around the world cruise Archives - Page 2 of 5

Like Noah: Forty days and forty nights to go

DATELINE SOMEWHERE NEAR BANKOK – WHAT A WONDER FILLED TRIP AND MORE TO GO. Its a big world out there. It goes round every day. But we rarely get to go round it. Thanks for sharing with us Kiki!
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To review to date, Southampton to Singapore. All links to posts, in order of trip appearance:

Portland, Maine starting trip

Fireworks of Southampton sendoff

On-board lifeboat drill

Greeks bearing gifts

Port Said, Egypt

Lights around the World, from Egypt

Going thru the Suez

Pyramids, Sphinx, Camels

Safaga, Egypt. Sunny with a chance of Champagne

Transiting the Red Sea, AUDIO FILES

Food moment on the Gulf of Aden

Scottish night at sea. With Haggis. VIDEO

Riding camels, and high tea in desert

Not your momma’s burka, Dubai (world’s biggest Cruise liner meets world’s tallest building)
CRUISE AND CRUISING. Oh, btw, yes, that photo is of THE tallest building in the world, and it is THE tower Tom Cruise was actually climbing in the latest Mission Impossible movie: Mission Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol. Check out the behind the scenes link. If you have a strong heart. Gulp.

Further btw, Queen Mary 2 that Kiki rode into Dubai on is the largest Cruise Liner in the world.

Abu Dhabi, men with whips, falcon, bazaar, VIDEO

Bright colors of India, w/VIDEO

Ape-filled streets of Cochin, India VIDEOS

Spa is expensive, Indian Ocean

Bathtime at elephant orphanage, Sri Lanka, VIDEO

Langkawi, Malaysia, islands or Maine blizzard

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia start of Chinese New Year

Chic chic Singapore

Welcome to Singapore. What goes around, goes around

DAY 30 SINGAPORE … Where the penalty for not flushing a public toilet is $150 and the penalty for drugs is death. Anyway, we had a good time and only got edgy when Diarmuid dropped a tissue (penalty for littering, $1,000).

kikidiurmuidwheel2 Hip baristas – without the tats. We had fried prawns with hot sauce and drank mugs of iced sugar cane juice in a divey lunch spot.

We rode Singapore’s ‘millennial’ ferris wheel.
Back on the ship, happy not to be fined or dead.

Stew note: You can see the millennial wheel over their shoulder?

MORE MALAYSIA. AND SHARK FOOD TOO.

DAY 29, DATELINE KUALA LUMPUR – Asia Modern: young and beautiful with high-rise luxury malls, sophisticated metro, crowded bazaar, dreamy colonial architecture and fabulous food.

The place is decked out for Chinese New Year with red lanterns everywhere. The other twin towers

Muslim kids – and tons of men streaming to mosques with prayer rugs under their arms for Friday prayers

Do they really mean shark?

Stew note: Burger Villa, Burger King, Burger Shark? Shack? Who knows if it is seafood special or not. Surely you tried it, Kiki? Did it taste fishy?

Videos from the streets of Cochin, India. Going Ape. Italian icon daily part of Indian life. Buckle up.

Apes and Vespacars have been being made in Italy for decades. But not rare to see any kind of “old” apes in India. They call them tuk-tuks bee-cause of the sound?

DATELINE, THE APE-FILLED STREETS OF COCHIN, INDIA. – Apes and Vespacars have been being made in Italy for decades. The ultimate is the Ape Calessino which is sometimes found picking up passengers at the train stations or beach side ports of call. It is based on older 1980’s version of Piaggio’s Ape. Its rare to see one. But not rare to see any kind of “old” apes in India. They call them tuk-tuks bee-cause of the sound? Regardless, India got the concession to build this model of ape/tuk-tuk years ago and i think we heard they’ve been turning out 600 a day for years over there to meet the demand and keep the streets abuzzing. (Ape means “bee” in Italian. Because of the sound. Vespa? Wasp.

Ape at speed:

Ape, Kiki asked the driver to slow down to shoot his buddy’s ape coming up on them.

Incredible India. Dance Video.

DAY 25 DATELINE, COCHIN, INDIA- We disembarked to music and bare-chested men and assorted gods and goddesses dancing, had a harrowing ride (is there any other kind in India?) in a tuk-tuk and saw beautiful Hindu temples.

Many Vreeland/Italy connections here: the tuk-tuks are like your Italian Ape, right? Your cousin Max Holden who stayed with us in Panicale, was my Cochin travel consultant. And our Panicale buddy Diletta Cuccinetti did a yoga retreat here!

A big thrill just now: watching the little pilot boat speed alongside to let two Cochin pilots disembark. They did it by ladder as the huge QM2 powered out into the Indian Ocean. It looked harrowing but they were sharp in their white Bermudas!

Stew note: We’ll get to the crazy good Ape videos in the next blog!