MARCH 20, 2008 –
NO TAJ MAHAL FOR US TOMORROW

I couldn’t sleep well last night; got up at one point and went into the bathroom to read and work crossword puzzles. Ed knocked on the door later so I came back to bed but still didn’t sleep much.
MINOR INSURRECTION (MAJOR?): A call came at 8 am that there would be a meeting of all the folks on the Taj Mahal trip at 10 am with the tour staff. So Ed got up and got ready and he went to that meeting while I went to the lecture on Mombai. Then at 4 pm there was yet another meeting. Basically, the itinerary of the trip to the Taj Majal does not comport with what was advertised in the tour guides and what we thought we were paying for.
The people here on the ship have been gems. In fact, we can say that about all of the staff here on the ship. The problem is with HQ and the local vendor. Once during the day, the itinerary was changed slightly to accommodate one complaint, but other discrepancies still remained. In the end, they said if you go, you’ll get a 25% discount on the cost. If you don’t go, you’ll get a full refund.
Ed left it up to me. I decided against it. I have enough trouble flying and getting around. This wasn’t feeling right at this point and my gut said don’t do it. So we opted out. We’ll do it some other time. This is a great disappointment for us but I think it’s the right decision considering the circumstances. We picked out tours in Cochin and Mumbai on the outside chance that we can pick up one at this late date.
COKE SUPPLY (no, not that kind): it’s dwindling. We’ll have to look for a resupply somewhere. I knew you’d want to be kept up on this important news. The most we consume between the two of us is 4 per day. We’re now down to Ed’s Coke Zero which I drink only under protest.
PORT TALK: MUMBAI: Same speaker as yesterday. Same format. Lovely photos. Most of the meat we were all looking for came during the question and answer session at the end. I loved seeing the photos of the temple on Elephanta Island and thanks to Fr. Sean for putting us on to this last trip. There’s a tour of the Jewish sights and I suggested we do that since the other tours often covered places we saw last trip. (We’re still not sure what we’ll do in Cochin tomorrow.)
MORNING QUIZ: All were here in good form. We came out #3. It was a tough one. Ed remarked that the winning team has been rotating among those present for the last 6 times. Princess baseball caps were the prize this tie. Jeff leaves us tomorrow in Cochin. We told him he has to provide a replacement or we won’t let him off the ship. Mary and Elizabeth both have an idea of folks to invite, though both are women. I’d prefer a man frankly. That would equalize the representation among us and sometimes the dynamics of the women is very off putting.
LUNCH: Sat with the USC boosters among others. We discussed the Taj Mahal trip and the complications. I was surprised, well I guess in retrospect I shouldn’t have been, that a few women were talking earlier about the trip and were afraid of the security issues for the train and bus part of the trip. I guess I’m surprised to find such concerns on these sponsored trips.
TARGET IRAN: Scott Ritter, former UN chief weapons inspector, shakes up some of these folks who are die hard Bush supporters. Many of the questions lobbed at him from the audience were designed to show him up as being wrong. He backs up his remarks with public data and invites the listeners to look these things up on google by giving dates and titles.
HOLLYWOOD’S SWEDISH BEAUTY: Barry talked about the career of Ingrid Bergman. I had spoken with him prior to his talk about her lymphedema. He knew her arm was swollen to 3 times it’s normal size but he didn’t know the nature of the condition. When she was filming “Golda” she was in substantial pain from this condition.
As always, he has a very pleasant presentation style and his clips are perfect enhancements to his remarks. He has met on one or more occasions all of these folks about whom he speaks.
QUIZ TIME: We were moved to a different location for this afternoon’s trivia and many folks were missing; they were at the 4 pm meeting about the Taj trip. We came out #2…again. The prizes were luggage tags. One question: what is the only venomous mammal. Fortunately the group put down my answer, platypus, before turning in the paper, because they didn’t have a better offer. Many were skeptical but it was correct. So, keep that in the back of your trivia closet. We had questions on MS, mad cow disease, nematodes, millipeds…all kinds of useless information we try to retain. Frankie was the staff who called out the quiz today. Folks still try to game the staff about answers. He put down the microphone, ran his neck in circles, took a few deep breaths (while I was fanning him from nearby) and repeated his rule about the correct answer, that is, if it has multiple answers, all must be present and correct in order to get credit. One question was about the five instruments in the woodwinds section. The answer will be printed at the end of today’s blog. Hee Hee
Roy is still going to the Taj and he volunteered his photos to us. This is so nice of him as he has a serious camera and that he’s still speaking to Ed is nothing short of amazing. Ha.
DINNER: Dave and Twyla are going on the Taj overland tomorrow; Lea and Bill have made private arrangements to go to the Taj; Hank and Erna remain on board with us. Erna was married to an Indian man who died with some property in India. She will be busy with this issue in Bombay. Food was way too good tonite as it usually is.
AQUARIUM SHOW: We saw probably thousands of dolphins and a few whales on the starboard side during dinner. Fish went flying now and then probably trying to get out of the grasp of the mammals chasing them. So many people went across the dining room to observe this show that the ship started listing and we were asked to return to our seats.
TONITE’S SHOW: Piano entertainer, Melanie Spanswick. She is a classically trained pianist and she chose some very interesting pieces, including one Gershwin. Ed is a Gershwin afficianado and he was disappointed as this pianist doesn’t put the emotion into her playing that others have done on this cruise. Still, I think there’s nothing like live music and each time I’m struck by how good the band is on here as they accompany these performers as if they’d been working together for a long time.
HOW ABOUT A HALF-YIPPEE? We turn our clocks back ½ hour tonite. Here it’s the politics of Pakistan and India. We get another half hour when we leave Mombai (the locals still call it Bombay; go figure). And apparently on Vanuatu (don’t hold me to this spelling) which is someplace we’ve already passed, they turn the clocks ¼ of an hour. What’s wrong with this picture?
LET US HEAR FROM YOU: For some of you, it’s been a long time since we’ve heard from you. Are you still alive? Breathing? Have you won the lottery yet? Anything else we’d love to hear about. Ppppllllleeeeaaaasssseeee. Hugs to all.
COCHIN TOMORROW: I’m looking forward to seeing the Chinese fishing nets again.
Trivia’s answer: saxophone, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, flute (piccolo is considered one type of flute); the latter was news to me but I listed the others easily enough. One fellow wanted to argue that orchestra and something else (band?) were different. What do I know?