October 13, 2006
Ferry to Sumatra: A day at sea
We wake at daylight. We can see land on both sides; we think we are just finishing passing through the Sunda Strait that is between Java and Sumatra. Rachel is not sad to say goodbye to Java. Perhaps someday we will return and have a better experience.
Meals are included in our first-class ticket. For breakfast we have fried egg and white rice and hot tea. The restaurant for 1st/2nd class is the same level as our cabin. We hear announcements in Indonesian throughout the day and evening. When we hear "first/second class" and the time is around mealtimes, we figure that is the announcement that meals are available.
The food is served family style and already on the tables. There are about 6 tables with set ups for 4 persons per table. The centerpiece of each table is a big colander style bowl of white rice, two choices of meats--chicken pieces or fish pieces, a vegetable medley with sauce and fruit pieces. Each dish has 4 pieces each. We eat almost alone at each meal since most people are fasting for Ramadan, though travel does allow an exception to this rule. During lunch there is a band, of sorts, piano and drum and a female singer attempting to sing in English.
It's nice to breath the fresh sea air after the smog in Jakarta. As we go up the western coast of Sumatra, we can barely see land, mostly due to the haze and smoke. In Malaysia, the farmers are burning their fields and the smoke has drifted across to Sumatra. We spend the day reading, killing the occasional cockroach that ventures out at the wrong time, taking walks out on deck and watching the sunset over the Indian Ocean. We think we see porpoises in the distance. Patrick talks with a few of the passengers, especially the young men who want to practice English.
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