SYDNEY, DARWIN, SINGAPORE, KUALA LUMPUR, LANGKAWI, COCHIN, MUMBAI, ABU DHABI, DUBAI, MUSCAT, AQABA, SUEZ CANAL, PORT SAID, JERUSALEM, MYKONOS, INSTANBUL, ANZAC COVE, ATHENS, NAPLES, ROME, FLORENCE, MONTE CARLO, BARCELONA, CASABLANCA, LISBON, PARIS, DOVER

Thursday 30 June 2011

DUBAI TO SALALAH

SALALAH (Oman) – home of the ancient ‘Frankincense’ which is still used today as the base for incense and perfumes - an interesting city, again of sandy coloured buildings, mostly well maintained.   Our small group toured these streets, savoured the sights and enjoyed the interesting markets filled with leather pistol, bullet & knife holders, bags and shoes – mostly all made on the spot on their sewing machines.  Also lots of colourful clothes, materials and what got the men excited about were the lovely ‘pill box’ hats – just had to have one!  Drove many kilometres along the beach and not a sole in sight as the sea was rough and it was their ‘siesta time’.  Dilapidated homes along the foreshore, obviously not prime location here.  We also visited a small banana plantation/farm, and they were good.  We ended at the wonderful Frankincense Museum and archaeological site… 

Our wonderful group of ‘Crazy Cruisers’ meet for lunch every couple of weeks and Joanne & Garry  have made up some awards for those ‘fortunate/unfortunate’ travellers who have make faux pas along the way, or do something a little different, to award their prized certificates…   Colin received one for taking over the microphone as our guide was not the most fluent and it wasn’t his ‘day job’.

Photos above are:  the banana plantation;  Jo & Garry on our fun bus;  the Muttrah Souk (markets);  our guide and his offsider at the Frankincense Museum;  Paula taking a photo of Colin & Ray;  and Colin receiving his Omani Tour Guide Interpreter & Bloody Legend Award.

 

MUMBAI TO DUBAI

DUBAI – from putrid to pristine!!  What a pleasure to behold – clean, tidy, stunningly attractive and HOT!!  We arrived in the evening and a group of us went ashore and headed for Dubai Mall where we watched the spectacular ‘Dancing Waters’ light up and put on a beautiful show and in the background was the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building – lit up in all its glory!  Next morning we went solo and took a cab to a nearby market place where we were asked whether we wanted to buy watches.  After hesitating, we nodded and were taken to the back of the shirt & bag shop and escorted up to the attic, sat on plastic crates and to our amazement,  watches appeared in plastic boxes from behind the wall!!  A tricky situation but fortunately we made a couple of good purchases – a Rolex & Cartier!! We thought that was scary until he insisted we needed a bag and were taken to a derelict building, up in the lift, doors locked behind us and a room full of bags – yes, we bought one!!  Happy to see the light of day again, we headed back to the ship for lunch.

We then met up with our good old mate John and his lovely Jhing and were shown many wonderful sights - including the Madinat Jumeirah, a lavish resort with Venetian style waterways and gondolas, and a fabulous Arabian market place - had a ‘huge’ coffee!!;  Ski Dubai (complete with huge ski run & chair lifts etc.) – a sight to behold situated in a massive shopping mall; one of the man made Palm       where the streets, lined with huge apartment blocks, are shaped like palm fronds and where the magnificent Atlantis Hotel is situated;  finishing up in John & Jhing’s old neck of the woods on the shores of Dubai Creek.  A fantastic day, made even more special with dear friends – this is a place we’d really like to return to in the not too distant future.

Photos above are:  John & Jhing;  Madinat Jumeirah Resort;  the Burj Khalifa – world’s tallest building;  snowfields at Ski Dubai;  the Atlantis Hotel;  and a handsome couple we dine with nightly – Ros & Arnold.

 

COCHIN TO MUMBAI

MUMBAI – another small private tour with Mumbai Magic, organised by Joanne, which was fantastic – could write a book about today – we saw it all and smelt even more!! Drove through the slums and hard to believe that people survive living here in such squalor.  First stop was the Gateway of India, a magnificent arch structure right on the waterfront (built to commemorate King George V’s visit in 1911). At the same spot we captured photos of the beautiful Taj Mahal Hotel – a spectacular place to stand and look around – then the heavens opened, we were unprepared and drenched!! We were taken underground to a railway station – omg – then to the small but beautifully presented museum dedicating the life of Ghandi.  We drove along Marine Drive, a really nice stretch of sandy beach, walkway and some nice hotels but not for swimming – no way!!  The Jain Temple was sweet smelling and so colourful, then we stopped for pictures at the “local laundry” – literally thousands of pieces of laundry washed (all in the same water), dried & ironed everyday and returned to their rightful home!!  Our late lunch was delightful with “breads” to dip into many colourful and tasteful goodies. A modern building was pointed out to us – looked like layers of kids blocks piled one on top of each other – and were informed that a family of five lived there, with staff of 300!!  With a population far bigger than Australia, what a day of extremes it was and although pretty horrendous in many places, we saw the bones of what it must have looked like when Colin’s parents were living here 60 years ago with the British Army - living quite a different lifestyle.

Photos above are:  Gateway to India;  Ghandi Museum;  inside Jain Temple;  laundry;  our lunch;  downtown Mumbai;  a welcome beer for Colin & Garry;  girls in their Indian garb;  and Neil serving Colin dessert

 

Friday 24 June 2011

LANGKAWI TO COCHIN

COCHIN – our first visit to India and we were very apprehensive but were pleasantly surprised with all we saw here and the heat was bearable. Our first private tour booked with our brilliant organiser and fellow cruiser, Joanne (woman of many talents) who even got us off the Ship before their tours began,  met with our friendly guide and were then driven for well over an hour along the main highway to our ‘Backwater Cruise’.  This drive was simply amazing with all kinds of stalls and markets along the entire route and fortunately, although extremely poor everyone looked quite clean and we didn’t see any begging!!  Our wonderful houseboat for the cruise was just delightful and we traversed the canals in comfort, watching the locals going about their daily chores – from bathing to washing dishes all in the same canal water of course.  Between the rice paddies, were the little shanty homes along the narrow strips of land - so bright and colourful, although in need of much repair.  For lunch we were treated to a lovely selection of vegetarian delights, with rice, fish & chicken, topped off with fresh pineapple and fried bananas.  After a quick return on the bus and drive through the old Fort Cochin, we just made it ‘home’ in time.

Photos above are:     Having a beer on the houseboat;  similar houseboat to ours;   a little pink house;  women in the canal;  a typical scene on the canal;  road stalls;  and the fantastic ‘fishing nets’ of Cochin.

 

Thursday 23 June 2011

KUALA LUMPUR TO LANGKAWI

LANGKAWI – an overnight sail and still in Malaysia, we took a Ship’s tour into this city and visited another cultural museum and the LamanPadi (rice museum) but the highlight was taking the Langkawi Cable Car to the top of Mount Mat Cincang.  Unfortunately because all the tour buses arrived at the same time, and it was a public holiday, the queues were like “Disneyland on a long weekend” weaving forever and taking us over an hour just to board the cable car. The trip up and back was rather scary but the views were incredible, sadly we only had time to take a few photos and then back into the cable car for the long, steep trip back to the bottom and of course no time for souvenir shopping!!

We had some good fun entering our horse “Simply the Best” into the Melbourne Cup and ‘dressing’ the horse (the glue gun I found when we arrived on board in the side pocket of our shoe bag!!! actually came in very handy).  The champagne was flowing and our jockey was well primed, but we came last!!

Photos above are:  Langkawi Cable Car;  Judy at ‘the top’;  pretty lake at base of mountain;  sweet treats at the Rice Museum;  dining with Joanne & Garry;  late night snacks at Island Party on deck;  owners & trainers of our entry “Simply the Best” into the Melbourne Cup – Ray, Dennis, Garry, Arnold & Colin;  and their better halves – Paula, Ros, Judy, Anthea & Joanne

 

SINGAPORE TO KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR – arrived at Port Kelang and joined a Ship’s tour into Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia.  With a convoy of very colourful buses, inside and out, and cheery guides, we set off for a great day, stopping for photos first of the magnificent Blue Mosque and then onto the War Memorial and its beautiful gardens.  It was here we discovered their ‘restrooms’ were quite “different to ours” – hole in the ground and no loo paper – you have to pay for that before you enter!!  Next stop was the National Museum and then onto a brilliant Craft Museum which was hosting a Bridal Expo – the materials/batiks, cakes, clothing and decorations were breathtaking and very elaborate.  We stood in awe and took photos of the Petronas Twin Towers (a sky bridge connecting the buildings making them the tallest twin towers in the world) and then topped off our day by going to the top of the Kuala Lumpur Tower, with a 360deg. view of this massive city of skyscrapers as far as the eye could see.

Photos above are:  Ladies restroom;  wedding cakes;  craft museum – beautiful batiks;  view from Kuala Lumpur Tower;  and the Petronas Twin Towers

 

DARWIN TO SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE – our first rain and it bucketed down on us most of the day!!  We spent over an hour queuing for an all day Tourist Train Pass ($18 - & were refunded $10 for returning the ticket).  A quick train trip took us to Little India which was colourful and interesting, then had a long coffee at Starbucks whilst we skyped the family and did some emailing. We found our way to Orchard Road and some fabulous shopping centres.  Fortunately, we’ll be back to Singapore later in the year to explore this lovely city and do it justice with hopefully better weather – and ‘shop’!!  It appears we have a stowaway on board – “Birdie” made a raucous appearance at dinner & has been showing off ever since!! 

Photos above are:   Ray with his “Birdie”;  Singapore shop window;  Orchard Road;  and sailaway.

 

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS

Better late than never and with help from our friends on board we are now up and running with our Blog....  We’re really enjoying our wonderful sea voyage from Sydney to Dover, England (53 days) on the “Dawn Princess”.   Our sea days are very busy and are spent either relaxing by the pool, walking  the Promenade Deck, playing table tennis/cards/bingo/trivia, going to dance lessons/destination lectures/great shows and of course EATING morning, noon and night, with lots of great friends.

It’s been fairly smooth sailing with a few ‘wobbly’ days along the way, a little slower than normal as on Day 3 we had a generator malfunction, which the experts are still working on....   Due to this problem, we have unfortunately missed a couple of ports so far (Abu Dhabi & Muscat – went to Salalah in Oman instead) and spent less time in others but we are still seeing new countries and having a great time.

DARWIN – our first port of call after 5 days at sea, we tied up alongside their new port complex, comprising of apartment blocks, restaurants, shops, a beach area, as well as a separate wave beach – all very impressive.  Having been there before and seen the sights, we stayed in town catching up with emails, friends, shopping and having lunch at the Speakers Cafe, Parliament House.

Photos above are:   our cabin;  towel art by our fabulous cabin steward, Irma;  a lucky pic. with our Captain Todd McBain;  Darwin Wave Pool;  Arnold with his harem (we have a great table of friends dining together every night);  pre dinner drinks with Joanne & Garry;  and ‘FOOD’!!