The Arabian Sea: Hot, Humid, Healthy and Happy!

We are at mid-point between Cochin and Mumbai, both cities on India's western coast. We are sailing on the Arabian Sea. We were lucky to be no where near the Nepal earthquake or surrounding areas that were impacted (thanks to those of you who were concerned about us). After this lazy day - a sea day, as they are called, we will be off exploring Mumbai.

 

Sunset over Indian Ocean - (c) Travelnwrite.com

Our cruise is providing us a sampler plate of exotic and tropical destinations -- just as we hoped we would have on this 35-night Far East Adventure that began in Bangkok, Thailand  and will end in Istanbul,Turkey. We knew it would be hot and we suspected humid - but what we've experienced as defied our imaginations. I dubbed Myanmar, "The Land of the Melting Makeup". 

It seemed cool on our deck while sipping morning coffee before 7 a.m. the other morning and that was because the temperatures had 'dipped' into the mid 80's and humidity to the low 90's. Yesterday  the temperature in Cochin was 94 and the humidity 97%.  Far more intense than Arizona in the summer or Puerto Vallarta in September. 

Exploring Cochin, India  by tuk-tuk - the only way to travel!

For those of you not on Facebook, I've been posting regular updates there - many of which show me wearing the same top in almost every photo taken (see above). It is the coolest one I brought with me - a tee shirt that soaks up the sweat (to put it bluntly) and that can be hand-washed between shore excursions. There's a lot of wearing and washing going on this trip by all of us - it is a nice feature of the ship to offer washing machines, dryers, and irons for guest use.

Indian Ocean - a sea day

Another plus for the cruise line is that while a great variety of ship's tours are offered there are options for do-it-yourself travel. Many of our fellow cruisers have organized their own land tours (primarily via Cruise Critic.com) and others of us have set out on our own to explore places. We're currently sailing with 140 of our fellow passengers still on land in India as they opted to travel from Cochin to the Taj Mahal and will rejoin the cruise just before we depart Mumbai on Friday.

Many of us opted to explore Cochin on our own and others chose the comfort of the air-conditioned ship-organized bus tours.

Oceania tour bus - Cochin, India

In Mumbai we will spend one day on a ship's tour - 'big bus' - to get oriented to the city and the second day plan to find ourselves another tuk tuk and set out on our own.

Heat and humidity aside, this is an amazing part of the world to visit. When back in the blogosphere world again I will show you more photos of the wonderful places we've been -- and yes, places that call our for return visits.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts as you read the world headlines.  We remain hot, humid, healthy and most definitely happy we chose this routing!  Safe travels to you and yours~ and to my fellow bloggers, I will get caught up with  your blogs once we are again on land and I've got some time for reading.

Linking up (we hope):
Travel Photo Thursday
Weekend Travel Inspirations