The Strait of Malacca Cruising

　　I saw the Strait of Malacca from the hill of St. Paul's Church on my first visit to Malaysia last summer. You can see the same scene here(link). Since then, I'd been eager to see the Malay Peninsula from the sea, though the coastal terrain would have completely changed from that in 15th century when the Straits had appeared in history. I just wanted to view the Malay Peninsula from the Straits just like the sailors in 15th century blown by the breeze on the Straits. After coming back to Japan, while seeking for a means of transport, I found a gorgeous cruising tour. The name of the cruise ship was Diamond Princess! The ship registry was Britain, but it was built in Japan. I applied to go cruising in the Strait of Malacca immediately.
　　I took this opportunity to replace my worn red daypack. I'll move from Japan in the still cold climate to the waters practically right on the equator. I had to take my winter clothes off and put summer ones on at my arrival in Singapore. My new daypack was required to have a big capacity as a carry-on bag. It must also have pockets for mobile PCs, documents, and desirably be waterproof. Even when almost empty, it must keep some space for fragile stuff. My about ten-year-old daypack didn't have any partition and was heavily damaged. I had to use two cases as you see here(link). The daypack in the linked picture was the last dayback but one. Considering these conditions, I chose a silver one in the following picture. It had all the functions which I needed. I would say that this type of daypack should become popular.

http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2016/08/overview-of-malacca.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2008/03/last-minute-pre.html

(Vocabulary)
take the opportunity to do これを機に～する
I would say that~ 私の見るところ～である。

マラッカ海峡クルージング記　　はじまり(^o^)

昨年の夏に初めてマレーシアを訪問した。そして、初めてマラッカ海峡を眺めた。(LINK)この眺めを見て次は海からマラッカ市街を眺めてみたいと思った。この海峡が歴史に登場する１５世紀頃の景色とは随分と違ってはいるだろうが、当時の船乗り達が眺めたであろう山々を眺めてみたかった。帰国後、その手段を探していて、見つけたのがマラッカ海峡クルージングツアーだ。船はあのダイヤモンド・プリンセス。申し分ない。イギリス船籍だが日本で建造された船だ。すぐに申し込んだ。

今回のツアーでデイパックを新調することにした。まだ寒い日本から赤道直下の海上へ行くのだ。ディナー用の服に加えて、季節の違う国へ向かうため夏と冬の両方の季節の普段着を用意せねばならない。機内持ち込み荷物にも十分な容量が必要だ。約１０年以上使ったデイパックは中に仕切りがなく不便な上に、かなり傷んでいた。仕切りが無いため下記に示した箱を入れて使っていた。（LINK)今回は中に何も入れなくてもある程度のスペースを保つもので、パソコンや書類など用のポケットのあるもの。防水なら更に良いという条件で探して写真のものを選んだ。機能的に申し分なくこれから愛用することになるだろう。このタイプのデイパック、流行るだろうな。