Arrived in Singapore this morning. Can’t believe we were on that ship for nearly 6 weeks. Taxi transfer to Grand Copthorne Hotel where they charge for wifi access!  How last century is that ? Outrageous. 

Summary of cruise:

Good: Ship, if a little old fashioned, food, staff  were superb (mostly Indonesian and a few Philipino), bath in the cabin – luxury, speakers, movies, our 6 table companions for dinner.

Bad: price of shore trips (so we organised our own, except one), neighbours who kept slamming their door, too long in Yangon. 

Mixed: entertainment – some outstanding, some indifferent. 
Off to Bali on 19th, more blog postings to come, up to 4th March, but not daily. 

Had a great day in Phuket (Thailand). One of the guys on our table negotiated a day rate for all 8 of in a very smart minibus. We saw some of the sights and then spent a couple of hours in a beachfront restaurant. Loads of Thai food and Thai beer – very agreeable. 

  We arrived here this morning and will be here for two and a half days – much too long because a) we came here 2 years ago and b) the city is an hour and half away from the port on incredibly dangerous and pot holed roads. So, one day’s sightseeing is quite enough (when you’ve seen one pagoda, you’ve seen the lot !). 

We chartered a taxi for the day. Its biggest plus was that it had air conditioning but it had loads of minuses; the springs/shock absorbers were completely shot and, in common with most of the other taxis, it was right hand drive in a country that drives on the right.  Given the suicidal  overtaking tendencies of most of the drivers, the wheel being on the “wrong” side makes for interesting journeys to say the least. 

Anyhow, we saw a couple of pagodas, Scott’s Market where we had lunch and had what the locals eat. A bit risky I suppose but extremely tasty and given that it was 6 hours ago now and we’re OK, I  think we got away with it. One of our group was not happy to eat there so we then went to The Strand Hotel (the equivalent of Raffles in Singapore — typically colonial in style) for afternoon tea. Posh but a nice atmosphere – very Somerset Maugham. 

We are heading north east from the south of Sri Lanka across the Indian Ocean to Yangon (formerly Rangoon). We visited Yangon 2 years ago but at that time the military junta was still in charge. Recently they have achieved a limited form of democracy with Aung Sun Soo Kyi’s party wining a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections. It will be interesting to see if there are any visible signs of change. 

The transit from Sri Lanka takes 3 days so we have been catching up on reading, going to talks and movies (last night it was “Steve Jobs”) and enjoying the warm weather out on deck. 

Photos don’t always post quickly from the ship’s wifi but I’ll give it a go.  This is some of our table companions on a formal/sari night. If the photo doesn’t load it should catch up when we’re on dry land next. 

Arrived in Hambantota this morning. Chartered a taxi to look at “famous” caves/temples. Beautiful, lush countryside  and manic driving again. Just had the hottest prawn curry ever, my mouth is on fire ! Setting sail this evening for Yangon (Rangoon). 

  We’ve now been on our voyage for 4 weeks and the time has flown by. Only 2 weeks until we get to Singapore and leave the ship.

Today we have been in Kochi in Kerala, which used to be called Cochin under British Colonial rule. Rather than tour the city we headed south by taxi to Alleppey; the journey took about an hour and a half each way. The driving was manic and our driver was very skilful in avoiding all the hazards but it’s not a trip for the faint hearted. When we got to Alleppey we negotiated the hire of one of the 1,100 house boats for which Alleppey is famous. Once on board we had a a 3 hour tour around the Kerala Backwaters including a wonderful Indian lunch with beer.

 The biggest possible contrast to Dubai.  Noisy, busy – cars, tri-shaws, motor bikes and cows coming at you from all directions.  All hooting their horns – except the cows that is, although they DO have horns 🙂. 

We visited one church, one shopping centre, three Hindu temples and a fort. Hot, dusty and noisy, a wonderful experience but glad to get back onto our ship.  We’re getting pampered and spoilt, you can tell. Tried to bring a bottle of wine on from the Duty Free shop and were charged $18 by the cruise line ! 

This blog posting is being done from a taxi in Kerala which has wifi on board !

Currently in the Arabian Sea (part of the Indian Ocean). We left Dubai on Sunday night and are currently heading SE on a 3 day transit to Mangalore in Southern India – we should arrive on Thursday morning. Meanwhile life of board ship continues with calm seas and blue skies and daytime temperatures of  25c. The pirate lookouts are still on duty but I think we are in a lower risk area as they do not have their helmets, visors and bullet-proof vests at the ready. 

More on Thursday/Friday — after our call at Mangalore. 

Larger than life, out – Disneys, even Disney and Las Vegas.
Pic 1) is the fountains – like the Bellagio in Vegas

Pic 2) the tallest building in the world The Burj Khalifa

Pic 3) taken from our balcony, showing the old QE2 in dock with the Dubai skyline behind

We had an interesting day in Abu Dhabi (capital city of the United Arab Emirates). We had a taxi tour, did a Mall, visited a museum, the Emirates Palace Hotel (where you can buy a 24ct gold bar from a vending machine in the lobby by just inserting your credit card and PIN number) and the amazing Sheikh Zayed mosque.