Thursday 12th March Straights of Malacca (correction)

Coordinates for Liam and Katie:
Speed: 20.6 knots
Lat: 03 degrees 49.2 N
Long; 099 degrees 55.13 E
Course: 136 degrees
Time: 17:37

Today has been extremely hot outside and b----- freezing inside! I sit in the Union for our mandatory Global Studies lectures in the mornings wrapped up in one of my woolen stoles like a cocoon. We eat our meals in the shade on deck and it is very warm indeed. Today's talks were given by two American medical students who came on board at Chennai. They talked about HIV/AIDS in India, Thailand and Vietnam. They told us stories of "sex workers" in all those countries and of the spread from/to foreign tourists especially in Thailand. For some women struggling on their own to support parents and children in rural areas, going to the cities and working as prostitutes is a way of making more money than they could possibly earn working on the land in their own villages.

George has just stated from our balcony that this is the dirtiest ocean we have sailed through so far. There is litter everywhere and it's mostly plastic...and we all know what that does to the underwater life of the world's seas. This is the world's busiest shipping lane and we have seen many many tankers, freighters and fishing boats in the distance. I saw land this morning: small peaks on the horizon at dawn. Not sure where it was, perhaps Phuket. Although George has been saying all day that we must be near K.L....he loves that Noel Coward way of saying Kuala Lumpur! I told him he couldn't impress me because our family have been calling it that for years!

I had great success putting photos on here at about 6 am his morning; there was a drasmatic and glorious sunrise which I could get not my camera to reproduce adequately.

I have a 7 pm rehearsal (40 minutes from nw) so must go to dinner. May add more photos later if possible, if not early tomorrow again.