Happy Easter. It does not quite seemed like Easter here in Mumbai (Bombay), India as it is really not celebrated here by many people.
During the few days before we arrived here, the ship was showing the movie of the life of Gandhi. We had seen it years ago but decided to watch it again. This turned out to be most fortunate as the first stop on our tour today was at the house of a friend of Gandhi who insisted that he live there whenever he was in Bombay. The house has now become a museum with many artifacts of Gandhi’s life. They also made miniature rooms to depict the significant events of his life. These were very meaningful to us as we had just seen many of these events portrayed in the movie.
After this we visited the Prince of Wales Museum. This was built in the early 1900’s to welcome Prince George on his first visit to India. He later became the king of England. This was quite a fantastic structure with many artifacts of the time period and beautifully landscaped grounds.
We also visited some local shops that focused on the many spices from India and beautiful silk fabrics. We also had a typical Indian lunch at a hotel called the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately it was unreasonably expensive.
Our tour also took us through the city before returning to the ship and we saw people filming a movie. Mumbai is the home of Bollywood, which is the equivalent of Hollywood but makes more movies and has no studios! They just film wherever they like on the streets in Mumbai.
Unfortunately the disparity of wealth within the country was also revealed as we saw many beggars. We were told that this is the largest city with 20 million people and that the city grows by 500 people a day as people flock to the city in search of work. The other interesting difference is that even though the city does not seem to have a lot of luxurious homes, the cost of the homes are quite high. It is in fact the 3rd most expensive place to purchase real estate in the world.
We will be at sea for three days before reaching Dubai, the fastest developing city in the world.
March 27, 2008
We arrived at Dubai, United Arab Emirates today and witnessed firsthand that there indeed is 24-hour around-the-clock building and development occurring. This country first gained independence from England in 1971 and was formed by 7 kingdoms joining together.
Today we visited the fort of Sharjah. This is the oldest city in the area and where commerce started with the outside world. Today it is still a very conservative Muslim city. It follows strict Muslim laws including not having any alcohol in the city. If you are found to have alcohol or to have consumed alcohol, you may be put into jail for 6 months. However, if you go into the city of Dubai, everything is pretty much allowed, drinking, smoking, gambling, prostitution, and having multiple wives. However, one’s dress is to be conservative, covered shoulders, knees, and feet when you are in Mosques, of which we were not allowed to enter, not being Muslim.
We also toured a museum that told how the suburb of Sharjah was basically funded by King Faisal and Kuwait after money had been advanced to this area but it was then found not to be rich in oil as were some other areas. The agreement between the 7 kings who formed the UAE was that all areas would profit from the oil so as to keep peace between the districts.
It is certainly evident that there is much wealth here with all of the constant building. Dubai is home to 25% of the world’s cranes. The building is taking place on artificial land as they keep filling in the sea to enlarge the city. Some of this fill is being designed to aerially resemble the world with the countries represented by islands and islands designed as large palm trees. Some of the current land owners are Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods, and David Beckham. The city currently has the tallest building, which is not finished yet; and no one will tell how tall they are going to make it. They plan to have the largest international airport. They also are working on a Dubailand that is to be on the order of Disneyworld but twice as large. You can see the pattern here, have the largest, the best, and the most unique.
We have now started our own adventure as we have left the ship for the next 8 days, while they are at sea. During this time we will stay in Dubai for 3 more days, fly to Cairo, Egypt for 3 days, and rejoin the ship the following day in Safaga, Egypt. Wish us luck and a safe visit.
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