Author: cjrobbins11

On May 5th and 6th, our ship docked in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is an island to the south of India. Sri Lanka has native elephants that are a subspecies of Asian Elephant. There are still some in the wild. The estimates of numbers I found ranged quite a bit, and the latest was… Continue reading Elephants

After leaving Mumbai, India the ship stopped at Goa and Mangalore. My experience at Goa was to visit a beach resort and in Mangalore I stayed on the ship. Our final stop in India was the southern city of Cochin (or Kochi), which was on May 4 (Day 111). I chose an excursion to a… Continue reading Traditional Village in South India

On the first day in Mumbai India, I took a boat excursion to the Elephanta caves. These are located on an island somewhat near Mumbai. From the island, I was able to take a picture of a very long bridge that now connects Old Mumbai to New Mumbai. It was awe inspiring to imagine ancient… Continue reading Lord Shiva

The Gateway of India is an arched monument on the waterfront in Mumbai It was designed to commemorate the visit of British King George V to India in 1911. It is also the place from which the last British troops left India in 1948 at the time of independence. It has therefore become significant as… Continue reading Welcome to India

From afar, the nomadic Bedouin life appears pretty exotic. An exhibit outside a museum in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) recreated an encampment for tourists. There is the open tent, where guests sit on cushions near the ground. All of the belongings are portable so they can be transported from place to place. And, there was… Continue reading Desert Bedouin Experience?

On April 25 (Day 102), we arrived in Dubai in the UAE. Ahead of the visit if you had asked me what I expected, my answer would have conflated lots of vague information about the Arab world. What I found surprised me. Dubai is clean and organized, there are some pretty amazing things to see.… Continue reading Surprising Dubai

Our first stop in the middle east was in Salalah, Oman on April 22 (Day 99). My first impression of middle eastern ports, including Salalah: hot and sunny. Unfortunately (for us), we arrived in Salalah just as Ramadan was ending and the three day holiday to celebrate called Ede was starting.  The people were enjoying… Continue reading Oman

Our ship followed the East African coast north until Mozambique. Then we headed north east, sailing for the French Comoros Islands and then to Nosy Be, Madagascar on April 15 (Day 91). While I had heard of Madagascar, I was surprised to learn that it is the fourth largest island in the world and the… Continue reading Nosey Be

Have you seen the 1995 post-apocalyptic movie Waterworld? What stayed with me most from that movie was the sense that the things we expect in our modern world could go away. The technology we expect could well not be there. Do not call me a catastrophizer, but it was some little bit of that feeling… Continue reading Load Shedding

A Word Association Quiz: What is the first word that comes to mind when I say: Ostrich? My answer would have been Australia before this trip. Now I know that there are plenty of Ostrich farms that can be reached in an excursion from Mossel Bay, South Africa. Mossel Bay is a holiday destination, with… Continue reading Ostrich Encounter