Picto Diary - 16 17 18 December 2023 - At Sea, Seabourn Encore

Above: Seabourn Encore. Deck Eight. 16 December 2023.

Image from aft atrium looking forward into cabin entrance hallway. Christmas decorations are found throughout the ship.

Above: Bay of Bengal. Westbound container ship. Bay of Bengal. 17 December 2023.
Image from port side, east bound Seabourn Encore. In sailing these waters, I realize that, like a hematologist observing blood flow through a body's veins, I, from my port side cabin deck, have a real time observation post watching the flow of global shipping trade as the Red Sea bottleneck, caused by Houthi attacks on supposed Israel related shipping in the Red Sea, worsens. Above container ship is likely full of Chinese manufactured goods headed to Europe. Insurance rates for Red Sea passage sky high due to Houthi threat. Will this ship avoid the Red Sea and take the longer route to Europe around the Cape of Good Hope? Will the US Navy, the historic protector of these sea lanes, awaken from its pathetic slumber to eliminate the Houthi threat?

Above: "Return of the GOD Hypothesis." Stephen C. Meyer. Aboard Seabourn Encore. 17 December 2023.

Fabulous book. Physical book in image chewed up by motorized seat recline mechanism of my Emirates Airlines seat while flying from Seattle to Dubai last week. Tattered book still readable though. My third Myer read after first "Darwin's Doubt," and then "Signature in the Cell." This book chronicles how large segments of the science community are swinging back to believe in the likelihood of an intelligent designer of the universe. Today's read, Chapter 4: I had no idea that it was poet Edgar Allen Poe (!) who made first credible posit of our milky way as a non-infinite size and a limited life universe. Infinite life and size universe would, Poe said, mean a bright sky at night. i.e. each pixel of the night sky as seen from earth would have a star showing light from some, up to infinite, distance away. Since that is not the case, dark spaces between existing stars must represent "pixels" where there are no stars or where far away stars' light hasn't had time to make it to earth. Ergo, a universe that came to be at a point in time, and not infinite in size and life. Stephen C. Myer, a Joe Rogan favorite, rocks. Note: "pixels" is my conception, not Poe's, of how to describe the phenomenon!

Above: Gingerbread houses. Seabourn Encore. 18 December 2023.

Ship organized baking contest.

Addendum

Dear Steve,

I too have heard so much about the Lulu Mall, but never visited it. So now, you know something more than I do about Kochi and this place.

I am so glad that we were able to arrange Sabu to accompany you in the short time you spent in Kochi. Considering the timing of your request, I was a bit concerned about availability. But the stars aligned and you had one of the best in business to take you around Kochi. I am copying the entire Travel Scope team on your wonderful blog on Kochi.

I also admire the consistency, willingness and enthusiasm with which you share your experiences almost every day of your life. Whether it’s the “Picto Diary”, the book reviews and the LSDM sessions, you write them with such dedication and discipline. You are an inspiration Steve and I hope one day I can follow on your footsteps. Still a long way to go for me, but it’s never too early either.

My best to you, Margaret and the entire Taylor family. I hope you both can join Jake and Family on the Spring trip to India.

Regards from all of us at Travel Scope and gratitude for such immense faith and trust in us.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all of you.

Regards

Mohan,
Gurgaon, Haryana

Dear Margaret and Steve,

So pleased to know you are having an enjoyable visit to Kochi! Sara and I are in Bangalore to take refuge from the Swiss winter. Should you have the time or inclination we would love to have you visit us in Bangalore. We are only a short distance away. Meanwhile enjoy the rest of your travels!
Warm regards

Chris & Sara ,
Bangalore, Karnataka

Are you in Mumbai?
Jerry, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Shame on me. I shoulda called. Just a one-day cruise stop. We decided not to bother anybody and just sight see and shop and get back early to the ship. TIMDT gets tired given her pulmonary condition.

Steve,

So, you perhaps would say that the Lulu International Shopping Mall is a step up from the “New Market” of Calcutta in the mid 1970s?

Regards,

Pat,
Puntarenas, Costa Rica

TIMDT and Mwah (sic) had some bemused conversation about that very fact while walking thru Lulu. None of those basket carrying kids here to cart your purchases! That the India we once knew can create a Lulu, every bit a top international class facility, is a source of amazement. If India can do this... it can do a lot more as it, hopefully, rids itself of the petty bureaucracies that have held it back for so long.

Show us a tablecloth please.

Brand Man,
Ventura, CA

Anochi tablecloth. File image. TIMDT's are packed away.

Steve,

Thanks for your thoughtful and helpful response to my queries about our upcoming cruise into the Persian Gulf.

We have not heard anything from Ponant other than a nifty little booklet telling us all about the cruise, so we assume the trip is still on. Similarly, we, I at least, (Gael is still a bit on the “I’m not too sure” curve) are planning on going. Flights booked and excursions booked and the hotel booked for Gael’s birthday celebration. Turns out it is the Mandarin Oriental Jumeira. Fine with me as I am a “Fan” of the Mandarin Group having worked with Hong Kong Land and the Mandarin Group when I was in Hong Kong.

Actually, you may have run across Robert Riley in Park City. He was running the Mandarin Group when Brian Powers was the Tai Pan at Jardines. Robert subsequently left Hong Kong and took a job with Kerry Packer running the new casino in Melbourne. That did not last too long and Robert and his then wife, Chardel, spent some time in their home in Park City on the Park Meadows golf course. Robert later married a lovely English woman and last I knew they had a home in London and still had the place in Park City.

So, we fly to Muscat via Dubai on the first of January and board the ship on the 4th and away we go. I will give you a report, but it will not be nearly as pictorial or interesting reading as your Picto Diary.

I hope you and Margaret are having a lovely Holiday time with your family.

Cheers,

Tom,
Aspen, CO

I hope you can go on your trip. Based on what I see now, the world seems to be functioning more or less normally in this part of the world, but for the bottlenecks of commercial shipping on the Red Sea.

Steve,

Kerala is beautiful. I was there during tea harvest, courtesy of the Tatas, and all the women harvesting the tea were in their brightly colored silk saris and and the colors against the green tea hills were nothing short of breathtaking. Unfortunately, the visit predated iPhones and I had no camera, so no pictures. Only the vivid memories in my aged, but mot yet addled, brain.

Tom,
Aspen, CO

While on this cruise, TIMDT has just completed reading the bestselling novel, "The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese. Setting for the novel is Kerala in its lush, back waterways.