Traveling in Pirate Waters to get to Dubai

For the next three days, we will be at sea (March 18-20).  We are now 1000 nautical miles from Dubai.  This whole trip will be 7000 nautical miles from Singapore to Rome.

Going into the Gulf of Arabia, we are entering pirate waters.  On the 19th we had a pirate drill. We had to stay in our cabins for a time then muster to our station. The security officer gave a presentation on pirates and the pirate raids are considered a business not an act of war.  This means they leave cruise ships alone because we are loaded with people; they usually attack oil tankers and cargo ships which have minimum crew and lots of things for them to sell.

This picture is the water canons set up on deck 7.

After Dubai, we travel down the coast to Oman and then into the entrance of the Red Sea where we are traveling near the coast of Somalia.  Most of the pirate attacks happen in this area because it ultimately goes into the Suez Canal.

At sea, we played games, watched food carving demonstrations, walked the decks, attended the shows and of course ate and ate and ate.

 This is what old people do while waiting for the show to begin.

You never tire of the beautiful sunsets and sunrises.

17th March - Cochin, India

Cochin, India is an important shipping port. This is not the largest city in India and definitely not the tourist attraction New Delhi is, but it was a very interesting place.  At first glance, I see that India doesn’t have it together like other Asian nations -- Singapore and other modern cities. It reminded us of Jamaica in many ways, a little behind the times in most ways.

 Weaving factory where these women are making bedsheets for an orphanage.

 Look at all the products the are made from coconuts - juice, oil, rope, soap and wine.

 This is the coconut press used to squeeze the oil from the coconut meat.  Wasn't really anxious to buy any of the oil after seeing the sanitary conditions of the factory.

 Our trip was to the outskirts of this city with 7+ million people. Lots of trash by the road side, lots of half finished buildings, little shanty stores, etc.

We did see some interesting cultural things - making of coconut oil, weaving, pottery making, and rice powder making. After the ladies pounded the outer chaff off and ground down the remaining pieces to the edible part of the rice, they would then put it into a square basket and shake the chaff away to be discarded.  I thought that this process of is like us, Christ gives us challenges, we are tested and pounded to get to the good stuff of ourselves and then it is so easy to discard the sins and imperfections.

India is mostly Hindu and Muslim, with 17% or so Christian (Catholic) . There is a war going on between Pakistan Muslims wanting to take over India. The immigration visas were difficult to obtain and the procedure for getting off the boat had to be face-to-face with immigration officials.

There are about 26 districts, like our states and 17 different languages spoken throughout India.  Hindi being the National language.

They use this machine and a woman holding a sack of coconut husk fibers to make rope.

 This was our boat and the fellow that was on the front as the motor.

One of the highlights of the trip was riding on a boat steered and powered by two men, one on the front and one in the rear, using long poles and pure muscle to propel the boat.  We toured Kerlaka Lake where people us the water for doing dishes, sewage, washing clothes, and harvesting mussels that are sold for calcium pills and cosmetics. 

At Sea and Then Colombo, Sri Lanka

On the day following Thailand, Theron woke up with a sore throat and for the next two days was down sick.  He ate and walked a little, but mostly stayed in the room.  Everyone gave him pills and home remedies and he finally felt better by the 15th when we landed in Sri Lanka in the City of Colombo.

This was a fun day. We didn’t sign on with a boat tour, just got off the boat and hired a van. The driver took us to a Hindu Temple, a Buddhist Temple, and a Muslim Mosque. We rode a Tuk tuk which is part motorcycle and part golf cart cab.  The streets are busy, the culture unique. I love watching all the people and noticing the dress, mannerisms, and just everything about their culture.  I have to say that I didn't feel a Christian spirit in the temples.  They burn way to much incense and have way to many statues they have to bow to.

 The mosque on the right is the red mosque.  It is totally red and white and is really quite a site to behold as it sits in the middle of a city block with apartment like buildings on either side.

 Transportation is always fun.  Take a look at all the scooters and motorcycles.  I loved my tuk-tuk ride.

 I marveled at the intricate designs, the colors and the opulence of it all.

 Take a look at the intricate designs all over these roofs.

March 10, 2019 - The Cruise begins

After spending three days touring Singapore - a large, beautiful, safe city, we boarded the Sapphire Princess to begin our 8,401 nautical mile travel to Rome, Italy (Civitavecchia, Italy).

The cruise will be from March 10, 2019 to April 6, 2019.

March 11, 2019 is at Sea:
Nice to relax a bit, we did check Internet messages (nice thing about being Platinum is that we each received 500 free minutes of internet time.) and had a message from Elder Ence (the Seventy over Family History in St. George. This would not surprise me if he wants us for the directors of the FamilySearch Center. We did find out later that other people had been called.  This was just an interview with all possible candidates.

March 12, 2019 - Phuket, Thailand

Theron has been to Thailand before, but not this part.  This is my first time in Thailand.  We rode an elephant. Traveled to an elephant reserve and learned about elephants, feed them bananas (they had my small musaleke kind) and Theron let an elephant step on him to give him a massage as part of the show we attended.

This picture of wires and a tuk-tuk are representative of how most of the world lives.  It reminded us of Jamaica.

Carol and John and Scott and Marianne on elephants.  We looked the same, but couldn't take a picture of us.

Around the World in 36 Days - Day 1

After we were released from our mission at the St. George FamilySearch Center, we scheduled a 27 day cruise through the middle east, Greece and Italy.  Scott and Marianne Robison, Jackie and Steve Duerden and Carol and John Padilla went with us.  What an adventure, some beautiful experiences and 8000 nautical miles of travel.

The blogs that follow will be about our adventures and where we are in the world.  There is no way I can include all the pictures we took and chronicle all  the adventures we had, but I did keep a little journal that is included.  So let's travel.

March 6, 2019, we left Salt Lake City and flew to Seattle, then on to Tokyo, and arrived around midnight in Singapore.  Flying is almost half the adventure because you don't realize how fast you can travel long distances.  With jet lag plus, we finally arrived at our hotel in Singapore to rest and begin our adventure.

Singapore

March 8

Yum, humid and hot. We bought hop-on hop-off bus tickets and toured Central Mall, had a river tour, walked China Town and took the elevators to floor 57 of the waterfront hotel. A hotel that has three towers connected on top by a cruise ship style building. Wow what a view of the harbor. Then home to the Holiday Inn. In the evening we went to Gardens on the Bay to see the light and music show.  Eight large 60’ trees made of steel and fashioned with orchids danced with lights to music. Much like Theron’s light show. Hot, humid, tired.

 Isn't Theron lovely?

 

March 9

Visited the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest with John and Carol; the others went to other orchid gardens and took a bus ride to different parts of the city. Great day. These were fascinating and air conditioned. Tonight we participated in the Chinese parade right by our hotel. The floats are brought in and parked, then the people go walk up to the floats to see them and the performers. The main float was the one opening the Chinese New Year including fire works.

March 10 - Start of Cruise

We went to one of the Singapore wards, they have a building that is 4 stories high with separate chapels on two floors. At 10, 2 wards meet, one on the second floor the other on the fourth floor. There are 7 wards in Singapore and one stake. We are really in a minority in a country of 5.6 million people.  Returned from Church and traveled to the cruise ship. We had priority boarding and it helped a little, it’s still a process.

This picture is the Singapore skyline from the cruise ship.