MAURITIUS

Hi there all you dear people,

Finally I have snatched some time from the all too hectic life on ship to tell you about Mauritius. But first let me give you a couple – in fact three – photos of the actual head-shaving.  One of the students took them and with  her brilliant computer skills transferred them to my computer.  Oh the brilliance  of the young computer literates! 

 

Oh what a ‘HAM’ I am!!

So now, as promised, on to Mauritius. We only had a one-night stop-over, so five of us, myself, Audrey, Maggie and George, Chris (male) and Anne treated ourselves to some real R&R – rest and relaxation.  It was Maggie who found on her computer this little complex by the sea, which gave very reasonable accommodation and meals.  So we booked in for the night.  It was about a 30 minute drive from where the ship was docked.  It was a lovely drive through fields of sugar cane.  The place we stayed was called The Oasis, and it did indeed prove to be just that.  There was a bit of kerfuffel to begin with because they were overbooked, because some earlier guests could not leave because of a stike by British Airlines.  I can imagine a worse fate than being stranded in Mauritius!  It, the Kerfuffel, was sorted out by Anne sharing a room with Audrey and I, and that worked out fine, although after the spare bed was in the room we couldn’t close the door! She and Chris couldn’t share because they are unrelated male and female and it was a double bed.  One has to preserve the proprieties even in Mauritius. But once that problem had been resolved the relaxing could begin.

The place had it’s own pool as well as being on the beach.  We couldn’t swim in the sea nearest the hotel as it was very rocky, but about only 500 yards along the beach it opened into a lovely little lagoon, perfect for swimming. Believe it or not, only George and I walked to the lagoon to swim.  The others all contented themselves with the pool.  But I, with George can say  ‘We swam in the Indian Ocean.’

It was a very beautiful little place –wonderful flowers, trees and birds.  Josh and Lin, once again you would have loved it.  In fact  you all would have loved the birds, because not only did they look good but their songs filled the air at all times.  And now I think it time once again to let the photos do the talking.  All the photos are of ‘The Oasis"’ and of us at ‘The Oasis’'. No I tell a lie; we start with a group of Mauritians who danced and drummed us off the ship.

What a lovely welcome.

And now as promised ‘The Oasis.  Our first glimpse of the sea from the entrance.

View from our bedroom window; You can see the swimming pool and the ocean.

More views:

 

Us relaxing!

 

We all felt we could have had more time!

Finally as we were lining up to get back on the ship a rainbow appeared over the city (and a student got his face in the picture)

So goodbye Mauritius – Hello Cape Town. Yes Marion, I remember the last time in 1942 when all the residents came with their cars to drive us around.  For those who don’t know, we were on our journey back to England having been prisoners of war.  The people of Cape Town gave us a day we will always remember.

All on ship are busy preparing for Africa.  Tomorrow is ‘Africa Day"’ with lots of special presentations.  It should give us food for thought.  The title of today’s Global Studies class was ‘Africa – Hunger – Famine – Aids’. But it won’t all be doom and gloom.  I’ll tell you about it in my next blog.

Till then – still missing you – lots and lots of love

Liz, Mum, Granny

NEPTUNE DAY

As some of you may know, here is an old tradition that when the equator is crossed at sea, there is a e ceremony.  Father Neptune himself visits.   All those crossing for the first time,  kiss the fish, and the rings of Neptune’s servants, are touched by Neptune’s trident, and finally have their head shaved.  Everyone was assured the any part of this procedure was optional.  Well, the day came, and although I had crossed the equator before, it was during the war on a Japanese ship and there was no ceremony, so I decided to join in this time.  So Audrey and I got into our swim-things, walked along the edge of the pool, Audrey got doused with the green ‘fish guts’ (somehow they missed me), we climbed down into the pool, duly kissed this huge fish, kissed the rings, were  ‘smote’ with Neptune,s trident and thereby qualified to call ourselves   SHELLBACKS      and later were given certificates to prove it.  You will see them on our return.  But I, quite spontaneously, carried away by the spirit of the occasion walked over to one of four chairs, and supported by the cheers of the students,  gave myself up to having my head shaved!!  Will I ever grow up?  (Never, I hope!

I will let the photos take over the narrative.  Unfortunately there is no picture of neither Audrey nor I kissing the fish etc as we were in the pool, but as for the rest:-                

 

                                  

Later that day, all us skin-heads were invited up top the top deck to have our photo taken.  What follows is not the official photo, but a good friend took it with my camera.

 

I’m the one in black and green (and the shaved head!)

So there you are, your crazy sister, mother, friend, let loose on the equator.  Of course it was done on the spur on, and in the heat of the moment.  The consequences will be with me for WEEKS to come.  This is the first time I have ever smothered my scalp with suntan lotion AND worn a hot whenever possible outdoors. I have had moments when I have thought  ‘oh my god – why, why ever did I do it?’ but by and large I’m happy.  After all – it will grow – it has already started, a lovely little fuzz.  I should be presentable by the time I get home.

I think my blog about Mauritius will have to wait.  Hopefully tomorrow.  You can cross your fingers, but don’t hold your breath!  This ship just swallows up time!!

As always I miss you, wish I could have you here, and send you ALL MY LOVE .

Liz, Mum, Granny

INDIA

India is HUGE,  In every sense of the word it is huge.  Geographically it is almost a continent, culturally it has so many, peoples, again so many, so diverse. It is so beautiful, so ugly, so rich, so poor.  How can anyone begin to experience India in five days?  Five months, five years wouldn’t be enough.

So Audrey and I, with Maggie and George explored just a tiny part of India.  This trip had been set up by M & G before they left Canada, and it was wonderful to be invited to share it.  We went to the Hills! We escaped the heat, the dirt, the crowds, the exhaustion, and went to the hills to the great tea-plantations in the mountains.  We were driven in an air-conditioned car by Alex who was our driver for the full five days  We went to a bungalo, built in 1910, by, a Brit of course, we were waited on by three servants, Lovidar, the cook, Stella, his wife, who waited table and made our beds, and another older man who also served at table and did the gardening!  We could have turned the clock back one hundred years, and were living the life of the Sahib and Memsahib.  But I think I am jumping ahead too fast..  Let me tell it all from the beginning, from when we walked down the gang-plank from the ship.

We docked at Chennai on March 11th.  Once we were given clearance to disembark we, Audrey and I and Maggie and George found a taxi.  Not a simple matter. First we had to choose a driver, then we had to negotiate the fare to the airport.  Then we discovered that our chosen driver did not in fact have a car nearby, so then we had to select another driver and the whole negotiation started again, but this time we put the whereabouts of his car as the first thing we needed to know.  Finally we were off, through the streets of Cochin.  There we saw our first sight of areas of obvious poverty – tiny shacks all crowded on top of each other – and a lot of litter everywhere – and of course people. There are a lot of people everywhere in India.  At the airport we caught our flight to Cochin on Kingfisher Airlines, on a propeller plane, to which we walked and then climbed up a stairway. The clock seemed to be turning back already.  The flight was fine, just over an hour, and we climbed down the stairs from the plane, collected our baggage (we had to book stuff in, because the airline didn’t allow ANY liquid to be brought into the cabin at all, so all our sunscreens and other lotions had to be booked in!) We were met by our driver, Alex, and a fine large air-conditioned Toyota car, which was to be ours for the nexct five days. We were then driven out of the city and started climbing along ever smaller roads for about two hours until we turned on to a dirt track which led us  to a most remarkable place; Hornbill Camp, Thattekkad. If that sounds exotic, let me tell you it was.  It is part of a group of Eco Lodges, Camps and Resorts, whose aim is to promote eco-tourism. From their brochure (which I look forward to sharing with you) I quote:  Hornbill camp is a perfect hideway for a nature lover.  The tented cottage allows youi to relax on the banks of the Periyar river and and enjoy the spectacular views of the Salim Ali’s bird sanctuary.  George is a bird watcher, lioke you Josh and Lin, which is why we were spending the first day here.  What nthe brochure didn’t say was how beautififul is is.  I fell in love again.I hope the pictures give you some idea. What the brochure also didn’t say was how hot and humid it was!!  But there were fans in the tents and by staying in the shade we survived – more than survived!  The food and service was wonderful, George enjoyed his special walk in the sanctuary and we enjoyed the beauty, taking lots of pictures, some of which follow.

There are more photos, but I have lots more to cover the rest of this fabulous holiday.

When we left Hornbill Camp, again with Alex in car, we then reaaly starteds to climb and climb and climb and  hairpin bend followed hairpin bend.  Finally in another couple of hours we came to Munnar, a town in the hill-country (more of which later) and then in another 20 minutes, driving through the tea plantations we came to ‘the bungalow’. Again it was the beauty of the place that affected me first.  By this time we were really high in the hills, mountains were all around us, the vivid green of the tea bushes covered the lower ground and the bungalow had been built in 1910, with big airy rooms, and dark wood floors, and lots of windows, and Stellar and Lovidor at the door to welcome us, show us around and make us a pot of tea.  And it was cooler – bliss!  More love at first sight. Pictures will say it better than words!

 

We spent three blissful days here.  Day one, we just explored, walked along the tracks through the tea bushes, day two Alex drove us into Munnar, where we bought this and that and were constantly overwhelmed by the friendliness and cheerfulness of the people.  Yes, it was chaotic, and dirty by N.American standards, but it felt a happy place.

It reminded me of how we felt about Eldoret in Kenya, David.  You would have loved it.  The only thing that irritated me a bit about that day was that Alex who drove us there, acted like a guard dog.  He kept wanting us to get back in the car to be driven half a block, escorted us across the roads, and hovered when  we went into a shop.  But of course he was just doing what he saw as his job and he is a dear man.  Pictures from Munar follow.

When I first asked the girl if I could gtake her picture, she giggled and ran back into the shop, but then she relented. Isn’t she beautiful?

I hope you are clever and can blow that last picture up because on the pedestal there is a statue of Gandhi under an umbrella!

On the third day Alex drove us all around the area. I bought some beads from a youing woman sitting by the side of the road.

We went to a market by a river, we saw a hydroelectic dam – everywhere there were people, dogs, litter – India.

 

 

 

We finally had to leave the bungalow and say goodbye to Stella and Lovidar. Although we had only been there so few days – we felt sad.

So off we went again back down, down, through Munnar, around all the hairpin bends, back into the heat and humidity.  A treat for us was that we saw monkeys in the trees at the side of the road and a mother and baby posed on a big stone.

We had another fabulous treat awaiting us. We went on an Indian ‘houseboat’.  We went onto a lake, and then through canals where we could see the houses on the banks, women washing their clothes in the water – they really do slap them on rocks – and eat the fabulous Indian food that the cook provided for us!  The breeze as we moved through the water kept us cool enough, but we had to tie up at the bank for the night and for a couple of hours, oh boy did we sweat!!  And all the bugs SWARMED onto the boat despite the fact that mosquito nets had been lowered. Immediately we were transformed into sweating, sweating bodies.  Yes the two `sweatings `are deliberate!  But we were saved by what else – modern technology!  At 8p^m the àirconditioning came on in the cabins, so we retired early!  My thoughts went out to all the happy people we had seen living along the banks.  No airconditioning for them. Pictures:

The last picture is of George on shore, buy local prawns.  DELICIOUS!!

Well, the next morning it was back to meet the ship at Cochin.  We wew able to spend a couple of final hours driving around and having our last on shore Indian meal.  That night we sailed and are now sailing the Indian Ocean, not all that far from MAURITIUS.

So it`s good-bye from me till the next blog.  I send lots of love to you all.  Wish you could be here to share this with me.

Lots and lots of love

Liz, Mum, Granny

VIETNAM – MORE PICTURES

So, this is just the very next day after I sent the first Vietnam blog. One of the classes has been cancelled so I have so I have a nice block of free time. I find I want to have a goodly amount of time before I lug the lap top up here, with all the attendant necessary wires and attachments.   Yes, the ship is officially ‘wireless’.  You computer buffs will understand.   BUT: the computers won’t work in some of the cabins.  ‘Too many doors and walls’ is what I was told.  Hence the major move.  Of course I am being over-dramatic, as I can be so well!  It is not that major a move  and I like it here in the computer lab – surrounded by others all intent on their computers and with the willing and able help of students whose job it is to sort out problems.  I have got to know several of them quite well and they are the nicest, most helpful of people – very kind to us computer clutzes.  I am not the only one.  There are several of us, most with grey hairs, who were not born with computer know-how!  At first when I used to come up here, I felt a bit tense and worried about my obvious lack of knowledge, but now I feel very relaxed, among friends.

So enough of the blethering and back to Vietnam.  I’m going to send you pictures taken during that fabulous trip to the Mekong Delta.

First the rice fields -

Now the temple, with the huge buddah in the courtyard.

I like the atmosphere in these places of worship. There are obviously a loy of tourists like myself but there are also people kneeling, lighting ‘joss’ sticks and the smell is wonderful.  At least it is to me.  Some people find it bothers their breathing.

Next came the boat trip. Comparatively cooler on the water, interesting view of the river banks, and drinking the liquid out of coconut shells,  After the liquid was drunk,  the shells were split for us, a sliver of the shell was cut off, and we were shown how to use this to eat the flesh.

 

Then a visit to a coconut candy making factory, a ride on that rickety horse-drawn cart, and dinner at the outdoor restaurant. 

Sorry this picture is on it’s side. It is of the absolutely beautiful young woman who carved the absolutely delicious whole fish we were served. You can turn it to look at it more easily than I can turn it around!!

Next the water buffalo and our ride by the canoe along the canal.

And then back by the bigger boat – a wonderful picture of us with our tour-guide – a darling of a man; back to the bus.

I had one more trip while in Vietnam.  Unfortunately Audrey opted to stay on the ship.  These trips can be pretty exhausting, especially in this heat, so Audrey opted for a day of rest.  In fact she was coming down with another respiratory bug, and has felt poorly for several days, but thank goodness she is feeling better this morning and we are hoping that she will soon be 100% well again.

So this last trip, went first to another  place of worship.  I realize I cannot remember the nbame of the religion.  It is modern, created by someone in the last century.  It’s creed is that there is truth in all religions, and that the central figures in each religion are deserving of worship.  I LIKE that idea!  the building we visited was in shape like a church with a long nave.  We got there in time for a service and they  welcome visitors, who can climb up to a special gallery on either side of the nave.  The ‘members’ of the congregation are dressed alike with the more important members of the church wearing special colours.  Music is played from a gallery at the back of the church.  I wish you could hear it.

 

 

 

 

After that we went and were given lunch.  The ambience was not as wonderful as the outdoor restaurant on the Mekong Delta, but the food was yummy.  Real Vietmanese – lots of vegetables and noodles which I love.

After lunch we drove on to a cable car which took us up a ‘mountain’.  It really is an incredible feature. Suddenly out if the flat, flat rice fields, there is this huge rocky hill!  The views from the top were fabulous, and right on the top there were courtyards with another , this time more traditional, temple.

So as you can  see it was another wonderful experience. On coming down from the top, it was back on the bus and a LONG drive back to the ship.  But it was, as always, interesting.  It was dark by the time we were driving through Ho Chi Min city, and it was fabulous seeing the massed scooters with their lights on.

Later that evening we left, sailing down the Saigon river to the sea. As I said at the beginning ‘I LOVE VIET NAM.

Now we are only 24 hours away from India.  I am sooo lucky!!

lots of love to you all – Liz, Mum,Granny.