Oct. 26, 2008 Doha, Qatar

Price of gasoline 0.72 QR for 1 liter
Price of water (bottled) 1QR for 1 liter

We are in another formal pearl diving, now oil/banking country on the Persian Gulf. In Qatar (pronounced K’-T-R) we had to acquire a visa to go along with our passport for entrance. There was a little confusion before leaving the US, but Crystal and I got ours ahead of time. This helped us move through immigration quicker and easier. Each of us on the ship had to present ourselves and get our passports stamped.

Doha is another city rising above the sands of the desert. Like in Bahrain and Dubai, the construction boom has hit Doha also. Cranes were all over the downtown area, you couldn’t see a sidewalk anywhere. You can see construction everywhere and 300 licenses have been issued to build.

The economy in Qatar is based on oil reserves, natural gas and the chemical industry. Qatar is the number one producer of natural gas and will be able to produce it for 130 more years. Qataris pay no taxes, have free medicine and pay nothing for water, electricity or phone bills. Like in Dubai and Bahrain, the government provides land for each male citizen when he reaches the age of 25. In Qatar, each male is given $800,000 but this is given in two increments. The first half is given for him to begin building a home. When progress is made, the government will then give the next $400,000. We found out that the entire $800,000 was given in the past, but some men spent it all on frivolous things.

One item the men are interested in is showing off as rich men. They will pay 7,000,000 QR for a license tag or phone number with repetitive numbers. We saw many license tags with one number doubled or tripled on the tag. One man paid a huge sum for a tag with the numbers 1574. Interesting number…. No double or triple numbers. Why did he do it? In countries where Arabic is the main language, they don’t use the Arabian numbering system. Guess who does? In these countries they use the Indian numbering system. Why would someone want a tag with 1574 on it?

The emir’s wife is a huge promoter of education for the citizens of Qatar. In the past, wealthy young men were sent to college in England or the U.S. The emir’s wife wanted her country to be known as progressive in education, so Qatar has small campuses of major U.S. colleges. We passed a campus of Texas A & M, Northwestern and Georgetown. The emir’s wife also thinks that the women citizens should be educated. At the local Qatar University, of those students registered, 15,000 are female and 5,000 are male. This was the only Middle Eastern country we visited were we saw women working. The Minister of Education is female and the incoming Minister of Medicine is also female.

Now off to the race track. In Bahrain we visited the Formula One Race Track. Today we went to a camel race track and watched the camels train. Some camel facts: Camel racing is the most popular sport in Arabia. There are three uses for camels: transportation, food and racing. A good racing camel can cost 10,000 QR. Camels can live to 50 years old and can drink sea water.

Camel racing in Qatar does not use human jockeys. In the past, boys under the age of 10 were used as jockeys, because of their small size. After some years it was found that this caused health problems later in life. In Qatar, they use robots. About one foot tall, they sit just where a jockey would, they even wear small caps. (My camera battery died, so I didn’t get a photo of the camels and robots.) The owners of the camels drive around the track during the race so they can control the jockey with a remote. Most observers also ride around the track in their trucks honking horns to encourage their camel on. These camels are never ridden by humans.

Interesting info on the royal line in Arabian countries: These countries are constitutional monarchies. They elect a parliament for governing. They all have some “king” figure ruling along side the parliament. The leader’s titles are tied to the population of the country. In smaller countries, the king is called the emir (United Arab Emirates). Male members of the royal family in any of these countries are call sheik. In average populated countries, the leader is called sultan (Oman or Brunei). In the countries with the largest population, the king is called malik (Saudi Arabia or Jordan). His son would hold the title of emir.

Oct. 25, 2008 Al Bahrain, Bahrain

Price of gasoline – 100 fils per liter
Price of water (bottled) – 200 fils per liter
Temperature at 12:30 pm – 40*C on the Bahrain-Saudi Arabian Causeway

Bahrain is another oil-rich, turned banking country in the Persian Gulf. Because of the oil, Bahrainis work in the more professional jobs. Like in the UAE, only 20% of the population are native born citizens. The other 80% are workers coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Asian and African countries. The immigrants are guest workers who come in to do the labor. All of our tour guides in these ports are what is called “ex-pats” or ex-patriots. They live in compounds with other people from their home country or job affiliation. These gated compounds had fitness centers and a pool. The monthly rent for foreigners is about $4500. Our guide in Bahrain was from Greece and the wife of engineer. They have lived in Bahrain for 26 years. Unlike in the U.S., neither the immigrants nor their children will ever be able to become citizens of Bahrain.

In Bahrain, when a male citizen turns 25 years old, he is given a plot of land and roughly $250,000. This is given by the government.

While in Bahrain, we took the ship’s tour of Ancient and Modern Bahrain were we visited ancient burial mounds (dating back 3000 B.C.) that looked like a 2-3 feet tall pile of sand and rocks. There are over 100,000 in fields throughout this small country. Later that day we saw the royal burial mounds which were right in the middle of a residential/business area. It was a shame to see people living and working so close to these ancient tombs. We also visited a local handicraft center where people showed how pottery, shipbuilding, weaving from the past. This reminded me of the craft areas of Williamsburg. One interesting stop we made was to the causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This is a 15.5 mile long bridge connecting the two countries. We were able to go only half way across the bridge, but we did stop, go up into a tower and view the other side. The Saudi side of the causeway had a McDonalds. Interesting info is that we saw a long line of trucks waiting along the side of the road. We were told that to enter Saudi Arabia, each truck had to be searched to illegal products.

Something we learned about the Islamic mosques: The Sunni mosques and minarets are very plain in design and the Shiite mosques are colorful.

This is an interesting part of the world to visit.

Oct. 22-24, 2008 – Dubai, UAE

WOW, what an amazing city. This is where the high rise skyscrapers meet the Persian Gulf on one side and the desert on the other. Our arrival into Dubai was long awaited. We were greeted by all the tall, tall buildings, one is said to be the tallest building in the world and they are still working on it. That said, Shanghai claims to have the next tallest building. Crystal, having been to Shanghai, says she sees a resemblance with the large number of cranes all over the city. Due to all the construction and the desert sand, there is a haze over the city of Dubai.

Dubai’s money comes from oil, which was discovered in 1970. Though not the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is the largest as well as the wealthiest city. The UAE realizes that their oil will only last for 15 more years, so they are redesigning themselves as a financial center.

We had planned to fill our two full days in Dubai with touring, so our first afternoon, we hopped on the ship shuttle to the City Centre Mall. Once we entered the mall, we felt no different than any mall in the U.S. Believe it or not, most of the women wore Western clothing: pants, shorts and short skirts. We had a few jobs to do here so Crystal found an extra battery for her camera and was able to get her glasses fixed at an eye glass center called Nice Optics. Their name rang true as they charged her nothing to repair the frames. We also discovered Carrefoure, the French version of Wal-Mart. We had a good time looking at the exotic fish, fruits and veggies. We made a few purchases of t-shirts and pashmina scarves.

Dubai – Day Two, we took the Big Bus Tour of Dubai. It’s a hop on-hop off bus that offers two lines. We took the Historic line first and stopped at the Dubai Museum and it was fascinating. Built in the well of an old fort, we found it nice and cool to visit.

The slideshow through the ages showed the changes and growth in the area since the 1950s. The exhibits showed daily life in the olden times, shopping, education, prayer, metalwork pots, leather crafting, life under the stars and the pearl industry, which is no longer done since the Japanese took it over.

We hopped back on the bus and went to the Gold Souk….. bad mistake, as I acquired a new arm adornment. All the gold jewelry shops reminded me of a Turkish rug store with all the rugs thrown on the floor in front of you or the flashing lights and sounds in Las Vegas. It was sensory overload, to say the least. Later we walked to the Spice Souk a few blocks away. It was filled wonderful smells of dried fruits and spices. It was a warm day, so we walked back to the bus and rode by the creek. This area was filled with boats from other countries loading up with supplies to take away. Interestingly info is that boxes and piled high on the sidewalk around the creek area for boats to fill. We were told that automobiles and refrigerators are also loaded on these boats. The workers don’t have visas or paperwork , so they can only get off the use the restrooms. It must be a sad life to only see this city from the top of a boat.

Our next stop was the dhow boat ride along the creek. We enjoyed this as we saw views of the city from the creek and were out of the hot sun for awhile. We got lots of photos of this part of the city. I even got a photo of the public library. Since we had only eaten 3 peanut butter crackers each and 2 bottles of water, we thought it best to return to the ship for room service and a rest.

The next day, our last in Dubai, we took the Blue line which went past the Jemiarah Mosque, the new tall skyscrapers and the malls. One stop included a photo op of the Burj Al Arab, the only 7 star hotel in the world. It is famous as it looks like a ship sailing on the water and its expense. We then rode on Palm Island, which are man-made islands that from the air look like a huge palm tree. There is an Atlantis Hotel at the top part of the islands. We saw some suspicious palm trees planted in strategic locations that were really cell phone towers.

After that on to the Mall of the Emirates, the biggest shopping mall in the Middle East. This is the mall with a ski slope inside. Our main objective was to see Ski Dubai and get pictures. We were dropped off at the opposite end from the ski lodge, so we trudged through and ate lunch with a view of the ski lodge. It was a cool 4*C reported inside the lodge: much nicer than the temps in downtown Dubai while we were there. I did pass on the skiing, as I’ve never done it back in the U.S., so Dubai wasn’t going to be my first skiing experience!! We hopped back on the bus and as time was short until all aboard, we jumped off at the City Centre and zipped through the mall with others from the ship following us to the shuttle.

This is truly a fascinating city. We barely got to enjoy it, but had a wonderful taste and I would say I could return sometime.

Oct. 19 & 21, 2008 Salalah & Muscat, Oman

Salalah - Please forgive me for not updating my blog in so long. After the first few port intensive days, I was exhausted and needed a break.

We had two part days in Oman. Our stop in Salalah had to be shortened due to an unexpected stop in Aden, Yemen to let off a passenger with a health emergency. Due to that late night stop, our time in Salalah was shortened to 3 hours. We weren’t able to take our excursion to Job’s Tomb, but that was ok with us.

The reason we stopped in Salalah was to pick up provisions. Three containers were delivered there, so it was a must stop. We watched as most of the crew assisted to loading the locks of mostly food onto the ship. Even the captain jumped in and joined the assembly line of those toting boxes upon boxes up to the next crew member. After all the provisions were loaded, we took off.

The port area was container port with piles of rock and sand up to the mountains.

Muscat 34*C at 10:30am

We arrived here after many sea days, two of which we were quarantined to our cabin due to illness (not me, but I was sequestered for one day as a possible carrier….. I did enjoy the time to relax). Since Crystal and I had booked a private snorkeling excursion for the afternoon, we took the shuttle bus to the souk. A souk is a shopping area with many small stalls where vendors sell local products. Since Oman is famous for frankincense, Crystal wanted to purchase some frankincense, so we stopped and she bargained for her purchases. After we walked through the souk observing all that it had to offer. We walked through a section where we were the only Westerners. Our walk took us past the textile souk and then walked past the gold souk. One observation is that only men work as vendors. Yes, almost all the women we saw wore the long black dresses that sweep the ground and the black habibs. They carried designer purses and their eyes were made up to the hilt.

That afternoon we were to meet our ride for the snorkel trip just outside the port gate. We put our long pants on overtop our suits and hoped on the shuttle. At our request, we were dropped at the gate and walked though and waited where we thought was a good spot to be seen by the driver. After over 30 minutes, no driver showed up, so we walked back through the gate and hopped on the crew shuttle back to the ship. Most of the ports we have visited so far have been container ports and not the place to walk around. Some ports prohibit walking due to all unloading of containers and trucks driving through. Crystal emailed the snorkeling company was told it was the assistant’s fault we were picked up. Oh well, we have the Seychelles to look forward to.

Luxor, the Valley of the Kings & Queens, Habu Temple and Karnak Oct. 14 & 15, 2008

We continue to visit fascinating places….those I’ve dreamed of most of my life.

Because of security issues all over Egypt, any tourist bus has an armed guard. You can quickly identify him as he is dressed in a suit and tie. In Giza, we had a young guard named Ibriham, a new father of a month old son. He told us he carried a small pistol in his pocket… very reassuring!! He shared with us that he was from a small village two hours away from Cairo. The tour guides teased him at lunch wondering where he put all the food he ate. We wondered if it was one of a few big meals he had had.

Our caravan of 15 busses left Safaga at 9:00am on Tuesday. We were in Bus #1. Our trip traveled through the mountains and desert of Egypt. Many say it looks like Arizona. As we got closer to the Nile, green appeared as we were in the farm region, lots of sugar cane (looked like corn to me) and palm trees abundant. Farmers in their long flowing robes and turbans affixed to their heads, they toiled in the fields. The Egyptians use donkeys to pull the carts taking hay to put on top of their roofs. Very 3rd world. As we heard from our guide, homes aren’t usually ever painted or finished in Egypt. Once completed, families had to pay taxes on them. So we saw many homes without paned windows or roofs. Straw is used on the top floors as a covering. I suspect these rooms are used a rooftop areas for a nice evening breeze to finish the day.

Our three hour drive finished in Luxor and we arrived at the famous Luxor Temple. It was just amazing to see all the carved statues and etched walls still intact from the 13th century BC. This was the first time while visiting Egyptian treasures that I really felt squeezed in. It was a closed in location with many people around.

After lunch we travelled to the Valley of the Kings and were able to enter four tombs. After all these years, the color was still on the walls. Many faces had been removed as the people that followed the pharaohs actually lived in these tombs, some protecting their kings, others robbing them. Those who lived there later chopped off the faces because it was thought that the figures with faces could come back to life and do evil things. Without a face, they could not come back. Lucky for us, many of the patterns were repeated higher up and the wonderful are remains for us to enjoy today. We were not permitted to take photographs inside the tombs, but the memories remain in my head. As we walked down into some of the tombs, handrails were available so I was able to walk safely and look up and around at the magnificent drawings on the walls and ceilings. I so wanted to touch the walls, but remembered Randy telling me of a woman he encountered at the NC Art Museum actually touching a Monet. Who would think of doing such a thing! I just couldn’t touch the walls of these burial tombs.

On our way back to our hotel, we had brief stops at the Valley of the Queens and the Colossi of Memnon. We certainly lucked up in our room at the Sonesta Hotel in Luxor. All rooms had a Nile view, but Crystal and I had a three balcony suite with whirlpool tub. After our room in Petra, this one was really special. We were fortunate to get into our room right as the sun was setting. How gorgeous!

Dinner that night was a special event for the 80 full cruisers. We were taken back over to the west side of the Nile near the Valley of the Queens and had one of the most memorable dinners in the Habu Temple. The lighting, beautifully set tables and the aria from Aida played powerfully as we entered the temple. We all felt very regal. It was a delightful evening with a trio playing for us. The topper was the full moon slowly rising over the top of the temple as the night wore on.

To be continuted…..

Petra and Wadi Rum, Jordan Oct. 13, 2008

In the shadow of Indiana Jones!!

We awoke early at the Petra Nabaeatan Castle Hotel and took a 10 minute bus ride to the ticket gate at Petra. One could see how Petra escaped the eyes of the world for so long. On our walk down to the mouth in the gorge, I looked this way and that, trying to find where the sig began. It is well hidden. Horses were plentiful to ride down the hill, their smell followed. As we entered the gorge, 300 meters long, we were engulfed with the high vein-like walls that twisted and turned, making a puzzle down the ravine. Along the way, we saw the water system the nomadic Nabaeatans made to bring water into their town. As we walked down the sig, we had to listen for the sound of hooves as donkey carts carried some people (for a fee) down to the Treasury entrance. Our first glimpse was just as Indian Jones saw it. A large rose red façade of a grand tomb was right in front of us. Most of what we saw were tombs, sacrificial tables (no humans, just fruit and animals), a theatre that seats 7000 carved out of the stone wall, and temples. There was an additional walk to the monastery, but we felt we just couldn’t make it.

It was a long hike of what is said to be a 5 mile walk down and back up. It was not for the faint of heart or body. When we finally reached to exit, we were exhausted by happy that we made it in and out again. Crystal and I decided we were “real women” to make the trip with no assistance of horse, carriage or camel!!

The late afternoon and evening was spent in Wadi Rum, a desert in southwest Jordan. A national park, the Bedouins live in the area. Six people each road in old Toyota trucks converted with benches and a rug awning overhead, we road through the desert marveling at the wonders of red-faced mountains. I was amazed at the different colors of the sand: regular Atlantic coast beach tan, an orange-ish color and a red, which I have named Wadi Rum red. It might make a good OPI nail color (“The Desert Collection”). You’ll have to see my tennis shoes that now seem to be permanently tinted that color. I don't mind the color as it will keep the memory of that wonderful day... the shoes probably won't make it back to Wilson.... though I do have pictures.

After our ride through the desert, much like four wheeling at home, we came to some Bedouin tents where the group of 100 or so were treated to a special dinner of meats, salads, beans and bread. Our meats were cooked in the sand…… inside pots covered with cloth topped by hot coals. The most spectular part of the evening was seeing the almost full moon appear over the top on the mountain. We have unbelievable memories of these days.

Catching Up

Today is a seaday (2.5 more to go before Salalah) with rest after our whirlwind visits to Cairo, Petra and Luxor. More notes to come.

Bryan, I do need to edit the gas cost in Egypt. It's actually $2.00/gallon. I must have read the posted prices at the station incorrectly.

Mary, please share with Matthew that I consider this a Around Half-the-World Cruise.

Glad you all are enjoying the blog. Need to complete my write-ups on Petra/Wadi Rum and Luxor.

More later, y'all.............................

Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt Oct. 10 -11, 2008

Typing this, I look out our suite balcony door to see the moon rising over the mountains of Saudi Arabia. With the afternoon sun on the mountains, it gives a pretty reddish hue.

Temperature at 11:30pm at Port Suez – 19C
Gas prices .90 Egyptian Pound per liter

We spent two wonderful days in Egypt. We walked off the ship with luggage in hand. A night in Egypt lay ahead. Alexandria, known for its library and lighthouse is the second largest city in Egypt. Called “the Pearl of the Mediterranean,” Alexandria is a city of 1/4th of the country’s population. We were taken to the Catacombs, first. It’s just amazing that a donkey’s leg falling into the earth could uncover the remains left there 2200 years ago. It seems that most of the city’s ancient history is Roman. The catacombs and theatre are Roman remains. We had lunch at a local fish restaurant, a drive around the city then our 2.75 hour drive to Cairo. Along the way, we saw banana groves, dates, oranges and rice. The terrain was very flat, desert.

When we arrive in Cairo, we were greeted by building upon building, some with windows, many without, but satellite dishes everywhere. Our guide, Magdy, an Egyptologist and college professor, told us that the builders would install the windows once the apartment had been sold. That night our tour of 100 passengers from the ship had a private viewing of the Egyptian Museum. Each group of about 25 has our own guide. We walked around the museum seeing pieces from the time of the Pharaohs. Hard to believe some of these items have been around for over 4000 years. The highlight of the tour was the viewing of King Tut’s treasures. I had had an opportunity to see the exhibit that toured the U.S. in the late 1970s. It was wonderful to see them again, close up and not so rushed. All the gold, lapis, turquoise, and carnelian are just as beautiful as I remember. I could have stayed longer in the Tut Room, but we did see many objects before the Royal Mummy Room. One throne chair of gold leaf with pictures of King Tut and his wife has gold lion heads as hand rests. Some wealthy New Yorker offered the museum $7.5 billion for the chair. No Sale! We did see replicas all over Cairo the next day. There were 15 mummies displayed in the Royal Mummy Rooms dating back to 4000 BC. One queen also had her pet baboon mummified and next to her in the museum.

Our hotel was the Four Seasons Nile Plaza that had a spectacular view of the Nile and an actual glimpse of the pyramids, a 45 minute drive away. In the morning, we visited Old Cairo, with the Coptic Church and Ben Ezra Synagogue. Later we drove by the quarries where the limestone for the pyramids where taken and the Mohamed Ali mosque, patterned after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Afterwards we had a Nile River cruise and lunch with beautiful views of what we saw off our balcony from the Four Seasons Hotel.

As we drive around the city, most of the younger people seemed friendly. Children and those in their 20s gave us a smile or wave. I encountered two delightful girls, probably 7-9. Their bus and ours passed a few times in the street. After I waved at them and gave them a big smile, each time our busses pasted, we searched for each other and gave more waves and smiles, like you saw a good friend passing on the street. Those are nice encounters to have in a foreign county.

(Haze has set in, those beautiful red mountains of 45 minutes ago and now begin engulfed by a grey haze. I was lucky to get photos and the visual memory of the gorgeous red glow on the mountains.)

Finally Giza, we’ve waited all day for the best of the best. We thought that getting to Giza so late in the day would bring huge crowds and bad sun. Not true. Most of the people had left the pyramid area by the time we got there. Tourist police, camel owners, annoying hawkers and tour busses were plentiful, but not that many people. It was wonderful to walk between the two largest Giza structures thinking about who had walked before and who had spent amazing time and energy working on the huge tombs for years and years. The Pyramid of Cheops, the largest one, was made from 3 million stone blocks. Of the 12 original pyramids, part of nine still remain… or at least I counted that many.

It’s hard to put Giza in one paragraph. Thirty or more years of wanting to actually be here and see them in person and they were put into just a few hours of my life. Sitting through the hokey Sound and Light show, I mainly enjoyed the view of the Pyramids at dusk, rather than the melodramatic narration, music and stories. It did give us extra time here.

Next Petra and Wadi Rum…..

Athens, Greece Oct. 7, 2008

High temperature today was 24c, gas prices were 1.21 Euros per liter

Our plane arrived in Athens, Greece on time Tuesday morning, we cleared customs and picked up all our luggage. We were met by a representative of the cruise line with the news that the transportation union would be on strike beginning Wednesday at 11:00am. So we hit the town running to see all on our list. After a brief stop at our hotel, we went across the street to the Parliament building to view the changing of the guard. This is done hourly. Just some notes: the skirts the guards wear have 400 pleats, their shoes weigh 6 lbs each and the pompoms on their shoes contain small knives.

We then took the metro to the Acropolis stop and visited the new Acropolis Museum. Since it has not officially opened, entrance was free, as many exhibits aren’t finished. We did visit a room with some interesting artifacts, many reclaimed from “illicit excavation” gathered from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Afterward, we walked to the Plaka, the old shopping area of Athens and ate lunch. I enjoyed fried eggplant and a tomato, cucumber and olive salad and Crystal ordered moussaka, a traditional Greek dish.

Then we headed for the ancient Agora, walked around, viewed the theatre and gazed upon the Parthenon above us.

It was a fast and furious morning, be we headed back to our hotel for a rest before a dinner with other members on our long cruise.

note: having problems uploading photos right now, Will try later

Luggage and Weights

We are flying Delta Business Elite from JFK. Delta permits the weight in bold print so I am way under the limit.
Black suitcase 55 lbs. / 70 lbs.
Red duffle 45 lbs. / 70 lbs.
Black carry-on 26 lbs. / 40 lbs.
Gray/black backpack 15 lbs./ no limit listed on delta.com

Meet Lexie

This cute little lion is Lexie, my cruise mascot. She will be traveling with us on the cruise. Hopefully she will enjoy all the animals we see and may meet some of her relatives while we are on safari. Just to let you know, Lexie is connected on my backpack by a carabiner clip. We are also taking along two Flat Stanleys for 2nd graders in a former school.