reallyjillytravels

Sunday, April 30, 2023, Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India We arrived in port and saw the impressive city skyline from our balcony. We had to do a face-to-face passport check. As soon as we got off the dock, we were greeted by dancers playing percussion, and sari-garbed women putting tikas on our foreheads. Getting my tika Skyline from our balcony In line for passport check We had a tour that started at 11 am.  Our first stop was at the Gateway to India monument. This is the city’s top tourist attraction, and it overlooks the Arabian Sea. A giant arch built to commemorate King George V’s visit to India. The tour guides like to say the British left India for good through this arch. Gateway to India Monument. Check out the crowds. Being Sunday, the crowd was insane! We saw a line of a hundred or more people and asked what the line was for. It was the line for the ferry to Elephata Island, a tour some people we knew were taking. Traffic, vendors, locals and tourists alike were all here. ...

 April 27, 2023, Fujairah, UAE We arrived about 9 am, and didn’t have plans. I was still sick with a deep cough so we took advantage of the golf cart from the ship to the port building; a journey of about 100 yards. I didn’t even take photos that day, but was happy to get off the ship and do something. We took a shuttle to a mall (sound familiar?). This one was considerably smaller than Dubai’s mega-mall, but it no slouch. Charlie bought some clothing, some at 74% off!. His favorite was a tee-shirt with the words: “Can’t Talk -Text Message Only.” We got some snacks and gifts. The nuts over here are so fresh they are irresistible. Our snack selection in the stateroom is getting pretty large, maybe we’ll have a party. City Center Mall in Fujairah On the way back we saw a beautiful white mosque to contrast with a variety of modern, high-rise architecture downtown. This was one of the cleanest city we have ever seen. Glad to be back and to rest up.

  Tuesday, April 25, 2023, Dubai, UAE We didn’t arrive in Dubai until about 2 pm. We needed to go ashore fairly soon after for a rare face-to-face passport check in the customs building. There were long lines as there are around 1,000 people (including the 400+ staff) aboard. We got our passports stamped, then got back on board. We had an event starting at 4 pm so didn’t have time to do much before that. I was still fighting a bronchial infection. Dubai skyline At 4 pm, we headed back to shore. There was a chaotic process of getting 400+ people into white 4x4s to go out into the desert. We were in a car with a driver and another couple. About 110 of the cars took off in Dubai traffic headed to the Al Maha Desert Conservation Reserve. We drove on regular roads until suddenly we were all taking a right into the desert after a small sign in Arabic. So far the road was still paved but then we were in the sand.   Desert with Dubai in the background We saw a large herd of white gaze...