Day 19 Cochin, India

We were not really keen to even leave the ship here, India has never been on our to see list. However, we did disembark and glad we did. It was totally overwhelming, the traffic, the people and the sights we saw are images we will have forever. It is a city in chaos, a rubbish tip with people living around and with it. We visited St Francis Church, the oldest church in India, the fishing nets at the waterfront and we had limited time for shopping. This tour was not the best one I think as around 10 bus loads of people all travelling together in a very crowded city causes huge queues for everything. It was very steamy but bearable. Its amazing to see piles and piles of dirt and rubbish everywhere and then see shops selling ceramic tiles and washing machines. The rubbish is swept into piles and either just left or put over a wall.

 

Due to the long queues, we are re thinking many of our booked tours. Many people are doing their own thing, and apart from saving a huge amount of money, they see and do more.

After a nana nap, had dinner and then went to the Princess show. It was fantastic, the best we have seen. The entertainment has been disappointing, many second rate, over the hill "entertainers". The show last night was a great success and hopefully the applause it received will generate more classy acts. We are going to see the World Cup opening ceremony and 20 games so we are looking forward to that.

Day 19 more pics

 

Day 18 He said he would and he did!!

When we initially booked this cruise, George decided he wanted to wear a kilt on the formal nights. He had never had any inclination for this ever in his life. So he bought the complete outfit over 1 year ago and last night he wore it for dinner. He looked great and was the beau of the ball!! I could have turned up in a tracksuit, literally, as all eyes were on George. He enjoyed all the admiring looks and comments, and we had the professional photographs taken. The ladies in the pics are Sandra and Peggy, both are our dinner table companions and are fantastic people.

Day 17 Formal Night Tonight!

We have 4 formal nights this sector, second for us as we missed one due to the dreaded bug that's still going around.  The clocks have gone back an hour each day over the last few days and half an hour tonight.... at this rate we will be getting up when we go to bed. The seas are still rough  We braved the conditions and did our 4 laps of the ship. I forgot to mention the picture of the watermelon face in a previous post, the things the chefs can do with a melon are amazing. This particular one caught my eye as it reminded me of someone after a few drinks who is sharing my cabin!! It is very busy inside today as it is very blustery on deck, but there is plenty to occupy your time. You can choose to do lots or just read quietly. Today I intend to read my book. Yesterday when we had our first hit of rocking seas, many people had sea sickness. I had a queasy feeling, took some ginger tablets and hey presto I felt fine soon after. Its actually nice to feel that you are on a ship as opposed to being in a floating hotel.

Day 16 Ship Shuffle

Well we knew it could not last, the ship shuffle is here, let me explain... you take 3 steps quickly forward then 2 steps slowly forward with a step to the right followed by a shuffle to the left.  George seems to be handling it extremely well, as it is his normal way of walking around full of Drambuie on the ship LOL.

Just relaxing, staggering here and there, in fact if you time it right you can run up the stairs without much effort.

Another 3 days of this to go, nice to be rocked to sleep.  

 

 

Every day in the Princess Patter there is meeting arranged for different groups to catch up. Today it was the WA people. It was good to see so many from our home state. prob about 40 or so. Just good to meet some more new people, and have something in common. We spoke with people with Safety Bay and Busselton.

 

P.S. Joanne, message and photo delivered to Neville.

Day 15 Another Day in Paradise

This was a day to remember. Arrived in Langkawi around 8.30 a.m. and our tour was leaving at 9. We had chosen to do the Island Hopping tour. I am so happy we picked this one as it was fantastic. Into a little 8 person boat and off we sped, around several magical islands, saw the bats in the caves, and the Pregnant Maiden Island. Our boat driver was lovely and so eager to show us his homeland. First stop was at the lake, lots of steps to eventually reached the lake, it was a scene out of a movie, with hundreds of people dipping into the water, I just had a sense of a cleansing ceremony. The monkeys were abundant and very cheeky....we were with a lovely couple, John and Catherine who is vision impaired and the monkeys tried to grab her cane. George jumped into the lake to cool off and as it was fresh water he didn't just bob back up as he usually does!! Next stop was to see the eagles flying around in a sort of bay. Magnificent sight. Just being there and floating amongst all this was amazing. We had another stop for a bbq lunch, which we did not expect. and a swim in the beautiful beach. Free beer and soft drinks. How lucky we are!! Any future WC, this was one tour we thoroughly recommend. It was very steamy but the spray from the little boat was so cooling. Arrived back around 1.30, quick shower and off to the duty free booze shops.

Day 15 Georges's booze stop

Another port and another booze refill for George. The Drambuie is so cheap here, he just had to stock up. He now has the decanting down to a fine art,  the bottles don't even leave the bag now. In fact the local police walked past him and didn't even catch him. Once again I downed several Ice Tea bottles, this is the perfect colour match for his decanting. The cabin steward made a comment about how much we must like Iced Tea!! Other passengers said they knew where George had been after they saw 3 empty 1 litre bottles sticking out of the bin!! That should keep him going for a while, 6 litres in the stock pile. For those of you who don't know him, I can tell you that at home he hardly drinks. He is just having a ball. His liver may never be the same. At $24 for 1 litre. its so cheap.

Back onboard for sailaway, what a sight. Langkawi is a must see again place for us.

Day 14 Port Kelang

We did not have a tour organised as we have been here before and did the Towers visit. So Princess put on a shuttle bus to the local shopping centre, $7 each way per person which was ideal for us. About a 30 minutes drive and we were there. Lovely shops, cheap as chips for shoes, I was restrained and only bought 1 yes 1 pair. I could have gone crazy and brought enough back to open a shop but I have had enough of George calling me Imelda!!.Got back onboard around 2 p.m., relaxed and had dinner then went to a show. A mexican singer who really should have stayed in his nursing home. He was woeful, but that is just our opinion. We have a tour organised for Langkawi so had a reasonably early night, well 12.15 .a.m.

Day 13

 

Day 13 Singapore

What a fantastic day! Singapore is simply amazing. We began our adventure at the train station, which is just outside of the port, very handy. The weather was rainy and humid but did not dampen our spirits. It is a bit confusing to know where to go but we came across people queuing at the ticket office so we just joined them. It was to purchase an all day ticket for $8 with a $10 deposit, not sure what this is for but good idea I think, and this allows you to use any train or bus anywhere all day. I wanted to go to Sentosa Island and as we were looking around for the platform we bumped into Jill and Ray also looking a bit lost like us so we joined forces. It was a great move as Jill turned out to be a human GPS system. Off we went to Sentosa!! Hopped onboard the monorail and whoosh off we went. So fast and efficient and the lovely guard at each station waves you off with a smile, so nice. Sentosa is a place you need several days to explore not just a couple of hours. Its stunning, a bit like Disney World, Movie World, and everything in between rolled into one place. George and Ray took the sky rail up to the Luge and had a great ride down the mountain.

Back onto the mono and whoosh, (in fact I felt as though we could have ended up in Vietnam due to the speed we were travelling), we stopped at Raffles Hotel. One of the things I can tick off my Bucket List. I think most of the ship's passengers were there at the same time lol. Beautiful old building, so quaint. Had the Singapore Sling, took out a small mortgage to pay for it, and I was a happy person. Its tradition to eat the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor, I actually couldn't do that so I had a little neat pile on the table. Next stop was some shopping in Bugis Street, some markets and shops mixed together. The locals are so friendly and helpful which is refreshing. We had lunch in Burger King, mm George had to have his junk food fix, and we were so surprised at the age of the staff, honestly the average age would have been 70 years young. So George has me booked in for my retirement. We were getting a little concerned as time was going by and we had to get back onboard by 5.30 and it was nearly 3 p.m. and it seemed to be home time for the locals as suddenly there were millions of people all rushing around. So we headed for the MRT, (train), and it was really easy to navigate our way back. Did some browsing at the shopping centre at the terminal and headed home, we now call the ship home. We had a fantastic time, absolutely loved our day in Singapore.

Food Glorious Food

I thought I would make everyone green with envy at the delicious food we are being served. The desserts are to die for and the main courses are varied and yummy. The picture of the handsome young man with moi is Arkie, my personal gluten free waiter. He is a gem, in fact the ladies at my table all want to become gluten free just to get his attention. I have to limit myself to desserts just once or twice a week as I already feel my clothes are getting smaller, I m convincing myself the clothes have shrunk in the wash, but cant be as they haven't been washed yet lol.

More Food Glorious Food

 

Day 12 More Pics

Lunch with some CC'ers

Day 12

We are feeling better today, thank goodness so we began the day with an early morning swim followed by a hot tub, boiling actually, dip. George accompanied me to breakfast, this may sound normal but it was his second breakfast! There was a shopping event in the Dining room so I thought I would have a look, wow it was a scene straight from a Balinese market, t shirts flying everywhere, all that was missing was the haggling. I left quickly. We had lunch with some of our CC group, and my lovely waiter came flying across the room to make sure I was ok, as I had missed the previous 3 nights for Dinner. He ordered my lunch and the delicious panacotta dessert, see the pics.

Today at noon was the Crossing the Equator ceremony, George braved the humidity and took some pics. I decided to read on a lounger in the shade, watching the sea go by.