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| Asian elephant in Port of Colombo, Sri Lanka |
Having had a busy and full day last year in Sri Lanka, we
decided to have an unusually quiet day here this year for several reasons. In 2012, we had taken a full day shore
excursion out to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage near the Sri Lankan capital
of Kandy. We had taken an elegant early
20th century train out to the elephant orphanage and had had our
buffet lunch in a restaurant overlooking a river in which we watched elephants
bathing, before taking a long bus ride through small villages back to the ship
in Colombo. This time our ship was in
port only until 3 PM and we considered taking a tour of Colombo itself. However, we remember that the air quality
here was poor and given the fact that Asia had been so hard on Barb’s
respiratory system last year and she seem finally to be doing much better after
dealing with the pollution earlier this month, she felt it best to stay around
the ship.
I had given some thought to doing one of the excursions and
particularly when friends Bob and Nancy offered to let me join them on their
tour of the city. The tour was to
include a temple, and frankly, last year we visited many temples and we both
felt we had “templed” out as a result.
Taking off the shoes, leaving them in an area outside and then walking
on hot concrete or marble in stocking feet wasn’t optimal either. Then we heard that we would not be permitted
to dock at the same cruise ship terminal in Colombo as last year because
priority at that dock had been given to an Iranian Naval ship and instead we
would be docked at a much less than scenic container port dock. Here, like in Thailand, the taxi union was
rather strong and no complimentary bus shuttles would take those not on shore
excursions into a central location in the city.
I wasn’t going to negotiate a price for a taxi just to wander around on
a Sunday in Colombo, so I too stayed near the ship.
Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, is a pear shaped island (some
call it a tear drop shape) off the southeast corner of India but Sri Lankans
insist that they are not Indian and that there are significant differences
between them and the much larger nation of India. The largest city, Colombo, where we are
docked, is in southwestern Sri Lanka.
Because of its location so far south, Ceylon had become a major trade
port for European and Middle Eastern traders.
Muslims established a foothold in the area and later the Portuguese,
Dutch, and finally the British at the end of the 18th century took
control. But in 1948, about the time
India gained independence, Sri Lanka became independent of British rule. Through much of the rest of the 20th
century, Sri Lanka was plagued by civil strife.
In fact our friend Gerda from Brisbane, Australia that traveled with us
between Sydney and Hong Kong this year, had related last year when we first met
her, that she and her young daughters had been caught in Colombo during a
revolution a number of years ago and they had to gather their belongings and
get out of the country as fast as possible.
Today however, the political situation is much more stable and cruise
ships are again including Sri Lanka on their itineraries.
Staying in port gave us the chance to have a relaxed morning
so even before breakfast we headed out to the dock and were photographed with a
cooperative Asian elephant. Many people
were handing Social Director Adele cameras and she was willingly taking
pictures of anyone who wished next to the elephant. On the other side of the large animal, some
local trainers, in Sri Lankan ceremonial garb, also posed with tourists next to
the elephant, but they then put their hands out and expected to be paid. In addition, there were some local musicians
and dancers on the pier who performed a few numbers. However, neither of us noticed too much music
and dancing by the time we arrived.
After breakfast, we went out into the morning heat which continued to go
higher through the day, and browsed the vendor stalls. Most of the items were very similar to what
we had purchased a year ago so we came back empty handed except for a new tee
shirt which I liked and which I purchased for $5 after bargaining it down a
bit. Neither Barb nor I enjoy the
bargaining, but it’s expected in this area of the world.
We have heard several reports of injuries to fellow
guests. Our friends Nancy and Bob had
done the excursion that involved sampling some Ceylon tea in a hotel. Nancy commented that there were a number of
very small, almost unnoticeable steps at random locations in the hotel where
one wouldn’t otherwise anticipate steps.
One man, she said, fell flat on his face. A lady who sits near us at dinner, fell at
Mt. Victoria in Hong Kong and broke her ankle and is sporting a walking cast
and is sometimes in a wheelchair. This
evening as we went into the Queen’s Lounge for the entertainment, we noticed a
woman we know with a black eye. Barb
asked what happened. Her response was
that she missed a small step coming out of the stall a bathroom in Malaysia;
she hit her head on the sink and her shoulder on the wall, leaving massive
bruises. These are just the ones we have
personally heard about. There have been
so many small steps in unfamiliar places that it is nearly impossible to remain
attentive to every single step!
I thought that since we didn’t have too much to report about
Colombo as a result of not doing an excursion and not leaving port, it might be
a good opportunity to comment on shipboard activities. On a cruise such as this, the day is filled
with things to do and of course, if a person chooses to read all day, they
can. Or perhaps they can take a siesta
out by one of the pools. Our friend
Sally is an avid bridge player and does so every sea day. To give an idea as to what can be done, I
will identify some of the opportunities from Saturday, March 23, the sea day
before Colombo:
Early morning
stretch
Body conditioning
Yoga
Sit and be fit
BeginningTai Chi
Intermediate Tai
Chi
Making movies
with the techspert
Watercolors
Indoor cycling
Exploring the
Book of Genesis with the rabbi
Service club
Body Sculpt boot
camp
Sit and knit
Guided meditation
Intermediate
bridge
$1 low limit
table gaming
Onboard sports –
gold putt challenge
Guest Chef George
Geary discusses cheesecake
Beginning Bridge
Onboard sports –
wall ball
Team trivia
Single and solo
travelers meet for lunch
Onboard sports –
Wii Challenge
Deep stack Texas
Hold’em tournament
Game players meet
(party bridge, cribbage, Mah Jongg)
Duplicate bridge
Qi Gong
Spa Secrets: 5
steps to glowing skin
Techspert answers
computer question
Arts and crafts
Afternoon Tea
Arts and crafts
Lifestyle
Seminar: ABCs of Vitamins
Bingo
Core
Conditioning Pilates
HAL
(Holland America Lines) Chorale
Friends
of Bill W (Alcoholics Anonymous)
Vigil
Mass
Fab
Abs
Wine
by the glass
LGBT
gathering
Three
card poker contest
Texas
Hold’em cash game
Nightcap
on Nine
Singalong
Bingo in the Piano Bar
All
request Hour with DJ
The above are activities in which I did not participate but
are available to those interested.
Overnight we gained 1 ½ hours as Sri Lanka and India as well
as a few other areas are ½ hour off most of the rest of the world. I chose to stay up a half hour longer, stay
in bed a half hour longer, and go out for my sea day walk a half hour earlier than
usual.
On the same day, this is what filled my time:
·
6 AM 14
laps around the deck (about 4 miles)
·
8 AM
Breakfast in LaFontaine Dining Room
·
9:30 AM “Good Morning Amsterdam” interview with
guest diamond expert from Israel
·
10:00 AM Travel Guide Barbara Haenni updates our
stay in Colombo and describes things to see and do in the Seychelles, the port
after Colombo
·
11:00 AM Explorations Speaker Series (Dr. Joe
Daley): Amad Ibn Majid – The Sea Lion, a
little known but creative Arabian explorer and other useful inventions by Arabs
·
12N Lunch in Lido (today with friend, Ange)
·
1:00 PM work on organizing pictures taken in
Hong Kong
·
2:00 PM Exploration Speaker Series (Dr. Robert
Schrire): The Future Bigger and Better
(more on this later)
·
3:00 PM organize pictures and write emails
·
5:00 PM prepare for dinner
·
5:30 PM Dinner in LaFontaine Dining Room. Barb invited guest flautist, Clare Langan
from near Cambridge, England to join us
·
7:15 PM Listen to Piano Bar pianist Debby Bacon
play requests
·
8:00 PM
Evening entertainment in Queens Lounge, Ventriloquist Brad Cummings
Needless to say, it was a busy
day and anyone who is bored with the variety of activities has only him/herself
to blame. The ship sponsors a series of
speakers who lecture on relevant topics.
A speaker who has drawn huge crowds to his lectures was Dr. Robert
Schrire, a political analyst and a professor at the University of Cape Town,
South Africa. His lectures included
topics on why India is an unlikely democracy, a comparison between modern India
and China, motivations of current and recent leaders in places like Libya and
Syria, forecasts for doom and gloom, and on March 23, the topic above. His analysis seems to be “spot on” and he
mixed political humor with serious discussion.
We got a kick out his comment, when talking about Law of Comparative
Advantage” where he said, Illinois could grow grapes, but the Finger Lakes area
of Upstate New York and Napa Valley in California are more suited to it and
thus they had a comparative advantage over Illinois in grape growing. He brought the house down by saying that
Illinois had the comparative advantage in producing politicians! Point made!
I might likewise comment that
when we had our dinner with the guest flautist, Clare Langan, she related some
of her experiences making the circuit from cruise ship to cruise ship. Recently she was on another cruise line that
was spending a good portion of time in Brazil.
She was listed by mistake as a passenger as entertainers and speakers
typically are recorded rather than a member of the crew. In Brazil there are very stringent visa
requirements that are different for passengers than they are for crew members, and
she didn’t have the visa required for passengers. So she wasn’t permitted to get off the ship
until their lengthy stay in Brazil was over. After leaving Brazil and moving on
to Argentina, she wasn’t permitted to fly on to Tahiti where her next contract
took her until she flew back to Britain first (Argentina and the UK are disputing
control of the Falklands). Furthermore,
because she was quarantined on the ship in Brazil, she missed other contracts!
We are now ready to head toward
The Seychelles Islands to the east of Madagascar and the continent of Africa. Since we have now entered the “pirate waters”
of the Indian Ocean, the ship was prepared in Colombo with the razor wire
around the outside promenade deck, water hoses are at the ready and there is
now 24/7 security watching on the outside deck.
The ship has increased speed and the ship reports regularly to the
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization which coordinates warships in the
area to deal with anti-piracy. Unlike
last year, on Monday morning there was a shipwide drill in which everyone had
to find a location in the interior of the ship away from windows, much like the
old air raid or tornado drills done in schools!
The Asian portion of this grand adventure is ending and we now have just
one more port in the entire cruise that will not be new to us (Belem, Brazil).
We wish our Arizona friend Al who
traveled with us around the world last year a safe and happy voyage as he flies
this week from LA to Auckland to begin a cruise of New Zealand and then back
across the Pacific to the US! Al had
wanted to visit New Zealand and considered this year’s world cruise but opted
instead for a shorter cruise but one that put an emphasis on New Zealand. We hope he enjoys it as much as we did!
CT
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