Bangkok to Dubai - occasional live blog!

[forgap]

No pics in this post. #€^%#** photobucket!

 

Mumbai - part two, Elepahnta Cave and Mumbai nightlife

 

When we arrived in Mumbai, we decided to do an excursion in the morning, rest, then on Mumbai after dark.

 

We boarded a boat at the Gateway of India and traveled nine nautical miles across Mumbai Harbor to Gharapuri Island. The island has twin hills rising from the sea, with the caves located halfway up the higher of the two. (This meant climbing substantial stairs in sauna like humidity.... I stopped at the same point as the man with emphysema which reflects badly on my exercise program). Carved out of solid basalt rock, the caves represent Mount Kailash, the heavenly mountain residence of Lord Shiva. This cave complex is a collection of shrines, courtyards, grand halls and porticos, filled with exquisite stone sculptures and reliefs of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

 

The Portuguese renamed the island Elephanta after discovering a large stone elephant statue near the shore. At the entrance to the caves is the Trimurti, or the celebrated trinity of Elephanta: Lord Brahma, the Creator (holding a flute); Lord Vishnu, the preserver (holding a lotus); and Lord Shiva, the Destroyer (holding a cobra).

 

Unfortunately, many of the sculptures inside were damaged by the Portuguese who took potshots at the Hindu Gods with their rifles. The site was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.

 

That evening we toured the city at night. The tour description was tantalizing: "This city ... transforms itself from a flourishing center of commerce and trade into a dazzling entertainment center when the sun sets and the lights come on..... (Well, not so much).....experience the Night market with its variety ranging from street food stalls to spice shops to silks and jewelry. Browsing through here offers the opportunity to meet local `Bombayites' known for their easy going and friendly nature....(20 minutes of speed walking, no stopping to browse or buy anything)....Next, it's a scenic drive past the impressive gothic style buildings of the High Court, the Art District of Kala Ghoda, Victoria Terminus, the Center of Science and the landmark Gateway of India at Apollo Blunder. Illuminated at night, each of these notable sights seems to take on a distinctive and perhaps more beguiling character than is seen during the day. (Nice photo ops) You will also travel down the Art Deco Marine Drive, referred to as the Queen's Necklace at night due to the vision it creates with the curved shape of the bay being accented by thousands of sparkling lights. (Yawn..although we did drive buy two major wedding receptions complete with fireworks - our guide said that typical weddings involve 1-2 thousand guests!)....”Stopping at the Regal Cinema Hall, Bombay's first Art Deco theater, you'll enjoy a short viewing of a typical Hindi film. (We must have been at the new Regal because it looked EXACTLY like the Regal Multiplex in Atlanta - I don't think Art Deco theaters had escalators).....Before returning to the pier, a final stop will be made at one of the city's trendy bars where you'll enjoy a nightcap before concluding what will surely be a memorable evening..."(no booze, it was before the Indian elections and booze is banned. The bar was in one of the Taj hotels - nice as hotel bars go but our crowd was definitely not feeling the the throbbing disco beat, not the juice with ice - verboten for tourists in India- and not the hor d'oeuvres - too spicy for the majority with delicate palates and guts).

 

Well at least I got to see Mumbai's version of a horse drawn carriage - covered with neon lights and sparkles-which made me love India all the more!

 

 

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[forgap]

Muscat, Oman

 

We woke up to a different world after two days at sea. Arid mountains meeting the blue Gulf of Oman. All the buildings are low, new, neat, and beige accented with the beautiful green of date palms and lawns (thanks to the desalinization project). Potable water is trucked in from the valleys in the interior of the country. Obviously a different economic climate than India....you could smell the oil in the air!

 

We decided to go on more of an adventure excursion. We took a boat about 2 miles off the coast to look for spinner dolphins. They put on quite a show! Pod after pod of about 60 dolphins, swimming, leaping in unison, and shooting up vertically and spinning.

 

We then went snorkeling in one of the secluded rock islands. Beautiful fish in blues and yellows and purples - all shapes and sizes.

 

We returned to the ship with the intention of visiting a souk, but it was closed for siesta from 1-4 and we had to be back on board at 3:30. Anyway, it was already beyond 100 degrees...dry heat in contrast to humid India. But, heat is heat and the decision is whether you prefer to be baked or boiled!

[forgap]

We arrived in Dubai at noon. The city is like a fantastic mirage rising from the sea. The architecture is very modern, almost space age. Like, Oman, the rewards of oil money are evident throughout the city. Beautiful parks, housing, freeways, and malls (one with an aquarium and one with an indoor ski slope!)

 

We opted for a "hop on, hop off" bus tour as we were sick of being herded and rushed from site to site. We went to the old part of the city to experience the souks (fabric, gold, and spices). Although it was well above 100 degrees! there was a pleasant breeze! and we discovered the real genius of the place: air conditioned bus stops! Just like a regular bus stop, it is completely enclosed and blissfully cool!

 

All in all, except for the souks, I found Dubai to be a bit soulless. It reminded me of Las Vegas-all glitz and glamour. Admittedly, we didn't have much time as we needed to get back to the ship, finish packing, have our last glass of champagne, and get to the airport.

 

When we return home, I'll post a more comprehensive review of the ship and hopefully resolve my photobucket issues. Bottom line, however, we had a really wonderful time on a wonderful ship.

[WesW]

HI Jennifer & Georges, thanks again for taking the time to keep us informed both in words and pix (tho problematic with photobucket @ times). Still your enthusiastic posts, helped us imagine the terrific time Georges and you had visiting these wonderful ports. Absolutely concur about Dubai--for us just like Las Vegas worth one visit--soulless is perfect word picture for Dubai. Save travels back to Atlanta--temp near mid eighties yesterday, predicted to hit 85 today, tho 90% chance for strong thunderstorms tomorrow and Wednesday.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Colonel(Ret.)Wes

[Travelcat2]

HI Jennifer & Georges, thanks again for taking the time to keep us informed both in words and pix (tho problematic with photobucket @ times). Still your enthusiastic posts, helped us imagine the terrific time Georges and you had visiting these wonderful ports. Absolutely concur about Dubai--for us just like Las Vegas worth one visit--soulless is perfect word picture for Dubai. Save travels back to Atlanta--temp near mid eighties yesterday, predicted to hit 85 today, tho 90% chance for strong thunderstorms tomorrow and Wednesday.

 

85 degrees in April? Really? I'm melting at the thought!!!

 

I think it is important to let people know how problematic photobucket can be. As you know, if you do not set up a special account for photos you want to post on CC, all of your personal photos are available. If anyone knows of a better website to use for CC photos, I think we'd all love to hear about it.

[forgap]

We have been home since Monday night after a long flight to Atlanta from Dubai with a layover in Paris. We intended a long layover in order to go into Paris for a bit but opted out in order to have a much needed rest in the Air France lounge. This is in the new terminal (M) at CDG and it has all the amenities you would want including showers and free facials from Clairins. The time zipped by and, before we knew it, we were on the plane and on our way home.

 

To say this was a trip of a lifetime would be an understatement. We had a good mix of sea days to port days and I started to view the ship as our "cocoon" after a day in heat, humidity, and humanity. There was nothing better than to cross the gangplank and be enveloped in air-conditioning, float to our cabin, take a cool shower, wrap ourselves in terrycloth robes, and pop the champagne!

 

The ship is beautiful and the changes made in the last dry dock are an improvement – especially the Horizon Lounge and the Observation Lounge. I mentioned earlier that I did not particularly like the artwork, but that is totally subjective and I don’t count that against the ship. Some of the interior decoration choices are odd, but, again, this is subjective.

 

Passengers: Our fellow passengers were a congenial and a very international group. We had 667 on board, with 50% from the US, 14% from Northern Europe, 11% from the UK, 10% from Mexico and South America, 10% from Canada, and the rest from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and South Africa and Zimbabwe. There were a good mix of ages represented and a couple of pre-adolescent-adolescent kids. Of the older set, many had mobility issues, but good attitudes, and, in general did not slow down the excursions as they paid attention to the difficulty levels. However, that being said, I’m not sure how some of them even got on and off the busses. SE Asia and India are definitely not handicapped accessible.

 

Management: Our captain was Gianmario Sanguineti, our General Manager was Franck Galzy, and our Cruise Director was Ray Solitare. They ran a tight ship and seemed to manage the cranky passengers with diplomacy. We did miss two tender ports (one due to an electrical panel malfunction in a pod) and the other due to 6-foot swells in Galle, Sri Lanka that made the tendering very dangerous. This port required a 20-30 minute ride to land, so, in hindsight, a good idea.

 

Food: Really good and I’m pleased that I ONLY gained 4 pounds (G. gained 10!). My least favorite venue was La Veranda. Staff seemed harried and disorganized and the food was pretty repetitive. We tried all the specialty restaurants once and didn’t really care to go back as the menu does not change. Room service for breakfast was great. There is nothing better than drinking coffee on the balcony bathed in balmy breezes!

We liked Compass Rose the best. There was good variety on every menu (at breakfast you could get Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce) and the service was outstanding at every meal. I especially liked the destination dishes and ordered this choice most of the time. On the galley tour, the Executive Chef, Kelly Cochcraine, told us that most of the menu is determined by the office in Miami. The provisions are all pre-ordered and shipped via container. The recipes as well as the presentation are tightly controlled. Now, being a die-hard foodie, this is like stealing the heart and soul from a chef. However, the Executive Chef, can deviate from the corporate menu with “Destination Dishes”. This is where he excelled and they were, without exception, some of the best food of the voyage. He also orchestrated themed pool deck buffets – also excellent – Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern.

 

Enrichment Lectures: We hit the jackpot with John Renninger and Philip Hurst. John retired recently from the UN as a political affairs advisor and Philip Hurst’s bio escapes me now…Both were experts on the regions we visited and we both learned about the historical underpinnings of the unrest and current political agenda of many of the countries we visited, in particular, Sri Lanka and India. All the lectures were very well attended (in contrast to the frothier activities on the ship) which speaks well of the intellectual acumen of Regent passengers.

 

Entertainment: All the programs seemed varied but we were generally too pooped by 9:45. We did attend the 007 tribute (it was a 6:00 pm!) and the Cirque d’Amour performance as well as Krew Kapers (some embarrassing performances in that one!). Trivia was well attended but not my cup of tea.

 

Excursions: Considering most of our ports were in 3rd world countries, I think that Regent did an outstanding job sourcing the busses and the guides. Most busses had about 30 passengers so there was room to move around. Am I sick of being herded? Yes – but this was the best way to see a lot of important sites in very exotic locales. The one mis-step was in Malaysia during the Thai New Year, Songrain, and one of our stops was at a Thai Temple with the reclining Buddha. Once en route, our guide said we would miss it because of the Thai New Year. If you are not aware, the Thai tradition is to “cleanse” with water, which, in reality, is a robust water fight. It sounded fun and authentic to most of us, but our guide was adamant that Regent said NO. I understand that they might not want to deal with wet, disgruntled passengers with ruined cameras, but we are adults! Let us know the risk, sign a waiver and let one of the 8 busses do the tour as scheduled!

 

Which brings me to another excursion suggestion. Frequently we had a number of busses doing the same thing. The tours were very rushed with 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there, photo hop on-hop off. I would have preferred to have some of the tours do less and have a theme, that is, package excursions based on interest rather than just difficulty level. For instance, tours for the history buffs, tours focused on art history, tours focused on nature and eco-tourism, tours that are interesting shopping opportunities (NOT the generic gift shop), tours focused adventure, and tours focused on food and eating. I think it would mean that the guides would focus more on a theme rather than the generic panorama of the region.

 

And my final pet peeve, we had moneychangers on board in only a few spots. I expected to see ATM’s all over the place – not so! We had brought enough cash, but that was serendipity. We were dealing with dollars rather than local currency in most of our ports. This made negotiating prices during our speed shopping very difficult. (I’m serious about the speed shopping. We had no time to wander through markets or find real artisans…only the generic gift shop that tour guides seem required to take us to.)

 

Please ask questions if there are anything else you would like to know. This was really a trip of a lifetime to areas that would be difficult for us to get to on our own. Would I do it again? In a heart beat…and we have a future cruise credit stashed away for the next exotic itinerary that strikes our fancy!

[RachelG]

The trip sounds amazing! I am betting that the reason you only gained 4 lbs was all that sweating.

[pingpong1]

Forgap - Thanks so much for providing the wonderful pics and commentary throughout your journey. There were times when the sweat was rolling off my forehead - while just reading/imagining your descriptions as you took us along on some of the excursions :)

 

I also very much enjoyed reading your final "wrap-up" of the trip. Best Regards.

[WesW]

Welcome Home (to Atlanta) Jennifer & Georges.

 

Thanks again for outstanding posts & beautiful pix. Your summary post above #56 is one of the best written post cruise--summary posts I've read--bravo!

 

Ida and I look to seeing you within the next few weeks and hearing more about your "Cruise of a Lifetime."

[forgap]

I'm resurrecting this thread as I finally finished my travel blog for this trip. I have 18 entries so it is more of a slog then a blog!

 

http://culinerrion.travellerspoint.com

 

I want to thank all of you who gave advice on this voyage. It was a trip of a lifetime and I'd encourage any of you have not done this itinerary to seriously consider it. It was a perfect way to see many places in a relatively painless way!

 

Jennifer

[EAGLESLOVER]

Wonderful blog!!

Loved reading about your trip and your pictures are fabulous.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience.

 

 

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