March 29th, 2006, Day 83 of our cruise of 105 At sea after Antalya, Solar eclipse Eerie experience, and we were prepared Balmy weather, Very pleasant but cold with NO sun Hello my children, hello granny. -news pls from all of you Ttys, love to all ... read more

March 27th, 2006, Day 81 of our cruise of 105 At sea after Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt Day started at 5:30 am The local police band was playing loudly outside our stateroom by 6am- good for us as we had to get up- some were not so pleased. Convoy of many buses left shortly after 7 for the Pyramids- 3 hours away Awesome My favorite visual memories are of the very armed policemen on white camels stationed on the horizon, on the top of gigantic sand dunes almost encircling the site. My second visual is Terry trying to climb down into the pyramid! Home after 7pm, exhausted, we shopped on the dock for a few souvenirs and dined in our room with our favorite room service item on the menu: club sandwich. Asleep by sailaway at ... read more

This is my entry in the Narrative Creative Writing assignment due today I was born…. Claire McManus 438 I WAS BORN AN UNTOUCHABLE I was born a hapless shudras. I can not remember how old I was when I realized the there might be a different way of life, an alternate set of rules; my inexcusable ignorance restricted by a rigidly stagnant existence. I was born a feckless shudras within an orthodoxy which predestined me to a sordid fate. I was born a rebellious shudras. I listened when I should not, I did not pretend to be blind, I could and did smell above me, I touched surreptitiously and relentlessly and did not implode. I could taste the advances of betterment. I was repressed, beaten and degraded. I was made to endure and remained desisted; no ... read more

March 18th, 2006, Day 72 of our cruise of 105 Sea day on the Arabian Sea Slow sleepy day We had lost a total of 10 ½ hours, we are starting to regain. We have a few sea days till Salalah, Oman Added this entry just to show our purchases from the Colaba street market (and the laundry hanging from the window) Hello my children, hello granny. - please send us news Ttys, love to all ... read more

March 15h, 2006, Day 69 of our cruise of 105 Mumbay (formely Bombay), in West India Busy day We were out from 8 am till 5:30pm 10 of us rented a small bus and drove 86km north of Mumbai to Lunavala a Hill Station of the British( they went there to escape the heat of the city). We climbed a mountain by tuk-tuk and then the rest by foot to reach Buddhist caves carved in the mountains, 600AD. On our way back we walked through the Hanging Gardens and toured the seedier parts of the city. We also visited a Jain temple. We stopped at the Gateway to India ( where the British arrived and departed) across the street from the grand Taj Mahal Hotel. Again, all a very pleasant surprise, India is lovely. We hear ... read more