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Candice & Sandy

ah, the boat-people

San Francisco • Lahaina, Maui • Honolulu, Oahu • Pago Pago, American Samoa
Lautoka, Fiji • Auckland, New Zealand • Christchurch, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand • Sydney, Australia • Melbourne, Australia
Adelaide, Australia • Albany, Australia • Perth, Australia; Exmouth, Australia
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia • Hong Kong • Shanghai, China • Halong Bay, Vietnam
Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam • Bangkok, Thailand • Ko Samui, Thailand • Singapore
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • Phuket, Thailand • Cochin, India • Mumbai, India
Muscat, Oman • Dubai, United Arab Emirates • Salalah, Oman • Petra, Jordan • Cairo
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt • Athens, Greece • Rome, Italy • Southampton, England

Crappie Cairo - Wonderful Pyramids!

(Still getting caught up from this trip. Rome, Greece and London postings coming soon. We'll also put up two links to a lot of our pictures once we get them uploaded to the website.)


Okay, now we've been to the slums of Mumbai and our table mates, Duane and Kathy, had mentioned several times that Egypt was just filthy. Right, right, right. Little did we realize how much of an understatement that was! This place was FILTHY with rubble and trash EVERYWHERE! Words can not describe this place. Therefore, I took picture after picture after picture! Towards the end of the day Candice pleaded with me not to take another picture of the trash but I just couldn't help myself.


For some reason I've always been enthralled with trash but this was a pure SHOCK to me! Mounds of rubble piled up next to the roads and the irrigation canals along with piles of trash that were dumped over the edge of the canal sides. A lady on our bus told us she saw a dead camel in the water! Sorry to say that i missed that one but it doesn't take too much to imagine the extra detail! On our way out to Sakkara the irrigation canals stunk so bad that Candice had to resort to covering her mouth and nose with a washcloth that I had brought off the ship. Oh yeah, I took the picture and it is priceless! You can see her eye glaring through her sunglasses! As she was downloading the pictures later the next day, she ran across and started laughing so hard that she cried. Believe you me, she wasn't laughing at the time but I believe I was. I found the entire 18 hour day to be rather humorous and adventuresome!


We started the day off by getting up at 3 a.m. We had to have eaten breakfast and meet our tour group in the Chart Room by 3:45 a.m. to catch the tender off the boat in the mouth of the Suez Canal. Our ship transited the canal the entire day while we were off seeing the sights and garbage for 15 hours!


We had to have a security escort from the ship to the pier of Port Suez, so we made a five boat convey. We should have done this in the dark of the night but somehow the sun beat us and dawn was breaking as our convoy was headed out for a 20 minute cold journey. We laughed as we passed a sheep ship called Bader II, which was pointed out by our tender captain, when I said it's name is Baaaaaddddddder two, just like a sheep would say it! Ah, entertaining the troops so early in the morning is a tough job but someone has to do it.


Once we landed on the pier, our passports were checked by immigration officials and we walked the long pier to board the coaches. Another country who wants us to carry our passports with us is a sure sign of trouble to come. Trust me - they want to be able to identify the body! So off we were to the big city of Cairo. Eighteen million people live here with three million more that commute into the city daily making it swell to an odd twenty-one million people amongst as many piles of trash too.


As we drove through the city of Port Suez it was apparent that the military is one of the biggest employers in this area. The place looked like early 1950's buildings. There were larger buildings towards the outskirts of the city and many of these looked uncompleted. Now this government in Egypt is crazy because they don't collect taxes on buildings that are not completed. Hence, no one completes their houses. They leave about three feet of re-barb sticking up out of the the third or fourth floor and sometimes just empty blocks of rooms on the third floor. What makes things worse is that the larger projects all throughout this area and Cairo have been abandon due to their money being siphoned off. No one knows where the money is but I'll bet all they have to do is look in the mirror and they'll find it. To look out and see old houses unfinished with new projects unfinished was somewhat confusing because they really all looked the same with the exception of size at times.


Further into our drive in to Cairo the military had a strong presence. Long concrete walls lined their base with guard towers perched high on the front road containing guards with guns. Funny thing was there was a hole the size of a dump truck through the compound wall, which ran for miles, and no one was guarding that. A little later there was a pile of trash mounded up so high against the brick wall that you could just walk up to the top of the wall of garbage and step over. This was almost comical. All kinds of guards and trucks at the gated entrances, like someone was really doing their job, yet big holes exposed for all to see.


Now we had a security guard on each bus. They were all dressed in suits with ties and you could see their short 9" curved clip and handle from their guns protruding out from under their suit jacket. Along with these guards, we had a police escorts from Port Suez all the way into Cairo to our first hotel. I'm sure we were quite the spectacle with 12 buses rolling down the highway with police escorts speeding ahead and falling back intermittently with guns mounted on tripods in the back of the trucks and rifles in their hands.


Coming through Cairo during morning rush hour was too much. Coming from a country where there are rules, it was odd to see scores of people trying to cross the interstate on foot with fast moving traffic. People were stuck out in the middle and stuck on the sides of the highway, unable to cross in front of five lanes of 60 mph traffic. This would never be allowed to happen in America, my friend! It was incredible to watch.


The closer we got to the city center the thicker and higher the rubble piles got. Trash like I had never seen before with people living just steps from all the garbage! There were large lots in between houses with heaps of rock and concrete dumped out by dump trucks scatter around the piles of trash. We couldn't figure out what they had in mind. None of it was ever spread out and it was as if a construction company had just used an empty lot for their personal dump. Very rarely was a lot clean and level. One comes to mind. There was a restaurant that sat about three floors high with full length glass walls looking down into a semi-clean empty lot below but the rest of the entire area had piles of garbage surrounding it. I'm sure it was a view and a half to have with your meal.


Like I said, words just can not describe what we saw and thank God I had the movie camera to capture some of the sights while we were moving by. As we approached the Nile, the homes were very old and now not only was it a dump, the area had dilapidated houses which looked as if they would fall over any minute. Everything was coated in a 'nice' dark, grey dust color. Not much color other than cement grey and the occasional brick red. Even the stagnate garbage took on the dark grey hue.


Now twenty years ago, once you crossed over the Nile, it was a drive through the desert to get to the pyramids. Not today! The city has encroached upon the pyramids and some of the nicest hotels in town sit at the base of the road right below the pyramids. This newer section of the city is not any better than the older city, just a little newer with newer trash.


Now our first stop was breakfast at the Meridian Hotel. As we entered, there was a sign welcoming Government Motors, so I know where some of your tax dollars are going, people. The hotel was nice but their cleanliness is not up to my standards. Since we had been up for six hours at this time, I found a little bit of food to eat. Candice opted out for the most part. After using the restroom, we headed out to board the bus. While we were walking down the sidewalk towards our bus that was parked in the street, we heard this horrific screeching of tires skidding all the way down the road. Well, yes, there was an impact after that 5 second skid. Who do you think this guy rear ends? THE POLICE CAR! What a riot (especially since no one was hurt)! Well our security detail was standing outside the bus and I was trying to get around him and his gun in order to take a picture. The accident was on the other side of the bus as we passed, so I missed the really good shot but managed to get one with the car's engine leaking steam.


After that excitement, we headed right up the hill to the Giza Pyramids. Our personal tour guide called all of us Ha-Buh's. He'd say, "Now Ha-buh, we'll get off the bus and walk up to the top of the parking lot and I'll give you some details about the pyramids." He told us not to buy anything on the way and there would be some free time after he was done explaining things to us. Well, right off the bat this old man and woman start shopping with the vendors that gathered around the bus with all kinds of pyramid paraphernalia. Well our guide starts yelling for Ha-Buh but apparently Ha-Buh doesn't know their name yet. So, the guide finally had to yell off the vendors. He must have known them since he is up at this sight all the time. We finally got the group together and got the low down on the place.


The two tallest pyramids, which are the father's, and his son's, are each 365 steps high with the third one being the grandson and not as tall as the first two. The pyramids are spaced out in order to accommodate long ramps on each side that extended out for 100's of meters in all four directions to get the large blocks stacked up on each other. I think our guide told us that they are aligned with Orion's Belt. The base of the second pyramid is laid with individual pieces of stone measuring 30 meters long and about two feet high which makes it look much larger than the father's but it's not. The father's pyramid was built on more stable ground which needed less support but both are 170 meters high, I believe.


On the side of the father's and grandson's pyramids, there are smaller ones for their wives and daughters. The pyramids were built when the rulers were alive and once they died it was a thirty day process of mummifying their bodies. They cut all the organs and placed them in urns. They replaced the hearts with solid gold ones and this was the only reason the tombs were raided, for the gold. In the later years, the people started putting the bodies underneath the pyramids in secret rooms to halt the grave robbers.


We were warned not to let anyone take our pictures because they would then want you to pay them. Also, they might run off with your camera. Well, kids partake in this ritual and sure enough someone on another bus handed their camera over for a picture by a camel and off ran the camera. We were approached by multiple groups of kids hounding everyone. I told Candice, "My God, they've got the kids working this too." We declined very politely but they'd mock our answers. These kids were flashing new cameras in their hands and acting like they were just other tourist but I'd be willing to bet those are the cameras they ripped off of other tourists.


The police don't seem to care about the crime or all the vendors, and vendors there were. Too many camels all over the place and you had to watch your step. I asked a policeman if I could take his picture on the camel. He said yes, then he wanted me to pay him a dollar. Yeah, right! I just walked away. We then loaded up the bus and drove to an overlook of all three pyramids. Well, there were rows of vendor stalls lined up on the top of this mountain. It was hard to focus on the historical aspect of the place while everyone is trying to hustle you but we did the best we could.


Loading up all the Ha-buh's, we then drove down the hill to the Sphinx. It was much smaller than we had imagined and sat very close to the Giza Pyramids. I always thought they were way off in the distance but nope. Right over the hill and down a little. No McDonald's across the street from the Sphinx but there is a Pizza Hut. It was quite disgraceful to see these monuments taken over by intruding businesses and houses. No lack of vendors here at the Sphinx either. We got to walk up the gated path and check out some side rooms up to the top perch on the side. Below and off to the side some ruins were housed within the tall walls that sat next to the Sphinx. All with original marble stone walkways. The Sphinx was hand carved from one piece of rock and the nose was damaged by the enemies of the day. It was an insult to swipe off someone's nose in those days, thus the broken nose.


Once we were done with these sights we headed over to Sakkara, where we saw some tombs and the Titi step pyramid that dated back 4,050 years ago. We were able to walk down into the tomb of Ka-Gemni and see the crypt with it's inscription. The hike/crawl down was about 75 feet long and you had to really squat down and keep your head low. Once down in the tomb you could stand up. The walls were decorated with carvings and hieroglyphics.


The other ancient tomb of Mereruka was above ground with excellently preserved wall carvings and some painted areas still showing. The guards were elder Egyptian men and one was trying to tell me to take a picture of the walls even though pictures weren't allowed. I shook my head no and he insisted that I take a picture. I was tempted but then I thought about the movie "Midnight Express" which was about a Turkish prison and decided I didn't want to be thrown in an Egyptian prison that day. So, when I exited the room, he gave me the motion that he wanted money by rubbing his fingers and his thumb together. I told him I didn't take the picture and walked into another room. Since natural sunlight was streaming from the windows above, I didn't think a flash would hurt, so the rule didn't make any sense unless it was designed for the 'guards' to be able to make some money. Needless to say, I'm glad I'm not in prison somewhere in Egypt.


We drove over to the Titi step pyramid and the ancient city center. From here you could see the very first attempts at the linear pyramids in the distance. It was easy to see their early attempts of the straight line pyramids we know today. The second attempt was a little better and third one was even better.


Once we were done with these sights it was time to head back into Cairo, past all the smelly irrigation canals that branched off the Nile. I couldn't get enough pictures of these trash filled canals. If I could only have a 'scratch and sniff' card to hand out with the pictures!


We worked up such an appetite with the smells and the garbage sightings, it was time to go get some lunch. We stopped at the Mena Hotel which sits directly under the pyramids across the street from the Meridian and is one of the oldest hotels around with all handmade chandeliers and hand carved woodwork. This hotel had the only real grass I saw in Cairo that day. The grounds were beautiful and was an oasis in a sea of trash. Half the lunch was good. The other half we decided not to touch. This is also the hotel were six Germans were gunned down at the bus stop outside the hotel a couple of years back. Comforting thought, eh?


After all the Ha-buhs got back on the bus we went over for a demonstration on how they make papyrus paper. Of course, this was one of those tourist's traps but quite a few people purchased something from this shop. Now the artwork on the papyrus paper was beautiful but I just couldn't see it hanging in my house. Once we did a once-over through the shop we headed upstairs to catch the bus. There was a couple from Long Island that we met earlier that morning and they started telling us this wild story. They said one man on our bus needed to cross the street to the pharmacy to purchase some toothpaste. Now, the traffic was hectic and there were sirens going off every five minutes. I really thought we might hear a bomb blast any minute. Well, the guy couldn't get across the street due to the traffic, so our security guy pulls his gun out, walks out into the traffic and stops it dead in its tracks with his gun pulled. The guy who needs the toothpaste crosses the road and the same thing happens again when he needs to cross back over to our side again.


Too bad we missed this because the camera would have been wielded! Our security guard was really good at keeping an eye on us. He acted like he was ready for action any minute and watched the goings on around us with an evil eye. He was young but Candice had wished he had worn better shoes for running instead of his fancy shoes. I told her that he didn't need to run if he has a gun to shoot. He just has to have good aim! I don't think they mess around over here! A gun can speak volumes without ever uttering a word!


Our drive to Port Said was long and I kept dosing off. As night fell, it was apparent that we weren't going to be back to the ship at 7 p.m. We were over an hour late and once again we had a police escort from Cairo all the way to Port Said, which was 135 miles away. Our bus was waved back by the police while we were trying to pass another bus and they kept revving to the front of the convoy and then falling back. On the back roads we got a couple of stares and it was nice to be driving at night time in a vehicle since it had been so long since we had done this.


Once at the pier, we were shuttled through a gauntlet of vendors hawking their goods. The closer we got to the ship and within the security entrance, we noticed Cunard personnel blocking the way for anyone to get out of line and do some shopping outside the pre-existing vendor walls we had to snake through. Cunard greeted us with hot chocolate as we made our way to the gangway and since it had turned dark, cold and windy, it was a welcomed drink!


The day was long but we saw so much! Cairo is not a place to visit for the faint of heart. The pyramids were great! Some times I think the ancient Egyptians are rolling over in their graves. The current Egyptians have fallen far from their ancestors. They are a mess and unorganized. The government needs to get a handle on the situation but I doubt that will happen. They need to take care to preserve their ancient treasures but that seems to be a half-hearted effort. I found the people not to be impoverished but lazy, detached and unconcerned about their surroundings. Everyone was well fed and well dressed with proper hygiene but they lived in constant and deep filth. The problem is that these people aren't poor enough! If they were poor like the people in India, they would be recycling the garbage for money. Cairo would be a great project for a sanitation engineer!


The next night at dinner I had to apologize to Duane for ever doubting just how horrible Cairo's environment was. He told me that Alexandria was even worse and a guy on our bus said that Russia is going the way of Cairo, which is a shocker for me too. His wife asked if we could imagine spending the night in Cairo. At the time, I told her we would be in the country for another five hours and it was hard enough to imagine that!


We did the pyramids and that is all we ever probably need to do in Egypt for quite some time. If the tourist need security detail, I suspect it would be hard for us to arrange an independent visit. I also doubt we'd ever visit this place again. A once in a lifetime visit to Cairo is enough because the memories I have etched in my memory will definitely last me more than a few decades. I am all hustled out, Ha-Buh'd out, trashed out and wiped out! Therefore, I am all Cairo, Egypt 'd out for now!



Sandy








Read More 0 comments | Posted by Sandy | edit post

Unexpected Port: France

Well, we are sitting in the north of France, dropping off our German and continental Europeans. Lucky dogs with their land route back home. There is this little thing called the Atlantic Ocean I need to get over.

Last we have heard is that all flights are going. It just needs to stay that way for 4 or 5 more days.

The stress of that and the amount of luggage we have has almost been unbearable. Will be stateside soon, hopefully!

Posts and pictures to come soon after.

crj
Read More 1 Comment | Posted by candice (thecrjreviews) | edit post

Lucky Cat doesn't like Iceland

So the lucky cat has struck again. Hopefully this whole flight delay/ash cloud will be over soon. Otherwise we will be hanging out in the London airport. Updates on flight status to come as we learn ourselves.

Cairo, Athens, and Rome writes to come soon too. Last days on the ship. Ready to be home, especially down that that there is a roadblock. Fingers crossed, prayers being said.

crj
Read More 1 Comment | Posted by candice (thecrjreviews) | edit post

Sharm El-Sheikh (or should I say Sham El-Sheikh)

Right off the bat Sharm El-Sheikh was a rip off!  Egyptians think tourists are in town to solely get ripped off by them and that is what they tried all day long.  Not all taxis were allowed in the gates of the port area.  So someone paid someone off to be allowed in the gate.  As we were headed out across the pier, I noticed a mother, father and daughter in front of us.  I ran up to them and asked them where they were headed.  We told them we were going to Na'ama Bay and we would share a taxi with them.  They thought that was a good idea so as we approached the taxis, we told them we needed a car for five and they tried to put us in two separate taxis.  We had to stand firm and tell them we wanted only one cab.  They said no, so we said we'd walk outside the gate and find one.  Well, they called us back and told us one cab would be $10 USD each.  Now, we knew the beach was only 3 miles away and after several arguments, we settled on $20 USD for the entire cab, knowing all too well we were still getting ripped off.  

Our cab driver tried to change the price to $25 but I shouted him down and told him that we settled at $20.  I felt like I was in kindergarten in this fight but we were already being financially violated, so enough was enough!  Once he dropped us off, there was the sign showing what the fare should have been.  We calculated that we should have been charged $5 USD.  Total tourist rip off but we got to Na'ama Bay in one piece and had our ducks in a row for the return trip.  I was ready for another fist-to-cuffs encounter! 

We headed down to the beach area and found the public beach.  All the beaches are private and the hotels have them all snapped up with the exception of this one public beach.  We paid two dollars each for the use of a chaise lounge, padded cushion, umbrella and a beach towel.  They issued us one ticket and put the number 2 on it.  

The beach wasn't very wide, probably about 25' across the public area and about 10' to the water.  All the hotels had small fences running the length of their property with a small break at the beach, then a roped off floating fence around the water directly in front of their beach.  Each property had a security guard sitting at the end by the beach and there must have been 9 or ten rows of chairs stretching all the way back to the road with the hotels across the street.  Not too scenic and too touristy looking.  The beach had small pebbles on it with rather large rocks just beyond the entrance to the chilly water.  I took a walk down the beach and as the sun rose in the sky, the clear water got a little better looking in color.  This area is one huge snorkeling/diving area with world renowned coral reefs and the 'Blue Hole' not too far from here.  There are over 1,000 species of fish and over 100 different types of coral.  There was a nice breeze blowing and the sound of the waves were very relaxing.  We got the first row view of lounge chairs and anything towards the middle or back would have been miserable.  We contemplated taking a glass bottom boat ride but decided against it. 

There was a Muslim couple sitting next to us and she was covered from neck to ankle in black clothing and went swimming in every bit of it.  Very odd and weird but whatever!  Other than that, most of the people on the beach were foreigners.  Quite a few Russians in town too!  A whole group of Egyptian men came to swim at the public beach and we saw them taking pictures of these European girls laying out on the beach.  Once they noticed, they turned over and shortly after that, they left.  I noticed none of these men had chairs or towels, so something was going on there, or the locals can swim for free but my guess would be the former.  After soaking up some shady breezes and recovering from Petra the day before, we decided to pack up and start doing some roaming and shopping.  When we handed our towels back in, the guy wanted our ticket.  I thought 'How odd.'  What does he need our ticket back for - here are our towels.  When we handed him the only ticket we had, he asked for the other one.  We told him we only got one.  He took it and put it under the counter and I told him that the other guy had written '2' on it.  As we walked away I told Candice that he was going to resell that ticket and pocket the money and the first guy pocketed the money the first time around for the second ticket.  Corrupt society to the hilt!  But I guess if you can't beat them, you join them.

Shopping in Sham El-Sheikh was peppered with long, continuous but polite "No thank you' s."  I'm glad Candice got broken in with all the other port stops because this one would have caused her a mental breakdown.  Everybody was pushy and wanted you to step into their stores to take a 'free' look.  Nothing was priced and believe it or not Pringles cost the equivalent of seven US dollars.  Needless to say we skipped on those and headed to McDonald's for french fries and a Coke.  We met two nice National Guard guys from Kansas in there and invited them to sit at our table.  They were there to keep the peace and their job was four months away from being done.  Total time would be one year away from home.  McDonald's was their refuge too.  The workers knew them well and they said this was their only day off this month.  We don't pay those guys enough for the work they do!

Now Na'ama Bay is a young tourist's party haven.  The streets were wide and every establishment had outdoor bar areas with chairs, carpets and low tables squared off in sections.  Some had palm trees cut in long lengths with carpet draped over them and cushions to sit on the floor.  I would have liked to stuck around and observe the nightlife but it wasn't meant to be.  

We had several shop owners invite us into their stores to sit down on couches and write about their stores in a guest book.  I'm not too sure what the hell was up about that but I'm sure it was some bogus trap.  We declined this nonsense every time.  The opening question they would ask you is 'Where are you from?'  It's best just not to answer at all.  Then they would say in a stern "Excuse ME  PLEASE, can I ask you a question?"  The answer was no every time and then they would sometimes turn a little ugly.  I have no idea why these people would think you, the tourist, are there to benefit them since it's your time and your vacation.  Lord knows I didn't have time to explain to everyone of these people that we were only in town for the day and there was no way I could sign all their books or do business with everyone!  

Now it looks like the Russian tourists rule this joint.  Lots of restaurants and bars with Russian writing and Russian food.  As far as I could tell, these Egyptians didn't care who they were ripping off.  Everyone was an equal opportunity victim!  We stumbled across one store that had prices on their merchandise and that is where we actually bought something.  While inside a worker came up to me and asked me why Candice was so mad.  I just started laughing and told him that she was just really concentrating on the merchandise.  I called over to Candice and told her that he wanted to know why she was so mad.  She started laughing with me and told him that she just doesn't smile.  Someone once said that Chloe on the show '24' always looks like she is constipated and I sometimes joke with Candice that she looks like her.  I told her I should have just told the guy that she was constipated!  Ha, ha. (Candice - Smiling is hard, when I'm always thinking about something.)

After running the gauntlet of store vendors along the main party streets we decided to head over to the area they call Old Sharm.  We saw six crew members from the ship and I asked if they wanted to share a cab back.  They said okay.  As we approached the taxis they asked for two.  Now I didn't think they were going to dicker the price but eventually they asked how much.  Ten dollars per cab.  Not what it should be but better than twenty, so we climbed in.  Candice and I asked to be dropped off at Old Sharm and the crew went back to the ship.  

Nothing was different down at Old Sham either.  More vendors hawking their wares but we did purchase two items after dickering the price.  As we walked past the bar area, some blonde Russian named Sergay asked if we wanted to have a drink with him and his three buddies.  Once again, we had to decline any and all offers.  Well, right next to him was an Egyptian guy who asked us the same thing.  Now why does he think our answer would be any different?  I know this scam.  These people sit there and invite you to drink with them and then stiff you the bill.  Not only do they stiff you the bill but the bill is inflated by about ten times the real cost.  These two characters looked like they had been drinking all day and I'm sure they had a tab they wanted to dump on some poor soul.  Not us, Jack!

Once again this place was a powder keg of bars with shops surrounding the entire area.  What was neat in this party area was the authentic and rustic party atmosphere.  They had tables and chairs up on the flat mountain sides with tiki torches, chairs, tables, and carpets.  I'm sure it would have felt like you were partying primitively but I would be interested in knowing how many drunks fell off the small mountains and died. I would have been more interested in watching the party crowd in Old Sharm vs. Na'ama Bay area.  It looked a little more wild down here.  Now hookah pipes are all the rage over here but there is just something that I find off-puting about them.  

This area also had vendors that operated as the local's grocery stores, if you could call them that, down the street from the party and shopping places.  Fruit and vegetables were for sale in the store fronts along these dirty streets with some of them looking like back alleys.  It was colorful and plenty of dogs were living down in this area.  I snapped a couple of pictures and soaked up the atmosphere knowing we were about ten minutes from walking back to the safe, welcoming Queen Victoria.  

We met one of our fellow world cruisers that we fondly refer to as Caruso (we don't know his name).  He wanted to hire a taxi back to the ship and we told him that we were walking.  He accepted our offer to walk with us and by the time we got back to the ship he told us that he was thankful that he ran into us since he didn't know the way back.  We told him we were through with the taxis!  

The British family that we shared a taxi into Na'ama Bay told us earlier that they had family that came over to Sharm El-Sheikh for week-long vacations all the time.  They stated that they didn't see any reason to visit this place for a week and that nothing attracted them.  I would have to agree with them.  If you are a big diver or snorkeler, this would be the place to come and check out.  Also if you wanted to party with a bunch of Europeans and Russians, this would be your place.  We on the other hand got the Egyptian shakedown and don't need that experience again but I would like to see this place at night.  It would prove to be a great people-watcher place with an added bonus of drunks to boot!  I can imagine that you had better have your camera ready for all the night action!

Sandy

Tid-bits from Candice - I really didn't think this port was bad. Pushy - yeah, but not much worse than anything else. Sandy thinks I've become desensitized to hawkers. Yeah, growth in my bubble. I've learned to not even say "No thank you." I just say "No." The thank you just gets them mocking you. Quite off-putting. Also, another trick is to where sunglasses. That way you can still browse on the sly, while still saying no. One of the best lines came from Sharm el Sheikh; hawker, "Don't be like the Russians. At least say hi." Well I think I know why the Russians don't say anything to them; they were very impolite. I'm very tired of the line "I'll make you a good deal." "How much is ____?" "I'll make you a good deal." "Okay, how much?" This goes on for way too long, only to find out they want to rip you off. The one and only store with labeled products was the only place I actually bought something. Straightforward, this is what we have, this is how much we want, do you accept or not. 

The day at the beach was nice and lazy after hiking in Petra the day before. Except for the dirty old arab men. The was kind of disturbing, but I kept my clothes on and just stayed under the umbrella for a beach-side nap. Totally worth the two dollars. Very glad we didn't get scarred into buying the "Beach Day" tour from Cunard for $70. They went to the exact same beach we did, just a couple of fences over. We got the better deal! 

crj
Read More 0 comments | Posted by candice (thecrjreviews) | edit post

Queen of the Mountain



Petra: home of the famous line, "Henry Jones Jr.  We named the dog Indiana." There weren't any knights or nazis in the Treasury building, but it definitely lived up to what I had expected. A major highlight of the trip. The only downside was the short time we had to visit.

The tour book cited that this trip would include 4-5 miles of walking. Walking level:high. And that it wouldn't be a sidewalk stroll; we were venturing into uneven rocks and sand. Old people beware! After two months onboard, we basically know all of the younger (at least able-bodied) people. I had an idea to round up these people for a faster tour group, but Sandy overheard a dance host with the same idea. See her post for that story. We told our biker (as in bicycle, not motorcycle) friends, Beth and John the low-down and who to contact about securing a spot. They got on the "fast bus" list, yes there was a signup list for the tour. Spots were snapped up quickly. Nora and Morgan were one and two on the standby list, but didn't get on. Refreshments were included on this exclusive bus, too. Thanks to Jay, we passed a trash-bag full of left over cookies from a sail-away party. 

So morning of, we make our way to the "fast people's" bus, thinking we were going to have all these fit people because Jay only wanted fast walkers. We were boggled as to how some of these people acquired a spot on the "fast bus." These people were quickly left in the dust once we hit the gate to Petra. Sandy and I followed a group of about 10. We might not have had a tour guide to tell us all about what we were seeing, but out of all the Cunardians we saw the most. Learning about what we saw can happen at home, we can't see Petra at home. (Like Chris and eating at a casino. She can eat at home, but she can't gamble at home.)

We hit the trail down to Petra through the Siq and made it to the Treasury in 25 minutes. "That is really good time. Especially for more than one person." -Christine the Cunard lecturer. Record time! Onward past the amphitheater, temples, and main street, we had past more than what most people see on their whole tour. Our destination was the monastery, the furthest building in the lost city of Petra. We came across a sign that read, "Travel beyond this point without a guide is strongly discouraged." The path went from fairly developed to a sand pit scattered with rock piles then to a ravine with switchbacks. I was leading the group and little by little put more distance in between us. It is hard for me to walk slow on even ground, much less while climbing a mountain. I looked back and made eye-contact with Sandy, then kept going. I waved down to her once more, before the path was obscured from the trail below. I kept hoping they were still following, because I didn't want to stop or go back down for them.

After a 30-ish minute hike, I asked a couple how much longer. She looked at me then to her husband, apparently they were French and didn't know what I was asking. So I trudged on, finally made a finale peak in a narrow valley and there she was on the right. Even better was the mini-cafe with cold Coca-Cola left! (It was actually the coldest coke in all of Petra, at the furthest point from civilization. Who would have thought? There were even Pringles. Didn't get those, but a snack of Pringles and coke can be had in 99% of the world.) Bought myself a drink and plopped down on the front row of cushioned benches. It was quite a view; the monastery was massive, entirely carved from the stone wall.

As I was soaking in all of the sights, I started to worry about Sandy and the rest of the group. Not so much Sandy, but her having to help one of the other people. I really didn't want to hike back down only to come back up. I tried to remember the people I passed on the way up and then judge how far the group was from them. After 15 minutes, I finally saw an Asian couple I passed pretty early on pop out of the valley, "My group should be up soon." Then I saw two of the older women with Sandy right behind them. After Sandy and I milled around together, we decided to head back down and told Jay not to worry about us. Jay, "Five women beat us up." That is how I got the name "Queen of the Mountain," ever since around the ship. 

Once back down in the main city, we looked around the city gate and the area where Brown University had an excavation site. We also climbed up to the Urn temple. Met Nora and Morgan here. They asked where we had been, the monastery. They were just now 1/3 of the way through Petra. Morgan, "Our tour was slow as shit. We left them." That was what I feared, being stuck with a slow tour. Very glad we took the day in our own hands; it paid off seeing the monastery. 

By the time we hiked out of Petra to our lunch at the Crown Plaza Resort, Sandy was quite dehydrated. It took us a good 15 minutes and 5 people to get us a bottle of water (included with our lunch). During this time, Sandy was literally banging on the table and yelling about wanting a bottle of water opened at the table (Not refilled from the tap and brought out like it is a new bottle, those scam artist!) We also needed napkins, but that was secondary to the water. What did we get first? That's right, the napkins. Sandy looked at me absolutely disgusted, so I told her to actually get up and ask someone. She did; they also seemed oblivious. She walks back to me, "What is so hard about getting a bottle of water." I am pretty sure she walked back into the kitchen. On our way out, she ripped the label off our 2-liter bottle so they couldn't reuse it. Don't mess with Sandy Miller!

We might have seen a lot, but was like a drive-by touristing. There was so much more to see, i.e. a trip back to Petra in the future. One of the best ancient sites I've been to, because it was so removed from modern buildings. It allowed you to  really escape into the past.

crj
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Petra Perfect!


Petra was incredible to say the least and Aqaba, Jordan wasn't half as bad as I expected.  Our tour guide, who was a woman, dressed like a westerner and explained that the people in Jordan take education seriously and the girls get one in Jordan.  She gave us the political lowdown and the difference between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, who is their neighbor to the south.  Jordan, the country, came into existence just recently and Aqaba is their only port city.  The border of Israel is just a short ride away.  Aqaba had a McDonalds, a KFC and other western food joints.  The city sits at the base of a huge mountain range and exports natural resources like phosphate and shells.   The area has been settled since 4000 BC and the people were very friendly with smiles and waves right out of the port gates.

On our way to Petra, we saw large land masses called wadis which are expansive valleys created during ancient torrential deluges.  Tall mountains rising in the distance with slopes of greenery scattered down the sides and disappearing into the desert and dry river beds below.  Just awesome sights to see and MASSIVE!  The river Jordan flows just to the west of this area from Mt. Hermon to the Dead Sea.  

Bedouins abound out in the wadis and you can see their black tents set up in the distance with camels and donkeys grazing close by.  They mark their land by piling up rocks to form a small column, which is funny because I didn't think they owned land.  They move about every 4-6 weeks to 'greener' pastures so their goats have something to eat but apparently they lay claim to the land and the right to set up shop again.  The Jordanian government moved quite a few of them into housing a couple of years ago to make life easier on them but there is still a healthy population still roaming about.

Once we got out to Petra there were plenty of nice, new hotels (Movenpick/Crowne Plaza) scattered around the mountainside with the old local shops and small hotels.  Internet signs all around and the economy was booming with tourists.  Once again, there were so many foreigners here that you'd never guess you were in the Middle East.  The only thing that gave it away was the ruins, the camels, and the headscarfs.

Hiking into and around Petra was excellent and one full day is not enough to soak it all in.  We made it all the way out to the furthest point, the Monastery, and by the time we made it back to the Crowne Plaza for lunch at 3 p.m, I had salt and mineral deposits caked around my neck and the back of my neck.  It was a hot day but not too hot and we were lucky enough to have a slight overcast of clouds and a nice breeze blowing.  Even in these conditions, the sweat came out of the body but quickly evaporated.  I thought the grim on my neck was dust and sand that got kicked up by the horse chariots, donkeys and camels but Candice told me I had standing salt on my neck.  

The day I think our tour will be given water on the trip is the day they don't!  I had always taken our own water and then the tours give us bottles of water too, so this day I thought I'd take some apple juice in my bottle just to have a variety.  But that was all we had - no water, but we did buy two warm sodas up in the mountains of Petra from vendors.  We were a dehydrated, grimy mess but we were having fun!  

Now Petra is another treasure trove and you have free-range out there.  We were on the bus with the lecturer from the ship, Christine, so we had two good guides.  Jay, a dance host, had arranged to have a fast-paced people bus all to ourselves.  I heard him on the Lido Deck the day before this trip telling people to put on the running shoes because we were going to be moving through Petra fast.  I waved him over and told him that we would like to be on his bus.  He said he was going to the tour office with all 40 tickets and getting the same bus number.  I rang Candice in the room and told her to bring our tickets up.  We were number 3 and 4 on Jay's list.  

Christine had said you could find some pottery shards today that were original.  Well now, there was plenty of pottery on the footpaths and walkways but it was think and not the thin, painted pottery they were known for back in 1st century.  The Monastery is way in the back of this 20 square-mile city, so once we got up to the road less traveled, I started looking in the side crevices of the path and found two pieces of thin shard with paintings on them.  Christine told me that I probably had some original pottery.  I asked her if I could take it and she said "Yes, they don't seem to be too worried about anything."  So I did!  On the way back down I tried to find the same spot to look for some more but couldn't quite locate it, plus we had to get the move on!

There was only one guard in this entire area and he was posted at the very first building, the Treasury, after you come through the Siq, which is the high walled canyon walls of the mountain that were worn away by wind.  I think there were a few tourist police on horses but they were there for emergency help and not to guard the ruins.  Much of the place was accessible and we even climbed up into the Monastery, which was about 9 feet high.  I got a toe-hold on the base, reached up for this man's hand and Candice pushed me from the bottom.  I thought getting up was bad enough but after investigating the interior room and alter, I realized I had to get down too.   It was like jumping off the high-dive!  It took me a couple of attempts to get brave enough to jump down from a sitting down position.  I picked a spot that didn't have any rocks sticking up out of the sand and jumped hoping I wouldn't break a leg.  My left foot took the brunt of the jump and the ball of my foot was talking for quite some time afterwards.  I thought I'd have problems with it and it felt bruised but nothing developed from it, so I was happy about that.

Aqaba, Jordan and Petra were fantastic and they would be a great base camp area since there is so much to see and do in this area with it being a perfect hop off spot for Israel, the Red Sea and the Jordan River.  Four different countries, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel, in such a small area make for great sightseeing.  I felt very safe throughout our entire visit and even the hawkers in Petra had nice manners.  These people actually see their tourists as their bread and butter and seem to be thankful that you are there!

Sandy

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Salalah- Howla!


Salalah was another port in Oman but it wasn't as pretty as Muscat.  Their turnabouts were planted with flowers, plants, and stonework. One even had nice grass and trees mounded up in a small hill fashion but for the most part the highways were long stretches of wide open desert with houses way off the road.  Salalah was a pretty dry and baron landscape but the Sultan has four palaces in the area, two of which we were able to view, his and his wife's.  That may be the secret to staying married, not only separate beds but separate palaces!  

We purchased a tour from the ship which was listed as Wadi Off Road and we were very grateful once we got past the guarded, safe gates of the port since there were over 300 taxis waiting for their new victims, I mean visitors, waiting outside the gate!  Although there was a sign posted just before you drove out of the port, I don't think any of the shuttle buses were stopping for you to view the list of approved taxi fares.   Lord have Mercy on those people getting mobbed by 300 Arabic drivers!  

Now our tour had come with a warning that if you had a bad back DO NOT TAKE THIS TOUR.  Well, we found out that was not to be.  This SUV we climbed into had a roll bar in it, which would have come in handy in Muscat, but we didn't need it today.  Nothing off-road about this trip and we lodged a complaint with the travel department since we expected nothing less than dry river bed runs and a little off road action.  Our roads were paved all the way!  

Even though it wasn't an off road adventure that day we did get to the Palace of the legendary Queen of Sheba, Khor Rouri.  These ancient ruins date back to the 2nd century and it was once the center of the lucrative frankincense trade route.  These trees grow only in Southern Arabia and a small part of northern Africa.   The coastal waterfront had a natural fortress made out of two high mountains with a break in the middle of them that allowed the ocean to flow into this small harbor.  The city sat high on an opposite mountain with a beach area below.  We had total run of the large ruins and they are still excavating today (I think things move a lot slower in these parts of the world).  

One of our first stops was a camel sighting on the beach.  Hundreds of camels were down on the beach and I don't blame them for hanging out there during the day instead of the desert heat.  The people who live up in the mountains bring their camels down to the beach for feeding every day and just like sheep, the camels know their owner's voice.  So when the owners come to retrieve them at the end of the day they follow.  We even saw small caravans of the camels walking back home later in the day.  The sight of all these camels on the beach was nothing but strange and it made for a great photo shoot.   

We also stopped by the old town of Taqah to view the castle and fort, which was high on the hill.  There was a man on our tour who had served in the army and his barracks were in an old building that sat across the street from the castle.  He got a good kick out of the fact that the building was still standing along with the bullet holes in the outside walls from 60 years ago.

We headed up and over the mountains to the Wadi Darbat where herds of goats, camels and donkeys live along the small riverbed.  During the rainy season this place floods and the surrounding vegetation comes to life.  The locals come for the day and weekend to picnic and camp out.  We also visited a natural spring and a bird sanctuary.  While at the natural spring we noticed a rather large sign about poisonous snails and the danger of swimming in the water.  Even though the water was fast flowing through the rock gorge and there were local kids swimming in it, I guess the snails could still get on you.  While walking around I noticed a rather large bone and tried to figure out if that was someone's dinner or the leftovers of a wild animal's body.   I kept walking and found some jaw bones with some teeth still attached and a few more bones.  By the looks of the bones, I guessed it was a wild camel that died - but then again maybe it was someone's dinner.

We were only in Salalah for five hours that day and initially that would seem like enough time to explore this baron land but just like Muscat there are many things to see and do in the area but too spread out to see in one day.  The population is listed as 197,169 but since we drove up the coast and not into the city you could have fooled me.  We passed a Hilton and a handful of other hotels on the way out of the port but they don't really look like a place that you would want to hang out for a week.  Not that the buildings, of what we could see, was hideous but there was such a baron stretch of land and desert that sat between the road and the property that it looked very uninviting.   Neighbors were few and far between too.  

Salalah supposedly has Job's tomb located outside the city to the west too, but I'm going to say that it's probably not since two other places claim his tomb too.  How many Jobs are there and was he real or just a fictional character in the bible?  I ended up buying a bedouin-handmade bowl with camel leather on the bottom with woven straw and thread with a design in it for $24 USD.  Their money is worth three times as much as ours, so it was only eight of their dollars.  My only thought was where in the suitcase is that going to go?  They told me I could use it to milk my goats and then drink the milk right from the bowl.  I'm thinking no for that one.  I didn't buy it for functionality but its uniqueness and beauty.  I wouldn't dare spoil it with milk!  


Sandy
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Top of The World in Dubai!


Never in a million years would I ever had envisioned myself celebrating Easter Sunday in an Islamic country and not going to mass but that is how I spent Easter 2010.  Not only that, we accidentally stumbled into the wrong building while trying to find a museum and they tried to convert us to Islam. Within a minute's time Candice figured it out and we made a B-line to the exit where incidentally they wanted you to take free cassettes and books.  Ah, that'd be a no-go!  Mind you we did have Father Gold celebrating mass at 5 p.m. but Dubai is so big, area wise, there was no way to get our hop-on hop-off bus to include our ship as one of their stops.

Two days in Dubai is not enough time to cover such a large area.  The old Dubai Creek area was the historical part of the city and very picturesque.  The first high rise buildings were built in this area starting around 1971, the time the UAE formed.  Years and years ago the creek was actually shallow enough to cross by foot when the tide was low but since then they dug it out and made it into the waterway that it is today.  

With our two day Big Bus ticket that we purchased we got a free one hour Dubai Harbor cruise on a traditional Arabic dhow, which is an old wooden ship that is still used today to bring cargo and goods up from North Africa and other various regions (no container shipping here - good old fashion, ancient sea route merchant trading going on here with original wooden boats).  There were plenty of these old fashion boats unloading their wares dockside.  Everything from cars to tires to floor tiles.  Good old fashion commerce at work!  Both banks of the waterway were busy with activity and tons of these boats operating on both sides of the 'creek.'  

The traffic on the streets around this area was congested and at times stop dead in its tracks to accommodate the shipments off the boats.  The boats were awesome and we sat up top on floor cushions with full English commentary up and down the waterway.  I felt like we were on some cruise along the Nile the way we were lounging around and leaning against small little wooden banisters that lined the top of the boat while Arabian music played in the background.  The weather was perfect; about 78 degrees, cool dry breeze, and sunny!

Once we got done with our harbor cruise we hopped a water taxi back to the other side of the creek.  These ferries were fast and efficient.  The cost was equivalent to thirty three cents.  Good price but Hong Kong had this price beat by 5 cents. It's only 28 cents to ride the Star Ferry.  These ferries only held 20 people but they could deliver goods in record time.  They were dark brown, flat and only had an elevated one foot wooden box that ran through the middle of the boat for a seat.  

Once over to the other side of the creek we walked around the boardwalk, shopped and headed over to see the mosque and the Al Fahidi Fort Museum.  The museum is actually housed in the old fort used to protect the city and dates back to 1800 A.D.  This is the oldest building in Dubai but it has been determined that the area is over 7,000 years old.  They recently uncovered a mango swamp dating that far back while installing sewer lines near Dubai Internet City.  The earliest settlers were pearl fisherman and traded with merchants on the old sea routes.   

We hopped back on the double decker Big Bus and rode over to the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House and Heritage Village.  The house is one of the oldest in the area and was inhabited by the Sheikh's descendants until just recently when the family handed it over to the government.  It has four wings surrounding a large courtyard and had one of the earliest forms of air conditioning ever known.   Sandstone towers were built above the room containing an open roof with burlap stretched in 'v' shapes from the outer four corners to the center.  This allowed the breeze to be caught from all directions and was thus forced downward into the building.  The four wings housed exhibits of money and coins from the area dating back to 1791 and various other artifacts along with aerial pictures of Dubai throughout the last one hundred years.   At one point in time it looked like it was just one big sand bar.  A far cry from today's hustling and bustling city.

The amount of reclaimed land is amazing and they continue to reclaim it today with the Palms and the World.  We transferred buses over to the blue line and headed out to these new developments of Dubai.  The World is only accessible by helicopter, plane or boat.  The Palm has rows and rows of tall condos and houses that are labeled and addressed as frond A, frond B, etc.  The Atlantis Hotel is out on top of the crescent and you drive under a tunnel of water to get over to it.  I wouldn't think there is much land underneath to dig a tunnel but surprisingly it was deep and long.  I'm only thankful I didn't have to figure out the engineering on that project!

The Burj Al Arab is close by and is the only self-proclaimed 7-star hotel in the world but who knows since they don't allow the general public in (unless you spend at least $170 per person on food/tea in their hotel).  It sits out on its own island and has a heliport at the top of the building for guests flying in from the airport.  That's a sure way to beat the traffic, eh!             

We swung by the Ski Dubai and checked the place out.  We were going to ski but the time constraints didn't allow us plus after being in the Rockies this was small potatoes.  Instead we headed over to the Burj Khalifa Dubai, the tallest building in the world.  We had a tour with the ship to visit this building and 'walk in the clouds' but they had to cancel since they had electrical problems.  Just our luck the observation deck was back up and running by the time we arrived in town on Sunday but we didn't know it until I overheard someone on the Lido Deck that night say they went up in the tower.

I found out Wayne and Hazel, a blind couple on the world cruise, had gone up.  Now Wayne hangs out in the casino and the smoking area by the casino bar so I knew just were to find him for all the answers to my questions about this Burj operation.  On the way down I remembered we were in port so the casino wasn't open and feared I wouldn't be able to find him but I turned the corner and there he was sitting all by himself, smoking and enjoying a drink.  I made quick work getting all the pertinent information for the next days visit.  Wayne was a wealth of info and he told me that he talked them into selling him the tickets for half price since he couldn't see anything anyway!  He's my kind of guy!

The second day we headed out to the newer part of Dubai with plans on being at the Dubai Mall which is located right next to the Burj Khalifa at noon since we needed to be back on the ship at 4 p.m.  We stopped out at the beach and some shopping at a hotel before hand.  The weather this day was a little hotter with a little less breeze although the buses were air conditioned very well.  They even have air conditioned bus stop booby-huts for public bus transportation.  I guess you would have to have something like this during the height of their summer months or people would just melt into the pavement.  

The stop we wanted was the last on the blue line and we got out to the building about 12:15 p.m. and got in line for tickets.  Seems the word got out that it was back up and running because we barely got a 2 p.m. ticket and some time slots for the next day and that night were already sold out.  We did a little shopping at the mall which consisted of Godiva Chocolate and Garretts Popcorn from Chicago.  There was a store called Bateel which looked like chocolate candy but it wasn't.  I said I never heard of this one.  Is there one that I'm missing?  I stepped inside only to find out that they sold candy but it was all date-filled or was wrapped in a thick jellied preservative.  They gave us a sample and I asked where they were based.  Saudi Arabia was the answer.  Well that explained everything!  Those people don't know how to have fun nor how to bone up on calories!  I told Candice that candy wasn't candy unless it contained chocolate.  

We were in heaven with our food alone not to mention we would soon be whisked up to the top of the Burj Khalifa.  We reported for duty at ten to two and had to check our bags and go through the x-ray machines.   After walking through some hallways we approached a moving sidewalk that had a video playing along side of the long wall showing the history of the area.  Next we went up an escalator and there were some displays showing the construction and building of the monstrosity along the hallway.  We approached the elevator and boarded.  Once inside the elevator with the doors shut, we were enclosed in something a little brighter than total darkness.  A checkerboard of 18" long by 10" tall television screens surrounding all three sides lit up and started playing video and music.  Pin lighted rows of lights in different colors started going off in a multiple level horizontally.  

Total time in elevator - 1 minute!  We went 124 floors in 1 minute's time!  No movement was perceived at all and the only way you could tell you were going up was the popping in your ears.  It's as if we stepped in a room, waited a minute and walked out but it was 124 floors later.  Awesome high speed elevator!  Not all elevators are created equally.  The doors opened and a flood of light came rushing in - blinding light since it had been so dark.

Once our eyes were able to focus, the view was just fantastic.  You could see for miles and the desert ran out beyond the city limits for quite some distance.  Looking down on every building, street and shopping mall was a sight to behold.  Things are big in Dubai just like they are in Vegas so nothing looked too small except the cars and I don't think you could even see the people from this high.  We could look out and see the 'World' development.  Half the floor was an outdoor observation deck with openings between the windows and the other half was an indoor, full glass floor to ceiling observation area.  Once outside you could look up and still see 36 more floors above you along with the lightening rod.  One hundred and sixty floors in all.  

You could spend as much time as you wanted but after 35 minutes we had to get moving towards our shuttle back to the ship.  As usual we ended up in a supermarket to purchase three six packs of Coke and two cans of Pringles.  Lots of labels that we knew were present in the store!  We decided our diet could live here!  Lots of foreign people visiting this city and they were mostly from western countries so we felt like we were right at home minus the sand.  Very few Dubai women out and about in society and any women we saw working were usually Asian or foreigners.  Most shops had male workers which was something you had to get use to.  

Dubai is all about the shopping!  Huge, beautiful malls everywhere you look.  Souk is the name they use for store/shopping areas and they have dedicated Gold Souks, Silver Souks, Spice Souks, etc.  The Dubai Mall that sits underneath the Burj Khalifa had a three story aquarium where we saw divers feeding the fish and an ice skating rink with a huge TV screen and sound system playing music.  Outside there was a water show that ran at night just like the one in Las Vegas at the Bellagio.  

Dubai is dripping with money, shopping malls and new construction.  If I were a shop-a-holic I think I'd have a panic attack trying to figure out where to start.  Close to the Palm they have a mini-Hong Kong already built and the plans call for it to be twice the size of Hong Kong when they are complete.

After talking with Lee and Joe we found out you need a license to purchase liquor in the grocery stores and the pork section is curtained off like a triple X section in a movie rental store which we thought was quite humorous.  Candice asked if the checkout person handled the pork or not and we all scratched our heads.  But then again, they probably get the foreign women to check you out.  Joe seems to think they are paying off the terrorist to leave the UAE alone since they have never been hit, especially now that they have the tallest building in the world.  Sounds like he grilled the taxi cab drivers pretty good while in the car.  

Dubai was not easy to get around but they are just now opening a new metro system down on the newer section of the city but only the red line is up and running.  Too much distance between the old part of the city and the new part much less too much distance just between the hot spots in the new area.  Too much ground to cover but we did the best we could using the Big Bus Company.  Lots of things to do in and around Dubai but you'd need about a week to do it justice.  Very clean city with flowers, shrubs, trees, and fountains all along the roadside.  You know - Disney nice but over long distances!  They use 2.5 million gallons of water PER DAY and have a large desalinization plant.  The contrast of green and color against the desert colors is just remarkable.   It makes you think the desert is a lush place and Dubai pulls it off with style.  Don't plan on coming to Dubai unless you have plenty of time and a fat wallet for all that shopping.

We docked right by the QE2 which someone had bought and was going to open up as a hotel but they went bust.  So the ship sits still and quite at the pier and looks a little strange and ghostly.   As we got off the ship the first day Candice noticed razor barbwire across the back deck of the boat!  I couldn't help it, I had to snap a couple of pictures!  Queen Victoria looked like some floating prison from the rear! 

We had our pirate drill this morning and the instructions are if you here the alarm followed by the words "Attention, Attention, Security Threat" we are to go the interior hall outside our cabins and hunker down.  A two-page sheet was delivered last night explaining that the ship is taking an internationally approved transit corridor and we will be transiting it under the protection of an International Task Force, including the Royal Navy, assigned to protect merchant vessels from pirate attack by a UN mandate.

Lights out and curtains closed after nightfall I just so happened to be up around 3:15 a.m. when I looked out the window and saw nothing - total darkness.  I went up top to check out the ship.  I walked over to the edge and looked down the length of the ship.  Very eerie and quite with the exception of the sound of the water below.  It felt like I was riding a ghost ship or a boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean.  I kept envisioning a grappling hook come flying over the banister.  Being all alone in the middle of the ocean under the darken sky made me feel a little scared!  We will be under heightened security alert until we get past the Egypt.  They installed sound blasting machines at the back (2) and the front (1) of the boat and they've pushed all the deck chairs during the day to the back of the rails for water hose runs.  Lucky cat is motionless, so all should go well!  Ha, ha!

Sandy
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Life Begins at 170kph (Or it might end)


Muscat is the CLEANEST city in the world.  Tons of flowers and plants line the roadways along with green grass.  Quite the oasis in this magnificent area where the tall cliffs of the mountains rose up out of the sea!  Picture worthy anywhere along the coast!  Too bad we had to leave the coastal area for the desert adventure. 

Now Cunard doesn't sell tours into the slums of Mumbai so I was surprised they had a desert dune driving tour on their agenda.  Well worth the dinero we paid.  Someone was even thinking since they took a backup SUV and there were a couple of times I thought we'd personally need it.  I didn't think I'd need a seatbelt just yet but once I saw the speedometer get up to 175 kmh I started digging it out and we weren't even 'out of town.'  

The drive out to the desert was just gorgeous.  Very wide open, dry river beds with nothing but rocks and a little scrub in them.  Off in the distance you could see houses and the occasional scrub bushes covering the ground floor at the base of the mountains.  I would love to see the dry riverbeds during the rainy season!  Everyone gets a plot of land when they turn 18 years of age and they have to keep it for at least two years before they sell, if they are going to sell it.  The government decided what piece of land they will give you.  Seems like things are a little backwards around these parts.  All the lots have a nice, expensive wall around them but the lot sits empty until they can afford to build a house.  In America you build the house first and when you can afford the fence, it goes up.   

We drove about two hours outside Muscat and besides the scenery the only real big thing we saw was a small town that had a camel racing track located right off the road.  All kinds of people attending and the parking lot was full to the brim.  We couldn't see the track, only the grandstands.  

We finally came upon the desert dunes off to our right and just in time.  The drive got a little tiring and you could have almost fell asleep on the drive out but the loud, crazy-arabic music our young driver was playing kept you awake not to mention his crazy-ass driving.  I believe he heard me pray, out loud, to God a couple of times as we were passing cars doing about 90 miles an hour!  "Oh God," escaped my lips more than twice that day!  I envisioned myself having to pull out our medical evacuation insurance policy which we bought pre-trip!  Thank God was watching over all of us that day!

We finally came upon a small town where we saw rather large palm tree oasis' ringing the outskirts of the desert.  Our caravan pulled over in order for all cars to catch up and the drivers switched over to 4-wheel drive.   

The old adage of where the rubber hits the road changed that day for us to when the rubber hits the sand.  The paved road had a definite ending and the desert sand had a definite beginning.  We were well on our way to flying over the sand dunes lining the used valley road out to the 'camp.'  A couple of times it felt like we got air-born and at other times I thought the rear-end of the SUV was going to come all the around!  

We got some great pictures and a small video before our battery ran low on that camera.  The sand was flying and we were in a mad dash with the other vehicles to get to the desert camp.  Switching positions back and forth with the other cars was something right out of the movies, especially since the guy in the next car was filming us as we raced down the valley.  Even though we had seatbelts on our heads and bodies where moving in all directions.  

We had a nice lunch and got pretty close to some wild camels.  Their teeth looked like their toe nails!  Too funny but they smiled for the camera and we snapped their picture!  On the drive back out to civilization we stopped by a Bedouin encampment for some coffee and sweets.  The coffee was like a small expresso and the sweets were made of some honey and apricot mixture.

Driving back to the ship we saw more wild camels and goats and pulled into a hotel out in the middle of nowhere for a restroom break.  It was a decent hotel with a pool but let's just say I wouldn't be staying there for an extended vacation.  We stopped and got gas for .14 a liter but before you get too excited let me tell you that their money is worth almost three times as much as ours.  So it averages out to $1.20 a gallon.

In the town right at the edge of the desert we saw the only Western people (blonde haired mother, father and child) we encounter on the entire trip.  They were sitting in a mechanic's shop having their car worked on.  Not a good picture, heat or no heat, and I wouldn't have wanted to change places with them.  There definitely was a language barrier and their numbers are different.  The 2 is a backwards 7, their 6 is a forward 7, the 5 is a sideways zero with an eight being an arrow up and the seven is a 'v'.  A dot is a zero.  The road signs are in both English and Arabic and that is how we deciphered their number system.  Our driver spoke no English so I couldn't imagine what these poor people with car problems were doing for communication.

There are lots of tucked away places dripping with beauty to see in Muscat but it's probably best to have a local guide with you.  At least they know the lay of the land!  I will probably never get back to this place in my lifetime since it is so far out of the way from anything else but it is a fantastically clean city, modern, new and pleasing to the eye!  No poverty to speak of and every make of luxury car you could imagine running around town.  If you got the time and you're ever in the area it is a must see city and desert!

Sandy
Read More 0 comments | Posted by candice (thecrjreviews) | edit post

Riding Your Very Own Brand New Camel! Watch Out, They Spit!

-Aladdin ("Can I call you Al? Or maybe just Din. Or how 'bout Laddi? Here boy.")

We didn't ride any camels, but they were everywhere.

With Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia leading in the race for best port city, coming out of nowhere is Oman. I honestly was not expecting much, but Muscat delivered. We took a desert dune drive in 4X4 Landcruisers. It was awesome! This is one of my favorite activities we've done so far. It was so different (in a good way), i.e. it wasn't another city with buildings or temples to see. It was one of the very few tours that had an "A" for Activity with an activity disclaimer. Cunard definitely needs to get more of these trips in their tour book.

The day started off waiting for our tour to group up in the Queen's Room. We saw Nora and Morgan and said we would ride with them in the 4X4, the young people car. So the tour group marched out to the pier. We didn't know if we were riding a bus out to the dunes or if the suv's would be there, but we saw fifteen Landcruisers. Sweet, wasn't looking forward to a 2 hour bus ride out to the desert. So Morgan picked number 6 in the caravan. Only to find out that our driver didn't speak English. It would be a provide your own commentary kind of tour. All the other drivers saw the young people car; they were asking who was driving it and if he wanted to trade. We were quite a hot commodity.

After everyone was situated in the suv's, we were off in caravan fashion. At least for a while, number six was to become a caravan of one shortly. It was exciting driving out; it felt like we were going on a mission. Arabic music was playing, very mood-setting. The port gate was the catch in the tour, causing us to be separated from everyone. We pulled over on the side of the road, next to Lu-Lu's Hypermarket. We kept waiting, not seeing any white suv's headed our way. A cell phone was eventually pulled out, conversations had, and then we were on our way. Hopefully to meet back up with the group. The thought did run through my head, "What if a van pulls up, and we're thrown in. News headline: Four American kidnapped in Oman." It was a fleeting feeling. I never felt in danger, but it is better to always be playing out scenarios and to be prepared. "I have a pen in my purse. Weapon?" It worked for Jason Borne. 

We were on our way, driving though the city. Everywhere we looked were car dealerships, not just a section of the drive but the entire drive out of the city. Past the airport and out of the city, I looked to see how fast we were actually traveling. I had noticed that we were riding people's bumpers in traffic, but I never looked at the speedometer. After doing the calculations (10k = 6.2 miles, thank you cross country), I informed everyone that we holding a steady speed of 102 mph. Amid more Arabic shouted phone calls, we finally took an exit, only to go over the pass and get back on the interstate. We only backtracked one exit. Speeding down the two lane highway, we spotted the group. We were happy to see them, and they to see us. They were waiting at a "comfort stop," quite literally a single hole in the floor. It is bad enough for a lot of women to be quick, but remove the western toilet and add a little Cunard attitude, you've got issues. 

Back together, we headed off through the mountains and over wadi crossings (valleys that are dry except in the rainy seasons). Palm trees/little oasisses, long haired shaggy goats, donkeys, and camels were right off the road. It was really scenic. Past the city of Ibra, we started to see sand off to our right. A quick regroup outside the town, and we were off the pavement. There was a warning sign about driving in the desert. Started off with "Dear Tourist," listed some rules and cautionary guidelines, and ended with "Enjoy your trip!"

Driving in the sand was a lot like driving on snow. A lot slipping and sliding, with an occasional fishtail. All quite adventurous. We stayed in caravan formation, until some of the drivers got a little impatient with the slower ones. Then it was no holding back. Landcruisers were passing each other, kicking up sand. Everyone was holding on to the "Oh Crap!" handles. Our driver took us off the main "road" onto some ridges. Pretty sure the car was airborne for a split second. So fun.

The drive out ended at a camp compound, where we had a grilled lunch waiting for us. There was chicken, lamb kebabs, rice, pita bread, olives, hummus, and fruit. A nice spread for being out in the desert; there were even western restrooms, with an "s." There were some camels right outside the gate, too. Sandy took some pictures before lunch. I went out with Nora and Morgan, who had a mountain dew. I think the camel knew what it was; he had Morgan pinned against the wall, nudging the can. It was a priceless sight; Morgan looked like we was facing a firing squad. 

Loading back into the cars, I sat in the middle back seat. Perfect viewing. The music was down from when we entered the desert camp, but our driver turned it up once we hit the dunes. My response, "Perfect! The soundtrack to my death." One song was a really bad megamix of Arabic songs. There was no fade in/fade out, let alone an underlying beat to connect the songs. Other than the megamix, the music really did put a movie soundtrack feel to the trip. My view could have been "Camera one" in an action movie. Think "Blood Diamond," when the group of reporters are attacked and Leo takes the suv off-roading without the use of a steady-cam. Also, the other cars were like the bad guys chasing us. So exhilarating! 

Some of these old women that went on this trip were a riot, in that they didn't want to go fast on the sand. The tour was called "Desert Dune Drive," did they think it would be a Sunday drive? I would have been irate if they wound up in my car. 

After all the fun on the dunes, we started the two hour drive back to the ship. We were slightly late, but that is the beauty of booking a trip from the ship. They won't leave you. Once again, it was surreal rolling into the port caravan-style, like we were some returning from a very important mission. Everyone was out on their balconies waiting for us. It was a great day, A must-do if you ever find yourself around a desert.

crj
Read More 0 comments | Posted by candice (thecrjreviews) | edit post
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