MUMBAI (BOMBAY)

Since we did not realize we would be able to get off in any of the ports in India, at the last minute there was room for us on a bus tour called "Snapshots of Mumbai".  It was a short tour and I will let the photos speak for themselves.  After the tour was over we took a taxi back to the center of Mumbai to see up close the Taj Mahal  Hotel that as bombed a few years ago which has been completely rebuilt.

Ignoring the fact that they really don't want you taking photographs of the hotel, and the fact that there is one entrance with metal detectors and high security, forgetting the fact that the bottom columns of the hotel all have sandbags around them and the fact that you can't walk within 50 feet of the perimeter of the building, it was nice to see.

As we drove on the bus we passed a number of Victorian building built when England had ruled the country and the architecture is amazing.  The first image is of the Church Gate Station which was built in 1853.  The next picture is of a church called St. John the Evangelist.

Of the streets themselves here are some of the photos short from the bus window.  Len has become an expert bus window photographer

You could hire this carriage for your upcoming wedding.

This is one of the tower of the Taj Mahal Hotel

This is the famous archway called Gateway to India.  There are many India people strolling around the archway - sort of like the Arc de Triumph in Paris.

This arch is really close by the Taj hotel but right across the street from the hotel is a pigeon feeding station with about 500 birds milling around.  The ground is wet with feces and people are walking in it and the smell is incredible.  I can't understand how the hotel which is not more than 100 yards from this place does not clean it up!

The indians drive like maniacs - they lean on the horn despite the signs everywhere and they squeeze 4 to 5 cars on a 2 lane street honking as they go.  I thought we would be killed by another car.

The one thing we did find fabulous was a place called the Dhobi Ghat.  It is a central washing station for clothes that people can afford to send out.  Hotels, restaurants, business and ordinary people have their favorite wash man come and pick up, wash, dry, iron and return to them.  It is run by men only.
These pictures don't do justice to the scenes we saw.  It is all cold water washed, hammered against the edges o the cement sinks and hung out to dry.  At one time there were many of these places and now Mumbai is down to just this Ghat.  It looks so chaotic yet it is not.  The dirty water goes into a hanging gardens below.  I did not see any soap bubbles and the water certainly looked gray - yet the whites were really white!

Parked outside of this place was this baby.  There are no wild bulls walking the streets.  Too many have been hit by cars so they are herded or tied up. Near temples they are loose.

Those not lucky enough to have laundry service do their own.

The Indian people have decided to revert the names of most of their large cities back to the names they used pre-British, hence Bombay is Mumbai yet as our ship pulled out there was a band,
dressed in the style of British uniforms playing Colonel Bogie.

Our next port of call Dubai!

KOCHIN, INDIA (Our first port in India)

The colonial era name is Cochin and is actually called Kochi (it's present Indian name) It was an important spice trading center on the coast of the Arabian Sea as early as 1102. Settled by the Portuguese Empire in 1503 as the first of the European colonies in India, it remained the capital of Portuguese India until 1530.  The city was later occupied by the Dutch and the British and all their influences can be found throughout the city.

The ship arrived at 8 a.m and we though did not have visas for any of the ports in India, a new purser came aboard who went above and beyond the call of duty and managed to secure visas for us.  We were excited to go ashore and very grateful to him for his efforts when all other avenues were closed to us.

Our ship was greeted by dancers, the banging of drums and the clashing of cymbals.  It took about an hour for Indian customs to clear the ship and the drummers played the whole time without stop.  I don't understand how their arms did not become sore nor their feet not hurt from dancing on the asphalt.  In the second photo Len caught the dancer in mid-air.

Since we did not know we could get off the ship, we did not have the opportunity to sign up for any tours so Len and I caught a taxi at the port to go into the oldest part of the city called Jew Town.

We had read that in Kochi there is the oldest synagogue in India, built in the 1500's and we asked our taxi driver to take us to Jew Town.  It was really an amazing place - here are some of the scenes we saw.

One of the streets and a store along the way.

Although the streets were busy with tourist I think this guy is pulling his hair out for lack of business!

FPL has nothing over this city's electric company. We love their ingenuity

At the end of one of the streets we found this sign and the synagogue  Too bad it was closed.
The bell still chimed 12 o'clock.

This woman was washing dishes beside one of the stalls.

Some lovely school children and an old man resting in the shade.

After the obligatory visit to the taxi driver's 2 souvenir shops, we drove back to the ship and passed these trucks. These are government trucks and silly me, I thought the circus was in town.

PHUKET, THAILAND

It was just a brief stop in Phuket.  There were no tours we wanted to take and as we were walking toward the taxis, we met a couple coming off another ship. All 4 of us got in the taxi for a 20 minute ride to town.

There are some fabulous beach resorts in Phuket, but we really did not want to go to a beach, and decided to just stroll around town on our own.  The other couple were doing the same but wandering in a different direction. We agreed to meet back where the taxi left us in 3 hours.

The town is very small and not many things to see.  Phuket is an island belonging to Thailand and at one time was rich in rubber and tin and  part of a major trading route for Portuguese, French, Dutch and English traders.  One of the smaller islands off the coast was made famous in a James Bond movie "Man with the Golden Gun."

As we wandered the streets Len took photos. We listened to the fellow up on the ladder explaining his thoughts to the other workers below.

We heard him say: "Grounding may provide some protection against electrical shock, but does not defend well against the risk of electrocution. A non-GFCI circuit relies on the circuit breaker in the panel to trip when a ground-fault occurs. A circuit breaker will require a minimum draw of 15 amps before the breaker trips (20 amps on a 20 amp breaker, etc.). Electrocution has been known to occur with exposure to an electrical charge as little as 1 amp. A GFCI outlet will trip at .005 amps. A charge of .005 amps may still give you a nasty shock, but it’s a lot better than the alternative."

This little guy did not leave the bike.

and (drum roll please) - an interesting fixture on top of a street light.

PICTURES FROM PENANG, MALAYSIA

We arrived in the city of Georgetown which is the capital of the state of Penang, Malaysia and named after King George III.  The city of Georgetown was founded in 1786 for the British East India Company as a base for the company in the Malay States.

We had no tours planned and we had about 8 hours to go ashore and we decided to get a taxi to drive us around.

We asked him to take us to a souvenir shop and he took us to probably the best one we've been in on the entire trip.  The walls, ceilings, counters and shelves were full.  We roamed around in the store for more than 2 1/2 hours and left the store after making good friends with the owner and one of his salesman below.

Never missing an opportunity for a photo, Len took a picture of their toilet.

When everything was well packaged, we turned to leave and the driver we had let go was at the door, waiting.  Not only was he waiting, his wife was there as well.  Her english was better than his and when we asked him to take us touring and  asked how much, he said it would be up to us.  Never, anywhere on this trip did we have a driver say this.

They took us to 2 temples, both Buddhist, the first 4 pictures are from the Thai temple

On this statue and other like it, you can buy a small sheet of gold leaf and apply it.

These are from the Burmese Temple.  My guess is that it is the difference between Episcopalians and Anglicans.

Here's a monk is blessing a couple, maybe contemplating marriage.  They had no problems in either temple with people taking pictures.

Our driver and wife drove us through town and Len caught this old building, and a man at work in a store front.

We drove for about 3 hours then back to the ship.  When Len asked him again he said - "up to you."   Len gave him $40. US - They seemed very happy.

As we got on board a small fishing boat came by.

Tomorrow we go back to Thailand but in the very south of the country.

IN PRAISE OF SINGAPORE

We arrived in Singapore early, around 8 am and we had planned so many things to do on our own I wasn't sure if we could squeeze everything in since we had only one day in port.

We arrived to drums and cymbals crashing and the beat was wonderful. Dancing on the pier were lions, the symbol of Singapore. I took this lousy photo while Len was getting dressed.  We overslept.

We wolfed down coffee and a roll and headed into a spotless terminal where the lions posed for photos with the disembarking guests.

The terminal was very busy - more than 250 passengers got off and about the same number were getting on.  We were told by a Singaporian that a taxi costs about $30. per hour so we were lucky(ha) to find a taxi driver for $10./hour.

Our list of places to visit included Chinatown, Little India, The Marina Bay Sands Casino and still be back in time for a ride on the Singapore Flyer (more about that later).
The cab driver spoke excellent English, as a matter of fact everyone in Singapore speaks english.

He shook hands, introduced himself as Raymond and walked us outside.  He waved down a waiting cab and we asked if he was not driving, who was this guy?  He replied that his "helper" would take us to Chinatown.  We confirmed where we were going with this guy whose name was whatever
and yes it was $10/hour and we could have him for as long as we needed him.  Great!!!! What a bargain!!!!!

He talked quite a bit and told us about living in Singapore.  Everyone works he said, otherwise you cannot get government assistance (just like the U.S)  You have to work to get help - no matter how menial the job is.  Well the apartments were decent.  Not much laundry hanging out the window and the grounds everywhere were spotless.  Singaporians have to go to school.  You have to pay a small amount
$50/month for high school students but that's all.  Money is taken out of every paycheck for retirement and is on a sliding scale based on your earnings.  The money cannot be touched unless you buy a house and is kept by the government for your old age and the government matches the same amount.  Healthcare is deducted from your pay as well. And the streets are spotless.
If you are old and need assistance ONLY unless they cannot track down relentlessly one of your kids to pay your bills THEN the government will pay.  There is a law that about Filial duty..........and the streets are spotless.

They limit the number of cars on the road.  First you have to buy a paper that allows you to buy a car. The paper costs tens of thousands of dollars and then you can buy a car.  Cost of say, a Ferrari with the paper  is $1MM Singapore dollars.  Apartments, about $1MM Singapore Dollars but the streets are spotless!
($1US = $127SINGAPORE DOLLARS)

We asked about immigration - He told us there is not a problem.  They feel their capacity is 7million and they are only at 5million people now.  What about illegal immigration after all Indonesia is just across the bay.  No problem he assured us - "very few people try to come here illegally -  they get CANED and then shipped back to their country........but the streets are spotless.

First he insisted on taking us to a semi-precious art shop. (I smell commissions here) They made 3 dimensional pictures and they were really beautiful but pricey. We were warmly welcomed by the owner who took us through the factory before visiting the art gallery upstairs. We did buy a small 5 color jade vase very reasonably priced at $35.  Next, he insisted on taking us to a huge jewelry store where we could get 70% off on already discounted items. All the vultures were dressed in matching jackets as they bowed and scraped us into the store. We felt like 2 guppies in a tank full of sharks.
We browsed quickly and then walked out.

The taxi driver finally got us to Chinatown and assured us that he had the best camera shop to go to.  Len told him he didn't want to buy any equipment and he told us OK OK no problem but go into the shop anyway.
Of course he parked his car in front of the cameral store - and ushered us in whether or not we wanted to go in.  And of course his friend the tailor was right next door.

The character in the Nikon store was like one of the Japanese interrogators in a bad world war 2 film
with a long lean face, yellowed buck teeth with a loud guffawing laugh with his head thrown back in delight at our torture.
He did as much fast double talking as one could do and Len finally got ticked off and ended up buying a lens cleaner for $20 just to get out of the store.

When the cab driver tried to lead us to the tailor, Len put his foot down and we walked the other way.   A short time later, Raymond, the original guy who had contacted us at the port, mysteriously appeared through the crowd in a store we were shopping in.  Carrying our newspaper and package that we had left in the cab, he sorrowfully advised us that  the cab's A/C broke and he was going to get another car and could we pay him the $20. (2 hours had passed)
Stupid me thought he was coming back but Len was not surprised when he disappeared.

Well we were in a great part of the city and so we wandered Chinatown.

We wandered the narrow streets looking at this and that and found a store with only chopsticks.
They were beautiful and so beautifully presented.

We spent about 2 hours wandering the streets and then got a taxi over the Little India. It was like stepping into the country. The streets had a different smell - the clothes everyone wore were Indian.  It was like being in the middle of Bombay.

More "chatchkeys" than you could imagine.  Temples, incense and flower markets with prayer offerings in the form of flower leis.  I walked over to a flower stall and touched one of the leis.  I thought the indian fellow who was watching the store was going to hit me. "Don't touch that" he loudly said, "that is for sacred prayer, it has religious significance and you will defile it by you touching it".

I apologized, looking for a hidden cane, we left ...........on spotless streets.

We got another taxi and went to the newest casino, Marina Bay Sands hotel and Casino.  Of course this is off limits to Singaporians unless they can cough up $100 per person to enter.  For us, with our passports, (which is the only country that we had to carry our passports around with us) there was no charge.

Here is a photo of the outside of the hotel and casino.  Too bad Len had to check his camera.  It was an amazing place.

At the very top is an infinity swimming pool (3 FOOTBALL FIELDS LONG)

I believe the same Toronto architect who designed the Guggenheim Museum designed this building.
If you  look at the top it looks like a ship. Inside is the Casino which is 4 floors high.  In the center of the opening of the casino is a humongous chandelier that looks like the hull of the ship and over many of the casino tables there are silver whirls that look like ripples in the water.
To my way of thinking, whomever designed this building was thinking that the players were trapped like fish in the bottom of the ocean.  Maybe I've got the perception wrong.

 Of course the tables were full. They were waiting 3 deep to get to the baccarat tables.  Thousands of dollars were being spent.  Asian men and the women were gambling. It was crazy.  They had lots of slot machines as well.  Most were American machines but you played with Singapore dollars.

We had a great time, gambled just  little.  There were table games I've never heard of but there were plenty of people playing.

Well we were running late - we got another cab and had to be back at the dock for a ride on the Singapore Flyer.  It is about 90 feet higher than the  Eye in London. This was a courtesy tour for the world cruisers.
We got back just in time to board the bus.

Each gondola can hold 22 people and the ship booked 3 gondolas for about 12 people. We were all able to sit or stand comfortably for the 2 revolutions which took about 1 hour to complete.
The ship had canapes and wine aboard each gondola and the ride was so smooth and silent with the  unbelievable view in every direction. We had a picture perfect twilight,  Here are some photos but they are so low resolution that it does the pictures no justice.  When I print a book from this trip you will see how fantastic the pictures are.

Singapore has the largest port in Asia - It looks like the 6th fleet is stationed here.

Here is one of the gondola ahead of us!

This is a soccer stadium in the water.

This one is still being built. Look how curved the buildings are. An engineering marvel.

Another view of a gondola

Another view of the city.

Tired and by now starving hungry we headed back to the ship............on spotless streets!
On to Penang, Malaysia