June 4 - June 6 - Mumbai to Dubai

Mumbai, India.  Used to be  Bombay.  Currency: Indian Rupee

The passengers had talked endlessly about Mumbai, how they didn’t intend to get off as it was a “dump”, it ‘”stank”, “full of beggars” and that “you could smell it miles out at sea”. 

It was nothing like that at all.

Security was very strict getting in and out of the terminal; I think that we had our papers checked about 4 times before getting on our tour bus.  It was great, one of the ladies had organised a private tour so there was only 13 in our group which makes it a lot easier that the other tours.

We settled in for a great tour.  We drove around the town looking at all the various old and new buildings, the traffic was light as it was Sunday, hate to be there on during the week.  There was not the noise of horns constantly in use as there was in Saigon or Phnom Phen.

We decided that we would not have lunch as we had already lost 3 hours of our trip.

Some of the sights we visited:

Gandhi Museum is the house where Mahatma Gandhi lived in when he was in India.  It was 2 stories and very well set out.  I now know why the spinning wheel is on the Indian flag, it was his dream to have every Indian spinning and supplying their own material for clothing and stop importing material.  Guess he would be pleased about the Phone marketing industry.

Laundry washing area. This was amazing, it is a huge area where laundry is washed and dried, one man has a small area that he rents and they are given washing to do and they brag that nothing is ever lost.  The day we were there they had just finished washing the sheets from the hospital.

Victoria Station.  This is a fantastic example of Victorian architecture and through heaps of dirt and grime it still looks great.  This railway station handles over 5 million passengers a day.  It was busy enough on a Sunday and I can not imagine what it would be like at 8am on a weekday.

Gateway of India. This is a legacy of the Raj, which was built to commemorate the imperial visit of King George V. There is a huge square in front of the gateway and as it was Sunday and 5 o’clock in the afternoon, there were hundreds of people.  

Kamala Nehru Park and Hanging Gardens.  Laid out in 1881 over a descending series of reservoirs this is a great place for the locals to hand out.  It is also close to a special burial area of the Jain religion who can’t harm any living being so they can’t bury, cremate or float down the river so they throw th  e body out on the ground after the ceremonies and the vultures come down and pick the bones clean, after a few days the bones are collected and then thrown down a deep well. 

The final visit was to the Hare Krishna Temple which was interesting after hiding from them in the 60’s, we went to their main temple which was full of chanting people who were really hyped up.  It was a very happy place.

Monday 4 June 0700  Arabia Sea  We have travelled 7287.3  Nm  from Sydney and we have to travel 944 Nm  to our next Port of Dubai.  Heading 297.9 Temperature on desk is 29.1 degrees.  Speeding 19.9 knots.  Wind speed 19.2 knots across the deck.

The sea has become really calm again and life continues of the ship with most people settled into a routine by now.  I went for a tour of the ship’s galley today.  Wow.  It is a world of stainless steel down there; I can’t remember any of the statistics they told us about quantity etc.  I remember that they make 12,000 dishes per day.  The food comes from everywhere in the world, the butter comes from Ireland.  Amazing stuff.

Sample of some of the night desert selection.

Tuesday 5 June 0700  Arabia Sea We have travelled 7740.8Nm   from Sydney and we have to travel 485 Nm to our next Port of Dubai.  Heading 297.9 Temperature on desk is 27.7 degrees.  Speeding 19.6 knots.  Wind speed 23.6 knots across the deck.

The ship is taking on a different feeling today as we are nearing the port of Dubai where about 400 passengers are leaving the ship and we hear 350 coming on.  There are final of a lot of things, the Bingo Jackpot which has been building up over the trip is now up to $6,500, the room was packed out with even people who do not usually play came along to try their luck.  I was there and of course didn’t get close to getting all the numbers.

The Princess Choir had been practicing since the start of the cruise, this is made up of about 120 passengers and they put on a performance for the passengers and it was extremely professional, they sang over 6 songs and as you can imagine they were on a high when they finished.  I have been roped in to join them next section.

I mentioned before that there is horse racing every now and then, well today we had them again but this time with a difference.  The horses were passengers wearing horse suits.  It was a lot of fun but I think it must have been very hot for them as it was about 11am and the weather is certainly not getting cooler as we travel north.

One of the traditions on the ships is the parading of the Bombe Alaska.  The last night is a formal evening with men and women dressed in their finery and   when it is time all the waiters walk through the dining room and about half of them are carrying a flaming Bombe Alaska.  The Head Chef and his staff all are presented for the guests to thank and then we are all given a piece of the cake.  I had no idea what it was and when I got my piece of ice cake it was a bit of a surprise. OK but not great.