Today, we were headed out into the countryside to see the UNESCO Heritage Site of the city of Mystras, near the town of Sparta. Mystras was a fortified city that was developed during the time of the Byzantine Empire. It is perched on the side of a steep hill and our hike through it was, luckily, downhill.
Wearing our earpieces so we could hear our guide’s explanations, we began our downhill climb. There were fortresses above us, churches and buildings below. The path was steep and made of uneven stones, so the going was slow. However, the sights were beautiful.
There was also a well-preserved church which had been restored.
Hot and tired, we headed down to a small village for lunch. This was the first disappointing meal we’ve had on a tour. As we walked into the restaurant, we were handed a plastic wrapped sandwich on a roll containing a half a piece of cheese and a half a piece of ham, along with a soft drink. However, the village was charming, we were able to find ice cream, and it was wonderful to sit on a bench and bask in the sun.
Tired and content, we headed back to the ship and one sea day before we reach Italy.
Kusadasi is a city on the coast of the Aegean Sea and is where we would head out on a tour to visit the ruins of Ephesus, an old Roman provincial capital that had a population of around 300,000 people by the 2nd century. When I was in college as a theatre major, we studied the Great Theatre of Ephesus and I was very excited to see it.
We headed out on our small group tour with our guide and drove through Kusadasi and across beautiful Turkish countryside. The peach orchards were blooming and the mountains were green.
Our first stop was the House of Virgin Mary. This is an official Catholic shrine and the belief is that this is the place Mary lived out her life after the resurrection of Jesus. No photos were allowed inside the small building.
Below the house, people leave their written prayers and entreaties along a wall.
This is, of course, a very popular place and that means that there are souvenir stalls and kids on field trips.
Back on our van and a few short kilometers later, we were at Ephesus. Again, we were stunned. Pictures are so much better than words to give you an idea of the breadth and scope of the city.
These are the men’s public toilets:
And these are the cats of Ephesus:
Our tour of Ephesus included a visit to the Terrace Houses, which were located in a newly excavated area. These are the remnants of the homes of the upper class citizens. Since the archeological work is ongoing, the site is enclosed. We saw lovely frescoes and mosaics.
After our visit to Ephesus, we made a short stop at the Basilica of St. John. This church was built by the Emperor Justinian over the tomb of St. John the Apostle.
We also got a glimpse of the ruins of the Temple of Artemis.
We had a tasty buffet lunch at a resort and then headed back to Kusadasi for a carpet weaving demonstration. I said we weren’t going to buy a Turkish carpet and I meant it. We bought one.
What we saw of Turkey was so beautiful. Our list of places we would like to go back to is getting very long!
We sailed out of Jordan headed towards Israel. That meant we were going to traverse the Suez Canal. It took us a day to reach the canal and wait for our convoy of ships to go through and another day to actually sail through the canal. We were at the head of the convoy of 39 ships, so we were able to get some unobstructed views. The Suez Canal is an amazing feat of engineering and the cost for a cruise ship to sail through is staggering. I heard that the cost for our ship to pass through was over $500,000.
Brian was busy taking pictures throughout the day.
We spent our day in Israel on a tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Our time in Jerusalem was spent focusing on Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple, also known as Herod’s Temple, which was constructed over the remains of Solomon’s Temple between 20-18 BC. After our time there (and lunch), we would head to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity.
Jerusalem is about an hour from our port of Ashdod. The traffic was heavy, but the scenery was interesting.
As an added complication, this was the day scheduled for massive demonstrations against the government’s wish to control the courts. In fact, our guide apologized to us. He was tired because he’d been at a demonstration until 2:00 am. He said, and we agreed, that sometimes you just have to speak up.
We headed into Jerusalem and our destination, Temple Mount, inside the walls of Old Jerusalem. Before we parked, we were able to get our first view of the Temple Mount. The golden dome in the middle is the Dome of the Rock. You can see the walls of the old city.
Heading down, we drove by the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. I had no idea they were so close to the city. The pictures we were shown in Sunday School where obviously not great models of geography or historical accuracy. I’m pretty certain Jesus was not blonde and blue eyed and looked a great deal like the people I saw today.
This is the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane:
We were visiting the temple on a Monday. This is important because on Monday and Thursday Jewish families come to the temple to celebrate their 13 year old sons’ Bar Mitzvahs and their transition into adulthood. There was music, dancing, balloons flying, and boys being paraded around under canopies
Entering the walls through the Dung Gate, we headed to our first stop. There is a newly renovated archeological museum at the temple, the Davidson Center. It had only been open a week and our guide was excited to see it, too. We were handed over to one of the center’s guides and she was excited to share the new facility with us. There were lots of media displays and interactive exhibits. We watched an introductory video about the history and building of the temple. Everything was very state of the art.
Heading outside, we began to explore the grounds and temple proper. This is an active archeological site and history is being uncovered everyday. We saw buildings, ritual baths where worshippers purified themselves before visiting the temple, and finally the stairs to the temple itself. The stairs were purposefully built with varying heights and depths to force people to approach the temple reverently.
The museum guide left us, and our guide took us around to the side of the temple where the marketplace was. It was here that we could see vivid results of the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. The road was crushed by the great stones of the temple walls when they fell. Piles of these rocks were left as a reminder.
When we got to the marketplace, our guide took out the Bible and read the story of Jesus throwing the moneylenders out of the temple. This may have been the place this happened. Here is what one of the marketplace stalls looked like:
There were, of course, cats.
The Temple Mount is sacred to three religions: Judaism, Christianity , and Islam. When we were there, the Dome of the Rock and the El-Aska Mosque were not part of our tour.
Lunch was being served to us deeper in the old city. This part of Jerusalem is divided into four quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, and the Armenian Quarter. The Muslim Quarter is, by far the largest. We climbed up streets and stairs to reach our destination—an Armenian restaurant. So many interesting sights along the way!
Lunch was served family style and included a good table wine. The dishes included pita bread, salads, kebabs, chicken and a tasty cake.
After our meal, we loaded back onto our bus (after another walk) and headed to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is just a few short miles away but is a totally different world. The city is in the West Bank and is part of the Palestinian Territory. Since our guide was an Israeli Jew, he was not allowed to enter. We dropped him off and our driver, who as an Israeli Arab could proceed, drove us into Bethlehem where we picked up our new guide. He was a Christian. This is a very politically complex area.
After an obligatory shopping stop, we headed across town to the Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem is markedly different from Jerusalem. It is a good size city with a different feel, which is hard to put into words. This region has been so divided and full of violence throughout the centuries. It just made me sad.
Some pictures follow. Note how the car is parked. That was not unusual.
Once the bus was parked, we walked up the streets full of souvenir stores and reached the Church of the Nativity which contains the grotto where Jesus was born. This may or may not be accurate, but in the end it doesn’t really matter to all the pilgrims who come here. The outside of the church is a large courtyard that faces a stone wall. The entry to the church is through a very tiny doorway. You really had to crouch down to enter. I didn’t get a good picture of the doorway. There were a lot of people hiding it. Here’s the best I got.
The interior of the church is cool and dark. There are no pews and the walls are covered with 12th century mosaics and beautiful decorations. The folks looking down in the picture are looking at the mosaic floor. The church must be stunning when lit up at night.
Our tour did not include a visit into the grotto. However, our guide (playing loose and free with our time schedule) decided we couldn’t come all this way to Bethlehem and not see it. We joined the long line and, eventually, went down the dark narrow steps into the grotto. The floor is covered but there is a gold star in it where you can reach in and touch the ground where Jesus was born.
Back on the bus, we left our Bethlehem guide behind and headed back into Israel to pick up our first guide. The traffic was heavy due to the demonstrations. With that, and our side trip into the grotto, we would be late back to the ship. Since we were on a ship sponsored excursion, the ship would wait for us before leaving. As late as we were, tours coming in from other places in Israel had a harder time getting through the demonstrations and arrived much later.
It was an overwhelming day in Israel. It will take some time to process what we have seen and done here.
When I was in the 5th or 6th grade, I wrote a term paper about Petra in Jordan. I imagine I originally read about it in a National Geographic magazine and it fascinated me. This stop to see Petra was one of the main reasons we are taking this cruise. Today, I was going to see the place that excited my imagination all those years ago.
Petra is an archeological site about two hours drive from the port of Aqaba. We booked an excursion with the ship because of the distance we had to travel, and left for Petra around 8:00 am. Over half of the passengers aboard the ship were headed to Petra, so we knew to expect a crowd.
The drive through the Jordanian countryside was very interesting. The sun was shining through my window and I couldn’t get very many pictures. I did, however, manage to get these:
We were headed to the town of Wadi Musa which is the gateway to Petra and happens to be where our guide, Muhammad, lives. It’s quite the tourist friendly town with most of the signage in English. This is also where we would come back to for lunch after we finished visiting Petra.
Our friends, Karin and Michael, were also on the tour and we decided to hike together. I say “hike” because that is what it is. It was about 5 mile round trip for Karin and me. Brian and Michael added a couple miles to that total because they went deeper into Petra.
The city of Petra was totally hand carved out of sandstone and was covered for hundreds of years by sand. Because of the soft nature of sandstone, most of the decoration and inscriptions have been worn away. It was built by Nabataeans, an ancient people, about 2,000 years ago and, after the Romans defeated them in the second century, was a developed into flourishing trade site. At its peak, the population is estimated to have been about 30,000 people. After trade routes moved to the sea, Petra declined and was abandoned by the 7th century A.D. and was forgotten. It was rediscovered in 1812. About 15% of the city has been uncovered.
The walk into Petra is downhill on sand and gravel interspersed with marble pavers left by the Romans. The first part of our walk took us down toward the siq, or narrow canyon. The ruins started appearing almost immediately.
The siq is an absolutely beautiful place that reminded me of Antelope Canyon in Arizona. The canyon was narrow and winding and we competed with golf carts carrying people who didn’t want to walk into the city. You could ride a horse down to the siq, but not through it. The owners of the horses and golf carts were making good money this day.
At the end of the siq, we caught a glimpse of what was to come, the Treasury Building.
I was finally in Petra, and I couldn’t have been happier!
Our guide led us into the city and he was pleasantly surprised. It was nowhere nearly as crowded as he had expected. He led us down roads lined with ruins and many Bedouin souvenir sellers. Muhammad was happy to share, as he could, which sellers sold authentic silver and items and which did not. It was noisy, sort of chaotic, and very, very, interesting. Pictures are better than my words.
Karin and I decided to head back to town with maybe a little shopping along the way. Brian and Michael headed on for awhile. They couldn’t go as far as they might want to due to time constraints. Here are some pictures Brian took:
The hike back was a haul for me since we were now going uphill. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful but it was starting to warm up. Karin and I did some silver jewelry shopping and took many rest stops along the way. We made it back to the Petra Palace Hotel for our buffet lunch. We were hungry and it was delicious. In fact, I was so hungry that I forgot to take any pictures of the abundant food. I can say the the local beer I had was so refreshing! The men arrived a short while later and, after lunch, we headed back on the bus to begin our drive back to the ship.
We hadn’t gotten too very far before the driver notice a red warning light on the bus and we needed to stop to get the brakes repaired. Muhammad told us the repair truck would be there within a few minutes and that the repair wouldn’t take too long. He was correct. We had stopped at a lovely scenic viewpoint so all was good.
It was just starting to become dark when we got to Aqaba.
We were tired, so Brian and I decided to return to our cabin and have room service. We ate on our balcony and listened to Aqaba come to life. This was the start of Ramadan and observant Muslims had not eaten or had anything to drink all day (from sunrise to sunset) and now it was time to enjoy a meal. We could hear the call to prayer echo over the city. Life is good!
By the way, when you spend the day hiking in the desert, this is what you order for dinner:
What a difference a day makes! The morning after we left Dubai, we docked near Muscat, Oman and were greeted with low buildings and barren mountains. The mountains were very much like those you can see in northern Arizona and Nevada. Oman is an old kingdom that, until the mid 20th century, still had territories in Africa.
Oman is one of the more conservative Muslim countries and, since we were going on a tour of the Grand Mosque, we had to be sure we were dressed appropriately. That meant, for women, clothing that covered your entire body including your ankles and wrists. A shawl covering your hair was also required to enter the mosque. Men had it a little easier. They could wear short sleeves if they wished and didn’t needed to cover their hair.
Properly outfitted, we headed out on our tour. Our guide was Fuad and he was excellent. He was quite proud of his country and all the improvements to the infrastructure that had been completed in the last several years. The roads were in excellent condition and everything was very clean.
Once again, the scenery we saw throughout the day was a mix of the exotic and the familiar:
We arrived at the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and it was stunning.
It was dedicated in 2001 and was designed with a variety of influences. Once inside, you will see echoes of the Taj Mahal, traditional Omani decoration, and stained glass windows inspired by Christian cathedrals. Here are a few pictures of the courtyards.
Once again removing our shoes, we began touring the inner courtyard and the prayers rooms. The women’s prayer room was much smaller and less highly decorated since they are not required to pray in the mosque. The walls are intricately decorating with both design and calligraphy. The calligraphy is verses from the Koran.
Our guide, Fuad, was with us the entire time to explain what happens in the mosque and to answer any of our questions. This is him speaking in the inner courtyard, along with a few other courtyard photos:
The men’s prayer room is huge. It can hold 6500 worshippers. The entire mosque can hold 25,000 people using the women’s prayer room and interior courtyard.
I have never seen anything quite like the main prayer room. We have been to Buddhist and Hindu temples on our trip (with many churches to come, I’m sure), but the colors and open space and light made the Grand Mosque a very special place. The rug is one whole piece and is now the second largest rug in the world.
Again, Fuad was there to answer our questions.
Shoes back on, we headed back to the bus to head to our next stop. The courtyards were still lovely.
Unfortunately, we were delayed leaving the mosque due to a very long line in the women’s toilet. There was only one western toilet and it was in high demand. This delay would cut short some of our time at a later site.
Back on the road, we headed off to the shopping portion of our tour. However, this time we went to a souk (bazaar). So many shops lined the alleyways and streets of the souk. It was covered and pretty much like stepping into Aladdin’s cave! The shopkeepers were not shy about trying to get you into their stores and bargaining was expected. Cats were lounging on steps and the atmosphere was lively. As we didn’t have a lot of time, we didn’t wander very far. We did, however, make a few purchases.
Wherever we went, there were pictures of the King of Oman.
Our next stop was Bait al Zubair Museum in Old Muscat. This is where our restroom delay really affected the tour. We arrived at the same time numerous other buses did, and the museum was very crowded. Brian and I wandered off to see what we could see in the short time we had there. There were a lot of historical artifacts and information included in the museum and it would have be wonderful to have been there, with more time and less people, to really explore.
Our final stop was a photo opportunity outside the King’s palace. This palace is only used on ceremonial occasions as the King lives in the countryside. The palace is built between two old Portuguese forts. The entrance to the harbor in Old Muscat was very defendable.
Back to the ship we went with a better appreciation of Middle Eastern history and the realization the I would rather return to Oman than go to Dubai again. This is a very fascinating country with very friendly and welcoming people.
We were back onboard by mid-afternoon and were looking forward to five sea days before we reached Jordan and our long anticipated trip to Petra. Sea days are going to be few and far between from this point on until we cross the Atlantic on our way home. I’m going to have to really make time to keep up my blog!
I didn’t know much about Dubai before we traveled there. I knew that it was a very rich country with lots of high end shopping and wealthy people and all of that was true. What I didn’t realize was how beautiful the city is with so much stunning architecture. The buildings are each uniquely designed but, somehow, everything goes together. It is a truly fantastical city rising out of the desert. From the time the city was established fifty year ago, the emirs who rule the Emerate of Dubai have exercised total control over the vision and development of it. When the city was being grown, the Emir at the time realized that the oil reserves were going to run out sooner rather than later, and he had the idea to build a place that everyone would want to come visit. Everything that is built there has to be the biggest of its kind and has to outshine anything in the world and he succeeded.
Here are some pictures of the city that I took over the time we were in Dubai.
We were in port for a day and a half and had scheduled an afternoon Desert Safari Tour that would end at a camp in the desert for dinner and entertainment before returning to the ship at about 10:00 pm. We were picked up in a very nice SUV by our driver/guide, Ahmed along with two other couples. It took quite a while to reach the outskirts of Dubai. However, the highway system was quite efficient and in excellent condition, just like the rest of the city. Our first stop was a place where we could ride 4 wheelers in the desert or rent a dune buggy and go even farther afield. Brian rented a two person dune buggy and off we went, following our guide across the open desert.
We had an excellent time zipping around the desert for about half an hour and rejoined our group covered in a fine layer of dust.
Back in the SUV, Ahmed drove us a little further down the road, stopped the vehicle and let air out of the tires. We were off to do some dune bashing. I have no actual pictures of this activity because I was too busy laughing and holding on for dear life. One of the other women in the vehicle hadn’t realized that this activity was part of the tour. Her husband had picked this tour and, evidently, she had not read the description of it. She wasn’t thrilled but she was a fairly good sport about it.
We reached the top of a dune and parked. If one was so inclined (I wasn’t), you could now attempt some sandboarding which is a whole lot like snowboarding. You stand on a board much like a snowboard and head down the dune. After you reach the bottom, you have to drag the board back up. Here is an example of what mostly happened to people:
The desert was beautiful.
We were back in the vehicle and, after a short stop to put air back in the tires, we headed off to a camp in the desert for a camel ride, dinner and entertainment. The scenery along the highway was certainly different from what we see at home.
There are numerous of these camps in the desert where tourists get a “taste” of Bedouin life. Since our camp was owned by the tour company we were using, the number of people there was limited. There was a bit of off-road driving to be done and, again, our driver did not take it easy!
Before we even went into the camp, we were taken over to the camel rides. The rides were included in the tour and people could take as many rides as they wanted. We very much enjoyed our short ride. We were told to hang on and lean back while the camel was standing up or sitting back down. Even holding on, I nearly flew over our camel’s head when the ride was over. I said I wanted adventures!
Baby camel feeding was next. They were happy critters…so much food from so many people!
The sun was beginning to set, so we headed up a dune to get some pictures. By we, I mean Brian and Ahmed (our guide) and me. It was a steep dune and I needed some assistance. I had been able to swing my leg over the back of a camel (not as easy as one might think), but this was difficult. After persevering, we got to the top and saw this:
Going down was easier, and we headed into the camp proper for the remainder of the evening. We were greeted by the hosts, who poured rose water over our hands to welcome us, offered us a yummy Arabic treat, and led to our table for the evening. We sat outside in front of tents at low tables and sat on ottomans. The tables were placed on rugs and we removed our shoes before sitting down.
When I booked this tour, I chose the deluxe version since it only cost $10.00 more. I wasn’t sure what the deluxe version entailed but now we found out. Dinner was usually a buffet but we got table service. Our waitress was Fatima. We had 3 menus on our table and we could order as much as we wanted for any of them. One menu was Emirati food, one was Arabian, and one was Morrocan. We each selected from across all three menus. Now, we thought that we were each going to get a plate with a taste of each dish we chose on it. Nope. We got all the dishes served family style. There was so much food and it was all delicious! The restaurant that prepares the meals has Michelin award honors. Below is a picture of all the food taken after we had started eating.
The lamb dishes were especially good and the seasonings so complex and delightful.
We had some time to wander around after dinner before the show started. The camp offered henna decorations, you could get your picture taken holding a falcon, or you could smoke a water pipe.
The line to get a henna tattoo was huge. It was obviously a very popular activity.
As the sky began to darken, campfires were lit around the stage and we were ready for three shows.
The first dancer performed an Egyptian spinning dance called the Tanoura. The gentleman never stopped spinning for four or five minutes. He was a blur.
He was followed by a woman doing a traditional Khaleeji folk dance which involves a lot of hair flinging.
The grand finale was the fire dancer who also was a fire eater. We were close enough to see him pour the flammable liquid into his mouth. The entire dance smelled like kerosine.
Dessert was served during the program and it was, also, very tasty. However, we were stuffed and only ate a little.
As we headed backed to the car for our drive home, the lights were dimmed so patrons could enjoy the desert sky for a few moments.
It was late when we got back to the ship, so we headed straight to our cabin the shower off the sand and get ready for bed. We had an early shore excursion the next morning to go up the tallest tower in the world, Burj Khalifa.
We were on our bus bright and early the next morning. Our guide, Marshall (who let us know a few times that he was the highest rated guide in Dubai) was quite good. When we reached the Burj Khalifa, we had to enter through the Dubai Mall which is the largest mall in the world at over 12,000,000 square feet.. It contains an ice rink, an aquarium, around 120 restaurants and cafes, and more stores than you can shake a stick at.
Not much was opened when we arrived, however that meant our wait time to go up to the observation deck on the 124th floor would be relatively short. We eventually made our way to the elevators. There were two operating and the ride up to the 124th floor took 58 seconds. I don’t know what kind of engineering was used, but you really couldn’t feel the elevator moving at all. Our ears did pop a couple of times.
Once we were on the deck, the whole of Dubai opened up before us.
We had some free time in the mall when we were done with the tower. People could explore as they wished as long as they were back at our meeting spot at the designated time. There was just enough time for us to get something to drink and a snack. Brian found a Dunkin’ Donuts and I found gelato.
On our way out of the mall, we stopped for a moment at the outside of the aquarium. You can see into one of the large tanks. So many fish, and I saw some I’d never seen before. The photos I took have a bit of the mall reflected in them.
Back on the bus, we headed to an outside visit at the Jumeirah Mosque. It was Friday, which is the Islamic day of worship, so we were not allowed inside.
The craftsmanship that went into the construction of the mosques is stunning.
We were free to ask our guide anything we wanted about Islam. As he talked, it occurred to me that it must be horrible to know that you were going to have to defend your faith to people who often mistake the actions of a few radicals for the beliefs of the large majority, time and time again.
The remainder of our tour included a short stop at the Mall of the Emirates to take a look at the big indoor ski resort. It was hard to get any pictures because of the reflection from the windows, However, we saw kids sledding and people going up in large ski lifts. I think you would really need to go inside to get an accurate idea of what it is really like.
On our drive back to the ship, we had a photo stop at the only 7 star hotel in the world, the Burj Al Arab. If you want to spend a night there, it will set you back at least $1500.00 per night.
We were back at the ship by 1:15 as we were scheduled to set sale for Oman at 2:00.
I enjoyed our time in Dubai, even though we went to one mall too many, but it certainly isn’t the real world. In Sri Lanka, there was so much poverty and people struggling to stay alive. Here it is all about conspicuous consumption. Yes, there is no crime and the city is incredibly clean, but there is also no expectation of privacy. There is so much state of the art facial recognition technology, that the police just show up where they are needed. It is an absolute monarchy and the emir owns everything. There are trade offs everywhere. Democracy is messy. However, we at least have a voice in what goes on if we choose to use it. That is not the case in Dubai.
Our day in Sri Lanka was a sensory mix of sights, smells, sounds and taste. We booked a Tuk Tuk Safari through the streets of Colombo. There were eventually five tuk tuks in our safari. This was not one of the ship’s shore excursions and there was a bit of a kerfluffle before all of us got together.
The ship was docked in an industrial port because there was a pier there that was long enough to accommodate us. Shuttle buses were provided to get us to the gates since walking was not allowed and, in any event, gates were some distance away. There turned out to be more than one gate at the complex and that caused problems for a whole lot of people.
We got off the ship early so that we would have plenty of time to be there before our guide arrived. The shuttles were taking everyone to Gate 8. That was the first mistake. The bus dropped us off in a very unprepossessing neighborhood. There were an abundance of tuk tuks there with drivers asking if we want a tour, but not our tour guide. There were some interesting things to photograph, though.
We had been waiting for awhile when another passenger ran over and told the bunch of us who were waiting there that tours were being met at Gate 1 and that the bus waiting would take us there. So, we hopped on board that bus and off we went. It seemed like our driver wasn’t really sure where Gate 1 was and, after asking directions a couple of times, he found it.
Once we were outside the gate, we found even more tuk tuks and drivers but not our guide. We asked someone if this was where we met Tuk Tuk Safaris Sri Lanka and were told “yes” and directed further down the road. Still very confused, we asked some else for help and found a driver who said he would call our guide for us. I, fortunately, had his number but, unfortunately, no service or wifi. After a three-way conversation between the driver, Prenaab (our guide), and me, it was finally decided that the driver would take us to meet our group. We paid the gentlemen with the phone $5.00 for his help and headed off. Riding in a tuk tuk is quite an experience and the adventure was just beginning. Ten dollars later we met up with part of our group and Prenaab. Our driver for the day was Hosni and he was a delight! His English was not the best, but was a darn sight better than my ability to speak his language. Interestingly, the other two couples we met, at that time, were family traveling together. One couple was from Eugene, Oregon (small world) and his brother and wife from France. Later on, we’d be joined by folks from Washington state so we were a Pacific Northwest group.
Tuk tuks are individually decorated to reflect the personality of the driver. Ours was quite subdued while another was really tricked out. There is also a photo below of the inside of a random tuk tuk.
And then we were off to drive through the teeming streets of Colombo in our tiny little tuk tuk as we darted in and out of traffic dodging other tuk tuks, cars, motor bike and pedestrians. The sounds were such a part of the experience. Everyone was honking horns, the tuk tuks were sputtering, and other vehicles whooshed by. Our driver reassured us, before we started out, by telling us he was a good driver and that he’d been doing this for 14 years. He spoke the truth. We never felt horribly unsafe but it was certainly a different experience than we have ever had!
Our first stop was a Hindu temple, Sri Ponnambalam Vanesar Kovil, which is dedicated to the Lord Shiva. This time, we had to remove our shoes even before we entered the grounds. I found this to be one of the holiest places I have ever been. So many people there were worshipping and offering prayers. The scent of incense was all around. In the main temple, men were prostrating themselves on the floor, women were whispering into the ear of a chanting holy man and children were running around being children. As I just stood and absorbed everything, Brian ventured further in and took some of the pictures of murals and artwork. There were flowers and trees throughout the ground that helped create this island of serenity inside a big, bustling city.
Before we left this magical place, our guide and drivers handed out fresh coconut water to refresh ourselves. It was so fresh, it was still in the coconut!
Now it was time for more adventure. Our little tuk tuk safari wove through the busy streets to reach the local markets. These were very narrow roads with small shops squished together on each side. It was mainly a drive through visit, but, we did stop at a spice merchant who let us smell and touch each spice as he explained them to us. Again, I wish I could share the exquisite scents.
There was one very thin gentleman who was pulling a loaded cart through the streets. The sweat was rolling off of him. It truly put into perspective how hard most people in our world have to work to make some sort of living. We are very privileged people. This is the cart below.
Leaving the market, we headed to our next destination and did a little more sightseeing.
It was time for another Buddhist temple, this time Sri Lankan style. Handy baskets were provided for shoes. I haven’t been barefoot this often in many years!
Such vivid colors at this temple. A real feast for the eyes!
There were elephants throughout the complex, both in sculpture and mounted.
Our guide led us to one of the most sacred parts of the temple, a banyan tree. The Buddha sat for seven days under a banyan tree and received enlightenment. People would touch the tree, offer prayers and pour water on it.
It seemed like every corner we turned, there was more beauty in so many forms.
Lunch was next and this was a surprise. My paperwork for the trip didn’t indicate that we’d get lunch provided, so that was quite a treat. We were taken to a local Sri Lankan restaurant for traditional food. The restaurant was quite small and patrons walked up to the counter and chose what they wanted from the buffet. Out guide led us through, one by one, so we could let him know how much spice we wanted. If someone wanted no spice, they were served fried rice and chicken. I decided to be brave and chose mild spice. Evidently, it was Sri Lankan mild and not American mild! So tasty, and yet so hot. Brian ordered even spicier. The person a our four person table who had fried rice said there was a kick to that, too. The food was delicious and the flavors complex, but wow!
That is plant leaves that the food is served on. Our guide told us that the plate of food above costs him $3.00.
One more stop and our trip would be complete. We went to a tea grower’s factory store, learned about Sri Lankan teas and had the opportunity to purchase what we wanted. Some is coming home with us.
We returned to the ship tired but happy. We truly enjoyed our day in Sri Lanka. That night there was a folkloric show in the ship’s theatre presented by a local dance academy. The perfect ending to a very interesting day.
I don’t know what I expected from our visit to Phuket (poo-ket), but it certainly wasn’t the bustling city we found! I have seen the pictures of the stunning beaches on the island, however, we only saw those from a distance.
We had joined a private tour of the island with a small group. We hadn’t met any of the people with us before. With our guide, Cat, we got into our 10 person van and headed out. It was very hard to see out of the windows because they were so low, and I wasn’t able to get as many pictures of the city as I would have liked. The ones I did get were taken with hope and a prayer that I would get something interesting.
The wiring around the city was pretty sketchy looking. It was generally a rat’s nest of cables, sometimes decorated with twining flowering vines. Here’s a photo of one of the safer situations.
Our first stop of the tour was a Thai Buddhist temple. It was very different than the temples we saw in Malaysia. As before, there were large grounds with a collection of buildings and beautiful plantings.
There were cats everywhere! They were obviously very well fed and healthy and contented.
After again removing our shoes, we explored a couple of the buildings. The first one was a shrine in which people were leaving flower offerings and praying. There was a fortune teller throwing sticks that each had a number on them. When you got your number, there was a corresponding fortune for it. No one in our group participated, but it was very interesting to watch.
We collected our shoes and headed across the courtyard to a three story temple. Once again barefoot, we spent time exploring, climbing stairs, and enjoying the beautiful view. The interior of this temple was so different than the ones in Malaysia.
In the distance, we could see the Giant Buddha. That’s where we were headed next.
The Giant Buddha is still under construction as money allows. To enter the grounds, you must follow a very specific dress code. Knees and shoulders must be covered for both men and women. All attire was to be respectful. We saw tourists turned away because they didn’t have the correct clothing. Yes, the Giant Buddha is giant.
You could climb the stairs is reach the Buddha where you would find monks chanting and more statues. I opted to remain below (thanks to the blister I was developing on my big toe due to all the barefoot climbing I’d been doing), however Brian forged ahead. This is him in the photo below in the middle of the picture.
He found some interesting sights when he reached the top.
We left the Giant Buddha and headed out for some sightseeing with a focus on the gorgeous beaches.
Now came the shopping portion of our tour. Our first stop was a cashew nut factory. Cashews are a very profitable crop for the Thai. It is an incredibly labor intensive harvesting process since each nut needs to be shelled by hand. Each fruit of the cashew tree has one nut hanging from the bottom. Each nut is a different size so mechanical shelling is not an option. The fruit pictured below has a nut on the bottom.
Inside the shop, there was a woman demonstrating the shelling process. Lots of samples were handed and and we took the opportunity to restock our room snacks. The cashews were very tasty! We also quenched our thirst with local beverages.
We headed off to what was called the “world’s biggest gem store” and it may well have been. The visitor center had its very own aquarium which was, certainly, nothing I’d ever encountered before.
We were loaded onto, for want of a better word, a “ride”. It was like a Disneyland ride through a history of jewel mining and jewelry design. We weren’t allowed to take pictures. There were animatronic dioramas for each era illustrating the growing sophistication of the mining process complete with laser lights, glittering jewels and video. The obligatory sales pitch was included reminding riders that the best way to show your sweetheart your love was to buy the perfect piece of jewelry. Once off the ride, we were funneled through the workshop to whet our appetites even further.
Next came the high pressure sales. As we walked into the gallery, each couple was assigned a salesperson who would not leave your side no matter how many times you said that you weren’t going to buy, but just wanted to look at the pretty jewelry. Brian and I ended up sitting in the waiting area with most of the rest of our group. One couple wanted to buy a loose gemstone. At this point, I have to admit, I was over this tour. The jewelry store left a really bad taste in my mouth, my blister hurt, and I was ready to head back to the ship. This was a bad decision. By doing this, I robbed Brian and I of the chance to explore more and I have huge regrets over that.
On this tour, I learned that I didn’t like being forced to stop at the tourist trap shopping areas (although I don’t regret the cashews!). Brian and I prefer to wander and look at our own speed and go wherever we want to go and try to get a sense of the places we visit. Touristic shopping areas have their own place, but I don’t like feeling trapped in them.
Lessons were learned and, hopefully, the same mistake won’t be made on the second half of our voyage!
Our scheduled stop in Langkawi was cancelled due to strikes which had closed all the roads from the port. So, instead of exploring mangroves, we headed off to the bustling city of George Town, Penang.
George Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and maintains a lot of its original character. The ship put together a slate of excursions in a very short amount of time. The tour we booked took us to the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas (Kek Lok Si) and to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. We saw a lot of Buddhas!
Our drive to our first stop took us through George Town and out to the mountains. Our guide, Harold, was excellent and extremely proud of his city. He is of Indian heritage and was a Christian. He was especially proud of the fact that when the city was founded, one street was designated as the place all the houses of worship were to be built. The idea was that this would facilitate all the cultures mingling and not be so separated. There were Buddhist temples next to mosques, which were next to churches.
Our tour bus was very plush with valances over the windows which, while interesting, we’re not conducive to picture taking.
I was able to capture a few pictures of the city streets during the drive.
The Temple of 10,000 Buddhas is stunning. We had been told we’d have to climb a lot of stairs to get up to the second level and we certainly did! The very warm and humid temperature added to the challenge. As the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, it is an extremely big complex full of buildings, statues, gardens and gift shops to raise money for the ongoing maintenance.
One the way up be passed a pool filled with turtles and tortoises.
I turned around and looked down off the road and saw this.
A few more images from our trip up.
Can you see the elephant below?
We learned a lot about Malaysian specific Buddhist temples. Every country has its own traditions, but there were similarities that run across other countries, as we would later find. To enter the temples we had to remove our shoes and hats. The entryway into the temples are holy and have raised sills that shouldn’t be stepped on.
I took so many pictures on this level of the temple. There was beauty everywhere you looked.
Below is a picture of one of the carved decorations on the building. The light color is from the outside and the dark one is the inside view.
When we finished at the second level, we rode a funicular up to the third. Here there was a Goddess of Mercy statue, a lovely pond with a gazebo in the center, and many whimsical statues.
I also had my first, and hopefully last, experience with a squat toilet. I was not a fan. Seventy years of using a western toilet made learning this new skill difficult!
At least it was very clean!
After the funicular ride back down to the second level, we walked back down the hill and caught a few more sights along the way.
We were very hot and sweaty when we reached the bottom and we were happy to find cold snacks for sale. These cost us $3.00 total.
I don’t know if we saw all 10,000 Buddhas here, but we saw a whole lot of them and they were all different.
We hopped (or dragged ourselves) onto the the bus and headed to see the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This is is fourth largest reclining Buddha in the world. The courtyard was very pretty with fierce statues and dragons covered in colored glass that sparkled in the sunlight.
Once again removing our shoes, we went into explore.
There was a lucky Buddha in the temple. You made a donation, rubbed the Buddha’s stomach in an inwardly direction three times, and them put you hand immediately into your pocket to store the good luck. Brian and I figured “it couldn’t hurt” and went with the flow.
After our time here, we could go across the street to see yet another temple. This one was built by a woman, so she had the Buddha designed to look female. This was my favorite Buddha of all. So serene and peaceful!
We enjoyed our time in Penang very much. We returned to the ship hot and sweaty, ready for a relaxing evening.
We docked in Singapore a little later than expected which delayed people’s planned activities a bit. However, what delayed them even long was the Singapore immigration process. The day before we got to Singapore, we received notification from the ship that Singapore requires an online health certification to be completed no more than 3 days before we docked. I was able to easily complete Brian’s and my certifications and got them uploaded and accepted.
We had booked an excursion through the ship which would take us to Little India, Chinatown, and to a Chinese tea demonstration and tasting. A Chinese set lunch was included along with a Singapore Sling at one of the nicer hotels. Originally, we were supposed to go to Raffles Hotel where the drink originated but out ticket said we would be going somewhere else for operational reasons. Anyway, we met at our assigned time in the Princess Theatre and waited and waited to be led off the ship. Finally our number was called and we thought we were making progress. Then we hit Singaporean immigration. We stood on the gangway for awhile (which was a very long gangway) until there was room inside the building for more people to enter. Brian and I were the last two in our group. We were greeted by a long zigzag lines (like at airport security or a Disneyland ride) that was slowly moving forward. After roughly half an hour, we reached immigration where our passports were processed and we were fingerprinted and we where sent on our way. Later on, this process was taking a lot longer. We headed downstairs and went through customs. Since we had nothing to declare, we just had to go through a security scan. We found our tour guide and proceeded to wait until our other tour companions arrived. All in all, our tour left an hour and a half late.
Throughout the day, the weather reminded up we were in the tropics. It was overcast with occasional downpours. The overcast helped keep the temperature down so it was only slightly sweltering instead of extremely sweltering! I was able to take some pictures from the very nice bus through raindrop covered windows.
Our first stop was Yixing Xuan Teahouse where the founder’s daughter, who know works with her father after years in finance, explained how tea was processed and brewed. I didn’t realize that all tea (other than herbal and flowery and fruity teas) come from a single plant. The type of tea depends upon which leaves are picked from the plant. Our time here was truncated due to our late start but we had time to sip four types of tea. Included I. The tasting was the best jasmine green teas I’ve ever had. During the tea appreciation class, we learned that white tea is extremely high in antioxidants and other cancer preventatives and extremely low in caffeine. It is an incredibly lightly flavored tea.
We were hustled back onto the bus, which was blocking the road and causing a lot of drivers to lay on their horns with enthusiasm. We went off to Chinatown for lunch and while we would have time to shop then, we would spend more time here later.
Singapore is a fascinating city to observe. It is multicultural (Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Eurasian) with a lovely mix of old and new. Almost everyone speaks English and there is generally English signage along with another language.
The Macs’ Big Adventure 