Mumbai, India

Take two. I had written the entire blog and was very pleased with it, and then I started to put the pictures in and I accidentally somehow deleted the whole thing.  Grrrr.......   So here goes and let's see if I can re-create it.

It was a weird day. We were supposed to dock at 11 AM in Mumbai but we actually docked at 7 AM. As you can imagine, the alarm clock went off right on time at 6 AM.  Since we both had excursions to escort in the afternoon, we had the morning to ourselves. What to do?  Doesn't doing laundry sound like a good idea? No, but that was Michael's idea and besides, we had nothing else better to do so that's what we did. 

We only had one bag of laundry but by the time Michael got done going through the closet, he managed to fill up three washing machines full of dirty clothes.  Things were going according to schedule and we brought the laundry back to our room to fold. Michael said to me, "where is the rest of my underwear and I only have one sock."  I went back to the laundry room and found that there were none of our clothes left in the dryer. Hummmm, where could they be?  I decided to look in the washing machine that we had used, but there was a load of someone else's laundry going at the time.  I stopped the machine and I looked inside and lo and behold, there was all the rest of our missing laundry:  five pairs of underwear, one undershirt, the missing sock, and a laundry bag. Some idiot took our stuff out the washing machine and put it in the dryer and then put his clothes in the washing machine which was still full of our clothes!  So doing the laundry took a lot longer than we had planned on, but we know his undies are nice and clean since they were washed twice.  Yes people, they walk among us.

Last year when we were in Mumbai, I wrote extensively on my blog about the city and its inhabitants. So instead of repeating everything I wrote from last year, which is pretty much the same, Here is the link to that blog for your further reading enjoyment.

http://worldquest2013.blogspot.com/2013/04/mumbai-india.html

Here are some miscellaneous images I thought would be interesting to share:

    A typical street scene

    And independent cobbler shop

    A doorman at the Taj Hotel, representing colonial British times

There was one topic that I did not cover that I think is pretty interesting to tell you about -- dappawallas, a person who delivers lunch boxes.  Workers from the suburbs take the train into the city as their primary means of transportation. The trains in Mumbai are so crowded, that there is very little room to carry anything extra on your person.  Six million people per day use the Victoria train station, and this station only serves the east side of the city.  There is another train station that serves the west side of the city.  Restaurant food is pricey for the average worker, plus they like to have a hot meal at lunchtime. 

A dabbawalla is part of a delivery system that collects hot food in lunch boxes (dappas) from the residences of workers in the late morning, delivers the lunches to the workplace utilizing various modes of transport, predominantly bicycles and the trains, and returns the empty boxes back to the customer's residence that afternoon.  A collecting dabbawalla, usually on bicycle, collects the dappas from a worker's home.  As many of the carriers are illiterate, the dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them, such as a color or group of symbols.  The dabbawalla then takes them to a designated sorting place, where he and other collecting dabbawallas sort (and sometimes bundle) the lunch boxes into groups. The grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes). The markings include the railway station to unload the boxes and the destination building delivery address.  At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawalla, who delivers them. The empty boxes are collected after lunch or the next day and sent back to the respective houses.  This system has a 99% rate of effectiveness and Harvard business school has come here to study this system. 

As I mentioned previously, Michael and I both had excursions to do.  I received an excursion to the Caves of Elephanta and Michael received an excursion for the marvels of Mumbai that both of us have done twice before.  The excursion to the caves involves climbing 125 stone steps. But it also involves climbing down 125 steps, for a grand total of 250 steps. A person with bad knees, would be foolish to try and attempt this, so being of sound mind, I traded excursions with Michael.  My excursion would just be getting on and off the bus several times, and it seemed the more prudent thing to do.  Needless to say, I was not excited about this. 

Ha ha ha, the laugh was on me. I thought I was getting away from climbing stairs and that was not to be today.  I have been on many buses across the world and this is the first time I ever had to get on the bus that had spiral stairs that were so narrow that a normal sized foot could barely fit on the step.  And then you had to do a little maneuver to get through the door that separates the driver's compartment from the passenger compartment. But at least the bus had good air conditioning.

So we saw the usual touristy type stuff -- the Gateway of India, the Taj Hotel, and the Dhobi Ghat laundry -- and stopped for visits at the Gandhi Museum and the Prince of Wales Museum.  Oh boy, you know how much I love museums. I had planned to sit on the bus during the museum stops, but I was informed that the bus driver would turn off the engine and therefore there would be no air conditioning in the bus.  One does not sit on a hot, unair-conditioned bus for an extended period of time, so using some sound judgment I went to the museum, which of course, was not air-conditioned. And in order to see anything in either one of the museums, what do you think one had to do? Why climb stairs!  The entire reason for me not taking the caves excursion was to avoid climbing stairs!  At least in this case, I don't feel like I missed anything too much since I had already been here before.

    Gateway of India

    Taj Hotel

    British colonial architecture

    Modern Mumbai 

    Dhobi Ghat laundry

I have to mention the crazy driving in Mumbai. Our bus driver thought he was driving a race car because he would go was fast as he could when traffic allowed and then slam on the brakes causing us to fall off our seats.  He did this over and over and over again. I do not remember ever having a bus ride this bad.  

Many people have told me how much they like India. Well, I for one, would be very happy if I never see Mumbai again.

MICHAEL 

Well, I escorted a most interesting excursion today to Elephanta caves.  Actually, Beverly was assigned to do this one but when she read about the 125 stairs that you had to climb to get there she opted out.  The tour began with a 15 minute ride from the pier over to the gateway  of India.  From here, we boarded a private ferry for the long, slow ride over to Elephanta Island.  This was an old, slow boat but since it was a private tour, we only filled up about half of it so there was plenty of room to move around.  At long last, we arrived at Elephant Island.  The first thing you need to know is that this whole place is incorrectly named.   A couple of thousand years ago someone spotted an elephant here and so named it Elephanta Island. In reality, there had never in recorded history ever been an elephant on the island.

After walking up a few flights of stairs from the landing, we found ourselves at the end of half-mile long pier.  However, and of all things, they had a train here to take us to the other end. This looked more like a kiddy train then a grown up train but it did the job.  

After a short walk, we stopped to go to the toilet. Our tour guide paid for all of us so each one of us was armed with two sheets of toilet paper, and off we went to this rather primitive installation.  Now it was time to climb the 600 feet up to the caves. This involved 125 stairs as well as a ramp. It was grueling.  

On the way, you had to dodge cows, sheep, dogs and monkeys. They all seemed to be after you.  I managed to miss them all except for the one bird who decided to take a dump on my leg.  By the way, if you didn't want to make the climb, they had bearers, who were happy to lift you on top of a palanquin, or sedan chair.  One fellow, who was carrying a baby, opted for this treatment, which cost only $15.

So now we were at the caves and this really was most interesting.  Carved from rock, the caves, or temples of Elephanta Island are believed to have been created between 450 and 750 A.D.  Of course, this depends who you talk with. One of the signs around the caves said they were built around 300 BC, so who really knows.  The caves, and the art within them, are truly fascinating. The images were mostly of the Hindu gods, and particularly of Shiva.  Other, but lesser images, represented Brahma and Vishnu as well. In any event, these were powerful representations of love, strength and spiritual peace.  The caves, which were much bigger and deeper than they appeared at first, and held up by imposing circular columns, and were painstakingly hewn from solid stone.  It was now time to work our way down the 125 stairs, and again dodge the cows, sheep, dogs, monkeys and birds, take the train, ride the boat, ride the bus, and ultimately return to our home away from home.

Goa, India

I came, I saw. Now I never have to go back again.  Coastal India is not one of my favorite places.  Goa is located on the Arabian Sea. The Mormugao harbour on the mouth of the River Zuari is one of the best natural harbors in South Asia, and this river is one of the busiest in India.  This was our first time calling in the port of Goa, and we docked at the commercial harbor that has equipment for exporting ore and oil.  And like most commercial ports that we have docked at, it is not very pretty.

Goa is the smallest state in India and has 1.5 million population, 60% which are Hindu. They are very proud of the fact that they have a literacy rate of 90%.  Goa is different from the rest of India because of it's Portuguese influence.  The Portuguese first landed here in the early 16th century as merchants and conquered it soon there after. Goa was a former Portuguese province that existed for about 450 years; it was annexed by India in 1961.  Goa is India's richest state with a GDP per capita two and a half times that of the country as a whole.  

Michael did not have an excursion today, but I did.  My tour took us to two UNESCO world heritage sites in Old Goa.  I really can't get excited about visiting old churches, I was fascinated by what I saw by just driving out in the countryside.  We rode on small buses that were not that well maintained, but at least the air conditioning worked. I must say that the weather was a lot more pleasant than I thought it would be today.  Riding along on narrow winding, twisting roads and sitting over the back wheels, I had an extremely bumpy ride, thus my pictures are pretty unsatisfactory today.  So I will have to use all my descriptive writing techniques to explain what it was that I saw that fascinated me so much.

Once we left at the port we traveled through the town of Vasco de Gama, the largest town in Goa.  There was nothing here really worth mentioning. But once we got into the countryside, we passed many small villages and homes built right up to the road edge and in the tropical jungle. For many miles we had the jungle on one side and an estuary on the other where we saw several different species of birds doing whatever birds do in an estuary. 

We saw many homes that had blue tarps on the rooftops.  Blue tarps were also used for carports, and as coverings for roadside fruit stands.  It seems that blue tarps are used for a lot of things, so if you are a blue tarp salesman, you would have a great deal of business in this part of the world.  Many homes had corrugated tin roofs, and the side of the buildings had a mishmash of patched corrugated tin as well. 

    I just threw this one in because I happen to like the picture

 

What was astounding was that there would be a very beautiful home and right next to it would be a shack.  They definitely do not have any zoning laws here.  Quite a few of the homes were painted in bright, garish colors such as knock-your-eyeballs-out yellow, royal purple, bright orange and whatever else I guess was on sale at the paint shop that day.  Many homes that looked like they were made of concrete were stained with black mildew because it rains so much here.  Monsoon season goes from June through September, and it is not unusual to get 120 inches of rain.

    Nice home

We passed many agricultural fields where coconut palm trees were quite abundant, as well as mangoes and pineapples. There were also rice fields and water buffalo. Teak wood is also harvested here.

We visited two of the oldest churches in old Goa:  St. Catherine's Cathedral (the largest in India) and the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which contains the relics of St. Francis Xavier.  These churches were built around the 1560s and they are in pretty darn good condition for being that old, although the roof in the basilica had plenty of daylight showing through.  

    Basilica Bom Jesus

    The altar

    Saint Catherine's Cathedral (notice that the belltower on the right-hand side is missing)

Our final stop was to the ancestral home of the Oliveira de Fernandes family.  The Fernandes family has been living here since the house was built 250 years ago. Our host today is the sixth generation of occupants, and she greeted each guest personally as we arrived.  We were free to move about the house and admire the furniture, some which is over 300 years old and made of solid wood.  Goan puu puu's were laid out for us to enjoy. We were then directed out to the yard where tables were set up amid many beautiful flowers.  There was a live band to serenade us.  There were also dogs, turkeys, chickens, and birds all roaming around the grounds.  

   Our hostess

  China cabinet

We were now fortified for the almost one hour trip back to the ship.  

Cochin, India

MICHAEL 

I was tasked today to escort an excursion to the old city of Cochin, India.  At first I was a little disappointed, thinking that I had already done most everything included in the tour, but I was wrong, and I had a good time.  First of all, a little bit about Cochin. It is a city of 1.3 million, in the state of Kerala (which literally means land of coconuts).  It is remarkably different from the rest of India for a number of reasons. First of all, it is a predominately Catholic city.  Most of India is Hindu, but two thirds of the residents of Cochin are practicing Catholics.  In fact, today happened to be Sunday, and as we passed many of the 40 odd Catholic churches within Cochin you could hear singing for a block before you got there. It was very very nice.  Cochin, and the Kerala region are different in other ways as well. For one, Kerala is the only state in India that has achieved 100% literacy.  Also, life expectancy in the region is fully 10 years longer then in India as a whole.

We departed the pier for a very scenic drive to Fort Cochin.   This is one of three urban regions that constitute present-day Cochin city.  The architectural style of the buildings in the town, and the town layout itself make Cochin distinct from other cities and towns in Kerala.  Since it was under the control of the Portuguese, Dutch and British at different points in time, the region bears the heavy influence of European design.  Our first stop was the St. Francis of Assisi Church, the oldest church built by Europeans in India, and the location of Vasco Da Gamma's grave. It is a beautiful church. 

From there, we walked down tree-lined streets to the Chinese fishing nets.  These were brought over from the court of Kublai  Khan by a Chinese explorer. They are cantilevered fishing nets, and are the symbol of the Cochin sea trade, and not found anywhere else in India.

We reboarded the bus for the short drive to Mattancherry, and the Dutch Palace.  Originally built by the Portuguese, the building is now a museum, with its exhibits recording the history, traditions and culture of the area.  A short walk from the palace led us to Jew Town; yes, Jew Town. As you might expect, this is where Jews resided many hundreds of years ago but they are all gone now. In fact, the only Jews in Jew Town today were us, and others off the ship.  I heard the funniest thing:  the synagogue within Jew Town was not included in the tour, and one of the other escorts asked if she and several other people could visit the synagogue.  The tour guide, none too happy that they would be leaving the stores (where she earns a 40% commission) told the escort, "yes, why don't you take your Jews over to the synagogue."  Apparently, somethings never change.

Today, Jew Town is an extremely popular shopping area. It's a fascinating mix of antique shops, warehouses and spice markets.  I left the spice market myself to go have a look at the synagogue. Miraculously, I managed not to get lost among the twisty turney streets.  Finally, it was time to reboard our rather dilapidated bus and return to the wonderful world of air-conditioning - the Seaborn Sojourn.  I mention this in particular because it was so blasted hot that I was absolutely delighted to get back to the ship. Beverly hadn't gone anywhere this morning, and so you could've knocked me over when she told me that she was going to take a tuk-tuk into town to go shopping with the girls.  And after lunch, that's exactly what she did.

BEVERLY

I waffled in my decision making about going out in the oppressive heat and humidity. Do I stay cool and miss an opportunity to see something new or do I just do it. The just do it won out because I am always afraid I will miss something good to see or some adventure I could have.  

Fortified with money, water and an umbrella, three of us ladies headed out to go to Jew Town. Yes, that is what this area of Cochin is called.  Many years ago, this was a thriving Jewish community.  The synagogue is still there and is open.  

    A selfie:  Lisa, Beverly and Marion 

After negotiating with a driver, we decided to take a tuk-tuk instead of a taxi.  This is a 3-wheeled vehicle that has one wide passenger seat in the back of the driver and is open on the sides.  It handles like a motorbike and has about 3-hampster power.  It was worth the heat and exhaust fumes to experience riding in one of these common vehicles. The road from the port to Jew Town was narrow,  rutted and had a bunch of speed bumps to contend with. Our driver knew when to weave and slow down.  They drive on the left side of the road, and I realized that this was not strange to me -- probably we have been doing this for the past three months.  Anyway, there is a line down the middle of the road and is there for only a suggestion. No one adheres to their side of the road. Tuk-tuks and buses vie for any hint of open space, often coming within inches of each other. Head-on or from the side, everyone was jockeying for position. It was like Mr. Toad's wild ride.  We reached our destination in about 30 minutes, and our driver dropped us off.  We made arrangements for him to pick us up at 4pm. 

    My view from the tuk-tuk

This shopping district consists of a few very narrow streets that curve around and lead to the synagogue.  It was hot and humid and we stuck to the shady side of the street. Salesmen would beckon you to come inside their small stores. Hey lady, you need this or that... Please come and take a look at..... We were constantly assaulted to come in and have a look, "good prices just for you."  I tended to go in the shops where I was least assaulted.  My mission was to obtain a nice dress or caftan for the evenings Welcome to India night affair, and pick up a sari for Isabelle. 

Have you ever tried on cotton or silk clothes when you are soaking wet?  I have to admit it was comical when a shirt got stuck, neither up nor down, and I needed help to get it off. The shops would turn on fans when a customer would enter, otherwise, it was just plain stifling hot.  There was some heavy duty bargaining going on (I'm getting good at doing it!). I came away satisfied with my purchases. 

I stopped at the synagogue but declined to enter when I was told I would have to take my shoes off. This girl does not take shoes off!!  By now, my water was gone and I was hot, tired and grumpy.  I was ready to go. The driver was ready to go but there was no Lisa. We sent out a search party to find her. By now it was getting late and apparently rush hour had begun. Buses, lots of buses, with open windows and no glass, were filled to capacity with men. The streets were clogged with motorbikes, cars and tuk-tuks all merging, passing and riding in the opposite lane trying to gain a one vehicle advantage. It seemed chaotic, but there was a rhythm to the madness.  There were no traffic lights, but there were police directing and controlling the traffic. We returned to the ship safe and sound with our purchases, and immediately went to our cabin for a cold shower. 

It was a great adventure. 

WELCOME TO INDIA NIGHT

We have had welcome to Australia, we have had welcome to Indonesia, now it is welcome to India night.  The crew dresses the pool deck up with beautiful lanterns and tassels and all sorts of things Indian.  Indian hors d'oeuvres and drinks were served as well.  Many people were dressed in Indian clothes, and it was quite interesting to see all the different fashion statements people were making.  After doing some minimal maintenance on my brand-new caftan, I proudly wore it out on deck, but even silk was way too hot for this climate.  There was a nice breeze blowing and as the sun set, the temperature did cool off a bit.  

The Colonnade was turned into an Indian restaurant, with smells that were out of this world:  curry, cardemon, saffron, garlic and all kinds of other stuff that I have no idea what it was.  The food was spicy hot.  Dessert was served on the pool deck, and as we went out side we could feel a change in the atmosphere.  The humidity increased dramatically and the clouds thickened.  

We returned to our suite and got ready for bed. There was no point going to sleep before our 11 PM departure because our "alarm clock" (the bow thrusters) would be active then.  We could hear incredible booming sounds and lightning lit up the sky.  It was a loud and noisy show.  The captain said the thunder and lightning storm was the most ferocious he had ever seen in all his years at sea. Our nighttime departure from Cochin was delayed because the lightning flashes blinded the crew on the bridge preventing them from being able to see in the dark. 

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was formerly known as Ceylon, and Colombo, the capital and major port of Sri Lanka, is a fascinating city that links the past with the present.  It is a city rich in colonial heritage from the Dutch, Portuguese and British, blended with Indian influences.  This is a city teeming with a variety of cultures, mostly Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Catholic.  Home to 1.6 million population, 69% are Buddhists and the rest are made up of varying other religions.  Another 1 million come in every day via train or bus to work. The city is a contrast itself, with mansions, lush gardens, fine dining, shopping malls packed with expensive designer brands standing next to urban slums. It is crowded with people, tuk-tuks and buses.  In fact, there are so many buses that it was impossible to take pictures without at least one bus in every frame.  

    Buddhist temple

Men wear sarongs and many were barefoot. It seemed like everybody was bustling about either shopping or working.  Men were seen hauling carts loaded with merchandise right next to tuk-tuks and trucks.  

People here are dark skinned, and we saw traffic officers in short sleeve shirts wearing removable arm coverings that go from the wrist and attach to the shoulder so that their skin is covered. Traffic was chaotic with too many vehicles on streets that were designed for horse and buggies; horns were always honking, beeping, blaring. This is a very noisy city. Trains and buses have open windows and do not use doors; we saw people sitting in the doorway of these moving vehicles.  People hop on and off whenever and wherever they please. 

Sri Lanka is famous for its tea:  Ceylon Tea.  They also grow coffee and export rubber and manufacture clothing such as Polo shirts.  Maybe Michael should've gotten his shirts here!  So why should anyone come to this Island country?  Eco tourism is on the increase here as they have many different kinds of animals to go on Safari to look at, and they have some beautiful beaches.  And if you love the game of cricket, this is the place to be.  In fact, there are more elephants in Sri Lanka than in any other country in the world except for Africa.

I received escort duty for a panoramic tour of the city. This was good timing because my knee has been acting up and this particular tour involved sitting on a bus for two hours driving around the city in air-conditioned comfort.  Michael also was an escort on the same tour, but the way he got it was a little bit different than the way I got it.  He made plans to spend the morning sightseeing with Lillian and Adrian, but on the way to breakfast another escort asked if he would do the job for her because she wanted to do something else.  Apparently, I got the better guide because we had no problem understanding his Indian/British tinged English accent.  Michael's tour guide said he spoke English, but in fact he spoke Sengalise, and no one could understand him.

The day was warm but not hot. We were on a very large, new bus with great air-conditioning.  We spent two hours driving around the city on the bus and only stopped once to take pictures. Therefore, my pictures are not very good because taking them out the window of a moving bus is like playing slot machines:  you put in a lot of money and you get very little in return.  I found driving through the central retail district in the city fascinating. The Pettah bazaar area, and shops and markets were on every street and they were teaming with crowds of people.  

The fresh fruit market was huge; they sell all kinds of tropical fruit that is grown right on the island, but they have to import apples, grapes, and oranges.  I hope chef picks up some sweet pineapple and mangos. The fruit on the ship has been on the rather sour side I'm afraid to say.

As we first started the tour, I was wondering if the whole city was going to be like the central retail district that is old, run down, crowded and filled with slums.  But the farther we proceeded out from the city we wound up in some beautiful suburbs that had lakes, parks, botanical gardens, old colonial parliament and government buildings, and some lovely homes.  The newer part of the city has high-rise office and residential buildings, plus there were many large namebrand hotels. Here the streets are wider and many intersections had beautifully landscaped islands in their roundabouts.  We saw a lot of new construction, a lot of it having to do with tourism.  We saw old colonial hotels such as the Galle Face that overlook the Indian Ocean, which was a playground for the wealthy Brits during the colonial times. All in all, Sri Lanka was a pleasant surprise. Michael and I both liked it a lot more than India, which is (unfortunately) up next .

    Independence Memorial Hall

    Convention and conference center

    Colonial parliament 

Cruising the Bay of Bengal

We have just had a three day run from Phuket to Columbo.  It has been a very busy three sea days and there has been a lot of interesting gossip and activities going around the ship.  

In the bridge room, Michael has been playing and that means that I have been directing the games.  I have the administrative stuff down pat, but when I had my first real director call, I called on Michael to help me sort it out. The rulebook for the bridge laws has words that are in English, but when you put these English words together they make no sense.  I learned the difference between a bid out of turn and pass out of turn. It is minor to those that are playing, but according to the rulebook there is a big difference.  It is in my best interest to pay attention to director calls when Michael is doing it so that I can learn the subtleties.  

We decided to separate the beginning beginners from the advanced beginners. Michael is instructing the advanced beginners and this is my first time teaching the beginning beginners.  On the short segments, it is difficult to get through an entire course so this is the best way to handle our teaching assignments.  Well, not only have I become a bridge director, but now I am a bridge teacher.  I am sitting here scratching my head wondering how this all happened!  

Moving on to other items, the world cruisers were treated to a special American 50s Diner special event.  We had one last year, and it was a lot of fun. The assistant cruise director went to a lot of effort to purchase original Coke bottles, records, and she even made poodle skirts with crinoline slips for the female staff.  Each guest's name was placed on the vinyl record, and the record album cover held the menu. The guys did the white T-shirt with a cigarette pack rolled up in the sleeve, and dungarees rolled at the cuff showing white socks.  The guests had a wonderful time and the crew enjoyed the night free of uniforms.  There was even a jukebox playing some good old rock and roll. I ordered meatloaf, but it was not like we make at home.  How do you teach Europeans how to cook American-style? I don't think it is possible, but they gave it a good try.

Phuket, Thailand

Today was our day to anchor in Patong Bay in Phuket, Thailand.  The dock for cruise ships is on the other side of the island, where Phuket Town is located.  Unfortunately, another ship beat us to the punch and so we were stuck anchoring on the other side of the island where resorts abound. Yes, there are beautiful beaches here; however, being in the middle of almost nowhere necessitating an expensive taxi ride to a resort area for shopping or a meal put a damper on it for me.  It seems like we had a shuttle to town last year, and this year there was no shuttle to anywhere.  

The night before our arrival, Michael received an escort form. Often, we trade excursions that either we don't want or we've already done with each other.  This excursion looked like a lot of on and off the bus, and it didn't sound interesting so we agreed that Michael would take the excursion.  Since it left at 8 AM, and he would be back by around noon, that would leave us plenty of time to go back to shore if we wanted to go shopping or go to the beach.  Therefore, it was a good day to do laundry.

MICHAEL

I was tasked today to escort the "Phuket Discovery" excursion.  I knew it was going to be pretty lame, and it was. After a very long tender ride to shore, we left the pier and drove around Phuket Island for an hour and a half, without stopping.  That was the problem. We had heard about the Heroines Monument, but didn't get to stop. We heard about the big Buddha, but we didn't get to stop.  We drove through a beautiful looking Chinatown in Phuket Town, but they wouldn't let us stop there either.  So where did we stop? Our tour guide said she was going to take us to a lovely handicrafts market, and instead took us to a gigantic jewelry store, with outrageous prices. [editor's note:  Michael didn't take any pictures of these places]. 

I don't want to sound all negative, so let me make some positive remarks.  Phuket is a beautiful island with gorgeous beaches, and is fast becoming a major destination resort for Europeans, as well as Russians and others. The roads are inadequate, of course, and particularly the road around the island reminded me of Route One in California. The twists and turns never stopped, but it was beautiful and exciting.  This is our third time in Phuket and I can say that all the damage sustained during the tsunami in 2005 has been repaired.  It seems to be a pretty peaceful place, and the Buddhists, Muslims and Christians all live and work side-by-side, and get along quite well. [and he didn't take any pictures of these either]. 

Hey, I even learned a little bit about monkey school; yes monkey school.  Coconuts are a big business here, and the Thais have learned that the best way to pick coconuts is to have monkeys do it.  They use pigtail monkeys, who are very bright, and it takes seven months to train them.   Once trained, the average male monkey can pick 500 coconuts per day.

Back to the tour. After leaving that awful jewelry store, we drove to Chalong Temple and had a very nice visit.  This is the island's most sacred Temple and it is huge. You see hundreds of Buddahs including some which are covered with goldleaf. Fortunately, they would let me in here without having  to wear funny looking pants.  

Finally, we drove back to the ship along another coastal road, passing a beautiful beach called Karon Beach, which is particularly popular with the Russians.

BEVERLY

Around 12:30pm I decided to have lunch at the grill on the pool deck.  OMG, it was so flipping hot and steamy.  I could not keep my sunglasses from fogging up.  I was in my bathing suit, ready to grab a quick bite and go to shore and maybe hit the beach when Michael returned.  He still wasn't back and I was watching the time getting later and later.  While sitting there in the heat, I realized that dragging all the stuff you need to go sit on the beach was not worth the effort.  And then there was a part of me that said, "if I don't go to shore, I might miss seeing something and I will be sorry."  Thinking those thoughts, here comes Michael looking like a drowned rat.  His T-shirt was soaking wet all the way through and he was dragging, wanting something very cold to drink.  He convinced me that going to shore was definitely not worth the effort.

I decided I would be happy just to stay on the ship and go dunk myself in the pool.  Well, that did not last too long as the pool temperature was a very uncomfortably warm 93°.  And that is not refreshing.  This heat and humidity is very exhausting, and I am so thankful that we have wonderful air conditioning in our suite.