Dubai, UAE

 

March 26th:

A short over night trip from Muscat, Oman had us arriving in Dubai at 6:00am.  We sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and were for a short while just 15 miles or so from Iran.  As we came into port the city skyline gave an impressive site.  We were hoping for a clear photograph of the tallest building in the world……the Burj Khalifa, but that was not going to happen.

What we thought was mist or ground fog was airborne sand from the desert.  Thinking the air would clear by the time we left we were hoping to get that “great photograph”.  Well, we could even see the breakwater.  The visibility dropped to under 150’.   Below, the left photo was from our arrival, the right photo was our departure……the same location….the same shot.  That small disk you see is the sun, not the moon..

             

The city tour we took covered many of the sites unique to Dubai.  From the ship will drove through the city on their modern and very speedy freeway.  We took a number of photos from the bus, but visibility was poor so we had limited images to include in the blog. 

On the left below is a photo of the World Trade Center building in Dubai.  Many of the buildings we saw were very very interesting architecturally. The photograph on the right is Anne standing in front of the Burj Al Arab Hotel.

                   

Mosques were everywhere.  Similar to Churches in Rome.  One of the most impressive was the Jumeirah Mosque pictured below.

 

We were taken to a reconstruction of “old Dubai”.  Not like Colonial Williamsburg but just a few structures showing the city before 1960.

             

Besides the buildings, there were a few Bedouin camp sites depicted.  The one pictured below showed how carpets were used to keep the sand down inside the tent.

 

Our last stop was the Gold Souk.  We looked, but we didn’t buy.

       

After we left (in the sand storm) we expected the air to clear at sea.  On Sunday, March 27th we were still sailing south of Oman and the sand storm was still present.  The visibility cleared to about two or three miles, but it took until Monday, March 28th for us be be clear of the effects of the storm.  Interestingly, the sea was calm.  Just the reduced visibility from the sand.

For the next several days we are sailing almost due south parallel to the Somalia coast line hopefully far enough east to keep us out of pirate action. 

Muscat, Oman

 

March 25th:

Early this morning we arrived at Muscat.  Oman is a country located east of Yemen, south of Saudi Arabia and the UAE and across the Golf of Oman from Iran.

This area of Oman is rocky and arid.  In fact the entire country is arid.  Their source of wealth is oil.  They ship out 80,000,000 barrels of oil daily.  The leader of the country is Sultan Oaboos bin Sa’id.  He is a dictator but from appearances, he does not abuse Omanis. The areas of Muscat we toured were clean and well maintained.  We were told education, medical care, and housing is either totally free or heavily subsidized by the government.

            

From the harbor several fort or fortifications were visible.  One interesting structure was the incense burner that greeted our arrival.  

       

We traveled into town and visited the Muttrah Souk (or market).  We did a lot of looking but luckily for Wayne…no buying.

            

 

The ship departed early this afternoon to head for Dubai.

Mumbai (Bombay), India

 

March 22nd:

Our ship arrived in Mumbai very early.  We were able to watch the sun rise as we entered port, the royal we, since Princess Ann was still asleep.

Mumbai is the most populous city in India.  There are 14 million residents.  We elected to go on our own in this port.  After going through the entire Indian Immigration process for the  third time, we started on our Mumbai adventure. 

While waiting for the shuttle bus to leave the port, we asked the couple seated in front of us what their plans were.  Turns out Lynne Rothrock and Ron DeWitte were the ship’s entertainers scheduled for tonight’s show and they also wanted to see the old town and to do some shopping.  We shared a cab.  At the port gate (the limit of the shuttle bus journey), the four of us piled into the TaTa taxi.  This vehicle is tiny, even by Indian standards.  Three of us were in the back seat and we were very very friendly…..thank goodness the ride into town was short.

These are some photographs of the local architecture and a sample of a taxi.

           

We also walked along the main shopping street in Mumbai and looked at the sidewalk stalls.  Of course, we were constantly approached by vendors and beggars.

 

Next we saw the Taj Hotel, the site of the Pakistani attack two years ago.  Police were out in force and the area was blocked off from any through traffic.  Our last stop was the Gateway of India.  This was a structure built by the British during their colonial rule of India.

   

As we left Mumbai, the sun set in the west as the fishing fleet was returning home.

Cochin, India

 

March 20th:

In our second port in India, we ran head long into Indian immigration regulations and lots of  red tape.  We originally cleared Indian immigration in Port Blair several days before, but we had to go through the entire process again.  It was required to have a face to face inspection with immigration authorities with passports, visa’s and port passes.  After nearly an hour to process passengers and crew, we were able to leave and start our tour of the canals of Kerala. 

The canals are about 75 kilometers east and inland from the port.  After an hour and one half bus trip, we boarded a launch and had a very pleasant tour of rural southern India.  While still poor by western standards, this area was not congested, not loaded with beggars and sidewalk sellers of post cards, and trinkets, and the people seemed to be much happier with life. 

Princess did a great job, each bus had their own launch.  There was plenty of room.  Everyone that wanted a good seat on the top deck got one.  The photograph below of the MB Brothers 3 was our launch.

 

Once we entered Arjun Lake, we encountered numerous house boats available for rent.   There were several hundred of these boats on the canals and lakes in the region.  Some very large, with two decks for large families, others like the one pictured below were set up for one couple.  

The canals are the source of water for farming, for washing (clothes and bodies) and in one case we saw, for brushing your teeth.  Our Indian tour guide assured us that all the residents get access to fresh clean drinking and cooking water, one wonders.

   

Some of the sights of life along the canals were very interesting.

As we were leaving Cochin, we passed the famous Chinese Fishing Nets along the river estuary heading to the Indian Ocean.

   

Port Blair, Andaman Island, India

 

March 16:

We arrived just after lunch for a half day visit to this eastern most part of India.  These islands are actually closer to Malaysia and Burma than India.  Our plan today was to visit Ross Island, a short 45 minute boat ride from Port Blair.  Just as the ship came into port, the weather turned wet.  Really wet.  Rain was coming down in buckets.  In just the two minutes it took us to go from the ship to the waiting bus, we got soaked.  A ship’s officer (not the tour guide) came aboard the bus and pointed out that while our boat could take us to Ross Island, there was no cover at Ross Island, so we would be doing our tour in a tropical downpour.  The officer offered us two options, covert the tour into a city tour, or just return to the ship and get a full refund.  We opted for the full refund and were glad we did.  The rain continued the entire afternoon and didn’t stop until the ship left port at 8:00pm.

   

Singapore and Kuala Lumpur

 

March 10 and 11th:

We docked in Thailand.  The first day was in Laem Chabang which is the port for Bangkok. The second day was at a Thai island of Ko Samui.   Southeast Asia, at least the ports we have visited so far,  had very comfortable and very decorative tour buses.  See the image below of the inside of the shuttle bus in Laem Chabang.

March 13th:

This date marks the end of the second segment of the world cruise.  In Singapore about 300 passengers left the ship and about the same number of new passengers embarked.  We opted to visit the Jurong Bird Park for the photographic opportunities we might experience.  We were lucky, no rain, but plenty of other visitors.  The penguin display was new since our first visit here four years ago.  Besides the other exhibits, we spent considerable time in the Lory enclosure.  Lory’s look like large parakeets.  For three Singapore dollars (about $4 US), visitors could buy a sugar mixture that the Lorys loved.

   

    

March 14th:

The ship docked in Port Kelang, Malaysia.  We took a bus to Kuala Lumpur (or KL) and used the Hop-on Hop-off bus to tour the city.  Of course we visited the Petronas Twin Towers.

   

We thought the Hop-on Hop-off bus would give us a chance to see and visit the big attractions in Kuala Lumpur.  We were told the round trip would take 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  We had five hours available.  After losing time waiting for the bus, it became immediately apparent that the round trip would take significantly longer…..so we didn’t get off the bus.  It ended taking over three hours to complete the circuit.  We would have liked to spend some time visiting National Mosque and China Town, but that will have to wait to another visit.  KL is very clean and has a lot to offer, too bad we didn’t have the chance to visit most of the sights.

Sihanoukville Cambodia

 

March 9th:

Today we docked in Cambodia.  The port town is a relatively new city.  It was created by the Cambodian King in 1960 when the Vietnam war eliminated Cambodia’s link to the ocean through Vietnam via the Mekong River.  Generous soul that he was, the King named the city after himself.

   

While the Cambodian language and alphabet is dominant, many of the signs have the English Language.  Our tour bus was a very nice surprise.  The bus was better than many we have used in the US and Europe.  The seats were leather, the air conditioning worked (thank God), and the interior had local decorative touches.

Cambodia is predominately Buddhist.  Our tour here took us to the lower temple.  There was an upper temple, but the tour guide said our bus could not make the climb to the top of the mountain to reach the upper temple.  The lower temple called Wat Krom (Wat is the word for temple) proved to be interesting and photogenic.

  

                                 

Our next stop was a local primary school.  In Cambodia, children are only required to attend school through the 9th grade.  The school we visited covered grades one through six.  The building consisted of four classrooms and the students present put on a little show of singing and playing musical instruments.  Split classes are the norm here.  One morning session and one afternoon session with children just attending one of the sessions.

 

After a short bus ride, we arrived at a local residence where the family opened their home for a tour.  Following local custom, we removed hats and shoes as we entered the home.  As you will see in the photographs below, the home was modest.  The building was a two story structure.  Originally, the family lived on the second floor and the first floor was for storage, cooking, and animal housing.  As the family grew, the animals were evicted and family members took over the first floor.  The total living area in this home was maybe 600 to 800 square feet, that’s including both floors.    The family living in this home numbers twenty.  There are four generations represented, the grand parents, parents, children (some married), and grand children.  While the home has electricity and some appliances, water is collected in a tank outside from rainwater from the roof and the toilet facilities are outside (somewhere).

         

Next was a visit to the local market.  For Arizona residents, this is like Mesa Market on steroids.  There had to be several thousand booths selling everything from local produce and meats to clothing, electronics, jewelry, and services such as hair care, and massage.

        

Final stop on the tour was a chance to spend time at a resort beach.   We were entertained by some folkloric music and dance, had some local drinks (read that as beer), had a chance to swim or wade in the sea, or just lay around.

         

After returning to the ship, a very talented folkloric group from the capital of Cambodia, Phnon Penh, entertained us.  This proved very colorful and enjoyable to the eye.  Cambodian music is an acquired taste that we haven’t acquired yet.