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Our passage to India, Maldives and Sri Lanka on the Costa NeoClassica Febr/March 2017


alicat58
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Hi All

 

We are back from our cruise and I am going to have another go at writing about it .I have looked at doing a blog instead, but as I mentioned in my previous attempt, I am a bit technically challenged and that also seemed a bridge too far as well.

 

We have never been to India and thought this would be a good way to experience the subcontinent and then "escape" back to the ship.

 

In Blighty (UK), it was pretty chilly before we left. The weekend before sailing we had a little bit of snow. We were bracing ourselves for the higher temperatures on this holiday. Fortunately we missed "Doris Day"(the storm that hit the UK for our friends in the US and elsewhere), and the house is still standing on our return. Was she really that bad?

 

We left on Friday 17 February and it took us nearly 2h30m to get to Heathrow thanks to Friday afternoon rush hour. We flew BA. It took 8h45m to get to Mumbai. It was an elderly 777 and though the seats were somewhat bigger than Ryanair and the food and booze included, it was not that much better. The breakfast in particular was diabolical.

 

Mumbai airport was a breeze despite the warnings about immigration. As you walk out after collecting your luggage you will find Currency exchange where you can exchange some of your money to Rupees (which quickly became Ruperts thanks to hubby). To be honest you can use Dollars almost everywhere. My suggestion will be to take plenty of those, you will need them:D.

 

To the left of the exchange is a counter where you can get a prepaid taxi to get you to port. My suggestion is this is the way to go. They are bigger than the taxis around the city and they have aircon. Unfortunately I cannot remember how much it cost, but they wanted Rupees. Somewhere in my mind it stuck as around 2000. Once you leave the counter with your little sheet of paper you will be grabbed by a man who will hand you over to a weedy little man who will race off with your suit cases. Word of advice. He will want a tip. We only had VERY large denomination notes. Ask them at the Exchange counter to give you some smaller notes as well. It is impossible to pay the other taxis when you have only 500 rupee notes. They "never have change". Yeah, pull the other one.

 

Once you leave the International airport and hit the streets you will realise you are not in Europe or the USA now.

 

I have mentioned in the past that I was born in South Africa. I know about shanty towns and informal settlements but it did not prepare me for the slums we drove past and through.You will see little shops, goats, cattle, dogs, kids, corrugate iron homes and make shift tents. This is the biggest city in India, they have a space programme and most of the people from call centres calling us in the UK, call from here. I expected a modern city with some shanty towns on the outskirts, wrong!

 

Back to getting to port! Your driver needs to know to drop you off at the Green Gate. Your luggage will be taken from you on the pavement. I thought it looked very dodgy but we had our luggage delivered to our cabin intact. You will then go past more uniformed men who will want to look at your Costa booking forms and passport. After that you get onto a local shuttle that will take you to the ship where they will take your photo as usual. Be prepared to look quite dreadful in it because by now you will be very hot and sweaty in your winter clothing. BUT you can just about immediately head for the bar to start using your drinks package. We did actually go to our cabin first to pick up our Costa cards.

 

Well folks, that is all for today. Hopefully I will make friends with either Flikr or Photobucket soon and get some photos to wet your appetites.

 

Happy cruising

 

Alicat

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Hi All

 

Just tried to post and CC decided that I was a robot! Whole entry lost. Lets try again.

 

Thanks for those who are following. Ighten it looks as if you are having a great time on the Diadema. We have booked her for 20/5/17. Had to wait a week to book! I agree with you about the noise levels in the bars and the theatre. I think the sound engineers are all deaf. I thought the sound distorted it was so loud.

 

OK, lets try again.

 

Wednesdays ramble:Hi All

 

 

Work is getting in the way of telling you about ouradventures, sorry. We all know that is how we pay for cruises.

 

Today a little about the entertainment on the ship.

 

She's small and was not full when we sailed. No complaintsabout that. She has no atrium, so no atrium bar. There is a grand bar calledPiazza Navona(deck 8), Puccini Ballroom(deck 9), a foyer bar outside thetheatre(deck 8), Positano bar on the pool deck(deck 11), the Alfresco bar aftoutside the buffet(deck 10) and a wine bar(deck 9).

 

There was a lot of live music on the ship and minimalcanned! In the grand bar there was Duo Charlie and Gianni(keyboards andsingers) and Duo Los Paraguayos(2 guitars). Music started at 18h00 and went ontill 01h00. Duo Charlie played sort of general stuff and a lot of Sting/Police.Los Paraguayos played more Latin type stuff and were fantastic. They alsoplayed on the pool deck early evenings.

 

Ferenc played the piano in the foyer but the poor guy didnot really have an audience. Costa would do better having him elsewhere becausehe was also quite good.

 

In the Puccini Ballroom was a 4/5 piece band and they werealso good. They started varying times, some evenings from 20h30 to 01h00. Theyliked Abba.

 

We only went to 2 shows in the theatre. The one was thesingers and dancers and the other a folk show. We enjoyed both. The shows wereat 19h45 and 21h15/21h30.

 

2017-02-27%2009.05.35_zps3lwvqyeh.jpg

 

 

So another URL unlike the test site. Lets see if it actually posts

 

 

Alicat

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Hurray! Posted with spelling mistakes and all! That photo is from the stage end of the grand bar Piazza Navona.

 

There were some great bar servers in this bar. Very friendly and chatty. Jefferson and Gandhi were two of the chaps.

 

There were lots of bronze sculptures dotted about. I like cats, this was my favourite:

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Despite the NeoClassica being a small ship we found it quite hard to remember the layout. Unlike the other Costa ships the restaurants, bars and casino are on the upper decks rather than deck 3-5. The pool deck is on deck 11 and split in an adults only aft with 2 jacuzzis and then the main smaller pool more central. There is a pool bar and this was also a smokers area. The only place on the ship were you actually smelt smoke. Unlike other ships there is no smoking in the casino. There was a lot of animation team activity next to this pool and though we don't partake it was actually fun too watch. It was also nice that they had tables and chairs on both sides of this pool and a few unbrellas to give a little shade. It was extremely hot. I walked barefoot on deck one day and was jumping about like one of those little lizards you see in desert programmes.

 

A little food porn next.

 

Alicat

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Food on the ship:

La Prima Colazione

Breakfast in cabin: 7-10 am

Breakfast in buffet:6.30-9.30 am

Breakfast for late risers: 9.30-10.30 am

Omelette corner:7-10am

 

Il Pranzo

Lunch in buffet:12-3pm

Grill: 12-3pm

Lunch in MDR:12.30-1.45 pm

 

La Merenda

Afternoon tea: 4-6pm

 

La Cena

Supper MDR: 7-9.30 pm Open seating

Buffet:7.30-9.30pm

 

We had most of our breakfasts in the Buffet or Omelette corner.

 

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This is omellete corner breakfast time and grill lunch time.

 

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This is the open area behind the buffet were the grill area is. The bar is on the right in the photo. This is aft deck 10.

 

A lunch time menu from the MDR:

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Yes! there was sorbet every lunch time.

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My favourite breakfast:

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I know very unhealthy. Those little fruit tarts are amazing. The cinnamon buns are also very good.

 

More puddings to come. I don't usually make them at home, so I make up for it when we cruise.

 

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Some sort of chocolate tart in the buffet lunch time.

 

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One of the evening desserts. I cannot remember what it was called. Maybe it should be "death by chocolate"

 

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Hubby had this one. I think it was called Nougat parfait with an almond crisp. He said it was good.

 

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Yes folks! There was ice cream on the menu every night. Always three different flavours. Every night vanilla, but also pistachio, choc chip(amazing) , strawberry and hazelnut.

 

A few photos of actual food next.

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We hoped that there would be curry and there was! There were 2 options, in the buffet they had curry/indian dishes or most days there were curries buffet style in the MDR. These were better. There were poppadoms, raita and chutneys and roti on request as well. I don't have any photos of these but they were really good. I spoke to fellow cruisers who found them too hot. We like them hot. They had a chicken curry as well as a variety of vegetarian curry dishes. There were Indian options at breakfast as well. We did not try these.

 

The burgers at the grill was the best we have ever had on a cruise(only been on Costa). They were made at the grill and packaged like Macdonalds. I think this puts some people off but I am happy with this. You get your burger wrapped and a box of really good chips. I had to wait for chips on occasion so they were freshly made. Yum!

 

The MDR was our only gripe on the cruise. It is anytime dining and we like that. However, if you did not get there by latest 7.15pm some eveings you had to queue. Timing for theatre exit made no difference. We gave up on a few occasions and went for a pizza. It costs 6.50 euro for a starter of olives, a freshly made, very good pizza(I make my own at home from scratch dow and all and these are better) and a dessert. The desserts have also improved from previous cruises and there are now 5 options: Tiramisu(not good), apple tart(good), lemon tart(good), chocolate muosse with pear(good but large portion) and a fruit plate(come on! I did not try that)

 

We did not try those 10 Euro burgers because they only serve them from 9.30pm omwards. I will be up alll night if I ate that late.

 

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This was a starter in the MDR and very good. It was a very spicey salami type meat with a pitta pocket and some ricotta.

 

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This one was totally misguided. It had a fancy name like carpaccio of melon with prawns. It was basically flavourless prawns on melon. What did the chef think!

 

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I think this wa chicken or something similar with a tomato and black olive jus. I do remember it was very good.

 

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This was also a starter and to my embarrasment I forgot what it was called.

 

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Mushroom pie with a gorgonzola sauce. Totally devine and as you have noticed we're not vegetarian.

 

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A good enough reason to pay for the Piu gusto.

 

I have posted so much today and I am extremely pleased with myself that Ii have now mastered getting photos posted.

 

Maybe more tomorrow.

 

Bye everybody

 

Alicat

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Hi Alicat,

 

Wow- what an amazingly detailed and helpful write up you have done for all of us; many many thanks!

 

We're going on this ship next week and we were wondering if the evening Buffet has the same range of food as that served in the MDR in the evening. That was the case on the Neo-Romantica we went on so we didn't feel we were missing out by eating in the Buffet every evening.

 

Is there any shade on the top deck of the ship? Given that we're in India, we're worried about getting burned alive by the hot sun! :-).

 

Finally, what is Mangalore like? Any highlight sights to see? Is it walkable; any transportation tips etc?

 

Thanks again for being so helpful to all of us with your views and experiences. :D

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Hi Frank

 

Thanks for following.

 

I am unable to help you with the evening buffet as we never went there.

 

The pool deck was HOT. No shade around the adults only pool but the other pool had shade in the smoking area and on the opposite side next to the entrance to the Squok club. All on deck11. It is still very hot out there and will probably be hotter when you sail. Late afternoon in this area is good because there is more shade and the chairs and umbrellas on the one side of the pool will be in shade. It is cooler there when there is a breeze. We had a few days when it was actually quite windy and not so pleasant.

 

We loved New Mangalore. Negotiate with a taxi. They are really small and I would not advise more than 3 people to be comfy. Check whether the taxi has air con. They will negotiate on how many people they take. We paid $30 each for 3 people and thought it was reasonable. Our driver was not pushy about taking us to shops at all(the only place on the cruise!) as we told him , NO SHOPS.

 

I copied from the Costa excursions and gave it to the driver. Some of the places are far from New Mangalore and they will want to charge a lot more, just skip those. Like the temple with many pillars etc.He took us to Kudroli temple which was amazing, another much older one and I don't have the name at the moment which was also good. You have to take your shoes off but is free to wander about. He also took us to the artisinal village. There was a small charge but it was actually quite good, if extremely hot. I would not try and walk from place to place. The traffic is diabolical and you're bound to get lost. I had no feeling for distances. I will be posting some photos but will be too late for you I think. I am working so I really only have weekends and maybe a Wednesday to add to the tjread.

 

 

Ask if you have other questions. We would have liked more advice before we went but it was not really available.

 

Regards

 

Alicat

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wow! loving your posts and pics! Good to hear about the good selection of puds; this is always a let down for me usually. Nice to get good curry while in India too, we have good curry locally,( Lancashire) so are quite the experts ;-) I love the 'look' of the ship, very clean lines, tres different to the Diadema!! Much more to my taste.

 

Keep up the good work.

Mrs Ighten

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Morning All

 

Thanks Mrs.Ighten for your comments. I just had a look at your blog and photos of Rome. I am going to have a look at your "Not Rome" later to get some idease for our cruise in May.

 

The NeoClassica is dinky in comparison to the Diadema and the decor is much more quiet. There are no blingy lit up signs to tell you which way to go. You just have to figure it out for yourself. We got used to the "upside down layout" after a while.

 

We booked an inside cabin for ths cruise but Costa kindly upgraded us to an ocean view. There are 10 suites with balconies(too expensive) and no other balcony cabins. I think the suites were attached during the refurb. She is an old lady after all.

 

Here are some pictures of the cabin.

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Not the greatest photos but it gives you an idea of the layout and colours. The queen sized bed had a small shelf only on either side. There was no seating area other than the "desk". There was also a big shelf under the porthole.The cupboards had sufficient hanging space and drawers for some excessive amounts of clothing.There was safe and a minibar. We did not use it as it is too expensive and not included in the Piu Gusto.

 

I put one suitcase under the bed and the other on the little fold out stool to use as a laundry basket.

 

The bathroom was small. There was a shower with a curtain. No washing line in this one. There were no shelves above the basin which was a bummer because I have lots of lotions and potions. There were cupboards below the basin. There was also no shaving mirror or power point in the bathroom. Electric toothbrush needed to be charged on the desk. There was only one power point at the desk and another on the floor next to it but it was not the usual European connection so we were unable to use it. They have the same ones on the NeoRomantica and we had to borrow an adaptor from our cabin chap.

 

The aircon was OK. We set it at the coldest temperature.

 

Some more later.

 

Alicat

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Boohoo, just lost a whole post as I was distracted.

 

Mumbai day2:

 

Please note that you will go through lots of security on arrival on day one. First at the gate and again at the cruise terminal. Costa will take your passport here and will give you copies as well as port passes.

I hope you have your multiple entry visa!

 

Once you leave the ship on day 2 you will go through security again, TWICE. As you leave the green gate you will be accosted by taxis. The blue and silver ones are more expensive and have air con, the black and yellow ones are cheaper and you wind the windows down. You can also decide whether you want to pay more for a "tour" or pay as you go with the yellow and black taxis. We opted for a "tour" as we were still quite insecure. I think we paid $40 for about 3 hours.

 

The driver will have a plan where he wants to go so if you want to see something specific have a printout ( I copied off the Costa excursions and researched from there).

 

We started at the station.

Outside:

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Inside at the ticket hall:

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The local and country connections go off here:

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Some detail on one of the pillars:

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From here we went to the old court building:

Turrets:

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Mumbai's Big Ben:

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It was creawling with security around this area because there was an election the next day.

 

We also visited the Hanging gardens and Ghandi's house. I did not take photos.

 

Some more Mumbai with photos on the next page.

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Jain temple:

You can enter the court yard but not the temple. There were some interesting rules listed. I better not go into them!

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Dhobi Ghat:

These guys know how to sort washing by colour.

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We returned to the ship. Very happy to have survived the journey. The taxi had no breaks to speak of and the driver mainly used second gear. We did not run any of the kids playing cricket in the road over and we did nit hit the cow that was leisurely strolling in the middle of a busy street.

 

Muster was at 5 pm and took ages as I mentioned before. Our next day was a sea day. I will hopefully get too New Mangalore sometime during the week.

 

Bye for now and safe cruising.

Alicat

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See you are back home and taking advantage of the good English weather to get in the garden Ighten, My behind is still sore from the 15 minutes I did on the weekend:D.

 

The railways station was amazing. I am not big time into rail stuff and my dad was a train driver. My Warwick history graduate daughter will likely have something to say about the colonies and suppressing the natives! I grew up in the colonies and none the worse for it. Oops we were the suppressors/?oppressores.

 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing what you did in Savona. I will try and post Mangalore and Cochin on the weekend. Other things got in the way on my non-working day.

 

By the way, I also like Campari with soda as a long drink. Harks back to my debauched student days. Try Campari, fresh OJ topped up with a nice Fizz. Yum.

 

Alicat

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Here we go with some pictures of New Mangalore.

 

View from the fort(derelict) across the river. A bit Apocalypse now.

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Kudroli temple:

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Kadri Manjunath temple:

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We also visited thePilikula Heritage village but I was too hot to take photos.

 

We really liked New Mangalore. Our taxi cost us £30 each. It was probably too much but we had a few issues with another passenger whoo shared with us. It would have been less but he wanted to see places out of town whic we did not see anyway but the price was then fixed. We managed to exclude shopping trips but hubbies shoes were hijacked at the second temple and he had to pay to have them released!

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Next stop was Cochin. I thinkk the taxi cost $40 but the driver was exceedingly annoying wanting us to go to shop after shop so he could "pay for his sons books".

 

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Taken across the post area from the ship. It was very hazy.

 

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Very light traffic.

 

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Lots of goats roaming freely. I think this was mum and babe and it looks as if she has another bun in the oven.

 

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This is the temple elephant. So very sad to see such a magnififent creature manacled by all four legs. We did not know what the driver was going to show us when he said "want to see elephant". We had to pay the overseer for the unhappy episode. I think we gave him a 100 rupees.

 

I don't have photos of the Chinese fishing nets. A word of warning, the taxi driver will take you to one of his friends. They will insist that you walk onto the base of the net and show you how it works. They will then produce a few tiny fish which should really be thrown back and tell you that is was all they caught all day(probably true) and want you to pay them 100 rupees each. There were 5 guys on the net. I know it is absolute peanuts in pounds but you feel that this is purely there as a tourist attraction and not "real". They should just have a fee entry to this area in my opinion. You will see the nets beautifully sailing out in the evening.

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Maldives next.

 

We were close to Male in the bay for 3 days. It is a tender port.The tenders ran frequently, but if you tried to get offf early you had to go to the theatre and get a ticket. Later in the day it was not needed.

 

Arriving on the Friday there was very little going on at the pier because it was mosque day. We walked around a little and decided to go back to the ship and look on Tripadvisor what we could explore the next day.

 

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Ship from the tender. She's quite pretty.

 

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Fountains just opposite the jetty area. They were not working every day.

 

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The market. Once you left the jetty turn right and it is not far at all.

 

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Lots of motorbikes here. More so than cars. Minaret of the Friday mosque in the background. We also walked around the old Friday mosque but did not enter either.

 

Unless you are willing to pay a small fortune to go oto one of the resort islands you will not find a lot to do in Male. We visited the museum which they seem to be very proud of. Can't say it was a great experience.

 

I managed to get some goggles for swimming in those salty pools which was the best thing for me.

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Next stop was Colombo in Sri Lanka.

 

I am not sure why we decided to go on a Costa tour here. Mistake! We sat on a coach and was driven through the "new" area. We were shown new hotels that will soon open. Cinnamon gardens is actually a neighbourhood. Maybe we booked the wrong tour but I think Colombo will be very easy to do by taxi. Just print what you want to see and insist on no shops.

 

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Inside St.Lucia's cathedral(I think)

 

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Buddha in the Viharamahadavi Park. This is opposite the White House. There are lots of guys with little Capuchin monkeys hanging around. There are also snake charmers. If you want to take a photo you need to pay them. Felt very sorry for the snakes and monkeys.

 

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Asokaramaya Buddhist temple was absolutely gorgeous. The guide did not tell us anything about the religion or the temple.

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Some more Colombo.

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Stupa at the same temple

 

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Was dragged into a shop. This was outside and the best thing about it. We did not buy anything. Government approved. Lots of gems, some tat and boxes of tea.

 

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These are all on the Beira lake area. It was supposed to be a photo stop. In other words take photos from the bus. Fortunately we managed to get them to stop so we could get off and actually take some photos. There should have be a lot more of these because they were so much better to look at than half built hotels.

 

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Light house sailing out of Colombo.

 

We also walked in the heat for 20 minutes. We were shown guavas and papaya. No idea why we had to do this at all. The fruit was available on the ship!

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