Day 32 - Friday - 4/28/17 - Muroran

Today's stop at Muroran was the Volendam's first ever stop here.  And the town appeared to be ready.  But more on that later.

Denise from Cruise Critic organized a tour that would take us to Hell Valley, Lake Toyo, and Mt  Usu in one tour.  Generally the HAL tours only would go to 1 or 2 of the three on a single tour, but visiting all three in one trip would be a real treat.

We easily got off the ship just after 8am to the watchful eyes of a number of Japanese port guards.  We even had to show our stateroom keycard to take the stairway down to A deck to disembark.  Our cheerful guide for the day, Fuji, was waiting for us and after a brief delay we headed out to the Hell Valley which is the English equivalent of Jigokudani.  It's a sulphur rich hot springs and steam vents area not unlike those found in Yellowstone, but on a much smaller scale.  There are nice paved and wooden walkways and some stairs in order to get closer to the action!  Nearby there are a number of hotels and thermal related activities.

From Hell Valley we drove over to Lake Tōyo where we stopped at a nice overlook with a souvenir shop and restroom facility.  I sampled some seaweed soup which was excellent!  Afterwards we drove up to Mt. Usu which looks out on Mt. Showa-Shizan which was steaming.  This latter mountain was formed in 1943 after the eruption of Mt. Uzu.  There are even other ruins of an apartment building, a bathhouse, and a hospital from the various recent eruptions.  This is a seismically active area!!  We took the Ropeway (gondola) up Mt. Uzu and hiked another few minutes up to the Ginnuma crater viewing area. This crater was formed by a 1977 eruption.  In fact the whole back side of Mt. Uzu has been increasing in size due to volcanic activity.  

After all of this activity and with the cooler temperatures, we enjoyed some Ramen at a little restaurant.  It was quite good.  In fact, I liked it better than the Ramen museum Ramen.  Again, it's nothing like the Top Ramen we get in the States.

On the drive back to the port we saw the site of the G8 summit which is situated on top of a large hill.  It was likely selected due to its ease of establishing a security perimeter.  We were also able to drive over the high suspension bridge that we would later sail under as we left the port area.  

Back at the port, there was a beehive of activity with local artisans selling their wares, the high school kids taking surveys and offering to paint a person's name in Japanese characters on a card for a small fee.  One could also wear a kimona, use the free wifi, or earlier in the day take a local hop on hop off shuttle bus for 1,000¥ or $10 for the day.  They also provided really nice free  maps of the area.  

Later, we learned that while we were out on tour, the Mayor presented Captain Baijens a commemorative plaque in honor of the Volendam's first call at Muroran.  This will be added to the display on Deck 4 just aft of the theatre. We watched the sail away from the Crow's Nest while watching the school kids and townspeople give us a rousing send off.  And with a blast of the horn the Volendam eased away from the dock and backed into the turning basin, rotated 180° clockwise, and sailed out of the harbor and under the suspension bridge, discharged the pilot, and sailed into the large bay before turning north in the Pacific Ocean on our way to Kushiro. 

After another Lido dinner, my wife chose to watch the movie, The Forest, but I wanted to see the main stage performance of the Alley Cats, an accapella quartet.  They were really good, so I decided to see them a second time at 10pm, and used the in between time to update my blog.

Tomorrow is our last Japanese port of call at Kushiro.  We have an early all aboard time of 3pm in order to have our exit clearance processed from Japan.  We'll have 6 sea days until we reach Kodiak.  Time to rest up, and there will be a delay in my posting until we reach Kodiak.  Stay tuned and despite the importance of the destination, remember to savor the journey.

Day 31 - Thursday - 4/27/17 - Aomori

The bay that Aomori is located on is quite large.  We sailed in  it for over an hour this morning until we reached our berth.  Once a 180° clockwise turn was completed, we slipped sideways into our parking spot poised for an easy deoarture. 

Our tour group organized by Carol from Cruise Critic assembled and we were easily off the ship by 8:15am.  There was a short delay in finding our guide, but eventually we located her.  Yuki was her name and she spoke great English, but had never guided a group before.  This led to a few challenges throughout the day as she didn't clearly and loudly set expectations or communicate directions.

It was about an hour to Hirosaki and its famous castle and cherry blossoms.  We toured a Samarai house before wandering our way through the park. A striking feature for me of the castle are the many dams that are found in the moat.  Also the castle itself dating from 1811 has been moved about 50 meters away from its foundation which is being renovated.  It's a 10 year project with 6 more years to go.  We also enjoyed a bento box lunch on a tarp in the lawn.  It was a bit brisk, however.

We then drove back to the port area to visit the Nebuta Warasse museum with its collection of very colorful lighted floats from the annual Neputa Festival in early August.  This was a highlight for me!

Back on the ship we played trivia (not very well) and watched the sail away from the Crow's Nest before our Lido dinner.  Today (4/27) is King's Day in Holland so there was a 7:15pm party around the Lido pool. Everyone was encouraged to wear some piece of orange to commemorate the day.

We watched the Bill Murray movie 'Lost in Translation' which was set in Tokyo and Kyoto.  While a number of the Japanese cultural scenes were cute, there was a big emptiness conveyed in the film.  Afterwards we watched the main stage show, 'Strings Alive'.

Day 30 - Wednesday - 4/26/17 - At Sea to Aomori

Oh the beauty of lazy sea days.  I led the interdenominational devotional time as a volunteer leader and will do the same for the remainder of the sea days plus the Sunday interdenominational service since there is no Protestant chaplain on board.  While I'm not ordained, I'm a very involved lay person in my home church.

Cruise Critic held its final meet and greet in the Explorer's Lounge and I was able to meet a few new people.  But I missed the first Japanese cultural lecture by Terry Greenberg, a former Canadian diplomat in Asia.  He also later in the day gave a 2,000 year history of Japan which was quite good.  I'm looking forward to more of his presentations. Jeremy and Maya, Shore Excursions Manager, also presented sessions on the upcoming ports of call.

As I sat down in the Crow's Nest for a session of reading, suddenly there were a number of fish that just broke the surface in front of the ship for about five minutes.   Another guest commented that they were likely tuna, but I didn't know what they were.

Although it was Gala night, there wasn't enough on the menu to entice us to dress up.  So our granddaughter joined us for dinner in the Lido.  We skipped the Captain's toast to watch the early showing of 'Eagle Huntress' a documentary about a 13 year old Kazakh girl who becomes the first female in her family to become an hunter using a golden eagle.  It was really good!  We then watched the cast performance of Atlantic Crossing for the 3rd time.

Tomorrow is Aomori which is the 3rd to the last Japanese port call on this trip.  Stay tuned and while the destination is important, remember to savor the journey!

Day 29 - Tuesday - 4/25/17 - Yokohama

It was a very beautiful day to be in Yokohama today compared to a few weeks ago.  We arrived by 7am and I used our WIFI  device while lying in bed as there was no urgency to getting up early as we didn't need to meet with our tour group until 8:40.

After a very easy disembarkation, we were met by our Tours By Locals guide for today, Art, who turned out to be a motorcyclist.  We hit it off quite easily because of that common interest.  We used taxies to drive about 20 minutes (1900¥) to the Sankeien gardens which were created in the early 1900's by a wealthy silk merchant.  It took about 2 hours to tour these exquisite and tranquil gardens.  Google it and  you won't be disappointed.  We then used the GD same two taxies to drive to a train station where we purchased train tickets to get to the Ramen Museum.  With a couple of transfers, we were soon at the ShinYokohama Ramen museum which is  a collection of little restaurants which sell various types of Ramen.  One orders tickets using a vending machine at the respective restaurants (a bit of a complex procedure even for the Japanese). If you order in one restaurant, you are not allowed to eat it in another.  It was very yummy, and I'd do it again.  We then caught the subway back to the ship.  I needed some more yen, so we walked back into town to the post office.  It seems that in Japan banks, Post Offices, and 7/11 stores are the locations for ATM's for foreign transactions. We made it back to the ship within 15 minutes of the deadline for boarding the ship which was 3pm.  

The muster drill occurred at 3:15pm, and afterwards I had the opportunity to confer with Debbie, the events coordinator about use of the Hudson Room for the interdenominational service on sea days at 9AM.  I've volunteered to lead it.

Once again from the Crow's Nest, we watched the sail away out of the harbor and into Tokyo Bay amid the twilight sun.  We took dinner in the Lido, and the prime rib was excellent.  

As it's April 25, there was a very nice ANZAC memorial service with a reading of Flanders Field, a wreath laying, prayers, a moment of silence, and playing of the Last Post and the Australian and New Zealand national anthems.

For the 3rd time this cruise we watched the Listen to The Music program which introduces the entertainment staff.  It's an upbeat production!

Day 28 - Monday - 4/24/17 - At Sea to Yokohama

It was a really lazy day today at sea since the majority of the guests are disembarking tomorrow. We did a lot of reading and I finished the George Washington book and started a new book, 'The Greatest Generation' by Tom Brokow.  

There was a BBC trivia game and a special presentation for the 500 guests who are continuing on to Vancouver.  Bruce, our CD indicated there would be a whole set of new guest lecturers and performers joining us for the crossing and that we would have two May seconds because we cross the international date line.  Also we'll lose time most every day as we cross the Pacific on our eastward journey. 

We also watched the action / suspense movie 'Inferno' starring Tom Hanks.  Seeing the concluding scenes set in Istanbul was pretty cool since we've been there.  Classique was the cast show which we have seen multiple times.  The late show was lightly attended as many are packing tonight.

Day 27 - Sunday - 4/23/17 - Hososhima, Japan

I always like it when a port is welcoming to our cruise ship.  Hyuga is one of those ports.  But the day started out not so well with a difficult and time consuming immigration process and a problem with my tour company.

Here's how the immigration and customs process is supposed to work.  All passengers not on a HAL shore excursion obtain in advance a plastic numbered card that establishes one's sequence to pass through the immigration and customs process which in this case was handled in the Explorer's Lounge on Deck 5.  On our previous embarkation in Nagasaki, it was handled in the terminal.  Then once the immigration and customs process starts, the sequential numbers are called and the HAL groups are merged in with the sequential ticket holders.  Everyone is scanned with a heat sensor (looking for favors) and then one presents one's passport and immigration card.  The Japanese agent scans the passport, examines the immigration card and scans it, takes a retinal photo and one has fingerprints taken of their pointing finger.  A QR code is printed and affixed in each passport.  That process takes about a minute per passenger. Then one goes a few feet to the customs area, receives a disembarkation clearance card, surrenders the customs declaration card, and the passengers are sorted between HAL shore excursion participants and independent travelers.  We all then can make our way to the gangway where the disembarkation clearance card is collected, our room card is scanned, and we are free to leave the ship.  If a minor is in your party, the responsible party must be there for the security person to override the warning screen that is presented when the minor attempts to scan off the ship.

With that background, here's how it actually worked on this day.  We arrived at 8am, but the Japanese authorities didn't arrive until 9am.  It wan't until 9:23 that the first group "S"  was called and 5 minutes later group 1 was called which included the first Cruise Critic group of 19.  About 1/2 hour later groups 2 & 3 were called, and then a short delay before group 4 was called which included part of my group.  Shortly group 5, which included the rest of my group, was called.  The process above worked well for my group in terms of the actual steps.  For the first Cruise Critic group and some other passengers, there was a glitch in HAL's process whereby the disembarking passengers got to the exit scanning station after going through the above process, and the system said they hadn't been processed.  The HAL representative wanted to send everyone back through the immigration process, but the passengers balked at the idea due to to the time it takes to do that.  Eventually cooler heads prevailed and they were allowed off the ship.  I'm really surprised with the number of immigration processes that HAL has done on multiple ships and multiple ports over many years that they don't have it down to an art form!

For my group, our guide, Junko, was waiting for me, but she seemed a bit anxious about the time.  There were still 6 people who had not cleared immigration and I waited for them with the guide.  Eventually we were all on the bus and read to depart by 10:20 which was only 20 minutes past our scheduled 10am departure time.  

After about a 1/2 bus ride west from the cruise terminal we reached the first of 4 planned stops on the day's tour.  This was at Umagase which is a natural formation of hexagonal volcanic pillars similar to those found at the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.  From the parking lot there is a short walk along a paved trail out to the two view points which are quite pretty.  Along the way the guide said we were behind schedule because we were supposed to leave a 9am.  I told her, "NO, we were confirmed to leave at 10am."  She called into her office and eventually got the tour extended to 1:30 or 1:40pm which was the time per my confirmation form.    I found my copy of the email confirmation indicating a start time of 10am and an ending time of 1:30pm and showed it to her. There were also two couples who were quite insistent about spending maximum time in Mimitsu, a historic shipping village and site of a memorial to the founding of the Japanese navy.  So I negotiated with the guide to skip the stop at Omi Shrine which in retrospect I wish I hadn't.  We made another viewpoint stop at at the "Sea-Cruz" which is a place where the stone split in an almost perfect cross.  It was quite pretty as well.  From there we headed to Mimitsu which for my taste was an 'okay' stop.  The village is certainly old, but very plain.  There's a small museum that we visited and my wife and I headed off on our own to walk the town.  We found a small cafe for some pastry items and some vending machines for liquids.  The Japanese Navy memorial was scenic as was the nearby shrine.  We also found and photographed the one engine fire station for my friends in Bellingham who are firefighters.  I photograph fire stations all over the world for them.

For future travelers to this port who might want to visit Mimitsu, there's a train for 560¥ RT.  It's about a 1 mile walk from the Mimitsu train station to the town.  But it's an inexpensive option.

We made it back to the port at 1:40pm and there were all sorts of small vendors in 10x10 booths selling various wares.  We spoke with one peanut vending couple who were about to fly to Seattle and Portland for their honeymoon.  We then caught the shuttle bus to the Hyuga train station where we spent the bulk of our time in a local department store called "Trail" which is sort of like a miniature WalMart.  We bought a few goodies including sushi and Coke Plus since we hadn't had lunch yet.  The 3:30pm shuttle got us back to the port where my wife dolled up in a Kimona for a cool photo opportunity.  This was a nice cultural touch provided by the locals.  We also ate our sushi and did a bit of WIFI, watched a cool drum performance, and then boarded the ship.

Back on board, we headed for the Crow's nest to watch the sail away as has been our custom this trip.  I was able to snap a picture of the PILOT who was in the elevator as we rode it together.  Promptly and on schedule, the Voldendam slipped sideways from the pier, rotated clockwise 90º, and sailed out of the harbor to the waiting open sea and setting sun.  

Once again, we took a quiet dinner in the LIDO before attending a Collector's Voyage cocktail party next to the LIDO pool.  I learned that the present Captain Baijens won't be the captain next February when we plan to sail from Singapore to Yokohama.  

The evening's entertainment was a comic mime / juggler Yosuke Ikeda.  Parts of his routine were clever and well executed, but I'd rather see a vocalist or instrumentalist.  We spent the remainder of the evening sipping tea and enjoying conversation with other guests and being grandparent supervisors of our granddaughter in the hot tub and swimming pool.  Interestingly earlier in the cruise she indicated she hated swimming.  It's amazing how being with 'friends' changes things.

Tomorrow is the last sea day before the Yokohama stop and the start of the last segment for us.  Stay tuned.

Day 26 - Saturday - 4/22/17 - At Sea to Hososhima, Japan

I awakened a bit early this morning to compose some notes about our shore excursion to a few members of my tour in Hososhima that I've not seen in person over the past few weeks. I delivered those to the office by 7:30am before eating breakfast and attending the interdenominational devotional time.  We did the On Deck for a Cause 10k walk, and attended Dr. Kam's lecture on the history and value of Tai Chi and martial arts.  It was really good.

Just before lunch a Costa cruise ship crossed front of us at a closer distance I was expecting.  Maybe that's the Costa way, but I've never in all of our years of cruising seen a ship cross that close on the high seas.

Captain Jeroen Baijens Q & A session was once again really good with excellent questions being asked by the audience.  Afterwards there was a BBC movie on filming in extreme conditions that I missed the last part of due to catching some viewing the back of my eyeballs time. 

As our granddaughter picked up a cold and spent most of the day in bed, she missed the formal night with us and one of her friends, Megan, and Megan's parents, Ray and Barbara.  While eating dinner, we saw the first wildlife of the trip:  a large school of very small dolphins or porpoises that paced the ship off the starboard side.  They were there at least 45 minutes.

Phil gave a good talk on geishas emphasizing their entertainment role as 'ladies of the evening' and not 'ladies of the night'.  The evening's entertainment was a harmonica playing married couple from Malaysia called Aiden & Evelyn.  They were really good although their volume was way too high.  Several people walked out of the performance.

After the performance a passenger approached me to discuss the portable SIM card (GlocalMe) that he had learned I was using for my WIFI access.  I guess word is getting around about the device.

Since we have a busy day tomorrow, we chose to retire early.  Stay tuned!

Day 25 - Friday - 4/21/17 - Incheon, S.Korea - Day 2

Staying overnight in a port is a real treat.  Generally it allows the traveler to stay out or even off the ship overnight.  We stayed on the ship and our 7:30am meetup time definitely came early!  Our group of 11 traveled by van in really heavy traffic for over an hour to the Hwaseong fortress and the folk village at Young in.  

The fortress is a large walled structure  that has been surrounded by the new modern city.  A multi-lane highway even passes through the fortress grounds.  A little tram takes visitors around the fortress, but we didn't have time to take it, so we climbed the fortress wall and walked around about 1/2 of it. A large group of school age children were receiving archery instruction as that was a principal defensive weapon when the castle was in use.  There are even slots in the wall for the archers of old to launch their arrows as well as some tiny cannons and even containers of rocks that could be lobbed down on attackers.

The folk village is a very large theme type park with lots of museums and displays that present and preserve the Korean culture.  There were lots  of pre-school and school age kids visiting the park.  The junior high age kids definitely wanted to speak English with these odd looking folks (us). At the far end of the park is a large Korean food court.  I enjoyed a couple of skewers of seasoned pork for about $5.

Interestingly, there were a couple small dams inside the park.  I only mention this as I participate in an event in the USA where I ride my motorcycle to dams and take a picture of it at the dam.  It's sort of like a scavenger hunt.

Back on board the ship we watched the ship depart and then pass through the locks out into the open sea on our way back to Japan.    After a Lido dinner we watched the movie, 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and a repeat performance of the cast show 'Dance'.

I was able to pick up our tour group's early disembarkation numbers for the upcoming immigration entry port of Hoshoshima.  This will allow the entire group an easier and earlier time off the ship in order to catch our excursion.

Tomorrow is a sea day so some much needed rest is in order for at least two of my party (not me).  Stay tuned and while the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 23 - Wednesday - 4/19/17 - Jeju, S.Korea

I'm writing this update sitting in the Crow's Nest after a short day in this island port city of South Korea.  We took a bus tour up to Seongsan Iichukbong Tuff Cone, or Sunrise Peak.  It's about an hour's drive from the port and is a Unesco World Heritage site.  This former volcano is now a huge tourist location where they climb some 800 stairs to the summit with its scenic views and bragging rights to be photographed beside the summit sign (yes, my wife and I have those rights!).  On our way back to the port we stopped at the Seongeup Folk Village where we had the opportunity to walk around and see restored buildings from the 1400's.  What I found interesting is the way that they tie down their thatched roofs.  Esssntially there is a cargo net type affair draped over the roof and tied down at the eaves.

We were back at the port by 1pm and had a chance to enjoy lunch in the port.  For me it was Ramen soup, while my wife had fish cake soup.  The kimchi was pretty spicy, and it was a nice addition to the soup.  

It's a very long walk back (at least 1/2 a mile)  in this port to the ship using escalators, moving walkways, stairs, hallways, tubular walkways, the pier, and a gangplank.  We are berthed near The World, a luxury condominium ship with condos ranging in price from $1,000,000 to $7,000,000 PLUS monthly dues and assessments.  We've berthed next to it in several ports over the years and have looked in some of the units and they are certainly luxurious.  

We departed at 3:30pm in sunny skies after executing a 180° clockwise turn. Happy hour team trivia was interesting and hard as ever.  

After a dinner by ourselves as our granddaughter had other plans, we watched both performances of the variety show featuring Frank King (comedian)  and Glenn Starr (50's & 60's singer) plus the Indonesian Crew members show.

Tomorrow we're visiting the DMZ which I've been looking forward to.  Stay tuned!

 

Day 24 - Thursday - 4/20/17 - Incheon, S.Korea - Day 1

We woke up as the Volendam was getting in position to pass through the locks that separate the Incheon harbor from the open ocean.  With the use of locks, the harbor depth is kept at a constant level and is about 10 feet higher than the ocean.  Once inside the harbor, it took about an hour to finally get docked at the 'terminal'.  Since this is an industrial port, passengers either had to stay in the ship, take a shuttle to a local shopping area, use a HAL shore excursion, or use a privately arranged shore excursion.  We elected to do the latter and I arranged for a group of 5 to be on a Tours By Locals excursion to the DMZ.  Jay was our guide and he met us at the gangway and whisked us to the DMZ in his comfortable Hyundai van.  Jay is an experienc d tour guide and done this type work for many years including leading Koreans on overseas trips.

The expressway had recently opened up and it took a bit over an hour to reach the DMZ reception area.  As we got closer to the DMZ, we observed miles of razor wire along the river adjoining the freeway.  There were also tanks being moved on flatbed trucks and trailers along with military personnel in the back of light duty trucks.

The DMZ hosts some 5,000,000 tourists per year, and there are the facilities to handle the throngs.  Jay collected our passports and purchased the tickets which were 15,000 Won or $15 each.  We had an assigned 12:00 noon departure time, so we ate a local lunch and did some souvenir shopping. Once onboard the tour bus (mandatory transportation) we could take no pictures as we would be entering a military zone.  At the checkpoint  into the DMZ, our passports were once again checked and the bus was allowed to pass, cross a long bridge with barriers forcing a weaving maneuver.  Our first stop was at a very modern railway station that only stopped being used last year.  

 We then visited tunnel #3.  We could take pictures around the parking area, but had to check backpacks and cameras and don hard hats before riding a narrow gauge open car cog railway train down a tunnel 300 meters diagonally while descending 75 meters.  At the bottom we walked in a stooped position about 170 meters, and turned around and walked back together to the train.  The tunnel was extremely damp with low ceilings, and enough room to allow people to walk side by side.  I lost track of the number of times my helmet hit the ceiling.

Once we were on the surface, we retrieved our items from the locker, snapped a few photos, and reboarded the bus for the trip up the mountain to peer at North Korea.  Both North and South Korea blare propaganda messages at each other and the messages seem to cancel each other out.  We could see the world's tallest flagpole far in the distance in N. Korea.  On the drive back to the reception area we stopped at a folk village where my wife walked around a bit.  

At the reception area, we walked over the Freedom Bridge and got to look over a vintage war damaged locomotive recovered from the DMZ.

Back at the ship we elected to take the shuttle back to the shopping area where we toured both the above and underground (huge!).  The evening's main entertainment was a showing of Hidden Figures on the Main Stage screen.  While marred with an audio problem near the end, it was good to see again.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Korea, and we have a tour scheduled.  Stay tuned!

Day 22 - Tuesday - 4/18/17 - At Sea to Jeju

It was another restful day on the ship.  After the interdenominational service, Jeremy presented his final port talks on Japanese ports: Miyazaki and Yokohama.  Dr. Kam gave a presentation on the history and tenets of Buddhism.  

In the afternoon, we booked a cruise on the Volendam for 56 days starting in Singapore in mid February, 2018 and ending in Yokohama in mid April.  We are really liking these new Asian ports this year and next year we will add  4 new countries for us plus many new ports and revisits to HK, China, the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.

We also attended the BBC game show which is always interesting.  It was Gala night with Crab and Filet Mignon, so we dressed up and ate dinner in the  main dining room with Ray and Barbara and their 11 year old daughter whose birthday was today.  Our granddaughter enjoyed showing Megan drawing techniques.

The evening's movie was Hacksaw Ridge, and despite the gruesome war scenes, it was a great story about sticking to one's convictions.  For the showroom entertainment, Glenn Starr, an Aussie, sang songs from the 50's and 60's.

Tomorrow will come early and we have a tour scheduled in Jeju.

Day 21 - Monday - 4/17/17 - Ishigaki

We've never been here  before, but after spending the day here on Ishigaki and on the nearby island of Taketomi, I can see that this is Japan's island paradise.  There were two groups totaling 35 people who were on today's tour which was organized by a Cruise Critic partipant.  It was a fraction of the cost of the similar HAL tour.  Our bus took us to the nearby ferry terminal where our guide purchased ferry tickets for us.  We also received an introduction to the group of islands which are called the Yaeyama Islands.  I also found a vending machine which served Coke Plus which is a new zero calorie drink which helps burn calories.  It tasted to me much like Coke Zero.

There are ferries that serve every island and they are sleek and modern.  One gets belted in like taking an airplane ride.  Our ride to Taketomi Island took around 15 minutes where we boarded a glass bottomed boat for a trip out to a nearby coral reef.  Much of the reef that we saw was dead, but other portions were quite colorful with numbers of small fish.  We even saw a clownfish (Nemo).    On the way back to the harbor alongside the breakwater there was a large school of small barracuda.  Our two minibuses then took us on a short ride to two beaches.  The first was Starsand beach with the unique feature of very small sand like crystals in the perfect shape of tiny stars.  I learned that they were actually plant material that crystallized.  The second beach was Kondoi Beach which was a gorgeous white sand beach with a number of people swimming and sunbathing.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to swim there.  

Our buses dropped us off at a place where the water buffalo wagon ride departed from. The large water buffalo were controlled by a single piece of rope through their nostril, and they faithfully plodded along on the 1/ 2 hour ride around the village.  All of the houses are of concrete construction and most have tile roofs with a stone lion on the roof for protection.  Additionally each plot of land is surrounded by a thick coral rock fence about 4 feet high which is used for typhoon protection.  

We took a tour of the small museum inside their only temple before walking to a little cafe where we obtained some liquid refreshment and others some ice cream.  It was a bit hot (actually more than a bit!) with high humidity and we were ahead of schedule.  Our group voted to head back to the ferry terminal and catch an earlier ferry back to Ishigaki Island.  Once there, most of our group boarded prepaid taxis back to the ship.  We elected to walk around the downtown area and then walked the 20 minutes back to the ship.  

Once on board, we went through exit immigration from Japan.  It was pretty quick because all the officials had to do was scan a QR code that was placed in our passports when we entered the country a little over a week ago.  

My wife and I adjourned to the Crow's Nest to enjoy a refreshing soda, listen in on team trivia, and watch the sail away.  We took dinner in the Lido again but without our granddaughter as she had connected up with her new friends for dinner.

Phil's talk on Buddhism tonight was fully attended.  It was an intellectual presentation of the history and tenets of this important faith group within Asian culture.  Afterwards we elected to read and I updated this blog as the evening entertainment was BBC's Frozen Planet Live which we've seen multiple times and the night's movie didn't appeal either.  

With tomorrow being a sea day, we're really looking forward to relaxing.

Day 20 - Sunday - 4/16/17 - Naha

'He is Risen!' Was the anthem for the Easter Sunrise service held out on the aft pool area of the Lido at 6am this morning.  But it happened without me as I don't do mornings well. But I was awake to see the ship slide into its berth at Naha at 8am.  Our small group of 12 met in the Ocean Bar at 8:30am and after we cleared a quick immigration check, we found our guide for the day, Kari and boarded the small bus.

We reached the Syuri Castle which was heavily damaged by the US in WWII because underneath it was a military command post.  The castle has been totally restored and the design is very reminiscent of Chinese architecture.  Nearby is the royal mausoleum (Tama-udun)which was also damaged and restored.

We took a 'stroll' down the Kinjo-cho stone pavement which was actually quite steep.  On our way to the Ryukyu garden (Shikinaen), we passed by a large cement constructed agricultural dam.  The garden was constructed to impress the Chinese and was quite nice.  We then took a stroll down the Pottery Street which led to the major shopping arcade.  We sampled some of the local beef, and it was scrumptious.  Our granddaughter found an 'owl zoo' and really liked it.  While she was doing that I wandered the market   One thing I've  noticed about Japanese markets is there are very few little electronic shops.  But lots of tshirt shops!

We met at a nearby Starbucks and watched a street performer swallow flames. There was also a nearby Burger King and A&W (the first I've seen this trip).

I found it interesting as we drove around that concrete was the  typical method of single family hive construction.  I don't recall seeing a wood framed house.

Back on our ship, we checked email and FB up in the Crow's Nest while listening in on happy hour trivia.  The ship departed just after five and did a 180° clockwise turn while backing up.  These turns are super fun to watch. As we departed the port, we watched airplanes land at the airport and then they appeared to hold the airplanes until we left the area of the flight path final approach.  I'm pretty certain a 800 foot long cruise ship sailing 90° to the runway and less than 1/4 mile off the end of  the runway is quite a distraction. For the first time in a long while I watched the pilot disembark the vessel before we enjoyed Asian cuisine in the Lido marketplace with our granddaughter.

After dinner Phil gave a presentation on Japanese hot springs and baths.  The three of us then watched the movie, Dr. Strange and it was strange!   Afterwards as I walked into the main stage area, the comedienne, Frank King was standing in the back of the auditorium and commented that he would be giving his show right there as there were only three of us.  It seems that he bumped his watch and it showed 9:54pm.  When the three of us said it was only 9:24pm, he was quite relieved.  After the show I chatted bit with Mr. King who's from Oregon.

Tomorrow we have some interesting and different things to do in Ishigashi

Day 19 - Saturday - 4/15/17 - At Sea to Naha

The seas continued flat overnight and we continued to clip along on our way to Naha. After breakfast in the Lido, the interdenominational service was well attended.  Following this in America's Test Kitchen, Samantha prepared a couple of Italian items that looked really yummy.  

In the Mariner Awards Ceremony one young lady, Megan, (yes the same one from the circus night received special recognition as the youngest Bronze medallion holder at age 10.  The Cruise Director, Bruce, joked that she'd be in the president's club by 15!  At the lunch following, we sat with Megan and her parents (Ray and Barbara) and enjoyed a very pleasant lunch.  Megan even went and retrieved Anastasia and brought her to lunch!

Afterwards we walked the deck for a bit before watching the Future Cruise Consultant presentation. We then watched the ocean go by and read up in the Crow's Nest until dinner.

At dinner our granddaughter didn't show up on time but eventually made it and displayed the most enthusiasm we've seen the whole trip.  Besides meeting Megan, she met some others her age at Club Hal.  That was great to see her finally connect.  Meanwhile we enjoyed dinner and conversation with Rev Barry and his wife Lisa.

We watched the 7:30pm showing of Fences followed by the 10pm cast show entitled Variations.

Day 18 - Friday - 4/14/17 - Osaka - Day 2

After two days in Osaka, I've found it becoming my second favorite port that we have sailed to in the world.  It's a splendid setting to dock the ship and located right next to many activities.  There's a Ferris wheel, world class acquarium, shopping mall, Lego land, easy access to public transportation, and good access to WiFi and money exchange.  Nearby is Universal Studios Osaka.

We met up with a group of travelers from Cruise Critic and navigated our way on the subway including a transfer to the Shitennoji Temple.  It's a big temple and among the oldest in Japan.  Besides the beautiful temple grounds, there was the largest collection of sunning turtles I've ever seen in the world.  Back on the subway we traveled back to the Temmabashi station where we joined the masses who were walking to the Okawa River with its beautiful display of cherry trees and the nearby Osaka Castle (which we didn't visit).  After viewing the cherry blossoms and sampling some food from one of the many street vendors, our family and one other traveler walked back to the subway station to be whisked back to the port.  I would add that we purchased all day passes for 800¥ so we wouldn't have to bother with lots of separate ticket purchases.

Back at the port, my wife and I enjoyed several hours at the acquarium.  I especially like the penguin exhibits and the remainder of the acquarium was very nice also.  Just before boarding the ship we tried to use the port wifi but it was overloaded.  So we elected to use our personal WiFi device which worked wonderfully and allowed us to get our email and read and post to Facebook and other sites where lerealxing in the comfort of the Crow's Nest.  Based upon onboard feedback and interest, I'll do a separate post about the device.

The sail away was beautiful and accompanied by a game of trivia which my wife and I did well in.

After dinner, we re-attended Phil's lecture on Ramen, and watched the movie, Collateral Beauty starring Will Smith.  It was really good.  Our evening ended with another concert by Tomoro xxx, the Japanese pianist we saw on the first segment.

Tomorrow is a sea day and a chance to rest up.

Day 17 - Thursday - 4/13/17 - Osaka

After a very smooth overnight sailing, we tied up at the Osaka terminal which is located next to a giant Ferris wheel, Legoland, an acquarium, and a huge shopping mall.  We had an organized tour with other 9 other Cruise Critic participants to see highlights of Kyoto.  Kyoto is the old capital of Japan sandwiched between Nara and the current capital of Tokyo.  Our mini van was comfortable and quiet and whisked us to Kyoto in a little over an hour with our guide Mi giving commentary along the way.

Our first stop was at the former Imperial Palace.  We had to leave our shoes behind and get herded (literally) through the palace. There were dozens of tour groups and it was exceptionally crowded.  We then visited another temple with its Golden Pavillion which was quite scenic (cherry blossoming is in full swing here), but it was also quite crowded.  We then made a lunch/shopping break stop at a large shopping area at Teramachi.  Once again it was super crowded but there were lots of interesting shops and items including a store with lots of Manga items which delighted our granddaughter.  

The final stop for a couple hours was at the Kiyomitzu Temple at the top end of a very traditional shopping street.  A part of the temple is under reconstruction and it was a cool experience to drink using ladles cleaned by ultra-violet rays from the pure water flowing out of the hillside.  Again it was very crowded.  At just before 4pm we headed back to the ship and were there by 5:30pm where we said our goodbyes to Mi and our driver.  We re-boarded the ship, dropped off our purchases and backpacks, and headed back out for some late exploring.  We exchanged some money at the terminal so we could have more Yen and then went to find the Manga store devoted to one series called One Piece with its pirate theme.  We easily found it and my granddaughter bought a few things. We ate some spicy chicken at a nearby street vendor that was quite good before going to explore the building containing the entrance to the Ferris wheel and Legoland.  There's a very cool full size lego giraffe located in front of the building.  The first floor is largely filled with eating places of all kinds including Subway, First Kitchen, and many uniquely Japanese cuisine food shops.  General merchandise is on the second floor as well as the entrance to Legoland and the Ferris wheel.  Tickets for the Ferris wheel must, however, be purchased on the ground floor.  There was a cruise ship price of 700¥ per person (100¥ discount) which was a nice gesture. We took a ride and enjoyed the sights before eating some pork patties over rice with odon noodle soup.  We put our granddaughter back on the ship while we checked our email and Facebook accounts.

Back onboard we watched a 9:30pm performance of the Ikura circus in the main theatre before retiring for the evening.  A 10 year old girl passenger named Megan was chosen from the audience to participate in one of the stunts as a Ninja and she was fabulous!

Tomorrow, we'll explore a bit of Osaka using public transportation before needing to be onboard by 3:30pm. 

Day 16 - Wednesday - 4/12/17 - At Sea to Osaka

There was certainly motion to the ocean overnight and this morning.  Fortunately we were only sailing at 10 knots or 11 miles per hour because Yokohama and Osaka are relatively close to one another.  We attended the first of the new interdenominational services, and this one was led by Rev Barry White from Florida. Because this is Easter week, we'll have a service on Friday night as well as Easter Sunday.  Afterwards we watched a presentation on shore excursions by the Shore Excursions manager and the Location Guide.  

The Cruise Critic meet and greet was scheduled for 11am which was very unfortunate as it conflicted with the major morning lecture on Japan by Dr. Kam.  It was well attended; however, it would have been better to have introduced those of us who organized tours (4-5 of us) so we could more easily connect with our participants.  I was, however, able to connect with most of my fellow travelers who are on my tours.  Also seasickness plagued a few attendees.

At lunch we enjoyed great conversation about cruising and other related topics with a couple fellow travelers.  Then Jeremy gave his port presentation on Osaka which was quite informative and confidence building.

What a difference a day makes!  We were able to finally walk outside on the Promenade deck (#3) and logged 3.5 miles.  The wind died down, the seas calmed down, it was sunny and I wore a t-shirt.  No wildlife was spotted but we saw lots of marine traffic on this route along the eastern Japanese coast.  We also elected to skip the formal dinner in the main dining room and eat in the Lido.  The Captain was there to eat and we had a brief conversation about our mutual interest in riding a motorcycle in Europe.  He has the same model motorcycle as I do (a BMW R1200GS).  

After dinner we attended Phil's repeat lecture on Manga and it turned out to be quite different than the previous presentation and was quite good.  From there we went to the Captain's toast in the main showroom.  

It's worth noting that like the prior segment's toast, none of the senior officers were introduced.  I see that as a community communications shortcoming as we are all curious about knowing who runs the various ship's departments.  I, for one, don't view a cruise as just a floating hotel.  It's the whole sailing experience.  Certainly we know who the Captain, Cruise Director, and the entertainment staff are, but it would be nice to see who the staff captain and chief engineer are, among others.  I've noted a number of other changes which I'll comment on later.  Some are just changes, and some are negatives in my opinion.

The evening's entertainment was the cast performing 'Atlantic Crossing' a show focused on the invasion of British music in America.  While we've seen this about a dozen times, we still enjoy watching it.

The rest of the evening we spent reading.  I started a new book on George Washington's life between the time of his resignation as General and his election as president 6 years later.  The first 3 chapters are really good!

Tomorrow we have a overview tour of Osaka with a Cruise Critic group and plan to visit a Manga store afterwards.

Day 15 - Tuesday - 4/11/17 - Yokohama

It was a quiet sail into the Yokohama harbor. But we thought we might encounter Noah rounding up the animals for the ark as it was rainy no so much!  I had organized a walking tour using Tours By Locals and we met upTomi, a gentle older lady who was to be our guide for the day.  We headed out of the spacious and modern port complex into the rain.  Fortunately there was a convenience store at the exit of the port where I purchased a couple of umbrellas. 

Our walking tour took us west to the museum ship Hikawa Maru and Yamashita Park and by the Doll Museum.  After a short hike up the hill and past the cherry blossoms, we reached the Minato-no-mirror Oka Park with lots of beautiful flowers and vistas that were somewhat obscured by the low clouds and rain.  At the nearby Foreign General Cemetery, we spent some time out of the rain in a room containing historical information about the Cemetery.  Following a pretty steep descent, we found ourselves in the Motomachi shopping district with its large collection of high end retail stores.  Nearby in Chinatown, we visited an active temple and found a wonderful restaurant to have a bowl of clams and noodle soup.  

We caught the Minatomiral subway line to the Yokohama station (210¥ per person) and visited one of the largest and nicest food courts we've ever visited.  I could have spent much more time there!  Upstairs on the 7th floor we visited a bookstore where our granddaughter purchased some Manga comic books written in Japanese.  We then took the subway back to the port area and said our goodbyes to Tomi who showed us just a small fraction of the city.  It's quite walkable and there's definitely lots to see.  There are excellent maps available in the terminal as well as a very nice tourist information booth.  

Back onboard the ship we spred out our wet umbrellas and clothes to dry and adjourned to the Crow's Nest for a soda and a chance to relax before our mandatory muster drill.  This one was conducted in the driving rain, so now we have done muster drills in daylight, dark, cold, sunny, and rainy conditions!

We took dinner once again in the Lido before watching the Tom Cruise action movie 'Never Go Back' and the Stage Show 'Listen to the Music' which introduced the entertainment staff.  It was also fun to see the newbies walking around the ship trying to get oriented as well as meeting a number of people we have cruised with previously.  We finished the evening drinking tea in the Lido which was very sparsely attended probably due to everyone's travel tiredness.

Tomorrow is a sea day on our way to Osaka.    Stay tuned.

Day 14 - Monday - 4/9/17 - At Sea to Yokohama

As the Captain predicted yesterday, the winds and motion in the ocean increased overnight.  We attended our last interdenominational service with Pastor Ken before attending Jeremy's last presentation on sights in Yokohama and Tokyo.  We was followed by Dr. Kam's last presentation on China.  It was an assessment of the current political and economic conditions in China and explained how China came to the powerhouse position it's in now.  It was an excellent presentation.  For the next segment he'll be speaking on topic can related to Japan.

Throughout the day the ship's moment became more intense until cresting around 4:30pm.  Our granddaughter wasn't fairing well with the motion and spent most of the day in our stateroom.  We attended a presentation about the stage productions as well as interviews with the cast members and took a tour of the back stage area.  While sitting in the Crow's Nest watching the waves spray up alongside the ship, I then finished reading 'The Boys In The Boat' which I heartily recommend (both sitting in the Crow's Nest watching water pass under the keel and the book!).

Phil gave his 7pm presentation on Ramen which was thoroughly engaging.

The BBC film, Frozen Planet, which was accompanied live  by the Volendam Orchestra was the evening entertainment, but not that well attended.  Since we were tired, we chose to got to bed earlier than normal by 10pm.

Tomorrow we arrive in Yokohama for a turnaround stop.  We gave a walking tour scheduled.  Stay tuned!

Day 13 - Sunday - 4/9/17 - Kagoshima

It has been said, "The best plans of mice and men often go astray."  This day was one of those.  I had thought with this being such a small port area that we would be able to do a number of things.  But it was not to be and that turned out to be okay.   

We arrived in Kagoshima right on time at 8am to an enthusiastic welcoming crowd.  We watched a number of HAL shore excursions depart the terminal area while we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before disembarking the ship.  At the very friendly tourist information center, we obtained a nice map and purchased for 1,000YEN a "Welcome CUTE" card which gives us unlimited access to the public transportation including the Kagoshima trams, buses, the Sakurajima ferry, and the bus on the Sakurajima Island where the volcano is located.  

The international cruise terminal is located about 20 minutes from the downtown area, but HAL provided free courtesy shuttles that operated until 3:30pm we were told.  However, we didn't note in the printed daily program that they actually ran until 4:30pm.  Again that worked out okay.  So off on the shuttle we went and at the drop off point we were greeted by local guides who could answer questions.  We were directed to a local book store where we were able to find some items for our granddaughter.  We then walked about a mile to the ferry so that we could take the 11:05am ferry which is the only ferry during the day that takes 50 minutes to cross the harbor.  In effect, it's a mini-cruise.  (Like we need another cruise!}.  What everyone failed to tell us was that we needed to go to the ticket office to present our CUTE pass for the proper ticket.  Eventually we figured it out, and boarded the pretty purple colored ferry with its two car decks and two passenger decks.  

I should add that while walking around I noted many cute but small and boxy Japanese cars that are quite unlike any we have seen elsewhere in the world.  And they were everywhere.  Also there were multiple HONDA car dealers all along the main road into town, plus dealers for NISSAN, SUZUKI, and other brands I didn't recognize.  I also spotted motorcycle dealers including Yamaha, HONDA, and Ducati.  And there were a few Harley's being ridden around. 

Coming back to our trip, the cruise was a nice way to see the harbor and the island from a water perspective.  Upon disembarking from the ferry at the island we immediately made our way downstairs to the bus stop and noted there were at least two bus loads of people waiting for the 12:15pm Island View Tour Bus.  Fortunately they added a second bus and all of us were accommodated.  The bus was very crowded but made 3 stops where we could get off and take pictures.  The 3rd stop at the Yunonohira Observatory at 337 meters or just over 1,000 feet in elevation was the most scenic stop.  Unfortunately Mt. Sakurajima was covered in clouds so we couldn't see the summit from the observatory.  

Back at the ferry terminal, we got off the bus and headed out to find something to eat.  We found a WATSONS convernience store and procured some chicken, sticky buns, sushi, and sodas.  Pat & Darrell, who were on our tour yesterday, showed up and encouraged us to walk a bit farther and enjoy a foot dip in the heated water and take in the views of the volcanic rocks along the beach.  So we took their suggestion and headed there.  At the foot bath area, we struck up a conversation with a Belgian traveling DJ and enjoyed that conversation.  He may be playing Seattle during May.  We'll try to look him up. Afterwards we made our way to the ferry and happened to be able to get on the same purple ferry for the 15 minute ride back to the mainland.  We then walked pretty fast to the shuttle pick-up point and arrived there right at 3:30pm on the dot!   There was quite a line there, and we were able to get on a bus around 4pm.  

Back at the ship, we did a bit of shopping before boarding the ship and heading up to the Crow's Nest for the sail away.  In the Crow's Nest we met a nice couple from Florida and exchanged some tips on cruising with emphasis on the portable WIFI device that I use.  They encouraged me to write my tips up in my blog which I may do during the Pacific crossing.  About that time my wife arrived and said our granddaughter needed my technical help in getting the DVD player to work in the cabin.  So off I went to help her (it took about 20 seconds) and she was impressed. I then returned to the Crow's Nest to photograph the mountain which had finally lost its cloud cover as well as the drummers who were sending us off.  I really appreciate when communities do activities like this to welcome or send us off.  I know we bring a a lot of economic stimulus to their local economies.

Just after we departed the Captain came on the PA system with information about our course.  He noted we may encounter gale force winds (8 on the Beaufort scale).  By the way, he normally does these announcements before our departure, and I don't know the reason for the departure.

We had a very quick LIDO dinner (the captain was also eating dinner in the Lido) and we attended Phil's presentation on Japanese Tea Ceremonies.  It was very good as usual.  

Classique was the evening stage show by the singers and dancers.  It's probably my favorite of all of their shows because of the classical music songs and dances plus the costuming is excellent.  We've seen this show at least a half dozen times and probably more.  I even went back to see the 10pm show.  Jackie was the movie, but I didn't want to see it.

Day 12 - Saturday - 4/8/17 - Nagasaki

It was the longest night sleeping of the voyage so far:  9 hours!  We started rolling out of bed after 9am!  Breakfast was being served until 10am, so I didn't miss it.

I collected the departure tickets for our group (I arrived at 9:45 and the tickets were not supposed to be distributed until 10 but so many people lined up starting at 9am, they opened the distribution early). However, later one of the leaders of a prior excursion came by with 7 tickets good for immediate departure!  Hooray!!

We played the BBC World trivia game with its super hard questions.  We got 7 out of 22 correct.

The foggy but flat sea conditions persisted, but eventually land showed up.  The ship slowed to a stop for the pilot to board and we then resumed our sail into the Port of Nagasaki.  The clouds were hanging low over the  mountains surrounding this bay.  There were lots of shipyards (big and small) dotting the shoreline, and we passed under a bridge.

Once docked at 1pm, we were able to get off in the first group and through immigration which includes thermal imaging, a photo, and pointy finger fingerprints plus the normal presentation of one's passport.  Our guide for the 5 hour tour was Kikki and we first bought all day tram passes for 500¥ ($4.50) as we were projected to use the tram 4 times at 120¥ each.  It was way more convenient to not fool around with separate tickets.

Our first tram ride to the Atom Bomb museum involved a tram transfer and a 20 minute ride.  The museum (a small entrance fee) is nicely done with artifacts, movies, narrative in English and Japanese, and still photographs.  It's a somber place.  Nearby is the Peace Park and the marker for Ground Zero of the bomb blast.  There are some very cool escalators that have a flat section in between two ascending sections.  I don't recall ever seeing that design anywhere else in the world.  Afterwards we reboarded the tram for a 20 minute ride back to near the ship to visit the Glover Gardens.

The entrance to the Glover Gardens is reached by cool funicular style elevator and a 3 story elevator.  There is a small fee to enter the garden where one is treated to an opening view of a koi fish pond with enormous koi.  One then can wander back down through the garden perched on the hillside.  The Glover's residence was also part of the tour.  Thomas Glover was a Scottish industrialist from the 1800's responsible for the industrial development of this area. 

After this visit our group separated with part going back to the ship while my family and I took another tram ride into Nagasaki to visit a shopping arcade.  We only had an hour there but it was cool to see our first Japanese shopping mall.  We said goodbye to Kikki and boarded our #5 tram back to the ship.

With a quick dinner, we went to the movie, Into the Trees starring Matthew McConahie. Then we attended a piano concert before having a late snack and cool discussion with Austin, one of the male vocalists.  By now it was midnight and time for bed.

Tomorrow is Kagoshima and we are doing an independent touring.  Stay tuned!

Day 11 - Friday - 4/7/17 - At Sea to Nagasaki

I do like sea days and this was to be no exception.  Still tired from the walking and climbing of the previous two days plus the loss of an hour of sleep, morning came too early at 8am.  We made the 9am interdenominational service at 9 which was very lightly attended before watching Jeremy give an overview on Nagasaki abd Kagoshima. Dr. Kam then gave another excellent history on modern China from 1911 to the end of the Cultural Revolution.  His next and final talk will be on modern China.  Our Captain fielded a great set of audience generated questions.  It was one of the better Captain's Q&A type sessions that we have heard.  We once again picked up our passports (hopefully for the last time).

All day long we've been cruising at nearly full speed of 22mph across glassy smooth but hazy conditions. Earlier in the day, the fog horn emitted its baneful low tone every 2 minutes.

It was the third and final Gala Dinner with filet mignon and lobster.  Afterwards, Philip, our location host gave a nice talk on the history of information about sushi.  Deion, a fairy tale like stage show was presented by the singers and dancers.  The girls wanted to watch the 10pm show of the movie 'LaLa Land'. I tried watching it, but it was not engaging to watch a second time so I went to bed.

Tomorrow afternoon we arrive in Nagasaki for an afternoon/early evening visit.

Day 10 - Thursday - 4/6/17 - Tianjin Walking Tour

We've been traveling in haze and fog since Hong Kong and this morning it was denser that normal. Visibility was less than 150 feet!  We assembled our group and met our guide, Katherine.  

On the way out of the terminal we noted a lot of HAL excursion participants walking back to the ship.  It seems that the road to Beijing was blocked by fog and accidents and they had been stopped on the freeway for over an hour after traveling at least an hour towards Beijing.  So 6 bus loads of tours were cancelled. 

We boarded our shuttle van for our twenty minute ride to the bullet train station at Yujiapu. Katherine purchased our RT tickets.  It's worth noting that we had to produce our passport copies to purchase the tickets and we went through two security screenings.  

The bullet train was clean and sleek and outfitted like an airliner. The ride was unbelievably smooth and the maximum speed we noted was 268kph or 160mph.  It took about 20 minutes to travel between the  Yujiapu and Tianjin stations.  The Yujiapu station is a modern aluminum domed affair that's quite new and the Tianjin Station is around 100 years old on the outside but thoroughly modern on the inside.

Once we arrived at the Tianjin train station, Katherine broke the group up into three groups and put each group into a taxi, paid the driver, and told him where to drop us off.  It actually worked and we all ended up at a spot near the Grand Canal.  But would it work as smoothly on the return trip?  The walk along the Grand Canal was pleasant with lots of fishermen and other walkers.  Since this is not a typical Western tourist location, it was interesting to have Chinese people taking pictures of us.  I was able to get one picture of a Chinese youngster who received one of my giveaway stickers.  Of course his mother wanted a picture of me with the child.

In the downtown area we found a traditional Chinese shopping area that was very colorful.  Later on we found an indoor food market with an amazing variety of traditional food items.  Katherine then found 3 cabs, paid each driver, and told each to drop us off at the same location.  We reached a bridge over the river, and the driver said to get out of the cab.  So we did, and we had no clue where were at as we hadn't left the train station on foot so we didn't know what the train station looked like.  I even showed a picture of a bullet train to a local who didn't speak English but he didn't comprehend the question.  About that time our guide appeared and all was good.  It seems that all three drivers who received the same instructions dropped each of the three groups off at a different location!  

We went through only one security scan at the Tianjin bullet train station and made our way to the platform.  This station is huge, easily as large or larger than SeaTac airport.  Our train from Beijing was about two minutes late but once on board it whisked us to our stop at Yujiapu in 20 minutes where we met our shuttle bus driver for a quick ride to a local restaurant for a yummy late multi-course local cuisine lunch at 2:30pm ish.  And then all too soon we were dropped off at the terminal just before 4 and onboard at the 4pm onboard time where we surrendered our copy of our passport to HAL staff.   

An important thing to remember when visiting Chinese ports is that the onboard time seems to be at least 2 hours before the departure time listed in the itinerary documents.  So one must factor that into one's travel plans.

We wanted to watch the sail away so we positioned ourselves in the Crow's Nest.  As the 6pm projected departure time approached, the Captain came on the PA system and said that a passenger required medical care that the ship couldn't provide so they had to be cleared to leave the ship and the ship re-cleared to depart.  We eventually departed around 7pm in a total haze with a golden globe dropping ever lower in the sky.  We adjourned to Phillip's presentation on Manga which was really good.  The night's movie was a Chinese film with English subtitles titled 'Coming Home'.  It was a very moving and sad account about a Chinese family the father of which was politically imprisoned but eventually makes it home to his now senile wife who doesn't remember him.

The evening's entertainment was Funny Bones, a vaudeville type comedy duo.  And then all too soon, it was time to lose an hour with our clocks being set forward overnight by an hour to Tokyo time.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we sail to Nagasaki.  We're taking a walking tour there.  Stay tuned.

Day 9 - Wednesday - 4/5/17 - The Great Wall

The saying goes, 'Old Guys Rule' but today the granddaughter rocked!  But more on that later.  We disembarked the boat shortly after 8am in what was a very smooth and orderly process.  There were lots of immigration officials and afterwards we surrendered our passports back to ship personnel.

The terminal is huge and appears to be a major port for Costa and Royal Caribbean judging by the signage.  Outside it was a bit of a wait until our 'Guide' Potter found us.  It seems that our English speaking guide had a family emergency, and a young non English speaking fellow would accompany us.  It was then a three hour bus ride in silence in the hazy conditions to the wall location east of Beijing.  The initial half's drive was on very modern but highly unused new freeways.  The area around the port is under massive redevelopment with lots of high rises and vacant land and roads.  It seems to be a policy of 'build it and they will come'.

The second half was on secondary roads through little towns, rural and stark country and up into the mountains.  It was sort of the China I pictured before coming here.  In a lot of ways it's very much like Central and South American small towns and villages.  Finally the Great Wall came into view.  To say it's impressive is an understatement.  This location at Huangyaguan has been restored and there are two sections of the wall that can be climbed:  a very steep eastern section and a steep western section.  We chose the latter!

At the base is a complex of structures resembling the old city and garrison quarters.  There's a very cool labyrinth to solve that was part of the original entrance plus gardens and guard towers.  Then there's the wall!  Its about twenty feet wide with 4-8 foot walls on each side above the walking surface.  Then there are the stairs.  Lots and lots of stairs.  Some with a low rise, but many with a high rise approaching 12 inches.  At times I found myself climbing hand and foot up the stairs due to their steepness.  And to think that every rock was hand carried on the backs of Chinese laborers over the course of hundreds of years.

My wife and granddaughter took off and ascended the stairs much faster than I could.  That's how the granddaughter rocked it!  My wife went all the way to the summit with a few others but I passed on the last really steep section and waited for her to come down.  We then descended the wall together (passing some crew members who had arrived and were ascending the wall) and met up with the group at the restaurant at the bottom.  But Anastasia was nowhere to be found.  So my wife went back with Potter and found her waiting at a location on the original route that we didn't take on our shortcut descent.  Afterwards we enjoyed a nice multi-course Chinese meal before the 3 hour ride back to our ship.  

Yes it's a long drive to see the Wall, but it was worth it.  And I do have the tshirt saying, 'I climbed the Great Wall' because it is literally a climb!

Back at the ship, the Lido was open later than normal, so we grabbed a light bite to eat.  There's only movies tonight so I am going to relax and do nothing but update my blog and relax.

We have a walking tour of Tianjin tomorrow. Stay tuned!  And while the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 8 - Tuesday - 4/4/17 - At Sea on the Yellow Sea to Tianjin

It turned out to be a really lazy day at sea.  There was no rush to get up at all, although were up by 8 am.  We skipped the interdenominational service and watched Gonzaga play North Carolina in the final game of the college championships from Phoenix.  The game was 6 pm Monday in Seattle but it was 9am Tuesday on the ship.

Dr. Kam gave a terrific talk on the history of China's dynasties up to the last emperor.  His next talk will cover from there to current day.  After lunch I continued my read of Boys in the Boat.  We were supposed to see a BBC game show, but it was cancelled for computer technical problems so I spent the rest of the afternoon reading.  Anastasia was much more chipper today especially when she met a 15 year old Aussie boy with similar interests.

Dinner was in the Lido Market again and then Philip our location host gave a nice presentation on Dim Sum.  We watched 'Sully' in the main theatre before watching the cast presentation of 'Dance' at 10pm.

The skies outside during the day were very overcast and the ship barely crept along at 12 mph.  Much of the afternoon the fog horn was blaring its mournful tone.

Tomorrow our plan is to visit the Great Wall with Judy's group.  Stay tuned. 

Day 7 - Monday - 4/3/17 - Incheon & Seoul

Overnight we sailed into the Incheon harbor via the locks and backed into our berth in this industrial port. After a quick breakfast, we met up with our group in the ocean bar and waited until 8:30am before joining the immigration line. It turned out that for this port that the Koreans brought their staff onboard and set up multiple review stations.  The process involved a scan of one's keycard and passport and visual confirmation of one's facial match to the presented passport.  All totaled the process took no more than 10 minutes from the time the line started moving until we were done.  We walked off the ship by 8:45am and easily found our guide for the day.  There were 7 of us in a 10 passenger mini-van.

It took around 1.5 hours to reach Seoul with a number of traffic backups.  Once we were in the city our guide took us to the restored Cheong Gai Chong stream that has a strong cultural history.  They've re-created a beautiful waterfall and riverbed and it is a pleasant place to relax.

Our next stop was the ancient palace grounds.  It's a walled affair about 1/3 the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing.  The palace grounds has been destroyed and rebuilt many times due to foreign occupations, but fortunately the original plans have been preserved so that the complex could be rebuilt.  One of the most striking features about this site are the sheer number of young ladies and a few young men that wear traditional Korean clothing (it gains them free entrance to the grounds).  The dresses are simply spectacular and very colorful.  They can be rented for 10,000 Won for two hours or $10US. 

The grounds include the King's and Queen's palaces, meeting and administrative offices, gardens, cook houses, and housing for the King's other wives and relatives.  The architecture is very Chinese with Chinese inscriptions on every building.  The buildings were last used in the 1920's when the last emperor reigned.

Adjoining the palace was an excellent free museum and we spent far too little time there.  We drove a bit further into the city in order to enjoy a traditional Korean lunch.  It was flavorful and really not too spicy.  After lunch we visited a Buddhist temple which was decorated with thousands of very colorful lanterns in honor of Buddha's upcoming birthday on May 1.  We had a few minutes to stroll the pedestrian walking mall before driving to the traditional ancient village.

This village is a collection of historic small Korean houses and was quite scenic.  For here we drove back to the port and said our goodbyes to our guide, paid him the $63pp cost, and reboarded the Volendam.  

On the drive back our granddaughter became ill with a really queasy stomach.  So we positioned her in our stateroom under covers and with liquids.  We went up to the Crow's Nest where we watched the sail away including passing through a cute set of  locks that dropped us about 3 feet to the ocean level.  There was also a very pretty Ferris wheel near the locks.

After a very quick Lido dinner, we watched the evening's entertainment, Paul Emmanuel, who's from the U.K. and a very good singer of standards.

Tonight was also the Philipino crew show at 11:00pm.  Fortunately, we turn back our clocks one hour as we sail to Tanjin, China.  Tomorrow is another sea day which will be good for some recuperation.  Stay tuned for more.