Cochin India early in the morning

Wanna get rid of Mom?

There was a funny discussion at the table about wanting to get away from people and the topic of parents came up. The suggestion was made to have all kids put some money together and send mom on an around the world cruise. We have many older folks, some with significant disabilities, who are travelling alone on this voyage.

In fact I guess I’m a little amazed at how many, some younger who haven’t had a vacation in years, travelling alone. The cost by the way, is 1 ½ times the cost of a person sharing with another in a cabin.

Ed is in withdrawal

We are now about 12 hours earlier than the US and thus his favorite TV shows are not available to us at a good time for watching. It’s almost funny to observe as he seems so lost (though I am enjoying the comparative silence) as he tries programs he’d otherwise never see.

A half hour. Really??

So tomorrow we are in Cochin, India and we turn our clocks back one half hour. Yes, really. So strange.

Immigration tomorrow

Unlike some other times, the Indian Immigration folks did not board at a previous port so our time for appearing before them is 7:30 am. We don’t meet with our tour until 9:15 am. Luck of the draw I guess.

Woke up today around 7

And piddled with email and FB for a while then managed to make my errands including visiting lost and found to retrieve a jacket left yesterday during trivia and which I didn’t miss until this morning. At two times, I have to be careful I don’t become a frequent flyer.

Destination lecture

Was on Mumbai this morning. It brought back memories of some of the sights and the changes since I was last here. Some of the strong recommendations for those who have never visited here:

Closed toed shoes: you don’t want to get cut or pick up nasties from the street.

NEVER eat or drink anything unless it is at a 5 star hotel. No street vendors, nothing. You’ll be very sorry we can promise you.

Don’t make eye contact unless you really want to buy. Then pay and move on quickly or you’ll have swarms of people accosting you for the rest of the day.

Carry temple socks for the many temples require barefeet or with socks.

Captain Cook: part 2

Did not know that he also explored the coast of Alaska and Kamchatka Island trying to find the NorthWest passage. However, he met his demise in Hawaii when he returned to reprovision and do reparis to the ship. So sad. So close.

Trivia

We were one of 3 teams that tied. We all got the first tie breaker right. The next question was: at what age did the dancer calling the questions this am, start dancing. It was age 3 much younger than others we have known here.

What is also amusing is that the gals have learned the long a sound of American English so they will often pronounce the words as they know them (they are English, one from Liverpool). They are getting pretty good too!

Lunch

Much discussion of favorite cities to visit, best things to do (Dubai this time), changes we have seen as we revisit different ports, “prizes” on board (lots of champagne which folks are trading for a sbetter class apparently, at the bars)

Shopping on board

I haven’t really discussed this very much but I think they suspect cold weather is in our future as the sales today featured several heavier jackets! This is especially funny because Cochin is scheduled to be over 90 degrees Fahrenheit!

Get together with Senior staff.

We are sometimes invited to these gatherings in the Library probably because of the cabin we have. It’s an opportunity to talk one on one with the staff in a smaller gathering. Tonight I found out about the salinity measurements from one of the officers. Periodically they take water samples from the side of the ship and measure the salinity just as we sometimes do specific gravity on urine in the clinics. In this case, it tells them something about the ship’s displacement in the water. Out at sea, the water is more dense and thus the ship rides higher. Near ports and especially in rivers, the density is less and the ship rides lower. This can be important to consider along with the tides to determine if your ship is OK to transit.

The chef was also there with his delights and I talked with him about toubuleh which is very hard to make on board. It’s OK for a few people but especially difficult to cut up that much parsley for 800 people.

Be lucky you don’t have this problem

There is a passenger travelling alone on this cruise. Nice looking, well enough financially, very bright, fun to be with. In other words, a really good catch.It turns out that several years ago on a cruise this person met someone of the opposite sex and in the intervening years has done a few favors for this person. Chocolate covered strawberries are being delivered to the cabin each evening.

Now it turns out that the pursuer has booked a cabin on the next leg of this journey. And not just any cabin but the one next to the pursued.

Well this is not good and so it will be interesting to see how this all works out. Our very own soap opera right here in (river) sea city.

Night view

It is a little after8 pm and I looked outside. We are surrounded by lights on the horizon at what look like equal distances. I looked on the ship’s channel and we are 87 nautical miles from Cochin going NW and between the coast and surrounding land as if through a strait. So cool.