Out of Africa (and Asia)

12 hours out of Port Said, we had entered a new climate – noticeably cooler and without the haze of Asia and Africa. As well as the weather changing, I also feel a change within myself as we enter Europe – in an odd way I feel as if I’m coming home.


Unfortunately political events down under have alienated me from most other passengers who seem to be rusted-on conservatives. Most seem to be crowing over Rudd’s demise as well as whingeing over Gillard’s accession. I felt impelled to tell one group – gloating loudly – to keep their bigoted, greedy, racist views to themselves to which they responded – “so you’d rather have Stalin?” I responded that they would be looking for Stalin too after a year of Tony Abbott.

I am now in a personal fix – whether to stick up for my principles, or subside into the ooze of greed and bigotry or just give up. Suddenly all my options appear to be on the table.

Athens – the white trash of Europe?

Yesterday I went ashore in Athens which we were visiting in advance of our normal schedule due to a national strike planned for the original date. I was very pleasantly surprised. I’d been joking around the ship
that I might buy Athens seeing as it is going so cheep! Quite the contrary – bustling, clean, vibrant and interesting compared with our stops in Asia and Port Said. The Acropolis was brilliant, except I lost my group and ended up wandering around for half an hour after they left – in the end getting onto one of the other tour buses. Athens itself was interesting and the Plaka - a traditional shopping area – very interesting with good outdoor eating too – a place to revisit.

approach to Acropolis

The Acropolis

ancient and modern Greeks

Athens from the Acropolis

more Athens

Museum of Antiquities

Then overnight we sailed to the Turkish port of Kusadasi for our tour of Ephesus. The port was delightful – many outdoor cafes around the waterfront – modern clean and attractive – another place to spend more time in.

Ephesus itself was overwhelming. A 1 kilometre walk through the ruins of this huge city (of 500,000 in its heyday) – Rome’s eastern capital. It was the home of St Paul, St John and is said to be the resting place of the Virgin Mary. Problem with these places is that one could spend weeks there, whereas we had 2 hours but at least long enough to feel the place in a very deep way – even though 3000 others are there with you!

approach to Ephesus

Ephesus doorway

Main street - Ephesus

amazing 25000 seat stadium

the donor was a big black labrador

Now we are headed for Istanbul, threading between the Turkish and Greek Islands. I would love to come back here again.

I have taken heaps of photos – far too many for the blog – so just a few to provide a taste of the visits.

Port Said PS

I've been told that most of the recently constructed buildings in Port Said are incomplete because completed new buildings are taxed!! Bit like the bricking up of windows in the UK when Cromwell introduced a tax based on the number of windows!

We're now headed NW across the Mediterranean for Athens tomorrow. We were supposed to go there later in the voyage but there is a national strike and demos scheduled for our original date!

There is a nasty bronchitis bug sweeping through the ship which passengers are kindly passing on to each other by coughing and spluttering in every public place. There's also a gastric bug going round. I dedicated my last Karaoke number to sufferers of the latter problem - "Burning Ring of Fire".

Meanwhile I turn my back and Australia falls in a heap.  What a selfish, bigoted, greedy, incompassionate bunch we've become. Tony's going to turn the boats back - presumably based on Jesus' advice. He won't have to turn my boat back - it won't be coming back!!

Nuff Said

Well this is my first visit to Port Said in 50 years. Last time I was headed in the opposite direction as a ten pound pommy migrant. Then, we migrants weren't allowed off the ship (MV FAIRSEA) - only the paying passengers. Having seen the place today, I think we were the lucky ones in 1960. Port Said consists of old buildings falling down and new buildings standing half finished (yet occupied). Guess it depends o n whether you're a glass half full or half empty type of person.

Port Said is an OHS experts greatest challenge. Foot high kerbs, no ramps, no footpaths round building sites - I saw no one in a wheel chair during my hour's walk round the city. It is dirty, dusty, hot, unkempt (even the parks look like weed jungles) and with rubbish strewn everywhere.

Mysterious dilapidated entrances

Organic development

Rooftop dhobeying

Satellite City

energy efficient aircon

At least the dogs eat well

and they built the pyramids?

Most shops have filthy shopfronts (always a sign of civic pride in my view). Tourist products look like the ones on offer in 1960 with the sellers oppressively pushy.

Tonight we sail for Kusadasi in Turkey. More news from there.

Suez Canal

Today we transitted the Suez Canal and just ahead of us I can see the Mediterranean Sea. We are at Port Said until tomorrow night with many people travelling 7 hour round trip to see the pyramids. Today's contribution is mainly photos with informative captions!

Entering Suez

Africa to port

Asia to starboard

everything old is new again                           

Mine's bigger than yours

On and on

Remnant of the 6 day war

Funnels still on

Graunch transfer

Port Said - does the cat come with the rug?

A very happy donkey

More tomorrow

Current Position

Tomorrow Suez Canal.

The Flying Dutchman

It seems an eternity since we left Dubai and headed for the Red Sea. Allegedly we are now in the Red Sea but with no sight of land, we could be anywhere!

We continue to limp along on one engine - the starboard propulsion unit is still out of action. The Captain has stopped making reassuring broadcasts and the TV channel showing our progress (like on a QF flight to London) has been turned off! The cargo (passengers) is becoming mutinous! Our immediate aim is to take our place in the transit of the Suez canal - at the expense of the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Luxor.

Once we get through the Canal - if they will allow us to transit with only one propulsion unit - the rest of the cruise will have to be reconsidered. The cruise cannot continue on one engine (if the other goes we could be out here all night!) - the itinerary would become a shambles.

If the ship needs to be docked for repairs, the cruise is over. Where this happens (hint - it was built in Italy), then cascades into a series of unlikely options. Is there a replacement ship? How long will the repairs take. Is the cruise cancelled? What compensation is offered to 2000 passengers. My back of envelope calculation of passenger fares for the world cruise is around $50 million. There is a lot at stake!

Meanwhile the Captain is silent and I await Australia's encounter with Ghana.

Pirate Alley sitting duck

Three days ago we sailed away from the land of the fat fake Fakirs, headed for Safaga and the Valley of the Kings.

On our first day at sea we had pirate drill. This is where all passengers repair to their cabins, put their head between their legs and kiss their arse goodbye - whilst the crew make their escape in the lifeboats!

That evening, after the drill, the ship slowed to a halt and remained motione\less (apart from the waves, for a good two hours. I believe this was to give the pirates target practice. After some time our new captain (changeover in Dubai) announced we had a technical difficulty with one of the engines and investigations were underway prior to repair. The ship resumed passage 2 hours later.

Meanwhile, to advertise our presence to pirates, huge allweather signs have been draped along the guardrails on the promenade deck advising pirates that we are a secure ship and that it would be in their best interests not to attack us. Fire hoses have also been laid out (we don't want dirty unkempt pirates do we) and a couple of huge boom box - burst your eardrums devices in case we are approached. Unfortunately the signage is in English, not your Yemeni or Somali pirates first language, Anyway it did the trick on the passengers all of whom found it necessary to repair to their latrines asap.

I awoke at 1230 this morning to hear a horrible grinding noise and rumbling sound. No - it wasn't something I had eaten. Oops No. 2 engine had conked out again. So since midnight we have been steaming on one propeller at a speed of only 13 knots rather than the usual 19K. The Captain this morning announced that due to our slow progress, we may have to miss our next stop which is Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.Not a popular decision.

So here we are, right in the pirate red zone, with Yemen on one side and Somalia on the other going nowhere fast. I've decided to make it the subject of a new novel in which we are forced into Aden and all taken hostage.

Of course, as luck would have it, we are sailing into a force 8 wind with 2 metre seas and a 3 metre swell.

Upon reflection, with the constant turnaround of these ships on the same day as the end of the previous voyage, you have to wonder if they ever get refitted or is it just tinkering on the run.

Anyway, it's exciting now - watch this space.

Alladin yesterday - Sinbad today

Muscat is a strangely captivating place. Harsh craggy mountains right down to the sea - hardly a blade of vegetation on them. Muscat itself, capital of Oman, is dazzlingly white and hot. It proved to be a strict Muslim nation as all women passengers had to cover their faces, arms and legs to enter the Mosque. Not a bad thing either when I think about it.The temperature was sappingly hot - I'm told it reached 50 degrees!

Oman is on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula to the NW of Yemen. Both countries front the Arabian Sea. It is along this coast and around the Horn of Africa that pirates operate. Tomorrow we have pirate drill. I think this involves all passengers being sent to their cabins whilst the captain and crew escape in lifeboats.

In Muscat I was introduced to Souks. These are bazaar like markets full of people, with smells of incense and other aromatic goods. To meld in with the locals I bought one of those full length white Arab Dashayas but I haven't been game to wear it yet.

900 passengers went on the trip to view the Zawawi Mosque. Somewhere along the line we lost our guide so I (literally) hot-footed it back to our air-conditioned bus.

Today we are in Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates. If ever you want to see reckless greed and ostentatious wealth - go to Dubai. The city is immersed in a cloud of pollution - even the mile high tallest building in the world is hard to see. Driving into Dubai and looking around I had the same vomitous feeling I used to get walking past Clint's Crazy bargains Stores, Luckily for me I forgot to take my credit card ashore - so I returned to the ship early with wallet unscathed.

Tonight we sail again after offloading 300 passengers and taking on 300 new ones. I presume the 300 departing passengers were able to make their own exit from the ship rather than in the ice containers.

We then spend 5 days passaging through these pirate riddled waters turning right into the Red Sea and onto our next stop at Safaga just south of the Suez Canal. From here, one of the tour highlights will be a trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

There's prize for anyone who can identify what the last photo above depicts!

Towards the land of Alladin

One more full day at sea tomorrow and we reach Oman and the UAE. This is where Aladdin used to hang out. I'll be on the lookout for cheap lamps.

As we head west from Mumbai, we are approaching the western edge of the monsoonal zone. The weather is improving by the hour. We now have a long, lazy SW rolling swell of around 2.5 metres and a light wind of 5 knots from the NW.

Tonight is "formal" again. How tiresome. I have to put up with starched penguins strutting their stuff when in daytime they revert to being elephant seals by the pool! Tonight I have been invited to join a dinner group with Keith McWilliam on it. Should i tell him what I think of his wine being sold on board. Time will tell.

The Karaoke is on again after dinner - please stop me someone!

I am going on excursions at Oman and Dubai - so these will be recorded ion the blog.

After we leave Dubai and head back down the Arabian Peninsula - we are in Pirate Alley before turning right into the Red Sea. Some exciting days coming up!

Finest sight in the east ...

Woke at 0600 to find us alongside at Mumbai. Water is not only murky but filthy with garbage. Outside temperature makes your hair stand on end before dropping limp and wet. I do not have a visa – so I am marooned on the ship. I dreamt last night that we were here for a week and that I’d be sleeping in a caravan on the wharf because I’d asked for room 210!!

The Indian immigration officials took 3 hours to process passengers going ashore. Security is high – armed soldiers patrolling the wharf and roofs of adjacent buildings.

On the other side of the wharf I was surprised to see HMS Ark Royal of Falklands fame. It is now a museum and appears to be rusting at the same rate as the Indian Navy ships close by at their own version of Garden Island.

The welcome to India sign is well maintained!

I have discovered that crew on board the ship – doing the same job – say bar tender – are paid at differential rates equivalent to the standard of ;living in their country of origin! Wow – maybe I should call Julia!

I’ve begun to write pen pictures of passenger types on board the ship. I’ll publish these in a later version of the blog.

Meantime at 2300 we head out of Mumbai (finest sight in the east – Bombay from the stern of a ship!) and head across the Arabian Sea to Oman and Dubai.

Mumbo Jumbo

Today we are at sea - 35 miles off the Indian coast - no sign of it. It's hard to believe there  are seething masses of people just over the horizon. The wind has gone and the swell is down to 1.5 metres. The weather is good too.

Tomorrow we enter Mumbai. Apparently the immigration procedures are endless - seeing as I have no visa - I note that I am in group Z for immigration processing! After that we head to Muscat and Oman where the temperature is apparently 45 degrees C!

Tonight on the deck there is "Tropical Night" with Indian food! I think we might all get a good run for our money! Personally I've been trying to avoid the curried eggs.

Not much else to report today. The pool remains a wave pool but its inhabitants haven't been washed ashore yet. I'm looking forward to the arabian and egyptian sectors of the trip and anticipate more photos for your entertainment.

I understand a talent contest in on the drawing board. Tossing up whether to try (my first) stand up comedy routine.

Cochin - is it Indian for Cocoon?

We arrived in Cochin this morning after a 5 day passage from Langkawi. I guess you can't do a place justice from the wharf - one would hope that the city itself does more for the eye. I cannot step foot in India because time precluded me from getting a visa before we sailed from Sydney. So I will also be on board tomorrow for the Mumbai stop. One thing I can tell you is that the "mystic scent of the orient" has returned in spades!

A few photos of the wharf area for your interest plus some more from on board.

Returning to the Cocoon theme, I fantasised that Cochin is Indian for Cocoon and that all the oldies who have gone ashore will be receiving their rejuvenation top up to last them the rest of the trip. I'll keep an eye on this and report back later.

The weather is gray and muggy. Talking of the weather, at an on board lecture about Islam yesterday when the longstanding bad feelings between the Sunnis and Shiites was discussed - I thought of the Muslim weather forecast. It will be Sunni on Monday and Tuesday - but the rest of the week will be Shiite.

I will update you all again from Mumbai, before we head west to Oman on the Arabian Peninsula.

Oh yes - another bit of news - I was waiting for the Karaoke to start last night (back by popular request) and i put $20 into a poker machine - and dropped the Mega Jackpot of $2650!!