Merry Christmas - Back Travelling in February

I hope everyone has a happy and peaceful Holiday Season.

We're now back in the UK for around 2 months (with a week in Spain to thaw out for a bit) and won't be cruising again till February 20th, when we rejoin the Silver Wind in Cape Town. We'll be cruising round South Africa and Mozambique for 3 cruises, and then sailing up the West Coast of Africa to the Canaries and ending up in Lisbon in April.

See you then unless I can think of anything interesting to say in the meantime!

December 21st – Flying Home For Christmas (Hopefully)

We got up at 5am for what was always likely to be a stressful and frustrating day of will-we-won't-we be able to get home. At Dubai airport, Tracy decided to be cheeky and hunt out the BA desk to see if there was any way that we could avoid our trip to Jordan.

We found that the 2am BA flight to Jordan was actually flying, but it was so delayed that in fact there was tons of space on it, and she sweet-talked the lovely man into letting us sneak onto it, which would mean that we got back about 10 hours earlier than scheduled without any waiting around – hooray!!!!

Once we got back, it was straight to hospital for Tracy for them to confirm that she had indeed broken her wrist and she was put in a cast – so a Christmas of immobility for her and one of being a carer for me, but at least we were home.

December 20th – Unscheduled Break in Dubai

So, we don't really know when (or perhaps if) we'll get home, but seeing as the ship was moving on, we had to book ourselves into a hotel; however, if there's one thing Dubai does well, it's luxury hotels – there's an enormous choice of hotels, so we picked one at random – the Grand Hyatt (very nice indeed).

Seeing as the UK was locked in winter weather, we decided that we'd show solidarity by having the quintessential desert experience – iceskating!

Every time we've been to the Mall of the Emirates (the largest mall in the world), the ice rink there has been virtually empty, so we thought it would be nice to have a bit of space to perfect our ice skating skills ready for a skating experience we have booked in the UK for Christmas Eve (if we get back in time).

Unfortunately, an enormous party of ex-pat kids had also decided to get into the Christmas spirit too, so for once the rink was pretty busy. One particularly wobbly child flailed around too close for comfort and managed to spook Tracy into falling to the ice with a clatter. Unfortunately she landed very painfully on her wrist and it seems quite likely that it's broken – imagine the sympathy that she's going to get when she gets home. You were in Dubai, and you broke your wrist ice skating?

Anyway, she gritted her teeth through the pain, and after a soothing swim in the hotel pool, we went to one of the world's most expensive buffets at the over-the-top opulence of the 7 star Burj al Arab Hotel. This was a buffet like nowhere else I've been – enormous amounts of gorgeous Middle Eastern food. Resisting the temptation to "get our money's worth" in quantity consumed (impossible at these prices), and ignoring the eyewatering cost of drinks (£10 for a small bottle of water), and attempting to ignore the painful wrist – we had a lovely, frivolous and decadent dining experience that we are highly unlikely to ever repeat again.

December 19th – Finishing The Cruise on a High in Dubai

After 2 days sailing across the Indian Ocean and a day of relaxing in Muscat, we have reached our final destination and the end of the cruise – Dubai.

Unfortunately, our sail into the port wasn't as relaxing as we'd hoped, because overnight we'd got an email from British Airways to say that our flight home tomorrow was cancelled because of the snow chaos that's shut Britain down. So, after finding that their website was no use whatsoever, and trying to get through on the phone for an hour and a half, I finally got to speak to someone. The only alternative that they could offer us was a flight via Amman on Royal Jordanian, on the day after, so we would be spending at least one day extra in Dubai. As there is no way of guaranteeing that Heathrow airport would be open, it looks like we might be spending Christmas in Jordan!

Ignoring all these uncertainties, we carried on with our Dubai exploration as planned. We'd booked some tickets to go up the world's highest building, the phenomenally tall Buj Khalifa – at 160 storeys, it's half a mile high, and twice the height of the Empire State Building.

So, we virtually flew up to the world's highest observatory ("only" on the 124th floor) in the world's fastest elevator, and marvelled at the amazing views below us – it was literally like looking out of an aeroplane window. As you look down at the toytown city below you, you get an impression that Dubai is just a temporary city – everything is brand new or half-finished, and built on sand, with the desert stretching out for miles behind the sprawling skyline that hugs the coastline. Again, you can't help but be impressed at the scale and ambition of the city, even if you know that half of the office space in this building and in a lot of the newer buildings is unoccupied.

Then, we changed our perspective, and went to the bottom of this intimidating "superscraper" to gaze up at its hypodermic-needle-like profile as the sun set, and the dancing fountains display began. To a background of Arabic music and shoots of flames, the enormous jets of water swayed gracefully, splurted powerfully and took on beautiful organic shapes and movements.

Again, while you might question the taste of having these enormous fountains in a place of less than 100mm of rainfall a year, it made for a thrilling and ingenious spectacle.

December 15th – Mangalore

Mangalore in Karnataka province is not really on the tourist trail, so for us it was a place to try to delve into India's temple scene in a bit more depth, and to experience an environment where they're not fed up (or paranoid) of tourists taking photos.

Our first task was to negotiate with a taxi driver to get us from the unattractive port area at New Mangalore and into town. Once a price was agreed, as ever, you're left with the feeling that you were being totally overcharged; but I suppose you just have to make yourself feel better by thinking that a taxi in the West driving you around for 6 and a half hours would cost a whole lot more than $20.

So, we bounced into town along Mangalore's terrible pot-holed roads, and visited a few relics of European life – this is another place where Catholicism is fairly deeply ingrained from the century of Portuguese rule, 400 years ago, so there was an impressive array of colourful Catholic churches, Cathedrals and schools to explore.

But the best thing that we liked about Mangalore was the access to its atmospheric Hindu temples, without having to pass through oppressive security, and where the worshippers weren't at all camera shy – in fact they positively encouraged us to photograph them. It was fascinating to see the complex rituals going on at the huge Kadri Manjunatha Temple, where the worshippers chanted and rocked devoutly as they huddled together in little groups, and then threw cocoanuts at a rock and smashed them into smithereens with great aplomb. We then went up to the bathing pools above the temple, where groups of men and their boys washed themselves down before prayers – the little boys splashing around in the water were adorable. All-in-all, it was a very spiritual but welcoming atmosphere to experience – lovely to be in a relaxed and informal place of worship without a hint of fanaticism.

After visiting another impressive chapel attached to a Catholic high school, our taxi driver insisted that we went to modern Mangalore's pride and joy – a big multi-storey shopping mall. It was hardly anything to rival Dubai's malls, but the prices were much more reasonable, and the stuff on offer was more original and authentic.

Our verdict on cruising to Mangalore? Although quite a few people were put off by the ugly industrial docks, and also the fact that it was a place of few set pieces; we found it an interesting place to explore. an ordinary provincial town that was India in a microcosm – chaotic streets, predatory taxi drivers, a colourful cosmopolitan environment, atmospheric temples, friendly people, great food, increasingly modern and western yet without losing its exotic soul.

For once, the tourist board isn't exaggerating – "Incredible India" just about sums it up. We can't wait to come back to this incredible country.

December 14th – Cochin Day 2

When we went to catch the ferry to Mattancherry, even the tuk tuk drivers couldn't be bothered to repeat their lines about the ferry not working today or the shops we were headed to being shut for the day – we must now look like hardened India travelers. Instead, we chatted to them about cricket as we waited for the ferry – they told us that tourist numbers are down quite heavily this year (I don't think that this was a sob story).

When we got across, we peaked into the International Pepper Exchange – disappointingly the dealing rooms are calm affairs carried out on computers, rather than a sweaty mass of people shouting at each other. I guess that's progress.
Then we visited the beautiful old 16th century synagogue, its floor covered with hand-painted blue tiles imported from China in the 18th century. Once it was the centre of a vibrant Jewish community, now it's an almost obsolete relic of one of the most exotic journeys of the Jewish Diaspora.

Next we went to the "Dutch Palace", the former palace of the local Rajahs, built by the Portuguese as a bribe for trading rights, and then renovated and embellished by the Dutch who superseded them. It made for an interesting mix of styles between East and West, and summed up Cochin's cosmopolitan roots.

We were now getting worn down by the oppressive heat, so the only way to revive ourselves was to have a curry, and so we headed for a recommended restaurant, to try all our favourite dishes that we eat in the curry houses of England and see how they tasted in their genuine environment – delicious as it turned out (not too surprisingly).

From here, we wandered through Fort Cochin again, and caught the ferry across the harbour over to the mainland, where we suddenly realised that time was now running a bit tight, so we got the ferry back to Willingdon Island again, to enjoy some air conditioning back onboard.

December 13th – Cochin Day 1

Cochin in beautiful Kerala, is the most culturally rich part of India – within the space of an hour you can see so many influences from the East and the West. As well as Hindu temples, you can visit whitewashed Catholic Churches (from Portuguese times), gabled 18th century Dutch houses, an English Village Green (complete with cricket matches fought out by the locals), Jewish synagogues, Muslim mosques, and of course, the famous Chinese Fishing Nets that feature in any tourist brochure of Cochin.

We caught the ferry from Willingdon Island where we were docked to Fort Kochi, to explore its laid back historic streets. We passed the constant activity of the Chinese Fishing Nets, looking like giant alien spiders being lowered into the water, as a great team of men beaver away and pull the nets up to reveal a tiny catch of little silvery fish.
We visited St Francis Church, built back in 1502 by the Portuguese and adapted by the Dutch and then the English who followed them. The reason all these foreign powers were interested in this part of the world was because of the spices that came from here, so we perused the many fragrant spice stalls, mouths watering at the delicious curry smells – we will be cooking some classic curries when we get back.

We then headed over to Jew Town, the atmospheric part of Cochin which once had a thriving Jewish community, that has lived here for around 2,000 years – these days, after mass emigrations to Israel, only about 10 Jewish people still live here (most of them fairly old).

At the end of the day, we headed back to the ship for a colourful Kathakali performance – a dance form unique to Kerala that's hard to fully appreciate for Westerners, but obviously means a lot to the locals. The performers are made up with vivid colours (even the whites of their eyes and their tongues are dyed pink), and they perform a tragic-com of a soap opera full of illicit sexual advances and murder, to a background tune of wailing, drumming and singing. To me, it was all quite fun, but to many of the audience it was fairly impenetrable and slow moving – I guess that if you forced a bunch of Indians to sit through "The Bold and the Beautiful", or "The Marriage of Figaro", they might struggle to appreciate them too.