Part 9 – Bangkok to Dubai

Internet has been really hard to get to of late, which is why it’s taken me so long to post an update. So I’ve finally just uploaded Part 8 – Hong Kong to Bangkok and now here is Part 9 – Bangkok to Dubai.
Hopefully at some point soon I can do Dubai to Athens.

Our first port after Bangkok was Singapore. Being there brought back lots of memories of the two days Chris and I spent there exactly 4 years ago on our honeymoon. This time I spent the day with Amanda and Rachael. We had a fun girlie day… an Englishman, a Canadian and an Australian… what a fun mix. First off we went across in the cable cars to Sentosa to see the pink dolphins and to the aquarium. The remainder of the day was spent shopping… naturally.

Next port was Kuala Lumpar. I did a ships tour that day and made a lovely new friend called John. John has cancer and has had since 2002, but is one the most fun loving, full of life men I’ve met. There was only one spare seat left on the bus when he got on and that was next to me so we became tour buddies for the day. Kuala Lumpar is a beautiful clean city. We had lots of photo stops, visited war memorials, went up the tower, had a fabulous lunch. All in all it was a fun day.

As we travelled to Mumbai we stopped off in the Andaman Islands at Port Blair. This was interesting. I’m not really sure how to explain except, dirty, congested and hot.

Four sea days later we arrived in Mumbai. Personally I was expecting it to be a lot hotter than it was. I had a great day in Mumbai. It’s certainly the biggest culture shock of all the places I’ve been to thus far. I did a ships tour in the morning that visited places such as the Prince of Wales Museum, Gandhi’s house and the Gateway to India. In the afternoon I meet up with some of my cast mates at the Taj Mahal Hotel before heading out for some authentic Indian Curry which was delicious, and then shopping for a Sari. My memories of Mumbai will be visiting the beautiful Taj Mahal Hotel only 4 months since the terror attacks there; gaunt dogs everywhere; dirt; black and yellow taxis and the multitudes of beggers of all ages and deformities…. particularly the small small children. Where ever you go people don’t leave you alone. You are constantly being hounded.

One of the main reasons we all wanted to buy a sari was for the Indian Deck Party that was coming up. We all had such fun dressing up. I’ve included some colourful photos. I so love a good deck party.

Other ship life events have been celebrating Rachael’s 25th birthday and dinner on the formal night with Lorraine which I’ve included a photo of. We also performed our second show for on here, Shake Rattle and Roll, which was a pleasing success.

We have been travelling in pirate waters, so the ships security is higher at the moment. We have water canons set up on deck and as I understand a British Military escort not far off from us that can be with us in 25 minutes in necessary. Not that we’ve been in any immediate danger by any means.

Eric and Olga (my in-laws) will be joining me in Athens soon.

Lots of love
Jess xx