As I sit here, about to depart Singapore for Jakarta, I feel strangely at home in this place I have never been, and have only stayed three hours.
You see, I am a traveler at heart. Airports, airplanes for that matter, bring me a comfort I cannot explain.
So Stupid Cool, a concept born of my adjustments as an American student living in Scotland, sent as an email distribution before the days of blogs, is hereby reborn after a three year sabbatical.
The last three years, I returned to land (as sailors call it after working at sea). It was a strange three years, a combination of university studies for a masters, months spent in Los Angeles traffic and an aggressive year long, quite frankly disfiguring, cancer treatment.
The plane just banked and I am treated to a marvelous sunrise over Singapore.
Stupid Cool was started to allow me one complaint about living abroad and then one mention of something I appreciated. It was a mental exercise to assist my adjustment and tell my friends and family about my travels. It morphed, in steps, from something "Stupid" about Scotland and something "Cool" about Scotland (sent via an ever expanding email distribution list, when blog was a typo not a word) to a travel blog around 2004.
Now Stupid Cool returns.
So with that…
Stupid: Nope, I got nothing.
Cool: I love Singapore airport, decked out with abundant displays of vibrant, robust, full-bloom orchids. They also have a butterfly gallery, which I did not walk through in the dark at 4am. But I did cross paths with an airport working transporting an escapee, a big brilliant blue exotic butterfly.
Also Cool: a shower after 26 hours of travel with eight more to go.
Next stop: Jakarta, where I board my once home, Crystal Symphony, a 950 guest luxury cruise ship where I will work and travel nearly 20,000 miles over the next three months.
P.S. Thought of a "Stupid."
Stupid: The health insurance company which nearly prevented me from attaining and traveling with my cancer medication for this trip.
But I am here now!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Jeddah
Well I don’t know what I expected, but Jeddah is not what I expected.
It is split between somewhat poor and palatial estates. The old city was poor, old and rundown. But it had an unusual architectural aspect. All the buildings had wooden additions that kind of looked like balconies added as an afterthought. (There is a term for this architectural feature but for the life of me I can’t remember it.)
Outside the old city there were palatial compounds reminiscent of multi-million dollar houses in Florida, with a slightly Middle Eastern feel.
The city is full of empty lots with piles of garbage sometimes smack dab between two amazing palaces. There did not appear to be any zoning. Houses were next to gas stations.
There were sculptures all over town. The city had more sculptures than any city I have ever been to.
That being said, due to Islamic rule, not a single sculpture was in the image of man. They were all modern art. And if they had a distinct directional aspect, they were always oriented to point to Mecca according to our guide.
The city seriously siestas. Everything is closed from 1-5pm and the streets become ghost towns. This naturally arose from it being the hottest time of the day, in an extraordinarily hot place, and people avoiding the heat.
So some interesting information I picked up about Jeddah. Women are not allowed to drive. They are allowed to have what our guide referred to as soft professions; they can be doctors, bankers and teachers. I think what he meant by soft is not physically challenging professions. But they must have a driver if they want to get anywhere.
Despite our guide saying that women were treated fairly, it was quite noticeable that there were far fewer women on the street than men. (And the women were quite noticeable as they were all in black.) All women wear abayas, the black wrist to neck to feet garb. We were told that this is Saudi tradition. In order to respect local tradition and custom, and for all I know to prevent us from being hung, this included us tourists. So I wore an abaya for the day.
This is an abaya shop in old town.
I could help but notice the fact that American franchises were everywhere. I mean, I guess I expected McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC and Baskin Robbins, which are ever present in the Middle East. But they had every American Franchise ever known, Chili’s, Fuddruckers, Hardee’s, Applebees, Ruby Tuesday’s, T.G.I. Fridays, Chucky Cheeses, Krispy Kremes, Pizza Hut and more. It was a bit strange.
Just about everything was in Arabic and English, which surprised me. And I couldn’t help but notice that the graffiti was mostly in English. For a culture which is so distinctly different, they sure seemed to have taken to our language and franchises.
We were as much interested in them as they were interested in us. A media outfit actually followed us around to get video of the mostly American tourists. That was a bit weird. Oh, and we were not allowed to go ashore unescorted. We had to be on a guided tour. This, as alien as it sounds, is also the case for most people in Russia. However, in Russia, it is possible to get a visa to go unescorted, it is just an effort and expensive so most people don’t.
Oh and the fish market. I am not sure why the fish market is considered an attraction, but it seems like every city I go on tour in, we stop to see the fish market. I am not clear on the appeal. It stinks and there are fish. But here is the obligatory picture.
Finally the museum, which was quite picturesque. The museum itself was packed full of interesting exhibits, from modern art, to Islamic art, to medieval weapons, to vases, to science exhibits. It was quite impressive and worth hours if not days.
Oh, and I can't write a blog about Jeddah without including a picture of a mosque.
The immigrant population should also be mentioned. Like most of the urban Middle East, Jeddah has a huge population of Indians and Filipinos.
My final experience in Jeddah, after going back through customs, there was a man handing to each of us Islamic proselytizing packets complete with CD.
Cool: having been to Saudi Arabia
It is split between somewhat poor and palatial estates. The old city was poor, old and rundown. But it had an unusual architectural aspect. All the buildings had wooden additions that kind of looked like balconies added as an afterthought. (There is a term for this architectural feature but for the life of me I can’t remember it.)
Outside the old city there were palatial compounds reminiscent of multi-million dollar houses in Florida, with a slightly Middle Eastern feel.
The city is full of empty lots with piles of garbage sometimes smack dab between two amazing palaces. There did not appear to be any zoning. Houses were next to gas stations.
There were sculptures all over town. The city had more sculptures than any city I have ever been to.
That being said, due to Islamic rule, not a single sculpture was in the image of man. They were all modern art. And if they had a distinct directional aspect, they were always oriented to point to Mecca according to our guide.
The city seriously siestas. Everything is closed from 1-5pm and the streets become ghost towns. This naturally arose from it being the hottest time of the day, in an extraordinarily hot place, and people avoiding the heat.
So some interesting information I picked up about Jeddah. Women are not allowed to drive. They are allowed to have what our guide referred to as soft professions; they can be doctors, bankers and teachers. I think what he meant by soft is not physically challenging professions. But they must have a driver if they want to get anywhere.
Despite our guide saying that women were treated fairly, it was quite noticeable that there were far fewer women on the street than men. (And the women were quite noticeable as they were all in black.) All women wear abayas, the black wrist to neck to feet garb. We were told that this is Saudi tradition. In order to respect local tradition and custom, and for all I know to prevent us from being hung, this included us tourists. So I wore an abaya for the day.
This is an abaya shop in old town.
I could help but notice the fact that American franchises were everywhere. I mean, I guess I expected McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC and Baskin Robbins, which are ever present in the Middle East. But they had every American Franchise ever known, Chili’s, Fuddruckers, Hardee’s, Applebees, Ruby Tuesday’s, T.G.I. Fridays, Chucky Cheeses, Krispy Kremes, Pizza Hut and more. It was a bit strange.
Just about everything was in Arabic and English, which surprised me. And I couldn’t help but notice that the graffiti was mostly in English. For a culture which is so distinctly different, they sure seemed to have taken to our language and franchises.
We were as much interested in them as they were interested in us. A media outfit actually followed us around to get video of the mostly American tourists. That was a bit weird. Oh, and we were not allowed to go ashore unescorted. We had to be on a guided tour. This, as alien as it sounds, is also the case for most people in Russia. However, in Russia, it is possible to get a visa to go unescorted, it is just an effort and expensive so most people don’t.
Oh and the fish market. I am not sure why the fish market is considered an attraction, but it seems like every city I go on tour in, we stop to see the fish market. I am not clear on the appeal. It stinks and there are fish. But here is the obligatory picture.
Finally the museum, which was quite picturesque. The museum itself was packed full of interesting exhibits, from modern art, to Islamic art, to medieval weapons, to vases, to science exhibits. It was quite impressive and worth hours if not days.
Oh, and I can't write a blog about Jeddah without including a picture of a mosque.
The immigrant population should also be mentioned. Like most of the urban Middle East, Jeddah has a huge population of Indians and Filipinos.
My final experience in Jeddah, after going back through customs, there was a man handing to each of us Islamic proselytizing packets complete with CD.
Cool: having been to Saudi Arabia
Monday, March 22, 2010
Dubai
Gosh, where to start.
I have been there multiple times since 2001 and it still continues to stun me. The highlights of my stop in Dubai were tea at the Burj Al Arab (the only seven star hotel in the world), Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), Palm Island (the man-made island in the shape of a palm tree) and the Dubai Fountain (which makes the Bellagio’s water performances look like a small child’s toy).
The infamous Burj Al Arab, the hotel in the shape of a sail on a man-made island, is so exclusive you need a reservation just to get within 300 meters of the building. So our Chief Accountant, Nadja, and I made reservations for “Sky Tea.”
This is the Burj Al Arab on a regrettably hazy day.
The building is incredible in a lot of ways, but the feature I appreciated the most was the atrium. This is what you see looking up the 27 floor atrium in the lobby.
The building was ornate in a slightly middle-eastern way, for example, the elevators for example were entirely covered with stylish Arabic calligraphy. (I should have taken more pictures.)
“Sky Tea,” on the 27th floor, over looks all of Dubai. In one direction is the city, in another direction is “The World” (a collection of man-made, sense a theme here, islands designed to appear to be a map of the world when viewed from above) and in another direction is Palm Island. (I should have taken more pictures.)
Tea began with Champagne and berries with cream, followed by a tower (in the shape of a sail) of decadent crust less sandwiches and canapés, scones with clotted creams and jams and finally petits fours. It was a lovely afternoon with a ridiculous amount of food. (I should have taken more pictures.)
Dubai has a thing for aquariums. There were aquariums everywhere. It seems kind of odd to have aquariums in the desert but Dubai began as a fishing village, so maybe it is not so strange. And these were aquariums unlike any you have ever seen before. They were done Dubai style, which is to say massive. I honestly think that the aquarium at the Dubai Mall is bigger than anything the Monterey Bay Aquarium has. This is a picture of just part of the aquarium in the Dubai Mall.
The Dubai Fountain is a huge lake in front of the Burj Khalif with scheduled fountain shows much like the Bellagio’s but on a much grander scale. One of the things that makes it such an experience is the music that the water performs to is traditional Arab music. It is the sort of thing you have to see to appreciate. (I should have taken pictures.)
This is the Burj Khalifa.
So let’s talk about Dubai’s bus stops. Strange topic, I know… but they are air conditioned, so they have to be mentioned.
The bus stop is on the right.
Islam touches aspects of life which never occurred to me. There was a park where, on Mondays, only women and children were permitted.
As with most any where, the re is a dark side to Dubai and to be well-rounded I should really mention the underclass of predominantly Indians which work slavery hours to continue to build the city for laughable wages or the way some women are treated and practically imprisoned. (OK, points mentioned.)
It is, nonetheless, an incredible city.
Cool: Dubai
Stupid: Not taking enough pictures
I have been there multiple times since 2001 and it still continues to stun me. The highlights of my stop in Dubai were tea at the Burj Al Arab (the only seven star hotel in the world), Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), Palm Island (the man-made island in the shape of a palm tree) and the Dubai Fountain (which makes the Bellagio’s water performances look like a small child’s toy).
The infamous Burj Al Arab, the hotel in the shape of a sail on a man-made island, is so exclusive you need a reservation just to get within 300 meters of the building. So our Chief Accountant, Nadja, and I made reservations for “Sky Tea.”
This is the Burj Al Arab on a regrettably hazy day.
The building is incredible in a lot of ways, but the feature I appreciated the most was the atrium. This is what you see looking up the 27 floor atrium in the lobby.
The building was ornate in a slightly middle-eastern way, for example, the elevators for example were entirely covered with stylish Arabic calligraphy. (I should have taken more pictures.)
“Sky Tea,” on the 27th floor, over looks all of Dubai. In one direction is the city, in another direction is “The World” (a collection of man-made, sense a theme here, islands designed to appear to be a map of the world when viewed from above) and in another direction is Palm Island. (I should have taken more pictures.)
Tea began with Champagne and berries with cream, followed by a tower (in the shape of a sail) of decadent crust less sandwiches and canapés, scones with clotted creams and jams and finally petits fours. It was a lovely afternoon with a ridiculous amount of food. (I should have taken more pictures.)
Dubai has a thing for aquariums. There were aquariums everywhere. It seems kind of odd to have aquariums in the desert but Dubai began as a fishing village, so maybe it is not so strange. And these were aquariums unlike any you have ever seen before. They were done Dubai style, which is to say massive. I honestly think that the aquarium at the Dubai Mall is bigger than anything the Monterey Bay Aquarium has. This is a picture of just part of the aquarium in the Dubai Mall.
The Dubai Fountain is a huge lake in front of the Burj Khalif with scheduled fountain shows much like the Bellagio’s but on a much grander scale. One of the things that makes it such an experience is the music that the water performs to is traditional Arab music. It is the sort of thing you have to see to appreciate. (I should have taken pictures.)
This is the Burj Khalifa.
So let’s talk about Dubai’s bus stops. Strange topic, I know… but they are air conditioned, so they have to be mentioned.
The bus stop is on the right.
Islam touches aspects of life which never occurred to me. There was a park where, on Mondays, only women and children were permitted.
As with most any where, the re is a dark side to Dubai and to be well-rounded I should really mention the underclass of predominantly Indians which work slavery hours to continue to build the city for laughable wages or the way some women are treated and practically imprisoned. (OK, points mentioned.)
It is, nonetheless, an incredible city.
Cool: Dubai
Stupid: Not taking enough pictures
Monday, March 08, 2010
Bandar Abbas, Iran and Kuwait
So I am now one of the few Americans who have been to Iran. I went on an organized tour of Bandar Abbas. The organized tour, while nice, and safe, didn’t really give me the opportunity to get a sense of the local culture.
The Shiite Syed Mozafar Mosque (cool)
Here is what I did take away. Bandar Abbas is a very poor city and I don’t know if that is representative of the nation. The people were curious and very friendly. There was a surprising amount of English written around the city. That is not to say there was a lot, but there were signs that said things like "City Center" and street names. I did not expect to see English. People at the sites knew a couple English words, such as "Thank you." Although Muslim, it did not seem oppressively so. Our tour guide, a woman who laughed a lot, wore something which covered her hair only in the most token of fashion. In general, though some were dressed in what I would classify as western attire, women were covered from wrists to neck to ankles. Most were dressed in more traditional Muslim attire however.
All in all, I regret (though my parents most definitely do not) that I did not venture out to the city center outside the organized tour to get a real sense of the place. Though I have been to Iran, I don’t really feel that I experienced the place. (stupid)
Iranian money (my only souvenir from Iran)
As we traveled away from Iran in the night, we passed oil rigs with burning release valves. I have sailed a lot of seas, but seeing what appears to be fire in a light fog on the ocean at night is very eerie.
Today we are in Kuwait City which is fairly western. The skyline of high rises could just as easily be an American city. The dress code is casual and people were allowed to go ashore in any attire they desired. (The ship, in order to protect our guests and crew, has been enforcing the local dress customs as we travel to Muslim countries. People who are not properly dressed according to local customs are forbidden to leave the ship.)
There was a haze in the air of Kuwait City. I thought the haze was fog, but I have been told that it is actually smoke from the burning oil fields.
I was not able to go ashore, but fellow crew members came back with tales of McDonalds, malls, nice beaches, lots of large SUVs (gas prices not being an issue) and a few Americans tried to get to the border with Iraq (crazy people).
Kuwaiti money (my only souvenir from Kuwait)
Tomorrow, Bahrain.
The Shiite Syed Mozafar Mosque (cool)
Here is what I did take away. Bandar Abbas is a very poor city and I don’t know if that is representative of the nation. The people were curious and very friendly. There was a surprising amount of English written around the city. That is not to say there was a lot, but there were signs that said things like "City Center" and street names. I did not expect to see English. People at the sites knew a couple English words, such as "Thank you." Although Muslim, it did not seem oppressively so. Our tour guide, a woman who laughed a lot, wore something which covered her hair only in the most token of fashion. In general, though some were dressed in what I would classify as western attire, women were covered from wrists to neck to ankles. Most were dressed in more traditional Muslim attire however.
All in all, I regret (though my parents most definitely do not) that I did not venture out to the city center outside the organized tour to get a real sense of the place. Though I have been to Iran, I don’t really feel that I experienced the place. (stupid)
Iranian money (my only souvenir from Iran)
As we traveled away from Iran in the night, we passed oil rigs with burning release valves. I have sailed a lot of seas, but seeing what appears to be fire in a light fog on the ocean at night is very eerie.
Today we are in Kuwait City which is fairly western. The skyline of high rises could just as easily be an American city. The dress code is casual and people were allowed to go ashore in any attire they desired. (The ship, in order to protect our guests and crew, has been enforcing the local dress customs as we travel to Muslim countries. People who are not properly dressed according to local customs are forbidden to leave the ship.)
There was a haze in the air of Kuwait City. I thought the haze was fog, but I have been told that it is actually smoke from the burning oil fields.
I was not able to go ashore, but fellow crew members came back with tales of McDonalds, malls, nice beaches, lots of large SUVs (gas prices not being an issue) and a few Americans tried to get to the border with Iraq (crazy people).
Kuwaiti money (my only souvenir from Kuwait)
Tomorrow, Bahrain.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Iran Tomorrow
I sit in my cabin, in rough seas, pondering tomorrow.
I will be in Bandar Abbas, Iran tomorrow. Talk about places I never thought I would ever see.
As an American, traveling with fifty to a hundred fifty other Americans, all wealthy, I can’t help but think that we are the perfect target.
Nonetheless, I am looking forward to the thrill and to see what feels like a forbidden land. (I have my headscarf all laid out for the morning.)
The ship has gone through some interesting preparations for tomorrow. We have to be a completely dry (alcohol-free) ship while in port and in Iranian waters. In case you have never been on a cruise, a dry cruise is practically a contradiction. It is quite an effort to collect every last ounce of alcohol on a cruise ship, from every crew cabin, every guest cabin, every mini-bar, every bar and every office (and there is a lot of alcohol in offices, my office had about 12 bottles).
Areas of the ship, such as our promenade deck, are being closed for our time in port. This is to adhere to local dressing customs. Rather than run the risk that women and men will not properly cover themselves while in areas of the ship readily visible to shore, the ship has decided to close those areas.
We are still somewhat curious as to how those officials who come onboard will react to the women onboard who will be dressed according to western standards. We are especially curious because our officers onboard in charge of immigration processing are women.
Anyway, the rough seas are getting to me. So I am going to sign off.
Stupid: Terrorism and fear (and rough seas)
Cool: Seeing forbidden land.
I will be in Bandar Abbas, Iran tomorrow. Talk about places I never thought I would ever see.
As an American, traveling with fifty to a hundred fifty other Americans, all wealthy, I can’t help but think that we are the perfect target.
Nonetheless, I am looking forward to the thrill and to see what feels like a forbidden land. (I have my headscarf all laid out for the morning.)
The ship has gone through some interesting preparations for tomorrow. We have to be a completely dry (alcohol-free) ship while in port and in Iranian waters. In case you have never been on a cruise, a dry cruise is practically a contradiction. It is quite an effort to collect every last ounce of alcohol on a cruise ship, from every crew cabin, every guest cabin, every mini-bar, every bar and every office (and there is a lot of alcohol in offices, my office had about 12 bottles).
Areas of the ship, such as our promenade deck, are being closed for our time in port. This is to adhere to local dressing customs. Rather than run the risk that women and men will not properly cover themselves while in areas of the ship readily visible to shore, the ship has decided to close those areas.
We are still somewhat curious as to how those officials who come onboard will react to the women onboard who will be dressed according to western standards. We are especially curious because our officers onboard in charge of immigration processing are women.
Anyway, the rough seas are getting to me. So I am going to sign off.
Stupid: Terrorism and fear (and rough seas)
Cool: Seeing forbidden land.
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