NOSY BE TO DURBAN (DAY 2)
25 November 2006- Saturday
Another Full Day at Sea
Always a challenge to see how a day goes when there really isn't anything to do. My routine is pretty standard- up at 6, catch the latest on Fox News, breakfast at seven (which I usually take in the Raffles buffet instead of the dining room so I don't have to make idle chatter with new tablemates), my steward usually has my room made up by 8. Today was brilliant sunshine so sat in a deck chair on the starboard side to watch the ship wake up. Along came a couple of cheaters on the way to breakfast who draped their towels over 2 select chairs, laid down their books and then went to breakfast essentially reserving these chairs- which is against the rules and the staff is supposed to remove such articles if they are there over 20 minutes. Well, the ship enforces this about as they well the use of wheel chairs in inaccessable locations. While I was toying with the idea of moving their stuff, a loquacious gentleman by the name of Walter stopped and began a conversation which went on for an hour. A most enthusiastic gentleman who seemed distressed to have me excuse myself. He was picking my brain on the history of Africa and even copied down authors I remembered (Ruark, Leakey) and personalities like Cecil Rhodes. Went inside and ran smack into room 645 which Dan the backpacker had raved about. It's one step from the deck, one step from the staircase to the promenade deck, and a corner location. Went down to the booking desk to see if I could book it for a Baltic cruise next summer and the room was booked on both voyages, so the word must be out. Found out the itinerary for next year is pretty much the same except they are cutting out East Africa (with all the troubles they've had I can see why). They always do Antarctica in Dec, Jan, Feb- cross to the Med in March and this year they are going into drydock near Rome for a 5 million dollar facelift. Then it's Baltic, Norway, Mediterranean before crossing to SA heading for Antarctica. Anyway, nothing looks appealing so I may not book another cruise. Besides, my new friend Walter reminded me that Oceania Lines has newer ships with a real library and four restaurants and no assigned seating.
Lecture on African languages just before lunch- seems there are hundreds but fall into 5 groups- North Africa are Arabic related, south of them are the Nilo-Saharan languages, then around Congo are the Niger-Congo languages which are labled A and B- the B- being the Bantu who migrated over to eastern africa and then headed south which goes along with the story I remember that when the Dutch set up Capetown there were no large indigenous population there. The last group are the Khoisan of which there are an estimated 300,000 speakers left. The Khoisan is different because it has 3 different "click" sounds associated with it "X"= a front tooth click, "C" is like tsk-tsk and "Q" is like a cork being pulled from a bottle or a glass being filled. The Zulu and th Xhosa speak with clicks. And for further useless information- South Africa is the country with the most "official " languages- eleven. They are English, Afrikaans (the lingua franca) Ndebele, north and south Sothi (Lesotho), Swati (swaziland), Tsonga, Tsooma, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.
Time for lunch and Hallelujah- the drill for not touching anything on the food line-( the plastic gloved Filipinos were the only ones allowed to load your plate during the virus epidemic) is over and we are back to normal routine. The duck in cherry sauce was very dry but tasty. And there is always ice cream for dessert. Discovered that Rocky Road is chocolate with peanuts in it. Up to the Internet to see my earthlink address loaded with junkmail. Got on my wright state site and realized everyone was off- checked my blog and no picture so I guess I didn't upload the one I thought I accomplished. But I at least got the logout code. (all the while a Greek business mans dictating legal letters emails to his fast typing wife). Tonight there is a special reception for repeat Marco Polo Cruisers and the bulletin asks for semiformal dress. but first there is an afternoon classical concert by a couple of the band players. Winds up they are Polish, she plays the piano and does the introductions in very hesitant English- he is a violinist and they did a credible job for an hour with one encore. Father Bartos slips in his time in the busy schedule to follow this with a Mass- Feast of Christ the King- marks the end of the ecllesiastical calendar, which means Advent- the 4 Sundays before the Christmas season starts next Sunday. Then it's off to dress for dinner at 6:15 (The Kiwis are having a great time listening to American stories) and Dill again missed dinner. Then it's up to the reception and I'm lucky to scam a glass of champagne as 60% of this cruise is with repeat sailers and the Ambassadore lounge is packed- of course the free drinks may have something to do with it. The Captain makes a speech about how grateful they are for the loyalty and grouses that the head office doesn't listen to his suggestions about interesting itineraries. He said he hopes they put in a new water distillation plant during dry dock.
The entertainer was the middle aged singer with the Frank Sinatra songs and now I'm glad I missed his performance the other night. Decide to watch a couple of more episodes of Lost but fell asleep.
Another Full Day at Sea
Always a challenge to see how a day goes when there really isn't anything to do. My routine is pretty standard- up at 6, catch the latest on Fox News, breakfast at seven (which I usually take in the Raffles buffet instead of the dining room so I don't have to make idle chatter with new tablemates), my steward usually has my room made up by 8. Today was brilliant sunshine so sat in a deck chair on the starboard side to watch the ship wake up. Along came a couple of cheaters on the way to breakfast who draped their towels over 2 select chairs, laid down their books and then went to breakfast essentially reserving these chairs- which is against the rules and the staff is supposed to remove such articles if they are there over 20 minutes. Well, the ship enforces this about as they well the use of wheel chairs in inaccessable locations. While I was toying with the idea of moving their stuff, a loquacious gentleman by the name of Walter stopped and began a conversation which went on for an hour. A most enthusiastic gentleman who seemed distressed to have me excuse myself. He was picking my brain on the history of Africa and even copied down authors I remembered (Ruark, Leakey) and personalities like Cecil Rhodes. Went inside and ran smack into room 645 which Dan the backpacker had raved about. It's one step from the deck, one step from the staircase to the promenade deck, and a corner location. Went down to the booking desk to see if I could book it for a Baltic cruise next summer and the room was booked on both voyages, so the word must be out. Found out the itinerary for next year is pretty much the same except they are cutting out East Africa (with all the troubles they've had I can see why). They always do Antarctica in Dec, Jan, Feb- cross to the Med in March and this year they are going into drydock near Rome for a 5 million dollar facelift. Then it's Baltic, Norway, Mediterranean before crossing to SA heading for Antarctica. Anyway, nothing looks appealing so I may not book another cruise. Besides, my new friend Walter reminded me that Oceania Lines has newer ships with a real library and four restaurants and no assigned seating.
Lecture on African languages just before lunch- seems there are hundreds but fall into 5 groups- North Africa are Arabic related, south of them are the Nilo-Saharan languages, then around Congo are the Niger-Congo languages which are labled A and B- the B- being the Bantu who migrated over to eastern africa and then headed south which goes along with the story I remember that when the Dutch set up Capetown there were no large indigenous population there. The last group are the Khoisan of which there are an estimated 300,000 speakers left. The Khoisan is different because it has 3 different "click" sounds associated with it "X"= a front tooth click, "C" is like tsk-tsk and "Q" is like a cork being pulled from a bottle or a glass being filled. The Zulu and th Xhosa speak with clicks. And for further useless information- South Africa is the country with the most "official " languages- eleven. They are English, Afrikaans (the lingua franca) Ndebele, north and south Sothi (Lesotho), Swati (swaziland), Tsonga, Tsooma, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.
Time for lunch and Hallelujah- the drill for not touching anything on the food line-( the plastic gloved Filipinos were the only ones allowed to load your plate during the virus epidemic) is over and we are back to normal routine. The duck in cherry sauce was very dry but tasty. And there is always ice cream for dessert. Discovered that Rocky Road is chocolate with peanuts in it. Up to the Internet to see my earthlink address loaded with junkmail. Got on my wright state site and realized everyone was off- checked my blog and no picture so I guess I didn't upload the one I thought I accomplished. But I at least got the logout code. (all the while a Greek business mans dictating legal letters emails to his fast typing wife). Tonight there is a special reception for repeat Marco Polo Cruisers and the bulletin asks for semiformal dress. but first there is an afternoon classical concert by a couple of the band players. Winds up they are Polish, she plays the piano and does the introductions in very hesitant English- he is a violinist and they did a credible job for an hour with one encore. Father Bartos slips in his time in the busy schedule to follow this with a Mass- Feast of Christ the King- marks the end of the ecllesiastical calendar, which means Advent- the 4 Sundays before the Christmas season starts next Sunday. Then it's off to dress for dinner at 6:15 (The Kiwis are having a great time listening to American stories) and Dill again missed dinner. Then it's up to the reception and I'm lucky to scam a glass of champagne as 60% of this cruise is with repeat sailers and the Ambassadore lounge is packed- of course the free drinks may have something to do with it. The Captain makes a speech about how grateful they are for the loyalty and grouses that the head office doesn't listen to his suggestions about interesting itineraries. He said he hopes they put in a new water distillation plant during dry dock.
The entertainer was the middle aged singer with the Frank Sinatra songs and now I'm glad I missed his performance the other night. Decide to watch a couple of more episodes of Lost but fell asleep.
Labels: Nairobi to Rio 2006
posted by DT at 11:27 AM
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