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World Cruise - 2011

a travel blog by rcodel


On January 13, 2011, Dick and Alida depart from San Francisco for a 145 day world cruise visiting 67 ports in 30 countries on the Regent Seven Seas Voyager. Our final destination will be Southampton, UK, on June 7.
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Penang

Bayan Lepas, Malaysia


Penang is an island in Malaysia with no redeeming features. It was very hot. There was so much traffic without any pedestrian crosswalks that it was difficult for us to cross the street, so we decided, after wandering around for a few hours, to return to our floating paradise.

permalink written by  rcodel on April 15, 2011 from Bayan Lepas, Malaysia
from the travel blog: World Cruise - 2011
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Phuket

Phuket, Thailand


Phuket is a beautiful, international beach resort. It has been completely rebuilt and you would never know of the 2004 tsunami devastation.

Our itinerary has been changed. We were originally supposed to go next to Burma, but it has been canceled due to political unrest. Instead we are going directly to Madras, India. We have also learned that our Egyptian ports of call have been changed and we will no longer be stopping in northern Egypt for a visit to Cairo. The other ports of call remain the same.

permalink written by  rcodel on April 16, 2011 from Phuket, Thailand
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Madras

Chennai, India


Madras is now named Chennai. Most Indian cities changed their names when they became independent of British rule -- Cochin became Kochi, Bombay bacame Mumbai, etc. Like everywhere else in India it is very dirty, poor, polluted and smelly. The little rivers going through town smell like sewers, which they are, and the water is black.

India's infrastructure is so backwards when you compare it to China that we have no idea how it will ever become a developed country due to the growing, uneducated population.

If you remember, our last world cruise in 2009 was aborted because we ran into fishnets off Malaysia, which damaged one of the propellar pods to the extent that it was inoperable and our cruise was aborted. Believe it or not, we have been dragging a fishnet that we ran into off Malaysia. We could see it from a low deck. In Madras Regent hired a "professional" diving team to untangle the fishnet from under the ship. Mission accomplished, thank heavens, with no known mechanical damage.



permalink written by  rcodel on April 20, 2011 from Chennai, India
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Sri Lanka

Trincomalee, Sri Lanka



Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, has been in a civil war for decades and apparently there was a cease fire just last year. Trincomalee is basically a small village but the Sri Lanka countryside looks beautiful. It is known for growing spices like cinammon, rice and all kinds of Ceylon teas.

Our cruise ship was the first one to visit this port in over 30 years so we had a very warm welcome.


permalink written by  rcodel on April 22, 2011 from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
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Missed port

Galle, Sri Lanka


Happy birthday to Adrian. Due to rough seas it was unsafe for the lifeboats to be lowered for using as tenders. Therefore we skipped Galle and continued on to Colombo, Sri Lanka.


permalink written by  rcodel on April 23, 2011 from Galle, Sri Lanka
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Easter in a Buddhist country

Colombo, Sri Lanka


Happy Easter to all. Since we were not able to stay in Galle, we proceeded on to Colombo where we arrived an evening early during a monsoon thunderstorm with thunder and lightning. Colombo is the largest city in Sri Lanka and is quite nice. It has been ruled by Portuguese, Dutch, British, etc., but is now independent although the influnce of these other cultures is still evident.



permalink written by  rcodel on April 24, 2011 from Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Cochin

Cochin, India



We hired a tuk tuk to take us around to all of the interesting sights of Cochin. We saw how the Chinese fishnets operate. These nets were evidently designed by the Chinese over 1,000 years ago and are still being used. They are manually lowered into the water from land and, after waiting for about 15 minutes, they are raised and voila, there may be some fish. Really quite primitive, but they work. You can buy the fresh fish right by the net.

As we drove around we noticed that there were goats roaming around freely everywhere. Miraculously, when it is time for them to be fed, they return to their home.

We also visited a typical hand laundry. Very primitive.



permalink written by  rcodel on April 25, 2011 from Cochin, India
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Bombay

Mumbai, India


Mumbai is a huge city with over 20 million people. Among our adventures here we visited the Taj Mahal hotel which was bombed, burned and under siege in 2008. It has been restored to its original beauty.



Today is the royal Wedding and since there are about 100 Brits onboard it was shown live on the large screen in the theatre from 3-6 pm. ll offer the same canapes that will be served at the Wedding reception for any guests who wish to participate.

We are off to another culture.

permalink written by  rcodel on April 28, 2011 from Mumbai, India
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Fujairah

Al Fujayrah, United Arab Emirates


Fujairah is one of the smaller United Arab Emirates. It is very barren and very hot. It seemed that the air had a lot of sand in it.

permalink written by  rcodel on May 2, 2011 from Al Fujayrah, United Arab Emirates
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Dubai

Dubai, United Arab Emirates



Welcome back to Dubai, a city we enjoy. It is still growing fast. Since a few years ago many of the Tower cranes are gone and the buildings are completed. However, many of them appear quite empty.

On our first day we visited the neighboring smaller emirate of Sharjah. On our drive we saw that one city merges into another without really crossing a boarder. Many Dubai workers live in Sharjah since the cost of housing is much lower.

On our second day we went to old Dubai known as Dubai Creek and visited the gold souk where Dad wanted to buy some gold but Mom refused.



permalink written by  rcodel on May 4, 2011 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
from the travel blog: World Cruise - 2011
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