Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 After sailing through the Arabian Sea, we entered the Gulf of Oman before transiting the Straits of Hormuz between Iran and Oman, en route to Dubai. Dubai sits at the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula and is the second largest of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, a union of countries.

We arrived at Port Rashid, one of the largest ports in the Middle East and the world’s largest man-made port, to find ourselves docked close to the QE2.

The city of Dubai has about nine million people, with only one million of them actually citizens of Dubai. The remaining millions came from approximately 200 other countries to work there.

Burj Khalifa - World's Tallest Building

Oil experts from Dubai began in 1958. The royal family of Dubai recognized that the oil reserves would not last forever and looked for other ways to bolster their economy. They made Dubai a tax-free area to appeal to tourist. It worked. They use the profits from the oil to provide services like schools and hospitals, but only for residents. Anyone living and working in Dubai must pay for their own services. Rents are very high in Dubai City, so workers live far out of the city. They also don’t bring their families but share accommodations with other workers.

Before Dubai became the draw for tax-free shopping, it was reliant on its pearl industry, and then oil exports. The shallow and warm waters around Dubai provide perfect conditions for oysters. Pearl divers, who could hold their breath for up to two minutes would dive for pearls, some making 50 to 100 dives a day.

On the day of our visit, we were blessed with comfortable temperatures and light breezes, which I understand are quite unusual for Dubai. With temperatures reaching 110F, even the bus waiting sheds are air-conditioned.

With only a short day in Dubai, we opted to take the Golden City tour, which took us to the historic section of Dubai. We passed through the modern section, which is usually what is shown in photos of the city. Skyscrapers covered the landscape, including the world’s tallest building. We traveled on modern motorways that had blankets of flowers and greenery on both sides, which surprised us since we expected Dubai to be very arid.  

Dubai City was carved from the desert and relies on distilled seawater. We heard that there are no sewers in the city and that all sewage is pumped out and taken by tanker trucks to treatment plants far outside the city. The treated water is then used to irrigate the numerous plants and flowers seen throughout the city.

Dubai is continually building new canals and artificial islands to provide additional waterfront property. Many jut out into the sea in decorative patterns like the famous Dubai Palm. We were disappointed that we didn’t get to see the Palm Island. One day was just not enough time to see even just the major sights.

Palm Island was built using imported volcanic rock. Other islands are being built with old broken concrete from demolished buildings as a base and then covered with layers and layers of sand. It could take up to 30 years for the earth to compact enough for anything to be built on it, but vibrating machines are now being used to speed up the process. These new areas sell for $50 million each and the buyers must make whatever they build on it self-sustaining and ensure zero contamination. The use of clean energy is encouraged, and even the taxis use hybrid cars.

Our tour took us to the Jumeirah section of Dubai, which is the location of the Souk Madinat Hotel, the iconic building shaped like a sail. The hotel is quite luxurious with each level of the hotel consisting of two-floor suites. The bus parked along the beachfront, and we had a terrific view of the hotel and the white sand beach and emerald green water surrounding it.

Souk Madinat Hotel

We also had a good view of the Burj Al Arab, a hotel built in the shape of a wave. Fences shaped like waves ran along the road.

Our next stop was at the Jumeirah Mosque, a short distance away, where we stopped for a quick photo take. We noticed that some of the mosques we’ve seen in our travels have one, two, or more minarets and wondered why. When I asked someone, I got the impression that it depends on the wealth of the community the mosque serves, which may or may not be the full story.

Jumeirah Mosque

Our next stop was at the Dubai Museum, located at the site of the Al Fahidi Fort. Entering the 18^th century fort with its crenelated towers was like walking back into history or at the very least, a scene from the movie Beau Gest.

A subterranean museum under the fort held a number of realistic displays that depicted life as it once was in Dubai. The scenes looked so natural, I almost felt as though I could step right into them. They showed various aspects of everyday life. One depicted a tailor, who sat in front of an ancient Singer sewing machine. The exhibits were outstanding, and I would highly recommend a visit to the Dubai Museum to anyone visiting Dubai.

Dubai Museum – Al Fahidi Fort

Exhibits in Museum

Models of Young Girls Wearing Gold Necklaces

After leaving the museum, we loaded onto one of the Abra water taxis for a trip down the canal to the Spice Souk. Our tour guide pointed out square structures on the tops of buildings that were open from four sides, allowing cool air to drop inside and the hot air to be pushed out—a natural form of air conditioning.

Abra Water Taxis

After wandering about the souk with its various stalls selling spices, textiles, and household goods, we walked the short distance to the Gold Souk on Sikkat al Khail Road. The souk was filled with jewelry shops specializing in gold, jewels, and precious stones. The shop windows were filled with large, intricately crafted gold bracelets and necklaces, some with several wide strands and ornaments and even gold breastplates that looked like something Cleopatra would have worn. Men carrying trays with a variety of cold beverages for sale seemed to be doing more business than the gold merchants.

Spice Souk

Gold Souk

After we returned to the ship following our tour and had lunch, we took the shuttle to the Dubai Mall. John was still on the lookout for a new camera now that our current one was leaving black marks on our photos.

Dubai is a tax free city and paradise for people who like to shop. I don’t have enough words to describe the mall.  To say that it was impressive is an understatement, in size, décor, and content. Part of the mall was in the form of a souk and was beautifully decorated. It even contained a model of a dinosaur skeleton.

Dubai Mall Souk

It addition to it being the largest shopping malls I’ve ever been in, which is an understatement, it housed one of the largest aquarium tanks we’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, we missed seeing the divers that entered the tank to feed the fish.

Dubai Mall Aquarium

The mall also had a large ice rink with people skating. A hockey team sat nearby having coffee waiting for when they could begin their game. Entering such a mall, it is easy to forget where you are. However, seeing men and women in their white and black robes quickly reminded us that we were in the Middle East.

Men wore white robes; women wore black, including scarves covering their heads and wrapped around their necks. In the mall, we actually saw a couple, garbed in their robes, walking hand in hand.  Since we had been warned that there are penalties for public displays of affection, we wondered whether that couple was pushing the boundaries of what was allowed.

Returning to the ship, we stood on the deck and looked out at the QE2, which looked rather deserted and forlorn. She was strung with colorful lights, as she would never have been when actively sailing. Her tenders and lifeboats had been removed, which altered her distinctive appearance somewhat.

QE2 (taken on our arrival in the morning)

After the QE2 went out of commission, it was bought by investors and docked in Dubai with the intention of turning her into a luxury hotel. Unfortunately, a turn in the world economy stopped that. We heard several rumors about what is going to happen to her. Earlier we read that a group of investors was trying to take her back to the Clyde. In Dubai, we heard from one source that she was being modified to serve as a five-star restaurant. Our tour guide said that she was going to be used as a floating conference center that would sail around the Arabian Gulf.

Our first sighting of the QE2 had been in Athens in 1976 when she was fairly new. As a young, newly-married couple, we thought that sailing on her would never be a possibility. However, we had the good fortune to sail on her during her final world voyage in 2008.

It was sad that our last sighting of her would be in Dubai. She deserves much better.

Cochin, India

To travel from Chennai on the east coast of India to Cochin on the opposite coast, we would be sailing around the southern tip of India. The captain reported that since the waters separating India and the nearby island of Sri Lanka were too shallow for the Queen Elizabeth to navigate, we would be sailing around Sri Lanka and the Malabar Coast. It made for a little longer journey but resulted in a much-appreciated day at sea.

Early in the morning as we approached Cochin, we slowly sailed past flat land along the shore covered with houses, lush tropical greenery, and fishing nets. We also went past several small islands that had been created to protect the harbor. Unlike the east coast of India, which has no natural harbors, the harbor at Cochin is natural. Sightseeing boats with people snapping pictures of the ship sailed past us.

Early Morning Views of Cochin

Cochin, a city of three million people, is in Kerala, India’s smallest state. It is located on the Arabian Sea, ten degrees north of the equator. Like Chennai, it is very tropical with temperatures frequently reaching well over 100F. The heat and humidity hit us as soon as we walked on deck.

Once we reached the dock, we saw that several ships were already berthed there, including a French Navy helicopter landing ship, and we had to parallel park between them. The Queen Elizabeth has this amazing ability to pull up at the dock and then use thrusters to move sideways to squeeze in between two ships. Something I wish my car could do.

Going down the gangway, we could see a long line of white vendor tents on the dock awaiting customers, along with dozens of tour buses, some covered with the image of Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Mouse. Many had religious sayings such as Gift of God. Some buses and trucks displayed symbols or patterns to ward off evil spirits and attract good luck.

Vendors on Dock

We boarded one of the buses for the Highlights of Cochin tour, which would take us to the old section of the city. Driving out of the dock area we passed a number of buildings that had been built by the British but were now empty and neglected. Our tour guide said that there are hopes that the train station near the harbor will be renovated and used again. With more cruise ships now traveling to Cochin that would be a good idea. In fact, the Queen Mary 2 was scheduled to arrive the next day. If restored, the once magnificent colonial buildings in the port area would draw tourists. We were told that the majority of tourists that visit Cochin come from France.

The Portuguese colonized Cochin. A particularly valuable thing they introduced to India was tall shade trees, which they brought from their colonies in Brazil. The trees, some of which are now 300-400 year old, cover large portions of the old area and provide much needed shade. They also brought cashew nut trees from Brazil.

The first stop on our tour took us to Mattancherry, which is a fascinating area filled with Portuguese and Dutch buildings. We went into the Mattancherry Palace, also referred to as the Dutch Palace. It is said to be the result of Dutch money and local craftsmanship and was presented to the Raja as a gesture of goodwill and to obtain some trading rights.

The thick walls inside the palace were covered with bright gold murals depicting scenes from two Indian epics. The craftsmen created the murals using natural pigments and coated them with egg whites to preserve them. Unfortunately, with window shutters (no glass) being open daily, the humidity is causing flaking. The ceilings consisted of intricate wood designs. Photography was prohibited, so we couldn’t take pictures inside.

The Dutch Palace

We visited a section of Cochin called Jew Town to visit the oldest Jewish Synagogue in India, built in 1568, and also the oldest synagogue in the British Empire. Unfortunately, our tour only allowed enough time for us to walk past the synagogue, but we got a good view of the clock tower, which was built in 1716. The face of the clock displayed the time in Hebrew, Roman numerals, and local symbols. Unfortunately, with so many people jammed into such a small area and the resulting confusion, we didn’t get a picture of it.

A variety of shops specializing in textiles, spices, perfumes, and jewelry filled the streets leading to the synagogue. The scent of spices and perfumes wafting through the air was quite pleasant. Spices are such moneymakers the Indians call cardamom green gold and black pepper black gold. Cochin is the largest producer of nutmeg in the world.

We stopped to buy one of the white cotton tops we saw displayed outside of several shops. We are not very good at negotiating prices and probably paid far more than savvy people buying the same item. 

As I walked down the streets, I stopped frequently to scribble in my notebook. One shop owner invited me into his shop, and when I explained that I had to get back to the tour bus, he gave me his card and encouraged me to visit his tent on the dock. He explained that his shop was new and he was just getting started. He was so polite and looked so in earnest that I put his card in my pocket and if we had time planned to look for his tent.

Much later on the dock, I remembered his card and looked for his tent, which fortunately had the shop name displayed. When I walked in, he exclaimed, “You came!” I was so surprised to see him there and that he remembered me and asked him if he recognized me from my big straw hat. He won my heart when he said, “No, you are the writer lady.” How could I resist. John and I had a good time negotiating with him good-naturedly over the cost of a few items, and when we finished, he introduced us to his brother and sister-in-law and took a group picture of us. He was just a delight. 

So if you ever find yourself in Cochin, stop and see Azeem Ahemad at his shop Piccole Gioie, 6/174 Synagogue Street in Jew Town, Cochin, or look for his tent/stall on the dock. Tell him the writer lady sent you and for him to give you a good deal.

A Road in the Synagogue Area 

Our tour next took us to the St. Francis Protestant church. It had been built by the Portuguese but later taken over by the Dutch, who painted over or removed all the artwork in the church. Later, the British took control of it, and it now serves as an Anglican church.

The church was the burial place for the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. A few years after his death, his body was exhumed and reburied in Lisbon, Portugal. A stone in the church marked his original burial spot.

Punkalevers, long flat fans, stretched the length of the church. They are attached to ropes that were pulled by someone outside to move the fans back and forth over the congregation. These days the process is mechanized. The tour guide was quite proud to announce that Queen Elizabeth II visited the church in 1997 and Prince Charles and Camilla in 2013.

St. Francis Church

We had a quick stop at a museum next to the Roman Catholic bishop’s house. The museum contained ancient church vestments and chalices contributed by ten churches in the area. The gardens surrounding the house were beautiful, filled with hibiscus, banana plants, palm trees, and some of the towering shade trees imported by the Portuguese. The Franciscans established the nearby Santa Cruz Basilica, which we didn’t have time to visit.

Gardens

Mount Carmel School

Our last stop was at the waterfront to see the Chinese fishing nets. It is believed that the process of using cantilevered nets was brought to Cochin from Macau in Hong Kong a thousand years ago. Some say by Chinese traders, but it was probably the ever-present Portuguese.

The nets are dropped in the water and used to scoop up fish. The same basic method is still used to this day, except at one time steam boilers were introduced to power the net lifting. Local fishing is big business and much of the fish is exported. In fact, small crabs are exported to Malaysia to be fattened up. The local people export all kinds of things, as well as importing things you wouldn’t think they would need such as sand from Cambodia.

We walked along the seafront and visited Fort Cochin. Portuguese canons still rest on the walls. The area was filled with vendors, people buying fish, and coconut trees, which we walked under carefully, looking up. Apparently, people are killed every year by falling coconuts.

Chinese Fishing Nets Seen From the Ship

Chinese Fishing Nets Seen From the Shore

We didn’t visit a Hindu temple in Cochin. However, we heard that a passenger who visited one with a taxi driver came out to find the driver’s shoes missing and someone holding his shoes, requesting $10 for having guarded them.

In each country we’ve visited during our voyage, we’ve seen KFC restaurants. Since KFC serves chicken, it is especially popular in countries where people don’t eat beef, like most of India. However, our tour guide said that many people in the south of India eat beef. Coincidentally, on the news that night, it was reported that KFC profits have soared since they started offering buckets of chicken in one of the Asian countries. Based on the numbers of KFCs we’ve seen around the world, it might be a good company to invest in. Also, with construction booming in this part of the world, investing in cement companies might also be a good idea.

We’ve seen a number of American and British businesses in the various places we visited. But I have to admit that it seemed strange to visit India and see a Sleep America mattress store.

Throughout Cochin, we saw campaign posters and pictures of the candidates for an upcoming election. One of the candidates was a communist, and his posters featured not only his picture but also a sickle and hammer.

We enjoyed our day in Cochin very much. It was a fascinating place and the people were so friendly. Later that evening, we watched TV coverage of the visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William and Kate) to Mumbai, just miles away from Cochin. I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we did.

Chennai, India

Leaving Thailand, we sailed through the Andaman Sea into the Bay of Bengal, heading for Chennai, India. After we docked, a small band playing western music stood on the dock along with women wearing saris greeting disembarking passengers. This was the Queen Elizabeth’s first visit and the largest ship to visit Chennai.

Welcoming Band

Strong winds knocked over the tourist information and vendor tents on the dock. We were sorry to see people struggling to right their tents, but at the same time, we greatly appreciated the wind since it was already over 90F mid-morning.

A number of Indian immigration officials accompanied us from Phuket on our journey to India so they could check our passports and visas before we arrived. That way we could go directly off the ship without having to go through immigration on the dockside. One afternoon, finding myself on the elevator with some of the officials, I asked if they were enjoying their time on the ship. They were all smiles. It would be interesting to know how they selected the officials who had to make the arduous trip on the Queen Elizabeth to carry out their work. Perhaps an office lottery?

The procedures for obtaining a visa to India had been quite involved and frustrating, so the onboard checks added another layer to the process. On the visa application forms they asked very personal questions such as our religion, whether we had ever served in the military, etc. John and I sent our applications in together—his visa is valid for six months, mine for ten years. I guess they liked my answers better than his.

We heard that quite a few passengers had gotten the wrong visas for India, obtaining the online visa intended for flights only. The Indian officials were not terribly sympathetic. We also heard that one couple had not obtained a visa at all and had to leave the ship in Phuket and fly to Dubai to meet up with the ship again, bypassing India.

Over 350 years ago, the Chennai area was recognized as a strategic place for trade and was colonized by the Portuguese, French, Danes, Dutch, and finally the British. Each group left an imprint on the city that can still be seen.

Chennai is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, and with seven million people, it is India’s fourth largest city. In a country with over 18 major languages, 400 minor languages, and 1000 dialects, English has been a unifying language. The signage was in both Tamil and English, which made it easier to get around the area.

Until 1996, Chennai had been known as Madras. Our tour guide said that the city council made the name change without consulting the people, and many people in Chennai still called the city Madras. The area is famous for its textiles, especially the Madras patterns popular all over the world, and still some of my favorites.

The area is a major tea producer. The East India Company, the first multinational company, started planting tea in India to avoid having to obtain it from China. Areas that previously grew rice, sugarcane, and peanuts, were tilled over and used to plant tea, resulting in major changes in agricultural practices and rice shortages—the rippling effect of things that aren’t well thought out.

Chennai is also a major producer of automobiles and leather goods. The Hindu people don’t eat beef, but they use cowhides for their leather goods. But first the cow has to die a natural death—or helped along. Most Hindus are vegetarians, and some will accept no more than something to drink when visiting the home of meat eaters, considering them to be unclean.

The East India Company and later the Scots established schools, universities, hospitals, including the School of Nursing and the Madras Medical College. Our tour guide proudly reported that they had female doctors in India long before western countries.

Hinduism is the major religion in India, with smaller numbers of Christians and Muslims. The Mylapore area of Chennai, settled by the Portuguese, has a large Roman Catholic population. Legend has it has St. Thomas the Apostle came to India in the first century and is buried in Chennai. We visited the Saint Thomas (San Thome) Cathedral in Mylapore and saw where Saint Thomas is buried. Many historians claim that it was another St. Thomas, not to be confused with the apostle, but the people in Chennai aren’t buying that.

The cathedral was very European in style, but here and there you could see Indian touches like the flowers draped over the side altars and statues. Masses at the cathedral are said in English and in Tamil, the language spoken by most of the people in Chennai.

Saint Thomas Cathedral

Draped Image of Mary

Our tour guide was excellent and we learned a lot about Chennai, India, and Hinduism. We asked her about the cast system in India. From what I could understand, it is based on the type of work people do, with young people following their families into the same type and level of work (e.g., administrators, medical, legal, teachers, cleaners, etc.). People who do the dirtiest work such as cleaning, laundry, or dealing with dead people or animals, are in the lowest cast and are considered to be the untouchables, which our guide said was a term introduced by the British to describe the cast. It also sounded like it is difficult for people to break out or to marry outside their cast.

Our tour took us to the old British Infantry Officers’ Mess at Fort George, which is now a museum. The fort, built in 1639 by the British, was completed on St. George’s Day, April 21, and named after St. George, the patron saint of England. It was built to protect them from the French, Dutch, and Portuguese. The walls of the building were several feet thick. The fort was surrounded by a wide moat, which is now empty of water.

Fort George British Infantry Officers’ Mess (now a museum)

We toured the gallery of paintings of former British officers and their wives, as well as the collection of armament, china, and military uniforms on display. We wondered how the members of the military survived in such a hot climate wearing uniforms of heavy wool.

Throughout the museum, metal plates embossed in Braille were mounted next to each display, identifying the items and providing detailed descriptions. I was impressed seeing all the Braille.

Our next stop on the tour took us to the Government Museum, where we saw a display of ancient Hindu bronze figures depicting some of the many Hindu gods. One information board listed over 32 gods, which may not have been a complete list. Apparently, the bronzes had been collected from temples all over the area to protect them from raiding armies during the Trail of Destruction. The armies had been stealing the bronzes from the Hindu temples and melting them down for armament. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any photos.

Chennai is a beautiful place but somewhat spoiled by the trash that is seen everywhere. In case we hadn’t noticed it, our tour guide said that trash is a real problem in India and the government was trying to deal with it by educating the children about cleanliness and recycling. She hoped that it would help. When we passed the beautiful buildings of the University of Madras, we were surprised to see the lawns around the building totally covered in trash. Sadly, it was everywhere. Trashcans in the form of rabbits, baboons, fish, and other animals were positioned all around one of the museums but mostly ignored.

Before monsoon season the rivers and drains must be cleared of trash to prevent them from backing up and flooding the city. Chennai is subject to flooding even without trash backup. Last year following heavy rains, the city was badly flooded. A search on Google for Chennai floods showed pictures taken during the flood, which was quite severe.

The city’s large railway station resembled many of the train stations in London. The railway in India serves 12 million people each day and is one of the largest employers in the world. The city is currently constructing a subway system, which apparently is playing havoc with traffic.

Our tour bus took us past Chennai’s Marina Beach, which is the second longest urban beach in the world; Copacabana being the longest. We saw thousands of people enjoying many activities on the beach—all except swimming, which is prohibited because of the strong currents. The day was extremely hot and humid, and the water looked very inviting. I was thankful for the fan the Philippine Tourist Board gave us when we arrived in Manila. It had become quite useful.

The people of Chennai were preparing for the Hindu New Year on April 16. Our tour guide said that the people celebrate by wearing new clothes and new jewelry, so people were out shopping in mass. She also said that they buy lots of clothes because they are very cheap in Chennai. Jewelry shops abound in India, primarily because the people consider gold jewelry an investment and wear it to keep it safe.

Most of the women wore stunning saris in various colors and patterns. We were told that the pattern in Indian fabric is woven; fabrics that are embroidered are usually from elsewhere. The men wore shirts and long trousers (no Bermuda shorts here). Our guide told us how her mother, who only had one sari, would unwrap one end of it and wash it, letting it dry quickly on the line while she stood there. When it was dry, she would wrap it around herself and then unwrap and wash the other end. That gives a whole new meaning to someone being hung out to dry.

We stopped briefly at a sari store. Our guide showed us very expensive wedding saris that were woven with gold thread. She described the techniques used to make the threads that incorporate gold and to make different colors and patterns. She said her mother, years after her wedding, had her sari burned to melt down the gold and got a surprising amount of gold and silver from it. Even the wedding garments are an investment—bought for the bride by the groom’s family.

It is estimated that India has over 150,000 temples. Our final stop on the tour took us to the Kapaleeshwar Temple, which is dedicated to Shiva—the god of good luck and good fortune. The temple was located down a narrow street filled with vendors making and selling strings of flowers, fruits, and other items the Hindus offer as sacrifice in the temple. It was a special feast day so thousands of people were coming and going to the temple. Many of them arrived in small three-wheel taxis or auto-rickshaws.

Lane Leading to the Kapaleeshwar Temple

Flower Vendor Near Temple

Photo by Fellow Passenger Keith Larby (used with permission)

Auto-rickshaw

Carved and brightly painted figures of people and animals covered the top of the temple gateway. The photos we took don’t do justice to the colors, which were bright and varied.

Kapaleeshwar Temple Gateway

To enter the temple, our group had to remove our shoes. Once through the gateway, we found ourselves in a stone courtyard filled with people visiting various altars or shrines in the courtyard. We had heard that only Hindus could actually go into the temple itself, but I never got that far to discover whether that was true. The sun had heated the stones in the courtyard to the point where it burned my feet. I quickly dashed into a shady spot, only to find myself standing in water that thousands of people had already tromped through.

Afterwards, faced with putting my dirty, wet feet back into my shoes, I asked John, who had been standing outside holding my shoes, for his nicely pressed handkerchief to wipe off my feet. Kind husband that he is, he gave it to me—but not without grumbling a bit about it being one of his best.

A family standing nearby the gateway smiled at me and told me that their little boy was fascinated by me, since he wasn’t accustomed to seeing Westerners—or perhaps it was my big straw hat. I had a hard time understanding what they were saying. But their warm friendly smiles were easily understood.

Before we arrived in India, I didn’t know how I would find it. I’m happy to report that we had a thoroughly enjoyable day in Chennai and I was glad that we had come. The people were warm and friendly and the sights exotic and fascinating. Chennai was worth a much longer stay.