Sailing to Mumbai ( Bombay)

April 4

Today is the first of 3 sea days, this one is needed to recover. Throughout the morning we maintained a south-south-easterly course and in the afternoon we altered our Course to a southerly course as we sailed along the coast of Sri Lanka. Nothing is really scheduled for today. We played trivia twice with Richard and Irene, did average. The highlight was when 2 whales floated by on the surface of the ocean. I actually spotted them before the Officer in Charge announced it. Today was Mexican Day for lunch, Betty and I ate too much, but it is good.

April 5     Holy Thursday

Early this morning we cleared the coast of Sri Lanka and set a North Westerly heading through the Lakshadweep Sea. Around noon we will again be sailing along the Indian coast and will follow a North-north-westerly heading the rest of the day and night. The ship has not had ESPN and claims it is because of the satellite location until we get near Egypt. I think that the real reason is because they did not pay the premium for getting the final of the NCAA basketball tournament and for the Masters Golf  tournament. This a real bummer as we want to watch Tiger hopefully win.

Today we had two Scholarship at Sea lectures, one by Astronomer David Dodge on Asteroids and the other by Documentary Filmmaker Leslie Iwerks on Creating the Impossible…Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic. We did trivia twice with the same results, our goal is to never win. I don’t think that will be a problem! Again we skipped the evening show and watched the movie “ Iron Lady” with Meryl Streep which we found rather depressing.

April 6    Good Friday

Throughout the night and continuing today we will continue on a north-north-westerly course along the southwest coast of India.  Today we had two Scholarship at Sea lectures, follow-ups to the two we had yesterday, titled ‘From Myths to Mega Pixels’ and ‘The Pixar Story’. We went to trivia and of course we continue our losing streak. Tonight’s show time is Game Show Night with Passenger Feud which we will gladly skip.

Late in the night we will alter our course onto a more northern heading as we continue to Mumbai, India.

Chennai, India (Madras)

April 3

As we entered the outer harbor at 6:45, we stepped on the balcony as many little boats came to greet us. Unfortunately the smell of Chennai also greeted us, it was like walking into a sewer. This is the most disgusting place we have ever been to, I can’t believe we came back. We booked a tour today and had to meet for the tour at 8:45, we went to the lounge at 8:40 got our sticker and sat down. After waiting for a while we found out they sent the people down early. Betty inquired and they told us to go to the dock only to find that our tour bus left. Luckily there was another bus that we just made. The last time we were here the dock was covered with a black oily substance. (So bad that the ship had to replace the carpeting at the gangway, it was totally ruined.)  Today found out  India buys coal from Australia and it used to be shipped to this dock. They have since changed ports for the shipments.

Finally on our way, we headed to the Monuments of Mahabalipuram which was 35 miles south of Chennai. Parts of the city seemed cleaner, but that changed once we got out of the governmental area.

Traffic was terrible as it usually is, but there was a large Hindu festival and the traffic was at a standstill. It was interesting to see all the people following ox carts pulling religious icons to the temple. People were carrying food and flowers as offerings to be put on the carts. The children were having a good time, begging us to take their pictures as we went by.

We drove south, passing the dedicated IT corridor which is 35 miles long and includes many call centers. This is where your calls go when you call Sears or many other businesses. We also drove along Marina Beach which is the country’s longest urban beach. The renowned monk Swami Vivekananda stayed here in 1897. At the far end was a fisherman’s shanty town. Unbelievable that  people live like this. They had a tsunami here in 2004 and it was totally destroyed. The government made a law that no permanent structures can be rebuilt, so they live in make shift housing.

We arrived at the Mahabalipuram which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this city dates back to the 7th century and is home to several intricate historic monuments, including temples with multi-tiered roofs, elaborate relief sculptures, and other awe-inspiring examples of Dravidian architecture. Once off the bus we were attacked by vendors trying to sell ‘genuine handmade’ artifacts. One attached himself to me and I couldn’t get rid of him until we entered a secure section. Once inside there were five Rathas dating back to the 7th century, they are temple models that have been carved from a single piece of sandstone, many featured Buddhists designs. It was amazing, also very hot! luckily it was not humid, but it was hot!

Then we returned to the tour bus and as soon as we left the secure area, the vendors were back and so was the one that latched onto me. Because I wouldn’t buy anything he said he hated Americans, they are rich and would not give him money. At that point I wasn’t too crazy about him either. Back on the bus we headed to Arjuna’s Penance where giant carvings depict Indian fables. It was 88 foot long, up close you could view the Indian deities Arjuna, Krishna and animals including elephants. Truly amazing.

Next we drove to the spectacular 8th century Shore Temple which was built during the reign of King Narsimha-Varman II and is pyramid shaped. It sat right on the Bay of Bengal. (This entire complex was used as ‘test’ site. Hindu temples were previously built using wood. They then started experimenting with stone, carving the structures out of one solid piece. The picture below shows the final effort, when they discovered how to build using blocks of stone.)

Driving back to the port we first stopped at a Radisson Resort for a beverage and a snack. The ice cold drink was very welcome. We then drove the same route back, the bus driver nearly rear-ended someone but we made it back safely although 2 hours late. Then we had to go through Indian security and immigration, then ship security. Good thing Betty didn’t have to be frisked.

The security here was over the top. We had to fill out many forms, have pictures take and fill out custom forms if you were taking a camera or computer ashore. At the sights they charged a fee to use your video camera, but not for a still camera.

Back on board, we cleaned up and waited for the sail-away, then headed to the buffet for dinner. We were hungry as we did not eat much all day. After dinner, we skipped the show and sat on our balcony as the sun was down and it was cool and breezy. The sky was clear and thousands of stars appeared.

Tonight we will sail a south-south-easterly to our next port Mumbai, India.

Sailing to Chennai, India

We both have lost 20 pounds so far on this cruise!!!

April 1

During the day we passed between Nicobar Island and Ten Degree Channel making our entry into the Bay of Bengal. Throughout the day we will maintain a West-North-West heading as we steam through the Bay of Bengal towards Chennai. About the only activity we did today was eat. We just laid around, it was a lazy day, we skipped all the lectures and the port talk on Chennai.

Tonight is formal night, as before, nothing special. Next Sunday is formal night again, Easter, so maybe they will do something different. The last one is at the end of the month which we will probably miss as we will start packing our luggage that will shipped home. We skipped the show tonight and instead watched a Scholarship at Sea lecture by Leslie Iwerks who is the granddaughter of the creator of Mickey Mouse. She made a document on her grandfather UB Iwerks and was nominated for a Academy Award. Without UB there would have never been a Mickey Mouse. Born in 1919, he and Walt Disney formed the Iwerks-Disney Company which never got off the ground. Then they invested in ‘Laff a gram Company’, but then filed bankruptcy. Walt Disney moved to California and Walt and Roy Disney formed Disney Brothers Studio. Walt convinced UB to come to California and he took the offer, becoming the highest paid employee of Disney, even paid more than Walt. He created the Oswald cartoon which was stolen from Disney. That is when Walt and UB created Mickey Mouse and the rest is history.

Overnight we will continue to sail across the Bay of Bengal to Chennai, India

April 2

This morning we had a “Pirate Safety Drill”, the crew and all passengers were exercised in anti-piracy protocols. I think they  should just issue us rifles but that is not an option. Then we had to have a face-to-face passport examination with two officials from India. No wonder the visa was so expensive, they joined the ship in Thailand and cruised to India. We then attended a port lecture on Mumbai by our port lecturer Debbie. Lunch in the buffet today was a Italian Trattoria Luncheon, which is always good as the chefs are from Italy. We always eat too much on Italian and Mexican Days.

This afternoon we had another Scholarship at Sea lecture by astronomer David Dodge called “ How Venus Changed The Earth”. Betty went and was disappointed as he talked about Captain Cook’s explorations in the south seas.  (I’m still trying to figure out what this had to do with Venus.) Today our trivia partners Richard & Irene were feeling better so we played twice today and did average. It was only the 4 of us in the morning and a new passenger joined our team this afternoon, Johan from Belgium now living in Vegas. (Note to Bill: I asked if he was familiar with feather bowling in Belgium, he said he’d never heard of it!  Told him to take a drive to Detroit.)

We skipped the dining room, just got a sandwich and ate on our balcony. It has been one beautiful day, we sat out for over 6 hours and I am actually writing this on the balcony. It is 6:40 and the sun just set. We are sailing west so we had no direct sun all day. Decided to skip the show tonight. It was Dorothy Bishop, not sure what she does, but she was a finalist on America’s Got Talent. Apparently just not enough if she is performing on cruise ships.

We set our clocks back 1/2 hour tonight, India wants to be different I guess. Tonight we continue to steam a West-North-West heading and early in the morning we will alter our course onto a south westerly heading, embark a pilot and enter the dredged channel between the buoys, passing the break water and enter the harbor basin where we will make our way to our berth in Chennai.

Phuket, Thailand

March 31

During our approach this morning we passed numerous small islands before entering the channel and navigating the shallow waters of the harbor. The ship then maneuvered into the turning basin and docked at 7:00 a.m. We were up very early as we booked a tour, Betty just had to ride an elephant as it was on her bucket list. I was not too keen on the idea. Apparently a lot of people wanted to do this as we had 8 bus loads of passengers and crew throughout the day. Our tour bus left at 7:30 and we drove from the south end of the island to the north end, passing through Phuket Town on our way. 

Upon arrival at Island Safari Park we first were given a ride in cart powered by oxen, a bumpy ride hard on the back and butt.

After the ride we were taken to a hut and shown how to prepare a Thai Papaya salad. Betty did this as she is the cook in this family. She had to mash various ingredients like rice, chilies, yellow papaya, green beans, tomato and rice wine. It came out absolutely perfect and it was delicious and very spicy, good thing she didn’t listen to me and put in 2 chilies.

 

After finishing our little meal we had a chance to sit atop a Water Buffalo. The buffalo are still used all over Thailand and Vietnam in the rice paddies. We never thought we’d ever do this but we did, not sure I’d do it again.

 

He didn’t seem to happy when I got on, could it be my weight?

We then had a demonstration on how rubber is made. It is sort of like collecting maple syrup. The trees are tapped at night due to the heat of the day. The rubber is white as it oozes out. Once collected they take the latex, remove the impurities and add formic acid to it, turning it into a jelly form. It is then put thru a rolling machine and hung on bamboo poles to dry for 4 to 7days.

  

Now it was time to ride the elephants, Betty was really excited and I was not so sure this was going to be fun. Well was I wrong, this was a thrill of a lifetime. We had a blast riding and feeding our elephant bananas. Whenever the driver would say the word  word ‘banana’ the trunk would come back and we would have to fill it. Our elephant seemed to have a mind of her own, the others would follow each other on a path where as ours would walk through the mud and over the hills. She didn’t like to be in the back so she pushed her way to the front of the group. Our driver told us she did not get along with one of the other elephants so he had to keep them separated or they would fight. We rode for about 45 minutes through the jungle and it wasn’t touristy at all. Once off the elephant we then went to a Elephant Show where Betty had a Elephant Massage. (This was a young elephant and she was very gentle. I even got an elephant kiss and she whistled in my ear.)

We then left the park and were taken to the Wang Talang International Lapidary Store where they tried to sell us jewelry. Upstairs they had a craft store where we bought a Christmas ornament. Then it was back to the ship, where a market was set up on the pier. The good thing was they sold big bottles of beer for $3.00 US. It must have been the most profitable stand there.

Dinner was a new experience for us. We never go to the dining room on port days, but when we went to the buffet, it was closed, instead the Bistro was open. We’ve never taken advantage of the Bistro before, it was a nice alternative. 

After sail-away we headed on a north-westerly course throughout the night through the Andaman Sea to our next port which is Chennai, India.

Singapore, Singapore

 

March 29

In the early hours of today we navigated through one of the busiest shipping areas in the world—the Singapore Straits. After exiting the traffic lane, we altered to starboard and headed toward our berth in the heart of Singapore. We arrived at 7:00 a.m., left the ship at 9:00 and were immediately confused once we got into the terminal. Nothing looked as it did in 2008. Instead of taking the MRT we  started to walk toward town to the Marina Bay Skypark Hotel & Casino. It was very hot and humid, not the best walking weather. After walking about 3 miles we admitted we were lost, somehow we ended up in Chinatown. I was very surprised at how much litter there was along the sidewalks, Singapore is supposed to be so clean. We broke down and asked directions to the train station but once inside decided it was too complicated. Instead we hailed a cab to the hotel. Although the driver did not speak much English he understood where we wanted to go. As you can see from the picture below, the top of the hotel is built to resemble a boat. He said it was built that way in case of a tsunami, a little Chinese humor. We went to the casino first, good thing we had our passports as we need them to enter and to exit the casino. After a little play I lost all the money I allotted to gamble, Betty lost $4.00. We headed back to the hotel and decided to go to lunch at a place called “Ku De Ta”. It was located on the 57th floor(Top) of the hotel, in the ‘boat’. The view was unbelievable.

 

Below are pictures of the infinity pool that is on the 56th floor. How would you like to swim in this pool. Pretty scary!

 

We had an excellent lunch with an excellent view. Betty ordered Salt Grilled Amberjack and I had a Loin Berkshire Strip Steak, we split a side of Asparagus. I had a Singapore Beer called Tiger and Betty had a Ginger Beer. Our lunch cost $150.00 but we had a million dollar view. It was a great life experience with my best friend.

After lunch we headed back to the lobby and checked out the shops, then took a taxi back to the Harbor Front and walked around the mall to cool off. I went into a Levi store and a pair of 501’s cost $139.95. We headed back to the Cruise Terminal and I bought some beers that I never had before which I will be adding to the beer list. We actually bought a bag of Lay’s Potato chips, since they don’t have them on the ship and Betty was dying for them. (There is such a shortage of food on a cruise ship!) They will go good with the burgers some day.

Back on the ship, we took well needed showers then headed to the buffet to watch the sail-away. The harbor here is filled with 100’s of ships. We spotted this yacht on the way out. Very unusual, the crew called it the James Bond Boat.

We are now setting various courses out of the Singapore Harbor before we enter the Straits of Malacca on our way to Phuket, Thailand.

March 30

Woke at 3:45am this morning to a storm at sea. I opened the curtains and watched the sky light up. At 6:00 it turned into a thunderstorm with the sky heavily clouded and heavy rain. This is the first storm of this size we every sailed through, but much to Betty’s dismay, the seas stayed calm. Early this morning we passed “One Fathom Bank” and at 9:00 a.m. we cleared the Malacca traffic separation scheme and continue to sail towards Phuket on a north-westerly course.

This morning we had a Port Talk on Phuket. We have half day tour, riding elephants, but needed info on what we can do the balance of our time there if we are not exhausted.

This afternoon we had a Scholarship at Sea lecture “Astronomy and a Star to Steer Her By” with astronomer David Dodge. It was very interesting and informative.

Tonight’s show was a Tribute Act with Alan and Harry Whyte performing the music of the Beatles. It started out bad, as the singer sounded like he just sucked in some helium. He did have a unique voice and his brother offset it with his and they sounded very good. The next show will be 50’s music so we will try and see it.

During the night we are continuing on a north-westerly course then enter the channel and navigate the shallow waters of the harbour.

Cruise Summary 3rd Segment

February 27 to March 29, 2012

Ports                              Distance(Nautical Miles)               Speed

Sydney to Cairns                    1250                                    15.4 knots

Cairns to Guam                       2153                                    16.4

Guam to Iwo Jima                    698                                     17.9

Iwo Jima to Tokyo                    634                                     16.0

Tokyo to Hiroshima                   444                                     18.1

Hiroshima to Busan                   214                                      14.0

Busan to Shanghai                     418                                      13.6

Shanghai to Hong Kong             787                                       15.7

Hong Kong to Phu My                913                                       15.3

Phu My to Laem Chabang          606                                       17.4

Laem Chabang to Singapore     803                                       14.3

Total Distance Travelled from Sydney to Singapore

8,920 Nautical Miles = 10,258 Statute Miles

Total Distance Travelled from Fort Lauderdale to Singapore

22,393 Nautical Miles= 25,733 Statute Miles

Sailing to Singapore

March 27

Woke up this morning feeling a little refreshed. After breakfast Betty did the laundry, it was very crowed, probably since people are getting off. But she was unharmed but it wasn’t pretty. Only one lecture today by the former Ambassador Douglas Hartwick titled “A Diplomat’s Life in a Crazy World. I went just to break up the afternoon. We did trivia this morning for the same reason.

We had Lobster tail for dinner again last night. Tonight the show was The Action Comedy of Thien Fu. He was a juggler/comedian and fairly funny. We lost a hour sleep today as we move the clock forward for the first time on this cruise. There is now a 12 hours difference from Cleveland time.

March 28

We actually slept until 6:30 this morning due to the time change. I have pledged not to eat any more lobster as it made me sick, probably all the butter I ate at dinner. Let’s just say I am thinner today. Today we had a port talk on Singapore. We have been here before and did most of the tourist things like have a Singapore Sling at Raffles where it was invented. We won’t do that again for two reasons, the first being they were not that good and second because they charge $30.00 for one drink.

We had the last Scholarship at Sea talk with Mark Harrington titled Modern Warfare-Computer Technology. It was very interesting and informative. Tonight’s dinner included Baked Alaska as it is the last night for over half the people on the ship. We were shocked that half the ship was disembarking in Singapore. We are losing our trivia partners so we will look for a new team. Betty went to the show and saw the Pacific Princess Choir, I returned to the room hoping the internet was working and it wasn’t. It has been out for over a day. I feel sorry for the people getting off in the morning and being unable to confirm flight information.

All day today we maintained a southerly courses, paralleling the coast of the Malaysian Peninsula.