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