Sheryl and Ray’s Silver Seas
A taste of Lombok, Indonesia
25th March 2026. Blog Post 17 Indonesia contrasts starkly with Australia across almost all dimensions: religion, built environment, languages, geography, economy. Australia embodies western culture. Indonesia’s social and cultural norms are utterly different. Approximately 17 500 islands, 922 permanently inhabited, close to 300 million people – 4th most globally, hundreds of ethnic groups and local…
Read MoreHaircuts En Route
Blog Post 18 My haircut routine is one approximately every two months. Our family’s only known “home” hairdressing attempt: young son Yair, with just enough time to cut pre-school Maya’s fringe before Sheryl, to her horror, discovered the new hairstyle Maya would be sporting at her imminent birthday party! Ian Alperstein, legendary Milnerton men’s barber,…
Read MoreBali Sojourn
26th to 30th March 2026, Blog Post 19 While our distinct identity instils our lives with meaning, we “see”, as we travel, many other lasting civilisations built on shared stories, values, purpose that bind people together through multiple generations. Bali: A different paradigm. Reference points, context, meaning entirely disconnected from what we know to be…
Read MoreDifferent sides of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur & Phuket
30th March to 3rd April Blog Post 20 New adventures in this vibrant region’s incessant heat and humidity. “Surely we must plan the plan of the plan”? a question, jokingly asked from back of Dr. Kabat’s 1977 strategic planning class, after he explained that first step is to plan the plan. All this and more…
Read MoreCeylon Tea in Sri Lanka
7th to 10th April Blog Post 21 Good to be in aromatic, spicey, hot, humid Sri Lanka again! Name changed from Ceylon, shedding its colonial label, reclaiming its deeper indigenous roots. Land of tea, elephants, Tuc-Tucs, cricket, cinnamon, black pepper, rubber. Deeply Buddhist, also strong Hindu, Muslim, Christian communities. Real diversity, with much (immediately obvious)…
Read More“Meantime life outside goes on all around you”*, in Kochi
12th to 13th April 2026 Blog Post 22 In India you greet with “Namaste”: “The divine in me honors the divine in you”. Close to 18% of humanity, world’s most populous nation, approximately 27 million babies born each year. Hundreds of languages, multiple religions, swirl of cuisines, music styles, dances, colors, festivals. This time two…
Read MoreMaking the best of things, even when they don’t go to plan.
17th April to 4th May 2026 Blog Post 23 With no possibility of the planned Suez Canal transit, we travelled again to Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion. All three Island Nations had no permanent human presence until European colonisation. Seychelles, independence 1976 from British, previously French, by far Africa’s smallest African nation, both size and population: About 100 000…
Read MoreSailing Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, en route to Western Australia and Northern Territory
1st to 6th March 2026: Blog Post 14 Australia is “packing for Perth”, Sydney, Melbourne, to where our co-nationals emigrated. Seldom heard: Hobart, Adelaide, Darwin. Never Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln, Esperance, Busselton, Geraldton nor Broome. HUGE! Over six times South Africa’s size. Sometimes two full sea days travelling between ports! 2023: Breathtaking views from Mount Wellington…
Read MoreSome largest, first, best, only, longest at ports along the great Australian bight
7th to 13th March 2026. Blog Post 15 My late father z”l proposed developing a soccer field at Summerwood Club, Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth. “Sol – crazy idea. Impossible!”, they said. Not realizing he couldn’t, he did it. Port Jackson Willows and Eucalyptus were originally brought from their native Australia to bind the sea sand type…
Read MorePerth to Darwin: glimpses of a few more worlds.
14th to 22nd March, Blog Post 16 “We are not going to Perth”, responded Shore Concierge. “We dock at Fremantle”. First realisation that these are two different cities, 1/2 hour drive apart! “Freo” market opened 1897 during the gold boom. Lively, trendy surrounded by attractive Art Deco buildings. Excited to meet my cousin Susan and…
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