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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Dec 01, 2012 08:00 PM Lazy Sunday on the deck and in the cabin
We have the last day at sea during this journey.
Time for the sunbath on the deck, jacuzzi, little pool. Normally in the port I am always off the ship: walking, taking pictures and enjoying the local people. Today it is the time to rest.
Well, working in my cabin I also completed the snapshots from my last travel to India they already uploaded and you can find them here:
www.kontynenty.net/Indie1.htm
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Nov 30, 2012 08:00 PM In Oman again!
Oman on the horizon! Our ship docked in the big port in Salalah (They call it Raysut Port) with a 3 hours delay.
I was surprised by the size of the port - as for Oman it is very big.
Let you know that the port is some 6 kms from the town of Salalah in the direct line. And more than 12 kms if you go by the road,
which makes a solid loop around the industrial zone.
Ship agent provides shuttle bus but only to the gate of the port. Then you can take a taxi to the town, but the official rate is
10 Omani rianl per cab (about 38 USD).
I was walking from the gate to the first junction and I started to hitch. The wind was blowing from the desert The wind was blowing from the desert.
Omanis are nice - I got the lift after 20 minutes.
I have been to Salalah in 1996 when it was not easy to enter the Sultanate. Now you can get the visa on arrival.
Bus Salalah changed a lot. It still has a lot of green: coconut palms and banana plantations. But the substantian part of the old town was buldogered and new multi-storey appartment houses were built. Also huge, new sultan mosque, It is still worth to visit Al-Hosn Souk (bazaar) and try omani sweets (They say that the best halva is in Oman).
Avoid period from 2 pm to 4 pm when almost all shops are closed.
I even do not remember his difficult name. Friendly Omani driver took me around the town and then delivered me on time to the port. Omani hospitality is still great - like 16 years ago!
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Nov 30, 2012 08:00 PM In Oman again!
Oman on the horizon! Our ship docked in the big port in Salalah (They call it Raysut Port) with a 3 hours delay.
I was surprised by the size of the port - as for Oman it is very big.
Let you know that the port is some 6 kms from the town of Salalah in the direct line. And more than 12 kms if you go by the road,
which makes a solid loop around the industrial zone.
Ship agent provides shuttle bus but only to the gate of the port. Then you can take a taxi to the town, but the official rate is
10 Omani rianl per cab (about 38 USD).
I was walking from the gate to the first junction and I started to hitch. The wind was blowing from the desert The wind was blowing from the desert.
Omanis are nice - I got the lift after 20 minutes.
I have been to Salalah in 1996 when it was not easy to enter the Sultanate. Now you can get the visa on arrival.
Bus Salalah changed a lot. It still has a lot of green: coconut palms and banana plantations. But the substantian part of the old town was buldogered and new multi-storey appartment houses were built. Also huge, new sultan mosque, It is still worth to visit Al-Hosn Souk (bazaar) and try omani sweets (They say that the best halva is in Oman).
Avoid period from 2 pm to 4 pm when almost all shops are closed.
I even do not remember his difficult name. Friendly Omani driver took me around the town and then delivered me on time to the port. Omani hospitality is still great - like 16 years ago!
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Nov 28, 2012 08:00 PM Islands on the starboard!
It is sunny but we have strong wind from the east since the morning. At 11 am we are passing the island of Dumeira.
It seems that it belongs to Eritrea. The TV infosystem is down again so it is difficult to make this sure.
We are close to the area where is danger of piracy... Do not worry...
In the afternoon in the Bay of Djibuti few special forces guys boarded our ship from the zodiacs. They have machine weapon...
Then we sailed east - along the coast of Somali.
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Nov 27, 2012 08:00 PM 28 deg Celsius at the sunrise!
I have no window in my inside cabin but there is TV with the outside cameras installed. So in the morning I am switching on the TV to see if it is sunny or cloudy outside. They also display current position of the ship, the temperature and the course.
Can you imagine: today at sunrise (7.54 am) it was 28 deg Celsius here. It will be much warmer during the day!
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Nov 26, 2012 08:00 PM Relexing day at sea
The ship is sailing south with all passengers aboard, I believe. If you chooswe this mode of transsport you have to control the time
to be back on the ship before announced "all aboard" time. They will not wait for you! In Alexandria I saw 4 desperate passengers
staying on the jetty and shouting to the captain visible on the shipp's bridge. The ship was only 10 meters out of the jetty.
They did not returned to pick them up. Fortunately the next scheduled port: Port Said was only 170 miles away - in the same country...
We had the great sunset and the full moon rising just after.
Tonight we will cross another timezone border: we will be already 2 hours ahead of the Central Europe time.
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Nov 25, 2012 08:00 PM Hitchhiking to the Red Canyon
I haven't been to the south of Israel. The port of Eilat is just few kilometerers from Aqaba - on the opposite side of the bay,
but it is quite different world. New-paved streets, white villas, elegant cars...
In the port there was no information, butwe got good city maps. I was walking from the port to the town (about 2 kms) and turned
uphill to the beginning of the road no 12.
There are two roads going from Eilat to the north: 90 and 12. Now I know that on the road 12 - going through the mountains close to the
Egyptian border the traffic is very little and no more then 2 buses per day.
But I wanted to see Red Canyon. Out of the town the scenery became great: bare mountains of different colors. I walked up about an hour
before Russian Jewish gave me a lift. Let you know that hitchhiking is poor here. Drivers are afraid to stop the car...
We were going long time along the solid border fence. Then I have to walk about 2 kms from the highway 12 to the moutch of the canyon.
It is very narrow. Bring your hiking boots, not sandals. Red Canyon is impressive but short: 500 m maybe and not deeper than 20 m.
It is like a miniature of the bigger canyons.
Hitchhiking back to Eilat was also difficult. Finally I returned to the town around 3 pm to enjoy the Eilat beach and the elegant corniche with
the world-class hotels. Eilat short waterfront reminds me Miami Beach!
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Nov 24, 2012 08:00 PM Aqaba in Jordan
Aqaba - what an exotic name! Lawrence of Arabia was here... The only port of Jordan lies at the end of the long bay, surrounded by picturesque mountains. I have been here twice already but I it nice to walk again under the palm trees and to meet friendly local people.
After a visit to dirty Egypt, where you see plenty of garbage at every place tidy Aqaba looks nice and pleasant. I found free wi-fi connection at the local MacDonalds restaurant (yes, they have Mac too!) - just opposite the tourist office where they distrubute free maps of Aqaba.
There is free public beach just nearby and the ruins of the old fort.
Just do not talk with the taxi drivers - they are all over the world the same: they ask 25 euro for 1-hour excursion around Aqaba! You can see all places walking by foot and for free!
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Nov 23, 2012 08:00 PM From Sharm el Shaik to Naama Bay by foot...
We landed today on the southern tip of Sinai Peninsula. Sharm el Shaikh is well known Egyptian resort. Too crowdy for me, so I haven't been here before.
They took me by little tender to the coast and I decided to walk all over the way along the coast fron Sharm to the next resort - Naama Bay - by foot. 10 kms or more. Not an easy goal because you are forced to go aroun many coastal resorts.
But the coastal landscapes were very nice.
So it was worth to be here.
Let you know that just before Naama Bay you have to turn inland because the military base!
Naama Bay is overcovded place - too many shops, restaurants and local people bothering you. But to know that you have to come and see. For me: never more!
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Nov 22, 2012 08:00 PM Red Sea coast: overland Safaga to El Quseir
In the morning we docked in the Egyptian port of Safaga. Some people from the ship boarded the bus to go for the excursion to Luxor (they pay like 150 euro per person - excursions offered by Costa are very expensive!).
Taxi drivers asked for 5 euro to deliver you to the town (3kms distance).
And I was walking smiling and saying -Sshukran! to them.
Safaga famous for diving and snorkeling is clearly divided into old and new town. I turned to the old part located at the bottom of the picturesque hills...
Near Telecom building I boarded shared local minibus to Al-Quseir - the town on the coast 85 kms to the south.
Arab driver was driving like crazy through the bare desert. We reached the target after 70 minutes. It cost me 25 eg pounds (normally it is 20, but the car was not full and the driver raised the price).
Al Quseir is nicer then Safaga. It has an old fort (15 EGP Entry) nice beach, corniche and plenty of mosques and restaurants. It still has the atmosphere of the old Arab coastal town. Nice day, bu it is getting hot!
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