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“The postings on this site are my own and don't represent Maersk Group's position, strategies or opinions. All views are my own”
No longer any need to use the Internet Explorer or run the Internet Explorer rendering engine. I gave up IE after the introduction of Internet Explorer 11
  Page is tested in Fire Fox, Chrome and Safari. Looks like it works OK in all browsers, except the sounds in Safari. Of course, browsing www.aladdin.st in Safari on an iPad is a different story, nothing looks as it should   M/T Maersk Claudia
Passing the Suez Canal 17th of June 2011 - Picture from shipspotting.com - Picture by Robert Smith    Thursday 5th of July 2012 and finally time to leave Bangkok to join M/T Maersk Claudia. It will be  very nice to leave, and that's even though I managed to go through the birthday party at my friend's condo last Saturday without making too much of a tit  out of myself. Well, I'm not sure, but no one mentioned anything about Aladdin making a “fool” out of himself when I spoke with them after the party. GOOD, VERY GOOD!
Well, who knows? Maybe this will be the normal thing from now on. Stick to beer only and it is usually going quite well. I woke up at 5 thirty, 2 and a half hours before my alarm was set to go off. Well, that gives me 4 and a half hour before my car arrives. I booked a car at AOT for 10 o'clock before going to bed yesterday. My flight is leaving SUVARNABHUMI at 14:15 and I will change plane in Kuala  Lumpur and I will arrive to Perth just after midnight on the 6th of July.
So I had plenty time for tea and “TUNA & ONION SURPRISE” ® before it was time to leave for Suvarnabhumi. I even had time to finish my 4 last bottles of Diet MAX while starting to download Shazaam's Battle MC EP from his web page www.shazaam.se but I experienced technical difficulties. I turned off my computer forgetting that I was downloading so the whole thing was disrupted. I didn't bother firing up my computer again so I will have to down
I don't know how long it will take them to repair our satellite  dish so we can have internet onboard again. Well, see if I can upload anything from the  ship or if I will have to wait until I'm back home.
I went down with my garbage and duffle bag 10 minutes before 10 and the driver was waiting for me. He took my bag and I went to the condo office to pay my water bill. I paid my bill and I returned to my condo to get my lap top and my other bag and I  foocked off out of here.
It didn't take us long to get to the airport and Malaysia Airlines check in was not open so I walked around the airport killing time. They are recommending you to be at the Suvarnabhumi 3 hours before departure, FOR WHAT? Then they have to open the check-in 3 hours before. Well, not much people at the airport and as soon as I had checked in it took me 3 minutes to pass  security and immigration. They always ask me if I have a belt when passing airport  security and I always say no. I don't want to go through the hassle to take off and on my belt.
And so far, the detector has never gone off because of my belt. The Immigration officer pushed the CALL BUTTON and there was a girl coming to pick me up and I  was taken to the overstay booth. There was a girl telling me that she knew me.
- I seen you here before Turned out to be the Immigration Supervisor - NO WAY YOU CAN BE THE SUPERVISOR ONLY 28 YEARS OLD!!  - I'm 57
 - NO WAY!!
We cracked a few jokes and I paid my 4000 Baht overstay fine and I went to look for a Japanese restaurant. I paid almost 600 Baht for something that I could not finish, the food was not very good and I  made a mental note not to come back to this restaurant.
Still plenty time until boarding time 13:45 and I killed some time walking around the airport. There was no plane at the gate when I arrived. And I asked the girls where the plane was. They told me that the plane would arrive in 10 minutes. I sat down and I felt a sleep and I woke up 10 minutes later when a lady  asked if I could move my computer bag so she could sit down.
I felt a sleep as soon as I sat down in the airplane and I slept until the Steward was screaming in my ear. - DO YOU WANT TO EAT!! I shat my pants. 
- NO!! I DON'T MOTHERFOOCKER!!
Luckily enough I managed to fall asleep again and I slept until arrival, well, I had time for 2 glasses of orange juice before arrival to Kuala Lumpur.  On the train to Terminal with the C gates
 On the train to Terminal with the C gates
 On the train to Terminal with the C gates
 Terminal with the C gates
 On the train to Terminal with the C gates
 On the train to Terminal with the C gates
 On the train to Terminal with the C gates
Kuala Lumpur International Airport, must be the best airport I have ever visited with train  transfer. We got off our flight and my connection flight to Perth was departing from gate C24. Gate C24 was at another terminal and we got on a train and 3 minutes later I was at the next terminal. Not like other airports with train (or without train) transfers where I have to trot around with my bags forever to reach the train stations. Here it was just another gate, very convenient.
I stopped at a restaurant before proceeding to gate C24. I ordered a chicken hot dog and Spaghetti with meat sauce. I had a bottle of water and I watched the airplanes  outside the window while enjoying my meal. I paid 50 Scooby Doo dollars for the meal. I was at the gate just when they started the boarding.
I was surprised, the flight seemed to be full even though there had not been very much people at the gate. Well, a 5 hours flight and I will be OK. But we're flying Airbus so the seat is not all that comfortable. Well, never mind, just let us take off towards Perth so I can put this trip behind me. Departure time 18:55 and at 7 o'clock the Pilot told us that we would be 30 minutes  delayed due to some technical matter.
After an hour the Pilot was back on the PA system. They had located the problem and they needed to change a speed sensor and this would take yet another hour. Darn I was pissed off. I left my chair, and  believe me, I had been fighting with the seat belt for 5 minutes before I managed to get it on. How short are the seatbelts allowed to be?
But the guy at the window seat needed to go to the bathroom so I had no choice but to get my arse out of the seat. Good move, I walked to the back of the plane and it was almost empty and I got 2  seats for myself. I discovered 220 under my seat and I connected my laptop and I was soon watching Karusellen.
I asked if they had WIFI onboard, but they didn't. But I found a WIFI network from the airport and I downloaded Shazaam's Battle MC EP and I had soon Shazaam blasting high in my headphones. And I needed the internet to have something to do. We didn't left Kuala Lumpur until  2 and a half hour after scheduled departure time.
Nice to finally be on our way, arriving around 3 o'clock and I have 2 and a half hour to reach my Quanta’s flight to Karratha departing 05:25 It was a terrible flight, well, not as terrible it would have been if I would have had a guy in the seat next to me. Now I could work with my web page with some breaks to check out the trailer to Ostkakan VS Shazaam Battle. The battle as they call it is quite  embarrassing. Like American wrestling, it is boring and embarrassing. But the show around it is fun.
And what would their parents say? Their children throwing profanities at each other with 50 teenagers standing around them laughing and cheering. I spent some time with the Stewardesses at the back of the plane, but it was impossible to sleep. We Arrived to Perth just before 3 o'clock in the morning. Getting off the plane and there were no Immigration Officers at the Immigration. After a while  there was one sleepy Officer arriving and after what I thought was forever there were 4 of them. It went pretty quick, at least quicker than expected and I went to get my luggage at the carousel.
There was also a line at the custom and I was a wee bit afraid. I had seen signs and videos about how serious Australian custom was with attempt to smuggling stuff since we left Kuala Lumpur. Mostly food and plants and stuff. But I'm allowed to bring 250g of tobacco in to Australia and here we have Charisma Man coming around the corner to the Custom with a bag full of Tobacco, 7 kg and I was pretty sure the Custom officer would get upset if they would open my bag. I took my place at the end of the queue and when we came around the corner I discovered that  they x-rayed all the bags and they had the arriving passengers to open up their bags
- SHIT!! Yes, quite literally, I almost shat my pants. There were a row of x-ray machines, 8 of them I think. When it was my turn I handed my custom form to the lady and she pointed at the door and said this way - Where? I asked She pointed at the exit door. - The exit door? - Yes  I didn't turned cartwheels to the exit door afraid that she would have got suspicious. Then  she would have called me back. I walked out in the arrival hall with my snus, and yes, I was happy and relieved.
So why did she let me through? - Because you're dashing.  - Hmm, well, I don't know. Most likely not
- Because of your nice glasses? - I don't know - Because of your nice shirt that every Steward and Stewardess have been going on about since you left Bangkok yesterday? - I don't know And never mind, I was through and I will be OK until we arrive to Singapore where we will get 100 cans again. (  Hopefully) I went to look for the domestic terminal and they told me that there would be a bus outside the terminal at 04:00 for transfer to the Domestic terminal.
- Do you have WIFI here? - No, but try upstairs There was a sign whit an arrow pointing up at the escalators. And it said “DEPARTURES” and “RESTAURANTS AND PUBS” Well, a breakfast would be nice so I went upstairs and it seemed like everything was closed, except the shops so I went down again. There was a coffee shop outside the custom so I went there to see what they had to offer. They didn't offer any WIFI so I could not upload my web page. But I asked for the biggest cup of tea they had, of course, it came from a plastic/ paper cup, American style. But it was a big cuppa and it tasted good. I ordered 2 chibata or whatever they call it. Filled with avocado, chicken and bacon. Sounded too good to be true. I asked them to put the small wonders on the grill and I waited for a few minutes. My chibatas tasted like shit, the smell and the vomiting reflex started to kick in. I was retching over the garbage bin, and it didn't become better looking down at my chibatas that I had thrown away a few seconds earlier. Motherfoocker, that was some nasty tasting chibatas. I feel nauseous and I had a bad after taste  in my mouth and I was not in a good mood. I was still feeling nauseous when I entered the bus to the domestic terminal.
Coming to the domestic terminal and I ended up in a pandemonium. No power at the terminal. Quantas have some self service kiosks for the check in and baggage drop and they were not working without power. I ended up next to a girl and she would show me how it worked. - If they get the power back on. They never got the power back and they started to call the passengers for the different flights. I managed to check in and I got labels for my bags and the Quantas staff told me to leave them at the carousel #1and then to proceed to the security check. No power so I had to carry my luggage by  myself. Never mind, I was happy that I had a boarding pass and I was soon onboard Quantas flight QF 906 to Karratha.
The foocking chibatas had made me sick and I was almost throwing up in my seat and the taste I had in my mouth is was terrible. Now they are serving  breakfast onboard the flight to Karratha. Bacon and egg, and the smell almost made me open the door so I could have thrown myself to a sure death some 10,000 meters below. Motherfoocker!
With the bad taste in my mouth after the chibata in Perth I said no to the breakfast and if there would have been any doubt about me having breakfast the smell would have made me say no thanks. REPULSIVE!!! Yeah, I never thought that I would use the word repulsive, only a word I hear girls saying describing Aladdin. Nowhere to escape the smell and I was going crazy. Maybe some orange juice would help and I went back to ask for some orange juice. I got 2 glasses and the worst taste disappeared from my mouth, but the smell was still there. Night was slowly turning to day light and the sun was shining when we arrived to Karratha at 7 thirty, 2 hours after our delayed departure from Perth.  Arrival to Karratha/ Dampier airport
 Arrival to Karratha/ Dampier airport
 Arrival to Karratha/ Dampier airport
 Arrival to Karratha/ Dampier airport
It was like in Kristainsund in Norway, a heliport next to the airport and it was mostly offshore workers arriving with  the flight. When I got to the baggage claim area there was a girl waiting for me with a sign “Maersk Claudia” and our new 2nd engineer that had arrived with the same flight as me was with her. We picked up our bags and we left for the immigration/ custom in Dampier.
Leaving the airport and if we turn to left we end up in Karratha, a very small town and as we were going to Dampier we turned right. Dampier, a place with great names on the streets. Avenue this and that but there was only 2 houses, 1 shop, 1 hotel and the custom/ Immigration. As I told our 2nd Engineer when we entered Dampier. Hell, it was impossible to know when you entered the village.If  it hasn't been for the 2 houses we would have thought that we were in the middle of nowhere.
- I would have gone crazy after 2 days here.
We went to the Immigration and then we went down to the harbour, a small harbour for work boats and launches. We were going to join Maersk Claudia at Dampier inner anchorage with a launch. When we descended to Perth the pilot told us that it was 7°C and I thought he was making a mistake. 7°C in Australia, isn't it supposed to be hot here? And I never packed any winter clothing. When we got out of the van at the jetty for the service boat it was more than 7°C but it was darn cold in the wind. There was a small service boat on the jetty but the driver was not sure it was our boat. She called the Agent and we were supposed to leave with a boat picking us up at 8 thirty. 10 minutes to go and no sign of any boat coming to pick us up. I suspected that we were going with the boat that was at the jetty. But the driver said that the boat looked small and she said that there would come another boat. The boat looked to be a normal size service boat to me, but I don't know how the service boat looks in Dampier.  Waiting in the middle of nowhere
Karratha/ Dampier is like a big nothing, only a barren land skcape for as long as I could see. The place is only a big mine and there is a gas plant. And offshore activities off the coast. Long trains loaded with iron ore. Actually the longest train I have ever seen, and I saw them already when we approached Karratha with Quantas flight QF 906. And there were always 3 or 4 huge ships loading iron ore. And plenty ships waiting at the anchorage. A chock, a small place like this and, well, as I said. Like Norway, in the middle of nowhere and a massive activity with the offshore and ore business. Like the wild west, I can imagine the gold rush  to have been something like this. 3 houses and a lot of people mining for iron ore or drilling for oil and gas. And of course, the business around the ore and oil industry.
Not much tree or vegetation around, the tree and bushes was the only way Dampier differed from the surrounding area. We were waiting and it was about 200 meters to the boat so I decided to put my 2 bags on the jetty so I didn't had to bother with the bags again. I returned to the car and as it was too cold in the wind I took a seat in the back of the van until further news. There was a guy coming up to us from the boat and yes, this was the boat that was going to take us to Maersk Claudia. And as I had brought my bags already I only needed to carry my computer to the service launch. The boat man took my bags and we went onboard.  The boat man takes my luggage to the boat
 Leaving Dampier behind
 Passing big ships loading iron ore in Dampier
 Passing big ships loading iron ore in Dampier
 Passing big ships loading iron ore in Dampier
I spoke with one of the boat guys. I told him that he must be a millionaire. Working here must be  paid pretty well and no place to  spend the money.
- Whoa whoa, I have foock all. He explained that everything  was very expensive up here. Rent the smallest of houses would cost 1500 Dollars PER WEEK and a small room was 400 Dollars per week.
- What about the night life, here must be foock all to do - There is the hotel Yes, there was a hotel in Dampier, didn't look like much, but I'm sure that they would charge you handsomely. Well, I'm for sure happy that I dwell in Bangkok or as I use to call the city, FUNKY TOWN. I have my doubts that there is anything FUNKY going on in Dampier. Well, except the “funky” smell from the breakfast they served on our way here. It took us about 30 minutes to get to Maersk Claudia and it was nice to finally see the ship, 24  hours after leaving home.
It was a wee bit choppy coming out to Dampier  inner anchorage so I didn't get any nice pictures of Maersk Claudia. But I found a good picture of Maersk Claudia passing the Suez  Canal so I really don't need any pictures.
But it is always nice with your own pictures. And coming along M/T Maersk Claudia it took them a few try to get the service launch to the pilot ladder. Out 2nd Engineer was first on the ladder while I took pictures of him climbing onboard. And even though I was  busy taking pictures I could see someone on the bridge wing. Screaming Aladdin while waving his hands. I swear to God, the only thing missing was that he would have give a  salute of 21 gunshots,  waving the flags and an welcome orchestra playing  on the bridge wing with CAN CAN dancers.  Yes, always nice with a proper welcome.
 Captain on the bridge wing when we arrived
And I recognised our Captain on the bridge wing. Yes, of course, he is on the bridge wing when  Aladdin arrives. I took a picture before I threw myself on the pilot ladder and they must have been impressed seeing me jumping up the ladder like a cat.
Well, I stepped onboard M/T Maersk Claudia just after 8 thirty in the morning. After 3 flights and 24 hours of travelling: MH 789 Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur and I slept most of the time MA 127 Kuala Lumpur - Perth, I could not sleep and the last 2 hours were pretty terrible. 2 and a half hour of waiting in Kuala Lumpur while they repaired the plane. I could use my Lap top so it was quite OK. QF 906 Perth - Karratha, a terrible flight. I was dead tired but I could not sleep. And on top of that the  smell from the breakfast and the bad taste in my mouth after the chibata in Perth. A truly horrible experience that I could have managed well without.
Well, anyway, 8 thirty something and I'm standing on Maersk Claudia's tank deck and Aladdin's adventure onboard M/T Maersk Claudia can start. And we do as we use to do, click on any of the below LINKS to get to the month of interest: July 2012 July 2012 - Part 2 July 2012 - Part 3 August 2012 August 2012 - Part 2 August 2012 - Part 3 Aladdin's adventure in Sydney onboard M/T Maersk Claudia - August 2012 september 2012 september 2012 - Part 2 Last group hug onboard M/T Maersk Claudia Aladdin's adventure in Hong Kong - Holiday We did the following voyages before I signed off in Hong Kong on the 21st of September 2012:
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it  be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
 Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
 Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
 Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
 Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
 Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
 คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
 Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
 E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
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