Mumbai, India

Saturday, April 7, we’re in Mumbai.  The name was officially changed from Bombay by an Act of Parliament in 1997, and Mumbai is built on seven islands which are joined to the mainland by an artificial causeway.   Also, Mumbai is one of the most populous cities in the world and it shows when you try to traverse a street.

We left Chennai with the sun setting and arrived 3 days later with the sun rising over Bombay Harbor.  Taking our place at our berth provided many interesting sites, men doing laundry, fishing for their breakfast, sailing lessons in small dinghy’s and many cargo ships waiting their turn at a port berth.

Several people remained onboard today and we were among them, again……

Tonight we leave India and begin our trip across the Arabian Sea to Manama, Bahrain.

Chennai, India

Tuesday, April 3 found us in Madras, India or Chennai as it is known today.  Overlooking the Bay of Bengal, Chennai was founded in the early 1600’s for the East India Company.  Here you will find the world’s second largest beach and a warm, year-round climate.

Nearby you will find Kancheepuram, the “city of 1,000 temples” and one of India’s seven sacred cities and said to bestow happiness on everyone who visits.  Also, not too far away, you can explore very old granite monuments at the 7^th century village of Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Chennai was this year’s departure point for the Overland tour to the Taj Mahal.  Approximately 130 very excited passengers departed for their 5-day tour.  Many of the passengers who stayed to tour Chennai on their own choose to take Rickshaws; they described the rides as “white knuckle tours”!

Some tours were late returning so our departure was delayed allowing us some very nice sites of the setting sun.  We now have 3 sea days before arriving in Bombay (Mumbai).

Final Visa Arrived And More

This afternoon, FEDEX delivered our passports with the new 1-year, Multi-Entry Chinese Visas.  This was the last visa we needed for the upcoming world cruise with the exception of visas that the ship will obtain for everyone (Australia, Vietnam, Dubai, Jordan, Egypt).  There wasn't any requirement for us to obtain a visa from India, since ours is a 10-year and still in effect.

With the visa preparation out of the way, it's on to deciding what we really need and what can stay at home.  On the last world cruise we prepared a list near the end of the cruise of items that we really needed and the quantity for each.  This has come in handy for getting everything together in one room for sorting and packing.  When you are planning for a total of 119 days on board a ship at sea it is important to really do a little planning so something isn't left behind.  Of course if you aren't careful this can lead to taking too many items as well!!

We went online to the US Postal Service (USPS) yesterday and setup a Temporary Change Of Address to our Daughter's home.  All our mail will go to her during the time we are gone.  This is important since the USPS will only hold mail for 30 days.  One good thing about a temporary change of address is that the USPS won't forward "junk mail".

Several  administrative items were taken care of yesterday.  We made arrangements with our Cable TV and Internet Provider to put each of them on "Vacation Hold".  This allows us to keep these services in an inactive status and not have to pay the normal bill for services and not incur any reconnection fees.  In December we will do a similar thing with our automobiles and their insurance coverage.  Insurance companies allow a procedure called "Garaging".  In our state our insurance company allows you to remove most of the coverage with the exception of limited comprehensive coverage with substantial savings.

One administrative item that has not been accomplished is our Taxes.  The forms to file an extension of the filing date are already available from the Internal Revenue Service.  However, we won't have the exact figures to use for filing until sometime in January.