Singapore, Japan Bound, and Overdue

We are now back underway at sea after our brief stop in Singapore. It seems like the entire past few months have been spent at sea. As semi-adventurous as that may sound, it’s basically me staring out a window for 8 hours day. Can’t believe I get paid what I get paid to look out a window. 

The traffic going into Singapore wasn't as bad as I thought it'ld be. Or maybe it was but I've just gotten used to constantly zigging and zagging through it that it doesn't phase me anymore. The fishing boats were pretty heavy as usual and there must have been several hundred ships we passed. 

We were supposed to be in Singapore for 3 days, but it got cut short to just around 48 hours due to some political issues going on in the region which our ship might have to support some ships that that might get involved. I wanted to go to the zoo and have a tiger sit on my lap and ride an elephant, but wound up not having the time to do it. Because of the watch schedule, I spent most of my time on watch. The afternoon I did have off I rode the train a couple cities over and walked around a downtown area. I wound up sitting outside a Starbucks flirting with some local girls for a bit before having to head back to the ship. 

It might just be because we came from the run down shantiest town in the Philippines, but Singapore was exceptionally clean. In fact, I'd say its the most Western-like country I've been in since I started in December (5 and counting). For a minute, I actually thought I was in good 'ol 'Merica. That lasted until on my run I looked left instead of right and just about got laid out by a bus. They just had to go and drive on the wrong side of the rode here. 

The air there was pretty fresh, and like I mentioned earlier the city is so clean. They don't even sell chewing gum in the country so people can't spit it out on the streets. I'm pretty sure if you're caught littering, they'll cane you pretty damn quick. The cops here are for reals.  

And the women here! Oh boy, I must have fallen in love at least 7 times and almost got married twice. Staying here any longer than we did would have been dangerous. People of all descents, Asian, Australlian, Irish, English, Indian, a few Americans...they got them all here with every kind of mix possible. I can see why Singapore is home to so many ex-patriots (proper terminology? probably not)

So I had the afternoon off which I just kinda mosied around checking things out and then I had another night off. Which you know what that means...KARAOKE! You bet, we found a joint and went at it. I kinda broke a Karaoke machine in the Philippines after rocking the house on Livin' On Prayer. This time the Karaoke machine survived for another battle with destiny. 

So we pulled out the next afternoon and are now bound for Okinawa, Japan. We had a destroyer pull up alongside us and fueled them up a few days ago. I think we are giving them more fuel in a few more days before Okinawa. We'll be in Okinawa all of 12 hours before setting sail for Sasebo, Japan, a few days transit to the North. 

I'm hoping against hope that I'll get relieved in Sasebo. We'll be there for a few days but after that pretty much not in port until Guam and Hawaii at the end of June and then Washington. I'm 17 days over-due as it is right now. I have this sinking feeling that I'll be on until Hawaii (I've been there way too much). As much as it stinks to be overdue, I try to keep it positive. I'm already picking up 2 extra paychecks I wasn't planning on, and the overdue pay is compounding nicely. Plus, I'm now only 160 days sailing on my license from upgrading to 2nd Mate!

So thats about all I got for now. Its just been lots of staring out the window into a big empty ocean. I'm looking forward to getting off of here and back into the real world....where it'll be time to cut loose and party up!

Til next time,

Philippines , Overdu, Singapore

Well we made it to the Philippines in once piece. It was nice to walk on solid land again after spending the last month at sea. We were there for a vessel repair period where we had a bunch of contract workers come on board and fix a bunch of broken equipemnt and generally freshen up the ship.

The Philippines is known for being pretty cheap, and I'd have to agree with that after spending the last two weeks there. Beers were a buck everywhere, a 5 star meal at a restaurant would run about 20 bucks, and you could get the fanciest suite at a hotel for just under 75 bucks.

The streets are full of vendors selling fake Rolexes, bootleg DVDs, and fake Ray Ban sunglasses. Though everything is cheap here, you pretty much get what you paid for, the quality of even knock of brands leaves something to be desired. Needless to say, I didn't do much shopping here. I'd have to say the Philippines is the poorest country I've been to so far. I'd go on long runs and all I'd see was little shacks where people would live. 

I really didn't do anything crazy or exciting here. I meant to go to a zoo, but wound up forgetting about it. I plan on going to the one in Singapore there. You can bottle feed a full grown tiger while it sits on your lap. I think that would be pretty neat.

After two weeks of the Philippines, I was ready to get moving on again. 

Speaking of Singapore, we are en route to there now, expecting to pull in in a few days. I am 6 days overdue for relief with no relief in sight. As much as I'm hoping to get off in Singapore, I'm not counting on it. We are only going to be there a couple of days. I'm thinking it will be more like Okinawa at the beginning of June, maybe even Sasebo after that.

 As much as it irks me to be overdue, getting the extra paychecks makes things somewhat better. I've been car hunting for the last few weeks, and change my mind about every 5 minutes. I've gone from used Audis to sporty Mercedes convertibles. I think I've decided to go with a 2012 Audi A4 (though it might be a 2013 by the time I get off of here) with all the bells and whistles. I want something new and exactly the way I want it. And then go on a long, exciting road trip with it.

Singapore is the world's busiest shipping port, so its going to be pretty hectic getting in there. From what I've heard I can expect to be surrounding by a few hundred ships moving at various speeds sometime only a few hundred yards away from me. I'm slightly dreading it, but I know it'll be a good experience. I'll be glad when we are tied up at the dock.



What I'm going to do with my time off pretty much occupies 95% of my thoughts throughout the day. Its hard not think about it when you are so close.....yet so far.

So it's still business as usual. We got a new Captain on board, this makes the 4th Captain I've sailed under in the 5 months I've been on board. He seems pretty good so far, I have no real complaints. I'll post another update when we leave Singapore!