Wednesday was
a busy day. The ship is sailing across
the Bay of Bengal, in calm seas. Lots of
ship traffic along the way since this is a major shipping lane. The daily schedule is filled with new guest
speakers.
Margaret
Gilmore, a BBC correspondent, talked to us about how the media process for
covering major terrorism events. She
reported the July 7 bombings in London and discussed how critical citizen
information capture and reporting (for example, via phone photos and videos) is
in determining responsibility for such events.
Andrew Barber
spoke about Penang under the East India Company (1786 – 1858). A history we knew little about and learned
much during this lecture. The trading
and business monopolies granted by the Crown, for a price of course, were
certainly an important precursor to the colonization of this part of the world.
A
presentation on Mumbai was helpful and humorous. The presenter repeatedly and not-so-subtlety
stressed how chaotic and economically challenged this port city is, that our
tour buses may be a bit antiquated and not air conditioned, how we should not
just strike out on our own but rather rely on ship tours, and that we should
expect to be hassled by the denizens.
Remember this crowd has high expectations sometimes so he was managing
those….someone, within earshot, is still sure to act surprised, complain and be
unhappy.
Another
formal night last night; 21 thus far and we haven’t missed one. Living in casual-Florida, we had grown a bit
rusty at glossing up. Steve still
struggles with his bow tie but is sure to be faster and more proficient at
tying, and hopefully using less salty tying language, when we arrive home.
Since
Singapore, the newest passengers have been different than those who boarded in
the past. We have around 100 Russians
onboard who are quite distinctive and enjoy the ship in different ways – later to
dinner, rowdier in the ballroom, partying in the casino late at night, and
using the gym in the afternoon, when only the Blackledges used to be there! Also, the gross receipts in the bars are sure
to have substantially increased since our partying Russian friends have joined
us. Also, more Asians and Indians
boarded in Singapore; they are milder mannered, gathering in jovial-but-quiet meerkat-like
groups at various places around the ship.
By now the world cruisers have their evening routines as well….dinner, dance,
show, bed. The ship is really quiet
after midnight, which is much different than the other cruise ships, and
shorter cruises, we have been on before.
Last night,
the entertainment was a British comedian.
He really had some good jokes about people on the ship and had everyone
laughing, mostly about themselves. His jokes about the frequent clock changes
were especially pointed: One night we
turned the clock forward one hour, two nights later we went back the other way,
last night we gained a half hour, and tonight we gain yet another hour. I’m sure you can see the humor (and hear the
grumbling) in this already!! It certainly
is a first for us to turn the clock back so many times, let alone 30 minutes!
It’s
Thursday morning and we are looking forward to another day of lectures and activities
onboard while sailing towards Sri Lanka.
A port presentation about Dubai, the geography professor Christine Drake
will talk all about India, Andrew Barber tells us about Lai Teck, a classical
concert and an acupuncture treatment for Steve’s wrist injury (doubtless a
formal-night repetitive-stress injury caused by bow ties).
Off we go
to our day of activities. Tomorrow very
early morning the ship will dock in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The tour we selected is an all day excursion
to an elephant orphanage. Then on Saturday, we will be in
another port – Cochin, India. It will be
a couple of days before we post again.
April just around the corner…..already?!
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