Unfortunately, the Sapphire Princess only berthed at Salalah for five hours so we didn't bother getting off. By the time we would have disembarked, we wouldn't have seen much of the area and it would have been time to head back to the ship.
We visited Oman frequently while living at Al Ain and have been to Muscat, the capital, but not to Salalah, which is said to have some lovely countryside. Maybe another day we'll get to spend more time there to explore the sights.
Robin
Heading for Aqqaba, Jordan
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Dubai - Still Interesting
Dubai is a 'world hub' as Sheik Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the zillionaire Ruler of Dubai, puts it.
Realising that oil isn't forever, the Sheik set out to make Dubai a hub for everything so that when the oil runs out in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, from which Dubai inherits much of its wealth, it won't revert to the Bedouin past.
You see, Dubai doesn't have oil. It has a large airport, world class medical centres, world class conference facilities, numerous five star hotels, and is a relatively cheap tourist Mecca. Add to that the tallest building on earth, a huge mall that includes a fully functional ski slope and you'll see that Dubai is exciting and different.
When we lived at nearby Al Ain from 2005 to 2008, Dubai was a mess of cranes and construction machinery - and dust from the nearby sand dunes. Now, the highway overpasses, many of the buildings and a modern sky rail are all up and running. The dust is still ever present.
The concrete stanchions and walls of the highways are nicely decorated with a variety of inexpensive designs. None of the bland 'just concrete' we see in Australian cities.
There is a new port building near which our cruise liner, the Sapphire Princess moored.
We took a tour to the Burj Khalifa building which had not then been completed when we returned to Australia. From the top we got a very nice 360 degrees view of Dubai.
In the Emirates Mall, we saw the expat workers from the Philippines and elsewhere, the expensive Gucci, Victoria's Secret and other outlets and smelled the scent of oud as we passed by the traditional perfume shops.
We saw the Emirati women clothed in black from head to toe, the men in their dish-dashas. The brown skinned children with bright brown eyes and black hair doing what kids everywhere do.
The trip brought back many happy memories of those numerous times we visited Dubai when 'home' was just 130 km down the road. The comfort of our unimaginably big mansion; the man who looked after our garden and washed our cars for a pittance. The heat emanating from the concrete. The easy life of an expat.
I expect that in time most of the people in the world will visit Dubai as it's centrally located and now a waypoint for many aviation and shipping companies. If you haven't been there yet, add it to your must see travel plan.
Robin
Realising that oil isn't forever, the Sheik set out to make Dubai a hub for everything so that when the oil runs out in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, from which Dubai inherits much of its wealth, it won't revert to the Bedouin past.
You see, Dubai doesn't have oil. It has a large airport, world class medical centres, world class conference facilities, numerous five star hotels, and is a relatively cheap tourist Mecca. Add to that the tallest building on earth, a huge mall that includes a fully functional ski slope and you'll see that Dubai is exciting and different.
When we lived at nearby Al Ain from 2005 to 2008, Dubai was a mess of cranes and construction machinery - and dust from the nearby sand dunes. Now, the highway overpasses, many of the buildings and a modern sky rail are all up and running. The dust is still ever present.
The concrete stanchions and walls of the highways are nicely decorated with a variety of inexpensive designs. None of the bland 'just concrete' we see in Australian cities.
There is a new port building near which our cruise liner, the Sapphire Princess moored.
We took a tour to the Burj Khalifa building which had not then been completed when we returned to Australia. From the top we got a very nice 360 degrees view of Dubai.
In the Emirates Mall, we saw the expat workers from the Philippines and elsewhere, the expensive Gucci, Victoria's Secret and other outlets and smelled the scent of oud as we passed by the traditional perfume shops.
We saw the Emirati women clothed in black from head to toe, the men in their dish-dashas. The brown skinned children with bright brown eyes and black hair doing what kids everywhere do.
The trip brought back many happy memories of those numerous times we visited Dubai when 'home' was just 130 km down the road. The comfort of our unimaginably big mansion; the man who looked after our garden and washed our cars for a pittance. The heat emanating from the concrete. The easy life of an expat.
I expect that in time most of the people in the world will visit Dubai as it's centrally located and now a waypoint for many aviation and shipping companies. If you haven't been there yet, add it to your must see travel plan.
Robin
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Cochin, India
Our first view of Cochin from the ship revealed a region with old buildings in a state of decay typical of very old countries. Remnants of the British and Portugese appear everywhere as does a vast quantity of untamed rubbish, mainly plastics.
Seems like there is no recycling or rubbish pickup in Cochin.
We visited a lovely church and some fishing nets that work on a cunning fulcrum system; lower the nets into the water, lift them up and voila! Full of fish. The only problem seemed to be that these days the fish had moved somewhere else as though they knew this was a danger zone.
It was very humid during our visit, but we did a tour on an airconditioned coach which meant intermittent relief followed by soaking humidity. It's not all that bad being soaking hot when you know eventually you'll find a cool shower and airconditioned ship at the end of the day. The poor people who live there just have to cope - as they do. It's remarkable what we humans can adapt to.
We bypassed all the shop sellers selling essentially the same stuff everyone else seems to be selling - clothing, nick-knacks, wooden boxes, magnets and so on. You can only have so much of that stuff in one lifetime.
Back on the ship and we were heading to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a bit like returning home.
Many people on the ship complained about their visit. Everyone, whether you got off the ship had to have a visa worth $80 USD. Even the ship's crew had to pay. My guess is that Cochin will get scrubbed from the visited ports as will other places in India. That's unfortunate because many small traders will lose a lot of business.
I checked on the Australian Govt visa site and found that transit visitors from India don't have to pay anything to pass through Australia. I'm going to take up the issue when I gets home.
Robin
Seems like there is no recycling or rubbish pickup in Cochin.
We visited a lovely church and some fishing nets that work on a cunning fulcrum system; lower the nets into the water, lift them up and voila! Full of fish. The only problem seemed to be that these days the fish had moved somewhere else as though they knew this was a danger zone.
It was very humid during our visit, but we did a tour on an airconditioned coach which meant intermittent relief followed by soaking humidity. It's not all that bad being soaking hot when you know eventually you'll find a cool shower and airconditioned ship at the end of the day. The poor people who live there just have to cope - as they do. It's remarkable what we humans can adapt to.
We bypassed all the shop sellers selling essentially the same stuff everyone else seems to be selling - clothing, nick-knacks, wooden boxes, magnets and so on. You can only have so much of that stuff in one lifetime.
Back on the ship and we were heading to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a bit like returning home.
Many people on the ship complained about their visit. Everyone, whether you got off the ship had to have a visa worth $80 USD. Even the ship's crew had to pay. My guess is that Cochin will get scrubbed from the visited ports as will other places in India. That's unfortunate because many small traders will lose a lot of business.
I checked on the Australian Govt visa site and found that transit visitors from India don't have to pay anything to pass through Australia. I'm going to take up the issue when I gets home.
Robin
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