Jordan to Oman

November 24 – Tuesday – Aqaba, Jordan


This promises to be the day that tests my knee’s ability to carry me through the day. We were on the bus by 6:30 a.m. where we were greeted by our Jordanian guide, Sami, who is getting his PhD in Australia, but comes home to be a tour guide to make money. Great sense of humor, even if his English wasn’t exactly impeccable.

Aqaba is the only port of Jordan which is otherwise a totally land-locked country. Unlike Egypt, Jordan seems to be a thriving country. Evidence of this was as we left the port, Sami pointed out large groups of men waiting at one corner to get day work – he said they were all Egyptians since there was little unemployment in Jordan. From Aqaba you can look across the Gulf of Aqaba to Eilat, Israel , just a stone’s throw away.

The current ruler is King Abdullah, the son of King Hussein. He was not the first choice since his mother was British, but his father chose him ahead of his uncle or another of his brothers. He, and his very attractive wife, seem to be well liked in the country. He has managed to maintain peace and economic and political stability. There were many posters of him and his father along the road, in stores etc. The ride was about 2 ½ hours to Petra, which is about 5000 feet above sea level. So the whole trip seemed a gradual up-hill climb past sand dunes, desert limestone outcroppings, and a few camels. The best was a traffic warning triangle with the symbol of a camel in the middle. We just don’t see those in Peacham. Tractors, cows, children … but very few camels.

The modern town of Petra is designed with one purpose: take care of the tourists. Hotels made from older structures, new hotels, and lots of small shops selling groceries or tourist junk. As we got off the bus we were all suddenly aware that we had climbed 5000 feet. It was cold and windy. People were buying all manner of scarf, sweater or fleece from the very happy vendors lining the large courtyard where tickets are bought. Draped in all manner of warm clothing, our group started down a fairly steep stony path where we had an opportunity to ride a horse for about 500 feet. At that point you could hop into a horse-drawn buggy, but as Sami told us, we’d miss all the things he wanted to tell us and wouldn’t have the excitement of suddenly coming upon the structures of Petra. So our group walked the 1 ½ miles - sometimes on gravel, sometimes on old pavement from ‘days of yore’. All along the way were little remnants of votive sites, small monuments, or large impressive gateways. It was an overcast day so the rock faces did not show their amazing colors as well as we might have hoped. But you couldn’t help but be impressed as the path descended and became narrower and narrower. The gorge, or Siq, we were walking down was caused originally by an earthquake which split this massive rock, and subsequent erosion by water and wind carved out the path we were now walking. The rock walls rose up over 200 feet above our heads as we kept descending. At one point Sami asked us to gather on one side of the path and to look back at a rock formation shaped like a lion. Next he asked us to cross over to the other side of the path and look ahead. Voila! He had tricked us so that we would all suddenly see through the rock fissure the impressive ‘Treasury’ building carved into the rock below us. Everyone got ‘photographitis’ as we walked the last 40 feet into large open courtyard. Here were all the tourists we hadn’t seen so far …along with a tourist shop, camels, horses and buggies, and very aggressive sales people. But you could avoid all this simply by looking up at this amazing structure hewn from the rock. In one of the “Indiana Jones” movies, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery ride through the Siq to look for the Holy Grail at this site. It never was a ‘treasury’, in fact no one really knows what its purpose was, but there it was, a 100 foot carved structure. Bob took lots of pictures, and continued on to explore the Roman ‘colonnade’ street, and the huge theater carved out of solid rock. I decided I better start the climb back because it would be straight up hill for the same 1 ½ miles, and I didn’t want to feel rushed. It was quite lovely being on my own since there were times when I was walking in the gorge completely alone before another tourist would either pass me or come towards me. At times it is nice to be alone to appreciate the quiet of the site. Of course it began to rain, which it NEVER does at this time of year. So when I got to the top of the ravine I bought a lovely ‘disneyland’ blue poncho, and waited at the hotel for the rest of the crowds to return.

Once more a typical tour lunch – this time at a Mövenpick hotel. But by the time we were done the rain had abated and we boarded our bus to head to Wadi Rum. For all fans of Lawrence of Arabia (the real man and the movie), this was where he hung out with the Bedouin tribes. His book, “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”, tells of his time here leading the ‘Arab Revolt’ against the Turks during WW I. As I type this, Bob is reading “Seven Pillars…” on his Kindle. Another long bus ride and we drove into the desert in the back of open pick-up trucks meant for traversing sand. We saw the massive stone outcropping which looks like seven pillars and was theoretically the source of T. E. Lawrence’s book title. We had expected a fairly lengthy desert ride, but in actuality the path was paved through the very poor village of Wadi Rum, and we were on sand only for the last fifteen minutes. Suddenly we were at a campsite – built uniquely for us tourists. It was a U-shaped site made up of Bedouin camel-hair tents where we were to sit on brightly clad cushions and rugs to eat our meal. As one fellow tourist said – like eating in a Japanese restaurant without the place for your feet. We were treated to a fine feast – the only problem being that we had finished lunch no more than two hours earlier. But it was laid out so elegantly, how could we say no. There was lamb which had been cooked in the sand for hours before our arrival; many salads; rice, couscous and beautiful pita-like flat breads made right before our eyes. To accompany our feast we watched ten gentlemen, and two young boys, dressed in traditional attire dance with their very large swords, doing dances that reminded me of Greece. I am told that, like Greece, men dance with men here, and they were accompanied by a few musicians who were amplified by very modern equipment.

It was fairly surreal. You’re in the middle of real, spectacular desert scenery, and thanks to generators, trucks and modern refrigeration we were enjoying a feast that no Bedouin could afford or create. The scenery as the sun set was absolutely magnificent.

Once we had consumed our feast we headed back to our sand buggies to meet the bus and head back to the port of Aqaba going by a wonderful place: The Lawrence of Arabia Grocery Store. It had been a strenuous but truly memorable day and the knee held up.

Now we look forward to four full days at sea: no waking up to alarms, no sites to visit, no knowledge to be imparted, just vegetate and enjoy the Red Sea, through which we’ll be sailing.



November 25-28 – At Sea

I was reading the diaries of Walter and Daddy as they took ten days going from Suez to Colombo. Nothing seems to have changed much when it comes to days at sea. Life slows down to a crawl and everyone defines their own ‘schedule’ in days that have no structure what so ever.

The ship has been providing all manner of goofy events to keep people entertained – putting contests in the Horizons bar, make your own boat out of materials found on the ship, ice and fruit carving contests, shuffleboard, ping pong, trivia games etc. There are lots of classes being offered in Adobe Photoshop, Bridge, and digital photography.

But there are those of us who tend to avoid most of these activities and chose to read by the pool, read in the library, sit on our decks staring at water or dawdle around in the pool chatting with people.

Thanksgiving on board was as good as could be done when one is at sea. At dinner there was a ton of fresh turkey (which became turkey croquettes and turkey salads the next day), cranberry relish, potatoes, brussel sprouts, pumpkin and pecan pies. For all non-Americans – which is over 50% of the ship - they got to enjoy our tradition but if they chose to could have other items off the menu. It was as nice as could be, but I missed having a real Thanksgiving with friends and family around me.

The big excitement, of course, was the pirates off the coast of Somalia. Last year this very ship was a target of the pirates, and the tales of what happened grew with each telling. Luckily we had a talk by the Captain, a wonderful Croatian ,who told us that the talk he would give us for 60 minutes was longer than the attack by the pirates which was only 12 minutes in length. We learned lots about the pirates however (type of boat, type of guns, times at which they chose to attack etc.), and we learned about all the deterrence measures taken by the ship:

· There are now distinct corridors in which all ships are sailing and these corridors are being guarded by helicopters, naval frigates and ship to shore communications with US Navy HQ in Bahrain.

· Our ship has on board an Israeli security ‘force’ made up of young handsome gentlemen. They stood out in our crowd being the only faces below the age of forty.

· The ship has now a series of high pressure hoses which were lined up on deck with which they could douse the pirates should they get near and a directional sound device that emits a sound so piercing that it hurts.

· Since our ship can out run most small boats, and since we are quite high, the fear of attack was minimal.

But just in case, we were all told that if we heard an alarm we were to leave all open decks or balconies and proceed to the middle of the ship and sit on the floor. We figured out that this would be right in the Martini Lounge or the Casino and we would happily slurp martinis on the floor while guns whizzed overhead.

We were quite convinced that since the pirates had been unsuccessful last year that they may try to board us this year, but for all the rumors and speculation – nothing happened and tomorrow having lolled about we will land at Salalah, Oman. This is a port that has absolutely no charm or tourist attractions , but does have the cheapest oil to be found in the Middle East. So we will stay on board and watch our ship being re-fueled.

We have had four days to get to know our fellow passengers and I confess that I have yet to find those people with whom I’d chose to ‘hang out’ on a regular basis. There are some very wealthy people who are always dressed to the nines and sitting by the pool working on their tans; there are just plain old people who are hidden from the sun reading in various corners, or napping; there are the dedicated casino players who are at the slots morning, noon and night; there is an interesting Middle Eastern family of five who seem to move in lock step on the ship. But amidst this crowd we’ve found some people we look forward to seeing at the bar or at dinner – especially Russell and Di our ANZAC friends. They are one of the younger couples who are still working stiffs helping oil companies to find off-shore oil. They live a large portion of their lives on the sea doing geological mapping of the sea floor and obviously love being at sea since not only are they on this tour, but they’ve already signed up for another 40 day cruise next year.

One amusing anecdote: we were watching When Harry Met Sally on Dubai t.v. and looking forward to the scene in the restaurant scene - which was cut!!! One of the best scenes totally removed!! The t.v. has limited but good stations. We have the Fair and Balanced Fox, CNN and BBC as our news sources; Dubai One for local t.v. where there are lots of American sitcoms and quite a few ship-specific channels which tell us about up-coming tours, provide repeats of lectures we might have missed, and most important of all: the map which shows us where we currently are sailing.

Life on a cruise ship is definitely a specific type which has its appeal – and its drawbacks. But without this cruise we would never have seen the places to match Daddy’s trip, and as I play bridge or loll on my deck chair staring at the water there is little to separate our two voyages.

November 29 – Sunday – Salalah, Oman


Salalah sounds more exotic than it actually appears to be. It represented the end of the pirate threat and was our first stop of the up-coming Gulf State ports. Bob and I looked at the available tours, and listened to the destination staff who basically said “there’s nothing to do in Salalah except to see how Frankincense is grown”. So why did the ship stop here? Because it’s the cheapest oil in the Arabian Peninsula. As soon as we pulled up to our berth, a very large oil lighter hugged up against our ship and began to ‘fill the tank with high octane’. We sat on the deck with the sweet reek of oil and enjoyed a leisurely day of doing nothing. This is a one day stop and tomorrow will be another sea day. We’re getting quite accomplished at moving around the ship and are actually looking forward to our next port, which is Muscat, in two days.

December 1 – Tuesday – Muscat, Oman

As promised, a day to go on shore and examine the highlights of Muscat. As we sailed into the harbor we could see the towers of mosques, a huge white structure on a rocky outcropping, and lots of cargo ships unloading goods. We disembarked the ship and were met by a delightful young guide in a brown dishdashah (the long gown worn by men of Oman) and a kumma, (the small woven headgear worn only by the men). He had one of the weirdest haircuts,and we were to discover he wasn’t alone – it is obviously the style. It looks exactly like the haircut seen on the statues of the pharaohs. While men wear the dishdashah, women wear black abayas and many had their faces covered by a black mask-like object. While this is no longer required by the current sultan, many women continue to hide their faces in this manner. This current Sultan – His Majest y Sultan Qaboos Bin Said - appears to be quite well loved by his countrymen since seizing power in 1970 at the age of thirty. He is single, was briefly married, and has since given his life to transforming the country. Under his leadership, Oman has moved from being an underdeveloped state to a true 20th century country. The entire infrastructure has been improved – be it roads, education or health coverage …and it shows. The towns are incredibly clean, there is construction everywhere, and never have I seen so many medical buildings in one short drive.

Our tour took us first to the large and impressive Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, which was built in five years and completed in 2001. It is the third largest mosque in the world with one of the largest woven Persian carpets in the world, with something like a zillion knots and weighing a gazillion tons. The mosque also has an enormous central chandelier made of Swarovski crystal. Any way you look at it, this place was huge, gorgeous, shiny, new, and an egotistical demonstration of what one man’s wealth can create. Of course we learned that Abu Dhabi, not to be out done, has built a bigger mosque and has a bigger carpet. We’ll see that in a few days. The mosque was immaculate and lovely and we took lots of pictures.

Our next stop was the museum of Oman, which tells its history and showed the various costumes and materials which were used throughout its history. Since its history is not all that old, it was a fairly small museum, but again it was orderly, excellent signage in Arabic and English, and it did educate. There were plenty of Khanjar daggers – the personal weapon of choice, with elaborate silver work in the sheath and handed down from father to son.

We made a quick photo stop at the Sultan’s palace and then headed to the Muttrah souq before it closed at 1:00 p.m. It was a large enclosed warren of shops each showing pretty much the same thing in each shop , but all of it was quite lovely: scarves, incense burners, spices, pashmina and typical Omani clothing. There appeared to be more Omani here than tourists, so we knew it had to be an authentic place. I was enjoying the people-watching as much as poking into a lot of little shops. I made my first acquisition since the rug in Turkey, buying a few dishdashah to wear in Florida …they looked too comfortable to leave behind.

In the evening to celebrate the full moon overhead, there was a dance outside under the stars – Sheikh , Rattle and Roll – with everyone asked to dress in some form of Arabian dress. There were many abayas and dishdashah, and only a few masked women. Bob and I watched for a few minutes before going back to our cabin for a good night’s sleep. We have to rest up for another day at sea tomorrow.



December 2 – Wednesday at Sea through the Straits of Hormuz

We woke up to find ourselves sailing in parts of the world recently in the news. We can see on our maps that we’re sailing between Oman and Iran where the sea lanes are very narrow, and we’re once more in some form of convoy since we’re sailing at little better than 11 knots. Bob and I attended a Kendall meeting. At least that’s how it was written out in the program – the cruise director has never heard about Kindles and thus all of us who gathered had to smile at this slight error. Everyone who has one of these new book readers swears allegiance to it and couples claim you have to have two since there will be too much squabbling without that. There were many who were curious about the object and were there to learn more about how it worked and its benefits. My guess is that with each subsequent cruise, and with the new international version now available, there will be many passengers toting their e-books. It is the perfect environment – bring all your favorite books and documents on one small object. So far only Bob has the large model, but many of the older folk saw its advantage with its very large print capability.