms of beautiful views. The passengers were transported to the island by boats as there are no docking facilities as the place is located right on top of a steep mount. We arrived at 5am and we were told to be early as other ships would also be in the area and imagine hundreds of people going up the same place.
Once at the pier, we hopped on our bus and started on a most winding and frightening route that I have ever been! The lady guide told us to close our eyes if we felt uneasy! The bus took us to a beautiful village called Oia and along the way we witnessed spectacular views of the island and the surrounding seas. The island was created by the volcanic activities some thousand years ago. The houses were made of concrete painted white with bell-shaped roof to protect them from the wind. There are houses built at the mountainside facing the blue sea and apparently many famous people have bought them including a recent purchase by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt!

 Looking down to the habour in Santorini.. Our ship on the right
                                             


Mainly White Houses with flat and dome-shaped roofs
                                      
                                        
View from Santorini Pier
                                                                                             
Santorini Wine tasting.....can take as many glasses!
                                                                    
We went to a winery for wine and cheese tasting. There was red and white and the sweet “orange” usually drunk by priests. The grapes in Santorini are grown on the ground like strawberry unlike in other places because of the frequent wind lashing the island would have ruined the propped-vines.

Later the bus dropped us at the main town called Viera. The whole of this place is full of quaint buildings including churches. There is a long  row of small shops selling all sorts of crafts and souvenirs. Santorini is by the way famous for exquisite jewelleries mostly Greek designs. The preferred currency is the Euro. We walked and shopped and then had our lunch at one of the small restaurants and had as our company two old men playing a board game oblivious of the lunchtime crowd. I had Greek salad of olive, tomatoes,cheese and toasted bread bathed generously with olive oil and balsam vinegar... real tasty.

                                                                  Greek pottery

The island has poor toilet facilities ( in term of number available) as the population is small. There are more tourists than local people during holiday season when many cruise ships would come. So to ensure that you do not have to suffer the long queues, you go to one of these restaurants, have something to eat then use their rest room facilities. Usually it is situated above the restaurant away from public view.

At Santorini Pier
                                                                                 
We continued walking before going down to the pier to catch our boat to the waiting cruise ship. There are only two ways of going down to the pier from the town. One is by the cable car and the other is by walking a 588-step route or riding on the donkey along the same route.  Imagine walking along with the train of donkeys! Donkeys are important to the island people to transport supplies up the settlement.
  
My donkey souvenir from Santorini
                                     
Some of my friends and many passengers returned to the ship much earlier as they were caught up at the cable car station. Others opted to walk down and some rode the donkeys. During the briefing, not many people attended, we were told to catch the cable car after 3pm as  by 3pm a big Italian cruise ship would be leaving and before that they would be hundreds of Italian tourists trying to get down to the pier as not to miss their ship. Our ship would only leave at 5pm. Without that information, many of our ship’s passengers panic when they saw swarm of people trying to go on the six-cable car ,each can seat six people ,so they jostled for the cars and some of them decided to walk the donkey-route which is about 30 minutes to the pier. A couple of my friends did just that and had to spend a long time in the shower with plenty of soap! As a result also they returned much earlier and lost the opportunity to enjoy Santorini town. Everyone is scared being left by the cruise ship because the ship would leave with or without you at 5pm.

The two of us, my husband and I were sauntering happily along the specialty shops and we only  went to the cable car after 3.30pm and there were hardly anyone there and we caught the cable car without any hassles. It was about five minutes to get to the pier! We identified our boat by the colour of the uniform worn by the ship’s staff who offered us drinks before we boarded. My regret is I did not continue shopping at the pier as apparently similar goods are much cheaper there than up the mountain!....an incorrigible shopper as always.

Phew! That was some visit.  We went to the lounge and had specialty coffee ( you have to pay for this unlike the usual ship restaurant and dining hall!) and I showed what I bought, one of them a tiny donkey to a friend as we waited for our ship to start sailing and more photos were taken as we sailed away from lovely Santorini.

                                 The donkey trail down to the pier, view from our departing boat.

Our final port of call the following afternoon was Corfu, another Greek Island. We did not have to look for seats at the Windjammer as people took their sweet time to have breakfast as we were supposed to arrive at Corfu at 1pm. We woke up early though to catch the sunrise at 7.20 am.

                                                                     Corfu sea view

                                                             The hilly narrow winding road

Ubiquitous olive trees
                                                                                    

The ship docked at the port and off we went again by bus. I noticed the place was the least vibrant among the four that we visited. There were a number of abandoned buildings along the route. In fact I saw one big hotel was left deserted. The bus took us to scenic spots in the island. The elderly lady guide talked about Corfu and its cuisines and the health benefits of everything olive. According to her there are 4 million olive trees on the island. As we travelled, there were olive trees everywhere and how do they harvest the fruit? They lay down black nets onto which the fruit would fall and they will be collected by the farmers.

Vantage point views



Corfu Souvenir stall lady owner


The souvenir stalls were not as good as those in Dubrovnik, Kusadasi and Santorini. Low quality and cheap looking stuff were on display. I went for olive-related products such as soap , fridge magnets, mugs with olive designs. Rather disappointing, I wish I had bought those lovely Grecian vases in Santorini I was wrongly told that they were cheaper in Corfu. We hardly stopped to shop. The excursion focussed on scenic views. We even travelled to the middle of the island, among the hills just to see what Corfu landscape looked like! Then we went to the old town previously colonised by the Venetian and you would notice that a lot of the buildings were architecturally beautiful with venetian windows. Many are deteriorating though due to lack of maintenance. But you get the sense that the city was once beautiful with well-kept narrow alleys. We saw the old palace where Greek royalty used to reside. In fact Prince Phillip, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, was born in that palace.

Buildings with venetian windows in Corfu old town
                                                               

Corfu Old Italian Quarters


The ship was due to leave by 8pm before sunset. We were already going back by 6pm and was told whoever wanted to go to Corfu town would have to take the shuttle bus back to the ship and there would be no guide from that point. Some of our friends decided to visit the town but the rest of us were quite scared that we might miss the ship should we lose our way in town.... how unadventurous! So we timidly followed the bus back to the ship and as per my impression of the place, there were no gift stalls at all near the ship for our last minute shopping like those three other vibrant ports of calls.

I supposed Corfu focussed so much on its bays and beaches and sea recreation activities that their crafts are not that well developed. It is a shame as crafts for souvenirs would also generate income for their people. Whenever I look at my Corfu mug I wonder why they did not really promote it as I found it different in appearance from the ordinary mugs I bought elsewhere, its creamy, dark brown and deep green colour scheme with picture of olives is really exquisite. And I found the people, the guide, the shopkeepers and the bus drivers were also a bit laid back, there was a certain element of slow indifference? Anyway ,Corfu was not really that exciting in terms of shopping but the beach and bay views were breathtaking.
Well, Corfu was our last port of call. The next day was at sea, just cruising  and having fun on the ship till we arrived back at Venice 24 hours later at 8am. We had to get all our bags packed up and put them outside our state room the night before. We also had a second formal dinner and another interesting showtime on our last evening. We arrived back in Venice , Italy at 8am on the last day of our cruise. Our bags were waiting for us. We stored them at the left luggage facility and  took a boat to the city of Venice.

                                                        Views from the gondola ride





Parked gondolas for rent
                             


                                                            This is a typical gondola


Venice, the sinking city, was a joy to visit, albeit for an extremely short spell. We managed to go on a gondola ride. I was fascinated to see those poker-faced  men were able to steer the gondolas without touching other boats around the area. We went through what must have been an alley once and now filled with water. You could see water filling up the steps to those buildings.

Spaghetti Nero...anyone?
     
                                                     
Back from the ride, wee had a quick lunch of spaghetti nero (black spaghetti made from squids) and it was delicious despite its appearance. The restaurant was quaint with stylish decorations and also featuring small live plants with colourful flowers.

Decorated seafood restaurant window
                                                                        
I managed to buy some leather goods, Italian designs and the famous Murrano glass jewelleries. The Italians are great at making quality fashionable jewellery pieces. The bracelets are just lovely. It was easy to shop as the shopping outlets were near to each other. There were many stalls selling souvenirs and the place was just hip. We were sorry when we had to leave so soon to pick up our luggage at the port and take a bus to the airport for our long flight home.
By the time we got to our boat, the water had come up to the  city landing and concrete planks were put up for people to walk on. The tide had risen! It was rather scary come to think of it....but

I would still  like to come back to spend more time in Venice,  the city of romance!




Thursday, November 4, 2010

My Royal Caribbean Cruise Highlights - Splendour of the Seas

We arrived at the port of Venice well ahead of the Ship's departure to its planned ports of call at Dubrovnik, Croatia, Kusadasi in Turkey, Santorini and Corfu in Greece and back to Venice. Yes, the cruise ship is called "Splendour of the Seas".

                                                                 In all its splendour!


                                                              The front of the ship
                                
                                                         The solarium                                                                     


Our bags had been systematically tagged with our
 given rooms and we were given a "credit card like card" called "sea pass" which is a form of identification in the ship and you must have them at embarkation and disembarkation otherwise you would not be allowed in and out of the ship. The card is also used for you to purchased items not covered by the cost of your cruise. Everything has been pre-signed so you just use your pass at any of the on-board outlets.

Choose your drinks... red/white wine, sweet lime juice or plain water.

We located our room referred to as stateroom and after a short rest went up the uppermost  deck to see the city of Venice ( Venezia to Italians) as the ship set sail at exactly 5pm. Later we had a ship emergency exercise where we had been told to locate our life-jackets and assemble for instructions. Everybody was briefed on their emergency routes and not to use the lifts. Yes, the ship has 11 levels. The room decks are from 1 to 9 and we were at deck 6, the  same level as the purser's desk and the photo gallery. The 5-star hotel standard public toilets are located at certain decks.

                                                            One of the public rest rooms


There is also the gym, SPA and laundry services. Duty -free shops are also available at deck 5. There are no tea-making facilities in our rooms but you can order room service for breakfast.

                                                       The Windjammer- all day dining
                                                       

The dining restaurant, the King and I,  is at deck 4 and 5. We were assigned a dinner table throughout the cruise and we were in the second sitting at 9pm and so our predinner show was at 7.15pm for an hour. The first sitting is at 7pm so you can imagine how hard the dining attendants had to work to ensure smooth dinner for the two large groups. We had two formal dinners where we have to dressed up, the men in tuxedo/suits and ladies in glamorous evening gowns.  Of course if you do not want to have dinner served for you, you can always go to the self-service restaurant called the Windjammer at deck 9. It is where the recreation areas are like the pool and the solarium. All areas are banned for smoking except certain designated ones.





The shows are held at Top's Hat which is  a 500-seat theatre and there is also a casino at deck 4.  The casino is full of flickering machines, blackjacks etc, anyway we kept away from it as we didn't want to feel depressed at the end of our lovely cruise as you never win in such a place!

The nightclub is at deck 11 which is accessible by a special lift from deck 9. All the services areas are in the central area of the ship called the "centrum". So you have a 24-hr online centre looking like a chic cybercafe on deck 8. But the rate for internet excess is excessive at 0.65 USD per minute and they do have special time-package. That was the reason I refused to do my blogging on the ship! It was only used to access my emails and browse Malaysian  news.                                                                                   One of the evening shows that we went to

                                    One of the twenty computers in the 24-hr online room

On the ship you can eat anything and any amount you like. You will not go hungry unless you fail to follow the timetable. The food spread at Windjammer is generous, they keep on replenishing around the clock during the period. You need to be early for breakfast as most people prefer to have them early at the self-service restaurant  especially on the days the ship docks at the port of call.

The whole activities on board are well-organized and the staff really make you feel at home.There were also talks and seminars on health, beauty and creativity. Our room attendant called Naira is a black lady from Panama. She was very helpful but not intrusive. Our waiter Katia is a white Brazilian with a wonderful sense of humor and our assistant waiter Pedro is an Indian from Goa ( once a Portuguese colony thus his name). We became quite friendly with them not to mention Alex , another Brazilian who made my costume jewellery pieces. In fact the ship employ staff from many nations including from  Asian countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.

One of the lounges



Every evening before retiring our room attendant would give us the bulletin complete with relevant information for the daily ship schedules and activities. So we knew exactly what to do and expect each day.

There is music most of  the time with live performers. All kind from evergreen to sambas and you could see people dancing and enjoying themselves.On the night before we arrived in Corfu Greece, the staff donned a Grecian attire and Greek musicians were on board to play their music accompanied by Greek dancing.

We had two days at sea, meaning there was no ports of call and we simply relax on the ship. We took this time to wake up early and witness the spectacular sun rise from the horizon from the top deck. It was a wonderful experience with the blue seas around you and you would be lucky to see jumping fish. You can go around the ship for five times to make up the one kilometre walk. Quite a number of people did their morning exercise on the ship.

                                                                 Mediterranean Sunrise


Top deck

According to my husband this Mediterranean cruise was less hectic than the last one he was on as practically there was a daily port of call to rush to and excursions to follow. Days at sea is a better way of really enjoying the cruise. Less rush and more relaxation and for those who enjoy family activities there were several daily games and competition with prizes for winners.

                                                                    Serene morning cruising view

There were many cruise ships berthing at Venice, Splendour of the Seas, the ship we took is one of the the ships of the Royal Caribbean International. I saw others with names such as the Norwegian Gem, Costa Victoria and MSC. The region has a well-established cruise ship business and an organized tourist industry.


Splendour of the Seas is like a massive floating 5-star hotel that is an experience in itself. The public PA system and the intercom in your room ensure efficient communication. On our last afternoon we had a session with the captain and his crew who answered just about any question about the ship such as how they get fresh water for use in the ship, sea water desalination and sewage disposal.

                                                    The welcoming ceremony at the centrum

The captain was gracious enough to have his photo taken on formal night  with some lucky guests, I was one of them much to the envy of my friends ;), the photo is for my eyes only! It was indeed a short 7-day cruise. All good things must end and all that we have now are our photos and our beautiful memories.

                                Our dashing captain coming up the stairs after a welcoming speech

Next time I would really like to go on a cruise around the world....... Hmmmm