Dubai

Mon, June 10

What an enjoyable day in Dubai! We thought our excursion only covered a trip to the museum, the gold souk and a look at a mosque. What we got was so much more….

The morning started with a visit to the Dubai Museum in Al Fahidi Fort which was built in 1787 and opened as a museum in 1971. Much of it is presented as realistic life-size dioramas as well as artefacts and hands-on displays. Afterwards we headed to the ancient Al Bastaklya quarters, which is famous for its traditional wind towers.

We then traded our coach for an abra (water taxi) crossing the river to Deira where we were able to visit a spice souk, which was amazing, where Alex was able to buy some liquorice that he hasn’t seen since he left England and looked like a tree twig. We also strolled around the renowned Gold Souk – a large concentration of jewellery stores where I was very happy to haggle for some jewellery.

Finally boarding the coach again, we were taken to see the city sights, including the Burj Al Arab hotel in shape of a sail, the Burj Khjalifa, the tallest building in the world and the Jumeirah Mosque, one of the most photographed sites in Dubai and a wonderful example of Islamic architecture.

Water taxi

Water tower

Mumbai, India

Fri, Jun7

Our excursion began with a trip to Dhobi Ghat, known as the world’s largest outdoor laundry where much of the city’s laundry is done at quite a cheap rate.

Next we jumped on the train for a short ride which ended at Churchgate station. That was exciting – get on the train quickly or it just takes off without warning after a minute or so. We found out that there are some optional carriages for men, women and senior citizens to board separately. We realised why when it was explained that out of the city’s population of 18 million, 5 million people catch the train to work each day and 2 million catch the bus. Everyone is in hurry and getting on and off the train quickly was quite a feat. Also there are no doors on the carriages so it’s a mad scramble to get on and off.

At the station we were able to see the famous “dabbawalas”, known for delivering meals to thousands of people at their workplaces in the city. Metal containers are divided into 4 sections, each containing a box filled with vegetables, roti, curry and rice. Empty containers re then returned at the end of the day for the wife to pack her husband’s lunch for the next day’s pickup.

Taxis are plentiful and relatively cheap, and we saw them carrying 5 or 6 adults plus children.

We also visited Crawford Markets, which was divided into a bird and food market. Watch where you walk as it was not very clean and I noticed that pieces of cardboard were placed over holes in the concrete… we certainly had to watch where we were walking!

The last stop was at the famous Gateway of India where the coach dropped us off as there was no parking. It was quite nice to see it come back to pick me up after standing in the rain for ten minutes whilst Alex stayed in the bus.

My memory of Mumbai is of an exciting, noisy city, where everyone drives with one hand on the horn! There seem to be no road rules, motor vehicles ignore traffic lights and crossings and pedestrians duck and weave across the road. We were quite pleased to cross the road via the subway!

We loved our first visit to Mumbai where this excursion enabled us to immerse ourselves in the culture of India.

At Sea

Thur, June 6

We have now had four sea days since leaving Langkawi and it is quite scary how one day leads into another when we are not really doing much!

Still keeping to some sort of exercise regime with the excellent gym as well as line dancing and Zumba. Alex is in a trivia team and we try to get the day started with a visit to the pool and walk the stairs as much as possible instead of taking the lift.

Craft activities are on every day which I have enjoyed very much as well. So far I have done origami and have made gift boxes, bags and baskets, a bookmark and dimensional art. I would never have thought of using pistachio shells to make a flower for decoration, so I am getting lots of new ideas.

The lady who does all these wonderful projects is an American lady, Shirley and her husband, Dale. They have been teaching craft on ships for the past 20 years! She had to bring all her own supplies and manages to teach us something new in about an hour or so. A couple of the projects have been carried over to Day 2. A great concept and they do such a wonderful job.

I think I have only had two cocktails and one breakfast of pancakes, maple syrup and bacon so doing well so far. The food is excellent.

Yesterday we had a piracy drill which basically meant that we had to all go to our cabins when we heard the ship’s bell, and wait there with the door propped open and curtains closed until instructed. I have noticed extra security around the decks and the fire hoses and LRAD (long range audio device I think) at the ready in case any unknown craft approaches us.

Last night we passed Cape Comorin on the southern most point of India. Today we continue up the west coast of India and tonight we will pass the coast line of Goa as we make our way to Mumbai.