Cooking with Mr Martzi

I am now a bonafide, expert Chef extraordinaire.  Not having completed the Alfredo Martzi  school of Cooking once but twice now.  We were told that to complete this course on land it would cost us $8000 but on Princess it is for FREE.....   I have always enjoyed these sessions with Alfredo as not only do I love watching what he comes up with but he is very informative and laid back about his cooking.... top that off with a bit of humour and it is a great way to spend a couple of hours.

I walk out of these sessions all enthused about going home and getting back into cooking... but alas by the time we get home and back into a routine the enthusiasm seems to waiver J

 

Darwin

It was a slow morning this morning as weren’t arriving into Darwin until 10 am.  This was to be our first and only Princess Tour for this whole trip.  Because of our short stay we decided to stick with princess and head out to the Adelaide River to see the jumping crocodiles. 

It was with relief that we saw the Paramedics come on to the ship first to collect a gentleman that had collapsed on deck 12 with a heart attack the day before.  They worked on him for a long time before they wheeled him down to the medical centre.  We really feared for him.  We have been told that apart from a few broken ribs from the compressions that he was ok...  Lets hope that he stays that way.

Our trip to the jumping crocodiles was fantastic... and if it wasn’t for a couple of grumpy passengers it would have been a perfect trip.  We saw crocodiles and they jumped for us ... what else would you want.  So much better than our last trip to Darwin.

They then took us to the Windows to the Wetland visitors centre where they had displays on the wetlands... not a lot but made for a good toilet and snack stop.

Darwin 2

We decided to get dropped off in Darwin town instead of going back to the ship and we went for a walk around to what is left of any landmarks that were around in Garry’s time in Darwin.  Not alot as they seem to be pulling down and rebuilding all around the city.

We walked around the esplanade through the park, past the governor’s residence down towards the wharf where they have done a great job with the enclosed beach and wave pool.

We all gathered out the back to celebrate our last sail away before we hit home.... that said... we were treated to a beautiful sunset....

Now that I have finished the ports I am going to go back and report on some of the ships events we have had whilst on board.

 

 

Day 80 Kuala Lumpur

Sailing into to Kelang we were racking our brains trying to remember what the port looked like....   Looking at the lights it looked so close we thought we would be in early, but the we were moving at a snail’s pace.

As we got closer it was all starting to come back to us and as that big white building became clearer and clearer we thought yes that is right.

It was once the Star Terminal but it is now known as the Glenn Terminal.  How could we forget that really long walkway from the ship to the building.

We were going to do the KL on your own, but decided we would hire a taxi which took us to the Batu Caves, KL tower and then dropped us around the Butik Bintang area before taking us back to the ship..

The drive towards KL was just as expected... slow as we were driving in peak hour traffic.  The Batu Caves are only about 15km out of the city.  We seem to be driving in a big circle and then CK our driver explained that it would be faster to drive around KL than it would have been to drive through it.

Princess use to have tours to Batu but on our last 2 trips they have not been an option. 

Batu Caves is one of the most renowned Hindi shrines located outside of India which is dedicated to the Lord Murugan. It is said that the limestone which forms the Batu Caves are as old as 400 million years old. The steps up to Batu Caves were made of wood. They were soon replaced by 272 concrete ones. Among all the cave temples which make up the site, the most famous and the largest of them all is the Cathedral Cave and in every corner you will find a different shrine underneath its 100-meter vaulted ceiling.

The statue of Lord Murugan stands proud at 42.7 meters right outside of Batu Caves. It is painted the brightest of golds that has been brought in from Thailand. I took a photo from behind to give you some perspective as to how big is actually is.  On the way up the many steps you will find the little monkeys and their babies racing around looking for someone who might have some food for them...  You have to be careful as they are known to be aggressive and can bite... But they look so cute!!!