Studio Villamil

 Mostly Hindu. Next - Christian!  Hardly any Muslim dress, although a mosque. And a Christian Church, with hanging fan like things to move the air. And a Synagogue (women’s section shown), although only one Jewish family left.  Small wonder - the area is referred to as “Jew Town”.  Custom is to remove shoes in all houses of worship.   People on the street reflect the demographics.  Public bus seating is gender separated.

 Original itinerary had three India stops:  Cochin, Goa and three days in Mumbai. Now just one short day in Cochin. It’s a long way to Cape Town. Cochin is a city with an active port but as big as Colombo, which is also more strategically located. Departing Cochin one passes through the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The confluence itself was a sight to see, glistening in the moonlight, a pride of Bengal Tigers decimating a million + school of Arabian seahorses with the spirit of Mother Theresa hovering overhead praying for Peace. Then I woke up.  Anyway, as Dr Ian Malcom says “Life will find a way. The cruise ship terminal is in an industrial area, not part of the container terminal but near the Cochin Oil Terminal. A spoil island, probably resulting from the construction of the terminal, has become a bird sanctuary.  Opposite is a wasteland that supports a bird habitat area.  Ibis and egrets fly back and forth.  Lac...

 Sri Lanka is a small teardrop shaped country just off the tip of India.  (See photo below).  Until the end of the last ice age - 10,000 BC - it was connected to India by a land bridge.  Although the two countries are quite different - Sri Lanka mostly Buddhist whereas India mostly Hindu, one can imagine that India has a Taiwan type lens focused on Sri Lanka. However, China has poured billions into strategic investments in Sri Lanka, e.g., an huge container port in Colombo, presumably both because of its strategic location and to poke a sharp stick into India.  Chinese built Lotus tower visible from ship above.  Scenes from Buddhist temple below   But Hindu religious sites also are present   And many different types of dress are present: High school and middle school track athletes train in the afternoon heat.   Or lounge in the shade and watch.  It describes itself as a Democratic Socialist Republic , but it is not Vermont- too hot...

 The 2004 earthquake off India produced devastating tsunami that killed thousands and destroyed low lying villages on the Western part of the island. The area where we anchored which is on the southeast coast was apparently spared. This area seems more prosperous than Langkawi - less roadside trash - but still has less prosperous areas. The Chinatown area is built on piling over the bay with small stall shops and residences behind. Waterfront homes NOT!   Street art is plentiful.  The COVID pandemic was as economically devastating to many of the tourism based places that we have visited, including Phuket. Four star resorts that were closed and are now rebranded and reopened, construction projects that have been stalled for years, rusted rebar and stained concrete columns, some abandoned but some being revitalized. One can imagine the economic hardship. We must consider ourselves lucky to have had the government resources to flood money into the economy.  Thailand has...

 Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Georgetown (I applied to Georgetown Law School, but that’s another story). All Malaysia; all different.  Malaysia fought alongside Japan, Britain and the USA during WW I, against Japan, etc in WW II (and was occupied by Japan during that war) and against a long communist insurrection after WW II) and became independent from Britain only in 1957. The monument located in Kuala Lumpur commemorates those lost in all these wars.  Malaysia is a majority Muslim country but we are told that it is not a Muslim country; all beliefs are welcome. Ethnic Chinese are very important to the economy. The group photos are on the steps to the new mosque (Malaysia finds it important to build new while also preserving buildings of its colonial past) and the Petrobas towers.  Langkawi is a resort island frequented by tourists from this side of the world and has the feel, unfortunately, of many Caribbean islands.  Roadside trash abounds. Our docking location w...

 We were lucky enough to be there on a Saturday. The Prime Minister was visiting an artificial park called Gardens by the Bay with his wife and grandchildren  The four hard looking men were undoubtedly security  I received a nod of permission when I raised my camera  Our tour guide was gushing about how fortunate we were to have seen him. The highlights of the Gardens are a series of “Super Trees” - the epiphytes are real but the trees are not.  We were there at dusk and the illumination was just coming on. Then we took a boat ride   The last photo above is of a three building structure connected at the top by a massive structure looking like and referred to as The Surfboard containing a casino, restaurants, park areas, etc.  They keep us safe Ferris wheel, lotus building and lion fish. Beautiful ride b