Week 14

Mon. July 2    At Sea

6 A.M. bed tea. It was too hot to sleep so I got up and did a pile of washing. Breakfast was at 8.30.

Afterwards we loafed and read and walked about the deck until lunchtime. By this time we were moving down the Hooghly River. Turned in until 4.30 P.M. then sunbathed on deck until dinnertime.

We spent the rest of the evening in the lounge and on deck.

We went down into the hold this morning to look at the girls’ land rover, which had been dropped by the wharfies while loading it. Apparently it had landed across a coil of wire and the chassis is badly bent. It will be a big job.

Weather - hot and cloudy.

Tues. July 3    At Sea

Passed the morning reading, talking, and sunbathing. Arrived in Chittagong at 12 noon. It is a mangy looking place if ever I saw one. Passed the afternoon in slumber and the evening in writing.

Weather – hot.

Weds.. July 4    At Sea

Spent the afternoon in my customary fashion.

Later, John and I got mixed up in a booze-up with some of the engineers. Finished up in the 3rd engineer’s cabin at about 2.30 A.M., drinking with him and the Chief engineer. We were all quite drunk. The 3rd engineer was later found asleep in the W.C.

Weather - can’t remember but I think we had some.

Thurs. July 5    At Sea

Left Chittagong about noon. John and self not at all well this A.M. Dulcie decidedly unsympathetic!

Spent most of the morning in bed, and then the afternoon sunbathing. Sea getting quite rough by teatime.

Had an early night.

Figure 4.1: Sunbathing aboard M.V. Santhia

Fri. July 6    At Sea

Sunbathed and scratched about as one does at sea. Read a bit, slept a little, and just plain sat for a bit. Sea quite rough today, great.

Sat. July 7    Arrived Rangoon

Got in at 8 A.M. and anchored in the river. The morning was spent getting Burmese visas so we could go ashore after dinner. John, Reg, Sparks and the 3rd mate invited us up to the Rangoon Yacht Club.

We had a marvelous afternoon sailing up and down the lake, must have another go at that sometime.

We were sitting on the terrace afterwards, having a beer when a great rattling noise broke out. It sounded just like kids throwing gravel on the tin roof.

We looked around to see that we were the only ones still sitting at our table, all the others being under theirs.

The noise was rifle fire over by the university. Later we saw the tail end of a skirmish between students and police when we followed a jeep back into town, which was carrying two people who had been shot, one through the back.

Back on board, we went up to Reg’s cabin to drink beer and view slides. Got waylaid on my way back to our cabin by a Scots couple who insisted that we go back with them and drink more beer. It’s a hard life!

Sun. July 8    Rangoon

Wet morning so we stayed on board. Staggered ashore after lunch and made our way to the Shwei Dagon Pagoda, which is also known as the golden pagoda on account of its being covered in fine gold leaf.

The whole area was interesting as there were lots of smaller temples and pagodas, with people coming and going all the time. Bought a new pair of straps for my ying-tongs after a lot of bargaining.

Figure 4.2: Rangoon

Figure 4.3: Shwei Dagon Pagoda. Photo by John Ireland

Figure 4.4: Shwei Dagon Pagoda