Goa, India

Our third stop in India was Goa. Goa was a Portuguese colony for 450 years. It has a different heritage than the 2 other places we have visited. It's very Catholic. It also has a lot of buildings from 100-200 years ago that reflect the Portuguese style. The weather however is the same...steamy hot. 15 minutes outside and you need another shower!

Goa is in a jungle. We drove thru some of the passable parts of that jungle, but our guide said there were other places that were impenetrable. He also said the jungle was filled with snakes and we should not explore it. I don't know if snake means cobra, but I understand the warning!

We visited 3 old Catholic Churches that are considered "world heritage sites." Well our guide visited 3, I saw one...St. Catajen. It was huge and white and not moldy like so many buildings. The altar was carved teak that had been gilded but over the years the gold has worn away. Nevertheless it was stunning. Outside the church I saw a woman sweeping. A bit more sweeping could be done in India.

We also visited the "state store" for all of our shopping needs. I did not find anything I wanted but there were a lot of scarves, rugs, and fancy jewelry for sale. Outside the store were the nest of hawkers selling everything else from postcards and pictures to puppets and fans. Don't go to India without your fan as its really needed.

We drove to the capital of Panjim. Along the way I saw a "Toilet Complex" something that was new to me! I am always amazed by all the forms of transportation available. There are public and private buses, cars of all sizes, tuk-tuks, scooters (carrying the whole family) and the highly decorated lorries as well as trains and rusty boats. All cars on the roads drive no faster than 30 miles an hour with one hand on the horn ready to blow it in an instant. There are few signals but lots of speed bumps called "speed breaks" that do a good job slowing down speeders. There's not a lot of graffiti but there are billboards and signs everywhere.

Mangalore

Our second stop in India was Mangalore or Mangaluru as the locals call it. It is in another state, Kannada where yet another language is spoken...and there are several local dialects within that main language. Our guide, Maxom Kevin (I did not get his last name), was a college graduate in Hotel Management, a Roman Catholic, and fluent in at least 4 languages...English and Hindi and Cockany (the language of Catholics in the region) and the language for Kannada. (In 1947, when India became independent, the 28 states were created based on the predominant language of each area. It must have been a monumental task.)

Today in Mangalore we saw St. Aloysius Catholic Church and School and College. Because we were in Cochin yesterday, I expected to see the same conditions...what a surprise to see near spotless grounds, nicely painted buildings and no mold! Groundskeepers were sweeping the 107 acre campus so that it looked nothing like the "mess" we saw the day before. We only saw the church -- a highly decorated church that was something else. We were not allowed to take pictures but I'm guessing if you look up St. Aloysius Church in Mangalore, you will see the beautiful frescos and canvases that decorate it. All the painting was done in 2 years and 7 months by one man! Some of the decor is very reminiscent of what you see in the Cistene Chapel. And it also proves that with care, things can be maintained in this hot humid environment. (The temps range from 68 to 100+ with high humidity throughout the year..there are only 2 seasons--summer and spring.)

From this beautiful church we next visited the oldest Temple of Shiva in all of india. The bronze statue of Shiva is said to be from 1160 AD. We viewed the statue and yet again could not take pictures. We could take pictures within the Temple grounds.

Our last stop was another temple to Shiva...only this one was created by a very rich man for the "untouchables" because he felt that all people, no matter what caste, should have a temple to pray in. That was in 1902. In 1991 the temple was completely renovated with marble and bronze gold and silver and it's a magnificent temple not just for untouchables but for everyone. BTW it was clean too.

It was a good day but way too hot. Today I brought a wet wash cloth with me to cool us off...it came in handy. It also took off some if the dust we collected walking along the narrow streets getting to and from the temples. Tomorrow we go to Goa.

PS..I just found a picture of the altar area of the church...it was in Wikipedia and it was public domain to boot.

Cochin, India

I've heard if this place for quite awhile as I worked with 2 folks from here, when I taught at the University of Guam. They told me it was where all the smart people in India lived...and guess what, it's the only state in India that had 100% literacy. (BTW there are 28 states in India)

We visited a temple to Shiva, the destroyer goddess, the old St. Francis church started in 1502 and at one time was the final resting place for Vasco Da Gama before he was removed to his fatherland of Portugal. (we visited the church he is now buried in when we were in Lisbon 2 years ago.) From the church we went to the fish market and the "Chinese Nets." All along the way I was gawking at the scenes that flashed before my eyes. It's a very different world. The fish market had freshly caught fish, but it was placed on plates without any ice. Since it was about 100 degrees outside, I have to wonder how long the fish would stay "edible."

Two Firsts

Yesterday, on my morning walk on Promenade Deck I saw sunrise on the Indian Ocean. This morning I saw my first glimpse of India. We land in Cochin in about 10 minutes.

Colombo Pix

Colombo, Sri Lanka

We made landfall after two very calm days at sea. The Legend of the Seas is "parked" at the far end of the container port next to a rust bucket, Bulk Arrow, that does not look seaworthy! It's a hot and humid day with a buttermilk sky. It's difficult to see a clear blue sky in the tropics. From my vantage point on deck 11 onboard I see 7 cranes on the starboard side, in the port alone. I don't see any cranes in the city skyline. As I turn around I see maybe 50 "container" cranes ready to move cargo from ship to shore and vice verse. It's Wednesday so this place should be a beehive of activity at 230 PM but I don't see anything moving. Maybe it's "siesta time." It is quite hot outside.

This morning we took a shorex to look at the city. Colombo, (no longer the capital) is a bustling city if 2.5 million souls. We went to the Pettah, which is the traditional outdoor market, and saw lots of activity. Small 3-wheeled cars were weaving in and out of traffic made up of motorcycles, hand carts, tour buses, regular buses, larger cars, lorries, pedestrians, and everything in between. It was a riot of color and energy -- of folks taking care of business.

As an aside, as I looked at my pictures, I noticed there were few women shopping. I also noticed that folks wore a mix if western dress, native dress, Moslem dress, and (what looked to me as) Pakestani dress.

The architecture is a mixture of the British colonial, traditional, and modern. Everything looks tired, but in the tropics, everything always looks tired. This climate is not good for works made by man. Rust and mold are rampant. Given that, I did not see the tangle of electric wire that is common in too many places such as Thailand, VietNam or Macao.

View from the Top

I'm on Deck 9 waiting for the deli to open. Here's my view...starboard side is a very calm ocean. Can you see where the water ends and the sky begins? We've been sailing this suoer flat piece of ocean for two days! On the other side is one of the two pools on the ship. This pool is covered and air conditioned and much more comfy than the outdoor pool.

At Sea

Today was the first of 2 sea days as we sail toward Sri Lanka. It was also our first formal night. Sea days are always pleasant and relaxing. I played team trivia, listened to a lecture on the Iditerod, read a book and tried hard not to eat all pday long. A good day.

Our dinner table mates are shown below. One couple is American but they live in Germany and he's originally from Idaho Falls. The other couple is from Florida. It's a nice group of folks.

A Sparkly Cage

This morning I saw a team assemble some pretty cages in the Centrum. I asked what they were for and I received the cryptic reply of "come back tonight and find out"

Tonight was the Captain's Reception in the Centrum and sure enough the sparkly cages were part of the show. Gymnasts were performing stunts high above as the cages swayed. It was pretty cool.

BTW the water has been still as glass today. We could see flying fish soar over the flat seas but we never saw any other critters, not even birds.

Kuala Lampur

The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lampur, which means "convergence of 2 muddy rivers." In fact, in the middle of town, you can see where the two rivers meet and both are muddy! It rains a lot in this part of the world, and last week there were floods in KL, so the rivers were muddy indeed!

The city is bustling. Movement is everywhere. Streets are congested with traffic as everyone seems to be going somewhere else. Watching our bus driver maneuver thru the streets, gives the weak of heart palpitations. Aside from that, it's always interesting to see how other cultures "work." KL is a mix of old and new--British, Indian, Chinese, Malay and "general western" cultures. You can see "western" influence in just about everything. The huge Petronis Towers were designed by an American; the stores offer high end brands from the US, France, and Germany; and while Japanese cars are not western per se, they seem to "back up" my premise. Modern KL is a world class city that is a mixture of what developed countries have to offer. As we proceed in this voyage, I'm sure there will be other examples of how the world is coalescing together in looks if not in reality. It's is probably why the west, and the US is particular, is hated...I think we are feared as we seem to be so dominant. So be it...and this too shall pass.

In the meantime, it's fun to see the old "bacon" architecture of the British during their colonial times next too the modern buildings that sport glass facades with laughing camels. In the upscale shopping mall housed in a small portion of the Towers, there are shops from Prada, Gucci, Rolex, Bulgari, Tiffany, Chanel to name a few, while for food court boasts native Malay cuisine next door to McDonalds and KFC. San Francisco Coffee is situated across the mall from Starbucks. To add to the "color," the folks working in the establishments wear traditional and western garb. It all seems to work together.

I learned two new expressions: sky juice and Chindian. Sky Juice is water. Children born from the union of a Chinese Indian couple are called Chindian. As more Indians are sending their children to Chinese Schools to learn Mandarin, there is more intermarriage than in the past. There have always been Eurasians in this part of the world.

Legend pix

The Legend of the Seas

We are onboard our "home away from home," the newly refurbished Legend of the Seas. We caught our first glimpse of her from the balcony of our hotel room. She was in "HarbourPort" (there are 2 cruise ports in Singapore) next to the Pacific Princess, one of our favorite ships. At first blush, they looked about the same size, but upon closer inspection the Legend is a bit bigger with 2000 pax vs the 700 on the Pac. We generally sail on Princess ships, so it seemed strange to not get onboard an old friend.

We are very familiar with the Princess boarding process, and Royal Caribbean does it much the same way. But that's where the similarity ends. Princess believes that cruisers need a guide to show them to their room and the ship. RC believes it's best to discover on your own how to find your way around the ship. As an educator, i know that "The Discovery Approach to Learning" can lead to "good learning" but it's slow, inefficient and can lead to a lots of initial confusion. Therefore, we saw a lot of folks milling around not really knowing what to do, and not enough RC personnel around to tell them what to do. The first few minutes were chaotic at best for first time cruisers, as they did not know what to do. We are not newbies, so we tried to avoid the milling throng and found our cabin (which was ready for us except for luggage). Next we needed to find food. We found an interactive touch screen by the elevator giving us step by step directions to The Windjammer Cafe (aka the buffet) on deck 9 upstairs. After a nice lunch we discovered the do-it-yourself Internet Cafe. We signed up for accounts. Next we decided we really needed a map of the ship so we discovered "guest services" on deck 5 and found a map.

The next big discovery 2 hours later was the emergency drill. Every ship has to have "the drill" before it sets sail. You might remember the sinking of the Costa ship off Italy a couple of years ago? That ship sailed AND sank before the drill. So, no matter the cruise line, the drill comes first now. At 4:45 PM we all scrambled to find our specific outdoor "muster station." Some ships lines believe that the pax should all meet in a large nicely air conditioned room to learn the procedure of getting to the lifeboats, RC believes it's best to go outside TO your particular lifeboat station to learn the process. While the latter is not as comfy, it's probably better. Again we discovered our muster station amidst just a little too much chaos. RC needs to have more personnel helping the pax out.

After the drill, we had a brief rest before "discovering" our table for dinner. By now, we are used to the RC "discovery process" so we show up late in order not be caught in the herd. It worked! But we could not find our table. We asked 4 waiters, they could not find it either! We were looking for 166, and the highest number we could find was 162. Finally we found a "red jacketed Head Waiter" who took us to a 3 person table pushed next to another 3 person table (#163) smack dab in the middle of the deck on a raised floor, with the best view ever. From our table we can see what is outside on both starboard and port side. So at dinner, we saw Singapore sail away from us. We were finally moving.

After dinner we had planned to see the show, but alas that did not happen. Our luggage had arrived so we put stuff away. Jet lag found us and staying awake became impossible. We both crashed!

This morning I'm awake before dawn (jet lag is a strange bedfellow) writing away. Soon a wake up call will sound and we will get ready for a shorex to Kuala Lampur. I hope we will see the Petronis Towers, which is still the tallest twin tower hotel building in the world. As you know, watch this space.

In the following pix...look at at the far right of it...the last ship is ours. I need to take some pix of her today.

In KL

This city shows off a mixture of British. Indian. Chinese and Malay cultures. A rich mix of architecture defines the city. In the "Asian" garden there's a small size replica of Stonehenge. See what I mean?! There are colonial buildings and then there are the Petronis Towers. BTW the Towers are quite beautiful.

In Singapore

We had 2 good flights. Now we are at our hotel in Singapore. It's midnight. The humidity is so thick you can see it. The smell is definitely tropical even though you cannot see what's blooming. It's been 3 years since our last visit. At first blush, it looks the same.

First Stop

We are just outside of Japan. We will be here 2 hours then fly to Singapore.

The flight has been delightful. We had two good meals and the in flight movies were great. We each saw four. I saw Auntie Mame, Skyfall, A Cinderella Story, and Mary Poppins. I started to look at Zero Dark Thirty but 20 minutes into it proved to be too depressing. That's when I decided to look at some classics (ok Skyfall is not a classic, but 007 is!). There were over 200 movies from which to choose.

More later.

Legroom

Day One of 32 where we "do a Magellan" and travel around our blue ball. We just boarded the flight to Narita. We have legroom.

On The Road Again

Watch this spot. We're headed out in the morning. First to Narita then on to Singapore where we will board the Legend of the Seas. From there we will sail to Rome via the Suez Canal. It might be a pretty exciting trip. I will post pictures along the way.