I’m not sure what I was thinking when I labeled the last two emails 12-2 and 12-3, they were actually 11-28 and 11-29. Duh. Oh well, I was somewhat depressed to be getting off the ship.
6273 The Welcome Dance. This dance is usually performed by a woman but in the past a man dressed in the same type costume would do it because there were no Indonesian females on the crew. For several years now they have added women and they can do their traditional parts in the show.
6284 The Saman Dance. You can see by the smiling faces that they are having a great time performing for us. Most of the members are Lido wait staff, some are from the dining room.
6926 The cast of the Kecak Dance. King Rama is wearing the green and gold wrap and Queen Sinta is to his right. The white monkey is wearing the white mask and the rest of the cast are his army.
The last picture is and angklung. On the right is a single angklung. On the left is a picture of a rack that can hold an octave of angklungs that a single musician can play.
Nov 30 – Dec 4, At Sea. The last 5 days at sea is a pretty good idea. No pressure to pack quickly, time to rest up and get used to the last time zone changes. The ship did these last two changes two days in a row at 2pm. So we were on California time by December 1. Nice. When you’re at sea ship’s time can be whatever they say it is, it’s only in port that they need to be accurate. The final proof of that was when we had the extra day. We actually crossed the dateline the day before.
Unfortunately, our luck did not hold. We’ve had some cases of the norovirus, very common on land, but in close quarters like a ship you have to try to nip it in the bud. It’s a very common virus and not really dangerous. When we get it on land we just think we ate something that didn’t agree with us or call it the 24 hour flu. Problem with it is that it’s very easy to spread and you are contagious both before and after the symptoms are present. In a public setting like a cruise ship that’s a problem.
We’ve been on the special dining system since the 2nd. The food on the buffet is all served to you. Tableware is not put on the table but handed to you individually wrapped in a napkin. No salt, pepper or other condiments on the tables or anywhere you can reach them. You just ask the staff for what you want and they hand it to you. In the dining room they don’t put the bread basket on the table but come around with the basket and ask what you would like. Same for the butter. There’s a steward at the door to the dining room and Lido with Purell and you can’t go in without using it. They always have the dispensers but some of the jerks on the ship refuse to use it. Now they have to or they don’t get in.
The library was closed on the 3rd to prevent the spread of the virus by handling books and magazines. We are reminded every day to wash our hands often and use the Purell dispensers. Diana and I are using our own hand sanitizer, Surgicept, that I buy from Supreme Medical in Louisiana. It not only sanitizes your hands but it’s also persistent. That is, it remains on your skin and continues to kill any new bugs you encounter for up to 4 hours. I can’t say that it’s the reason we didn’t catch it but I’m not willing to find out. I really won’t travel without it. It’s much thinner than Purell so it takes less to cover hour hands completely. It has emollients in it that keep your skin from drying out and it dries on your hands so much faster and does not leave a weird feeling. It has no added fragrance but I find the smell pleasant. Can you tell I love it. It’s approved for use as a surgical scrub without water so it really works.
We had the Indonesian Crew Show on Dec 1 before all the protective protocols were put in place. It was much more ethnic that the Filipino show although they did have more modern music than they ever had before.
Of course they still did the major dances that they always do. They always have a Welcome Dance of some kind. It’s not to welcome we mere mortals to the dance but to welcome the gods. Most Indonesian folk dances are based on Balinese stories and most people from Bali are Hindus. I’m not sure what the Islamic parts of the islands do for folk dances, maybe some are the same. Muslims would not have a welcome dance for the gods because they are monotheistic.
The Saman Dance is performed by dancers kneeling in a line facing the audience. They use their hands, arms, heads and torsos to perform synchronized movements that are a joy to watch. Sometimes they wear white gloves and a portion of the dance will be performed with the house lights out and the stage lit with black light. The white gloves glow and seem to be floating unaided in complex patterns.
The Saman performers had two very new members that they wisely put at the same end of the line. The movements are relatively rapid and if you are out of sync you could get a pretty hard slap. It’s always a big hit, pun definitely intended.
The next act was a departure for the Indonesians, a modern US act. An assistant waiter from the Pinnacle Grill performed as an Elvis impersonator. He did a credible job but added a great deal of humor to the performance. The crowd was laughing and cheering in equal measure. It was a unique and pleasing performance.
The next act was more in the tradition of HAL Indonesian shows, although it’s the first time I’ve seen this particular dance. In the Caci Dance a man in native dress with a whip came on the stage and after dancing for a short time started whipping his arms and legs as part of the dance. The red welts on his body proved that this was not an act but some sort of traditional dance that usually involves two men with whips and shields that fight each other. I guess this man is one of the few Manggarai people on the ship so in essence he’s fighting himself. This dance is a rite of passage for young men and is performed at many celebrations, weddings, etc. After the dance is over the two men show the women and young men in attendance the welts of the current fight as well as any scars from previous fights. Having these marks is a sign of masculinity among this tribe.
The next performer sang a ballad from current popular Indonesian music. From its mournful tone and the pained expression on his face I can only assume that it’s a love song. Apparently both Filipino and Indonesian ballads are like country music in the USA, most of them are about love gone wrong.
The Kecak Dance tells the story of the Ramayana (Rama’s Journey), an ancient Sanskrit epic. In the story the Hindu sage Valmiki, a monkey like humanoid, helps King Rama (an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu) fight the demon-like King Ravana who has kidnapped Rama’s wife Sinta. It’s a great story and the crew obviously has fun doing it. In the version they did this evening Valmiki uses CPR to try to revive his army who have been placed under a spell by Ravana. In the end he uses two flip-flops as defibrillator paddles to shock them awake. This was definitely not in the original Sanskrit story.
The finale of an Indonesian crew show is always the angklung orchestra. The angklung is a bamboo instrument that has tubes of bamboo that are suspended in a wooden frame. When the frame is struck or shaken it strikes the tubes and produces a note. Each frame usually has two tubes, which are tuned to the same note one octave apart. Like a bell choir, each person has one or two angklungs and plays it when that note is needed. It’s a very pleasant sound, I enjoy these performances. They always play at least one American patriotic song like America the Beautiful.
Just in case you’ve never heard and angklung, here’s a YouTube clip. The song is Do-Re-Me from The Sound of Music. The orchestra is made up of former street children from Jakarta, Indonesia who are now residents of Yayasan KDM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VouiV21yF9s
It was a late night but a great evening of entertainment.
Of course the most depressing part of cruising has to be done during this period, packing to leave the ship. Very sad.
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