India and beyond

Cochin, India

Henna body art.

We spent the day on an Indian houseboat, cruising the backwater of Cochin and got a birds eye view of life along the river.

Washing, fishing, walking, paddling, and bathing through a peaceful existence.

Back in town . . .

Fishing is essential to Cochin, as in many other areas of the far east.  These are the Chinese fishing nets used in Cochin, which are raised and lowered twice each day.



Bombay (Mumbai), India

Khasab, Oman - Arid, very hot, and so peaceful.  Love the men's attire - very mysterious.

After spending the morning in the high inland country, we traveled on a private dhow, just 6 of us, and spent the afternoon in the Musandam fjords, cruising to 5 remote fishing villages.  Schools of dolphins swam along with our dhow - we would clap and whistle and they would come to the boat - what an experience!

Dubai AKA Las Vegas East . . .

The Burj Al Arab Hotel - 6 Stars - You can only visit if you make a reservation for a meal or stay overnight.  We opted for tea.

  Then to the desert for a very special evening.

Somehow we ended up riding a camel when all we had intended was to take a picture - glad we did it - getting up and back down was very exciting.

Day 2 in Dubai and off to the busiest and least touristic fish market yet.  Everyone wanted their picture taken with these weird people who didn't fit in.  They even had me holding fish and gave me their e-mail addresses so I could send them copies of the photos.

Great outfits for the men and boys - not so great for the women.

If it's Thursday, we must be in . . . where are we?

In Pattaya, Thailand we received royal treatment and an up close and personal view of life in Thailand from Chuck's PU business associate, Gary Hacker, who has been a resident for over 15 years.  Gary met us at the ship and proceeded to take us on an in-depth and whirlwind tour, which included everything from incessant discovery of new foods to walking the back water housing area of Pattaya.  He saw to it that we ate one of everything, visited every imaginable point of interest, and drove like a Tour de France driver to get us back to our ship before it sailed - we were the last one's on board.

Floating snacks.

Bug snacks.

Duck for breakfast!








The fish market.

The fishing fleet.

Cottage industry.

The Temple - Hand carved.

A great dinner and back to the ship.

Singapore - everyone said it was very clean (true) and boring (untrue).

 Our introduction to Singapore - Clark's Quay (the happening spot) and a pepper crab dinner.

 The Clinic Bar












Girls?
 No, guess again.








These are the girls:

The Sands Hotel, Casino and Shopping Center

Part of the skyline.

Under development!

Kuala Lumpur (KL to those in the know) - PetronasTowers - 88 Stories high and made of stainless steel.

 Inside are offices, and of course, a high end shopping    center.

The other side of KL - the wet market and the latest in pedicures . . .

Next a visit to our taxi driver's home in Klang before returning to the ship in Port Klang - he wanted to computer assistance and his wife served us tea.

Next stop Penang, Malaysia - one of the Budhist temples.

Lunch at the beach.

Phuket, Thailand - The taxis went on strike and only two of our excursion buses got through the gate.  The ship and remaining passengers, plus the buses, bus drivers, and tour guides were stranded.  The police had been paid off by the cab company and were not going to help us.  We were struck at a barren port for 4 hours in the blazing heat, but we did make the Thai newspapers.

Colombo, Sri Lanka - Lots of people, even more buses, hotter than blazes, and no way to get out into the countryside, but we still had a good time.

At the Hindu temple, our 1st stop, we saw our very 1st traffic accident.

A quick stop for refreshment and then we went back to the ship.  We had hoped to see a bit more of Colombo, but it was too hot and we opted for some pool time.