Muscat, Oman

Muscat, Oman                                                         March 21 and 22, 2017

Upon leaving Mumbai, India, Captain Jonathan, the Amsterdam’s commander, sent out a letter to the passengers about a  practice drill for piracy. Oh my…this was a new experience for us….PIRACY. After a brief update on the possibilities of being boarded by a smaller boat of hostiles, all passengers were alerted to stay away from all windows and outer decks (during the rehearsal drill)…in fact we were told to go to the inner  hallways for security purposes.

The crew strung up razor wire along the sides of the ship and powerful water hoses were installed along the decks of the third floor….and they remained during our journey.  Officers with binoculars were given duty to keep watch on the back open deck of the ship during our journey crossing the seas between India and Oman as well as sailing past Somolia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The captain sped the boat up to 25 knots ….best to be going at top speed through these modern day pirate infested seas.  This was serious business…and the crew did not take it lightly. Preparation for a possible confrontation was the command for the next seven days…. Better safe than sorry.

Captain Jonathan surprised the passengers with an early arrival into Muscat….5:00pm, a day early. Larry and I were one of the first to jump on to the pier bus and head into Old Muscat to experience the night life.

What a spotlessly clean, pristine city nestled amongst the sharpest ridged peaked mountains! An incredible sight! The ship’s landing was so very scenic….a big contrast from the ugly container ports previously visited. The town actually had grown right to the foot of the rocky mountain edges.

The bus took us along the attractive Corniche, a waterfront   promenade with statues and fountains. The evening sunset was striking against the serrated mountain crests. The bus dropped us at the Mutrah Souq, a traditional Arab market housed under a modern timber roof outdoor structure.

 The smell of Frankinsense burning was immediate as we wandered through the walkway of tiny shops of antiques, textiles, perfumes, copper, silver and gold.

                                                                                         Arab men's hats

Colored globes for candles

                                                                                               Frankenscence...a resin from local trees

             Water pipes for smoking

                                                                                   Copper pots....just like the smaller one that  I have

Moslem women's clothing

                           I stood out among  the locals...all in long, black clothing.

Music tantalized our ears with Arabian sounds. At 8:00pm the local Mosque had a Muslem gentleman singing the call to prayer over the tall tarret speakers.

Being mostly an Islamic nation we watched the women dressed fully in black from head to toe while shopping and gentlemen talking in small groups in their long white gowns and little Arab hats. What unique sights!  After getting lost in the Souq’s twists and turns of shops, we finally made our way back to the Corniche to find a bus back to the ship. The sights, the sounds, and the smells were all an eye opener to what lie ahead for the next day.

Muscat means safe harbor. It has been the capital of Oman since 1793.

The next morning, Larry and I were the first to board a Hop On-Hop-Off Bus at the ships dock.

As we traveled into the city we spotted high upon the hills, two old Portuguese Forts of Mirani and Jalali built back  around  1580.

They blended into the mountains to almost appear camoflauged.  In 1650, Omanis took over this area, driving the Portuguese out of the region, and have remained ever since.

 The current leader, Sulltan Qaboos, took command of this Absolute Monarchy back in 1970, sending his ruling father to London in a bloodless takeover. He proceeded to open Oman up to the outside world. He required that the architecture  remain with the traditional domes and arabesque windows as well as no high rises.  It certainly made the city quite whimsical. We also learned that the sultan controls all journalism that is written in the country…giving power to only a chosen few to write about local news.

           How about the Sultan's two yachts? Both white...one a bit larger than the other.

We rode by the latest achievement of the sultan, the Royal Opera House. 

                 We enjoyed seeing the natural mangroves and  Qurum Beach…so clean and natural.

                                                     The roads around the city were great!

The Parliament building was quite impressive, but my favorite was the Sultan’s Palace. The expansive court yard and flowering gardens were gorgeous.

                                         We stopped for a view of the marina and......

ended our day with a walk along the Al Muttrah Corniche. The waters here are crystal clear….so clear we could watch the locals snagging fish with breaded hooks.


Larry enjoyed talking with a couple of local men who were actually from Pakistan and Nepal, working here to send money home. So many times we have met men who are working out of their native country because there is no work there. It has to be heart wrenching to leave your family in an effort to gain an income to support them. In this part of the world, it is very common.

Larry and I really enjoyed Muscat, Oman. The city is quite manicured with flowering gardens and tree lined roadways.  It is quite a unique country with such an interesting culture.

Mumbai, India

Mumbai, India                                                                               March 18 and 19, 2017

Larry and I began thinking about this 2017 trip last year. It all fell into place once our cruise was booked. We were especially excited about going to India. The hardest part of the preparation of this adventure was getting our visa to India.

First, in comparison, we got a Vietnam Visa by driving to the Vietnam Embassy in Washington DC ….No issues….We drove into DC midday to avoid the rush hour traffic, dropped off the application form, filled in and downloaded from the internet, dropped off our passports with extra photos, and made a payment for the privilege of entering into the country.  We made a trip back a week later to pick up our passports with our visas. Simple as pie!

                                                                 India's flag

We weren’t aware of the need for an India Visa until November. I immediately looked up the process and saw that we could apply on line. Yeah! No need to find a consulate or embassy.  We felt a bit relieved because we needed our passports to take on our family Christmas holiday to Canada.  Things were great until I got to the part of the application that allowed you to get the internet visa only if you were entering the country through an India Airport….OH MY STARS!!!!

The country does not provide the service for visitors entering the country through a port….so we and everyone else on our cruise ship would have to go through a private company to gain a visa if you were not close to a consulate…namely Washington, DC, Atlanta, or San Francisco. So I began the process of filling in the forms for the private company, CIBT, to get our India Visas. The service on line did not have a drop down box for one of the categories so I ended up printing the application and over-nighting it to one of the Company’s reps to fill it in to the tune of $75 bucks each. What a gimmick! Then they over-nighted the forms back to us. What a process! But it all had a happy ending.

So…..

Larry and I got up early to watch the ship’s arrival into Mumbai, India. The landscape was a mixture of tall sky scrapers and short older buildings as well as lots of air pollution. We searched the skyline for the Gateway to India….never spotting it.  The ship docked at 10:00am. Then the process of passing through the border patrol began.

The port authorities had not brought the crane to put the gang way out, so the embarkation process did not really get started until around noon. Indian officials had to have a face to face greeting (so to speak) with each passenger. The bottom line is that we did not get through our official greeting until around 2:00pm. What an ordeal! 

                                                   Official Indian Credential Inspectors
Then everyone who exited the ship and entered the ship had to pass through another Indian inspection with a copy of our passport and a special card stamped that said it was OK for us to embark onto shore....It was a BIG ordeal.

Passing through the Indian Homeland Security was really a  grueling experience due to terrorist attacks of the past….We just were not aware of this until our visit.

 Larry and I decided to avoid the hustle of getting off the ship until 4:00pm. By that time the heat of the day was a bit more tolerable as well. After passing through the embarkation guards we took a 15 minute shuttle from the ship to the entrance of our port called Green Gate. During the bus ride we were lucky to have met a local lady who asked to share a cab with us into the Colaba, one of the many popular shopping districts of Mumbai.

                                                       What a bustling shopping experience!
She took us to an exclusive shop of touristy items where we were able to get  a little WIFIi as well as some really cool air…the taxi did not have air conditioning.  This Indian tour guide pointed out lots of nice name brand handbags, shirts, and other items that were copies of the real thing….for really cheap….$2.00-$4.00….With hundreds of shoppers and bargain hunters (two ships were in port) Larry and I quickly decided we needed none of the wares. She led us to a money exchange and we departed each other’s company.

                       Larry spotted his eye candy....an old Indian Motorbike...was he ever drooling!

The money  exchanger tried his darndest to pass some $500 rupees notes onto us. We were warned earlier to not take any $500 or $1000 rupee notes…they were worthless and had been discontinued. Larry walked away with a fist full of 100 rupee notes…another fine example of lots of paper with a small amount of value.  (65 rupees = $1 US)

Amongst the car horns honking and the loads of bumper to bumper traffic....

                                       we finally found our way to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

To enter the hotel, we had to pass through electronic surveillance screening.

                    Inside we  spotted the stairway and trellis of one of the domes... very beautiful!

What an exquisite chandlier?

                                                            Ancient Art displays were numerous
This five star gem had been blown up killing 600 people back in 2011 by ten Pakistani terrorist.  The locals were still talking about it. The building was beautifully redecorated inside with the outside still having the old majestic Victorian architecture.

We passed through the hotel and wondered through the traffic over to the Gateway of India. What a wonderful ,  grand structure….but why don’t they power wash it? Built in 1911, to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, this gate greeted steamship passengers arriving long ago and served as the final point of departure for the British troops leaving in 1947.

                             The Gateway to India (over my left shoulder) is a big tourist attraction
Larry and I had to pass through separate lines (a men’s line and a women’s line) to enter the area. A lady guard searched my bag…just another sign of the times.

                       So many sights...it was hard to keep Larry's attention while capturing a picture.

 Inside India's  Gateway

The most amazing sites here at the Gate were the beautiful saris that the Indian women wore. Every color of the rainbow on all ages appeared walking  around this big open area.

With a population of 12 million, Mumbai is the world’s fourth most populated city in the world…and many of the residents were here enjoying the evening with us.

What a glamorous sight as the lights came on and the night approached!

The night sky appeared too quickly. Larry and I found a taxi to take us back to Green Gate . It was a welcome sight in the Mumbai night.

WE quickly boarded a bus back to the ship to see a Bollywood Show at 9:30pm…lots of singing and dancing and incredible Indian costumes.

The next morning we left the Amsterdam at 8:00am to find our way back to the Gateway to India to catch a 90 minute boat ride to Elephanta Island. This island is  one of Mumbai's most recognized landmarks.

                Numerous little boats were lined up to take tourist to Elephanta Island.

                                             Leaving the Gate of India for Elephanta Island

                                            Taj Mahal Palace Hotel from our little boat

                   We enjoyed the long ride, getting the opportunity to talk with many of the locals. They were just as curious about us as we were about them.

One well dressed lady plopped down between Larry and me wanting a picture with us….I guess she was enjoying our pale skin.

Once we arrived at Elephanta Island we walked about a mile up a long pier.......

then climbed up several hundred steep stairs through a “makeshift” shopping area to reach the famous 7^th century caves. We thought there was quite a big difference in the entrance fee for citizens and  foreigners. What do you think? 

Larry and I watched several people being carried up the steep stairway in these specially made chairs with long bamboo pole holders...it looked like a pretty scary ride to me.

More than a thousand years ago, Hindu craftsmen carved columns and sculptures out of a series of caves located on this  island off of the shores of Mumbai, creating a temple complex dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The carvings inside the caves were gigantic and very remarkable considering their age.

The most outstanding sculpture is a bust of Trimurti-the three faced Shiva.

Can you imagine the work it took to make this temple so long ago when food and shelter had to be the main priority?

My Leo. the Lion, born in August.

                                                             Amazing structure....my man!

Ouchhhhh!

We enjoyed watching the little monkeys that jumped about…some snatching food from the pockets of the tourists. We were glad to have arrived on the island early, beating the heat of the afternoon.

Enjoyed watching these craftsmen at work....and to think...I thought this was only done in prison.

We enjoyed sharing a cool refreshment before getting  back on the boat....it was a very hot day!

                                Some boats were left high and dry with the tide going out.

The boat ride back was enjoyable, while having a conversation with a young Indian couple.  Our boat went through a thrilling inspection from the local police.

Upon arriving back to the shore, we enjoyed many conversations with other tourist who were touring the country on their own while grabbing a snack from Starbucks.

It was great to see our ship as we crossed the harbor.

While on Elephanta  Island Larry picked up a cruise ship card off the pathway of our walk. He put it in his pocket to return to the front desk of the ship. When we arrived at Green Gate, we had a bit of a conversation with an older gentleman who had been to Elephanta Island as well while waiting for our bus ride. Somehow the story of the lost card came up….unbelievably, the card belonged to him.  He was so thrilled to have it back….due to the rigid inspection of the Indian Security.   

Mumbai is a city of many contrasts. Some of the richest and poorest people live here. Old buildings stand at the foot of modern skyscrapers while high tech businesses thrive alongside the old traditional markets. The city name changed in 1996 from the  Portugese  named “ Bombay”  meaning ‘Good Bay’  to the Indian name, Mumbai, meaning ‘Goddess’. Mumbai is a unique culture that is re-inventing itself today while preserving its past.