Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Posted on May 7, 2023 by patmathews

May 5 and 6, 2023

I have a post from May 4 in Cochin, India but for some reason it is frozen on my iPad and will not load. I am in contact with the “happiness engineers” at Word Press so I hope to save it but if not, I will have to compose it again. So I am doing this one on the laptop and Cochin will have to come later.

We were in Sri Lanka in 2015 but not since then. We are scheduled to be here for two days and decided to stay in Colombo because a lot of the attractions are a 2 hour drive to get to and we didn’t want to do that after so many full days of touring.

As we pulled into port, we could see that it was a very busy commercial port. And although our material on the ship said you could not walk in the port, there was one entrance/exit that we could walk to.

We were advised before we boarded that we would need an immigration form that we could fill in online ($50 fee). So we did that and printed it out but NO ONE asked for it at all. I wonder if all guests even did it. The ship reimbursed us for the fee.

We found a taxi at the port and went to the One Galle Face Mall. Our driver was Silva and he was eager to give me his phone number and encouraged us to call him the next day to have him take us on tour.

So today our mission was to shop for an Indian outfit – the type I have admired when others wear them.

We found a shop and I tried on many of the cotton tunics with pants. None looked right, Norm thought they all looked like pajamas. So we went to another store where I found a more formal outfit.

We then went to another shop that caught Norm’s eye and it was a great experience. The two women had me as the only customer most of the time and quickly determined what I would like and would not like. I could have bought half of the dresses in the store but I settled for 5! All were very reasonable in price. As I wear them, I will post some pictures.

Of course, they are known for cashews here so we bought some of the sugar coated ones. Yum!

We took a tuk tuk back to the ship and relaxed the rest of the day. At night, there was a deck party for Cinco de Mayo. Norm opted out but I went, had a margarita and danced all night long.

On Saturday, we decided to just hire a tuk tuk for the day instead of calling Silva (although he had a nice air conditioned Toyota!)

We hired a driver named Chandrasivi but he said to call him Chandra. The tuk tuk is a unique vehicle with one tire in the front and two in the back. The driver sits in the front and the seat for passengers holds two comfortably and perhaps three in a squeeze.

We settled on a price for a one hour tour but we ended up going for more than 3 hours. We visited two Buddhist temples and in our travels around town we saw all of the decorations for the Buddhist celebration taking place yesterday and today – the Vesak Full Moon Poya Day and day after Full Moon Poya Day. These are local holidays here and we weren’t sure what might be open. The mall yesterday was no problem. Most stores were open and it was a very large and modern mall. One of our fellow passengers tried to go to the jewelry exchange in the World Trade Center building, but that was closed.

Here are some pictures from the two temples. The Gangaramaya temple is one of the most important temples in Colombo and is an eclectic mix of Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian and Chinese architecture. It is a huge complex with many statues of Buddha. There is a relic that is said to be hair of the Buddha. The attached museum has so many artifacts that you couldn’t even take it all in.

This one is said to be the footprint of the Buddha.

The other temple was constructed over the water and was quite simple and beautiful.

We visited the Independence Hall. Norm stayed in the vehicle and was entertained by the monkey and the man with the cobras. In another spot a young woman and her father who approached him so she could practice her English.

We went to a gem gallery which had very beautiful stones and jewelry. We didn’t buy any but it was nice to look. They mine sapphires, rubies and emeralds here but not diamonds.

Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) is well known for tea and spices. We went to a tea factory retail outlet where we tried several types of Sri Lankan tea that you can only buy here and we bought two kinds. The young man serving us and explaining all about the tea was both informative and handsome!

We stopped at a Hindu temple but we had already seen so many in India, we didn’t go inside.

This is the Lotus Tower.

We wanted to get back to the ship for the afternoon tea (which we usually never go to) but today it was a special Coronation tea with the big screen airing the Coronation. We did make it back but not before the tuk tuk broke down and Chandra had to call a friend to bring another one so he could take us back to the ship.

Coronation tea pictures.

We had two very different but very nice days in Sri Lanka. It was hot weather but there was a nice breeze in many places. We now have two days at sea and it will be a nice rest!

Posted in Asia, Excursions, May, World Cruise #4 | 1 Comment

Cochin, India

Posted on May 5, 2023 by patmathews

May 4, 2023

Before I write about Cochin, I remembered a story we heard from our guide in Mumbai. Hindus believe in reincarnation and also in the prophesies that they are given when they have their “fortunes” told. It can be good news or bad news and in her example, if a woman is told that she will have two marriages, no one wants to marry her because they know it will end in separation or death for them because there will be a second husband. So, what they do is they perform a marriage to a dog or to a monkey, and then she is free to take a “second” husband!

We have been to Cochin 3 times before (again, search it on the blog site if you want to read previous posts). Some of what we did today was a repeat but always something new to learn.

Here are some shots of our sail in.

Our guide was Gopah and we were on a tour arranged by Erin and Mui. Today it was just the 4 of us in a very comfortable and thankfully air conditioned van. As I mentioned it is getting close to monsoon season here and it is very hot and humid. Gopah said there is only one more cruise ship that will come here before the 6 month monsoon season when no ships come.

We drove to Fort Kochi (Kochi was the official name until 1996) and many still refer to it that way. It is in the state of Karala. There is not a fort here anymore but the entire area is still known as Fort Kochi. Literacy here is almost 100% and most people speak English but there are many local languages as well. Children learn English in school. Gopah told us that there is a labor shortage here and that people come from other parts of India to work and that wages are higher here. People from here don’t want to do the hard labor jobs and move to where they can do other work.

36 million people live in the state of Kerala. Although India is 80% Hindu, here there are 50% Hindu, 30% Muslim and 20% Christian. There is religious harmony.

Kochi was called the “Queen of the Arabian Sea” and was an important spice trading center on the west coast of India from the 14th century onward and it maintained a trade network with Arab merchants. Spices are still a very important product. Later the Portuguese, Dutch and British had a large influence here and the architecture shows those styles.

As we drove over the bridge, we saw a huge amount of traffic heading the other way. This was the best picture of the bedlam that I could get.

When we arrived in Fort Kochi, we started a walking tour and headed to St. Francis Church, where we had visited before. The previous tomb of Vasco da Gama is here. His body was moved to Lisbon but they preserve the former site here, where he died. The church was the first European church in India.

These white things are fans that were previously operated by ropes pulled by people outside the windows. They are now operated by electricity

As we walked through the area, we saw some beautiful flowering trees, including the interesting cannonball tree that we saw in Soans Farm.

We visited the area of the Chinese fishing nets. Tourists are often invited to pull the nets, but we have done that in the past and declined this time. It is quite an operation and goes on all day. These stones are used as counterweights to lift the nets.

Many people sell the fish and other seafood here.

Here are some of the other sights we saw in our walk through this area.

They do have bike rentals here, the fee is about 75 cents per hour.

The former home of Vasco da Gama. Now a homestay

We thought we would not be able to visit the Basilica but it was going to open at 10:30 so we waited the 10 minutes and went in for a visit.

This is a small shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima

All kinds of homeopathic and regular medicines are easily available here.

We walked to the Dhobi Khana, the local laundry which the Dutch brought to the area to wash the army’s uniforms. Each family has its own area. This woman is 87 and has been ironing here for 70 years.

The irons use charcoal to heat and are very heavy

They work very hard in the laundry.

Our next stop was at the Mattancherry Dutch Palace. Despite the name, it was built by the Portuguese Empire as a gift to the Kingdom of Kochi. There are beautiful handpainted murals but we were not allowed to take pictures. The ceilings are made of teak wood and we could take photos of those.

The windows are situated in a way that provides a nice breeze

Women didn’t wear saris back then, this was the typical dress back in early centuries

We visited the Paradesi Synagogue. The area where the synagogue is located is called “Jew Town” but only two Jewish people live there now. We visited this area before and in 2019 we were told there were 6 Jewish people. One that we saw who was 97 at the time, was Sarah Cohen, who owned and operated an embroidery store. She has sinse passed away. Thanks to our friend Tom for this photo from our tour in 2019.

We were tired and hot and Gopah gave us a choice of a restaurant outside by the river or one with air conditioning. Guess which we chose? It was still by the river but inside.

There was a special exhibit of elephants in the lobby. Each was so interesting!

On the way back to the port we stopped to see the brightly painted and themed trucks. You can tell the owner’s religion of interests from the decorations.

An interesting day and it let us see how much things had changed – or not- from our previous visits. Tomorrow we head to Sri Lanka for two days.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, Food, May, World Cruise #4 | 1 Comment

Mangalore, India

Posted on May 4, 2023 by patmathews

May 3, 2023

This is our third visit to Mangalore. It is the home of our butler, Vishant, who ends his time with us and goes home on vacation. He introduced us to our new butler, Reice, before he left.

We are again on a private tour with Erin, Mui, Sonia and Boris, and again in a nice large air conditioned van.

Mangalore is a major port city on the west coast of India. It handles 75 percent of the country’s coffee and cashew exports. It is one of the fastest developing cities in India and houses some of the tallest buildings in South India. They get heavy monsoon rains in the June – September season.

Here is a picture of our arrival. We are often greeted by local people and this was no exception. The drummers were very active even in the heat.

We drove for over an hour out to Karkala and Moodabidri. We have a lot of admiration for all of our Indian drivers because it is often like bedlam on the roads. They drive on the opposite side of the road and it seems that cars, trucks, tuktuks and motor bikes are coming from all directions. And they drive fast. There is a lot of road construction going on all over the country but it seemed a lot more here.

Between the 14th and 16th centuries, this area became a great center of learning and pilgrimage for members of the ancient Jain faith. In Karkala, the giant statue of Gomateshwara attracts Jain pilgrims from far and wide. It is on top of a hill and provides panoramic views of the countryside. The statue is the second tallest in India and is 42 feet high. It was carved from one solid piece of stone and taken by elephants up on the hill. It was placed there in the 14th century.

This area of Mangalore is known for its pineapples and other tropical fruits. We bought mangoes in every port so far and they are delicious.We visited Soans farm, a working farm with a bamboo grove. They greated us with fresh pineapple juice and then we were taken on a walk through the farm. The farm was started by Swiss and German missionaries in 1926 as a pilot project to bring under useful cultivation, hilly areas dependent only on seasonal monsoon rains for irrigation. It has now developed into a large center of innovative horticulture, growing over 30 different fruit crops like coconut, pineapple, cashews, mango, sapota, vanilla, areca, bread fruit, banana, jack fruit, cocoa and several spices like pepper, nutmet, clove, allspice and cinnamon. Several new crops have also been introduced from other tropical areas of the world. These are rambutan, durian, langsat, macadamia nuts, mangosteen, dragon fruit, abiu and jaboticaba. Many species of bamboo from around the world and medicinal herbs are also grown here.

Here are some of the varieties we saw and heard about from our guide, the niece of the owners. One of the owners we met introduced her as the “future”! I am including some of the unusual ones. We saw so many different things.

Jack fruit – used for many sweet and savory dishes here

There were some beautiful flowers too.

This flower is from the cannonball tree. It is both beautiful and very fragrant.

It is impossible to add all of the pictures and descriptions – there was so much to see and learn. Sonia did manage to buy some mangoes -right from the farm – they must be the best. She gave me two to try. Will report on that after I eat them.

After our visit to the farm, we went to Moodabidri and visited the Jain temple dedicated to Chandranatha. It is the famous 1000-pillared Jain temple. It is richly carved and no two pillars are exactly alike. It is the largest Jain temple in coastal Karanataka.

Followers of the Jain religion do not worship gods. They believe in 24 teachers. This is a replica of one of the teachers.

Our last stop was a local bazaar at Moodabidri where local people come to buy their fruits, vegetables andother products. The green beans were the largest we have ever seen!

This friendly cow walked between us and our van. We see cows and goats everywhere, even in traffic

We had a short day in port and a long drive, so we were told to bring some food with us as there would be no time to stop for lunch. It was again, an adventure in another side of India that we had not experienced on our previous visits. There are lots of rolling hills, coconut trees and farms in this area.

Tomorrow we will be in Cochin, another port we have visited several times. More to learn and experience.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, May, World Cruises | Leave a comment

Goa, India

Posted on May 3, 2023 by patmathews

May 2, 2023

Goa is a state on the southwestern coast of India.It is India’s smallest state and has the highest GDP per capita among all the Indian states, two and a half times has high as the country as a whole. The India National Commission on Population ranked it as having the best quality of life in India. This is our 4th visit to Goa but the tour will be new.

Here are some pictures of our arrival.

They handed each a rose. Of course, I left it in the van at the end of the day

Our tour guide was Stanley. He wasn’t the most organized tour guide we had but he tried hard. Our tour was The Grand Old Houses of Goa. We traveled in a nice air conditioned vehicle to the south of Goa. We were early for our first of two tours, so we stopped and walked around some of the old houses that date back to the Portuguese. Goa was ruled by the Portuguese for 450 years and the influence is still here. The main businesses here now are mining and tourism. The landscape is totally different from Mumbai. There is lots of green space and large homes.

We saw the owner of this house and he gave us permission to go up the stairs

Our first actual house visit was the Today’s Grand Old Houses of Goa tour first took us to the Braganza House in Chandor. It is from the Portuguese era and is approximately 450 years old. We had a tour by a young man who represents the 15th generation living in this house.

The chandeliers are crystal from Belgium

The furniture was mostly. hand carved and is all original

We were asked not to take too many pictures of individual items as the family still lives in the home. This is for security reasons.

Our next stop was at the Palacio de Deao in Quepem. It is approximately 213 years old. The owner took us on.a tour but not in the private area of the home. After touring the house we had a lovely and tasty lunch overlooking the river. His wife cooked all of the food and we had a mangosteen drink that he makes himself.

This was originally the home of a priest and this was the chapel.

Glass was too expensive and too hard to get, so they used oyster shells in the shutters

A very hot day again. Monsoon season is from June – October each year and they do depend on that rain for their crops. No rain in sight during our time here. The no goodness for air conditioned vehicles, these homes had none.

Tomorrow we will tour Mangalore. This will be our third trip there and we will visit new places with the same group. We are all buying mangoes in these ports as they are in season and delicious. We might need to have a contest to see which ones we like best.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, Food, May, World Cruise #4 | Leave a comment

Mumbai, Day 2

Posted on May 3, 2023 by patmathews

May 1, 2023

Mumbai is also known as Bombay which was its official name until 1995. It is in the center of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is actually made up of seven islands. During the 18th century, Mumbai was reshaped by a project that undertook reclamation of the area between the seven islands from the sea. It was completed in 1845 which transformed Mumbai into a major seaport on the Arabian Sea. Now Mumbai is one of the world’s top ten centers of commerce in terms of global financial flow.

We had our guide from yesterday and we really enjoyed her knowledge and her support of women. The agency she works for employs only women unless there is an area that they cannot get female guides.

We started our day with a visit to Hindu neighborhoods. We saw many shopkeepers setting up for the day. Hindus do not try to recruit people into the religion. You must be born a Hindu.

In each of the Hindu temples, we saw people preparing the day’s offerings. There is no formal service or leader in the temples. Each person does their own form of honoring the gods.

Here is what one of the areas of offering looks like. It would change every day

You must remove your shoes when going into the temples

In Hinduism and Buddhism, the right facing symbol is called swastika, symbolizing sun, prosperity and good luck. It was appropriated as the left facing symbol of Nazi antisemitism.

Families set up their own offering areas around the water

The water is considered to be a substitute for the holy river Ganges. Each area here has its own crematorium. For those who can afford it, electricity is used for the cremation. If not, traditional wood fire is used.

Here are some other pictures of this area. They have their own outdoor laundry. In an ingenius move, they hang the clothes using intertwined ropes so no clothespins are necessary!

In a contrast between the levels of society here, this 27 story building is owned by the richest man in India. 5 people live there. They have a staff of 600 servants who do not live there. The first 6 floors are the garage for the owner’s 140 cars. There are 5 elevators. One is just for the man… even his wife cannot ride in it. There are 3 swimming pools. One for the husband and wife, one for the 3 kids and one for guests.

In contrast, most of the apartment buildings have put cages around their balconies just to have extra storage.

This statue honors the famous dabbawallas who have delivered lunches by train and bicycle since the 1800s. Between 175,000 and 200,000 lunch boxes are moved each day by 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas and it is estimated that there is only one mistake in 6 million deliveries.

The second part of our day was a visit to the spice market. What an experience! There was every type of spice that you can imagine. Every home has its own recipe for curry and other spices, so people buy the whole spices and have them ground here. Many women were waiting with their bags of spices to be made into their own unique blend.

This is the betel leaf which is supposed to be a stimulant, an antiseptic and a breath freshener, It is widely used here in the treatment of cough, asthma, headache and arthritic joint pain. The betel nut is chewed by people here and it dyes their mouths red. It was thought to be an aphrodesiac.

This woman is picking the stems off of the chilis

We visited a Hari Krishna temple that we explored on a previous trip. That time we had lunch in the restaurant. Hari Krishna is a Hindu sect that tries to raise consciousness and worships the god Krishna. It does try to recruit followers and was successful due to the founder who was an Indian actor, producer and politician. It became popular in the US during the 70’s when the hippies first embraced it.

After touring all day – and it was quite hot – we were ready for a late lunch at Kala Ghoda Cafe. The apricot iced tea was excellent. I had a wonderful roasted vegetable and hummus sandwich and we shared this mango tart for dessert. As the sign indicates, no one could have alcohol!

Our guide needed to be paid in rupees so we had to find a money changer since the ATM we tried yesterday didn’t work. One rupee is about $.82 US so we got a stack of money!

What a wonderful and educational two days in Mumbai. On to Goa tomorrow.

G20 will be here in September – signs are everywhere.

Posted in Asia, Excursions, Food, May, World Cruise #4 | 2 Comments

Mumbai, India – Day 1

Posted on May 1, 2023 by patmathews

April 30, 2023

Before I write about our two days in Mumbai, here are some pictures from the Captain’s cocktail party. We have one during each segment of the world cruise, and we missed the last one because we were on our trip to Botswana.

We have the captain from the beginning of the cruise back on board. And we have a new cruise director, Dottie.

And here is Laura, one of our singers on board entertaining us at the party, and Iliya, one of our dancers showing his stuff in Dubai.

After the cocktail party we had dinner with Marilyn, Charlie, Jeff and Joy.

As we sailed in to Mumbai, there was a rainbow. It was pretty overcast, so it is not a great picture. Still, a nice welcome.They had a rain storm overnight and early in the morning.

Here are a couple of shots as we pulled in to port.

We were greeted by beautiful dancers. One placed a bindi on my forehead.

After quite a process with immigration, we met our guide Husseine. We had a very comfortable air conditioned small bus for the 6 of us, Erin, Mui, Sonia, Boris and the two of us.I guess they want everyone to know we are tourists! But I call us travelers in discovery.

It is a holiday today and tomorrow. Today was Sunday and there was not too much traffic on the streets (at least by Mumbai standards)! So we were able to get to our first destination, Dahravi, fairly quickly. We were met by our guide here, Mustafa. He is a college student who uses what he earns to continue his education.

What to know about Dahravi. Dharavi is a suburb in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It has often been considered to be one of the world’s largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over .7 square miles and has a population of over 1,000,000. Mumbai has a population of 22 million people and India just surpassed China as the most populated country in the world. People here consider Dahravi a township and Husseine told us that we would re-visit our idea of a slum when we finished touring this area. People here are kind of ashamed that some of the movie Slumdog Millionaire was filmed here because most of their environment is not as depicted in that movie.

We were not supposed to take pictures of the residents and workers as they did their jobs. There were a few exceptions, so I will share the ones I do have. The amazing thing about Dharavi is that everyone works and nothing is wasted. There is virtually no crime and some of the residents choose to live here even though they are millionaires. We felt safer walking here than in Brazil and West Africa. There are over 20,000 small businesses such as apparel, pottery, embroidery, quality leather goods and plastics and $1 billion dollars is generated here every year. One of the main businesses is recycling, not just from the township but using materials from all over Mumbai. We saw workers separating plastics by color. The plastic is then melted down, washed and made into small pellets, dried on the rooftops and then sold to make recycled items such as combs, bottles, etc. They don’t waste anything here. Appliances like refrigerators are taken apart and the parts used for other things or rebuilt. Skilled workers here earn 12-15 dollars a day and the unskilled workers earn 6-8 dollars per day.

There are 18 mosques, 26 temples and 8 churches in this township and people from all religions live and work peacefully together. This seems to be the case in all of Mumbai according to Husseine.

Conditions are quite primitive and most homes do not have running water or toilets.

While we were there, we saw a man cleaning up trash (they do this twice a day). It turned out that there was a wedding procession coming and we got right in with the group – they wanted us to dance down the street with them and we did!

What a fascinating look at a thriving community – yet a slum. We did change our view of what it is like to live and work in the slum.

We then drove to an adjacient island, Bandra, where we stopped for lunch at the Salt Water Cafe in an upscale neighborhood. Many of the Bollywood actors eat their meals here. I don’t think any were there when we were. We had some pasta dishes and the special mango ice cream as it is mango season here.

Next we went to St. Mary’s Catholic Church. There are kiosks outside the church with replicas of houses and body parts. If you want to pray for something, you can purchase the replica as an offering.

We visited the fort and walked up for the view of this spectacular bridge and the bay.

Our last visit was to the old Portuguese area of Mumbai. There are very few of the old homes left but we did see the ones that remain. Many have small chapels outside them. Much of the area has been redeveloped into high rise condos and apartments.

This man was selling ice apples. He had to peel off the outer rind and then we got a section with a covering like on an orange. We peeled that off and ate the fruit. Juicy and not too sweet. None of us had ever heard of these before.

Do you think we were tired after our day?

Here are some scenes on the way back to the ship. The waterfront is under a lot of construction, but at night the area (Marine Drive) is very lit up and is called the “Queen’s Necklace”.

This was our 4th visit to Mumbai and we experienced totally different things. You can see how much wealth has come into the city with all of the construction and many high rises. But lots of poverty still exists. Our butler, Vishant, is from India and he says people can live a very good middle class life here on $500/month.

If you want to read about our previous visits, use the search function on the blog site. I am trying not to repeat information I previously wrote about!

Posted in April, Asia, Excursions, Food, World Cruise #4 | 2 Comments

Fujairah, United Arab Emirates

Posted on April 28, 2023 by patmathews

April 27, 2023

We are into the 5th segment of our Around the World cruise, day 103. New passengers came on in Dubai and this segment will end in Singapore on May 18.

Here are some pictures as we left Dubai. It isn’t as colorful as the Hong Kong harbor, but it is still pretty.

Norm took some pictures of the huge aquarium tank in the Dubai Mall. It is hard to see the beautiful sea life because of the blue, but here is one of them. The mall facing area is huge (like everything in that mall). We didn’t go into the actual aquarium.

We sailed into Fujairah for a 9 AM arrival. It is our 4th time here so we planned to take the shuttle into the mall and do some shopping. Here are some pictures of our sail in.

You can see that the landscape is much like the other countries in this area with a city immediately in front of massive rocky areas. It is amazing to see that they have cleared these mountains to create the city areas. Our first visit here was in 2015 and there is much more expansion since then.

Fujairah is the 7th largest city in the UAE and is the only city on the UAE’s east coast. The city has a population of about 97,500. The main mosque is the Sheikh Zayed Mosque which is visible from many locations in the center of the city. It can hold 28,000 worshippers! We visited it in the past.

It is still pretty hot here but was breezy so it didn’t seem as bad as some other days.

We were able to get a Pandora charm at the mall and Norm bought a pair of shoes. Interestingly, in the Dubai Mall he couldn’t find what he was looking for and the shopkeepers told him that he wouldn’t find his size. At this mall, he found a pair in the Under Armour store! The mall is MUCH smaller than the Dubai mall and it didn’t take us long to go through the whole thing. There is Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks as well as many stores that are familiar in the US.

We relaxed in the afternoon and had dinner in Toscana. As we were seaated in the back of the restaurant, we caught the last of the sunset.

We now have 2 sea days before we reach Mumbai, India. We received information about the conditions in India and Sri Lanka and the public/religious holidays that will occur while we will be visiting. In Mumbai, the State Foundation Celebrations will take place and many sites would be closed or extremely crowded if open. We have private tours with friends in all of the ports in India so we will see how it goes. In Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Full Moon Poya Public holiday will take place and it will be two days off for the public so all public offices, schools and most businesses will be closed.

Many of the upcoming ports are not well established for tourism, like the ports in west Africa. English competency varies greatly and there is no formal guiding qualification so most of the guides will be locals that are happy to share their knowledge. Most buses won’t have air conditioning or be very modern and rest rooms are far from our standards. This is what it means to be a traveler, not a tourist!

Posted in April, Middle East, World Cruise #4 | Leave a comment

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Posted on April 26, 2023 by patmathews

April 25 and 26, 2023

The night before we sailed into Dubai was the last night in the casino for one of our dealers, Jeannette, and the casino manager, Tony. I will miss them both. Here are pictures of Jeannette and one of a group of the “usual suspects” in the casino. The casino and the boutiques have to be closed when we are in port.

We arrived in Dubai about 1 PM on Tuesday, April 25. Here are some pictures of the pilot arriving and of the sights when we arrived at the port. The tall building is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. We have visited it twice before so won’t go up this time. Note the pollution in the air – it is almost always this way, but we did have a pretty nice view on our first visit in 2015.

The pilot arriving to guide us into the port

We had an Around the World special event this afternoon and evening – a vintage evening at Al Maha Desert Dune. To our surprise we were picked up in 4 wheel drive vehicles – only 4 to a vehicle. So that meant they needed 110 vehicles to bring all of the guests and the members of the staff who attended to the event. What a convoy that made on the highway! Only in Dubai. It took about an hour to reach the desert area and all of the vehicles had to let some air out of the tires as we drove through sand. These same vehicles are used for the dune climbing which we have done in the past, so they are equipped with roll bars, etc. As we entered into the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, we spotted impalas and a large group of white oryx.

We first enjoyed a private falcon show at a sundowner site where we were treated to champagne and wine along with delicious dates, nuts, dried apricots and fresh strawberries. Stunning show and scenery. Peregrine falcons are the fastest members of the animal kingdom with a speed of 230 miles an hour. Their eyesight is what enables them to catch their prey. In the show, the trainer had a piece of meat in a pouch on a rope. He swung the rope and the falcon dove for it. He did this many times. When he finally allowed the falcon to grab the pouch, the falcon would not release the pouch until it got its meat. Very fascinating to watch. These days, the falcons have a GPS attached so that they don’t get lost. They are fed 20% of their weight when they come back from one of their flights. And they let them rest for 3 days. Imagine eating 20% of OUR body weight!

After the show and our sunset pictures, we got back into our vehicles and traveled a s short distance to the next site where we were greeted with the customary Arabic Bakhoor welcome with an Al Ayyala dance at the camp site. At both sites, the sand was covered with Persian rugs and there were cushions to sit on.

We had middle eastern appetizers at our tables and a buffet dinner under the stars. It was catered by the Al Maha Luxury Resort and Spa which is owned by the same people as Emirates Airlines. Drinks and food were plentiful and those who ate meat had all types of fresh grilled kebabs.

During and after dinner we were entertained with a traditional show of Tanoura dancing, live music of Oud and Tabla players, belly dancers and the skills of henna artists.

The lights were so red that all the pictures looked like this! With our new cruise director, Dottie.

My henna got smudged when it was drying by a friend wanting to give me a high five! But it is still unique.

Ray, our current (and much loved ) cruise director, is leaving tomorrrow on his vacation and will re-join us for the end of the cruise festivities on the last leg of the cruise which starts in Tokyo. He did the transition to Dottie at this event.

It was a really fun night. We got back to the ship about 11 PM after a very fast drive!

Today was our second day in Dubai. Since we had been here many times before, we decided to take the shuttle bus to the Dubai Mall. This mall is quite unbelievable, almost all US stores are there and as many new ones that we never heard of. There are 1600 stores and restaurants. The city is growing all the time and it is spotlessly clean. The mall was quite empty when we arrived at about 9:20 AM but very crowded by the time we left. The mall is attached to the Burj Khalifa. There is a large aquarium and an ice skating rink as part of the mall. We could update and back up our devices fast (free wi-fi in the whole mall) and I had a wonderful manicure and pedicure. We bought some items we needed, some cosmetics that I ran out of and we got a lot of steps in too. We had a leisurely lunch and went back to the ship around 4, we sail at 7 so I had time to do my posting.

Tomorrow we visit our last port in the middle east, Fujairah.

Posted in April, Excursions, Food, Middle East, World Cruise #4 | 2 Comments

Muscat, Oman

Posted on April 24, 2023 by patmathews

April 24, 2023 – Day 100!

Yesterday was the second concert called “Sing Out Loud” by a group of 70 passengers who have been rehearsing on sea days. After the first concert, Norm joined the group. They sang 8 songs and sounded just terrific!

We have been to Muscat twice before. I alway look on my previous blog posts to see what we have explored and we try to do something different unless we really loved something and want to do it again.

Muscat is the capital and most populated city in Oman and it is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. The total population is about 1.4 million. As early as the the first centuury AD it was an important trading port between the west and the east. Since the ascension of Qaboos bin Said as Sultan of Oman in 1970, Muscat has experienced rapid infrastructural development that has led to the growth of a vibrant economy and a multi-ethnic society.

We were planning to go to the Mutrah Souq to shop and when we got off the ship, the hop-on hop-off bus was right at the port, so we went on it for the two hour round trip and ended at the Souq where we did some shopping.

The city’s landscape consists of mostly low-lying white buildings which seem to be built right onto the rock cliffs. I was amazed at the amount of work it must have taken to build here.

Ramadan was over on Friday but there are 3 days of celebration that follow the fasting days so we weren’t sure what might be closed for the holiday. The shop right at the pier was closed but almost all of the Souq shops were open.

Here is the scene as we sailed in.

The city is clean and beautifully landscaped. There are all of the American fast food places and car dealerships alongside of local shops and businesses. The fort that is in the previous picture is the Mutrah fort that was built in the 17th century.

We didn’t get off the bus until the end of the trip. We saw most of the important sites and some of the ones we had visited before. It seems like there are mosques on every corner of the city. The nation is Islamic but there are also some Catholics and Protestants here. The country is very peaceful.

This lookout tower we saw when we sailed in is the Mabkhara which symbolizes Oman’s generated wealth from crude oil decades ago. The economy is still dominated by trade in petroleum, liquified natural gas and porting.

We passed the Al Alam Palace in Old Muscat which is the ceremonial palace of Sultan Qaboos.

And the large yacht is his – the small one is his old one!

The Royal Opera House is the leading arts and culture organization in the Sultanate of Oman.

There are beautiful sculptures all along the route and along the corniche, which is the walkway along the sea.

The original city was surrounded by walls, some of which still remain. Here are some of the gates into and out of the city.

We visited the Souq and bought some nuts. Ray tried to locate his favorite shop and we walked all around to find it. We found out from one of the other vendors that it closed when the owner died. It didn’t seem as crowded as on our previous visit, probably due to the holiday.

Here are some other pictures of the sights.

It was a hot but fun day and gave us a good overview of the current city and we didn’t have to do too much walking in the heat. Next we spend two days in Dubai, tomorrow is a special Around the World event and on Wednesday we will spend time in the Dubai Mall.

Posted in April, Middle East, World Cruise #4 | 3 Comments

Salalah, Oman

Posted on April 23, 2023 by patmathews

April 22, 2023. (Day 98)

This was our 4th visit to Salalah, and this time we booked a private tour with Boris and Sonia. We were told that we needed to wear masks here, and it was curious that all of the guides waiting with the buses didn’t have masks on but we were checked as we left the ship. You have to take a shuttle to the port gate here, and we knew our guide would be waiting in a green jeep. The shuttle passed right by even though we wanted to stop at the jeep and we went into an adjoining area which meant we had to walk back to the jeep. Once we reached our guide, he told us that you only need masks in the port area and we didn’t see another person with a mask on for the whole day!

The day was totally different from anything we did on previous visits. Good thing we had a jeep because some of the roads were very crude dirt roads with many switchbacks (they call the one we were on the most the “snake road”.) You can see why! Our guide, Naseeb, was a great driver.

The landscape is very rocky with some plants. There are many frankincense trees. The use of frankincense is mostly in church services but Naseem said it is also good for stomach ailments and for clearing the lungs of smokers. Who knew? During monsoon season, it is much greener than now, but there still seems to be enough vegetation for the animals that we saw all over the place. Camels, donkeys, goats and cattle roam and chomp anywhere they want and are often in the road. Sometimes they came right up to our jeep, and Naseeb was prepared with some snacks for the camels. Apparently they find their way back home every evening. He told us there are brown, black and white camels. We saw mostly brown ones but did spot one white one.

We went to so many scenic areas and the “secret” beaches. Here are some of them.

We went to one area with three blow holes and the sound of the sea before they “blow” is thunderous.

Naseeb bought us some fruit from these vendors

Norm waiting for the eruption of the sea

We saw so many beautiful beaches and they were mostly deserted. In one or two places we saw people camping in small tents. Naseeb said they do get tourists from all over the world.

Next our trip took us way up into the mountains on the way to Yemen. Naseeb asked if we had our passports. We did not, as the ship keeps them all most of the time so that when the authorities from each country we visit comes on board, they can stamp them all at once. There are a few countries that require a face to face inspection (South Africa was one) but once we show our passports they are collected again. So we were wondering if we would have gone to Yemen?! But no, we had to stop at a checkpoint and when Naseeb told the military guard we didn’t have passports, he just said not to go into Yemen. Apparently Oman and Yemen have a very friendly relationship. Prices are less in Yemen so many Omanis go there to shop.

Naseeb was taking many pictures and videos of us. He had an ipad in the jeep with lots of picctures of previous guests and he asked us if he could use ours. Some of these pictures were ones that he took.

We stopped at a roadside stand and waited while Naseeb purchased snacks for us. This delicious Omani specialty is called fatheera. it is a flaky pastry stuffed with cheese. Some had honey and some just the cheese. We all loved it.

Our last stop before a late lunch was at the Fazayah beach. The part we went to was very private and you could change clothes right out in the open. I had my bathing suit on already. Sonia and I had a nice swim. Naseeb had snorkel equipment that I started with but there was nothing in the water to see just off the beach. The water was too rough to swim out by the rocks so we just enjoyed jumping the waves. Well, except for the one that knocked me down! No one got a picture of that!

The homes here are huge. They tend to have large families. The women mostly stay at home with the children but they are allowed to have jobs if they wish. We only saw one woman as a guide when we were on the pier. We saw three boys in traditional garb going to homes for treats to celebrate the end of Ramadan. The population of Oman is about 2 million wiht 300,000 living in Salalah. Sometimes we saw isolated villages with homes being built. The people are very friendly. Even the military guards smiled and waved.

Our last stop was at a restaurant near the port called the Oasis Club. Naseeb knows the owner so we were allowed in – it is a private club and very fun for families. There is ping pong, pool and many other game tables and children and adults were playing all of the games. The food seemed very American – Norm and Boris had fish and chips (the best ever, they declared) and Sonia and I had vegetable and shrimp stir fry.

It’s hard to capture everything – it was such a great day and gave us an entirely new view of this beautiful country and its people.

Back on the ship we had a middle eastern dinner going on in the terrace and we went rather late and enjoyed some of the local specialties, but no fatheera, unfortunately. I am so glad we got to taste that. Maybe we can get some at. our next port in Muscat, Oman on Monday.

Posted in April, Excursions, Food, Middle East, World Cruise #4 | 4 Comments