Travel
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Voyages between Mombasa and Bombay – SS Khandalla and SS Amra
We love cruising and have been on fourteen cruises since I arrived in the US. These have included several cruises in the Caribbean as well as ones to Alaska, the Mediterranean, the Mexican Riviera and the Yangtze river in China. Our last cruise was with my brother Peter and his family and it was on one of the largest cruise ships in the world…….the Carnival Dream which was 1000 feet in length, over 128,000 tons and accommodated more than 5000 passengers and crew! Cruising is for me the ultimate relaxation and one can be as active or not as one chooses. There are multiple activities on board ranging from trivia…
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Back in “God’s own country”
Yes, we are back in Cochin, Kerala where we spend our winters away from the frigid temperatures of Virginia. I start every trip with a sense of dread over the the long flight from the US to India – a good 17 hours of flying time – but once I am here there is almost a sense of exhilaration. This is all the more remarkable given that I have spent very little time in India over the course of my life and even less time in Kerala. So I am not able to explain the attraction that Kerala has for me. It is clearly not just the warm weather –…
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Unforgettable Munnar – in more ways than one!
Munnar is a beautiful place well worth visiting! Our visit started with something of a fiasco which brought to mind the axiom: “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. We were offered an unbelievable deal in Munnar at what was described as a “resort”. As it turned out it was no resort – and, in fact, to describe it as a dump would not be an exaggeration. Frankly, if Ted Kaczynski – the “Unabomber” – who was a recluse during the latter years of his life prior to his arrest, living in isolation away from society in a rudimentary abode, ever gets out of prison in…
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Random musings on our cruise
Well, we are back from our 12 night cruise during which we visited St Thomas, St Croix, St Kitts, Antigua and San Maarten. It was wonderful, relaxing and met all of our expectations, for the most part. A few months ago, I wrote about having experienced a mzee moment in Singapore. Once again, the term “mzee” is a Swahili term that literally means “old man” but is used as much as a term of respect as a reference to chronological age. Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, was universally referred to as “mzee” – a term of affection and respect associated with his age and wisdom, since the acquisition…
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All aboard!
We are off on a 12 night Caribbean cruise starting tomorrow so this will likely be the last entry on this blog until our return. We both love cruises and now that we are retired we have the flexibility, within reason, to go for one as and when we please. This flexibility gives us the opportunity to take advantage of pricing which is usually a lot less during certain times of the year. People either love cruises or they just don’t like them. We obviously fall in the first group and find cruises to be relaxing, love the ocean around us, enjoy the usually excellent food, the entertainment that is…
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Calling a spade a spade
I received several emails about my last post on China so I thought I’d post again about our trip on a more light-hearted note. The two most challenging aspects of our stay in China were language issues and food. Communication in English is severely limited though we did find that the younger generation were a little more proficient than others. People were invariably very friendly and anxious to help but limited in their ability to do so because even rudimentary English is not spoken. The other, occasionally frustrating aspect, was our lack of familiarity with the food. Chinese food in China does not bear the faintest resemblance to Chinese food…
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Just call me “Mzee”
So something happened last night in Singapore that was for me a “first”. We had gone on an organized city tour which lasted several hours and took in the main highlights of Singapore. Following the tour, we decided to have dinner on Orchard Street which is one of the main shopping areas in the city. We then took the MRT – which is Singapore’s subway system – to return to the hotel. The train was crowded and it was standing room only. As I grabbed one of the overhead “pulls” in front of a row of seated passengers, a Chinese lady who looked like she was in her late 30s’…
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China, here I come!
We will be spending the next four weeks, commencing the 22nd, visiting Singapore/Hong Kong/Macau/China and I have been working on an itinerary for mainland China by researching travel sites. I came across an informative – albeit, lengthy – trip report by an Australian woman who visited China with her husband relatively recently. The excerpt below is quoted verbatim. It should be noted that her overall report about China was quite balanced even if the excerpt is somewhat critical. Those who know me can relate to the minor trepidation I felt after reading her report given that I, too, am likely to have the same problem as this lady’s husband! It…