AQABA,JORDAN

Aqaba, Jordan

   If you look out the windows on the ship, all you see is blue water and pretty lights in the distance, but if you look on at the GPS map on your television, you see that the lights are in Eliat, Israel, the tall buildings to the south are in Saudi Arabia and you are in Aqaba Jordan. Aqaba is a duty free port in the southern tip of Jordan. From here tours leave for Petra or Wadi Rum. The city itself is like any other resort town. It was really nice to see paved streets and sidewalks, and families together. You would never know you were in the Middle East until you tried to read a sign, as they were all in Arabic. You also  encounter an occasional young man riding his camel on the sidewalk. I assumed they were Bedouins trying to make money from the tourists. The men never said anything. They waited for you to ask for a ride or a take a picture.

We have been here before in the November and took the fantastic trip to Petra. I was really tempted to go back, but Joe wanted to see Wadi Rum. It is about an hour to get to the visitor center from the ship. We went on one of the tours, but you could probably get there by taxi. The Arabian desert is right outside of the city. After a stop at the very nice visitor’s center, we climbed into the back of beat up pick up trucks 6 persons to a vehicle. The two hour ride through the Wadis <dried up river beds of long ago> with photo stops is very dusty and bumpy but a lot of fun. We saw a few bedouin camps, lots of camels and beautiful rock formations, somewhat like our Southwest only bigger. Before heading back to the ship, we had a final stop at a camp that actually was a motel. I use that word loosely. You can stay in these numbered tent like structures all in a row covered in wool blankets. There were mattresses on the floor and blankets. I bet it gets really cold out there at night. We were offered sweetened tea, sesame cookies and dates. The bathrooms were rundown modern with running water.

After our tour we took the shuttle bus in to town for lunch as I love this type of food. Joe wanted to eat at McDdonalds and use their free WIFI, but I balked. We eventually found an empty restaurant and had a great lunch, but did go back to the yellow arches so we could do some posts.

As of this writing we have now sailed about 25,500 nautical miles. My total estimate for this trip is 32,000 nautical miles. We have 22 more days to go.

Gina Wagg

EGYPT!!!

Safaga, Egypt       02 APR 11

A very emotional moment today.  A few days ago the captain came over the intercom to announce yet another itinerary change.  It seems that our rapid progress through the pirate area had put us way ahead of schedule.  Combined with the U. S. state department’s easing of the travel rules to Egypt, he announced, we would be calling at Safaga, Egypt for tours to Karnak/Luxor and Valley of the Kings.  An amazing piece of work to put that together in two days time, arranging tours, pier space, immigration formalities, etc. etc.  So here we are, the first ship to call here since the January uprising.

I’m sitting in the back seat of a bus heading to the Valley of the Kings.  Our tour guide, May, is speaking of her experience during the uprising.  She cannot complete her story due to her emotions.  A brief respite of quiet interrupts her dialogue several times.  This is her first day of work in the tourism industry since January.  She resides in Cairo and is VERY proud to be an Egyptian!  She had no axe to grind with Mubarak, but now, after the fact, she is angry with him.  She traveled to Tahrir Square during the last days of the unrest.  She spoke of the long lines to get through security and, here’s what got me, the overwhelming “smell of freedom”.  What commenced as a small gathering of unhappy students swelled into a celebration of millions.  History was made and this lovely lady was there.  She admits it will be a long road to the kind of government they are hoping for but the first steps have been taken.  I wished her health, wealth and a stable, secular government.

The tour itself was an 11 hour tour with 45 minutes in the Valley of the Kings and 45 minutes in Karnak, and an hour and a half cruising the Nile and having lunch, kind of ridiculous if you hadn’t been there before.  The problem is that the westbound road from Safaga to Qena, gateway to Luxor, is littered with “checkpoints” complete with armed guards every 5 kilometers.  Busses must slow down to almost a stop to cross the speed bumps, losing valuable momentum each time they stop.  There are towers, maybe twenty feet high, containing guards armed with machine guns.  But this is not new!  It was this way in November when we were last here.  I’m not sure what the hell they’re protecting us from, but it is really absurd.  One thing we did notice was that the trash that seemed to be everywhere was no longer visible.

Happy with our surprise visit to Egypt, we can only hope the people end up with what they so richly deserve.   

RED SEA

MUSINGS FROM THE RED SEA

31 MAR 11

Over the next few days, I will have lots of time to reflect on the past three months and the final month ahead.  There is no question that this has been an “experience” and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  The positives outweigh the negatives by a huge amount.  I started a list of things I miss from home in early January.  Here’s the list in the order that I wrote them:

POPCORN

DRIVING

HD TV

FAST INTERNET

APOLLO CLUB

CHIPOTLE

CELERY

CELLPHONE

For some unknown reason, there has been no celery on the ship.  First thing I do when I get home is to run over to Whole Foods and buy a big stalk of celery, that is, after I make a batch of popcorn!

Of course I miss family. I really would have liked to have gone with Jeff’s Skeptours group cruise in March.  I would love to have gone to the concerts my two grandchildren are participating in and go to lunch at Luigi’s with my sister.  But I guess it ends there.  I’m really at home on a ship.

We have been averaging 23 nautical miles per hour since we left Salalah.  While this is not fuel efficient, the captain tells us the local pirates could not keep up with that speed.  There is 24 hour watch by security on the decks.  A mysterious wooden box has appeared on each side of the Promenade deck.  Its contents remain unknown but you can be sure there is some sort of security device inside.  I feel safe.

I’ve dropped out of HAL Chorale.  The amount of effort was not commensurate with the rewards.  My singing is now limited to the shower (pity the next door neighbors).  Part of the problem was the other male singers.  Their pomposity was only exceeded by their lack of pitch.  Particularly the fellow with the electronic pitch pipe who could find the note on his pitch pipe but never with his voice.  Then there was the poor (in my opinion) first performance.  Too many screamers and not enough singers.

Formal nights are always themed with the dining rooms decorated accordingly.  Many passengers then dress in the theme of the evening and seem to really enjoy doing it.  For example, last night was “Celebration Night”, celebrating all birthdays, anniversaries and the like that everyone will have during the course of the entire cruise.  Every place setting in the dining room had large party hats and helium filled balloons.  The amazing part is that a majority of the diners actually wore the silly things.  Folks were dressed in everything from tuxedoes to bed sheets wrapped around a large body with a weaved Omani cap. .  I could not help but think that this is just expensive adult day care. 

I’ve lost six of my ten pounds but the last four are a struggle. The food has been excellent and I can’t stay away from the ice cream bar at lunch.  We have six sea days between our last port and Fort Lauderdale.  I plan to devote myself to reaching my goal in that time frame.

Joe Wagg

SALALAH, OMAN

SALALAH, OMAN  29 MAR 11

When last here in November,  we had a lovely tour as part of the Vacation Vignettes program, visiting all the highlights.  There aren’t that many.  This time we thought we’d just visit the downtown area for a taste of local life and food.  The best laid plans, etc. etc.

The majority of the ports on this cruise have not allowed pedestrians in the port area.  If the cruise line does not provide a shuttle bus to a central downtown location, the port authority will provide a shuttle to the gates outside the port from whence you may take a cab to town.  That was the situation here so we rode the mile or so to the gates.  Upon arrival we were greeted by a horde of white robed, white head dressed, black bearded, beady eyed taxi drivers, each with his own white taxi and storming the shuttle bus for first dibs on the well-heeled tourists.  Mass chaos and understandable since it appeared that there were more cabs there than passengers on the whole ship!  The result of this was that every passenger on the shuttle (15) had his choice of three or four of these creatures, all of whom were fighting amongst each other for the opportunity of fleecing the tourists.

So what would we do in a situation like that?  We returned on the next shuttle to the ship.  Nobody would just take us to town.  All they wanted was a 2 – 4 hour “tour” at $20 per hour.  Ah, but all was not lost!  About 150 yards from the ship, across a blacktopped work area, was the Salalah Port Commercial Market.  This place had everything from screws and nails to refrigerators.  We spent at least an hour there and then went back again after lunch.  The big purchase was Omani perfume oil at $3.00.

Now, four days at sea heading to Aqaba, Jordan.

MUSCAT, OMAN

MUSCAT (MUTRAH), OMAN   27 MAR 11

Similar to Dubai, 85% of the population of Oman is imported to work for the other 15%, mostly from India, Pakistan, Philippines and Indonesia.  A land of little color other than sand, blazing sun and smiling shopkeepers, all imports.  This was our second visit in four months, making it much easier for us to decide what to do.  What else??? Shop!!!!!  Mutrah has the finest of all the souks we’ve visited and we ended up making two trips there during the course of the day.

It takes 2.6 American dollars to buy 1 Omani Rial but prices are still relatively inexpensive and dollars are accepted by most shopkeepers and restaurants.  Foreigners are not allowed to drive taxis, busses or be tour guides, only Omani citizens may hold these positions.  Information about living conditions is therefore best obtained from the shopkeepers who tell it like it is.  Sultan Qaboos bin Said pays for everything including health care and there are no taxes.  His yacht sits regally in the harbor, a constant reminder (to me and I suppose to his subjects) of his outrageous wealth.  Said came to power in 1970 in a bloodless coup against his father.  He has no heirs and is aging, so the future of the country’s politics is a little murky.  With all that has been going on in the area, one may wonder if Oman is next but the people really seem at ease.

We really enjoy the souk here as it has items not seen in other areas; perfumes, spices, silver, gold, fabric and jewelry of a creative nature.  But I did find one thing here that blew my socks off!  While Gina was eyeballing some necklaces in one of the smaller shops, I happened to glance at a turquoise T-Shirt with mystical words written across the top.  As I paid more heed the name James Randi appeared on the lower part of the shirt, magically, as if he were there.  JAMES RANDI.  Magician, skeptic, educator, debunker of falsehoods and most of all, a friend!  The Amazing Randi, here in Oman???  Just the fact that someone manufactured this shirt (in China) is a testimony to Randi’s omnipresence.   I purchased the shirt for $10.00 and may have it framed.

Off to another Omani port, Salalah, home of frankincense.

DUBAI

Dubai, UAE  24 – 26 MAR 11

It’s 5 AM and we’re sitting in the terminal building at the port of Dubai.  Why 5 AM?  Because it’s free internet here but once more than ten folks get on line at the same time, the service slows to a crawl.  And as I count, there are already 6 others out here with us.  It’s amazing how we’ve become addicted to something that we didn’t even know existed ten years ago!

Dubai is Dubai.  Plastic, Disney World and Vegas combined, sad and eclectic and just not one of my favorite places.  Ski slopes in malls, the biggest everything, you get the idea.  The only thing worse than a day in Dubai is two days in Dubai and we’re here for two days and a morning.  Day 1 we took it fairly easy and visited the local museum which cost under $1.00 for admission.  It was actually a very well done affair extolling the minimal local history along with some of the nature.  Lunch on the small river here called the Creek was also reasonable with great hummus.  We then stumbled upon a very nice souk which was cool and comfortable for shopping and even had some goods of a little higher quality than the tourist junk sold everywhere.  We took a cab back and of interest was that the cab fare doubled from the time we entered the port area to the time we reached the ship.  The distance from the port entry to the pier has to be at least two miles for what could be no more than ½ mile in a straight line.

Day two was a Friday which is the equivalent of a Sunday at home only more so.  Even the Metro doesn’t start running until 1:00 PM.  Speaking of the Metro, this is a well-run, modern, unmanned system with sleek new cars and excellent air conditioning.  We rode for about 1 ½ hours for the equivalent of $10 after lunch in an Indian restaurant.  The desire for Indian food was strong after not being able to find an Indian restaurant in Mumbai!  Views out the Metro window reminded me of Las Vegas away from the strip.  Pretty ugly and barren.

We’re off to Muscat, Salalah, Aqaba, Suez Canal and Ashdod.  Our itinerary has already been changed twice due to problems in Egypt and now they are lobbing rockets into Ashdod so who knows where we’ll be headed.  About 32 days to Fort Lauderdale.

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MUMBAI

Mumbai   21/22 Mar 11

You either love it or you hate it!  If you have no disposition for discomfort and chaos, perhaps there are better ports of call.  But if you’re willing to get down and dirty, the colors and smiles, even those of the beggars, can enchant you. 

Having not been here before, we opted for a ship’s tour called Marvels of Mumbai for our first venture into this land that we really did have some apprehension about visiting.  Most of what we’ve read and been told by other passengers was of a negative nature so we thought we’d get the lay of the land the easy way.  The one thing we like about tours offered by the ship is that the tour guides are usually excellent and this proved to be the case.  Seeing the movie Gandhi (3 hours) the night before helped us with the history of independence.  Visiting his home on the tour with a guide who used to visit this same house with her grandfather who was a friend of Gandhi was a bonus.  I must say after visiting and seeing pictures of Gandhi that Ben Kingsley was a spitting image.

The Prince of Wales Museum and Dobi Ghat (huge laundry facility) were also very interesting but the best part of the day was when we prematurely left the tour at the Gate of India and ventured out on our own to the caves of Elephanta Island.  We ventured forth on a boat that could only make the African Queen look like a luxury liner!  A wooden boat with no signs of life preservers and no boarding ramp, having a capacity of 125 in fair weather, 70 in foul.  I would assume the captain has a deal with some weatherman on questionable days.  After a one hour ordeal, we arrived at Elephanta Island.  The caves are quite some distance down a path lined with aggressive merchants but are well worth the hassle.  Their history is really unknown other than to say they were probably carved out in the 7^th century AD as places of worship.  The Main Cave made me think of the treasury building at Petra, smaller in scale but very similar in style which brings me to the one thing I learned today that will say with me.

There is a distinct crossover in cultures between the Middle East (for me, Egypt & Jordan) and India.  The architecture, sculptures and façade carvings would almost appear to be interchangeable.  The distance is not that far but the people are very different and the geographical barriers are great.  Something to research at a later time.

Day two was spent investigating the Taj Hotel and its environs.  Since the 2008 attack the hotel has been rebuilt and now requires a complete security check before entering.  A luxury hotel with all the amenities you’d expect.  From there we took a cab to the train station to witness the transfer of the Tiffen boxes, prepared foods brought in via train to be delivered to the offices of the addressees.  The only problem was that this occurred OUTSIDE the station while we were INSIDE looking for it.  Being hot and grimy, we took a cab back to the ship for lunch as we could not find a decent restaurant serving Indian food.  I’ll have to go over to Cambridge when we get home.

In total, I would like to go back to India with the knowledge I now have.  As I said, it’s not for the weak of heart, but it has much to offer.