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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