Monday 15th April Overnight we have travelled to Haifa in Israel. Here we travelled by coach to the Sea of Galilee to see the places that are mentioned in the Bible. Our first stop was at the Mount of the Beatitudes which is the likely place that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. The view down to the sea of Galilee was a bit hazy. We visited the church that is built on this site. We then went down to Tabgha and the Church of Multiplication which is built ...

Thursday 4th April We arrived in Dubai yesterday at lunchtime and will leave late this evening. Yesterday we took the shuttle bus into town and then walked to the Dubai Creek. It was quite a long way - Dubai is very spread out. The Bastakiya area around the creek is one of the oldest parts of Dubai with lots of traditional houses that have wind towers that provide ventilation. We also saw the 18th century Al Fahidi Fort and the remains of the old city walls. We ...

Tuesday 2nd April We sailed into Muscat just after 9 this morning. Muscat is the capital of the Sultanate of Oman. We went on a tour that was to take us to the Grand Mosque. It was a bit of a drive as it was on the outskirts of Muscat and our guide told us if we didn't get there before 11 they wouldn't let us - only Muslims are allowed in after that. We got there at 11 but they had closed the doors so we only got to see it from the outside which was very disappo...

Sunday 31st March After four days at sea we arrived at Mumbai early this morning. Many of the crew have family here so as many as possible have been given time off. As it is Sunday the traffic in the city was a little lighter than expected. Our coach driver seemed to think that that meant it was OK to go through some of the red lights. Our guide assured us it was fine - that we wouldn't die!! Soon after we left the docks we saw some cows wondering along the road...

Tuesday 26th March Overnight we have sailed to Port Kelang in Malaysia. We took a coach transfer to Kuala Lumpar which took about 90 minutes and we had just under 5 hours to explore the city. Although this seemed plenty of time it soon disappeared. We were dropped off at the Petronas Towers that you can see in the picture. They have become the symbol of the city and you can go onto the link between them to see the views but the tickets have to be bought in advan...