Salalah Oman

We had a really interesting day in Salalah Oman—talk about not being in Kansas anymore! Oman is bordered by Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It’s a Sultanate, which means the Sultan rules. There may be local legislatures (there has been universal suffrage since 2003), but the big guy essentially owns the country.

The current Sultan is Qaboos bin Said, who disposed his father in 1970. While prior Sultans owned everything and kept all the money, Sultan Qaboos (pronounced caboose) has done a lot to improve the living conditions in the country. In 1970 there was one hospital in the country. Today there are many. In 1970 no women were going to school and few men. Today public education is provided and a university has been built. Women make up 60% of the attendees at the university. So, in general, he’s considered a benevolent Sultan. Roads have been built; there are several airports, linking the major cities. Everything is new and very clean.

Don’t get the wrong impression, however. Few women are seen on the streets. Men may take up to 4 wives. It is a very traditional Muslim country.

Salalah is on the Arabian Sea on the southern edge of the country—a short 3-hour drive to Yemen. There are several resorts on the sea and liquor is served at these. It also has a huge port and this is the last stop for ships before heading into the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal. In fact, in the movie “Captain Phillips”, the ship that ran into pirates sailed from Salalah.

Salalah is known for 2 things: frankincense and a rich pre-Islam history. We saw a bit of both. The first thing you notice when you get off the ship is that this is a desert, but it’s a desert with a monsoon season and unusually high humidity (it was about 75% when we were there. Picture 1 shows the landscape over some of the ruins—low mountains and lots of sand!

Picture 2 was shot as we drove to our first historical site. This is a traditional Muslim cemetery. Bodies are buried facing Mecca. For men, there is a stone placed at the head and one at the feet. For women there are three stones at the head, womb and feet.

Our first stop was at Taqah Castle, the front shown in Picture 3. The current Sultan has 7 castles—one in Salalah and one just outside Salalah—monstrous places with private mosques. This castle, however, is much more modest and was the home of the Sultan’s grandfather. Picture 4 shows the royal bedroom and Picture 5 shows a baby’s cradle, which was located in the children’s room.

Then it was on to the ruins of Sumhuram (Picture 6), the area’s largest port in pre-Islamic times, between the 3^rd century BC and the 5^th century AD. At one point it was supposedly the Queen of Sheba’s port and frankincense was shipped all over the world. It is a large area with lots of ruins and a commanding view of the old port entrance, shown in Picture 7. Obviously, not many boats are getting over the sand bar and through the silt!

Also wandering around the Sumhuram site were camels. Pictures 8 and 9 show a couple. There were probably a dozen, all owned by someone, but allowed to wander in the wild. Depending on size, a good camel can run from $10,000-$30,000 and a good racing camel can cost up to $1 million.

We also encountered some frankincense trees, shown in Pictures 10 and 11. Looking closely at Picture 11, you can see that there’s a paper-thin layer of bark that is easily peeled away. Once that’s removed, you make a slit in the remaining bark and this gooey stuff comes out. Once removed, the gooey stuff is allowed to harden and that’s how it’s sold. There are various grades based on color and their healing potential. You can brew a tea from it or you can burn it and inhale the smoke. Looking at Picture 10, you’ll see some berries growing on the tree. These berries are edible, although no great health benefits were given for doing so.

Finally we went to the souk—the market. There were about 50 different “booths” in this market, all selling the same things. We wandered briefly and came back to the ship, missing perhaps the greatest sight at the souk. One of our friends, Bill Dunroe, found the fellow shown in Picture 12. Note the gun on his back! He’s armed, don’t know about dangerous.

For the last couple days we’ve been sailing in the Gulf Aden. In another hour or so, we’ll pass through the Bab el Mandeb, the very narrow opening into the Red Sea. Yes, we’re in pirate country! The threat is relatively low at this time, but we’re taking precautions. 4 young men dressed in black joined the boat in Salalah. Their guns came aboard in the middle of the night from another ship. They have sharpshooter rifles and 2 are on duty at all times. We’re also heading a group of ships through the area—not a really structured convoy, but there are usually 3-4 ships within sight. We’ve also seen a British war ship and we’ve been told there is also a Japanese ship patrolling at this time.

Last year, when the ship came through, the threat was much higher. There was razor wire around our lowest open deck. There was at least one occasion when a small boat approached the ship, the sharpshooters took aim and the boat made a U-turn.

Several years ago, one of the smaller Seabourn ships was attacked by pirates. All guests were sent to the dining room and told to lie on the floor. The captain turned toward the boat, intending to ram it and turned on our “sound blaster”, which emits very loud noises. There were, however, several bullet holes in the hull and a couple windows were broken by bullets. So one can’t be too cautious.

It takes 5 days from Salalah to our next port, Aqaba Jordan. We’ll make our 2^nd trip to Petra from there. Until then, hope we don’t run into the fellow in Picture 12!

Mumbai

While the city has been renamed Mumbai, almost everyone we talked to called it Bombay. Whichever, it’s a big, crowded city, but not as bad as we expected. We were in northern India several years ago with the NC Zoo and decided we didn’t care if we ever came back. We didn’t like the food; it was hot, dusty, dirty and filled with very aggressive sales people and beggars. On top of it, you had to pay a lot of money and go through a complicated process to get a visa.

So why come back? It was on the ship’s itinerary and we vowed to dip our toes in and get right back on the ship. Guess what! We had a great time in southern India. Don’t know if it’s just the difference between north and south, or we’ve mellowed or we just got lucky and had a great experience. We enjoyed a couple lunches off the ship—in restaurants, not markets or street stalls—and the food was great. We didn’t feel “attacked” by street people. And, we had some really interesting cultural experiences. Not sure we’ll come back, but the thought isn’t so daunting.

It’s an interesting time in India. Elections started this last week and will continue for 6 weeks. During the elections, taverns are closed, although hotels are still allowed to serve alcohol. Locals line up in HUGE lines at the state-run liquor stores to buy alcohol. In Goa, the whole mining industry has shut down until after elections. After a survey, the government discovered 115 mining companies that hadn’t registered with the government and, therefore, weren’t paying taxes. Instead of just closing the 115, they closed all until a new government can straighten it out. In Mumbai, many streets are torn up, whether they needed it or not. Our guide told us this makes the government look like it’s doing something. The future of India will be interesting.

The first day we took a ship’s tour “Mumbai: Off the Beaten Track” and it was great. We started at the Gate of India (Picture 1). This was built in 1911 to celebrate King George and Queen Mary’s visit to Mumbai. The Royal Yacht docked here with all the royal ceremonies that you can imagine. Interestingly, it’s also where the last British troops left India in 1947. Today it’s a gathering place. You have to go through security and have your bag searched to get to the gate, but once there you can do wonderful people watching.

Picture 2 shows why security is so tight in the area. It is a picture of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which in November of 2008 was attacked by terrorist, resulting in several deaths. It was built in 1903 by Jamsedji Tata—part of the Tata family, which seems to own everything in India! Rumor has it that he built a hotel grander than any of the upscale English hotels because he had been refused entry in an English hotel, which allowed “Whites Only”. It’s a lovely hotel with a grand staircase under the large dome (which was almost impossible to photograph) and we had a great Indian buffet lunch.

Following this, we went to the Church Gate train station for an opportunity to “ride the rails”. At the train station we came upon one of the most successful entrepreneurial businesses we’ve seen. Picture 3 shows a young man with a large number of lunch boxes on his head, on his way to deliver them to their owners for lunch. His wife will have packed it at home; it will be picked up at the house and delivered to the office for approximately $6.00 per month. The business is entirely dependent on on-time trains and has received recognition for it’s successful delivery rate—well over 99%.

The trains keep Mumbai running. Picture 4 shows our first class comfort, which cost us 8 cents a piece to go 5 stops. The trains aren’t air conditioned, so doors and windows remain open. As trains pass, you will see passengers hanging out the doors—sometimes for the cool breeze and sometimes because it’s packed with 3 times the people it was designed for!

Our destination on the train was Mahalakshmi dhobhi ghat. This is a laundry service unique to Mumbai. The area, shown in Picture 5, is a vast system of vats, where men bring laundry they’ve collected to wash, boil in starch, dry and press. If you look carefully at Picture 6, you’ll see one man working at his vat, which contains not particularly clean-looking water. Water is changed once in the morning and once in the afternoon, but beating the clothes on stones and bleach powder supposedly make things clean. In times past, English women sent their clothing here for laundering. Over time, they found that beating on stones damaged buttons and shortened the life of fabrics. Today, the laundry is largely uniforms or newly-manufactured clothing that says “pre-washed in India”. What a sight!

We made a quick stop at Mani Bhavan, which was Mahatma Ghandi’s home from 1917-1934. They’ve preserved his room on the second floor (Picture 7). For such a great man, it was a very simple home and a museum, which told about his life in dioramas, kind of like you do in elementary school, with simple figures wrapped in cloths. I’m sure every city has some memorial to Ghandi and this appears to be a minor one.

Our next stop was extremely interesting. Hidden in the bustle of the city is Khotachiwadi, an urban village, with houses dating from the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The Portuguese settled here and Picture 8 shows the prettiest street in the village. Unfortunately, the owners of these houses are being offered huge sums of money for the land, in order to build skyscrapers. We visited the house in the center of the picture, which is owned by one of India’s first fashion designers, James Ferriera, who is trying to raise money to keep the houses from being sold to developers. For a sum of money, which he donates to his foundation, he brings in select groups of tourists for tea. We also got to see his workshop and samples of his work, which were gorgeous. He specializes in silk garments with one seam.

We stopped at Victoria Station (Picture 9) for a quick picture. This Victorian creation has achieved World Heritage status, although the statue of Queen Victoria has been removed to a garden where they keep British relics. While the train station has been lovingly maintained, most colonial building are less fortunate. Picture 10 shows a typical shop/apartment block, which is much worse for wear. Rick mused about starting a pressure washing and sand blasting business….

Our final stop was at the fruit and vegetable market. The wholesale portion, which is shown in Picture 11, was slowing down for the day.  But the public section was very crowded, although our guide told us it was nothing compared to shopping prior to festivals, when you often can’t move! Picture 12 shows a fairly typical vegetable merchant.

The next morning we visited 2 temples before our noon departure. The first temple was a Jain Temple. The front is shown in Picture 13. This religious group is very nonviolent, wearing masks while they pray, so they don’t accidently swallow an insect. They’re obviously vegetarian and won’t eat root vegetables because insects are killed digging around in the earth. We asked our guide about eating other vegetables because insects might be injured when seeds are planted in the ground. She replied that they are not farmers, but will eat non-root vegetables planted by others. She followed this with “It makes no sense to me, either.”

During worship, the congregation builds swastikas with their offering, which is mostly rice. Picture 14 shows an example. In the case of the Jains, the Swastika represents the 4 worlds where one can be reborn. Incidentally, Swastikas have been used for centuries in eastern religions—greatly pre-dating Hitler.  Picture 15 shows worshipers inside the temple hall. Note the covered mouths.

We also visited a Hindu temple, where we were not allowed to take pictures. Hinduism is a great mystery to us, with over 300 million gods and an ever-changing set of beliefs. The temple was not beautiful and all we could figure out was that you bring an offering in and you’re given a piece of the offering to take out. Quite a mystery to us….

We also learned some about the Parsis, which are a sect of Zoroastrians (also a mystery to us). Parsi means Persian, where the religion originated. Bombay is the center of Parsis in India. They base their beliefs on earth, wind, water and fire and, therefore, cannot use fire to cremate the dead, nor can they bury the dead and pollute the earth. When a Parsi dies, the body is carried to the nearest Tower of Silence (no tourists allowed), where the family turns it over to a priest and the workers, who carry it to the top of the tower and place it on a metal grate. The vultures then eat all the flesh in 2-3 hours, followed by a bleaching of the bones and the bones eventually fall through the grate. Very interesting!

Picture 16 shows something that doesn’t happen very often. Seabourn only has 6 ships and they roam the world. For the first time in our history, 2 docked side-by-side in Mumbai. We’re on the Sojourn and that’s the Odyssey in front of us.

Finally, Picture 17 shows our final view of Bombay: the Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway of India from our ship. It was a hazy day—much of it pollution—so the picture is not clear. We sailed away happy that we had given India another chance.

Cochin and Goa India

We’ve had time to visit two delightfully different parts of India. Several years ago we were here with the zoo and visited the chaotic north of India. It’s still hot, humid and dusty, but we had very different experiences.

Cochin is far southwest in India, not quite to the tip. It is part of the state of Kerala, which was established in 1956, following the British withdrawal in 1947. Entering the harbor one sees the Chinese fishing nets, as shown in Picture 1. These are fixed cantilevered structures that are operated mostly from shore, by up to 6 men. The nets are weighted by stones and, as the men walk along the wooden beam, the net is lowered into the water for several minutes. No, we didn’t see them in operation….

We headed out of town (as we typically do) to Alappuzha, which is along the coast 40 miles south of Cochin. It is a major center of coconut fiber making, resulting in mats, furniture and houseboats, like the one shown in Picture 2. Alappuzha is called the “Venice of the East’ because it has a network of canals and lagoons, called the backwaters. You can rent the houseboats for hours or days to sail peacefully through the area. We rented one for a couple hours and enjoyed a wonderful slice of daily life in this part of India.

The dress is so interesting in this part of India. Picture 3 shows a man and woman typically dressed. The women wear bright, colorful Saris, long skirts and tops or long simple dresses. Men wear a shirt and a Dhoti, which is a large rectangular piece of fabric, tied around the waist, which looks like a skirt. What’s different in southern India is that they take the long dhoti and fold it in half when it’s hot, making a shorter skirt. In some cases, when folding it in half, the men bring the longer back between their legs and tie it in front, making it look like a baggy diaper. Of course this provides some modesty on bikes and motorbikes. Our guide also informed us that men wear boxer shorts underneath.

How do the women and men spend their time? Women work hard all the time. Picture 4 shows a woman doing her laundry in the canal. Every woman has a washing stone and slaps her laundry against that stone to get the dirt out. As you can see by her stack of laundry, this is a lengthy process. Women also use the river to do dishes, like the woman shown in Picture 5. Drinking water is piped in, but for other water needs, you use the river. The canal didn’t look terribly clean, but somehow these women got the clothes amazingly clean.

What do the men do? Our guide told us that most men spend half their day tying their dhoti! It does seem a rather tricky task and doesn’t seem to stay tied. This was a Sunday and, while the women worked, most men didn’t seem to do much. We saw a lot of men watching us, as shown in Picture 6.

Because it was Sunday, we also saw many beautifully clad women coming home from church, like those in Picture 7. Interestingly, men wear white dhotis to church, instead of the brightly colored ones.

Finally, the waterways are still used for transportation of goods. Picture 8 shows a group of men unloading bags of rice from a boat, which were then loaded on a truck to deliver locally.

A peaceful morning on the river was followed by a hair-raising drive back to Cochin. The traffic in India is something you don’t understand until you experience it. There are no rules of the road. At one point we had a bus driving toward our van in our lane, while the other lane was filled with motorbikes and tuk-tuks. Scary, crazy….

Our second stop in India was Goa, which has an interesting history. Goa was Portuguese until 1961. It was a little Portuguese enclave, surrounded by British India until the British left in 1947. The Indians finally marched their army in and occupied Goa in 1961, making it a territory. It achieved Indian statehood only in 1987. Therefore, you see much Portuguese heritage and many people still speak the language. Interestingly, Russian is surpassing English as their second (or third) language. Goa has beautiful beaches and this has become a winter playground for wealthy Russians. In fact there are several nonstop flights from Russia each week.

Almost all of Old Goa is a World Heritage Sight. There are 3 amazing Catholic churches built by the Portuguese and we chose to visit these. They are within a quarter mile of each other—an easy walk (in spite of the heat and humidity!).

The first, shown in Picture 9, is the Basilica of Bom Jesus (good or baby Jesus), which was built at the beginning of the 17^th century by the Jesuits. Picture 10 shows the altar area. If you look closely at the feet of the larger statue, you will find a statue of Baby Jesus, shown in a close-up in Picture 11. This is the statue that determined the name of the Basilica.

The Basilica is best known as the resting place of St. Francis Xavier. His coffin is located high in the chapel shown in Picture 12. His body was buried and when it was exhumed to be put in the chapel, it was amazingly intact and it’s even reported to have bled when exhumed. The ornate chapel was built by one of the last Medicis. People would make a pilgrimage to Goa to see the body until a woman bit off the toe in 1554 and several other body parts were removed as relics. It now remains in its silver coffin. Picture 13 is a picture of pictures that show what the body looks like today—it’s pretty well preserved.

The second church was the Se or Cathedral of St. Catherine, which was built in the 16^th century by the Franciscans (Picture 14). It is the longest church in Asia. The façade is shown in Picture 15, minus one tower. The other tower fell in 1775. Picture 16 shows the interior, which is pretty unremarkable.

The third church is St. Cajetan, which was built in the 17^th century by the Order of Theatine (Picture 17), It is no longer an active church, but is still a school for monks and priests. The church was modeled after St. Peters in Rome. The interior is baroque, but not the gold gilt kind. The altar (Picture 18) and side chapels are all made of beautifully carved teak. The most amazing architectural feature is the dome and beautiful ceiling (Picture 19).

Goa is beautiful—very lush and green, with beautiful colonial buildings. It’s very different from other parts of India.

On to Mumbai—I think that will be back to chaotic India.

Sri Lanka

New country for us—Sri Lanka. What a delightful place! It’s like India without the chaos. The people are wonderful—everyone smiles and waves—and outside the city, the country is lush and green. The island nation is slightly smaller than Ireland and sits like a teardrop off the southeastern coast of India.

We decided to leave Colombo, where we docked, and head inland using several types of transportation. From Colombo we took a train 2 hours to Rambukkana. This is a tourist train that was built in 1986 to replicate the Mountbatten, which dated from the 1940s. The original train carried Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, from his summer home in Sri Lanka’s mountains to the coast. Picture 1 shows the interior of one of the cars.

Upon arrival in Rambukkana, we were to take a bus to our destination, but roadwork prevented that and we hopped aboard a tuk-tuk (red 3-wheeled vehicle shown on the right in Picture 2) to get around town to the bus. Traffic, even in this small town, did not seem to follow “rules of the road”, as picture 2 shows. A short bus ride later we arrived at our destination, Pinnawela, home of an Asian elephant orphanage and refuge—what a treat!

The elephants spend 10:00-12:00 in the morning and 2:00-4:00 in the afternoon bathing in the river. Elephants don’t sweat, so they spray water and dirt on themselves to cool down. When you arrive at the river, you get the view shown in Picture 3. A number of young men, with switches from trees, kept the elephants corralled, so they didn’t take off down the river.

There are mothers and babies (Picture 4). There are social groups (Picture 5). By the way, they’ve found that providing socialization experiences is key to getting elephants to breed in captivity. There are loners, like the forlorn elephant in Picture 6. There was even one that tried to climb up to check Betsy out (Picture 7).

When it’s time to leave, the elephants get doused with water (Picture 8), herded out to the road (Picture 9) and walked down the road back to the orphanage (Picture  10).

Then it’s feeding time at the orphanage. Mothers feed babies. Orphans are fed by hand. While they wait for their milk, they take little split logs, run their feet over the inside and eat the shredded wood from the log (Picture 11). When the milk arrives, however, attention turns to the bottles (Picture 12) and they can empty one of the bottles in about 30 seconds. They were pretty cute!

Older elephants are fed in socialization areas or in pens, where guests feed them.  The elephant in Picture 13 gladly took fruit from guests. And the elephant in Picture 14 even tolerated pictures with guests.

We retraced our steps, bus, tuk-tuk and train, back to Colombo. On to India!