Indonesia is a hard country to sum up especially after visiting only two of the 6000 inhabited islands. What we saw was very crowded yet wherever possible there we rice paddies and small plots for other crops, although rice is far and away the most eaten food—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There was a wide range economic level, from people living in metal shacks on the flood plane by the harbor to million dollar homes in the hills. There obviously is no zoning, along the road there might be a rather nice home next to a makeshift vendor’s stall or a pile of junk. If I have time, I may try to come back to our photos of Indonesia and try to organize some of the random shots along our various routes on Lombok and Java.
On February 28 we crossed the equator for the second of four times. There is a ritual (at least on cruise ships) that attends a persons first equator crossing. Rather than subjecting everyone to it they just selected representatives from the officers, staff, and crew. We all assembled on the Lido around the pool. Neptune made an appearance with his current consort.
Neptune and Consort
He had a judge (the cruise director) and the top officers were the jury.
Jury and Judge
The accused were led in.
Some of the Accused
Charges for petty (and funny) “crimes” were read depending upon the person and his/her position. The accused then had to kiss the fish (a big ugly fish).
An Enthusiastic Fish Kiss
One accused who merely kissed her hand and touched the fish was roundly booed and jeered by the assembled mob until she returned for a proper kiss. Each accused was ritually smeared with foam. Then the jury decided their guilt or innocence. The “guilty” were thrown in the swimming pool and the “innocent” were spared that fate. A good time was had by all.