Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006
To: touring@phred.org
From: “Michael Ayers” <michael@terminalia.org>
Subject: Gondwana - On to Africa (The Long Way)
Hi Phreds,
My third Sea Transfer, from Asia to Africa, proved to
be annoyingly long, very expensive, and not all by sea, but provided a much
needed forced rest break.
The crux of the story is, as I mentioned before, that the
only ship taking passengers from India to, at least the vicinity of Africa, is the M.V.
London Senator. That ship sails from India, to the Mid-East, Egypt,
Europe, and the U.S. And then loops back to India. So far, so
good. I would have to board in Mumbai, which was not such a bad thing,
but did require some big last-minute rerouting. Additionally, since my bike
wore out, and the monsoons hit just as I arrived in Goa,
500 km to the south, I needed to make another last-minute transfer to get up to
Mumbai in time to Catch the ship. Unfortunately, there was a waiting list of
176 people for the train from Goa to Mumbai, so that
meant another air flight. Booooo!!
After arranging all of that, I finally arrived late on
a Thursday afternoon, which seemed like plenty of time to get to the ship by
the following Monday morning. However, the big box I had sent from home that
contained my laptop and all my replacement bike parts was stuck in Indian
customs, and there was a chance that I would not get it out in time, and would
have to miss the ship, which would have been a huge disaster. I use DHL for
those shipments and I chose them specifically because they hire their own
Customs brokers to get shipments through Customs in places like that. That
turned out to be a lifesaver as, after waiting in their office all day Friday,
and most of Saturday morning, they let me go to the personal effects section of
the Customs house with the broker to push the shipment through. If you ever saw
the movie “Brazil” you’ll have a
good idea of what that place was like.
There was a big crowd of men, many of which were sleeping in a row of
wooden chairs in the middle of the hall, waiting around for their packages, and
a sign on the wall listing the TEN
steps one had to go through to claim a package. They began something like: 1) Stand in line 1 to pay fee A; 2) Stand in line 2 to get receipt for fee A; 3) Go to Window X
to get receipt for fee A Stamped; 4) Stand in line 3 to pay fee B..... and so on.
The end of that story is,
that at 5:30 PM, 30 minutes after the customs office had closed for the
weekend, and thanks in large part to my generous increase in the “fees” and
duties paid, I received my box. I honestly could not believe it, but I was
still not out of the woods until I was on board the London Senator. I just had
Sunday left to see a little of the sights of Mumbai, and I took the boat out to
Elephanta Island to see the cave Temples there, and
went to have a look around the British-era Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus (formerly called Victoria Terminus)
the big central railway station in Mumbai, both of which are World Heritage
Sites.
The final thing to do was a three-hour taxi ride with
the bike, my big box, and the rest of my gear, through Mumbai’s snarl, way over
to the opposite shore of the bay to the new port at Nava Sheva.
I was still nervous the whole way that something would go wrong. Somehow, the
driver, who didn’t know anything at all about the area, and I managed to find
the shipping agent’s office and did so just at the appointed time. Once there,
I felt a little more optimistic as the agents were very friendly and helpful,
and helped out quite a bit getting me through immigration and signed on to the
ship fairly quickly.
It was not until I was walking up the gangplank that I
felt secure that I was OK. I was shown up to my nicely-appointed cabin, plopped
all of my things down on the floor and collapsed on the bed. We sailed during
the night but I didn’t notice. I had not realized just how exhausted, mentally
more than physically, I had been over the last couple of months, with all the
issues I had to deal with. I slept basically non-stop for two days, getting up
just long enough for meals. In fact, I can’t remember another time in my life,
apart from when I was ill, that I have slept so much in a short time. However,
the forced rest break provided by sea travel was one of the main reasons I
chose that mode of travel for the Ocean Crossings and I was glad for that.
This trip seemed like it would be the most interesting
of the sea voyages, since it took a non-direct route, and was the only voyage
that made intermediate port calls. In reality it was not quite as interesting
as I’d hoped, but more relaxing, which may have been more useful. The London
Senator was built in 01994, and as an “older” ship it had somewhat nicer
amenities for the crew and passengers, including probably the best food I’ve
had at sea so far. The officers (Germans, Russian, and one Swede), and the
crew, from the Philippines, were all very nice and hospitable towards me. So
after my initial trance-like few days, I started to enjoy the trip a bit more.
The first stop along the way was at the port of Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates. Getting there
necessitated a transit through in infamous Strait of Hormuz
(and back out again), the narrow entrance to the Persian Gulf. I expected to
see many more ships, as it is the route in which virtually all Persian Gulf Oil
travels, and a little bit of land there, but in fact there wasn’t very much to
see. We were allowed to go ashore in Jebel Ali, but not to leave the port area. However, there
was a nice little supermarket there, the best one I’d seen since Sri Lanka, and
I stocked up on a weeks worth of snacks, which I promptly consumed in three
days. There was also a Net café there, but it was so full of sailors that I
didn’t have a chance to send any mail.
Back at sea again, the ship sailed around the southern
end of the Arabian Peninsula, and there was not much of interest there. It was
blisteringly hot outside, and that created a haze over the sea that really
reduced visibility. For fun we did have a nice barbeque on deck one evening,
which was probably the best meal I’d had in months. Later, as we entered the
Gulf of Aden, and approached the Red Sea, the ship went to “Security Level 2,”
due to the possibility of attacks by pirates from Somalia (in reality they
never attack such large ships). That just meant that all the doors on board had
to remain locked. All that was fine with
me as I used the time to enhance my photos, work on my
latest Slideshow and overhaul the bike.
Next we entered the Red Sea (which is decidedly blue,)
and made our next port call at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is a large, modern
port and, in addition to handling cargo, is the main entry point for pilgrims
traveling to Mecca. Once again we were not allowed to go ashore beyond the
port. There was another market available
at the port, and I was looking forward to getting some more snacks, but since
it was a Friday the store was closed, and so I just stayed on board. Even
stranger, I thought, was that the Saudis came on board and required all alcohol
and pornography to be locked up in the officer’s lounge for the duration of our
stay, even going as far as putting a seal on the door. This annoyed the ship’s
Master quite a bit, since being a German registered ship, by tradition it is
considered German territory and should be immune from such restrictions.
The highlight of the voyage came next, a transit
through the Suez Canal. Fortunately, we
went through in the daytime, near the front of a convoy of 26 ships, so there
was plenty to see. The canal was a little wider than I expected, and though the
surrounding land is all flat, sandy, plains it must have taken quite an effort
to dig it initially. We slowly passed through at about 10 knots, and if I had
been allowed to get off at the entrance with my bike, I could have ridden the
163 kilometer length of the canal, and just beat the ship through.
Interestingly, the west bank of the canal, is green and palmy,
with many buildings and larger towns lining practically the entire shoreline,
but not much sign of activity as far as I could tell, while the east bank is
completely barren desert, except for the occasional military outpost or Sinai
War monument. That’s the (temporary) difference irrigation makes, I suppose.
Shortly thereafter we were in the Mediterranean Sea,
and then came the most annoying and frustrating aspect of the whole journey.
Before long we had berthed at the Port of Alexandria, Egypt. Africa was within
meters of my window. However, for some incomprehensible reason, the Egyptians
won’t let people enter the county by sea. Even cruise ship passengers,
thousands of whom visit Alexandria annually, can only go ashore for a brief
period and must leave their passports on board ship to ensure their return. I
knew about this before I sailed, but I fully intended to bribe the Egyptian
shipping agent to let me in somehow. In the end, however, I still had some
chores to finish, and still felt a little tired, so I abandoned my nefarious
plan and stayed aboard.
That meant four more days at sea, and an aggravatingly
complex air transfer back to Egypt (for some other unknown reason, there are no
longer ferries that cross the Mediterranean to Egypt) Booooo!! The next port was Gioia Tauro, Italy, near the tip of the “toe” of Italy, just
across the Straight of Messina from Sicily. The nearest town with accommodation
was Reggio di Calabria, a seaside resort, and an outrageously expensive,
45-minute cab ride from the port. In fact outrageously expensive was the theme
of the few days I spent there. Compared to Asia, well, even compared to the
U.S., everything seemed overpriced. However, it was nice to be on solid ground
for a change. The only other item of note was that the people there went
berserk when Italy won an early match in the World Cup. I’m glad I wasn’t there when they won the
whole shebang.
From there I had to make an annoying flight through
Rome, then Athens, and finally back to Cairo, close to where I had been over a
week earlier. I didn’t stay in Rome, but spent a few days in Athens, saw the
Acropolis and the Antiquities Museum, and tried to upload my latest slideshow
from the hotel there and get one of the visas I’d need in Africa, though
neither one of those things worked out. I liked Athens, the people were
friendly, the city center was easy to get around, and the food was good.
Finally, almost a month after leaving India, I was in
Africa, Cairo to be exact. Of course, I spent a few days there, to see the Pyramids,
Sphinx, and the amazing Egyptian Museum. I would have liked to go south to Luxor as well, and I even considered riding there. However,
I intended to skip over the Sudan, scene of many current problems, and in order
to do that I would have to leave Egypt via Cairo, and I didn’t have time to go
down and come back, so Luxor was out. Cairo was kind
of fun, however, and the main sights were spectacular. Most of the travel
guides use words like “madhouse” and “chaos” to describe Cairo, but compared to
some places I’ve been recently, it seemed rather tame to me. Once again, the
people were nice, and the food was good.
So that’s that. Stage 3 in Africa has begun, albeit
from a surprise new country added to the route, which I’ll reveal next time.
When I crossed the Pacific, in 18 days, I thought how nice it would have been
to have the longest crossing later on when I really needed the rest. Little did
I realize that the Indian Ocean crossing would end up being the longest. The next boat is all booked and ready to go.
However, it’s going to be a tough chore to make it to the next port on time and
still visit all the places I want to see (made all the more difficult by me
continuing to add new places to the route.) However, I am determined that next
time I’m going to ride into and out of both ports. No planes involved!! Well,
we’ll see. Something’s going to have to
give. Most likely it will be me.
Cheers,
Mike
--
The Tour of Gondwana
May 02005 - Oct 02007
http://www.terminalia.org/tour