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Azamara Has It In Spades 2nd Edition ( For Brian)
Azamara has it in Spades 2nd Edition ( For Brian) |
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Reviewed By: Neil and Ida Down, Southampton on 27th Dec 2009
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| Cruise Line: Azamara Club Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Azamara Quest |
Sailed:
December,
2009 |
| Destination:
Far East
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Age: 65+ |
| Cabin: Balcony |
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We allowed one and a half hours to get to the ship at Piraeus from Athens Airport before it sailed, easy I here you say but that was assuming we had no delays from leaving home. I will never cut it that tight again and I should know better. <p p>
Alexandria: A wonderful place if you like stock car racing, dodgems and playing “chicken”. I love it there but it is not for the faint hearted. Taxis a cheap, providing you are good at bargaining and plentiful, the sites to see are interesting and not far apart but don’t forget that Egyptians, even when they hurry, are handicapped but the lack of the fact that no one obeys any road traffic rule, if the light is red go through it, if there is a traffic island you can pass it on any side, if someone is in your way gently, I say gently, nudge him out of the way and if he’s in a car do it a bit harder. They have learned from the Italians when it comes to crossing the road, there and here you just step out into the traffic and somehow they go around you. (sometimes they don’t).<p p>
The ancient sites are partially excavated and some time in the future they may start doing a bit more but what is there works for the tourists and if it works the money comes in, where it goes no one is certain. The modern sites, like the library are wonderful and far more advanced in their methods than many in the “educated “ West. But the majority of the remains of old Alexandria lie in the harbour and surrounds and although they have brought some to the surface the majority still lies down there and at the rate they are working probably will for thousands of years. <p p>
Through the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia, now there’s a place to take a cruise ship. I don’t know how many of you can remember “Black out” during “The War”. Well that’s one of the measures taken by shipping going through this area at night to avoid being taken by the pirates. No ARP wardens around to shout, “Put that light out” but I can assure you that it is quite a sobering part of the ocean to be in even when you know that the hose pipes are stretched out along the promenades and men with powerful binoculars search the seas for anything remotely suspicious. Luckily when we went through the seas were rough and it was thought that these modern-day Long John Silvers would be hard put to attempt anything sinister, nevertheless the ship’s security crew were well prepared and no one was walking around going “ ooohaaaar Jim Lad”. <p p>
Dubai: A place where you can almost hear the money dropping into a bottomless pit. You would hear it if the pit had a bottom but it doesn’t. Should they ever find enough rich people to fill all those empty apartments, houses and offices the infrastructure will just seize up because even with the few people they have there at the moment nothing moves quickly and you can grow a beard waiting for a red traffic light to turn green. Disneyland for the rich is a apt description but they are still waiting for the first person to say “I got a bargain in Dubai”. I had to replace the battery in one of Ida’s watches and nearly had to take out a mortgage to do it. OK so there are some fantastic buildings and entertainments there but you need people to make them profitable and I (with all my financial know-how!!!) can’t see them in the black. I’ve been wrong before and will be again so who knows. <p p>
We had two days in Mumbai and really it would have taken many more to see all that there was to see. There are still signs of British Imperialism, mainly in the lengthy queues to get your visas stamped. Several people went with the assistance of a touring agency from Mumbai to Delhi and Agra by train and coach and returning by aeroplane. At my age and delicate constitution I had decided discretion was the better part of valour. I did envy them the adventure though and spent loads of time listening to their escapades. Ida had been to Mumbai sometime back but for me it was an experience I would love to repeat. I understood that it was hectic and fraught with difficulties and amassed with people and the only true one of these was the latter. Three hundred people a day, yes a day come into Mumbai to find work. Most of them get pulled into the bottom of the pile, the underground workshops and from this most of those a little higher up move up, some stay put and others don’t make it but as you travel around the only unsmiling faces are those pleading for alms. It is an amazing society with just about every level of worthiness and disreputability on show but never did I see anything that I couldn’t stomach, maybe I should go back and look harder as it must be there. As a point of interest the Indian Government has its own way of dealing with Rachmanism, Thirty years ago they froze the rents for peoples apartments etc. and so now all the houses and blocks look in such a state of bad repair from the outside but, apparently, inside they are palaces. I suppose it’s the same old story that anyone who pays rent and does not own the building is more than reluctant to cough up for external repairs but will put an extra layer of wallpaper on to ensure the wall doesn’t actually collapse.<p p>
A final little flourish here. We went by boat, the only way to go to an island I suppose, to Elephanta Island. The boat disgorges all of its passengers on a jetty and from there it is necessary to go 3/400 yards to the base of the steps. There is a rickety old narrow gauge train which covers this distance if you can get on but I am sure that any self-respecting Health and Safety Official would have an attack of some severity were he to witness this machinery and procedure. We were at the bottom of this immense flight of steps to the caves and the carvings at the top when suddenly I am aware of Ida rising slowly but surely into the air. It is then that I realise that she has been placed in a chair with two extended poles and four bearers. They set off up the mountain at a cracking pace with Ida doing a royal wave to all in sundry and receiving loud applause at the same time. I am assured that someone is sending me a photo of this because it all happened so fast I could not get in front to take one myself. The caves were worth it by the way. <p p>
Cochin: If I was going to equate what Cochin is to Mumbai I suppose a reasonable analogy would be to say that is what Blackpool is to Manchester but a hell of a lot hotter. Cochin has a large number of sites of interest and the coldest beer I found on the whole cruise. I was disappointed though and next time I will make a concerted effort to be driven down and take a boat out on the true Backwaters. We were able to see palaces and churches, buy knick knacks and medicine, watch fisherman and other workers but I wanted to see, as I have seen before Indian wildlife. No, I don’t mean tigers but I do mean the natural animals, fish and birds that I know exist there but not in the urbanised areas.
Penang: Here is a place that is growing faster than most places in the area. I loved the old Penang with its old ruins and new ruins but suddenly it is becoming too commercialised. I also made a mistake of going to a place that I had wanted to see for a long time, The Tropical Spice Gardens. This turned out to be a small plot on the side of a hill with some paths and signs but little else and as someone who used to maintain office plants I must say that some of the specimens I wouldn’t have used plus it was on the side of a steep hill which, in that heat, made it impractical to visit for many people. Anyway we made amends by going to one of the world’s nicest hotels, The Eastern and Oriental. G & T time (not cheap by the way) but imbibed beside the sea and the pool with a cool breeze put me back in a brilliant mood again. This hotel has a domed area in reception and it you clap your hands whilst standing under it the clap reverberates around the dome like a sonic Mexican Wave and the chuckle that you make when you hear it also chunters its way round too. <p p>
Port Kalang: We did not go ashore here, having been to Kuala Lumpur several times before and having the onerous duty of packing we spent a very restful day swimming and lazing around the ship. We found out that there simply is nothing of interest around the port area apart from a shopping mall about twenty minutes distant, malls are not our idea of fun.
Singapore: I will now admit to having put huge pressure on the Government to stop the BA strike and succeeding, we could relax and enjoy this city. Disembarkation from Azamara is very easy and so within a very short space of time we were signing into the Pan Pacific where I had booked a day room. A really great idea at a reasonable cost of £62. For that we had a splendid room from 9am to 7pm with a shower and a bath and coffees and water and use of the pool computer room to register with BA and print our e-tickets etc. We went to Orchard Road, Clarks Quay and Little India before having a sunbathe by the pool and snack. I also booked a Lounge at Changi Airport because there are very few areas there in which to sit comfortable and that cost a further £44 but again with three hours to spend at the airport, free drinks and food and computers, well worth it in my opinion. <p p>
90’F in Singapore….-6’C at Heathrow we were glad that we took that extra sweater and now it’s here’s to the next one. ……Neil
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