Friday And We Go Snorkeling In The Red Sea

Arj, Kate and family had always wanted to do a day's snorkeling out in the Red Sea so they waited for a special occasion before they headed out. The special occasion turned out to be when we came for a visit.

The boat was sensational, food, staff and a safety officer all provided.  Needless to say there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temp was around the high 30's.

So off set at around 9 am.  We arrived way out at "Aquarium 1" reef in the middle of the Red sea around 10:00 am where we all donned our snorkeling attire and ready to enter the sea all under close and strict supervision.  It looked like a long swim so I decided I would just hang about at the end of the boat and cool off.  I had my own rescue safety ring tied to the rear of the boat.

I gave myself a decent belt on the side of the head when getting into the thing (it is a heavy solid plastic) and since then my hearing hasn't been too good.

They all headed off for an underwater look at the reef.  Trish's coughing caused her to return to the boat shortly afterwards.  We just cooled off at the rear of the boat.  They were amazed at all the fish they saw and had a great time during their 40minute snorkeling adventure.

The water was a little choppy and even while in the water I began to feel a little the worse for wear.  This didn't improve when I hopped back onto the boat, my stomach, choppy water and the boat standing still is not a good mix for my tummy.

Once we were on our way again things settled very quickly as usual.

Trish, Kate and kids have headed to the "Rec Club" while Arj and I sat at home and endured Swans and Carlton on TV. Arj is a Carlton man and the last few weeks have been tough for him to watch.

My ear has made a couple of pops and the hearing level is ever so slightly better.  I am hopeful time will get things back to normal.

Trish has done a fantastic job despite still suffering from a queasy tummy.

Tomorrow is our last full day at KAUST.

Tummy Bug Continues to Dog Trish (Thurs)

It is now well over a week since Trish went down with a nasty head cold followed by a persistent Tummy Bug.  The tummy bug continues to nag away at her.

She is able to get up and around a little but not at all comfortably.  One would have hoped that by now she would be getting on top of it.  The tennis from Paris is filling in most of her days.

My coughing and spluttering continues but a little less each day.  So far today (it is almost 10 am) I have had minimal coughing.  All is looking good for me.  We only wish Trish would improve a little more quickly.

We are due to fly to Dubai on Sunday and then to Brisbane on Wednesday.  By this time next week we should be home.

I caught the second half of the NRL State Of Origin on the laptop yesterday.  It came on soon after lunch here but not on TV.  I reviewed about 50 or Arj's Sports Channels on his TV but there wasn't any coverage.  But I eventually found a live stream on the internet.

James is celebrating his birthday tonight after school though his official birthday isn't for a a few days yet.  There is a party planned with around 20 or so of his friends turning up.

Trish and I did go out for a meal with Arj and Kate last night to the "Rec Club".  But Trish was limited to a soft drink and a plate of soup.  We have found photography at the Rec Club is not allowed so you will have to rely on the photos below.

Kate was saying the year 12 kids had a "Formal" the other night to celebrate the end of their school year and their graduation.  Because of Muslim law, dancing is prohibited, so the it was a "Formal" without any dancing!  An interesting concept!

Getting Trish home safely is now my major concern.  We still have the best part of a week until we fly out (Weds 10:30 am from Dubai, that's around 4:30pm Weds Brisbane time) so hopefully she will be feeling a little better by then.

We can just hope.

Tuesday in KAUST

Trish spent all of Tuesday in front of the TV watching the "Open" from Paris.  It wasn't here first choice of activity but the uneasiness in her stomach remains.

Kate says there is a 5 or 6 day tummy wog doing the rounds and it sounds like Trish has picked up a dose.  We should be just about at the end of our 5 or 6 days by now though.

But I was kept busy doing stuff, turning on the windscreen wipers instead of traffic indicators and scaring myself when I saw a car driving directly at me.  Trouble was I was on the wrong side of the road, not the other driver!  As you can tell I did a bit of driving yesterday.

The kids leave the car at home most days as it is only a 5 minute bike ride to school and it isn't likely you will be caught in a downpour or a late afternoon shower.  I think Kate said it had rained here once in the last 12 months.

They are in the midst of final preparations for their trip to Europe, sending cash off here and there, paying for this or a deposit for that.  Banking here in Saudi Arabia is similar to what banking was in Australia 25 years ago.  Line up or get a number, sit patiently and then wait, and wait and wait!

I received a call from Kate to bring the car to school as they had some urgent last minute banking to do during school hours.  I got to the school safely, relinquished the keys and off we all went to the one and only bank in KAUST.  They had a couple of signed papers to hand in for what should have been a 10 minute transaction. 

They had jumped the queue and were 30 minutes into what should have been a 10 minute transaction.  But there were forms to sign, and then that to do and then this!  After 40 minutes Kate had to get back to school as she was due to go on duty.  They guy behind the bank window said she wasn't required any more and could go.

She drove back to the school and gave me strict instructions on how to get back to the bank to pick up Arj who was still completing the transaction!  I managed to maneuver my way back to the bank without a problem, and arrived just as Arj was emerging from the bank, the task finally completed.  He drove back to school where I again took over the steering wheel and got the car back home.

Later I drove Charli and James to the Recreation Club pool for a couple of hours.  It was just glorious at the pool, restful, coolish (comparatively) and what an incredible view.  There is a photo of the pool on the post below this one.

After tea it was off to James' 1 hour Rugby session.  The facility was first class, big screen, heaps of seating, monstrous carpark etc (and hardly ever used).  As the sky darkened the stadium lights came on illuminating the whole ground.  All for 60 kids mucking around playing Rugby!

As I have said before, no expense has been spared in putting this place together.

A No. 4 in Thuwal is Not a No. 4 in Caloundra (Tuesday)

We have been away from home now for almost 7 weeks.

Over that time things move on and hair growing is one of those.  So much so that I reckoned I needed a haircut from one of the local barbers in the neighbouring Saudi village of Thuwal. Thuwal is outside the KAUST security area.

If Kate or Trish were to go to Thuwal they would need to be fully covered.  And remember to click on the photos for a larger view.

The original fishing village of Thuwal situated right on the Red Sea has now been relocated. KAUST now occupies the land where Thuwal used to be.  The seaside village has been moved inland a couple of k's.

Unlike KAUST where there is security everywhere, ID card checks, boot searches etc as you enter and leave the secure area, Thuwal is your everyday Saudi village.

It looks like a village in India or any of those other developing countries with mechanics achieving impossible tasks on huge trucks without a range of lifts or cranes.

You need to be aware of your footing as you walk on the footpath, things can be dusty and just not like what we are used to seeing.  It is Thuwal where Arj goes for the Pakistani or the Turkish food.   During my time there yesterday (well over an hour) I saw one woman and she was covered from head to toe.  I love checking out places like this.

It isn't anywhere like on a guided tour, it isn't anything like an overpriced excursion from a Cruise Ship, or yet another tour of a church or a castle somewhere in Europe.  It is real Saudi Arabia. all those former things are great too, but I really enjoy getting into the streets and enjoying what I find.

Thuwal is also where you go for a haircut.  This photo is not where I had the haircut (photo left) but another one of quite a few hairdressers in Thuwal.

Now the hairdresser we checked out speaks more English than I do Arabic.  So when it was my turn I had planned to tell him I wanted a No.4 which is what it says on the clippers Trish uses to cut my hair in Caloundra.

When it was my turn, up I went and I announced, "A no.4 please" to which he looked at me quizzically!  "No.4?" he asked me again just to make sure.  I answered, "Yes please".

He showed me the No.4 clipper and it didn't look quite the same as what Trish usually used on my hair!

There is about a week between a good and bad haircut so I thought, let's give it a go!  I think in this case there is more like two to three weeks between a good and a bad haircut!

It sure is short and not really a problem!

Now, with some Saudi chicken and chips in hand we headed back home, via the KAUST Compound's security and ID check.  Arj had the car boot checked for a second time this trip.

After returning to Kate's home we were ushered back into the car to go and collect Charli from one of her dancing classes here within the KAUST Compound.  She was at a nearby 'Rec Club" which has facilities for classes, table tennis and other sports.  It also has a sensational outdoor pool.

Looks great doesn't it?  We will head back there with the kids later on today (Tues).  They will get home from school early straight after lunch and we will spend an hour or so over there with them.

Left hand driving yet again!

We are both feeling better.  My cold is now just nuisance value as is Trish's.  I am still a little sniffly.  Trish still has a queasie tummy but has kept everything OK for the last 24 hours.  She just doesn't feel like eating!

We have found an English speaking sports channel on the TV showing the French Open.  Yesterday this channel showed Sam Groth, Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur's matches live.  We enjoyed it very much.

More From Saudi Arabia (Monday)

It is very restful here in Saudi for us.  Right now it is perfect for our needs, not heaps happening and allowing us both to recover from heavy colds but still being with Kate Arj and the grand kids.

At least we are both up and about, with Trish moving a fair bit more sluggishly than I am.  If we were working (perish the thought), I would be back at work no problems but Trish would still be at home resting up.

With the car available to us and with an off color Charli at home as well yesterday, we decided to drive to the supermarket for basic supplies such as milk and the like.  I was also hopeful of some sort of eucalyptus lozenges to help ward off the occasional coughing fit!  Remember however that Saudi Arabia like the vast majority of Europe is left hand drive, not right hand drive as in Australia!

I was in the best condition to do the driving but it really felt like there were three drivers, Charli was telling me where to drive while Trish was constantly reminding me of any stop sign or traffic light.  Each time I went to turn the corner, the windscreen wipers came on instead of the traffic indicators.  But we made it all happen safely!

We had a BBQ outside for tea last night, just basic stuff as Trish isn't really eating anything!  The photos on this page are of the back yard and the cleared area behind each home.  Those huge boxes you can see in the bottom photo are the huge air con units for the houses nearby!

They are huge air con units but keep the homes so cool.  I reckon a little too cool.  The kids set theirs to 18º overnight and 23º during the day which is what I am sure they were told to do.  Every now and again I step outside for a warm up and you can instantly feel the warm blanketing feeling of 35º and around 65% humidity.

Regretfully I didn't quite give the camera enough time to warm up when I took these photos.  The misty effect on them is from the condensation when taking the camera from the cool inside to the hot humid outside.

Tonight Arj is taking me to the local town outside KAUST's walls for a haircut.  Now that should be an interesting blog post!

KAUST Beach (Saturday)

As I was feeling a little better on Friday I ventured out with Kate in the car for a quick look around.  It was around 35º outside so the car was the way to go.

This place has only been going for 7 or 8 years so is still in the early phase of construction.  Go to the beach a month ago then go to the beach today, the road to the beach is now different, there is a new road in a place that wasn't there 4 weeks ago!

Construction goes on continually and renovation is occurring as well.  As I have mentioned before, expense is not a concern with this establishment.

Take the beach for example.  There was never a beach here in the first place so the designers and architects set out to build one using imported beach sand.  The sand isn't as we know it in Australia, but a much firmer type of sand.

The beach is quite wide, with inflatable islands, rubber inflatable pontoons and other activities.

There are rows of sun lounges as you would expect to find on the French Riviera and a lifeguard post where every child must put on and wear a life vest (lowest left photo).

You have to show your ID Card to get in beyond the security and there is a high fence sectioning the beach area off from the University grounds and homes.

You see this is a western beach in a middle eastern country where things such as bikinis etc are not to be seen.  But at KAUST Beach, this can happen!  This is where females can get around safely wearing their regular western bathing attire and do not need to be covered from head to toe as the Muslim religion decrees.

It is a strange contradiction in this impressive structure known as KAUST.

It was delightfully pleasant standing there taking it all in with a wind coming in off the sea tempering the hot temperature.

All the buildings about the University are first quality, spectacular in design and amazing to see.

It is actually Saturday as I type.  I am feeling almost as well as any time I have been here.  Trish isn't faring so well.  She did go to the doctor yesterday who confirmed what we already knew and that it was a virus.  He suggested a medication (the contents of mean this medication is no longer legal in Australia).  It has in the drug that Chemist shops used to get robbed of all their cough medicines etc so it could be used to manufacture drugs.

As usual Trish checked them out online and saw side effects could be nausea and insomnia.  And after taking them yesterday she can confirm those side effects.  After a period of throwing up this morning, those tablets will be preserved for others if required who may not be affected the same was as Trish was.

Hopefully nature will take its course and she will improve a little over the next few days.

I did manage to watch a heap of footy yesterday and today, all live and streamed via the internet onto the TV.  There were some good games to watch.

Tomorrow Sunday is a 'work' day for the rest of them.  We will wait to see how Trish is before deciding what we will do.  We did miss a shopping trip into Jeddah this morning but I was pleased I stayed home as Trish was extremely ill.  The kids are busy buying shoes etc getting ready for their 2 month drive around Europe summer trip.

You can't seem to buy any of that sort of stuff in the few shops there are in KAUST, you have to go into Jeddah (a 1 hour drive away)  for that sort of shopping.

It's Friday, 1st Day Of The weekend!

Just a quick little post.  Everyone is at home as today is the first day of a Saudi weekend!

Trish has visited the doctor this morning as her recovery from the virus appears to be slow.  She is now on a couple of tablets (one of which is Panadol) to help her along.

The footy will begin live on TV here in 30 minutes or so.

I still cannot get over the amazing internet here at KAUST.  During a recent update my Download Program was registering the attached pic.

The "Transfer Rate" I get at home is around .8 MB/sec (7000 speed).  Here it is up to 8.5MB/sec (85,000). It is absolutely mind blowing!

A good ADSL2+ connection close to the exchange at home would give you a speed of around 20,000.  The maximum available to us at many areas of Bellvista is 8000 or an ADSL1 rate.

Health Update (Thursday)

Trish continues to be laid low by her heavy head cold, while I am feeling much better thankyou. It is almost 9am now and she is still in bed trying to sleep but with a husky cough and aching limbs sleep isn't easy to find.

It seems to be similar to the virus which struck so many on the early stages of our cruise.  We heard of couples not emerging from their cabins for 4 or 5 days as they battled the effects.  And when they did emerge, they continued to cough and splutter.

I don't think the situation is helped by the marked change in weather that we are experiencing here in Saudi Arabia either.  To come from an emerging from spring Europe straight into 40º here in Saudi is quite a change for the body to handle, especially after what has been 5 or 6 very intense weeks for us.

The chart above is this week's expected weather about 10k's north of KAUST!

Throughout the week it seems I have been a day in front of Trish on the recovery trail.  So hopefully tomorrow she will be feeling much better.  Tomorrow Friday is the first day of the weekend here in Saudi.

We had always hoped for two quiet weeks at the end of the trip to R/R and just be with Arj, Kate and the family.  So heavy colds for both of us hasn't been disastrous.

KAUST is the jewel in the crown for Saudi Arabia.  It is held in extremely high regard by all Saudis.  No expense in this oil rich country has been spared on the University and its facilities.  Everything is ultra modern. The internet access here is unbelievable, it is so fast.

When you experience such outstanding internet access, you do wonder about the lack of forward vision in Australia when the decision was made not to proceed with the full National Broadband Network. No, everyone may not require such excellent access right now, but planning and building infrastructure should be to address the needs of the future, not just for the duration of a Parliamentary term.

At KAUST (Wednesday)

I am pleased to say that today I am feeling quite a lot better.  Regretfully, Trish hasn't really improved and as I type (around 2pm Kaust Time) she is grabbing 40 winks on the sofa.  I continue to get the occasional cough whereas Trish just feels lousy.

We are now 'officially' visitors.  We now have our own personal visitor ID cards. Security is extremely high in this compound, to get in anywhere you need a KAUST ID card on your person.

It is still hot today with an expected top for today of around 40º.  It drops back to a daily mid 30's after today though.  I expected the heat to be dry here but it is just the opposite, it is so humid.

The other evening we headed to what could loosely be called the city centre.  We had a choice of Turkish, Pizza, Burger King, Baskin Robins and maybe one or two others.  The Turkish was OK.  We sat out in the city square and ate our meals after being joined by several of Arj and Kate's teaching colleagues.

Needless to say the conversation got around to talking about issues at school, not too different to what you get in any Australian city when a group of teachers get together!

Everything here is maintained by a team of gardeners and general maintenance crews.  I saw a guy sweeping up a single leaf off the roadway today, Arj and Kate's gardens and lawns are maintained by teams as well.

If you click on the photo below left you may spot some of  the gardening team down near the white truck

The fight against dust and sand in and around homes as well as on the streets seems a continual battle.  The dust from the sand gets in everywhere.

We have discovered the local "Tamini" supermarket, a fairly large establishment with all the supermarket items you could ever want.  Nothing appeared to us as more expensive than at home.

The University buildings themselves must be seen to be believed.  No expense has been overlooked.  All the buildings have the latest mod cons and are magnificently designed.

Traffic here is non-existent.  (Top Left) You may get several vehicles per hour drive by the house.  I reckon any pedestrian hit by a car here would be extremely unlucky!

You can leave your home unlocked, the garage door wide open, or your son's bike lying in the front yard where he left it. (Photo left)

You can be sure nothing will happen.

The bikes and chairs in this photo have been left out the front every day we have been here,

The kids get home from school, have a bite to eat and are then off outside to ride their bikes or to play with their friends.

There are very few people on the streets. 

Life in KAUST (Tuesday)

Right now we have both succumbed to head colds and are feeling a little miserable.  Trish is probably a little worse than I am but neither of us is 100%.  I guess it is not surprising after the go, go, go of the previous 5 or 6 weeks.  There was always going to be a real R and R period and I guess that is now.  With the kids all at school we kind of just sit around and do bits and pieces from time to time with a pack of tissues not too far away.

I reckon I slept for almost 10 hours last night!

Outside it is hazy, hot and humid with a temp around 36 degrees.  The air con sits on 23 during the day and 18 overnight.

Their house has all the mod cons supplied, fridge, washing machine, dryer etc.  Kate uses the dryer a lot as the weather outside can be dusty.  You need to wash the clothes again after they have dried if you hang them outside to dry.  Electricity costs are included in their monthly rental.  Internet is free.

Everything in this house is roomy!  There are huge living areas, bedrooms and bathrooms.  All the furniture is supplied, all the maintenance is supplied and there are computer points in most rooms, even the kitchen!

The floors are tiled, the ceilings are high and the air con works beautifully.  When outside you can actually hear the continual hum of everyone's air con working away in the distance.

...

King Abdulla University Of Science and Technology - KAUST (Monday)

We are safely in Saudi Arabia at Kate and Arj's home in the compound known as KAUST, 50k's north of Jeddah Saudi Arabia, on The Red Sea.  At the Jeddah airport we just mentioned "Kaust" and we seemed to get some imagined special treatment (we hope).

Our departure from Venice was an all day affair.  It took hours to get through Check-in, then Baggage Control and finally Passport Control.  We had several Asian Tour Groups travelling home that day as well who had just disembarked one of the other 3 or 4 Cruise ships in Venice that weekend.  Unlike us Australians, which usually is a quick perusal of the passport and "Next Please", the Asians had to apply for special classes of visas and each one needed to be carefully checked.

Eventually we arrived at our departure gate after several hours and boarded the plane, a Boeing 777 and we got a couple of the emergency exit seats which gave us plenty of leg room but little table space and a smaller entertainment console.  It was a 5 or so hour flight to Dubai, then we had to endure all the messing about of baggage, customs and passports yet again.  We eventually arrived at the Premier Inn at 11:30pm but after adjusting our watches it was closer to 1:30am.  Dubai Airport is super well organised, the Premier Inn was perfect for our needs.

What a difference the Dubai Airport was, little waiting, professional and extremely smooth.  The only hassle was poor wifi and as my data has again dropped out on my phone so it was difficult (but not totally impossible) to keep up with the footy scores back home while waiting for the flight from Dubai to Jeddah.

Dubai was HOT!

Another 3 hour flight on a smaller but roomier aircraft than the Venice-Dubai leg flight saw us arrive in Jeddah around 2pm their time on Monday in plenty of time to wait for Kate and Arj to collect us.  They couldn't get away from school until 2:20pm but Jeddah Airport is usually reportedly slow for arrivals.

It was different alright!  We had our finger prints taken, our photos taken before being allowed through.  We mentioned we were visiting Kaust but that didn't seem to make a lot of difference.

Kate was confident that despite leaving school at 2:20, the one hour drive to the airport would see her arrive well before we had passed through customs etc.  We were 'out' in less than 30 minutes!

We were driven to their home for a sensational welcome from grand kids Charli and James.  It was great and will be a memorable end to our two months away from home.

So today they are all at school while we are at their home (front door view above) chilling out.  "Chilling" isn't probably a good descriptor as it is a hot and humid 36 or so outside with the summer heat still to arrive.  The home is continually air conditioned so this morning both Trish and I are a little nasally.  But that should clear.

Trish is using the washing machine.  We can't do much out and about until we get our 'official' visitors passes which we may be able to get this afternoon.

And we have internet again!  The University is sensationally setup for internet communication all at no cost.  There are a couple of internet points in most rooms, just plug in your lead and you are connected.  At home I get 6700 down speed, here I get 75,000!  It is as good as top of the line NBN connections at home!

Outside there is free wifi across the whole area.  So not have data on the phone isn't an issue.  Inside Arj has his wifi router set up broadcasting the internet across the house.  His home wifi signal is very weak in our bedroom9on the second floor at the opposite end of the house) but there is enough signal for me to connect to the free outside wifi.  It is amazing!

We will take a little walk later on to the Supermarket for a look.  It will be hot getting there though.  Hopefully we can collect our full Visitor Passes this afternoon which will give us access to the pool and stuff all across the Kaust compound area.

It is so much easier doing the blog on the laptop too!

I plan to go back through the posts over the next few days and add some more photos. 

Part 3, On To Saudi Arabia (Saturday)

There was a public transport strike in Venice on Friday which was our final full day on board. But there were ferries running from the Cruise Terminal to St Mark's Square, I guess it was to keep Venice's thriving tourist industry ticking over. With up to 4 Cruise ships in harbour at the one time, each with over 2000 passengers on board, a strike would severely dampen the day's takings.

We travelled to St Mark's Square, completed our shopping and returned to the ship by water bus. The threatening weather turned a little showery as we were riding back to the ship to pack and spend our final night on board.

If the photo below uploads OK you can see how 4 or now 5 Cruise Ships in dock at once put a strain on Venice Airport!  The airport is packed.

The ship wanted to charge us USD$80 per head for transfer from the ship to the airport. We shared a taxi with an English couple and it cost us 25 Euros per couple. To make the change a bit easier we added a little bit to the 45 Euros we were quoted. We arrived at the airport at 10am, and we were almost the final group to disembark.

So now we have found seats and have settled down for a 6hr wait until our plane is due to take off. This is plenty of time to sit back and put a blog post together, keep an eye on the footy scores until it is check-in time.

We will see if the 30 minute free wifi here at the airport will upload photos.

We arrive in Dubai at 11:30pm their time which we understand is 9:30pm Venice time. We then fly from Dubai around midday and get to Jeddah 2:30pm their time. Kate expects to pick us up from Jeddah Airport around 3:30pm. It is then a further 1 hour drive to KAUST.

Packing (Friday)

Our cruise is almost over.  I have pretty well packed but this is Trish's stuff. I guess we will get it all in.  Final Happy Hour is on and we are off to join it. 

The Rum Pack Baccardi has been consumed so we are off.

Bleak Looking Day (Friday)

It is our last full day of our cruise as we sail into Venice. We expect to dock around 11:30 am. The weather has turned and it is quite showery, but not cold.

Needless to say our Dubai accommodation stuffup has been at the fore front of our concerns.

By accident while at sea yesterday I noticed I had phone signal and on top of that the data on my phone was working too. There was an email there from Kate, she needed copies of our Saudi Visas ASAP, we suspect to get into the Kaust compound where they live. My first thought was that we couldn't do it.

But after some thought we took a couple of photos on our camera, then transferred them to the laptop for resizing.

Now we had copies small enough to email. As we are an hour or so out of Venice I had phone signal and the phone's data is working as well. The smallest photo files were transferred to my phone, a quick email was written and the two small sized photos of our Saudi Visas attached, the phone data was turned on momentarily and the email was sent. The data then was hastily turned off again.

Just in case the small photos are not detailed enough, Trish has an email ready to send when we have wifi in Venice itself with larger versions of the photos.

Yesterday (Thursday) had an Indonesian lunch with wine put on by the ship to farewell passengers who were completing their second Holland America cruise. We did a double cruise so we were invited along as well. A major topic of discussion was the $23 US per day service charge. Most on the table were older than us and quite experienced cruisers.

All of them had been to the ship's office and had decreased their service charge amounts substantially, some totally.  Needless to say, straight after lunch we went to the desk and decreased our amount substantially as well.

As we enter a dreary looking Venice we have a little last minute shopping to do and some wifi to find.

We have our disembarkation info sorted, we leave the ship around 9:30 tomorrow morning.  And Kate has us booked into a Dubai hotel for tomorrow night (with free wifi).

And we may be lucky with only a couple of showers in Venice as it looks a little brighter away to the west as we sail in.

A Quiet Day On Board (Thursday)

The Niew Amsterdam can carry 2100 guests and boasts a crew of approximately 1000. This cruise isn't filled to capacity but we believe it currently has around 1700 passengers on board.

Despite being on board for over 3 weeks, there are still some areas we haven't explored. The Silk Den is not only a bar on deck 11 and one such place we haven't explored previously , but it is also a sensational spot to sit when the bar isn't being used.  

Deck 11 is the very top deck of the ship.  As it is a bright sunny day, the retractable roof over the midships pool is open.

With very smooth seas today and clear weather you can see for kilometres through the large windows. As I type a tanker is sailing by heading south away into the distance.

Argostoli (Wednesday)

The ship anchored off the small Greek Island town of Argostoli on the island of Argostolian at lunchtime Wednesday. The anchorage was well protected from all winds and the temp was around mid 20's.

It had been a more pleasant trip during the morning as the wind had eased. It was actually a great drying of any hand washing day.

And it was our anniversary. These sorts of days become more important as you get older.

Our plan was to get into town, have a look around and find some good internet to check emails, especially any reply from our travel agent on overnight accommodation in Dubai for this Saturday.

We found a good internet cafe spot and our worst concerns were confirmed by email, our Dubai hotel would not be able to take us because we would have to collect our luggage and thus be unable to use the hotel as transit passengers. The travel agent wanted the hotel booking information by email to cancel the booking and find us an alternative.

This information was back on the ship which though close by had to be boarded by 'tender'. Trish raced back to the ship for the hotel booking information. I waited ashore and thought I would drop Kate in Saudi an email to bring her up to date on what was happening.

Trish got back from the ship an hour later with the info only to tell me that as an earlybird special the hotel booking was uncancellable!

An email arrived almost straight back from Kate asking if we were able to take a call from her.  So she rang us, told us there were plenty of hotels just outside the Dubai Airport within 5 mins walk and if we wanted she would book us in to one of them at around $100 for the night. This was our best option so agreed and hopefully we will find the details of our hotel booking in an email on Friday.

Today is a day at sea and no internet or phone service.  We arrive in Venice tomorrow and hopefully I will have data on my phone and be able check emails.  We stay on board overnight Friday and disembark around 10am Saturday. At this stage thunderstorms are forecast for Venice this weekend.

I actually got data on my phone in Argostoli!

We had a quick look around Argostoli and then headed back to the ship for a well earned drink.

Our anniversary dinner in the onboard restaurant was excellent.

What an eventful day!

Rock N Roll (Overnight Tuesday/Wednesday)

It looked like there had been an all night party as people wavered from side to side as they walked through the restaurant or along passage ways last night and early this morning.

There is a wind blowing and it is stirring up the sea and causing this huge ship to give us a bumpy ride.  It is best described as like being on a train or continually passing through some turbulence on a jet plane. People are not too steady on their feet. Neither of us are having a sea-sickness problem.

Our stop today isn't until midday (it's now 7am Weds) and it has been switched to a tender stopover. This seems to mean there are other cruise ships in port and there may be big crowds everywhere.  If it remains this blustery they may have to abandon us going ashore.

Though from maps we have available to us it seems this port is well protected from inclement windy weather conditions.

It is our wedding anniversary today and we have booked into the onboard restaurant for our evening meal.

Then we saw there is a special 'Greek Food' night on near the bistro this evening as well.  We were tempted to cancel our restaurant booking!

Santorini (Tuesday)

Santorini was not quite what we expected. We had expected something quite different. After a glorious and warm Monday, Tuesday morning upon our arrival in Santorini was cool, overcast and a little windy.  If the photo below uploads OK you will see that most houses exist on the hilltops rather than beside the beaches.

It was a 'tender' port but this time we used slightly larger vessels supplied by the port authorities.  Another very large cruise ship was at anchor in the port as well as ours.

You get from the dock up to the town by cable car.  The trip takes a few minutes at 5 Euros per person each way.  With two large cruise ships in town, the cable car company made a fortune!  It also meant everything everywhere was crowded.

We had nothing special planned but Trish was quite keen to see some of the typical white homes with a blue roof if possible. There were also many stores with spruikers wanting you to go into their shop and buy.

We have become accustomed to saying "Thanks but no thanks" around 50 times a day.

As it turned out the houses with blue roofs are more likely to be found in another nearby town named Oia. We could get there by water ferry, taxi or local bus. The latter was the cheapest and looked the most fun. 

We got on the bus early and got a seat, not everyone did. The countryside is quite hilly, the road is quite windy and in places is quite narrow. But we got to Oia safely and just loved the views from the bus as we drove along.

In Oia we found some white buildings with blue roofs. We even found some free wifi!  It is a picturesque little place but the weather was turning cooler and it began spitting with rain.

If the first bus trip was interesting, the bus trip back to the port was an absolute eye opener. Two buses passing each other just don't fit on Santorini roads. Some tourists had hired motor scooters, quad bikes or cars.  Motor bike riders don't wear helmets and I am not convinced there are many road rules!  All this made for really interesting trip back to the port.  There were times we had to back up in the bus to let traffic by.  On another occasion a tourist stalled his quad bike right in front of the bus.

There was some arm waving and loud discussions between the bus driver and others using the road.  After we left the bus back in town, traffic on some of the roads in the town centre were at a standstill. The place was grid locked.

The quick trip up and down in the cable car cost us a total of 20 Euros, the 30 minute trip to Oia one way and then the 50 min return bus trip the other way cost us 6.40 Euros altogether.

We grabbed a cool drink each and some wifi to upload blogs, add posts to Facebook and check emails when back at the port. I even managed to catch up some newspaper articles on my team's footy match from Friday night.

It is mid afternoon and we are about to set sail for Argostoli Greece. Then we have a day at sea on Thursday before arriving back in Venice after lunch Friday.

We expect to disembark before 10am Saturday and transfer to Venice Airport for our 3:50pm flight to Dubai.

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Kusadasi (Monday)

Kusadasi is a tourist town in Turkey. Most importantly is that it is the nearest port to ancient Ephesus. Ephesus was a town around 200bc which is being excavated slowly piece by piece to reveal the remains of the ancient city.

Some say it is better preserved ancient city than Pompeii and I tend to agree.

Via this android Blogger app I am using on this inexpensive tablet I can only post one photo.  I need to be able to post 40 photos to truly show you this remarkable place.

A section of the site has some incredibly preserved Terrace houses occupied during the town's life. These have been painstakingly preserved and uncovered to create a remarkable display.

We had our hassles with the cut price tour we took.  Some of the participants were due to sail at 1;30 pm which meant some sections of the tour were cut short to ensure they got back on time.

Again there were 4 or 5 cruise ships in the harbour so tourist sites were packed.

There was reachable free WiFi from our verandah of our cabin on the ship which allowed us to do emails and Facebook upon our arrival. I also caught up with all the footy scores.

However I needed better WiFi to add credit to my phone and to upload two blog posts. Unfortunately in my haste to get them up online they are out of order.

We have just sailed into Santorini (Tuesday) and the site of all these white houses high up on the steep hills surrounding the Port is stunning.

We only have 3 more ports to the end of the cruise. We have been trying to call Kate in Saudi We rang several times yesterday for no answer while we tried a couple of times too unsuccessfully.  We will persist.

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Lesbos, (Sunday)

I can't tell you much about this island stop because the trip to the island had to be aborted owing to dangerous sea conditions.

This is a designated 'tender'  stop where the ship anchors off shore and the passengers make their way to the shore via lifeboats.  Currently there is 2m swell on the harbour and it is considered too dangerous to ferry passengers back and forth.

However a tender did make it to shore so the ship cannot depart until everyone is back on board.  At this stage we are 2 passengers short!

A revised program is being hastily arranged to keep everyone occupied while the ship sits in the port waiting for those two passengers to be returned on board.

We will then set sail for our next port Kusadasi and the historical site 'Ephesus' which some people say is even more stunning than Pompeii.

We are due there at 7am tomorrow morning.

Istanbul (Saturday)

We are in a sunny but cool Istanbul in Turkey.  Istanbul is a huge city of 15 million people. The forecast wet weather isn't here but it is quite fresh.

We arrived here late yesterday (Friday).  The data on my phone worked once here but hasn't worked since.  So footy info is a high priority.  While I say that, Freo vs Essendon is just starting live on the TV in our cabin at 1pm Turkey time on Saturday.

I do know my team won yesterday and Trish's team was just in front at half time. An Aussie we met in town had data on his tablet so looked up scores for us but that was a couple of hours ago before the end of the game.

Upon arrival late Friday afternoon we ventured out for a look around to see the lay of the land.  We seem to be in a seedier side of town but the stroll around gave us a cold beer and poor internet. But we managed to check emails, Facebook etc.  The internet itself wasn't good.

We did spot the light rail/tram system though.

So we decided the Grand Bazaar seemed a good spot to start the next morning (Saturday).  I wanted more info on the trams and after getting an update from the ship's tours guy felt confident enough to give it a go. 

The trip to the Grand Bazaar by tram worked inexpensively and perfectly.

If you multiply the Dandenong Market by 400 then you have an idea of the number of shops at the Grand Bazaar, or the number of stalls at the Bulcock Rd market by the same amount.  It is huge.

Trish bought some bits and pieces and I got another quick dry polo top. Bartering is the norm.

 We then walked back about 1k to the Blue Mosque. Hopefully the photo below will upload. There were 1000's there as it was a weekend day.

Another stroll and we again picked up the tram for our return trip to the ship. We had been out for around 4 hours, mainly walking so enough was enough.

And to top it all off the footy was on TV back at the ship and I had a couple of my beers in the fridge.  And we were both a little weary from a lot of walking.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we arrive at the island of Lesbos.

As We Sail Along. (Friday)

As you can probably guess we found good internet just outside the port gates at Pireaus just before we sailed.  It was a small bar with a cool beer for me, a mini bottle of bubbles for Trish and a good strong internet connection.

We were able to post blogs, update emails and check our Facebook pages. I was able to check how much I have left on my sim card as well. As we are now more dependent on our tablets we were both able to visit the Google Playstore for some basic photo editing apps. Trish was after a good photo editing app and I wanted a photo resizer to try to have my blog photos upload as smaller files.  Hopefully we have found the apps we needed.

We sailed late Thursday afternoon with an expected arrival in Instanbul late Friday afternoon.

The photo attached was taken Friday morning as the ship sailed through the Dardenelles.  It has been resized so we will see how it uploads.

After some hassles I have managed to swap my sim card from the Europe zone to the Global zone. It took some time but I got the data connection to work as well.  The footy is on this weekend and I want to keep up with scores.

Athens, Thursday.

The ship sailed overnight Wednesday into Thursday to Piraeus, the port nearest the Greek capital Athens.

There are several ways to eat meals on board, by buffet, a regular sit down restaurant style or an upmarket restaurant.  The first two styles are available at no charge and are included in your fare.

So last night we booked seats in the sit down restaurant. During booking the restaurant we were asked if we would be prepared to share.  As it turned out the people we shared with we knew!  They were Val and Bill, who are friends of Carol and David we know from Melbourne.  Our room is 7131, their's is 7130 which is on the same deck as ours but the opposite side of the ship.

Upon our arrival in Athens, and instead of booking one of the organized incredibly expensive ship's excursions, a group of 6 of us had considered booking a minivan and driver instead of the overpriced ship's tours to Athens on Thursday.

So for half the price we had our own minivan and driver.  We thoroughly enjoyed a drive around the nearby coast, driving by millions of dollars worth of luxurious boats and cruisers and the 20k's into Athens.

Currently there are 5 cruise ships in port. We visited the Acropolis but did not enter. The place was literally crawling with tour groups pushing and bustling up and down the steps. I don't think we missed a lot by not going in.  We found  a pretty good spot to get great (but distant) views of the Acropolis and Athens.

We also saw Hadrian's Gate, Zues' Temple, the modern marble Olympic stadium and watched the fascinating changing of the guard at the Princess' Palace.

We were driven through Athens with a running commentary from the driver.

We saw around what we had hoped to see.  The major remaining thought which we all noticed was how the Acropolis dominated the Athens skyline.

We set sail at 4:30 this afternoon for Istanbul where we are due late afternoon Friday.

The weather forecast for Istanbul is for rain.

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At Katakolon, Greece (Wednesday)

Needless to say we have free WiFi at a reasonable price.

We have just visited the ancient Olympia historical site.  Again we bypassed the ship tour and did a visit to the site around 40ks from where the ship docked.

It was half the price of a ship tour and by cab.  We had an hour to explore the site which was enough time for us.

The highlight was the main stadium of course, almost 200 metres long and with the ability to accommodate 45,000 spectators. There were numerous other buildings, many dating back to BC.

Check out Trish's Facebook pages for more photos.

The taxi driver only knew one speed, as fast as he could go.

The whole experience was yet another highlight of this remarkable trip.

Today it is quite warm with the temperature around 26 or so.

There are heaps of small shops with bits and pieces for sale here in this small seaside town. We will most likely visit most of them before heading home for a late lunch.

We sail for Athens mid afternoon and expect to arrive there first thing Thursday.

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More On Ship Life (Monday)

I don't like Trivia Competitions much but with a quiet day today I eventually joined up with Trish and her team at today's Trivia Quiz. An older American couple made up the team and after the quiz we got chatting.

They were enjoying their 30th cruise and were very experienced cruisers. He said every single cruise line has its good and bad points.

He said you just have to learn to play the game.

He said they are wary of some Cruise Line organised excursions. They are usually more expensive. He prefers to chat with the local taxi driver outside the Port gate and negotiate his own trips.

Be ready to be ripped off.  The Cruise Line isn't going to make a profit out of just your fare, they want you to drink and to gamble.  They want you to go on their excursions.

He had used a different Cruise Line to sail to Europe, drinks on that line were $12 each but other things were cheaper than HAL. On some lines there aren't snacks with drinks or chocolates left on your bed.

From all his experiences he said Holland America Lines (HAL) was one of the better ones that he had travelled with.

As the guy said, just play the game. Do your research and remember there will be good points and not so good points.  All you have to do is play the game!

Venice (Sunday/Monday)

Kotor and its rainy weather seems an eternity away right now.  We departed Venice last night (Monday) and now are sailing towards Greece with a full day at sea and a huge change over of passengers.

The average age of passengers has dropped by 10 years to around 70 and the sound level in the dining room has dropped around 20 decibels.  Some of those Americans are quite brash in their manner and they seem to begin every second sentence with 'I' or 'we'.  There appears to be quite a few Aussies have joined the cruise so I guess those brash Americans will be replaced by loud Australians!

We met a delightful American couple from Alabama, Ryan and Donna who were travelling with 4 other older family members. We seemed to hit it off very well straight away but then we did meet over a cold beer during Happy Hour. They left the cruise in Venice and are now winging their way home.

We sailed into Venice soon after lunch on Sunday. The weather was fine and most passengers were on deck as the ship sailed by The Bridge of Sighs, St Mark's Square, and the Grande Canal.  This was yet another sensational experience.

During that afternoon and after docking we decided to defy all advice and set off for a walk from where the ship had docked to the famous Rialto Bridge over the Grande Canal.  We purchased a tourist map and set off on our way.  Now can you imagine a road map of Venice?  There aren't roads in Venice, just pathways some 5 metres wide, others a mere 1 metre wide.

Street name signs are different too.  We did see yellow signs saying Rialto which gave us a hint.  These signs did seem to be few and far between.  But we defied the odds and after more than an hour arrived at The Rialto Bridge to discover it was being renovated and had scaffolding all over it. This was quite a disappointment for us.

After a look around and because of large weekend crowds we decided to head back to the ship.  But we had seen and discovered much of Venice, its canals, small shops and busy lifestyle.

Being a little tired we stopped at little eatery near The Rialto Bridge for a 300ml can of coke, hot chocolate and 'free' wifi to update our Facebook page and check emails.  Trish posted photos on Facebook but I would often find my photos to Blogger wouldn't upload.  I suspect Facebook isn't blocked but other programs may be.

We asked for our bill and was handed an account for almost 10 Euros (around AU$12). Thanks for the free wifi!  We completed our walk back to the ship.

Monday morning saw the end of one cruise and the beginning of another. Many were leaving while others were waiting to embark.

We decided to head out and explore some more. This time we caught a water bus to St Mark's Square and yet another peek at The Bridge of Sighs.  We planned to walk back all the way to the ship from St Mark's Square.

We had a really good look around at everything and being a Monday the place wasn't at all crowded. It did cost a total of 3 Euros for us to use a toilet though. 

As we were now experienced Venice map readers and knew the signs to look for, our walk to the Rialto Bridge and onto Rome Plaza (and on to the ship) was straight forward but tiring.

This time we stood outside the expensive 'free' wifi shop from the previous day and caught up with emails and Facebook.  I think Trish even uploaded some Venice photos!

I will try to upload a photo with this post, it may or may not publish with the photo.

Today is a full day at sea.  Tomorrow we are in Greece and hopefully on our way to Olympia (and to have good 'free' wifi).

Kotor Visit (Saturday)

Imagine a fjord near Greece in the Mediterranean!  If you can then you have imagined Kotor, a part of Montenegro, just to the north of Greece.

It is a picturesque part of the world despite the grey day we had.

Kotor was a tender port.  A convoy of 6 'lifeboats' ferried passengers back and forth between the ship and the shore. You can see the ships' tenders ferrying passengers in the top photo. This all went on despite the steady fall of rain!

We decided to bite the bullet and despite the consistent rain make our way to shore with umbrellas in hand. 

After arriving on land the rain eased to the odd spot leaving us to wander this old walled city.

It was amazing strolling around many of the narrow streets peering into mini shops and tall narrow homes. As you look upwards, above you are tall rocky mountains.

Trish took numerous photos on her camera or her tablet.  Photos on the tablet are easy to post to Facebook. 

Then we found a restaurant with great free WiFi at which we bought a  hot chocolate and a coke. There were no problems uploading photos or blogs or downloading emails and apps.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

Upon returning to the ship I put the TV on and we had Hawthorn and North Melbourne live.

It is early afternoon and the ship is now sliding through calm seas with large mountains either side of us, just as if we were in a Norwegian fjord. It is spectacular. 

The slide show below will focus on our trip out of Kotor, a truly splendid and spectacular experience.  If you click on the two overlapping boxes icon on the slide show (top R/H corner) you will get a full screen view of the photos, hit your escape key to return to the normal view.

This time tomorrow we will be in Venice.

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