Potpourri...

Tuesday February 18. Cooler now, like spring in BC.

At this writing we are at sea, south of Iran in the Gulf of Oman, heading to Dubai at the south end of the Persian Gulf. Don't all of those names have a rather ominous ring to them in the last 20years?

Two more sleeps on the ship, final Formal Night tonight and a packing day tomorrow.

In Review...

Where do I start? It seems ages ago when we left Vancouver for an overnight flight to New Zealand when we started this saga, but it was only 45 days ago, 6 1/2 weeks.

So much has happened to us that my mind is a big blur: it was great seeing my chum in Melbourne; our forgotten passports was at the time one of the lowest points we have had for some time, but now just a good story; flying to PNG, [Papua New Guinea] turned out to be a very exciting and a very satisfactory adventure.

The ship took us some time to get used to as it is not up to the standards that we have become used to, unfortunately. However with the passing weeks we have very much gotten used to the ship, have had a wonderful time and got a chance to meet some lovely people. Tomorrow night will be a bit sad for us when we say goodbye to those friends and the ship. I doubt that will ever see them again nor will we ever sail on a Fred Olsen Cruise Line ship again. [However never say never.]

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary: South East Asia and a chance to visit India for the fourth time. We had been to several of the ports of call before, but somehow they seemed a bit rougher, or dirtier than before, maybe it is just our aging minds, who knows. After visiting Viet Nam and Cambodia last year I have seen enough litter, filth, poverty and what I consider despair to last me a lifetime. It is too bad more people cannot see how the majority of the world lives.

We Four are quite eager to get going on the Moroccan adventure, which starts tomorrow for us as we pack our bags to disembark. We have four cases with us and we intend to leave two at the hotel in Casablanca and take two carry-on size cases with us in the car. So, tomorrow, hopefully, we can get all our unneeded clothes etc., into two cases. Fellette prides herself in her packing skills, let's hope she can do the job tomorrow.

The downside is the fact that we will be living out of a suitcase and sleeping in 11 different beds in the 14 day trip. 

The upside is that we are soon off on another adventure into a bit of unknown for us, the complete opposite of what we have become used to for the past six weeks! No doubt all four of us have different expectation levels as to what is ahead.

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"The reality of the situation is just as interesting even when it is not so good...."
Life is like that... Thanks for sharing the reality of your day here in Goa. Rod.

The above comment was made by my Aussie friend, Rod, after my rather scathing write up on Goa a few days ago.

It made me think again at how I look at and interpret unpleasantness when travelling. Yesterday we were in Porbandar, which in my opinion is filthier than Goa. However, by looking at it with a different point of view, it ranks as one of the better ports for me with photo opportunities, activities, people, and daily life there and realizing that this is in reality, life here in Porbandar.

I hope the above makes sense. Thanks Rod!