Off to India and the Taj

We have begun the last leg of the journey – a month long leg, but the last one. Over half the passengers got off the ship in Singapore. Some thought the next leg too dangerous, some had visited these countries before and some just wanted off the ship. We have a few empty cabins now and those that did join the cruise in Singapore seem a little bit younger. It is strange to see so many new faces around the ship. Tomorrow we are off to India and the Taj!  We are trying to decide what to take for our trek across Indian country. We will be getting on and off buses, trains and planes, so I want to travel as light as possible. I just saw our itinerary – wow - part tour, part forced march. We will be hitting Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Delhi, Agra and Mumbai. The “Taj day” begins at 4 a.m. I didn’t see any “easy days” as everyday was a train, plane or “motor coach” ride to somewhere.  There is one 85 year old man also on our tour. My goal is just to try to keep up with him. All tours seem to involve numerous steps or some steep incline to scale.  This guy was on our last tour. Just as I was congratulating myself on surviving about 153 steps and two ramps, in the blistering heat, he said, “come here, I want to show you something” –  he then turned around and climbed up two more levels. Notice he had already been up there, checked it out, and was meeting me on his way down!  I am telling you these old “cruise codgers” are remarkable group of people. Jim sometimes just looks at the climb involved and says, “Bring me a picture”.  Anyway, back to packing. With this heat, I know I need to pack “cool”, but all these temples require that you cover your arms and legs – difficult to do that while dressing cool. I wish we were feeling 100% heading into this adventure. Some coughing/upper respiratory plague has run though the ship. It sounds like a floating tuberculosis ward. Jim got it first, then me. We both ended up going to sick bay and coming away with 5 prescriptions a piece.  I am not worried about the bronchitis, but I just want my immune system in decent shape before encountering the new and exotic viruses and bacteria of India. Last year about three fourths of the people that went on this overland trip ended up sick and were quarantined thus having to miss some of the later ports. As Petra and Egypt are high on my list I am faithfully taking my medicine and will pop lots of vitamin C while we are there. The puzzling part is, the people eating the local food were okay, it was the people eating the “Americanized” food served in the hotels that were the sick ones.  I will keep notes and take lots of pictures. I am not going to carry my computer so I will recap the great India excursion upon our return to the mother ship.