Photo blog by Stan
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Stan and Karen World Cruise
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Dubai
We rather enjoyed our morning in Dubai. We chose to experience the older part, with the souks and more history. Early in the morning I was the only woman on the streets. The shops were beginning to open, but it was clearly a man's time of day. I avoided looking at the men and the was just one moment as we started down a dead end street that a man really glared at me. Gradually as we got toward clothing shops there more women were out and about - all covered in black from head to toe (but generally faces showing). The shops were full of beautiful dresses and even very elegantly decorated abayas. We only saw women in plain black, so wondered what occasions would warrant a very fancy outer covering.
We wandered through the famous gold soul as they were beginning to open the shops - lots and lots of fancy stuff, but we just looked, bought a couple of little souvenirs and went on. We walked through the spice souk and got a small amount of curry. I'm never sure if I'll be able to take stuff into the U.S., so don't get too much. Stan enjoyed visiting with the vendors as they enticed him to smell this and that. He took lots of pictures. As it started to get pretty warm, we found the small creek ferries and took one across to Bur Dubai, another old section of town. Wee had used U.S. dollars for a couple of things and gotten a bit of local currency to use on the ferry. We found the Dubai Museum, which has a full level of full-size exhibits of daily life in the area - it's quite well done.
We had thought we'd head to the mall where the ship's shuttle had dropped folks off (we'd opted to take a taxi much earlier than the shuttles). Since it was quite hot by now we managed to flag down a taxi, which was much less expensive than the taxi earlier (there's a fee at the port, but I guess they only have to pay that if they are in the taxi rank).
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is a very new city - mostly built since 1960. We saw the Heritage Village briefly - interesting glimpse of a few old buildings (moved here from other locations) and some workshops. We had a picture stop at the Emirates Palace Hotel and the newest royal palace under construction.
Then we went past many royal family residences (photos not allowed) and to the new mosque, which was the main sight we wanted to see - but I was not allowed into it (along with about 10 others). I had carefully worn my longest skirt but it wasn't totally opaque. I don't think of it as see-through at all, but the "guards" had total authority. They actually restricted us to the bus, but that's better than being locked off the bus (it's well air conditioned :). Hopefully Stan isn't too concerned since he may not know I'm not with him. I tried to put a wrap skirt around mine, but it still wasn't ok. A definite disappointment, but not the first time I couldn't go in someplace (other place was orthodox monastery on Lesvos Island, Greece - men only).
At least Stan takes wonderful pictures - I hope he takes lots so I can see it that way.
Our next spot is the one we didn't really care about, so it's been a bit of a disappointing day.
The ship gave us information about appropriate dress but it really wasn't quite specific enough, in my opinion, especially since they said they have cover-up outfits we could borrow if needed, but that option wasn't offered. I later heard from persons on other buses that it was the same situation, but apparently those who arrive individually did not have the same strict requirements.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Mumbai by Stan edit
Mumbai
Annual revenue in the slums is estimated at $ 6.5 million annually.
Annual revenue in the slums is estimated at $ 6.5 million annually.
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Vietnam by Karen
Vietnam has been interesting. Wild, crazy bike ride with Active Vietnam in Nha Trang, but really interesting. We first had to blindly follow our guide across the busy intersections, with no traffic controls or sense of any rhyme or reason to what was going on. I'd have to say it was quite a lot more riding on very chaotic and busy streets than I expected. however, it was quite fun to see the world around us. We'd have loved to stop at the markets, but there was really only time to ride and see the designated sights. We passed some villages, but they were more like suburbs to Nha Trang. Riding a bit into the countryside was nice - rice fields, cattle here and there, etc. We basically rode up one side of the Cai River, then back the other side. Our tour was mostly historic and cultural in nature.
We had a nice lunch at a riverside restaurant which obviously sees more business at other times - not quite high summer season. It appears that quite a bit of their summer tourism is from Russia. We never really saw the modern side of the city but drove past the beaches.
Saigon was a whole different world - the combo of glitz and street sellers is very odd - more because the glitz is so far above what you'd expect here. We wandered on our own, mostly just taking pictures of the listed sights - the fancy hotels that have risen again since the war are quite impressive, as well as the huge new stylish skyscrapers and some of the pre-war buildings were interesting to see.
I think there would be much more worth seeing in this country, but it was good to have had at least a glimpse of Vietnam.
Shanghai - I'm a bit out of order
Our first glimpse of China was a huge commercial port. Out the other side of the ship, however, was the Yangtze River, with its huge traffic lanes. Ships of every kind and size going every which way all at once. Quite fun to watch, actually.
We took a shuttle from the ship to the Bund - a long promenade along a smaller river that cuts through Shanghai's downtown, with new Shanghai across the river. The Bund runs for a about a mile along the historic colonial structures - most are now corporate buildings but the Russian embassy continues in its historic building.
We wandered our way along, marveling at the new, modern Shanghai across the river, with its beautiful tower and modern skyscrapers. We were heading to the Yu Yuan gardens and bazaar and, as is usually the case, Stan's GPS took us along the back ways, in this case we walked past lots of small businesses - treadle sewing machines working on the sidewalk, lace and button shops, bikes full of recyclable items. We spent a bit of time just dodging scooters carrying huge loads.
Eventually we found our way around the outside walks to the bazaar - wow - old Chinese architecture still overflows this small neighborhood. What was once the local covered market is now mostly for tourists. I wasn't planning to shop (or even stop at StarBucks :), but the buildings were great. We had to go into the center of the market (I think that's designed for maximum tourist flow - we passed closed doorways as we walked around the wall) to find the entrance to the gardens, which is a garden and grotto area designed in the Ming dynasty era. It's quite an interesting place, reminiscent to me of the smaller Japanese Tea Garden we had in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park when I was a child - lots of zigzag bridges over ponds full of big gold fish. It's still too early in the spring for cherry blossoms, but a few trees are starting to bloom. A few weeks from now, it will be gorgeous.
We didn't take very good advantage of our expensive visas, but after walking a fair bit, and dodging traffic on every street corner (and along the way as well), Stan's knee was tired, so after taking a few wedding shots, we headed back to the ship and tea. :).
We went upstairs for tea and as we were watching the river traffic, we realized that we were watching the river pilots being delivered to ship after ship - a non-stop process as the pilot boats go from ship to ship to drop them off. We'd learned a bit about ship pilots in a lecture earlier, so it was fun to watch the pilots climb the ladders up into those huge ships (cruise ships are easier to board since they actually have doors close to the water level). As we ate dinner, our ship backed out from its berth, made a 180 degree turn and made its way into the constant river flow, and we headed toward Hong Kong.
Shanghai is definitely a city worth spending more time exploring and since China gave us ten-year visas, maybe we'll get here again.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Thailand with Stan's blog
Our stop in Bangkok was much too short, which is my biggest complaint about this cruise as a whole - our 1 day port stops are often have less than 5 hours available. We took a transfer tour into Bangkok, which was fine but we had to be back at the bus by 2:00 pm, which meant taking a taxi at 1:00 pm to get through traffic back to the pickup spot. It was over 2 hours each way, so we really only had 3 hours in the city that was sightseeing (including the water taxi to the palace).
However, that said, Bangkok would be a city easily worth several days. We saw the royal palace (exterior only) and a couple of major temples - really fancy. Would have enjoyed China town, buy no time.
I was very tired and not feeling great when we got back to the port. Unfortunately, I missed the curb (actually hit the curb with my food and went splat!.) I thought I'd have massive road rash on my face, but mostly a good size cut and a black eye. Stan managed to get me back on the ship and into the medical center with a port wheelchair. They stitched me up and other than some bumps and bruises all over, I've done ok. Just glad I didn't have to be a medical disembarkation as we have seen a few times.
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Singapore
Singapore
Our day in Singapore was another wandering day. I was interested in seeing some of the buildings still there from the time of the British. We knew we could get there by metro (which was purported to be at the port but was actually at least 1 km walk each way. It was hot, but still an enjoyable day. We sat for a few minutes on the front verandah of Raffles Hotel and pretended we were on the "guest only" side, then found our way to check out the "long bar" but without the iconic "Singapore Sling". We checked out the old post office and the cricket club.
I had hoped to be able to do a few hours at the botanical gardens, but found that we couldn't get there by metro. Singapore would be one of the cities worth spending a few days should we be this way again.
We had arranged for a driver/guide in Kuala Lumpur and that worked quite well. Apparently there were some holiday activities, combined with normal family weekend trips to the air conditioned malls that caused unexpected traffic jams, so we had him turn around early to head back rather than fighting traffic and risking missing the ship. We saw most sights we wanted to see and also saw the famous towers from a distance, which was fine.
After these two big city back-to-back days in the heat was quite tiring and we were glad for the long sail to Mumbai.
I am glad to be seeing this glimpse of Asia, but the drive for taller and taller buildings in modern cities that does not necessarily represent the overall country (with the exception of Singapore) is not something I really understand.
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Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
Hong Kong
We're arrived early evening right into the center of Hong Kong harbour. This world is vibrant, full of multi-national companies with huge signs atop the high rise buildings. Many had light shows on their port facing sides and a few with some laser lights during the evening.
We spent a couple of hours in Kowloon on our first evening, since that's where we were docked. It's non-stop shopping, starting in a large mall that you have to walk through just to leave the terminal - not impressive for us, but we aren't really mall shoppers. We had hoped to take the tram to Victoria Peak that evening, but it was quite foggy, so we opted to wander a bit and then stroll along the port promenade.
The next day went across to Hong Kong and Stanley on the traditional Star Ferry. The toughest part is having correct change for the ferry token machine (it took a 10 HKD note and gave change but sometimes won't). Kind of funny to have a fairly antiquated system in the midst of this huge, modern city - the buses and trams also have old style fare collection devices. The bus to Stanley (bus 6) was $7.80 ($4:00 if you have ID for senior rate). Once at Stanley market, I requested coins for the buses and that was easy.
We loved the ride over the mountain to Stanley. In one way, it quickly got us away from the skyscrapers and into Terre covered hillsides, but then we found huge hillside resorts on the Repulse Bay side. Stanley market was pretty touristy, but had a few nice things we could buy to bring home. Walking along the old promenade was nice - so different from the bustle of downtown Hong Kong.
We had seen a few of the iconic trams from the bus, so decided we'd get off as soon as we saw the tracks on our way back, just to ride them a bit - kind of like using the different transport means in San Francisco.
We had met a couple from Hong Kong at breakfast, and they suggested a couple of "old" sights, so we took the tram to the base of the hill and climbed the steps up and up and up to see the Man Mo temple - it's the oldest temple in Hong Kong and supports schools and hospitals in the area. As usual, the incense drove us out fairly quickly.
From there we went to an old style workaday restaurant, where we tried two dim sum options, having really no idea what we were eating, how to eat it, or how much of our few remaining funds it would use. We managed very clumsily to eat most of it with chopsticks, but went over our funds by about 50 cents, which we had to keep to get back on the ferry. The people around us seemed amused and Stan thinks someone behind us paid the difference (we did try to give them a US dollar, but they didn't want that).
We watched the sail-away from the lights of the Hong Kong skyline, with a few laser lights adding to the display. There is much more to see in Hong Kong, should we come this way again someday.
Stan's photo blogs - Hong Kong
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