Cochin, India and sea days

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 – at sea

Another itinerary change! Am pretty sure there will be more revisions…but we now back to the original day for Aqaba, Jordan since there are too many ships in port on April 2. This will affect our transit of the Suez Canal so we’ll just have to wait and see as we get closer.

Could not get out of bed so decided to stay there and rest! Late lunch and then a haircut. Had dinner with friends and the band’s piano player, Raddie.

The Grand Voyage and Grand World Voyage are so different from a cruise. It is a voyage. It takes you to unique cultures in such an easy way. No flights. Meals are provided and easy to come by – buffet, restaurant, specialty restaurant, room service. All services are available – live music, fitness, computer, dentist and doctor, photography, laundry. You are hard-pressed to find a service where they cannot help you. And you get pillow animals each night. And chocolates. And make friends from around the world – passengers and crew. Have continuous entertainment – on TV, live in the theatres, cooking demonstrations. How can it get any easier? It is not a vacation. That may be hard for you to believe, but it is truly hard work to be a traveler. You have only so many hours to be out there to explore the new destination. The hours in port are never enough to do it all…to experience a new culture and make new friends. And to buy it all!

Thursday, St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2011 – at sea

Lunch with friends, meetings and work. 1st time cruisers met and expressed their thoughts on what they would have liked to know before they began the cruise. Enjoyed dinner with our table hosted by Joachim, a 4th Officer from the Netherlands. St. Patrick’s day festivities in the Crowe’s Nest with the orchestra and Far and Away movie and comedian, Kevin Devane.
Revised schedule again!

March 24, 25, 26 – Dubai! Departing at 10:00 AM on the 26th
March 27 – Muscat, Oman
March 28 – at sea
March 29 – Salalah, Oman
March 30, 31, April 1, 2 – at sea
April 3 – Aqaba, Jordan
April 4 – at sea
April 5 – transit Suez Canal
April 6 – Ashdod, Israel
April 7 – at sea
April 7 and 8 – Kusadasi, Turkey

Friday, March 18, 2011 – Kochi (Cochin), India

Kochi is both a city and former state in SW India on the Arabian Sea. The region has one of the highest population densities in India. Agriculture is the chief economic activity, there is a naval base and shipbuilding industry and is the primary training center of the Indian Navy.

Nice to have an arrival at 10AM so we had a nice sail-in past the Chinese fishing nets at a decent hour. The Chinese nets are huge triangular nets on long poles which are lowered from a platform in and out of the water by 4-5 men. We had a fun and hot day exploring Kochi. With another couple, we hired a cab for a tour of the area. I had my list of sites ready to explore and off we went with a nice older gentleman. We docked on Willingdon Island and headed over to Jew Town and the Fort Cochin district to explore the St. Francis Church, one of the earliest Indian churches to be built by Europeans. The church was a Catholic church until 1664, when it became a Dutch Reform church; it later became Anglican and is now part of the Church of South India. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was once buried here but his body was moved back to Portugal. The interior of the Santa Cruz Cathedral is colorfully painted with scenes and decorations that are gorgeous and gaudy. It dates back to the 16th century. From there we found a few nice shops and bargained hard for our treasures. The Pepper Exchange may not be on everyone’ list but it was on ours! And it was nothing! All the trading of pepper is now done on-line and they had nothing to show us in their offices. So I guess that interesting in itself – you just never know until you get there. The Dutch Palace was closed. The harbor front was lined with these precarious-looking bamboo and wood structures hovering like cranes over the waterfront. They are thought to have been introduced by Chinese traders in the 14th century. Fascinating way to catch fish without going out to sea.

The driver took us to his home, which he is renting. 2 rooms, near the temple with an outside kitchen. Four people live there for approx. $175 a month. He phoned his wife and daughter and was so proud for us to meet them. There was a holy festival in town and we went to the temple to see several elephants!!! HUGE, big old elephants strolling around the grounds. They were being washed down from top to their underside and the stood there and turned so the hose could reach them. They turned just as casually as if they were on a rotating pedestal knowing how far the water would reach. And the hose was aimed into their trunk and seemed to remain there forever. We thought we might be sprayed with all the water in their trunk but the excess water just spilled out of their mouth. They were not decorated; they were just there for the holy 11 day festival and we happened to be there on the next to the last day.

Amsterdam singers and dancers performed “H2Oh”.

“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go and you learn at once how big and precious it is”. - Anonymous

Saturday, March 19 – at sea

Ensemble cocktail party – our last one! We now have an former U.S. Ambassador onboard, Howard K Walker.

“Be precise. Don’t repeat like a gramophone record. Words have a limited utility.” - Gautam Buddha
(love this quote)