Sunday, November 30, 2008
November 17-20, 2008 Madikwe Private Game Reserve, South Africa
It is so difficult to describe the wonders of the bush, I doubt I will do it justice.
We (ten of us from the ship) left the ship on November 17, were driven to the Richards Bay Airport. It was interesting to see a place that looked familiar again. It has been so long since we saw buildings and homes that looked like home and lots of English signs. We all got on a plane to Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa, and were driven to another airport on the other side of the city. It was interesting to see the major highways that looked so much like home, with the exception of the cars driving on the left side of the road. We met our pilot, who gave each of us our tickets and we got on our chartered flight to Madikwe Hills.
On our arrival, we were greeted by two zebra and impala just off the dirt runway. We divided up in our respective Range Rovers as Crystal and I went to Madikwe Hills Lodge and the others went to Mateya. On the way to our lodge, we encountered a giraffe and some elephants. What a way to start our safari. When we reached the lodge we found out that the afternoon safari ride had already begun, so Crystal and I got acquainted with our “room” and decided to go into our private plunge pool. As we enjoyed the cool waters, we watched a storm go across the bush. It was a magnificent sight to see. Afterwards, we enjoyed the setting sun over the mountains.
We were fortunate to have this safari put together for us by our travel agent, who had also brought a group of our virtual friends to Madikwe, too. After they returned from their drive, we all met up for dinner. What fun we had meeting so many of our online friends, finally.
The next morning we were awakened at 4:30am by a phone call from our ranger, Frans. After a quick coffee and sweet roll, we were off on our first game drive. The highlight of the morning was our first lion. It was so exciting to see a lion pride of dad, mom and two cubs. We enjoyed watching them roam and rest right alongside our rover. After we watched for awhile, we heard another lion a few miles off roaring for a long time. It was amazing to hear the delightful sound. After a bit of time, we saw our daddy lion roar back to his brother. It was unbelievable the sound of that roar. We wondered in where the sound came from…. somewhere deep, deep inside that animal. It was time for us to go, so off we went and just up the path we saw the horns of a wildebeest and that is all. Frans guessed it was dinner for the lion family. Just a few feet later we encountered a pack of wildebeest, most likely soon to be another lion meal.
Now the drives seem to run together, but we saw loads of giraffe, elephants and impala. Frans and Max, our tracker, laughingly called the impala McDonald’s due to the M shape markings on their backsides. On one morning game drive we saw two kudu. We had had kudu for our dinner meal the night before and Frans said, “Yes, there are two less today.” He was only joking.
Our most memorable drive was to find the African wild dogs. We didn’t think much of it at the time, but with only 3000 left on Earth and with what we saw, we were ones of the very few to see some. On that afternoon drive, we drove for over an hour to the east side of the game reserve. After reaching the fence, we stopped and waited. Frans was in radio contact with other rangers on the reserve and knew they were on the way. In the far distance, we could barely make out dots that were the wild dogs. Twenty-three in all they pranced down the dirt road in bunches. Some of them were loners; some came in groups of three or four across, others in a single line of 5. The best part was seeing the seven pups just two weeks out of the den. Still pups, they had found a piece of cardboard and had a playful time jogging up the road pulling that cardboard for another’s mouth. As the playing was going on, the older dogs stopped in the road and waited for the youngens to meet up with them. Finally all were accounted for and the packed left us for the bush. Not long after leaving the dogs, a ranger reported that they had taken down a wildebeest.
We (ten of us from the ship) left the ship on November 17, were driven to the Richards Bay Airport. It was interesting to see a place that looked familiar again. It has been so long since we saw buildings and homes that looked like home and lots of English signs. We all got on a plane to Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa, and were driven to another airport on the other side of the city. It was interesting to see the major highways that looked so much like home, with the exception of the cars driving on the left side of the road. We met our pilot, who gave each of us our tickets and we got on our chartered flight to Madikwe Hills.
On our arrival, we were greeted by two zebra and impala just off the dirt runway. We divided up in our respective Range Rovers as Crystal and I went to Madikwe Hills Lodge and the others went to Mateya. On the way to our lodge, we encountered a giraffe and some elephants. What a way to start our safari. When we reached the lodge we found out that the afternoon safari ride had already begun, so Crystal and I got acquainted with our “room” and decided to go into our private plunge pool. As we enjoyed the cool waters, we watched a storm go across the bush. It was a magnificent sight to see. Afterwards, we enjoyed the setting sun over the mountains.
We were fortunate to have this safari put together for us by our travel agent, who had also brought a group of our virtual friends to Madikwe, too. After they returned from their drive, we all met up for dinner. What fun we had meeting so many of our online friends, finally.
The next morning we were awakened at 4:30am by a phone call from our ranger, Frans. After a quick coffee and sweet roll, we were off on our first game drive. The highlight of the morning was our first lion. It was so exciting to see a lion pride of dad, mom and two cubs. We enjoyed watching them roam and rest right alongside our rover. After we watched for awhile, we heard another lion a few miles off roaring for a long time. It was amazing to hear the delightful sound. After a bit of time, we saw our daddy lion roar back to his brother. It was unbelievable the sound of that roar. We wondered in where the sound came from…. somewhere deep, deep inside that animal. It was time for us to go, so off we went and just up the path we saw the horns of a wildebeest and that is all. Frans guessed it was dinner for the lion family. Just a few feet later we encountered a pack of wildebeest, most likely soon to be another lion meal.
Now the drives seem to run together, but we saw loads of giraffe, elephants and impala. Frans and Max, our tracker, laughingly called the impala McDonald’s due to the M shape markings on their backsides. On one morning game drive we saw two kudu. We had had kudu for our dinner meal the night before and Frans said, “Yes, there are two less today.” He was only joking.
Our most memorable drive was to find the African wild dogs. We didn’t think much of it at the time, but with only 3000 left on Earth and with what we saw, we were ones of the very few to see some. On that afternoon drive, we drove for over an hour to the east side of the game reserve. After reaching the fence, we stopped and waited. Frans was in radio contact with other rangers on the reserve and knew they were on the way. In the far distance, we could barely make out dots that were the wild dogs. Twenty-three in all they pranced down the dirt road in bunches. Some of them were loners; some came in groups of three or four across, others in a single line of 5. The best part was seeing the seven pups just two weeks out of the den. Still pups, they had found a piece of cardboard and had a playful time jogging up the road pulling that cardboard for another’s mouth. As the playing was going on, the older dogs stopped in the road and waited for the youngens to meet up with them. Finally all were accounted for and the packed left us for the bush. Not long after leaving the dogs, a ranger reported that they had taken down a wildebeest.
More safari to come .......
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Enjoying Our Cruise
We are having so much fun and I am soooooo far behind on my blog. Hope the pictures will be a tease until I can catch up. Crystal is rereading Twain's Innocents Aboard. In the book, Twain's shipboard roommate is way behind on his journal. Sounds like me!
We leave the ship tomorrow for our three day safari and will be back in Cape Town early evening November 20, 2008.
We leave the ship tomorrow for our three day safari and will be back in Cape Town early evening November 20, 2008.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Oct. 31 & Nov. 1, 2008 Mumbai, India
“Welcome to Mumbai.” That was the greeting we received from the immigration officers as we presented our visas onboard the ship. With smiles on their faces and this warm greeting, we were delighted to reach India.
After debarking the ship, I was hit by the warmth of the city. The women wearing their colorful saris were a welcome relief from the black burqas of the Middle East. The people I found friendly and accepting. I had done my homework and researched private guides in Mumbai. On Trip Advisor, I found a Mumbai Expert who also happens to own a tour company. Deepa, owner of Mumbai Magic, was a great resource and sent a private guide and driver for us. Sandhya, our guide and Mr. Patel, our driver took excellent care of us while in their city. We had invited our friends, Ken & Shirley, to join us for our two day adventure in this wonderful city.
After getting settled in our car, we were off to hear a little history of the islands and a drive by the old dilapidated buildings. Upkeep is difficult in this city as it is extremely expensive to return these lovely Victorian buildings to their former state. Plus there is rent control in Mumbai and with the little rent money the building owners receive, there is little money to redo the outside of the buildings. Our first look at the real city was a drive through the Sassoon Docks. This is where the seafood and fish are first brought from the boats. Women in colorful saris, beautiful earrings and bare feet were peeling shrimp. They looked to have pride in their work and in themselves. Shrimp shell piles four feet high and taller surrounded corners along the road. Men were working on their nets and women drying fish. A Mumbai favorite is Bombay Duck, a lizardfish with very sharp teeth, given its name as a variation of the word dak referring to the mail train that the fish were transported during the British Raj. Since we were able to “pass the dock test” and did not get nauseated at the dock scenes, Sandhya thought we would able to walk through the local fishing village close by. There we were greeted with “hello” and “good morning” from smiling women doing their morning chores and the shy children. India had just celebrated Diwali, their three day New Year holiday. The front door areas were decorated with fine chalk designs denoting the celebration. Today was the first day after the celebration and a Friday, so not many people were working.
We then took a drive to the University of Mumbai and saw their beautiful Raj buildings and as luck would have it, the library. From there, we went to Mani Bhavan, Gandhi’s home for a few years after he returned from South Africa. It was a small three story home. The bottom floor housed his library, which I enjoyed seeing. Books stuffed on the shelves and tied in twine placed all over the room. His card catalog was even there.
On our way to lunch we passed by the train stop and were able to see the vast lunches in Indian-style tiffin boxes sitting on the sidewalk. Professionals and children can have nutritious lunches made at home, delivered to their work place or school each day by a delivery employees called dabbawala. (see photo above) Started under British rule, a simple color coding system doubles as an ID system for the destination and recipient. More than 200,000 lunches get moved every day by an estimated 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost accuracy. There has only been one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries reported. WOW, now that is remarkable.
We had lunch in a bookstore café. When I made mention that they didn’t have mango lasse’ on the menu, Sandhya became concerned. She took us to a “safe” restaurant, not one where locals eat. She promised us that tomorrow we would eat with the locals. After lunch, we shopped in the bookstore and I picked up the book, One Night in the Call Center, which I think is being made into a new comedy movie. I paid equivalent to $1.88 in rupees for the book. What a deal!
After lunch we walked to a store close by that Shirley wanted to visit. She had read about these necklaces with small carved beads. Along the way we did encounter beggars. We found them with one hand out and a small “please” in their voices… mothers, children and infants. Nothing like I would have thought for a city with so many poor. Just a quite begging.
Then we made a quick stop at the dhobi ghats laundry, where 250,000 pieces of clothing is washed daily by workers who come from all over India. For pennies, you can get 6 pieces of clothing washed, dried and pressed and returned to your home within a week. Like the dabbawala system, very few pieces of clothing is lost or misplaced. Mostly men stand in small cement tubs and hand wash clothes daily.
Afterwards up Malabar Hill to a Jain temple. The Jains are a religious group that are very philanthropic. They give a large amount of money to the poor. On the day we visited the temple, there was a long line of women waiting to receive a coupon for medicine. This temple was quite ornate with diamonds on the statues and bright colors all around. Occasionally we would hear a bell ring. On asking about the sound, our guide replied that it clears the air. It was quite a calming and refreshing place. With no organized services, the Jains seek to acquire mastery over their own selves. They worship 24 Jinas or Tirhankars as bridges for others to achieve liberation. They are strict vegetarians and even wear face masks as not to inhale insects. Our first day in Mumbai was over and Sandhya and Mr. Patel returned us to the ship. We gladly awaited our next day.
The next morning, we were waiting early for our guide as our objective was to visit Elephanta Island. Arriving before 9:00am, we took an hour ferry ride from the Gateway of India arch with the locals. After we arrived, we took a short train ride to begin our long 130 step walk up to the top. Shirley opted for the chair ride which was a chair attached to long poles with two men carrying you to the top. Crystal and I huffed and puffed and finally made it to the top. The steps up where at least 15 inches high in places. Once there we saw monkeys taking laundry down off the clothes lines. That would be nice if you could train them to fold and place the dry clothes in the baskets, too. Then we walked up towards the caves. Carved in about the 7th century all the walls were covered with images of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god. Most of the carvings have been partially destroyed, but still wonderful. After our walk around while Sandhya gave us a description of all the carvings, we rested with a cool drink, then made our decent through the vendor area. It was now noon and people were walking up to the caves, some huffing and puffing. I can only imagine how I looked coming up just a few hours before. As we waited for the train ride to the ferries, we enjoyed watching the local women in their beautiful saris and jewelry selling roasted corn on the cob and other delicacies. Our ferry ride back to Mumbai was fun as we watched the families interact, laugh and eat and moms lightly tapping the baby’s forehead while they slept. I likened this to patting on the back to rest the baby.
Then it was lunch time. After walking around the market area, we finally rode to Samrat Restaurant. This was a wonderful experience of Jain-friendly vegetarian food served in the Thale (pronounced ta-LEE) style. Each of us received a large metal tray with 6 small cups. The waiter came by and placed different spices, chutneys, and sauces on the tray. Our cups were filled with wonderful pickles and vegetables. Along with the naan, we feasted on a delightful lunch. Crystal and I also got a lasse’, a yoghurt drink, though mango wasn’t in season, it was delicious and cooling to our now spicy tongues.
Our two days in Mumbai were almost over. I sincerely wish to thank our wonderful guide, Sandhya and Deepa from Mumbai Magic for making our days in Mumbai truly inspiring and magical. I do want to return to enjoy more in this part of the world.
After debarking the ship, I was hit by the warmth of the city. The women wearing their colorful saris were a welcome relief from the black burqas of the Middle East. The people I found friendly and accepting. I had done my homework and researched private guides in Mumbai. On Trip Advisor, I found a Mumbai Expert who also happens to own a tour company. Deepa, owner of Mumbai Magic, was a great resource and sent a private guide and driver for us. Sandhya, our guide and Mr. Patel, our driver took excellent care of us while in their city. We had invited our friends, Ken & Shirley, to join us for our two day adventure in this wonderful city.
After getting settled in our car, we were off to hear a little history of the islands and a drive by the old dilapidated buildings. Upkeep is difficult in this city as it is extremely expensive to return these lovely Victorian buildings to their former state. Plus there is rent control in Mumbai and with the little rent money the building owners receive, there is little money to redo the outside of the buildings. Our first look at the real city was a drive through the Sassoon Docks. This is where the seafood and fish are first brought from the boats. Women in colorful saris, beautiful earrings and bare feet were peeling shrimp. They looked to have pride in their work and in themselves. Shrimp shell piles four feet high and taller surrounded corners along the road. Men were working on their nets and women drying fish. A Mumbai favorite is Bombay Duck, a lizardfish with very sharp teeth, given its name as a variation of the word dak referring to the mail train that the fish were transported during the British Raj. Since we were able to “pass the dock test” and did not get nauseated at the dock scenes, Sandhya thought we would able to walk through the local fishing village close by. There we were greeted with “hello” and “good morning” from smiling women doing their morning chores and the shy children. India had just celebrated Diwali, their three day New Year holiday. The front door areas were decorated with fine chalk designs denoting the celebration. Today was the first day after the celebration and a Friday, so not many people were working.
We then took a drive to the University of Mumbai and saw their beautiful Raj buildings and as luck would have it, the library. From there, we went to Mani Bhavan, Gandhi’s home for a few years after he returned from South Africa. It was a small three story home. The bottom floor housed his library, which I enjoyed seeing. Books stuffed on the shelves and tied in twine placed all over the room. His card catalog was even there.
On our way to lunch we passed by the train stop and were able to see the vast lunches in Indian-style tiffin boxes sitting on the sidewalk. Professionals and children can have nutritious lunches made at home, delivered to their work place or school each day by a delivery employees called dabbawala. (see photo above) Started under British rule, a simple color coding system doubles as an ID system for the destination and recipient. More than 200,000 lunches get moved every day by an estimated 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost accuracy. There has only been one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries reported. WOW, now that is remarkable.
We had lunch in a bookstore café. When I made mention that they didn’t have mango lasse’ on the menu, Sandhya became concerned. She took us to a “safe” restaurant, not one where locals eat. She promised us that tomorrow we would eat with the locals. After lunch, we shopped in the bookstore and I picked up the book, One Night in the Call Center, which I think is being made into a new comedy movie. I paid equivalent to $1.88 in rupees for the book. What a deal!
After lunch we walked to a store close by that Shirley wanted to visit. She had read about these necklaces with small carved beads. Along the way we did encounter beggars. We found them with one hand out and a small “please” in their voices… mothers, children and infants. Nothing like I would have thought for a city with so many poor. Just a quite begging.
Then we made a quick stop at the dhobi ghats laundry, where 250,000 pieces of clothing is washed daily by workers who come from all over India. For pennies, you can get 6 pieces of clothing washed, dried and pressed and returned to your home within a week. Like the dabbawala system, very few pieces of clothing is lost or misplaced. Mostly men stand in small cement tubs and hand wash clothes daily.
Afterwards up Malabar Hill to a Jain temple. The Jains are a religious group that are very philanthropic. They give a large amount of money to the poor. On the day we visited the temple, there was a long line of women waiting to receive a coupon for medicine. This temple was quite ornate with diamonds on the statues and bright colors all around. Occasionally we would hear a bell ring. On asking about the sound, our guide replied that it clears the air. It was quite a calming and refreshing place. With no organized services, the Jains seek to acquire mastery over their own selves. They worship 24 Jinas or Tirhankars as bridges for others to achieve liberation. They are strict vegetarians and even wear face masks as not to inhale insects. Our first day in Mumbai was over and Sandhya and Mr. Patel returned us to the ship. We gladly awaited our next day.
The next morning, we were waiting early for our guide as our objective was to visit Elephanta Island. Arriving before 9:00am, we took an hour ferry ride from the Gateway of India arch with the locals. After we arrived, we took a short train ride to begin our long 130 step walk up to the top. Shirley opted for the chair ride which was a chair attached to long poles with two men carrying you to the top. Crystal and I huffed and puffed and finally made it to the top. The steps up where at least 15 inches high in places. Once there we saw monkeys taking laundry down off the clothes lines. That would be nice if you could train them to fold and place the dry clothes in the baskets, too. Then we walked up towards the caves. Carved in about the 7th century all the walls were covered with images of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god. Most of the carvings have been partially destroyed, but still wonderful. After our walk around while Sandhya gave us a description of all the carvings, we rested with a cool drink, then made our decent through the vendor area. It was now noon and people were walking up to the caves, some huffing and puffing. I can only imagine how I looked coming up just a few hours before. As we waited for the train ride to the ferries, we enjoyed watching the local women in their beautiful saris and jewelry selling roasted corn on the cob and other delicacies. Our ferry ride back to Mumbai was fun as we watched the families interact, laugh and eat and moms lightly tapping the baby’s forehead while they slept. I likened this to patting on the back to rest the baby.
Then it was lunch time. After walking around the market area, we finally rode to Samrat Restaurant. This was a wonderful experience of Jain-friendly vegetarian food served in the Thale (pronounced ta-LEE) style. Each of us received a large metal tray with 6 small cups. The waiter came by and placed different spices, chutneys, and sauces on the tray. Our cups were filled with wonderful pickles and vegetables. Along with the naan, we feasted on a delightful lunch. Crystal and I also got a lasse’, a yoghurt drink, though mango wasn’t in season, it was delicious and cooling to our now spicy tongues.
Our two days in Mumbai were almost over. I sincerely wish to thank our wonderful guide, Sandhya and Deepa from Mumbai Magic for making our days in Mumbai truly inspiring and magical. I do want to return to enjoy more in this part of the world.
Next stop the backwaters of Kerala, India.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Oct. 27 & 28, 2008 Abu Dhabi & Fujairah, UAE
Temperature at 2:10pm – 39.8*c
These are the last of the two Arabian cities we visited. Abu Dhabi is on the Persian Gulf and Fujairah is on the Gulf of Oman. Though both cites are in the UAE, they have a totally different make up and “flavor.”
I did not take an excursion in Abu Dhabi, but from the ship it looked very similar to the other cities we visited in the Persian Gulf. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, greeted us with tall skyscrapers and a vast number of cranes. This is another old rich region where banking and finance is taking over.
Since I was on my own, I took the ship’s shuttle to the local mall. As in Dubai, Bahrain and Doha, this mall had many high-in shops such as Fendi, Gucci, and Boss to name a few, there was also a Woolworth’s. I walked through the mall and noticed one shop even having a Christmas tree in the window. I thought this odd in a Muslim country. My main object was to find the Carrefour. Since we had had so much fun there in Dubai, I thought I’d see what this Carrefour’s had to offer. This store was smaller with not near the selection as the store in Dubai. I did not leave empty handed though.
[Do take note of the crossing sign above. Though you may think this is a female figure, it is actually a male. Sorry for the lightness of the photo, it’s hard to escape the sun.]
Fujairah, though only an hour’s drive from Dubai, had a totally different feel from the other UAE cities. Since it is on the Gulf of Oman, it was smaller and the smallest populated of the Arabian cites we’ve visited. There weren’t as many tall buildings in the downtown area and just a few cranes, but looked to be an up and coming area.
One thought came to me while riding around in the UAE. There were no statues of people anywhere. We saw very few photos of people, usually only the king, sultan or emir. The reason is that those of the Muslim faith don’t portray images of people. Along the roads or in roundabouts or traffic circles, we only saw statues or bushes cut in the forms of pottery shapes or as in Muscat, we saw sea animals.
While in Fujairah, Crystal went on the Desert Safari excursion and I stayed on the ship. I had read about the Lulu Hypermarket on the Internet prior to leaving home and wanted to visit one. Luck would have it that the ship’s shuttle stopped at the Lulu. This would definitively be more of a grocery store with other small shops of gold, sunglasses and a money exchange booth. There was an upstairs, but I didn’t venture up. I was happy strolling around the grocery area seeing many of the same products we have at home but with labels in Arabic. The produce was interesting with different fruits than at home and wonderful smells, but they also have tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots, just like we do.
From the port area along the water, there are many beach resorts. One interesting thing we saw off the coast of Fujairah was about 100 ships. As we found out, these were oil tankers waiting for the cost of oil to drop and their owners would then contact them and they would go into port and load up with oil to sell wherever their owners wanted.
Next Mumbai, India…..
These are the last of the two Arabian cities we visited. Abu Dhabi is on the Persian Gulf and Fujairah is on the Gulf of Oman. Though both cites are in the UAE, they have a totally different make up and “flavor.”
I did not take an excursion in Abu Dhabi, but from the ship it looked very similar to the other cities we visited in the Persian Gulf. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, greeted us with tall skyscrapers and a vast number of cranes. This is another old rich region where banking and finance is taking over.
Since I was on my own, I took the ship’s shuttle to the local mall. As in Dubai, Bahrain and Doha, this mall had many high-in shops such as Fendi, Gucci, and Boss to name a few, there was also a Woolworth’s. I walked through the mall and noticed one shop even having a Christmas tree in the window. I thought this odd in a Muslim country. My main object was to find the Carrefour. Since we had had so much fun there in Dubai, I thought I’d see what this Carrefour’s had to offer. This store was smaller with not near the selection as the store in Dubai. I did not leave empty handed though.
[Do take note of the crossing sign above. Though you may think this is a female figure, it is actually a male. Sorry for the lightness of the photo, it’s hard to escape the sun.]
Fujairah, though only an hour’s drive from Dubai, had a totally different feel from the other UAE cities. Since it is on the Gulf of Oman, it was smaller and the smallest populated of the Arabian cites we’ve visited. There weren’t as many tall buildings in the downtown area and just a few cranes, but looked to be an up and coming area.
One thought came to me while riding around in the UAE. There were no statues of people anywhere. We saw very few photos of people, usually only the king, sultan or emir. The reason is that those of the Muslim faith don’t portray images of people. Along the roads or in roundabouts or traffic circles, we only saw statues or bushes cut in the forms of pottery shapes or as in Muscat, we saw sea animals.
While in Fujairah, Crystal went on the Desert Safari excursion and I stayed on the ship. I had read about the Lulu Hypermarket on the Internet prior to leaving home and wanted to visit one. Luck would have it that the ship’s shuttle stopped at the Lulu. This would definitively be more of a grocery store with other small shops of gold, sunglasses and a money exchange booth. There was an upstairs, but I didn’t venture up. I was happy strolling around the grocery area seeing many of the same products we have at home but with labels in Arabic. The produce was interesting with different fruits than at home and wonderful smells, but they also have tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots, just like we do.
From the port area along the water, there are many beach resorts. One interesting thing we saw off the coast of Fujairah was about 100 ships. As we found out, these were oil tankers waiting for the cost of oil to drop and their owners would then contact them and they would go into port and load up with oil to sell wherever their owners wanted.
Next Mumbai, India…..
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