The Other Half of the World: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

No Drama in Yemen

We are now off the coast of Saudi Arabia. We passed thru the straights and past Yemen with no incident. Although we are relieved, I think we are also a bit disappointed that we didn't see anything. We passed closest to Yemen a bit later than originally scheduled, at about 12:30. As I predicted there were a lot of people on deck to take a look at what we could see. With Mel's telephoto lense he was able to get some pictures of buildings on the islands. When I walked on deck 3 later I could see how fast we were going. The ship was throwing a wake! I had not seen that before. Someone said they saw a helicopter way off in the distance but that was it. This morning people are reporting that a US destroyer was spotted about 300 yards from us at 6:30 last evening. The Capt reported that it was actually a ship flying a Saudi flag and going as fast south, 23 knots, as we were going north. The problems in Yemen surely added a bit of excitement to our cruise but I am glad we are through and save.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Salalah, Oman

We were told that the town of Salalah was about 30 minutes from the pier and that a taxi would cost $40 to $50 each way. Sounded like it was going to be an expensive day. Once we got off the shuttle that took us from the ship to the gate of the port, we asked around if anyone would like to share a cab. Our plans were to go into town for the morning, come back to the ship around noon, grab our snorkel gear and spend the rest of the day at a resort hotel. No one wanted the same itinerary as we did but there were a couple of guys that just wanted to go to the market. We ended up giving them a lift just to the market and having the taxi on our own. The guys were part of the navigation crew on the ship. They never offered to pay for their portion of the trip which we both found a bit odd, but oh well. They were nice guys. Our driver had told us that he would drive us until 4:00 for $100.

The market in Salalah was nothing like the one in Muskat. It was very small and seemed to have the same things in every store, frankincense, pashminas and perfume. We walked down to the beach from there. There was a lot of construction going on. They had torn down a lot of homes to build a resort hotel which I had suspected and our driver later confirmed. On one side of the beach was the wall of the royal palace. There was a fence on the beach so we could see their private beach and buildings. The compound must have stretched on for a mile.

Since the ship was still on red alert after 3 weeks, the shore advisor had started making a handout for doing each port on our own. The library was closed so the reference books were not available to do the research ourselves. I had the sheet which named all the major sites in the area. We asked to go to the Museum of Frankincense World next. It was quite a nice museum with a lot of artifacts dating back thousands of years. Another section had a lot of model ships, Mel especially enjoyed that part. They also had a nice gift shop. I picked up a couple of things giving the shop keeper US$. She did some calculations then called another woman in. They did some calculations together then said come to me and went into a different store. They again did some calculations then she said come again and I followed her back into her store. She finally handed me an additional candle. I guess I had given her too much. It is interesting when you don't understand each other's language.

The museum was built on the grounds of a huge ruins. They had golf carts to take you around. At one time there had been as many as 50 mosques in this area, some of them still had a bit of wall and pillars. It was very close to the ocean. And quite interesting. When we went back to the taxi I told our driver that we would like to go to several other spots. He said it would be an extra 75 km or so, so more money. He wanted $60. I offered $40 as it was not even noon and there were other places to see. We settled on $50. We had thought we had him for the day for $100. Guess we were wrong.

Our next stop was in the town of Taqa. There was a small fort there which had been nicely renovated. They even had cushions and things hanging on the walls so you could see how they lived when it was in use. The stones were very uneven, I tripped 4 times! I never trip, so that was an experience. We headed from there to Khor Rori which is an inlet with fresh water. It is preserved for migratory birds. On top of the hill there was a large ruins. All the other tourists were going thru the ruins, I headed straight down the hill to the water. We could see some large birds. At first we thought they were swans then realized they were flamingos! They only had a bit of pink on their wings. Guess the food around here was not. rich in whatever it is that turns them pink. There was a nice bench by the water so while Mel sat there I headed toward the marsh area. As I approached, the birds took off so I was able to get a couple of pictures of them in flight. Then I saw a camel grazing in the reed filled shallow water. I got a lot closer to take pictures then saw the other camel. It was nice just running into them lke that. There are no wild camels left in the world but these guys were pretty much on their own at that time. We walked back up the hill to go thru the ruins. It was extremely hot without a cloud in the sky. I was hoping that I had put on enough sun screen. (I had, no pink skin anywhere later in the day.) There was a small museum down the opposite hill from the marsh. It didn't have much to look at. There was a photograph of a heard of camels and I thought that would be fun to see. There was a short film running but that room was full so we moved on.

We headed inland, up and over a hill to a wadi or oasis. Once we were down the other side of the hill, there were camels everywhere, I got my wish. We had to stop the car a couple of times for them to pass by in front of us. We reached the river. Unfortunately it was a water recreation area with kayaks and boats to rent. There were 4 guys in kayaks making a lot of noise. It kind of took away from the atmosphere. I walked into the water which felt very refreshing. At that moment 4 camels decided they wanted to be on the other side of the river and walked right by me. That was fun. Up the hill a bit there was an enclosure made with stacks of branches under a high overhang. It was a camel corral complete with sacks of grain. We came down from there to find our driver. He was praying, facing Mecca. We did not interrupt him, these people are very devote. On the way back we asked him if he owned any camels. He said 40! That was surprising. Then he said his family also owns 100 cows. They must be a well to do family. He himself was married with 2 little boys. He asked if we had ever tried camel meat. We said no but would like to. At the top of the hill we'd gone over was a small building. There was a tent with a couple of plastic tables and chairs set up outside. We stopped at the "restaurant". The building just had a window where you ordered. I asked for 2 cold waters and told our driver that I would pay him in US funds if he would please pay for our meal. He brought a plate of thick tortilla like bread and another with the camel meat. It looked like dark chocolate covered with powdered sugar. The "sugar" was actually camel lard. Yum, NOT!!!! We both tried it more out of politeness than curiosity at that point. It was like grease covered jerky, very tough, not at all good. I ate 3 small pieces and gobbled down the bread. That was really good. We left more than half the camel. At least we can say we have tried it. Others on the ship had tried it also. The response to it was always "tough".

We drove back toward the ship. Our driver had told us there is a beach close to the pier so we had him take us there. It was a beautiful, small cove beach. Again I wish we'd had our suits on. The water was crystal clear and clean. We just stayed long enough for me to pick up some shells. I asked our driver how much for the lunch. He said free. That was nice. Especially since it had been so awful. We ended up giving him the $160 he had asked for as it had been a very nice day and we had seen a lot. As nice as it is to save some $$ it is also nice to leave the country with the people we associated with also happy with the experience.

The beach was walking distance from the shuttle stop so we contemplated going back for a swim but by now it was after 3. The last shuttle to bring us back to the ship was at 4 so we decided against it. It was probably our last opportunity to swim during this voyage. Oh well, seeing the sights seemed a lot more important.

I am sure that everyone has seen what is happening in Yemen on the news. If you know your geography, you know that going thru the Gulf of Aden to get to the Red Sea will take us between Yemen and Somalia, 2 countries we don't want to mess with right now. There are narrow straights which have Yemen on one side, near where the Saudis are targeting. Everyone has been talking about it for days, even speculating that we might have to go around Africa rather than risk going thru that area. Yesterday evening our Capt came on to fill us in in what is happening. He said that Carnival's security, parent company of HAL, is full of former military, CIA and FBI. They are keeping a constant watch on the situation and are seeing ships pass thru as normal, no reason to not go ahead with our itinerary. The Capt did say that we will be cruising at about 17 knots. When we reach the straights, around 11:30 tomorrow morning, we will speed it up to 23 knots to get this baby moving, his words. So we are not in danger but he is going to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. About 21,000 ships pass thru the Suez Canal every year so having that area compromised would have a huge financial significance. I have a feeling there will be about 800 pair of eyes looking out to sea at 11:30 in the morning, I know I will! Other ships that have passed in the last several days have reported no sightings of war ships. They are staying close to shore to keep anyone thinking about doing a misdeed away from the shipping lanes. We have faith in our Capt to do what is safe but will be happy when we reach the Mediterranian.

Muscat, Oman

We were in Muscat in 2009 so had already seen the highlight, a huge mosque with the largest single piece carpet in the world. It was made in the mosque because once it was finished, it would have been too large to move. The largest mosque is in Abu Dhabi but that carpet had to be cut into 6 pieces to move it to the place. Anyway, we decided to go out on our own. The ship's shuttle took us right to the suq which was right on the bay. We went in for a few minutes but didn't want to buy anything then have to carry it around all day. From there we headed to the fort that sits on a hill right next to the bay. We were told we could not go in but that there was a great view of the city from the base. We had to walk almost all the way around it before we found some steep stairs to climb. At the top we were greeted by a huge locked door. But the view was nice. Once down again we decided to walk thru town rather than along the bay again. We ended up in a wholesale district. There were a lot of soap stores again as well as clothing and fabric. I couldn't resist some cotton fabric at $3/meter!

We were looking for a pharmacy to buy cough drops for Mel. He has the cold I had at the beginning of the trip. We were pointed in a direction and ended up in the back of the suq! Now we were ready to shop so had fun looking at everything, going in and out of the shops. Each shop was up 3 steps from the walkway. Last time we were here it was flooded, about 4" deep.

Done shopping, we went to find a cab. For $10 we were taken to a museum. The driver said he would come back to get us. We said an hour. The museum held a lot of the same things we saw in the suq, Arabian knives and silver jewelry. Of course the items in the museum were a lot older. Upstairs they had a huge collection of stamps from all over the world as well as a lot of coins, many of them gold. There were also a lot of hand written books, it was a nice museum. They had a nice shop too. The most popular item to buy in Oman is frankincense. I found frankincense soap and candles at the museum shop.

Our cab was waiting for us at the appointed time. We then headed to The Al Bustan Hotel which is now a Ritz Carlton. It was originally built for an OPEC meeting. It has 5 wings, one for each member of OPEC. In the center is a beautiful dome with an enormous crystal chandelier. It is quite an opulent place. We asked where we could have lunch. They had 2 restaurants downstairs. We went into one. They only have a buffet for breakfast and dinner so we were given menus. They had about 5 items to choose from including pizza or a club sandwich. Not what we were looking for. We asked about the other restaurant. It is a seafood grill right on the beach, much better. We each ordered 2 appetizers rather then an entre. I had Tuna poke and ceviche, 2 different raw fish dishes. They were both excellent. Mel had scallops and gambas al ajio (garlic shrimp) which were also good. The bread was sundried tomato and olive, delicious. They also brought us a yogurt drink in what looked like small milk bottles. It was good as well. We were sitting on the deck, overlooking the ocean with a nice breeze blowing, it was pretty ideal. Lunch was very pricey but worth it.

After lunch I walked down to the water. It was so warm it would have been nice to have my swim suit. There was a bit of garbage being tossed up by the waves though, so not that inviting. We headed back to the lobby. There was a huge pool with planters in it, really pretty. There were 2 other pools right outside 2 wings of the building. The ground floor rooms had decks with a gate so you could just go down a few steps and be in a pool. I had never seen anything like it.

Our driver was once again right there when he said he would be. I asked one of the bellmen to tell him we wanted to go to Starbucks and to a grocery store to find cough drops. Our driver spoke very little English. I thought we would head back in the direction of the ship but instead went in the opposite direction! After about 15 minutes I asked how far, no reply. How many kilometers, no reply. Finally I asked how many more minutes, that he understood. He said 15. We were going a long way out of the way for a coffee mug and cough drops! The roads are very good and totally landscaped. This is in a country that is pretty much all desert. It was pretty but that must use a lot of water. We finally exited the freeway. He headed down a street and I saw a Starbucks. I don't think he was going to stop there. They did have the travel mug I wanted that says Oman, so that was a success. Next he was going to take us to a mall but Mel spotted a grocery store and asked to stop there. We did find cough drops, just not sugar free ones. So we had almost 2 successes. We headed back to the pier. Turns out there was a shortcut so it only took about 15 minutes. He dropped us at the suq where the HAL shuttle was waiting. We were back onboard at 3:30 so I went into the pool for the first time this cruise. Very nice ending to a good day.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Dubai, Day Two

We had a tour at 9 but we were in the terminal around 8:30 to use the wifi. Since the terminal is so new, the wifi was actually better there than it had been at the mall. Our group gathered in front of the terminal right at 9. Our good friend from the Mumbai tour was in the group, not good. Our guide had us head to the vehicle. He said 6 would ride with one, 6 with him. Fortunately our friend headed to one vehicle, we could go to the other. We had a very compatible group of 6 for the half day tour.

Our guide was quite good, rolling out information on the buildings we were passing as well as telling us about the country. Our first stop was a museum built under an old fort. It showed the history of Dubai and was done quite nicely. It was smart to put it underground when the heat can be horrible in Dubai. They even have air conditioned bus stops! We next stopped at a beautiful mosque. It is only open to the public for an hour a day and not when we were there so it was just a photo stop. We had a few of those.

Next stop was the Gold Souk. We had found a store in 2009 where everything was $10 but looked just like the abundance of real gold in every store. It was called City Gold. We were unable to find it but did find a shop with a more expensive gold plate jewelry. We only had 30 min to look around so did not really shop as we planned to come back in the afternoon.

We were next taken to an arts and crafts store. They had beautiful things. I loved the pieces that were embroidered onto black velvet using gold thread. They were very heavy and intricate. I especially liked a piece that had a camel standing under a palm tree. It was about 18" x 24" and they would give me a very good price of $750! Can't imagine what the larger pieces cost. Upstairs they had beautiful embroidered bags made of camel leather. They were more affordable.

We were driving along the beach road, we could see the Arabian Sea in a few breaks between houses. We stopped at the Al Arab beach which is a public beach right next to the Burj Al Arab Hotel. That is the large sail shaped hotel built on a small man made island. We had tea there when we were here in 2009. We had a chance to touch the water, pick up a couple of shells then back to the vehicle. The beach road continued passing by a couple of palaces, hidden behind tall fences and a lot of trees. We eventually reached The Palms, a large island built in the shape of a palm tree. We drove down the stem of the tree passing by a lot of high rise apartment buildings. At the top of the Palm is the Atlantis Hotel. It looks very much like the one in the Bahamas but it has no gambling. Gambling is not allowed in the Emerites. After the Palms we were driven back to the ship. It was about 1:00.

We had lunch on the ship, took a short rest then headed out again. We took a taxi to the Gold Souk. This time we looked in all the windows and went into a few stores, more to look than anything. There is more gold there than I have seen anywhere else but it is certainly not discounted. It was fun to look at though. We continued on our quest for City Gold. We finally found a shop with gold plate jewelry and I recognized the City Gold boxes in their cases. City Gold the store had closed down in the souk, but they still existed. I bought a few pieces for friends on the ship. We then asked for directions to the Spice Souk. We were told to go to the left. We walked several blocks passing store after store filled with soap!!! I dubbed it the Soap Souk. Not sure if it was wholesale for soap or what, it seemed very strange. They also had a lot of lotion in huge jars and toothpaste. But it was mainly soap from Palmolive to Tide.

We asked for directions again and were sent back the way we came. Very strange. Back in the Gold Souk, we asked for directions again and were told in back of the Gold Souk. Went there, nothing. We finally asked one more person before we gave up and were finally pointed in the right direction. We knew we would know it when we found it by the smell and we were right. It smelled wonderful. Every small shop had bags of various spices outside, nuts and smaller packages inside. I had to ask what everything was. One store had a lot of saffron. They had bags of lavender colored rose buds. They smelled like old, dried flowers, don't know what they did with those. They had bags of some black round things. They were dried, rotten lemons! They said they use them for soup. One bag had blue balls in it that felt like chalk. It was indigo! I also found camel milk chocolate. We had had a sample of it in the mall the day before, not that great. But the rock candy made with camel milk chocolate was colorful and good so I bought some of that. I also bought masala, the same spice mixture used in my food in India that was delicious. There were also bags of ceramic loofahs. I thought that was interesting and for less than $2 worth buying. There were hawkers at every store trying to get us to go in, some were more aggressive than others. I am glad that we finally found the Spice Souk, it was a great experience.

We finally got back to the main road where the taxi had dropped us. There were a few people waiting for cabs. We saw another couple who looked like they would be going to the port so we asked if they wanted to share our cab. They were German, from the other ship in port next to ours. They were on a 7 day cruise just to the Emerites. We chatted on the ride then they ended up paying for the taxi! That was nice. It was about 7:00. I was so glad that our departure from Dubai had been extended so we had as much time as we wanted in the souks. We had dinner then went back into the terminal to use the wifi and make phone calls. With T Mobile we have free calls using wifi. We found out that it is not as good as just making a call though. Mel had to talk to the bank and finally just called at the .20/min rate. I was able to update everything and download some books and puzzles. The wifi was very good. We didn't get back to our cabin until after 10. Dubai was a good stop, even better with 2 full days to enjoy it.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Dubai

The ship arrived in port at about 11:30. We were cleared to get off at noon. There is a beautiful cruise terminal here now. When we were here in 2009 we disembarked into a tent. The new terminal is huge with stores and marble floors. There is supposed to be wifi but people were having trouble with it. The ship was supplying a shuttle to the Dubai Mall so we hopped on that and headed out. It took about 30 minutes to get there.

The Dubai Mall claims to be the largest shopping and entertainment center in the world. And it is enormous. Our first task was to use the free wifi. I had my laptop, iPad and 2 phones with me, a lot to lug around. I first posted pictures to my blog. Hope it worked as it took almost an hour. We then walked around the mall a bit. There were beautiful stores with rugs and Arabian clothing. I wanted to use the wifi some more so ended up sitting for another hour while I upgraded apps and d/l magazines. Our friends decided to head back to the ship so we were on our own.

We went to the aquarium and underwater zoo. It was quite large and had a few things we had never seen before like pineapple fish! They had an enormous crocodile as well as penguins. It was nice to see. We wanted to try some local food rather than Cheesecake Factory or IHOP. We ended up in a Lebanese restaurant. I ordered chicken kabobs. They were cooked on the same grill as all the lamb so had that lamb flavor. Mel was happy with the food, I ate a lot of bread.

After dinner we headed to the Dubai Fountain which is next to the tallest building in the world. It sprays water in time to music. Once we finally got there it only lasted about 5 minutes. Glad we were able to see it though. On the way we had stopped in a few stores. We especially like visiting grocery stores in other countries. This one had a "Pork Shop" for non-Muslims. That was interesting. We bought a few things to bring home like chocolate covered dates. It was hard to find any candy that was actually made here other than the dates and baklava.

On the way from the fountain to the shuttle we passed every designer store imaginable. Some I had never seen before. It was an amazing mall, and interesting too. There were many women in burkas, men in Arabian garb. We also saw a lady in short shorts and spike heels, a bit of everything. It was a pretty easy day.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Mumbai, Day 2

We didn't have to go thru any customs procedures on our second day in port so everyone was ready to go, on the bus before our appointed time of 8:15. We headed directly to the Gates of India where we would catch a ferry to Elephanta Island. The ferry was already almost full but we decided to squeeze in rather than wait for the next one. The bay was filled with ships of all sizes from yachts to navy vessels. We passed by an artificial island where the British used to keep their arsenal. The water was a muddy brown as was the air. Pictures were difficult because of the polluted haze. The breeze was nice as we floated along. The heat would come later.

Janis and I struck up a conservation with a man on the boat. He is a vendor on the island and was returning to his home. Of course he pulled out his necklaces and bracelets for us to see. The red beaded necklaces were red coral, the blue were lapis. For $5 we could own one of those treasures. While they were pretty, they were not coral or lapis. We did buy a few pieces. He said to come to his booth on the island and he would give us a gift for buying from him. Janis and I had met over a year ago on the Cruise Critic Roll Call for our cruise. While Mel and I were driving to Alaska, she was busy planning shore excursions. I signed up for whatever she offered, I had no time or Internet at the time to do any planning myself. She has been on all of our tours so far whether she planned them or someone else did. I keep tagging her on Facebook so her friends and family can see where she has been also. While she has a loud voice and at times talks a lot, she is not a complainer. More on that shortly.

After about a 40 minute ride we arrived at the long pier on Elephanta. They had an old train about the size of Casy Jr at Disneyland to take you to the end of the pier. Good to save our strength for the long climb up to the caves. It was getting hotter by the minute. There were about 100 steps up to the caves, some of them about 10' apart until you reached a steep part toward the top. There were vendors on both sides as you walked with tarps strung overhead to shade the way. We had been told to meet at the top, we could have time to shop on the way down. All the vendors held up items for us to look at as we climbed. It was hard not to stop. There were a lot of monkeys along the way also. We had been told to not wear earrings and to keep our bags closed. Pockets were not safe either. I didn't see any of the monkeys bothering anyone.

Our guide bought our tickets and we went in. The caves were carved into the mountain hundreds of years ago. At one time only priests lived on the island. The Portugese took it over when they ruled India and used the caves to store weapons and unfortunately used the carvings as target practice. There was enough left of them to see what they had once been like, such a shame that they were not intact. The caves were dedicated to Shiva, one of the manifestations of God. Our guide pointed out the various stories the carvings depicted. It was fascinating. Our nice lady from the day before continued to act as if her pictures were more important than anyone else's asking everyone to get out of her way. Janis was finally tired of it as well as of having that lady in most of her pictures and finally snapped. She told her to quit bitching, all she had done for the last 2 days was bitch. The lady immediately ran to the woman who had arranged the tour and told her that Janis had called her a bitch. I said she had not, that saying someone bitched a lot and that they were a bitch were very different. If she wanted to be called a bitch, I would be happy to do so. Our poor guide just looked on in amazement. The ladies husband told Janis it was like calling the kettle black. I gave him an unkind gesture. We continued on as though nothing had happened, doing a good job of ignoring each other. Unfortunately they will be on another tour in the future arranged by the same woman. One in every crowd. It was a dramatic morning. It amazes me when someone acts so entitled, like her pictures are more important than anyone else's. We are all on the same cruise.

At the first booth on the way down I found a beautifully carved elephant. They make the body lacy looking with lots of small holes. Inside is another elephant, also with holes and another elephant inside of that one. Not sure how they make those things, they are really beautiful. I especially liked the one I bought because his head was turned with his trunk up. I never saw another one that looked anywhere but straight ahead. Going down was actually more difficult than up. We were trying to look at the goods while keeping an eye out for the steps as well. I only almost tripped once. Janis was not as lucky and fell. Fortunately she caught herself so didn't tumble down a lot of stairs. I bought a lemon soda on the way down. At the bottom our group was waiting around for everyone to arrive, some with cold beers. Janis reminded me of the gift from our vendor friend. I had not found him. Our guide said I had a bit of time to go back up a bit. I was walking along and all of a sudden there were 4 monkeys right on the fence beside the stairs, 2 with babies clinging to their bellies. An old man came running up to me and told me to put my soda away, that is what the monkeys wanted. That was close! I found the vendor, received a small camel bone necklace and went back to join the group. We took the train back down the pier and the ferry back to Mumbai, it was a nice morning in spite of the drama.

Across from the Gates of India is the Taj Mahal Hotel. We were there in 2009 shortly after the terrorist attack and fire at the hotel. They had quickly put up barriers in front of the hotel and a metal detector. Now there was a fence around the entrance as well as barricades around the square in front of the Gates. Sad that we have to take these precautions in the world these days. We had a 15 minute potty break in the hotel. We went into one of the jewelry stores that had amazing things, old and new. Too bad we didn't have more time.

Our next stop was lunch. We ended up going to a tea house so our end of the table ordered tea along with our meal. I had a Masala Chai with milk. It was the best I had ever had, served in a small ceramic pot. I asked our guide to order something for me. I got chicken biryani (I think that is what it is called!). It was like a fancy rice-a-roni with pieces of chicken in it. I shared some with others at the table then took the rest back to the ship for our table to try. It was a delicious lunch but took 2 hours! It was cutting into our shopping time.

I have bought Starbucks travel mugs from all over the world, each shaped the same but different colors and with images of the country they are from. I have them from New Zealand, the Philippines and China as well as Japan which I picked up earlier on our trip. Our guide took me to the Starbucks near where we were shopping, no travel mug. That was disappointing. They only had a ceramic mug that said India on it. We went back to the crowded street to shop. There were vendors by the curb and tiny stores opposite them. Here we encountered beggars also, young women with tiny babies asking for money. They kept touching us which we didn't like. One woman had an older girl with her, maybe 8 years old. She had bracelets of flowers which she would put on your wrist saying they were free, then ask for money. Fortunately we were able to avoid them. We bought a few things then went to the meeting place to get on the bus. We were the first ones back even though we had the reputation as shoppers already. We headed back to the ship and were onboard by 4:30 with enough time to shower and make it to dinner at 5:30.

The ship didn't leave port until 9. We were on the back deck as we sailed away. The lights of the skyline were pretty but too dim to get a good picture. We could make out the Gates of India, lit up bright pink and blue with the dome of the Taj Hotel nearby. Mumbai had been a wonderful stop. If it weren't such a long way away by air I would love to spend a week there with time to go to all the museum's and some restaurants. I have a very different opinion of India after this stop than I did before.

Mumbai, India aka Bombay

I LOVED Mumbai! Last time we were here I said exactly what our tablemates said, it was interesting but I don't need to go back. I don't know what was different about this time. Maybe I knew more what to expect so was more comfortable? I don't know. I just know that we had 2 wonderful days in Mumbai, a big, dirty, crowded place. And it was fascinating.

We had a private tour for 15. Most of the people had been on several of our tours already, the same people stick together. We all got along fairly well. But it seems like there is always one person or couple who just ruin it for the rest of us, I will get to that later. We had to go thru the same procedure to get off the ship as we had in Cochin. Two different states, two different customs. By the time we all got thru, it was almost 10 so a late start. Our guide was excellent and told us what we were passing the entire time. Mumbai used to be a group of islands but is now one peninsula, joined with land fill. Many of the buildings we saw were originally on the water. We passed by a lot of Victorian buildings built by the British during their rule. The university was gorgeous as was the parliament building, our first stop for a photo op. Of course the guards were telling us no pictures, which was kind of funny. We took some anyway. We reboarded the bus and went to the largest train station in Mumbai. It was a bit crowded but nothing like it must be during commute times. We have seen pictures of people hanging out the doors of the cars, they are so crowded. There was a pedestrian underpass to cross a very busy street in front of the station. Another group said their guide took them across the street then had an argument with a policeman about opening the barrier they had put up so people would use the underpass. The group was in the middle of the street witnessing this. Cars do not stop for pedestrians in India. The train station was run down but beautiful inside and out.

We then drove past the famous Chowpatty beach and along the Queen's Necklace. They call the shore blvd that because at night it sparkles like jewels around the bay. It was a nice beach but the water was filthy. No one was swimming. We passed by a number of cricket fields and a beautiful Muslim hospital. That was one of the prettiest buildings in the city. Next stop was the Gandhi Museum. When he was in Bombay he always stayed with friends at the house that now houses the museum. They have an extensive library with books he wrote and read on the main floor. Next floor up there are many letters he wrote to and from such people at Einstein and Hitler. The top floor held his original bedroom which was very sparse. Then the rest of the floor was dioramas which measured about 3' x 2', each one depicting a memorable event in Ghandi's life. They were very well done and fascinating to look at. We had been to the museum on our last trip but it was nice to get the chance to go back.

After Gandhi, we went to the Krishna Temple. We all had to remove our shoes but socks were allowed. I wore my Jasmine socks, seemed appropriate at the time. :) We had to walk up a flight of stairs to the main temple. The floor had several inlaid medallions made with mother of pearl, tourquoise and lapis lasuli. I was taking a picture of Mel and the floor when someone in our group asked him to move because he was in her picture. Nice. A lady at the temple told us the story of Krishna and the meaning of a lot of the statues there in the temple. It was quite interesting. But of course I got the Hari Krishna song going on in my head and was singing it for the fellow travelers. I got a few smiles including some from the locals. Didn't the Beatles sing that? There sure were Krishna missionaries all over back in the 60's and 70's. Our guide said they were popular with the hippie movement. It was nice seeing the Krishna "headquarters" as I have literally seen the monks all over the world. We went next door to the Krishna vegetarian restaurant for lunch. When we were here before the vegetarian meal was awful. This time it was delicious. There were 4 different dishes with 2 different breads. They all had a slight kick to them but not too spicy. It was served with what almost looked like Rice-a-Roni but with the longest rice I have ever seen. The yogurt drink was awful, the fried dough ball soaked in honey was excellent. It was a very good meal, meat not missed.

There were many signs in Mumbai both billboards and LED. The LED mostly refered to not honking your horn, which was not adhered to. There were horns everywhere! One billboard had a huge picture of a wheelchair on it. It read "Introducing the all new Four Wheeler for drunk drivers. And their victims". Very to the point. Along the Queen's Necklace there was a huge Nike campaign. Each billboard read #bleedblue and had a picture of a famous Indian person, former sports star, chef, etc. The national cricket team's jerseys are blue. Cricket is HUGE here. Of course also along the roads were cows. Beef is outlawed in the state of Bombay. The cows were well taken care of. They were not out wandering in traffic like they used to be though, they were always tied up.

After lunch we went to the hanging gardens. In the late 1800's the British built a large covered reservoir for water on a hill. They beautified it by putting a garden on top so it used to appear that the garden was hanging in the air. Now the city has been built up all around it so it is just a garden. The soil is only 6" deep so no trees. From there we could see the most expensive home in India. It is 26 stories high. A man lives there with his wife and 3 children. They have 600 employees. It cost $1.2 billion to build! It took 11,000 workers 3 years to build. They were squatters around the construction site during construction. The squatters are still there so right next to the most expensive house are slums, welcome to India.

On the drive back down the hill from the hanging gardens we passed by the Tower of Silence. We could see steps going up in what looked like a jungle area. Certain religious people feel that their last act of charity is to give their body to the birds so bodies are laid out for the vultures. Someone in our group said that at one time something was happening to the vultures so there were only about 6 left. The bodies were stacking up, it was not a good situation. This place is right next to the water reservoir, yuck. They collected some chicks and hand raised them to help the vulture population. Now there are more vultures to take care of the bodies. Our guide said that they are using some solar system to speed up the decay but that it doesn't work well in the rainy season. Strange concept all around!

We drove past another beach with a long jetty out to an island mosque. The jetty is under water during high tide. There were a lot of people out there when we passed. Our guide said there are a lot of beggars so not a vey pleasant walk to get out there. We went from there to the laundry. We had been before but this place is so interesting. The water we could see looked filthy but the clothes are always sparkling when returned to their owners. The men pick up and deliver the laundry once a week. They beat the clothes against a rock to get them clean. They have a better record for getting out stains than any of the dry cleaners or laundry services in town. Our port guide says they beat the the fabric until the dirt gives up! At every stop there were street vendors and the laundry was no exception. Someone on our bus would get something for a good price then we would all run off the bus again to get the same thing. It was pretty funny.

Our last stop of the day, and a place we had not seen before was Dahravi, the largest slum in Asia. We picked up 2 student guides who actually lived there then crossed a pedestrian bridge into the slum. Over a million people live there. They have schools thru high school, hospitals, clinics, churches, temples, anything a major city would have. They do not have a university so our guides were going to school in Mumbai. We split into 2 groups to make it easier to get around in the narrow passageways. Raj, our guide, told us that when he was little he was embarrassed to have to say he lived in the slums. Now he is proud of his community and is a guide to get others to have a better understanding of their life. He said he plans to marry and raise his children there, he would not think of living anywhere else. We toured the industrial section. They recycle 60% of Mumbai's garbage there in Dahravi. We saw where they were sorting plastic and aluminum, melting the latter down into blocks. In another space they were making an aluminum part for blenders for a major company. Many Sony parts are made in the slum. The passageways were very narrow with people going back and forth with huge loads on theirs heads. We frequently had to get out of the way or be hit. There were also areas full of sewing machines. They were making beautiful and colorful clothing. We went into a batik workroom. To get in we had to walk thru a puddle of filthy water. Not until we returned to the ship did I realize that that water was full of dye. My white soled sandals were now blackish up to water level. Good thing they are already old and well worn. The batiks they were making were beautiful. Raj tried to explain the difference between their batik and that of Indonesia but from what I could see it was the same. We went into a tiny space to see another recycle area. The same woman who asked Mel to move for her picture tried to squeeze in. I told her if she would just wait a moment I would get out and she could get in. Strange woman. We passed by 2 barber shops set up right in the alleyway. At one someone from our ship was getting a trim. Bet it was a lot less expensive than on the ship! It looked good too. At one spot we were stopped to listen to Raj. An older man came out of the building behind us and squatted on a pile of dirt watching us. I asked if I could take his picture, he said no. He was such a contrast in that dirty place as he was dressed head to foot in bright white. I missed getting a picture of the large rat that went from one building into the next too. Each building housed a business on the street level with the owners or workers home on the second floor. Raj said most of the recycle business owners were millionaires and lived in Dahravi. To the people it is home, they would not live anywhere else. It was a real eye opener and not as depicted in Slum Dog Millionaire. We said goodbye to the students and headed back to the ship. We arrived around 4. We had a night tour at 6 so not a lot of time to clean up and relax a bit.

We were supposed to be having dinner at 8 during a night tour. Mel and I went to the Lido to eat something before we left. I would not make it until 8 for dinner! We were back in the bus at 6, headed to see the sunset over the Arabian Sea. We went back to Chowpatty Beach but the sun was behind some buildings, not over the sea. We all got off the bus to walk on the beach. Compared to the afternoon, it was downright cool with a nice breeze blowing. Our guide, one of the students, said it was difficult for the bus to turn around and get back to us so we would just walk to the temple where we were supposed to see some ceremony. There was a brick wall along the walk next to the road, bordering the beach. It had many holes in it and in each one were rats. There were a lot of dogs everywhere and of course crows. They were different though, they had brown necks! One area there were about 8 dogs spread out, sound asleep. It looked like they had had a big party and were sleeping it off. Most of these dogs were boney and filthy. We were told that they have all been picked up and sterilized at some point though. They were everywhere. I only saw one very scrawny cat in the 2 days we were there.

We walked the length of the beach then along a very busy street for about 4 blocks to get to the temple. With the traffic and narrow sidewalks, none in a few places, it was quite a harrowing journey. We arrived at the temple to be met by steps, LOTS of steps. One man in our group has had 2 heart surgeries so steps are really not good for him. But we all started up, our guide was on the phone most of the time. We later found out he was talking to the tour company because he had no idea what we were supposed to be seeing. We finally reached the top of the stairs. There were over 100 of them. We were told to take off our shoes to go into the temple then told that no pictures were allowed. The ceremony we were supposed to have seen had happened 15 minutes before we got there, the next one was in 45 minutes. We decided that we did not want to stay. One couple was still in the temple while the rest of us had our shoes on and were waiting to leave. A lady guard looked at me and said "Leave!" Then she asked for money! I looked right at her and told her we were not leaving without our guide and that we had no money. I don't think she understood a word I said but she quit telling us to leave. After climbing all those steps we were told that there was a lift. Not sure if anyone took it down or not. At the bottom we waited for sometime to get on the bus. The woman who had arranged our tour was on the phone with the tour company. They had forgotten to make dinner reservations for us so were going to give us all our money back. We had reservations at a different restaurant. Someone from the back of the bus came up to tell us that no one wanted to go to dinner. What!!?? The purpose of going out in the evening had been to enjoy an Indian dinner. I guess where we were supposed to have eaten was a very special restaurant, they didn't want to eat just anywhere. I was the only one wanting to go eat, I gave in to the majority. Good thing Mel and I had eaten something earlier. I did ask if we could at least go to the Gates of Imdia to see it lit up before going back to the ship, which we did. It was beautiful with pink and blue lights illuminating it. The beautiful Taj Mahal Hotel was next door. It was a nice evening but not what it was supposed to have been. When we got back to the ship we ordered salads from room service, the only option at that late hour. It had been an interesting and disappointing day, but good overall. Even with the confusion of the evening, I was glad we went.

Kochi or Cochin, India

The last time we were in Cochin we were very brave and just grabbed a tuk tuk on the pier and spent the day being driven around. It had worked out well. But this time we decided to take a tour. We had a group of 12, almost the same people we have been with on every tour. Immigration in India is quite a procedure so we were not all off the ship and ready to go until almost 10. We each had to appear in person in front of a customs official on board. It took a long time.

Our first stop was an old Portugese church. It was fairly simple looking. The front of the sanctuary was curtained off, under renovation. We could see a stained glass window and some ornate decorations. I think we missed the best part. Out side the church the street vendors started. They had some beautiful paintings, a few carvings and lots of elephants on a string. We walked a few blocks to the Chinese fishing nets, the vendors followed. This is the only place in the world where this kind of net is still used. There were about 10 of them. Each one takes 6 men to run. One of the men waved and motioned for me to come on down so I did. They all spoke English and invited me to try working the net. I declined but did let one guy take my picture. He then asked for money and not just for him but for all 6 of them! I gave a dollar to him and one to another man I'd been talking to and walked away.

From there we went to Jew Town. We went into a store where they were weaving some beautiful fabric. We didn't have enough time to really shop. It was a woman's coop. I wouldn't have minded contributing to their cause. We continued walking thru the Jewish quarter to the synagogue. It is the oldest working one in India. There are only 4 Jewish families in Cochin so they seldom hold services there. The floor was all blue and white Chinese tiles, there were many different chandeliers, really beautiful. We were not allow to take pictures as they sold postcards. We then walked thru a long building back to the bus.

One of the royal palaces has been turned into a museum. We were not allowed to take pictures there either. Of course there wasn't much to take pictures of anyway. There were few artifacts, just pictures of them. It was extremely hot inside so we were all eager to leave. One empty room had been full of various gods so we were required to remove our hats in reverence to the gods that used to be there. Odd place.

We then had a restroom stop....at a department store! They had beautiful things from carvings to sari's. Again we had little time to shop but did enjoy seeing everything. At that point is was only 2:00 so we had an hour left to tour. The guide said we had seen the main spots. I asked to be taken to a nice store. In that store were beautiful items! I ended up buying a box made of camel bone, painted with a lot of animals on the outside. I bought it for less than half it's original asking price. I wonder what it is really worth! We then went back to Jew Town for more shopping. The guide suggested stopping for an hour. We had grumbling at the back of the bus, that they needed to get back to the ship for lunch, etc. We comprimlsed on half hour and headed out. They really do have some beautiful things and shopping is Cochin is totally different than in Mumbai, where we will be tomorrow. We were done in 25 minutes to appease the non-shoppers. I found out later that one of the ladies didn't want to shop because she only had $100 bills and couldn't get change. The lady who arranged the tour had offered her change as did I when we were accosted by vendors on the pier. She refused. I think she just liked to complain. Rather rude to not want others to shop when she couldn't. There is always one in every crowd. Generally though, our group gets along well. The complainer has arranged for our tour in Jordon. I have arranged for tours in Israel and they are on it. I am sure it will be fine.

We were back on the ship in time for me to walk. It was very hot. After we both got cleaned up for dinner. We ate at the Italian specialty restaurant on the ship with 2 ladies we had met before, one in 09, the other on several of our cruises. The food was excellent, which was different. Last time we went to that restaurant it was nothing special so we never went back. I would go again. It was a very nice evening. Now on to Mumbai!

Galle and Colombo, Sri Lanka

I had been curious about Sri Lanka or Ceylon since I was little. I think I had stamps from there and thought it was so far away, that small island country off the southern tip of India. We had joined a small group tour so were off the ship and ready to go at 8. There was a market on the pier so very tempting to shop but other than getting a tiny T for Piper, there was no time. We immediately headed out of the city towards Galle. We were told it would take 2 hours to get there. Seemed like a long way to go when we had never seen Colombo either. But the drive was beautiful. The road was like a well maintained American freeway. We passed by palm, rubber and tea plantations as well as Buddhas and stupas. A huge monitor lizard crossed in front of us on the road. We don't see that in the US! It must have been 4 or 5 feet long.

We finally arrived in Galle and headed to the old Dutch fort. It was quite impressive built up right on the water. The guide said we would have an hour there. We told him 30 minutes would be enough. We agreed on 20 minutes then drive to the other part. I think he had planned to walk the entire fort rather than drive. The vendors started hounding us with beautiful little dresses trimmed in lace. They also had beautiful tablecloths. We took pictures there at a clock tower then rode down further to the point. There was a nice hotel across the street so we all used the restrooms. And of course shopped. There was a lady set up in a corner of the hotel making the beautiful lace, all done by hand. She was selling it by the meter. I probably should have bought some but wasn't sure what I would do with it. I did buy an old looking mask with Cobras as eyebrows. Under a part of the fort back across the street was a small store. They had very colorful masks, one shapped like a peacock, bought one of those too! Our world cruise wall will be even more crowded after this trip.

We made several stops in Galle then headed north toward Colombo on the old beach road. We passed hotel after hotel, most of them new after the tsunami that hit the area around 2004. Everything had been destroyed. We stopped at the Tsunami Museum which was an open air former home with tsunami picturs on the wall. The damage was extensive. We stopped at a beach so we could put our feet in the water. It was so warm and crystal clear, it was very tempting to just jump in with my clothes on. The air was hot. We continued on until we reached a sea turtle rescue. After the turtles came ashore to lay their eggs they were collected and brought to the rescue to hatch. There were too many predators like mongoose, to leave them on the beach. They had "gardens" full of eggs, each nest was labeled with species, how many, and date they were laid. There were a number of different species. Inside a well protected area they had tanks with the babies that had hatched overnight, there were hundreds of them. They also had a tank with several blind turtles and one that had lost 2 legs to fish nets. The tanks weren't very big but they were clean and the turtles appeared to be well taken care of. It was an interesting stop.

We were supposed to stop for lunch but by then it was after 1 and we still had almost 2 hours to get back to the ship. We decided to forget about food and just get back to Colombo. This was the third tour we had taken that said lunch, with no lunch. Fortunately I carry some bread and an apple, Mel carries ham from the ship. We were very hungry when we did finally get back to the ship though.

The traffic was pretty heavy. We finally reached Colombo. The guide took us to see several sights, nothing spectacular. We saw their convention center, independence square and a number of cricket fields. Cricket is big in this part of the world. We then went by what they call Galle Face, a large green area next to the ocean right in Colombo. It reminded me of the marina in San Francisco. The guide said he would take us back to the ship, it was 3:30. I asked if the craft market was nearby, and it was. It was not at all what I was expecting. We walked into a modern, air conditioned building with beautiful jewelry cases. We were told the crafts were upstairs. They did have a lot of native crafts as well as tea. Ceylon has always been famous for their tea. Most of the crafts were about double the price we had seen elsewhere so I didn't buy anything other than tea. I did try on a sapphire that was about an inch in diameter, wow! I did not even ask the price, it was unreal.

We were back at the port by 4:30. All aboard was 5:30 so we spent some time shopping on the pier. I picked up a sari for sari night on the ship as well as some tea in nicely decorated boxes. I also found a nice Sri Lanka t shirt, unusual place to have one from. We boarded the ship, took quick showers and were in the dining room in time for dinner at 5:30. If we ever visit again, I think I would like to spend more time in Colombo. But seeing Galle and the countryside was a wonderful experience.

Bago, Myanmar - Ancient Capitol of the Mon People

That was the name of the tour we signed up for. We originally had no plans but figured we should take full advantage of the time we had in Myanmar. Good thing too, because there was nothing anywhere near the port for us to go out on our own. We asked our travel agent hosts from Cruise Specialists if they had space available. They did. We met at 10 to 8 and exactly at 8 we were headed off the ship. They had 2 large buses, each one only half full. I like that they don't cram as many people as possible into the bus. It is more comfortable for everyone and easier with a smaller group.

Our first stop was to be a WWII memorial but on the way we were told that if we did that first we would not arrive at the monastery in time to see the monks have lunch. Then we were told we were running late so we would miss lunch at the monastery. Not sure why there was such a mix up as on the way traffic wasn't awful. The guide should have known how long it would take to get there. As it was we arrived at the monastery at about noon. We were given time to walk around. If I remember correctly it was the largest monastery in Myanmar. Every male in the country has to be a monk twice in his life, once before the age of 18, once after. They usually do it over summer break, some for as little as 9 days, others for up to 3 months. I had always wondered why we kept seeing a lot of little monks, now I know. It is not a life long calling or anything like that. Girls are supposed to do the same, becoming nuns for a short time. Many of them get out of it because they don't want to shave their heads. The boys are dressed in a deep burgundy, girls in pink. Another person on our tour was talking to one of the monks. He asked how many monks lived there. The reply was "150 years". Hmmm, is that like 80%??? Very funny.

The monastery had a number of outdoor corridors leading to various temples or prayer rooms. We also found the lunch room where a few were still eating. What I found interesting were all the dogs! There must have been 20 of them just wandering around, sleeping or in the case of the pups, playing. A mother had one tiny baby who she was fiercely protecting from the male dogs. It wasn't much of a stop.

After the monastery we stopped for lunch. The upstairs of this open air restaurant was set up with a lot of very long tables. In little time they were full with bus loads of tourists. Drinks were included with the meal so there were a lot of Myanmar beer bottles on the tables. We were allowed 2 each so I had a diet coke and a beer to go. Apparently it is very good beer so hopefully Brigitte and Randy will enjoy it when we get home. The food was not very good. I ate very little. There was a small gift shop downstairs. They were doing a very brisk business. I picked up a couple of things.

From the restaurant we went to a Mon village. The Mon are one of the 8 main tribes in the country. They are known for weaving. The homes were built on stilts with looms set up underneath. In the middle of the village you could hear the clackity clack of the looms from all directions. The house on the main road had a store and was also doing a brisk business. The shawls and skirts were beautiful and only $5 to $15. They were mostly cotton but a few pieces of silk also.Nice to buy woven goods right from the weavers. We walked around the village for a short time. At the entrance were some vendors with the same fans and hats. They followed us back to the bus and stood outside the windows showing with their hands how much they wanted for each item. I did buy some "sunscreen". The people of Myanmar wear it on their faces, some in interesting designs. It looks like a face mask, beige colored.

The bus took us not too far away to a reclining Buddha. The same women appeared outside our bus! One had a set of "Old Burmese Coins". I was semi interested as I like taking coins home from each country and we had yet to even see any local currancy. She had started at $10. At this stop she was down to $5, then $4. We went to look at the Buddha and market which was in the same building. They had a lot of beautiful carved items as well as more of the fabric. On the other side of the building were food vendors. One had a large bowl of big, fat grasshoppers, cooked! Yuck. Wish I could get pics to load, that was a sight to see. And there was the same woman now asking $3 for her coins. I decided to buy them but by then had only $2 left, and old money at that. Not sure why but in a lot of these countries they will accept US$ but it has to be new! Very strange. She did not look very happy with the old money. I asked one of our tablemates if I could borrow a dollar. She saw his new bills and asked to change. He was nice enough to do so. I felt badly giving her only $3 then old bills to boot.

Just down the road was yet another reclining Buddha. This one was outdoors. We had a quick photo stop. Most of the Buddah's are protected at the entrance by huge foo dogs, really beautiful. I enjoyed them more than the Buddhas.

Now we were headed home. We made one stop at a resort to use the restrooms. The place was pretty, set on a lake. The chairs in the restaurant were carved birds, very nice. Then we headed out. We did stop at the WWII memorial. It was beautifully maintained with a plant between each headstone. Each headstone had a different phrase on it. There were also walls of names whose remains were never found, so sad. There were thousands. By this time it was starting to get dark and traffic was starting to get heavier. At several places we just didn't move for minutes at a time, it was pretty bad. We finally arrived back at the ship at 8. Fortunately the Lido stayed open for dinner until 9 that night. I guess they anticipated long days with a lot of driving and heavy traffic. It had been a very interesting day.

Rangoon, Myanmar

This was a port that everyone was looking forward to. Formally know as Burma until 1989, it had been closed to tourism until 2012. HAL had just started bringing in ships here so the majority of the people on board had never been. With so many frequent world cruisers on board, that does not happen very often. We heard that 700 people were on HAL tours, a huge number for one port. My first glimpse of Myanmar was of the shore of the river. Everything was brown and mysterious looking, with mist in the fields. Later I would realize that it wasn't mysterious at all, just polluted, the air and the river. Everything was brown!

It was a bit of a zoo getting off the ship as the program had said we would dock at 6 but didn't actually dock until almost 8. Then it was almost 8:30 before the ship was cleared. Our group of 12 met on the pier then took the shuttle bus to the harbor gate. It would have been quite a long walk had we been allowed to. They would have charged us each $20 if our bus had been allowed in the gates. So we were finally with our guide, Spring, and off toward the city after 9.

Just the ride was interesting. We were in a very rural area. The houses, or should I say huts, were made of woven bamboo. There were people and dogs everywhere. At least we knew they didn't eat dog! It was a dusty, bumpy road almost to what they call Yangon, which took about 45 minutes. Once we passed over a large river, we were in the city. Our first stop was at a beautiful gold stupa. A pagoda is a temple you can go into, a stupa you cannot. They are both large bell shaped structures, covered with gold leaf. We could see them all around town and in the countryside. Of course to confuse things, this first stupa had been destroyed during WWII so when they rebuilt it, they made it so you could go in. Inside all the walls were beautifully patterned, covered with gold leaf. The attraction was the 8 hairs of Buddha. They were inside a shrine inside the stupa. It was very crowded. The entire city was crowded with horrible traffic all day.

We next stopped at a reclining Buddha. It was enormous. They had pictures of the original one that had been there. The Brittish had built it using Indian workers. Since the Indians didn't know what Buddha should look like, they made him with a very scary face. That one was torn down with this one replacing it in 1959. It was beautiful with flowing robes addorned with mosaic designs made with mirrors. We had to take our shoes off at every holy place we visited and our guide provided us with wipes to clean our feet when we were done, nice touch.

We stopped at a beautiful colonial hotel for a potty stop. We were supposed to look like we were just looking around then use the toilet. They had a beautiful gift shop with a lot of nice relics. Spring told us we could find everything in the market for less money, so we left. We walked around the corner, up a flight of stairs to a photograph exhibit. There were pictures of Burma from years ago up to as recent as one of Obama when he was here in 2012. It was interesting.

Now it was time for lunch. It took us almost an hour to get there. Everyone was dozing off in the bus. It was so hot outside, hard to be out in for any length of time. At the restaurant were several HAL buses. I guess that was the place for tourists. It was a fixed meal with about 8 courses, all of them good. I especially liked the roasted eggplant salad. We were also served curried fish and chicken.

From there we headed to the market. Someone in our group suggested we only needed 45 minutes there. Spring suggested 2 hours! I would have been very happy with 2 hours but we settled on 1. Spring stayed with Mel and I to help us find what we had seen in the hotel, a harp shaped like an alligator. In the first store we went to they had a dragon harp, really spectacular! We continued to look around though and found a small one shaped like an alligator. This thing has so much detail, carved out of wood, and it was only $30. We bought that one then went back for the dragon. They packed it up in a very sturdy box. Hope we can just ship it home that way. The box is over 36" wide, maybe 30" tall, big. We will figure it out, we have never had a problem getting anything home before. Also in the market were jewelry store after jewelry store. Burma is known for rubies and sapphires, they were beautiful. A lot of gold also.

Our last stop was the largest pagoda. Spring referred to it as Mecca for Buddhists. Buddhists from all over the world want to visit this place. We removed our shoes and took an elevator up. There was a large gold leaf stupa in the middle with dozens and dozens of smaller temples all around it and hundreds of Buddhas. We walked all the way around to see everything. We saw the Tooth of Buddha but never did see the other relics. It was a big place. We stopped at the gift shop on the way out then got on the bus for the ride back.

Spring told us a lot about the Burmese way of life, love, marriage, etc. There are 8 major tribes in Myanmar. The name Burma refers to only one. They changed the name to Myanmar to include all the tribes. He told us that the Burmese do not kiss on the lips. They rub their nose on the other's cheek or forehead. We found that interesting. He said he did not allow his teenage sons to watch western movies because of the kissing. He also told us that marijuana was quite common when he was younger. Now you will be imprisoned for 18 months if caught in possession of even a small quantity, so he stays away from it. He did say they like to mix it with chicken and potatoes and invite friends over. He would still go if someone invited him. Mel said it sounded like chicken pot pie. Good one! We were onboard at about 7. It had been a very long but wonderful day. Now we do it all again tomorrow only to a different city.

Port Klang, Gateway to Kuala Lumpur

Port Klang was literally built to allow cruise ships to go into Kuala Lumpur from what I could see. It was a dock and small building with fields all around it, nothing else in sight. We had joined a private tour and were off the ship to meet with everyone at 8. It was about an hours drive into the city. Our first stop was a Chinese temple. The large displays put up for the recent Chinese New Year were beautiful. There were scenes with life sized people and animals made with wire frames covered with colorful fabric. The temple was on the 4th floor, so we walked up. Nice view of the city from there. As always the incense was a bit overwhelming.

Our next stop was the royal palace. It was enormous off in the distance thru beautiful gates. There were guards on horses on each side as well as a lot of tourists. We then went to Independence Square, celebrating their independence from British control. There were several mosaic portraits of former kings. It amazes me what they do with mosaics in Asia, just beautiful and so detailed. Across the street from the square were 2 beautiful moorish style buildings. One was the Museum of Textiles. Wish we had had time to go in.

We next went to the Kuala Lumpur orchid garden. It was very tiny compared to the one we had just seen in Singapore. I think we were there for about 5 minutes. We then made quick stops at a chocolate then batik factory. We never did see anything other than a store at the chocolate factory. The chocolate was very good. And to my surprise they had beautiful french macarons! They were very good also. The batik factory had tables in the back where the batiks were made. But it was lunch time so no one was working. I was able to find my favorite style of batik shirt that I bought on 2 previous trips to Malaysia, I was happy about that.

We decided to skip lunch in a restaurant and have our snacks from the ship at the icon of Kuala Lumpur, the Petronas Towers. They are the tallest twin towers in Asia, and beautiful. There was a lot of very interesting architecture in the city. It was nice to take a break from the van there. We saw others from the ship on a ship's tour. We then just drove thru different parts of Kuala Lumpur, Little India and Chinatown. After seeing the market in Chinatown from 3 sides we all decided that we should stop. It was crowded and dirty just like markets all over the world. There were a lot of knock offs and souvenirs. I bought a magnet and shot glass. I think our days of arriving back at the ship loaded down with parcels is over. There is no more room in our house! I did find some dvd's of the latest films like Birdman and The Interview. I will watch those on the ship. We were back to the ship after a nice day by about 4.

Singapore, Last Day

We had not been to any museums in Singapore so decided to go to the National Museum first thing. The subway system is very easy to use so we arrived there with no problem. It was an impressive building but very little was open inside. There was a small exhibit on the criminal of war trials after WWII. The only other exhibit was the history of the island. It didn't take long to go thru. After we headed back to the Raffles Hotel. My favorite store there, Jim Thompson, had been closed the night before. Very nice store. After that we just headed back to the ship. We had lunch then went back out into the mall right there by the ship, to spend the last of our SD$'s. All aboard was at 3:30.

We finally met our tablemates at dinner. We always request a table for 8 so we meet a few different people. After the tables during our previous cruises it was nice to see younger faces. I think they are all still older than I am but before everyone had been in their 80's. Nice people. I think dinner will be very enjoyable. While Mel went to the show, I settled in some more and was ready for bed by 9. We actuall turned the lights out at 9:30. I slept 10 hours!

Singapore

Since we got in so late I wasn't up until 10:30. Mel brought me some food as I had missed breakfast. We decided to do a low key day. The woman at the front desk said it was about a 15 minute walk to the Singapore Botanical Gardens which also housed the National Orchid Garden. I had wanted to go there the last two times we were in Singapore but had run out of time. The temperature that day was 94, "feels like" 106! It was very hot and humid. After walking for about 45 minutes, we finally arrived. Not sure how she had thought it could be done in 15 minutes unless you jogged. The gardens were beautiful, the Orchid Gardens even more so. It cost SD$5 to see the orchids, SD$1 for seniors. I asked for 2 seniors, she asked for ID. I guess they have a lot of visitors claiming to be over 60! We wandered the gardens for a while then headed back to the hotel. We stopped at a few stores along the way. In all we were walking in that heat for about 4 hours.

We had a nice dinner in the concierge lounge at the Marriott. It was cold in there so I had taken my sweater. I put it on and attached to a string on the inside was my Fitbit! I was so happy that it was not lost after all. It must have attached itself to my sweater when I took it off on the plane after arriving in Singapore.

We headed out again. This time we took the subway to Bugis Street. There is a nice street market there. The subway system is very efficient and easy to use which made traveling around the city fairly easy. There was really nothing that we wanted to buy. We did get a couple of things for the little grandkids. We were back in the hotel by 9, hoping to get a good night's sleep.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Pirates

They seem to be taking pirates a lot more seriously than they did when we were in this area in 2009. We received a letter in our cabins saying what they are doing and what we should do in the event that we encounter any. The fire hoses have been on deck for over a week. They now have contraptions to mount them over the side of the rail. They have all the fire boxes closed. In '09 when we were in this area, security told me to put my tiny Arabian knife away in my cabin. I said that was funny since they had hatchets out on deck in the open fire boxes. The next day the hatchets were gone. This time the boxes are closed.

They now string razor wire on the outside of the ship just below the railing on deck 3 where I walk. There are 24 hour guards armed with binoculars on each side of the ship. There are also sound devices which will break an eardrum when pointed in your direction. Yesterday morning the crew had a pirates emergency drill. Our steward knocked on our door and told us to go into the hallway. They want everyone away from windows and sitting down in case the Capt has to do emergency manuvers. Our ship can go up to 25 knots which apparently is faster than the pirates can go. I was still in my pj's when the drill was carried out so stayed in the cabin. Mel was in the hallway.

We went out on the deck last night. It was pretty spooky as all the lights were off. The guards had on night goggles. I hope they never see anything. Our schedule has been changed. We were supposed to take 36 hours to get from Dubai to Oman, traveling at 9 knots. Instead we are staying over in Dubai an extra night to leave for Oman first thing in the morning. We will get there in 24 hours traveling at a higher speed. Wonder if anything will change as we pass Yemen and Egypt. It is certainly not a great time to be traveling the world. We will be able to see Iran as we go thru the straights to and from Dubai. We have to pass by Somalia also, although not that closely. From what I have heard there are French warships protecting ships going thru the Suez Canal. Someone also said there are American ships there too. I hope we have an uneventful passage until we finally reach the Mediterranian.