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Windstar Wonders of Arabia cruise

October 26-27:

Left Austin on time for flight Austin to London--no complications.  After 4 hour layover at Heathrow Airport, we left on flight from London to Athens.  Also no complications on the flight or at customs or retrieving our bags.  We had decided to try Uber to our hotel as it was cheaper than the hotel shuttle.  Once we figured out where we were to meet him, we arrived at our hotel about 8 pm.  Small hotel right in the older part of town (read--very  narrow streets) just a few blocks from the Acropolis.  Once we checked in, we walked about two blocks to a restaurant the hotel recommended.  We just got a Greek salad to split along with the bread they had brought out.  Also ordered garlic spread--literally crushed fresh garlic with olive oil.  It was good but we will probably smell like garlic for a couple days!  Walked around a little and then came back to the hotel ready to hit the sack.

October 26-27:

Left Austin on time for flight Austin to London--no complications.  After 4 hour layover at Heathrow Airport, we left on flight from London to Athens.  Also no complications on the flight or at customs or retrieving our bags.  We had decided to try Uber to our hotel as it was cheaper than the hotel shuttle.  Once we figured out where we were to meet him, we arrived at our hotel about 8 pm.  Small hotel right in the older part of town (read--very  narrow streets) just a few blocks from the Acropolis.  Once we checked in, we walked about two blocks to a restaurant the hotel recommended.  We just got a Greek salad to split along with the bread they had brought out.  Also ordered garlic spread--literally crushed fresh garlic with olive oil.  It was good but we will probably smell like garlic for a couple days!  Walked around a little and then came back to the hotel ready to hit the sack.

October 28:

With jet lag from getting to the hotel at 8 pm and then going to eat, we ended up sleeping to 9:15 am.  We hurried and got dressed, breakfast, mostly packed, so that we could head out to walk to the Acropolis area.  We purposely got a hotel that was only a couple blocks away.  Actually the Acropolis is a large area with several ancient structures within the area, the Parthenon being the most famous and notable structure.  We found the path winding up the hill to the Parthenon, passing several other areas along the way, notably the Roman Agora (market place).  Once we reached the area where you paid to get in to the Parthenon, we took pictures but decided we didn’t have time to pay and climb up to the actual structure, especially when we saw how many people were already in there.  There was a rock area nearby that you could walk/climb up that gave a view of the whole city of Athens, so we climbed up there and took pictures, then left to head back to the hotel.  Walking back we saw many people carrying Greek flags and later found out that it was a national holiday, celebrating the departure of the Germans after WWII was over.  We bought a small snack and coffee as our lunch, got back to the hotel, finished closing the suitcases, checked out and ordered an Uber ride (thru their Smart phone app).  6 minutes later the ride showed up.  The driver drove us to the pier and was very helpful finding the exact place we were to go.  We got checked in and shown to our suite.  Shortly after our luggage was brought to the room and within about 30 minutes everything was hung up or packed away in drawers.  At 6 we went to an orientation and then onto the dining room.  Of course, we had a wonderful dinner.  At the orientation they had said that we might have about 5 foot swells due to a cold front that blew into Athens in the late afternoon.  Right at the end of the meal, the swells apparently really picked up.  We came to the room pretty quickly as Mike was beginning to feel queasy (even stopped at registration for sea sickness pills).  He went to bed pretty quickly after that so we didn’t get to the blog

October 29:

Mike was still feeling queasy this morning, so he stayed in the room sleeping til mid-afternoon.  Lynne went to the historian's lecture at 10 giving an overview of what we will see along the way.  We both went to another lecture at 4 pm on Egyptian history.  At 6 was a Captain's welcome introducing the main officers onboard.  We sat with a couple from Toronto and then went on with them to the dining room.  Mike was feeling much better and ate dinner with no complications.  The seas have calmed down also.

October 30:

Easy day!  We got up early enough to go to a stretching exercise class at 7:30, then Mike did an abs class while Lynne walked on the treadmill.  After breakfast we went to another lecture on the Pharoahs and Temples and what we will see at Luxor.  Afterwards, we walked laps around the deck followed by a dip in the hot tub.  Cleaned up in time for lunch.  Took it easy until 4 pm when we went to another lecture on St Catherine’s monastery which is at the base of Mount Sinai.  Dinner was a special “Greek Market” dinner served buffet style.  We (as of 9:30 pm) are stopped outside Port Said waiting for our cue to enter the Suez Canal.  As it is the shortest way to go to and from between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, the canal handles about 97 boats a day, so we must wait our turn.  It will take us about 19 hours to go thru the canal to the Red Sea.  One advantage of being on a small cruise ship is that we can go thru the canal.  Large cruise ships are usually not allowed to—in fact most of the boat traffic is commercial shipping.

October 31st:  Happy Halloween!

During the night we arrived at Port Said, Egypt, where you enter the Suez Canal.  Apparently we had a medical emergency on board and someone was air-evacuated off the ship.  When you arrive at the canal, they give you a cue number for when it is your turn to enter.  They moved us up so the person could be evacuated, which moved us to a lake partway down.  But then we moved back again to another cue number.  Long story short, we sat anchored in the lake for about 6 hours before it became our turn to enter the canal again.  So it was a very peaceful quiet day with the boat very still.  We again went to lectures, this time by two Egyptian local Egyptologists who briefed on the Egyptian history and also on the ancient way of life for farmers (peasants) and the noblemen.  About dinner time, we arrived at the end of the canal, putting us in the Red Sea.  Unfortunately we entered the canal at dark and left it in the dark so could not get pictures of entrance and exit.  At dinner, they had Halloween decorations up all over, and several of the dining staff had costumes on.  Since about ¾ of the passengers are American, they apparently were playing up to us.  There is supposed to be a sort of Halloween party in the lounge tonight which we will go check out after we finish the blog.

November 1

We quickly got ready this morning and met in the lounge at 9:45 am to leave on our excursion: Desert Safari with lunch.  We left the boat and loaded 8 people each in Toyota Land Cruisers.  We had 7 vehicles and headed out of the city of Hurghada.  We kept hearing a siren and finally realized that it was our police escort (see the picture below).  They left us when we left the road and we headed across the desert.  Each vehicle had the driver, 8 tourists and a guide. We were scattered across the desert so that dust from each vehicle would not blow right back into the next vehicle.  We stopped at one point and got out to see an acacia tree (native to this area) that was about 125 years old.  After about 10 minutes, we headed out again finally arriving at a Bedouin camp.  We were first given a small cup of tea and then divided into two groups.  Our group first went away from the village a short distance to see the source of a spring.  Next we came back to the camp, and those who wanted to, could have a ride on a camel.  Mike had ridden one when he came to Egypt in 1983 so he declined.  Lynne just got by the camel for a photo.  We then had a short tour of their village, including their tiny mosque (literally a small square open air building with indoor/outdoor carpet), a bread baking demo, their sheikh’s (elder) home, and a small shopping area of their handicrafts.  We all then met in a hut made of reeds for the walls and roof where they had our lunch set out.  It consisted of grilled chicken, minced meat/onions roll, rice, potatoes and onions in tomato sauce, a pasta dish, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers, tahini sauce, and fruit.  When we headed back across the desert and got on the main road, we eventually met up with the police escort who led us back to the ship. After getting back on the ship we hit the hot tub for a few minutes followed by an hour brief on Petra.

November 2

We arrived early at Aqaba, Jordan and had an early morning wakeup to be ready to leave at 7 am for Petra.  Petra was a city created by the Arab Nabataeans, desert nomads, in 300 BC.  They excelled in rock cut architecture and water conduit/storage systems.  The location was very close to the trade routes thus allowing the Nabataeans to establish it as a major trading hub. It has been named as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Also, if you have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusader, you saw them ride on horses thru the siq (Arabic name for gorge) and come to the Treasury, a large façade carved into the rock of the gorge.  It was very interesting and surprising to see the large facades carved out of the rock.  Unfortunately as you walked thru the siq, you were slowly going downhill, so when we started back to the bus, it was all up hill.  Once back to the bus, we drove to what they call, Little Petra.  Very interesting, though not as elaborate.  They speculate it was an earlier area built by the Nabataeabs abd  used more as a way station for travelers.  We left to travel back to the boat.  We got back just in time to go to dinner.  We tried to work on the blog after dinner, but the internet was very slow.  They were showing the above Indiana Jones movie at 9:30, so we went to see the movie which put us going to bed rather late and then had to get up early the next morning again.

November 3

Another day to leave the boat at 7 am.  This time we arrived early morning at Sharm-el-Sheikh, in Egypt on the Sinai peninsula.  We drove to St Catherine’s Monastery or as it is officially called the Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai.  It sits at the base of Mt Sinai and is controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai, part of the wider Eastern Orthodox Church, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  After St Catherine of Alexandria was tortured to death, according to tradition, angels took her remains to Mount Sinai. The monastery (ordered by Emperor Justinian) was built between 548 and 565 and is considered one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world. Around the year 800 AD, monks from the monastery found her remains.  The bush acclaimed to be the burning bush that Moses saw was inside the monastery.  The monastery was very interesting, especially the library/gallery where many iconic paintings, drawings, and especially many old manuscripts (under glass), but close enough to really look at.  The manuscripts dated from the earliest (around 432 AD) to 8th – 12th centuries.  Really awesome to see!  They even had a page from the Codex Sinaiticus, Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in the 4th century in uncial letters on parchment, and considered by current scholarship to be one of the best Greek texts of the New Testament.  While this was all very awesome, we then went outside the monastery, and up the hill a little to stand at the base of Mt Sinai.  Here you could see where Moses had climbed Mt Sinai to receive the Ten Commandents and if you turned around and looked downhill, you could see the open desert plain where the Isrealites camped while he was up in the mountain. After a lunch at a restaurant in the town of St Catherine City, we headed back by bus to the ship (about 3+ hours each way in the bus).

November 4:

We arrived at Safaga Egypt very early and had a 6:30 am departure time since the ride to Luxor was over 4 hours.  For 2/3 of the ride, we were in the desert (very desolate) on a very smooth road.  Then we came to the town of Qena, where we changed to a small two lane road that ran beside a canal from the Nile.  This road was not as smooth and had many, many places (mostly traffic control areas for side roads) that had large, multiple speedbumps.  So while the ride was interesting to see the Nile farms which were so green and fertile and the (many different colored bougainvilleas) along the side of the road, the ride was not so comfortable.  We finally arrived to Luxor and went directly to Karnak Temple.  Karnak comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings. Building began during in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. This area was the most important place for worship during this time, including the Great Temple of Amun which we saw. Probably the most impressive area of the Karnak was the Great Hypostyle Hall, built around the 19th Egyptian Dynasty (c. 1290–1224 BC).  The Great Hypostyle Hall covers an area of 54,000 sq. ft. The roof, now fallen, was supported by 134 columns in 16 rows; the 2 middle rows are higher than the others 33 ft. in circumference and 79 ft. high. Each column had hieroglyphics (some still had color) from top to bottom as well as the walls around the circumference.  Lynne could hardly stop taking pictures.  It was all very impressive!  We then went to our hotel, The Luxor Hilton, which is right on the Nile—very nice!  We had lunch there and then left for the Luxor Temple.  Constructed approximately 1400 BCE, Luxor Temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the king in death, but is instead dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship or the ongoing of the Pharaohs; it may have been where many of the kings of Egypt were crowned.  From Luxor we drove back to Karnak for a sound and light show in the temple—it was very different to see it at night and lit up. Back at the hotel we were treated to a very nice dinner on the hotel terrace under the stars looking over the Nile.

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November 5:

One more morning of early rising.  We left the hotel at 6:30 to drive across the Nile to the Valley of the Kings.  While either side of the Nile is fertile and green, once you leave that area and head into the hills, it is pure desert.  We arrived at the visitor center of the tomb area.  Most of the tombs of the Pharaohs kind of radiated off from a central area, but at different angles into the mountains.  They typically rotate which two tombs are open for viewing, so that the other tombs can recover from environmental conditions and perform any needed restoration work.  We were very surprised to see that one of the tombs we would be seeing was Tutankhamun’s.  We had gone to the King Tut exhibition when it visited the US in 1979, so it was very interesting to see it in the place where it had been found.  Actually only his mummy and his outer sarcophagus were in the tomb, as well as some etchings/paintings on the wall.  The rest of the artifacts that were found in the tomb are now in the museum in Cairo.  The tomb was relatively small as he died young and was buried quickly.  The other tomb we got to visit was Ramses IV.  It was much larger and had hieroglyphics all over the walls in the whole tomb.  These were carved into the wall and had then been painted too.  Unfortunately you weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the tombs.  But the walkway to walk thru the tomb let you look very closely over at the walls (you could have touched them but you knew that wasn’t allowed).  What an experience!  From the tombs we travelled to the Valley of the Queens not far from the Valley of the Kings.  Here we saw the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (Egypt’s only female pharaoh).  She however was not buried here, but it is a magnificent structure built into the hill.  Other tombs of queens were in the surrounding hills, but none were as big as Hatshepsut’s.  From there, we drove to the banks of the Nile where we all boarded felucas (typical Egyptian sail boats where 8 each of us boarded a boat and were served lunch as we traveled up the Nile).  We debarked on the other side of the Nile and then boarded buses to start the 4 hour drive back to our ship.

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November 6:

Today was an ocean day (like the next 4 days).  We left Safagah last night and have been proceeding south southeast since.  Last night the Captain gave us a security briefing and introduced a security team specifically hired to be on the ship through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.  It is a four man team headed by a former UK marine.  Not only are they watching the horizon (and have sniper rifles), but also the crew is also scanning the horizon.  The Captain assured us that the threat of piracy is very low and the probability of rockets from Yemen is somewhat akin to winning the lottery.  We are running a very low light observable profile at night with windows covered and minimal lights on the exterior of the ship.  We have been favoring the west side of the Red Sea because of the recent Yemen missile attack on Saudi.  We pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait (Red Sea transition to Gulf of Aden) Wednesday (11/8) evening.  This morning we had a piracy drill.  The passengers gathered in the interior hallways outside their rooms and the ship did a special set of maneuvers to discourage pirates.  Also, the crew had fire hoses to “dissuade” any pirates as well as the security team having rifles.  Afterwards we attended two lectures by the historian/minister hired to educate us about this part of the world.  Lynne and I spent most of the day trying to get our blog up to date.  Even though I have the deluxe internet package, it is extremely slow and very dependent on how many users are on at a time.  Windstar does allow passengers on the bridge and I spent some time looking at our route the next couple days.  Also joked with the Captain about stopping to snorkel on the reefs off the Yemen shoreline.  I am starting to feel like I will have to be taken off the ship in Dubai with a wheel-barrow.  The food is so good and plentiful of course.  I’ve eaten some of the best steaks I can recollect – and of course the desserts add 5 pounds just looking at the menu.  Note—no pictures today.

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November 6:

Today was an ocean day (like the next 4 days).  We left Safagah last night and have been proceeding south southeast since.  Last night the Captain gave us a security briefing and introduced a security team specifically hired to be on the ship through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.  It is a four man team headed by a former UK marine.  Not only are they watching the horizon (and have sniper rifles), but also the crew is also scanning the horizon.  The Captain assured us that the threat of piracy is very low and the probability of rockets from Yemen is somewhat akin to winning the lottery.  We are running a very low light observable profile at night with windows covered and minimal lights on the exterior of the ship.  We have been favoring the west side of the Red Sea because of the recent Yemen missile attack on Saudi.  We pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait (Red Sea transition to Gulf of Aden) Wednesday (11/8) evening.  This morning we had a piracy drill.  The passengers gathered in the interior hallways outside their rooms and the ship did a special set of maneuvers to discourage pirates.  Also, the crew had fire hoses to “dissuade” any pirates as well as the security team having rifles.  Afterwards we attended two lectures by the historian/minister hired to educate us about this part of the world.  Lynne and I spent most of the day trying to get our blog up to date.  Even though I have the deluxe internet package, it is extremely slow and very dependent on how many users are on at a time.  Windstar does allow passengers on the bridge and I spent some time looking at our route the next couple days.  Also joked with the Captain about stopping to snorkel on the reefs off the Yemen shoreline.  I am starting to feel like I will have to be taken off the ship in Dubai with a wheel-barrow.  The food is so good and plentiful of course.  I’ve eaten some of the best steaks I can recollect – and of course the desserts add 5 pounds just looking at the menu.  Note—no pictures today.

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November 7:

When we first boarded the boat Mike approached the cruise tour director about giving a briefing on Yemen.  Initially the tour director was reluctant, but he soon realized that was a fair amount of interest in Yemen by the other passengers.  So today Mike gave a hour brief with pictures on his time in Yemen 30 years ago.  There were probably about 100 attendees and most asked some really good questions.  We took it easy the rest of the day spending some time in the forward hot tub.    That afternoon we attended another lecture by the historian/minister on "The Unity and Diversity in the Mid-East".  As usual, we ate too much.

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November 8:

Mike rose at 7:30 and fast walked about 2 miles on deck.  Lynne slept in.  He went to breakfast and brought some juice and all back to the cabin for Lynne.  At 10, the chef onboard had a cookoff between his sous chef and two teams of ship’s officers, one being the captain of the ship.  They made mushroom risotto and Kaiserschmarm (we were given the recipes).  They, of course, hammed it up and had us all laughing.  One team actually burned the butter and onions they were sautéing and had to go throw it overboard and start again.  After they were all done, we got to taste their efforts.  They actually ended up tasting good.  I will probably try making the Kaiserschmarm when we get home. In the afternoon, we again attended the lecture, this time topic was “Understanding Islam”.  Had dinner with another group of people we hadn’t met before—one of the advantages of a small cruise like this is each night you can eat with a different couple or group and meet a lot of really interesting people from many various backgrounds.

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November 8:

Mike rose at 7:30 and fast walked about 2 miles on deck.  Lynne slept in.  He went to breakfast and brought some juice and all back to the cabin for Lynne.  At 10, the chef onboard had a cookoff between his sous chef and two teams of ship’s officers, one being the captain of the ship.  They made mushroom risotto and Kaiserschmarm (we were given the recipes).  They, of course, hammed it up and had us all laughing.  One team actually burned the butter and onions they were sautéing and had to go throw it overboard and start again.  After they were all done, we got to taste their efforts.  They actually ended up tasting good.  I will probably try making the Kaiserschmarm when we get home. In the afternoon, we again attended the lecture, this time topic was “Understanding Islam”.  Had dinner with another group of people we hadn’t met before—one of the advantages of a small cruise like this is each night you can eat with a different couple or group and meet a lot of really interesting people from many various backgrounds.

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November 9:

Mike rose again at 7:00 and went to a stretching class and then a conditioning class.  Lynne slept in.  He went to breakfast and brought some juice and all back to the cabin for Lynne.  At 10, we attended the next lecture, "Children of Abraham".  Our lecturer is 

Ross Arnold, Director and Senior Professor of Lakeside Institute of Theology. He holds a Master’s Degree in Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and studied Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has been Pastor of Lakeside Presbyterian Church, Chapala, Mexico, since April, 2010.  This is the 3rd Wonders of Arabia cruise he has been the lecturer on and he posts his lectures (for free) at www.litchapala.org.  He has also studied history extensively, so his lectures make you feel you are taking a college course.  He is interesting, and the fact that we are right here where what he is explaining took place, really makes it all relevant as you listen.  We know we studied most of these facts in world history classes, but this time it is soading in!  We also attended the afternoon lecture, "Moses, the Israelites and Crossing the Red Sea".  www.

November 10:

Another morning to sleep in. Mike got up at 7:30 and walked 30 laps on the deck.  When he came back we got in the hot tub for a while and then came back to the cabin and got cleaned up for the day.  We went to a lecture at 11 on “Lawrence of Arabia, the Bedouins and British Victory in WWI.  In the afternoon we read in the Yacht club (quiet enclosed area at the front of the boat), then went to the second lecture on “History and culture of Oman”.  Mike had signed up to play bridge with a couple other people from 5 – 6:30.  We had signed up for “dining under the stars” on the top deck which started at 7:30.  Had real good surf and turf.  They were showing movie “Lawrence of Arabia”, part 1, at 9:30.  We watched the movie so got back to the cabin about 11:30 pm.

November 11:

Today, we had to get up a little earlier as our tour in Salalah, Oman, left at 8:15 am.  We took the Salalah Archeological Heritage tour.  First stopped in Taqah, an old town and visited a castle built in 19th century as personal residence for a sheikh and later became a government house where the head person of that area lived.  Then we went on to Samhurum.  This town was once thought to be the citadel of the ancient city of Moscha and a collections place and port of the the flourishing incense trade.  The city dates back to 100 BC though it is in ruins today.  Part of the ruins are known as Queen of Sheba’s summer palace.  Our guide also said Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Egypt sent ships here to trade with the Omani at this port. From there we went to a new museum which showed the history of Oman and of the Salalah area.  Sultan Qaboos of Oman took over from his father in 1970 and is highly revered as he greatly improved the lives and infrastructure of Oman and brought them into the 20th century.  His father was not interested in improving his people’s lives, etc., i.e., when Qaboos took over there were only 3 primary schools in Oman, and no higher schools than that.  Now there are over 1000 primary schools, as well as secondary and a huge university.  They now have free education, free health care, and are opening the country for free trade and tourism.  Back at the ship we had lunch and spent afternoon working on the blog.  Tonight we are having dinner with an "Arabian Night at the Market" theme.

November 12:

Slept in again this morning until 8:30 am.  Went to the lecture at 10 am on “Alexander the Great and Hellenism”.  Lynne had signed up for the galley tour which started right after the lecture.  Klaus, the executive chef, led the tour.  We ate lunch and then went up front and sat out on the chaise lounges for a while to read, then got in the hot tub.  Didn’t mean to stay in very long, but another couple joined us and we sat and talked for a while.  Finally came in (Lynne was getting a little pink and we were beginning to look like prunes) and got cleaned up in time to go to the afternoon lecture, “The Crusades”.  Mike had signed up to play bridge at 5, so Lynne came back to cabin and checked emails and read.  Had dinner at 7 as usual.  At 9:45 the crew put on a talent show which was very entertaining.  The crew all come from over 30 countries and they are all very friendly and helpful and, as it turns out, they are also talented.

November 13:

Slept in again this morning until 9 am.  Read in the Yacht club until lunch then took it easy until the afternoon lecture, “History, Conflict and Culture in the Middle East”.  Mike had signed up to play bridge at 5, so Lynne came back to cabin and checked emails and read.  There was a briefing at 6:45 on our last excursions tomorrow in Khasab, Oman and then dinner tonight was a BBQ on deck (loads of food!) followed by the crew leading line dances on the deck after they cleared away the food.  We danced some and hopefully worked off some of the calories from the big dinner we ate!   

November 14

Got up at 7 am and got ready, had breakfast and met in the lounge at 9 am. Our tour left at 9:30 and we went by bus, first to a town about 26 km away.  Bukha was a town built in the 17th century when the Portuguese had a presence in current day Oman.  They built a castle below and a watchtower above on a hill.  This area looks out over the Straits of Hormuz (where you go from the Arabian Sea into the Persian Sea), so this was a good location for keeping track of who went in and out.  While it was not a big ‘castle’, it was interesting.  Almost more interesting though, was the drive on the road to Bukha.  The road has been cut out of the mountains along the coastline.  Along the way we saw many small (maybe only 2-9 families each) fishing villages.  They were all very quiet as the fishermen go out during the night to fish, so during the day, they are sleeping.  However, because the country is so prosperous (oil), all have electricity for free as well as schooling and healthcare.  Our guide said many had at least three cars and they go into Dubai (about 2 hour drive) to shop.  After Bukha, we drove back to Khasab and stopped at a little restaurant that had tea or coffee ready for us.  We could also help ourselves to cookies, fruit and orange or mango juice  (and they had a nice clean bathroom!).  We travelled on to the ‘castle’ in Khasab which served the same fortification purpose as the one in Bukha.  It was very interesting (though not large) as it had displays set up in some of the rooms with mannequins dressed in period clothing, jewelry, weapons, etc.  On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a small shopping area but did not buy anything.  As we left Khasab this morning our tour guide pointed out many small 18' boats with outboard motors.  He said they were smugglers between Oman and Iran.  From Iran the bring to Oman (and from there UAE and Saudi Arabia) lambs and goats for slaughter and return with electronic gear and cigarettes (Marlboro's as the guide said).  Interestingly the tour company was run almost entirely by Pakistanis.

November 15

The ship docked in Dubai about 7 am and we were in the 8:30 departure schedule.  Tried to get Uber at the port, but it wouldn’t work, so we took a taxi to our Dubai hotel.  Had to wait a short time but then we were allowed to check into our room.  After settling in a little, we took a taxi to the Dubai Mall, which is right next door to the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world).  We wandered around a little in the mall, then found the food court.  There were MANY choices (a lot of which are chains we have in the US), but we finally decided on a sandwich from Subway.  We then decided to go outside the mall by the artificial lake (where they do the light/water show at night).  We wanted to take the tour of the Burj Khalifa, so we walked around the building looking for an entrance only to find out that the entrance is in the mall.  So we had to walk all the way back around.  Once we got to the place where you buy tickets, we found that the tickets to go 2/3 the way up were sold out thru Sunday, so we got tickets to go all the way to the top for 7 pm Thursday.  Meanwhile we were trying to contact Maribeth Melcher and her daughter, Mariah, to try to meet us with them.  Mariah, her husband and two children live in Dubai, and  coincidentally Maribeth is visiting them right now.  Finally connected and Mariah said she would pick us up at the mall so we could go back to their apartment.  So we had a nice visit and got to see their apartment (which looks across to the Burj Khalifa), then we all headed out to walk to a restaurant in the mall to eat dinner.  We sat on the outside terrace to eat, so we saw about 3 of the light/water shows (they run every 30 minutes)—very impressive.  After eating, they walked us to where we could catch a taxi and we parted ways.  We were tired by the time we got back to the hotel as we had walked over 15,000 steps.  Note video below slide show.

A note re: the Dubai Mall and Dubai.  To say it is all ‘over the top’ almost is too tame a statement!  The mall has every designer name you can think of, almost every fast food type you could think of, and is decorated extravagantly with marble floors and all kinds of decorative touches!  The first two cars we saw when getting out at the mall was a Bentley and a Rolls Royce.  Porsche's here are a dime a dozen.  

November 16

We slept til 8, then got ready, went down for breakfast, then summoned Uber to take us to the Miracle Gardens.  It was a way from the downtown area, so we got to see some of the new construction and businesses.  However, where nothing was being built, it is just flat and sandy land with little or no vegetation.  The Miracle Gardens is like an amusement park of flowers---all kinds of structures totally covered with flowers.  They even had an Airbus shell covered with flowers.  While it was pretty, it just seemed a little much.  It was also getting rather hot, so by 11:30 we again summoned Uber for a ride to the Mall of the Emirates which was about half way back to our hotel.  This mall is where they have the indoor ski slope.  We located the ski slope area and there were places to watch and see what was going on.  They had an area for kids to sled and luge, as well as the ski slope with chair lifts to go back up to the top.  After watching for a while, we got a small lunch and walked around the mall a little.  This mall too was overly ornate like the Dubai Mall was yesterday.  We caught another Uber ride back to the hotel and rested for a while.  Last night we had made reservations at a Lebanese restaurant right on the lake where the light/water show happens.  Our table was right by the outside of the terrace, so a perfect viewing location for the 6pm show.  We finished eating and headed to the entrance to go up in the Burj Khalifa.  Our tickets took us all the way to the top.  Looking straight out didn’t seem so high, but if you looked straight down, you could really tell you were way up there.  Cars on the roads looked like ants. We stayed at the top level (148th floor) for about 20 minutes, then rode the elevator down to the lower level (125th floor).  While we were at both levels, the fountain display went off and it was really interesting to see if from above.  Once back on the ground floor, we made our way thru the mall to a location where we could be picked up by Uber and headed back to the hotel by 8:30 pm.  Got cleaned up and dressed in the clothes to wear on the plane and finished packing so we are ready to leave the hotel at 11:30 pm for the airport.  Hop to Heathrow (London) and then another hop to Austin and we will be “Home sweet home”!

Another note on Dubai:  Everything here tries to be the biggest, best, over the top, that it feels like you are in Disneyland---not real life.  In the malls, you saw more designer shops than you would ever see in one mall or shopping center in the states.  They didn’t look that busy either, so you wonder how they can operate.

Mike's post trip comments:

It was again obvious to me that we (the U.S.) do not belong in the middle-East.  When I left Yemen back in '87 I vowed not to return and that vow is mostly renewed.  Between my previous experiences, the lectures by Ross, and just being there again it is obvious to me that nobody but the natives are going to resolve their conflicts.  We cannot bomb sense into them, they are just going to have to figure it out themselves.  

While in Oman I knew something was bothering me and today it finally struck me how the almighty dollar (oil) has affected this part of the world.  Unlike the rest of the mid-East, the streets are clean and you can almost eat off of the office/shop floors.  This is because of the plentiful money (almost obscene) available here to do so.  As Lynne stated above, Dubai is like an adult Disneyland with "new" buildings being added necessary or not.  The wealth displayed here is just wrong -- there are too many starving people elsewhere that need help.  

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This is our final entry for this trip's blog.  We leave the hotel in about 45 mins (11:30pm) for a 2:45am departure from Dubai airport, stopping at Heathrow for a 4 hour layover and then direct to Austin landing about 4:30pm Friday Nov 17th.  Hope you have enjoyed the blog -- if you have any comments on how to improve it , please email Lynne or I.  We both wish all a very Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas!

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