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!