HAPPY BIRTHDAY Taylor Morgan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR MORGAN!!!
In honour of my little neice/cousin's first birthday...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai is certainly interesting. Ronan, Jon and I took the Hop-On Hop-Off Big Bus Tour, which lasted both days in all. It's really just a huge city. What's amazing is the mass amount of construction happening all at once; they go 24 hours a day in two twelve-hour shifts just to make deadlines. Everything is the biggest and best, or being reconstructed to become the biggest and best. Honestly, who needs an entire indoor ski slope in a mall!? It's a fun city, nevertheless, full of little treasures and a nice mix of very modern and traditional architecture. I do recomend visiting some day - every year it will just become more and more different.

Maharaja Night

Yet another random theme night... and finally I'm up-to-date again! Sorry for the long delay in posting.

Mumbai, India Day 3

Day three was another repeat from last year as Lizzie, Jon, Ulie and I went to Elephanta Island to see the ancient caves and temples dedicate to Shiva as well as the insane and slightly possessed monkeys. Mumbai is truly one of the most exotic places you can travel to. It’s dusty, humid, hot, dirty, smelly and just extraordinary; fish, garbage and sewage are common smells throughout the city, but there are also the spices and flowers that seem to cut through the previous mentioned. It’s the only city I can think of where you can look down a sketchy alley – sewage scattered on the ground, beggars and poverty evident at ever turn – and still see the women walking around wearing the most beautiful, colourful and vibrant saris, looking impressive no matter their class. India would be a great place to take an extended vacation, it’s inexpensive and has unlimited cultural wealth.

Mumbai, India Day 2

I worked the majority of day two, but did manage to get off for a couple hours with Lizzie to take her on a city tour… Jimmy was our guide again. I know what you’re thinking – yes, they do sleep right outside the gate… waiting. With only a few hours, Jimmy took us to as many sites as we could get to and even decided to marry Lizzie and me – so random! Just before returning to the ship we stopped off at his house where Jimmy introduced us to his mother, wife and two kids. That night was Bruce’s dinner at Khyber, easily one of the most amazing restaurants in the world. What an incredible feast!

Mumbai, India Day 1

We had three full days in Mumbai – formerly known as Bombay. Jon and I made our way through the port area and outside the gate and were immediately swarmed by taxi drivers, all fighting each other to drive us. After some negotiating, we decided on Jimmy (a guide) who picked a taxi driver to drive us all. A five hour city tour of all the major sites (Queen Victoria Station, Prince of Wales Museum, Gateway to India, Hanging Gardens, Queen’s Necklace, a Jain temple and the ghat or laundry). I stayed onboard that night to let all the Cruise Staff to go for dinner.

Mormugao, India

Liz, Jon and I grabbed a taxi (driven by Navish) for a tour of the surrounding area, mainly Goa and Old Goa. Nothing too spectacular to see, but the architecture is pretty impressive, being old Portuguese structures. It is a beautiful area and very different from the rest of India. Oh, did I mention that it is ridiculously hot, humid and dusty; needless to say that the guests hated it!

Saint Patrick's Party

Because Saint Patrick’s Day was on Cochin, we celebrated it on the 18^th. The leprechaun made an appearance as usual.

Speakeasy Night

Just a random dress-up night… nothing special.

Cochin, India

Because I was here last year I decided to relax most of the day and catch up on some work and school stuff. I did, however, climb on up on an elephant. At night, Christine, Jon, Steve and I went to the Taj hotel for dinner. Such good food! All you can eat (my favourite) BBQ Indian food. Platters of chicken, pork and beef (very random, but yes, there was beef) were constantly being brought to our table as well as Kingfisher beer and Indian wine. Cochin is a beautiful city and quite fun, especially in the resort areas!

Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

Penang is a lush, tropical (crazy hot and humid) Malaysian island that is so diverse and rich in culture, it's amazing. Across the road from one another are Burmese, Chinese, Thai and Hindu temples. The architecture is a beautiful medoly of all these cultures as well. We spent the day with Mr. Man (our taxi driver) who spoke amazing English (a real highlight in some of our ports) and was able to actually communicate with us about the locations and things we saw. We visited a bunch of temples, ending with the Snake Temple; Pit Vipers roam free at this temple and in the back they have a snake farm where we held different ones and even a water dragon (looks like an iguana)! After that temple, just before returning to the ship, we visited a forest reserve, home to some wild and crazy monkeys! We need one of these in Vancouver, i swear! It was a great day, and cheap. I completely recomend vacationing in Malaysia, especially on this island - also home to the world's third longest bridge (first longest in Asia) at 13 kilometers.

Singapore, Republic of Singapore

Well this was a gorgeous day in Singapore. Ronan, Steve, Jon and I spent the morning on Sentosa Island, which is looking rather run down with its decades of wear. Nevertheless, we had a great time walking around, seeing the merlion and spending lunch at some trendy little club/restaurant/beach-side hangout. I ordered a lovely plate of nachos and received the Freeport special - Doritos... oiy! Jon and I left the other on the ship after that and went out to Orachard Street for some more walking, some fresh fruit juice and a quick trip to Chinatown before returning to the ship. Not much has changed in Singapore... same ol' same ol'. All the same, it is a beautiful and clean city, although not on the top of my 'must see' lists.

Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam

Good morning Vietnam!
Well we knew it would be another long drive day (an hour and a half each way), but it was worth it even to say that I've been to Saigon. The city itself truly shows the poverty level of Vietnam and how simple the people live. It is beautiful, nonetheless, and the people are amazing friendly. All we really had time to do was check out Ben Thanh Market - the most ridiculously huge market I have ever seen... you want it, they have it, and for CHEAP! It is actually on a ton of those 'Top 1000 Places to See' lists. I must say though 'The Heat is on in Saigon.' It was damn hot... not Samoa hot, but hot enough!