Wednesday, November 19

At sea. A much calmer sea, in fact. After a couple more work sessions today (each necessarily short to let the glue dry in between additions), the dragon is almost done. We’ll have a “private showing” for our table mates tomorrow evening, then she gets turned in for judging on the 21st.

Thursday, November 20

Ae sea and once again out of range of CNN! O Joy! O Rapture!

The second passenger talent show was this afternoon. While some passengers repeated their acts with slightly different material, there were also some new ones including a very nice flute/piano duet, and the HAL Chorus had a new song to add to their others. They did an excellent job again. Probably no wonder as our Cruise Director, Bruce Scudder, was a child prodigy on the organ and holds a master’s in music from U. Michigan plus a double master’s from Julliard in piano performance and conducting. With all that and his sense of humor, he could probably get music from row of deck chairs, much less from a group who are actually interested in singing (regardless of actual talent, although there were a good number of nice voices among the 40-45 members of the chorus.)

This afternoon I was out back on deck (the fantail?) and came up with the following:

Sun road behind us -
glaring white on blue ocean.
The journey’s ending.

I can’t decide whether to being packing some things now or to wait and do a “panic pack” on the last day. Either way is a bummer!

Friday, November 21

Still at sea and getting closer to San Diego!

Well, the dragon’s done as you can see. The sign with her reads: “Delilah Dragon-dam brings us the gift of a wonderful cruise.” And we did manage to use at least one of everything on the

“required” list including one paper hole reinforcement in an inconspicuous but highly appropriate place. There were seven entries in the contest. We didn’t win, but got lots and lots of positive and appreciative comments.

The top two vote-getters (intricate to the point of fussiness) were disqualified because they didn’t use one or another of the required bits. The winner was this very detailed rendition of an oriental temple complete with a lighted buddha inside. It was quite nice as you can see. As with the trivia competition, the best part of not winning is not getting any prizes that have to be packed to carry home or otherwise disposed of.

I’ve been on somewhere between 35 and 40 cruises now. I usually buy a copy of the photograph of everyone at the table in the dining room taken by the ship’s photographer just as a record. This time, however, the photo is actually really good of all seven of us! Nobody squinched their eyes or had an odd look on their face! I was amazed!

Tonight is the last formal night at dinner, so I’ll probably begin packing after that. *sigh* Unless something really interesting happens tomorrow (other than more packing), I’ll end this account here. It’s been a truly fabulous trip, and I’d do it again in a hearbeat!

Monday, November 17

Honolulu, Hawaii. I had planned to sleep in this morning, but at about 9:15 a.m. the ship held a fire drill for its crew members. This involves a series announcements and alarm signals piped into every cubbyhole on the entire ship at full volume. So much for sleep!

I didn’t do a whole lot today...went back to the Aloha Tower Marketplace and wandered around there a bit more through a some of Hawaii’s famous “liquid sunshine.”

I came back to the ship for a bit of lunch and found that Jill had returned from her jaunt to see friends on the Big Island. After that I somehow managed to fritter away the rest of the afternoon doing not much of anything which is ever so easy to do on board a cruise ship.

Before dinner here was a lovely program of young girls demonstrating the hula as you can see here. After dinner just about everybody on board went to the Crew Show. This time they held both the Filipino and Indonesian Crew Shows on the same night. Several of the ones I know wre in it. One is Joseph (in the Filipino show) who is a steward in the Sea View on the aft of Lido deck and a wine steward in the dining room. For some reason, he has decided that I am a good one to tease. He tries to sneak up on me and surprise me as I’m leaving the dining room. Most times I catch him at it, but a couple of times he’s managed to surprise me. If I did have my Fijian water pistol along, I could get him good! Also in the Indonesian part of the show was Rahman, the captain of our section of the dining room.

Tuesday, November 18

Lahaina, Maui. We are here for only part of the day...sailing at 2:00 p.m....and not docked but tendering in. I got up early with the intention of going ashore for at least a little while, but by the end of breakfast, the weather was more liquid than sunshine, so I gave it a miss. Jill went in, however, and said the rain wasn’t bad. She found a Crazy Shirt store (one of which I had been hoping to get to in Honolulu, but they were all too far away from where we were docked). She brought me back a Kliban Sumo Cat shirt!

Of course the weather cleared completely just about the time they were raising the tenders and anchor. Jill and I had been working on the dragon again (yes, I’ll post a photo of her when she’s done), so took an ice cream break to watch us sail around the north end of Maui and out into the Pacific headed at last for San Diego. Thus I was able to get some nice photos of Maui.

The North Pacific is running about 6 foot swells and the ship is doing about 21 knots...enough to remind one of the old sailor’s adage of “one hand for self, one hand for the ship.” It will probably remain like this until we get to San Diego.

Thursday, November 13

At sea with the usual laid back schedule. Noon is the time for team trivia. Here’s one for you from a couple of days ago...what country has an AK-47 on its national flag? I assure you I won’t forget this one again...it’s Mozambique! Or from yesterday, name the seven von Trapp children from “Sound of Music.” That one is a lot harder than the seven dwarfs! Our team lucked into three of the seven. Then today, what was the name of Captain Hook’s ship. And who played Marian the Librarian in “The Music Man” on Broadway before Shirley Jones played her in the movie? Jolly Roger and Barbara Cook.

I skipped the “Neptune’s Revenge” ceremony for crossing the Equator which we did at about 11:00 this morning. Such things are pretty silly with various people (nowadays members of the crew rather than passengers...probably someone sued over it) getting slimed with various gooey substances and tossed into the pool and made to kiss a dead fish etc.

In the afternoon Jill and I worked on our dragon again. Making pretty good progress. We have decided that her name is “Delilah Dragon-dam.”

Beginning in the late afternoon, we got into an area of reasonably significant swells. The sea condition is described as “moderate” meaning swells between 4 and 7.5 feet. It makes for uncertain walking but excellent sleeping.

Friday, November 14

At sea. Seas still moderate. Good sleeping. Didn’t do much all day. This evening was Polynesian formal night. I wore one of my new pareos as a skirt with a fancy jacket.

Coming back to the cabin I discovered our latest “gift” from the ship which is another nice duffle suitcase with wheels in which to carry home all sorts of acquired stuff. I haven’t really bought all that much stuff, so I’m going to try to pack one of my smaller suitcases inside a larger one to be shipped home so I’ll only have two to deal with on the plane. Fortunately we have 4 days after Maui to do trial packings. Only one week left!! I find that I’m still not really ready to get off, even with a 65 day cruise!

Saturday, November 15

Another lazy day at sea. Caught up with a couple of taped lectures on the tv that I had missed. Jill and I worked some more on Delilah Dragon-dam. We have until the 21st to finish her. Discovered, by accident, that we are back in range of the media, i.e. CNN et al.

Sunday, November 16

Honolulu, Hawaii. Up at just past the crack of dawn to go through US Customs and Border Protection (all they did was a “face check” against our passports which we now have back from the ship’s tender care). Grabbed some breakfast and went back to bed! This being my fourth visit to Oahu, I don’t have any tours booked

In the afternoon I made a “pilgrimage” to the local Wal-Mart along with about half of the ship’s passengers. Wal-Mart was even running a shuttle service! I went to pick up a couple of craft items for Delilah, but it was very interesting to see the difference in merchandise here as compared to central Virginia...mostly in clothing, although there was a pretty large “Hawaiian souvenir” department as well. After I returned to the ship’s vicinity, I wandered around the Aloha Tower Marketplace area for a while, in the process meeting three of my table mates plus a bunch of other passengers I know.

I then spent the late afternoon up in the Crow’s Nest watching rainbows come and go over the city.

Multiple rainbows
shimmering over Punchbowl
in liquid sunshine.

Tuesday, November 11 (The second one)

First, thanks for all the birthday messages and e-cards! You sent them on the 10th, and I actually got them the same day, but it was the (first) 11th here! Today is the second 11th as we cross the International Date Line, so now we’re back in sync with the U.S. dates again.

Last night, even after the lovely lunch we enjoyed, we all turned up for dinner! Also at dinner, I was presented with a lovely chocolate mousse birthday “cake” (which, of course got shared) and a serenade from our dining room staff. I’m not sure what language they sing in, but it’s their version of a :good wishes on your happy day” song and has a lot more pep than our usual “Happy Birthday.” Last night was also the big “Chocolate Buffet” upstairs at the Lido, but I figured I’d already ODed on chocolate for the day, and I can always see it in the photos Jill took.

Today we are at Apia, Samoa. It is a small island which was the home of Robert Louis Stevenson and is where he is buried. Weather is very hot and sticky and it’s quite a hike to the town’s center. I went ashore briefly to some temporary kiosk shops set up on the dock, but was soon back on board.

In the afternoon a group of young people, the Island Gospel Culture Group 2008, came aboard to present a folkloric show of a local legend about a young girl and an eel. They were very energetic, both with dancing and singing and even saying their lines. The show was lots of fun. Also during the day, there were one or two tours of the ship by groups of school children. I think it was great of the ship to do this for them as they obviously had a great time!

After we got back out into the open ocean, all of a sudden the Captain came on the PA saying that we had passed a small fishing boat that was waving a red flag, so we were going to turn around and go back to help them. So around we go, and about the time we get back and slowed down almost to a stop, and they are ready to lower a tender to go over to see what’s the matter, the little boat fires up its engine, runs a circle around us and heads off. The Captain comes back on the PA saying that the “red flag” turned out to be a guy waving a greeting to us with his red t-shirt! He then commented that he was going to see that the young man got another color t-shirt! Some of us think he also ought to get his bridge crew a better set of binoculars! But seriously, because they couldn’t raise the boat by radio, the Captain was obliged to do what he did in case there had been a problem.

Wednesday, November 12

At sea for the first of four days before reaching Hawaii! Jill I started work on our dragon this afternoon and made pretty good progress. In the past, on some trips, there have been contests for teams of people to build a ship from odd parts supplied by the cruise staff. This time the contest is not a ship, but “an icon of the trip.” So we (actually, Jill) decided on a dragon. There were three distributions of “parts,” and you must use at least one/some of each part in the first distribution. This includes things like corks, tiny papier-mache flowerpots, markers, a roll of red ribbon, a short piece of white ribbon, a foam paintbrush, etc. The second and third distributions have included a bag of mixed buttons, scissors, assorted pipe cleaners, medicine dose cups, rulers, dowels, glue sticks, aluminum foil, bits of glittery stuff, etc. At one of our ports, Jill found and bought a packet of fancy origami paper and a big hunk of florist’s foam (which carves like a dream), and we’ve been saving things like the gold foil wrappers from the pillow chocolates, etc. So now we have a head (which at the moment looks rather like a green duck while the glue dries, and a pair of front legs, and about a thousand ideas of what to do with the rest of it. The judging isn’t until after we leave Hawaii, so we’re making a list of stuff we might need at Wal-Mart, and I’ll make an expedition there on one of our two days in Honolulu. (Jill is flying off to the big island to visit some friends for a day or so.)

The other day that we will be in Honolulu, I plan to make an expedition to Hilo Hattie’s...just on general principles. If there is something specific you need from there and you can let me know all the details in time (via e-mail to my regular address, please), I’ll look for it for you. (Note: that last sentence applies only to people that I may be seeing in person in the foreseeable future. I don’t plan to take on shopping duties for any- and everyone who might be following this blog.)

I want to mention television on board. There are about 17 or 18 channels available on the tv sets on the ship including those in our staterooms. Several are dedicated to things like the view ahead of the ship from the camera on the bridge 24/7 (somewhat interesting except at night), some music-only stations, a couple of stations that show and reshow videos of things like shore excursion information, some of the lectures, and other programs aboard, etc. Several of the others show videos of old cartoons or programs from channels like Discovery, A&E, etc. These get repeated over and over throughout the cruise until you are thoroughly sick of them. Four channels show movies from the ship’s relatively extensive DVD collection; they repeat all day, but are changed every day. And finally, there are three channels that we get from satellite feed: CNN, ESPN and TNT (or maybe it’s TBS, I can’t remember which). Anyway, for the past ffive or six days we have not been receiving these satellite channels because we are too far out in the Pacific. The satellites are, not surprisingly, aimed at the continents and certainly not at these small islands or at a ship in the middle of the ocean so our dish can’t pick them up. This will most likely continue at least until we reach the vicinity of Hawaii. I’ve found it refreshing that we are actually out of the reach of the instant media!

Sunday, November 9

Gorgeous quiet sea day. The photo shop on board is going to have a photo contest. I decided to enter one I took in Saigon of a local lunch cart and its proprietor and customer. Sometime after the 15th they will post the entries and passengers can vote. I decided against entering one of Uluru as I’m sure others from the tour will probably do so.

This evening’s bed animal made from towels is a scorpion...very apropos for November and an incipient birthday!

Monday, Noember 10

Suva, Fiji. I was last here on the Fair Princess 20 years ago, almost but not quite to the day! I slathered myself with bug repellent before going off on tour this morning because Fiji is currently having an outbreak of Dengue Fever...not something I wish to experience! Also, I have faithfully carried my (new, never unfurled from its little pouch) travel rain cape in my shore excursion bag since the trip began. Today I actually unfurled it, but didn’t put it on because the “no more than six drops of rain” magic still seemed to be working. At the end of the tour, it did rain on us as we walked along the dock to the gangway...more than 6 drops, but not enough to stop and put on the rain cape which was wadded into the shore bag. Now to get it folded up and pouched again...

Jill’s and my tour went to a place called the Pacific Harbor Arts Village. I had been there 20 years ago, and I must say that it has changed a good deal and gotten much more sophisticated. It now has shops and restaurants, and a covered section of bleacher seats for watching the performances, and no more snake photo ops. We saw a ritual of fire walking (actually, the Fijians step and stand still on white hot stones rather than walking across fire ashes and embers), and several traditional dances by groups of men and women. All quite colorful as you can see. This woman is wearing a skirt of tapa cloth which is made from the pounded bark of a tree (I think I remember that they usually use mulberry bark).

The bus ride to and from Pacific Harbor Arts Village was an adventure also. The bus itself wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t air conditioned, but the weather was cloudy and with open windows, it was cool enough. I am a bit dubious about whether it had any springs and/or suspension system, but the thorough jouncing we got could have been due to the road rather than the vehicle. The scenery is extremely lush and green, but impossible to photograph from the bus in motion. Every few minutes we would come to a little village which would have at least two and usually three speed humps to be bounced over slowly. Jill and I (and pretty much everyone else) were glad to get back to the ship that is firmly moored to the dock! I am now so used to places that drive on the left that I’m going to have to be careful when I get home!

I didn’t bring my Fijian water pistol from the last trip when ten or twelve us of acquired them to play a joke on our assistant waiter, but I didn’t feel the need to go hunt up another one. Our assistant waiter this time, Nusirwan, is very efficient and not a congenital joker as that one was.

Tuesday, November 11 (The first one)

At sea. Our trivia team actually tied for first place today, but lost on the tie-breaker. A nice change from being 2 points down from the winner.

All seven of us from our dining room table went to lunch at the Pinnacle Grill this afternoon as a “generic birthday” celebration. It was a lovely lunch, worth far more than the $10/person that they charge for lunch. Stan was all dolled up in his jacket and medals along with a poppy in his lapel for Armistice/Veterans’/Rememberance Day. He’d been to the service this morning (with champagne) and to the veterans’ gathering afterward (with more champagne). He presented a fine old Scottish blessing for us at the end of the meal in his best Scottish accent.

The weather today is quite warm and pretty uniformly overcast with occasional showers, so sunbathing is not on the agenda. (I did manage to get my rain cape folded and rolled small enough to fit back into its pouch...and I’m good at folding maps also!)

Thursday, November 6 (Day 48)

At sea. Very smooth seas...just a teeny bit of roll. It’s still a bit coolish outside, but getting warmer as we head north. (Feels funny to type that!) Didn’t do much...just puttered around the ship.

By the way, I won’t be getting two birthdays this year as I thought I would. It turns out that someone somewhere decided on a schedule change, and they moved a sea day from later on into the space between Suva, Fiji and Apia, Samoa. Thus my birthday will not be doubled by crossing the International Date Line, but Armistice Day will. That’s okay also...any excuse for a celebration! Too bad I’ve finally “run out of” fudge that I bought at the winery outside of Melbourne! We’ll all go have lunch in the Pinnacle Grill instead.

At dinner this evening we got a full report on Mary’s ascension of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, complete with photos taken at the top! She said it wasn’t nearly as difficult as she imagined it would be, and the hardest part was the four steep ladderways at the beginning of the climb. They don’t allow you to take up anything but yourself and your sunglasses. They put you in a protective suit with a built-in safety line and hard hat. But they do take photos of both the group and individuals at the top. They usually take the individual photos with the Opera House in the background, but Mary asked that hers be shifted a bit so her background is the ship and Circular Quay. She said she’s do it again in a heartbeat! She’s one happy camper now!

Friday, November 7

At sea. The water here in the Coral Sea is even smoother than yesterday...at times almost glassy. The temperature is definitely going up as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn today. I even sat out in the sun for a while after lunch.

For the past two days, I’ve joined Jill’s trivia team since they lost a member who got off in Sydney. Both days we’ve come within 2 points of winning, so I guess I’m helping some. Actually none of us feel a burning need to win any of the geegaws they offer as prizes since most of us have most of that stuff already...umbrellas, luggage tags, photoframe/mousepads, etc, but we do have fun. Today’s kicker question (for which I can only remember the answer, not the question) was to tell what three impossible names had in common. It turned out that they are states in the United Arab Emirate. Sheesh! I can’t even keep the countries of Africa straight anymore, much less know something like that!

Last night’s “bedtime present” was a stuffed koala, cute and squishy. It gets added to the tote bag, travel journal, sweatshirt, umbrella, two delft-ware dishes, a really ugly coffee mug, etc etc that we’ve already received. We are still guessing that we’ll get some sort of piece of luggage toward the end of the trip to tote it all home in like we did on the South American trip.

Otherwise, it’s been a lovely peaceful day.

Saturday, November 8

Noumea, New Caledonia, a large, cigar-shaped island surrounded by the largest lagoon in the world made up of the second largest coral reef in the world at 930 miles long. In fact, it has recently been named a World Heritage Site. The island is also unique because it is actually a piece of Gondwana which separated from that supercontinent along with Australia and New Zealand 85 million years ago, and separated from them 55 million years ago. As a result, it is a treasure trove of the prehistoric Gondwanan forest ecology with tons of diverse and primitive plants and animals.

The island was named by Captain Cook because the scenery reminded him of the Scottish highlands. It is, however, a French territory like Martinique in the Caribbean. It is the world’s third largest producer of nickel behind Russia and Cuba.

I won’t send any postcards here because they would have to go to Paris before heading to the U.S., again like Martinique. I tried to brush up my minimal, marginal French because the people here have the same basic opinion of non-French-speaking tourists, yet again like Martinique. Bon jour! Fortunately, our guide on tour was a bi-lingual Brit, and the stall keepers that I bought a few souvenirs from were tolerant of my spotty French. The one I had some conversation with spoke to me mostly in French, and I mostly understood her enough to reply.

Our morning’s tour consisted mostly of a drive around the Noumea area and a visit to their aquarium which is only about a year old. The aquarium was fabulous! I could have easily spent the whole morning in there! And if I ever get back here, I will certainly go there again! Our guide told us that one of her tours recently was with a couple from California who are with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and that they had high praise for this one in Noumea. I can believe it!

Tuesday, November 4

When I woke up and looked out my cabin window, I had a full view of the Sydney Opera House just on the other side of Circular Quay! The other side of the ship looks out on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. This means we are docked spang in the middle of the downtown area and right next to the oldest area of the city called “The Rocks.” Absolutely could nnot be more convenient!

I had a nice half-day driving tour of Sydney today. This photo is from the area called “Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair and shows the Opera House, part of the Bridge, and just left of the Opera House you can see the stern of our ship...just above that little white dome thing. We also went to Bondi Beach, and assorted other picturesque points. One of the best parts of this tour was our guide, Peter. When asked if the shape of the Opera House was meant to represent something, he listed off several things including, of course, sails, but also “a scrum of nuns.” I thought I’d fall out of my seat laughing at that one!

Back at the ship I had lunch on Lido aft deck while watching a number of groups of people actually climb up to the top of the Bridge! Yes, that line of little bumps is a group of climbers. They started offering this as a tour about 5 years ago and have evidently made a mint on it. Some people are foolish, some are foolhardy, and then therre are tourists! One of our table mates, Mary, is scheduled to make the clomb tomorrow. Not even in my misspent youth would I have tried this!

After lunch I took a long leisurely walk around to the far side of Circular Quay. This is where most of the ferry boats come in, and there are lots of shops, restaurants and ice cream parlors. I patronized one souvenir shop, one Baskin Robins and one ATM. The people-watching was prime this afternoon as it is the day of the Melbourne Cup (richest horse race in the world), and practically the whole of Australia turns out for parties to watch it. Lots of people dressed to the nines, most ladies with hats or feathers or bows or some other sort of headgear, and lots of them in really high spike heels with no stockings (makes my feet hurt to think of it).

Wednesday, November 5

Jill and I had a tour together this morning. The main point was a visit to a Koala Zoo where you can actually pet and/or feed some of the Australian animals. We then drove through Olympic Park and took a ferry back to town. Jill and I the stopped for an excellent lunch in one of the many restaurants at Circular Quay before strolling back to the ship. I came back with “wombat cooties” on one hand, “kangaroo and koala cooties” on the other, and probably “sea gull cooties” on the seat of my pants where I’d sat on the wall around Circular Quay to rest at bit on the way back after lunch.

Someone please tell Connie that I spotted James’ apartment building on the way back down the river by ferry. It is now almost totally surrounded by high rise condos, and there is a garish amusement park on the next spit of land between hisplace and the Bridge. I did not try to find out if James is still here since I can’t remember his last name.

We don’t sail until 11:00 p.m. tonight, so I am hoping to get some photos of everything lit up before we go.

I happened to turn on CNN just one minute before Obama came out to give his speech in Chicago’s Grant Park. I am also glad that Warner won in Virginia.

WOW! AMAZING! FANTASTIC!

Wednesday, October 29

After lunch our little band of 15 passengers plus ship’s escort Judy met our tour guide Sandy and boarded the bus for our afternoon tour of Perth and Freemantle. Perth is a lovely city on the Swan River, and one of its famous features is the black swans that live there. Our bus driver/local guide located a family of these birds for us to admire.

We had some free time in downtown Perth during which we were urged to purchase an item called a “fly net.” I thought, “Yeah, sure,” but bought one anyway. Little did I know then that this would be the most useful item I’ve ever purchased on any trip I’ve ever taken anywhere! Next we visited the Kings Park and Botanical Garden with great views of the city.

Back to Freemantle for a tour of this very Victorian harbor town where the America’s Cup was held a few years ago. While touring the marina area, we saw just about the biggest and most gorgeous yacht any of us had ever seen. She was called “La Masquerade” out of London. One of our band, Alan, walked down there later and chatted with a couple of the crew, but didn’t find out who the owner is.

We spent the night in an historic hotel called The Esplanade and after a nice buffet dinner I turned in early as we had an early gathering time in the morning for our flight to Ayers Rock.

Thursday, October 30

Our Quantas flight went smoothly, and we were picked up at the airport by Mick and his huge orange bus complete with kangaroo screen. Off to our hotel, Sails in the Desert, which was very very nice. After checking in, we rejoined Mick for a tour of Kata Tjuta (also known as The Olgas).

This red sandstone formation is located in the same national park as Uluru (aka Ayers Rock). It is made of larger pieces of sand and rock than the very fine-grained sand that composes Uluru, but is essentially the same stuff. However, it’s different composition has caused it to erode into about 36 separate domes. Most everybody went off for a walk into one of the crevices or small canyons, while I pretty much hung around near the trail head.

This is where I and the rest of the tour group learned the high value of our fly nets! You wouldn’t think that there would be so many flies out in the dry desert, but oh boy, there are! And the little buggers sense that humans are walking water supplies and come straight at your mouth, nose, eyes, ears and any exposed part that is sweating (which is just about all of you). If you are mostly covered up, you sweat more, but you don’t feel as many of them walking around on your skin. At least they were flies and not mosquitoes, so you don’t get bitten...just walked on.

After a pit (literally) stop at what Mick described as “long drop toilets,” we went to see the sunset at Uluru. As huge as Uluru is, it is very like an iceberg since it extends six kilometers underground. It was formed in a shallow depression in an ancient sea bed and has since been tipped up at a steep angle as can be seen in the fine sediment layers.

We were served champagne and hors d’oeuvres while we waited. It was somewhat uncertain whether there would be a decent sunset because the sky had been mostly cloudy all afternoon, and there had been rain showers in the area along with beautiful sunbeams through the clouds off and on. However, Mother Nature and Uluru did provide an absolutely spectacular show, with the rock standing out against the clouds probably even better than if the sky were clear. Just toward the end of sunset, a faint rainbow appeared on top of Uluru which doesn’t happen often! It was totally awesome!

Sunbeam through the clouds
Red sand, gold spinifex,
Uluru gleaming.

Rain in the desert.
Wispy droplets are falling,
Not all reach the ground.

Stark and grayish red,
an ominous Uluru
broods beneath the clouds.

Uluru sunset –
Monolithic, crowned by clouds
with a rainbow jewel.

Friday, October 31

Up and out and on the bus by 5:00 a.m. to go see sunrise on the other side of Uluru. No champagne this time, and the viewing area is closer, so you can’t really get the whole thing into one photo, but spectacular nonetheless. This photo shows part of Uluru with Kata Tjuta in the distance. Onward to the Aboriginal Cultural Center for a presentation on the various kinds of tools they have used for thousands and thousands of years to survive in this difficult land.

Back to the hotel for breakfast. Then off again in the big orange bus headed for Alice Spring. Our first brief stop was at a cattle station where one family runs about 5,000 head of cattle on about 850,000 acres of land. They would probably have more, but Australia is in about the eighth year of drought.

For lunch we stopped at Mt. Ebenezer Roadhouse. It was near the junction of the road to the Kata Tjuta and Uluru National Park and the main (only) road from Adelaide to Darwin. Part restaurant, part tourist stop, part aboriginal art gallery, part local convenience store, and all Aussie. You’d almost expect Crocodile Dundee to come strolling around the corner of the building!

Yes, we did stop at the camel farm. No, I did not ride a camel, although some of the group did. There were somewhat fewer flies here bothering humans, but only because they had the camels to bother instead!

Finally we got to Alice Spring. This town (current population around 27,000) was originally situated as a telegraph repeater station between Adelaide and Darwin because there is water here. It seems a thriving place, at least from the brief driving tour we had of it before getting to our hotel (an International Crowne Plaza Hotel which was very nice). The Todd River runs through town...once a year it even has water in it! That doesn’t stop the inhabitants from holding an annual regatta. The boats just don’t have any bottoms and the crews standing inside the boats just pick them up and run like hell through the sand!

We were treated to drinks before dinner, then another buffet, after which most of us collapsed quietly from such a long day. Thankfully, we didn’t have to be ready to load the bus until 9:30 the next morning.

Saturday, November 1

Off on another Quantas flight to Melbourne. With an hour and a half time change (from Freemantle to Ayers Rock there was only a 30 minute time change), we arrived in mid-afternoon. We checked into another International Crowne Plaza Hotel that turned out to be one of the most frustrating places I’ve stayed in a long, long while. The rooms were about the size of my cabin on the ship, with less closet space and cheap veneered furniture, and the layout of the hotel was the most inconvenient thing any architect could possibly dream up. In fact, I was quite literally trapped in the hotel building until we left the next morning. The only way down to street level was a long, very steep ramp that I knew I wouldn’t be able to negotiate with my walker at my current level of tiredness. Supposedly there was an elevator and an escalator from the 2nd floor reception lobby down to the street, but neither was operational. The way up to the guest rooms was via an escalator up to another lobby where one took another elevator to one’s floor, or, for me, via a tiny elevator located down a blind hallway half-way around the building from the upper elevator lobby. There were other seriously irksome things about that hotel and its staff, but I will save them for my letter to the CEO of International Crowne Plaza Hotels. Needless to say, I was in a totally rotten mood all evening.

Sunday, November 2

Things perked up as soon as I got out of that stupid hotel, and this last day of the tour was an excellent one! Our first activity was a lovely, leisurely, scenic boat ride up and down the Yarra River through Melbourne. Although rain had been forecast, we had nary a drop. (I attribute this to the fact that I have carried my new rain poncho with me on every tour on this whole trip and it has never rained more than six drops on us anywhere.)

Next we headed up to Yarra Valley toward wine country and the Blue Dandenong Mountains. For a while I was busy checking my eyelids for leaks, and when I opened them again, I thought I was back in Albemarle County! As you can see, the Yarra Valley is a very close match to our little section of the world! We stopped at a local winery for a tasting and a delicious lunch. I had a lamb stew because one just cannot travel in Australia without eating lamb at some point! Several of our band purchased wines there, but several others made a beeline for another counter where they had just about every variety of fudge imaginable. Guess which group I was in!

Our last stop was the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary which combines the aspects of a zoo for indigenous species along with research and breeding programs and the veterinary, rescue and rehab aspects of our own Virginia Wildlife Center over near Waynesboro. Sandy had laid on a special tour for me with my own guide and “people mover” (i.e. golf cart). In addition to a tour of the Health Center (wonderfully set up for educational programs), I got to see kangaroos (this male red kangaroo was definitely king of his own hill!), koalas, dingos, an echidna, several platypuses, and a river rat (usually in hiding...none of the rest of our group had seen it) plus a bunch of birds including several handsome ibises.

We finished up with a driving tour of some lovely areas of Melbourne en route back to the ship. All in all, with the one exception of that stupid hotel, it was a fantastic trip! Sandy and Judy went out of their way to make sure that I was able to do as much of everything as I could and that I would be comfortable waiting for the others when I couldn’t.

Monday, November 3

I actually made it to dinner on the ship last night...had even unpacked, sorted and bagged the laundry, and gotten the dusty remains of the red center of Australia out of my hair before the dinner chimes rang. Afterward I spent a few minutes out in the fresh air up on Lido aft with Jill before coming back and crashing until about noon today! They had relatively good weather and calm seas on board crossing the Australia Bight, but of course a lot cooler than we had been having through the tropics and a lot ooler than we had on our tour through thr desert. Today is still cool, but the Tasman Sea is quite calm. Tomorrow will be the first of our two days in Sydney.

Sunday, November 2

I'm back from the outback. The trip was totally fantastic! I am totally tired! Details and photos when I recover a bit.

Monday, October 27

The “elevator carillon” continues today. Those of you who have been on cruises probably know what I mean. For those who are non-cruisers, I am referring to motion of the ship that causes the elevators to clank against the sides of their shafts. It doesn’t take a whole lot of motion to make this happen, but we have enough out here on the Indian Ocean. The water is a deep deep blue with only a very few whitecaps. The clouds look like cotton balls or white cotton candy and almost close enough to touch. Out on deck in the open, the wind is enough to blow your hair to Madagascar! The air temperature is noticeably cooler than it has been, and the humidity is a lot lower.

Indian Ocean
stretches away...no whitecaps
only one ship...ours.

I forgot to mention that on the tender dock in Bali coming back to the ship I met a couple from Charlottesville! I need to find out their names again, but they live at Westminster Canterbury! The world of long cruises grows even smaller!

Tuesday, October 28

All the way from Seattle to Thailand we gained an hour every so often to where we were about 12 hours ahead of the eastern US. Now we’re headed back the other way and are beginning to lose an hour every few nights. We now bid each other goodnight by saying “Sleep fast.”

We are sailing off the west coast of Australia at present, but pretty far out. The Indian Ocean is still giving us quite a ride today. It’s bouncy even down here on Deck 3, and more so on the upper decks. Well, a nap during the day does help make up for the short nights. This evening things were even bouncier...in addition to pitch and roll, we got the occasional “hula” movement which was quite disconcerting.

Tomorrow we reach Freemantle, Australia which is the port for Perth. I leave the ship there for a five day/four night overland trip to Ayers Rock (Uluru) and Alice Springs, eventually rejoining the ship in Melbourne on November 2. So I won’t be posting on this blog until at least November 3 or 4. Meanwhile, Happy Halloween!

Thursday, October 23

At sea. Wonder of wonders, my absentee ballot, which was mailed to me in care of the port agent in Hong Kong, showed up at Singapore! So now I must deal with sending it back from Bali. From an excruciatingly slow, long and expensive session on the Internet, I found that we shall be nowhere near any access to FedEx or DHL, but I think that the Indonesian Postal Service does offer something called “international express mail.” I am assured by the Front Office that an Indonesian Postal Official will be on board while we are at Padang Bai. Heaven only knows how much it will cost and whether it will actually get back to Albemarle County in time, but at least I’ve got a shot at voting in this election.

We have a new lecturer on board who is an expert on Australian aboriginal cultures. I went to her first session today...very interesting. I hope to catch her other lectures between here and Perth. I am really looking forward to the overland tour in Australia. I’ve just learned that there are only 15 of us going on it...we have an orientation meeting tomorrow.

For those who haven’t heard, I also learned today that the shipment of books that a number of us collected for the ladies who like to read in Grenada have arrived there in good order.

Friday, October 24

At sea again/still. We celebrated Josie’s birthday by most of us table mates having lunch in the fancy Pinnacle Grill this afternoon. All but one of the women at our table have birthdays that fall during the cruise, and Stan’s is two days afterward. So I’m going to “donate” my second birthday to Jill and Yvette (whose actual dates are in August), and we’ll celebrate Stan’s a couple of days early at the end of the trip. Yvette from Hawaii is our new table mate since Singapore.

Then at dinner, we celebrated Josie’s birthday again with a special dessert which, instead of a little cake, turned out to be a decorated and deliciously light lemon mousse on the thinnest of cake bases. Yum. Definitely well fed today!

And kudos to Holland America Line. They have arranged to have absentee ballots for the US election sent via courier from Jakarta to their home office in Seattle where they will be mailed out. A very thoughtful service to offer!

Saturday, October 25

Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia. Up at 0-dark-30 this morning to be ready for an early tender ride to shore for my Bali Arts and Crafts Shopping tour. The monetary unit of Bali is the rupiah with an exchange rate of 10,000 to the US dollar. That’s actually better than the dong in Viet Nam which was 16,000 to the dollar. Fortunately, for each port the ship gives us a little card with a currency conversion chart. Even so, this trip is a bit of a mathematical challenge!

Well, the tender ride was easy on, easy off in both directions! I did see many terraced rice fields, but not the spectacular mountainside ones as we stayed pretty much in the lowlands. The countryside is incredibly lush and green. Almost every square meter is under cultivation of one kind or another. They used to grow three crops of rice per year, but now grow two crops of rice per year and then grow something else like cucumbers, garlic, melons, etc. for crop rotation.

First we went to see a performance of the Barong dance at an outdoor theater. It was accompanied by a gamelan orchestra... not my very favorite music, but certainly appropriate in this case. It was quite spectacular. Next we went to a wood carvers’ village to visit a workshop to see how they do it and, they hoped, buy some of their wares. I didn’t. The last stop was at a painters’ village, ditto.

The traffic is at least as crazy as Singapore. Buses, vans, motor bikes, bicycles, cars. Certainly not as many of each, but then the roads are tiny! At one point we wound up behind a broken down bus, and there just wasn’t room for our bus to get past. Meanwhile cars and motor bikes were scooting past in all directions and on all sides...wherever they could squeeze by. It took almost ten minutes to get enough break in the traffic so that our driver could back up to a place where he could turn around and go another route! He got a good round of applause for that bit of dexterity!

Sunday, October 26

At sea and bouncy. We’ve been sailing straight into the swells, so the ship has been pitching a good bit (i.e. front to back as opposed to rolling which is side to side). Fortunately, I don’t really get seasick, but this much motion does tend to make me sleepy, so that’s what I did for much of the day. “Rocked in the cradle of the deep...”

At dinner this evening I discovered that our new table mate, Yvette, was on the Discovery last year with Virginia and Gil...small world strikes again! It seems like the world of long cruisers is smaller than most. Our other table mate, Phyllis, boarded the Prinsendam last year as Jill and I were getting off in Ft. Lauderdale, and as I mentioned before, there are a bunch of other passengers from our cruise on the Prinsendam on this one.

Tuesday, October 21

Sea day. About the only thing different was that there was a very temporary exhibit of efforts of the watercolor class, including 2 of mine.

Oh, and the passenger talent show. For the first time in my entire cruising history, the talent was actually pretty good! Several good singers, a banjo player, a pianist, a barbershop quartet, a cowboy poet, et al. It also included a huge group of passengers who had been practicing as the “HAL Chorale.”

At dinner we said goodbye to one of our table mates who is getting off in Singapore, Mary from Walla Walla, WA. We’ve heard that 300 are getting off, but only 50 are getting on, so we don’t know if we will get anyone new for the second part of the cruise.

Wednesday, October 22

Singapore. Of course Raffles is quintessential Singapore, and I managed to get a photo of it while on a bus tour of the city. We didn’t stop much, but we had an excellent guide who made the trip interesting. We saw most of the different ethnic enclaves as well as newer portions of the city. Near Little India there was one street that was solid fabric shops along both sides! Absolutely amazing! If I were staying here I could spend a whole lot of time and money on that street! It’s a good thing that the bus didn’t stop there.

Singapore is a very neat and clean city...it’s illegal to chew gum there, and anyone who litters gets fined on the spot. Even the traffic is neat and orderly...completely unlike all the other Asian cities I’ve seen so far. Refreshing.

Back on the ship, I spent much of the afternoon with Mary (the one from Seattle) and Josie on the aft deck watching little boats in the harbor, sipping a real Singapore Sling (complete with a small white orchid) and wondering when the Singapore officials would clear the ship for departure. They were counting noses and passports in a very dedicated manner. We actually sailed about an hour late.

Saturday, October 18

Laem Chabang, Thailand. Hot and humid. Very. I had an afternoon tour to Nong Nooch Cultural Center that was a lot of fun. The first stop was at an orchid garden. As usual, I didn’t get very far into it. However, there was a lot of entertainment near the entrance. For 50 baht (about $1.25) you could have your photo taken with your own camera cozying up to one of a number of exotic animals. I wanted a photo of me with a python (for my “collection” of snake photos), but it was evidently the snake’s day off, so I chose a chimpanzee instead as you can see. It was a very solid, heavy and muscular creature, trained to do assorted poses with the tourists...and probably bored out of its skull with the whole business.

The second portion of the tour was an extremely colorful theatrical presentation of various native dances, drumming performances, a kick boxing exhibition and a finale including warriors riding elephants. I had an absolute front row seat for this, right down at elephant level. With my walker, I was taken around the side of the theater and in through the actors’ entrance to park in front of the front row of seats. I got some great photos of all this.

Next we adjourned to an area behind the theater where I again got a front row seat for the elephant show. And a major show it was! They had elephants trained to do all sorts of things from playing darts to bowling to soccer to basketball to riding tricycles. After each “act” the elephants would come over to the edges of the ring to collect banana treats from audience members who had, of course, purchased hands of little bananas from young vendors. I didn’t buy any bananas, but one elephant insisted that I must have some, and carefully checked out my empty hands with her trunk.

The drive to and from Nong Nooch was interesting. Instead of “yard art” (or as Billie McNamara calls it, “lawn ornamenture”) there are many spirit houses in this land of 64 million people 95% of whom are Buddhist. Some spirit houses are small and unassuming while others are large and lavishly ornamented with bright colors and glittery things. We also passed a number of businesses which offered every size and color of spirit houses for sale.

The other very interesting thing was the traffic lights on the main highway. Each one had, in addition to the usual red /green lights, a display that counted down, in red or green, the number of seconds left until the light changed to the other color. All of us on the bus thought that was a great idea. I do believe that Charlottesville could use some of these on Route 29! If they can talk about installing cameras to catch people who run red lights, why not also put in these simple counters?

By the time I got back to the ship, I had about four or five layers of my own sweat sandwiched with one layer of chimpanzee sweat, and one layer of elephant dust to wash off! But first things first...meaning “fluid replacement.” So I headed straight to Ocean Bar for my traditional Myers Rum and Coke in honor of all my cruising friends, especially Mark and Jeff.

Sunday, October 19

Off to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo this morning. As you can see, I did get my photo holding/feeding a baby tiger. It was really neat, even though it was only for a minute or two. The rest of the tour was another exercise in hiking and sweating in the heat and humidity. It would have been a really nice, although smallish, zoo to visit except for two things. First, we were on tour, so I couldn’t just wander around at my own speed. Second, it was Sunday which is the day that the majority of Thais head out with their families to some attraction, so the place was chock-a-block with people.

There was a crocodile show that I passed on...too many people and not enough seats or even standing room. Josie and Stan who were on the same bus with me both gave it a miss also. Next was a tiger show which was pretty good...even had a few trained pigs in the ring (but not at the same time as the tigers). We were in the front row for that one, and fortunately, the front row was far enough back to avoid the shower when several of the tigers peed through the cage. Lastly was an elephant show which I also passed on since I’d seen an excellent one yesterday.

All in all, another successful day. Jill got back from her trip to Angkor Wat last night and is mostly recovered today. She had a great time despite the heat and exertion of the rough terrain. I can’t wait to see some of her photos.

Monday, October 20

Today we are anchored off Na Than, Ko Samui, Thailand. At 13 by 15 miles Ko Samui is the third largest Thai island. As late as 1970 there were no roads on the island and to cross it took a whole day’s trek through jungle. While much of Ko Samui is still quite wild, there is now a thriving tourist business based on its lovely beaches. Access today is by ship’s tender. At present, I’m not planning to go ashore as I am not eager to attempt the standing high jump that will be needed to get back on the ship. Also, a 30 minute tender ride each way just to look at a beautiful beach seems somewhat excessive. I’ll be seeing plenty of sand during the rest of the trip.

Wednesday, October 15

Lazy, lazy sea day. I haven’t been taking photos of the various animals folded from towels that appear on my bed every evening, but I had to take this one...a turtle, of course.

Thursday, October 16 (Day 27)

I had a full day tour to Saigon today. Just getting to it required a 2.5 hour bus ride from our dock in Phu My (Foo Mee). Our first stop was at a botanical garden and zoo. The zoo part was too far back in for me to get to during the time we had, but I enjoyed the topiaries in the garden.



A flute pipes, wafting
its notes over the sunlit
topiary garden.



The street people can smell a tourist from a couple of miles away, and they literally crowded around each of us at every stop hawking everything from beaded purses to “pearl” necklaces. I spent exactly one dollar for some postcards, so those of you who receive them will participate in the only “souvenir” I bought in Viet Nam.

“Fi’e dollah for you.
Fi’e dollah fine Rolex watch.”
The entrepreneurs.

Although this kind of hucksterism is technically illegal, the police do nothing unless the salesman is dishonest or a tourist is inconvenienced by the horde of them. If the tourist isn’t upset or cheated and is buying, the police, in their electric avocado green uniforms, leave them alone.

We also stopped at the Reunification Palace Museum, the City Historical Museum, a short shopping stop at a place that makes gorgeous laquerware, and somewhere in there, a nice hotel for a buffet lunch.

The most fascinating thing of the tour was watching the traffic and the people on the sidewalks! Saigon has 8 million people and 3.5 million motor bikes in addition to great numbers of trucks, buses, cars and bicycles. It also has probably fewer traffic lights than Charlottesville! There’s lots of beeping and honking, but everything moves at a relatively sedate pace so I didn’t see any vehicular contact despite many close calls.

A great number of the women wear face masks up to their eyes, hats, and long sleeves or gloves when outside. It’s not a religious or cultural thing...it’s a fashion thing. “White” complexions are considered more beautiful, so the women want to avoid getting tanned by the sun while zipping around on their motor bikes.

As with all the Asian cities I’ve seen so far, living space is at a premium...a high premium. In Saigon, a typical lot is about 12 oor 13 feet wide and maybe 60 or 65 feet deep. So, to get enough living space for three generations, they build up to three or four stories. If a family is lucky enough to be able to afford to buy a home/building, they often rent out the first floor to a shop for maybe $2,000 (US) or more per month which is enough for 5 people to live nicely on here.

Again in Asia as in South America last year, I am struck by the omnipresence of molded plastic chairs. Since much of Vietnamese life takes place outside in front of their shops and homes, all but the very poorest have several of these “things” (the only other word I can think of is “abominations”) very much in evidence.

Jill is off on her overland tour to Angkor Wat. I look forward to hearing about it when she gets back while we are in Bangkok (actually the port is in Laem Chabang).

Friday. October 17

Another day at sea...rainy but very smooth wave-wise. At watercolor class today we each mounted several of our efforts to date. I have no idea what will be done with them. I don’t really care as they are not my best efforts. I have skipped several of the classes when the sea was bouncy enough that I didn’t feel like climbing the stairs to the Loft where the classes are held.

I spent part of the afternoon making a list of my purchases. So far I’ve spent more on tips to tour guides than on souvenirs. Of course that could change at any point or port!

Monday, October 13

At sea again. The big girl breakfast was a nice treat. Weather is rainy on and off with just enough motion from the following sea to make me really sleepy. Our team did lousy at trivia today. I mean who knew that Harvard College was the first corporation established in the U.S!

I spent much of the afternoon chatting with one of our occasional table mates who is a holder of the Burma Star and a retired policeman from Canada (Winnipeg, I think) who is 88 or 89 years old. He has lots of fascinating stories to tell about the Burma Star organization world-wide. He also provides scholarships for 14 college students each year. A most interesting man.

All us ladies (Mary, Josie, Phyllis, Mary, Jill and I) celebrated Thanksgiving Day (Canadian) at dinner this evening with roast turkey and a great deal of round-table conversation and much laughter. It’s a fine group...reminds me a lot of the lunch group back home.

Tuesday, October 14

Da Nang. I didn’t have any tours booked for here, so slept in with the idea of taking a free shuttle to the center of the city later. We are moored at a container ship dock about 15 km from town, and when I got up on deck and looked around, I decided to give Da Nang a miss as the weather is hot and sticky and the city is a long way away. Only later did I realize that this bridge is still under construction!

Josie came back from her tour and said there’s no use trying to go in on your own because the traffic is so crazy that you wouldn’t be able to cross a street by yourself! She did enjoy her tour which included a pedicab ride, a museum, and a visit to China Beach which she said was a lovely beach with no one there because they have had a lot of rain and the water is way beyond murky.

Da Nang lies away
across olive brown water.
I stay on the ship.

The deck chair beckons,
offers delicious comfort.
I nap in the shade.

After lunch I had another long chat with Stan from Winnipeg. He told me all about his pets: a dog named Buddy, a red tabby cat named Molly, and especially a 30 pound black cat named Paws who must be quite a character. We also talked about everything from wiener schnitzel to the space program before he went off with his binoculars to try to spot the Vietnamese navy across the harbor. Although he’s one of our table mates, Stan seldom comes to dinner because one of his suitcases never made it to the ship, and he says he has only one decent shirt with him. But with his row of medals on his suit coat and the one from the King of Norway on a red and white ribbon around his neck, he looks pretty spiffy when he does come to dinner!

I must say that Holland America is excellent in helping people with all sorts of physical disabilities. I think there are passengers with at least one of every style of walker aboard, along with a fine assortment of wheelchairs and scooters, and several portable oxygen systems. I wouldn’t even begin to count the number of passengers with canes. All the staff on board are most helpful, and the Shore Excursion people are outstanding in this regard both with their planing of excursions that are as accessible as possible and their help while we are on them.

Saturday, October 11

Hong Kong. My tour here is for tomorrow, so this morning I just sat around in the shade on the aft section of Lido deck and watched the scenery. The sunlight, as the hours passed, highlighted different buildings of Hong Kong across Victoria Harbor from our dock in Kowloon. The one with the curvy roof is the Convention Center. There was also the never-ending parade through the harbor: lots of ferries, small freighters, tugs towing dredges, cabin cruisers, speedboats and virtually every other sort of floating vessel. The only things I did not see were junks and sampans...unless I just didn’t recognize them with their sails down.

This afternoon Jill and I went ashore to the Ocean Terminal. While the building does serve as a terminal, it is far far more than that. It is one of the biggest, most high-end shopping malls I have ever seen! Every fancy jet-set designer name store you ever heard of is here along with dozens of restaurants. We were “on a mission” to find a place to buy glue. (The reason for glue is that one of my folding canes has a loose handle.) But glue was entirely too prosaic a product to be allowed into this shining temple of high commerce, nor did we see anything so crass as a souvenir shop or a place to buy postcards. We by no means covered even a quarter of the place before we faded and headed back to the ship. After careful perusal of the extensive map of the place, I think I may have located a possible place (at the far end of the third level) to check for glue tomorrow after my tour.

This evening we delayed going to dinner so that we could see some of the nighty lighting up of the city across the harbor. It’s like a fireworks show done with lights instead of pyrotechnics. As you can see, quite spectacular.

Sunday, October 12

I think this was one of the longest half-day tours I’ve ever been on! Our first stop was atram ride up to Victoria Peak. Up top it was windy enough to blow your hair to the mainland! Also a fog had settled in over the city, so the viewing wasn’t very good.

Next we lost 3 people from the tour...one passenger and the 2 ship’s staff which included the official shore excursion escort and the ship’s cameraman. So the rest of us sat on the bus for half to three-quarters of an hour while our guide tried to find them. Eventually the guide called his company to send someone else to find them, and we went on with the tour. All three were eventually found and reunited with the tour at the last stop. evidently none of them had paid any attention to Richard’s very clear announcements of where and when to meet.

The trip down the mountains was twisty enough to make a goat sick...or it would have if we’d gone any faster than a crawl. The road was just barely wide enough in most places for two buses to pass without losing paint...and in some places, not that wide. Happily in Hong Kong they drive on the left, so we had the inside lane. Lower down in the city the roads are a bit wider but almost as twisty. There’s very little flat land on Hong Kong island, and it’s rather amazing how they have glued immense condominium buildings to the hillsides.

A brief ride in a sampan in the area called Aberdeen was the next event. It turns out I had seen plenty of them yesterday, but had mistaken them for ordinary water taxis which is what they’ve become with motors instead of sails. Part of this tour was past the houseboat area and the fishing fleet which proved the actual (tongue in cheek) meaning of “Hong Kong” which is “fragrant harbor.” We also passed some mighty fancy yachts in the marina.

After that we visited a jewelry manufacturer’s showroom. I saw a gorgeous jade and diamond ring that even fit me, but I managed to restrain myself.

Our last stop was at a place called Stanley Market. It’s sort of a cross between a bazaar and a street market with each little shop hawking anything from cheap souvenirs to fresh fruit. I speedily acquired a bottle of water and a candy bar (in a 7-Eleven) and retired to a shady spot to people watch . It appeared to be “bring your dogs to Stanley Market” day. Lots and lots of people had multiple little dogs on leashes...mostly Jack Russell terriers, along with a number of shiitzus (sorry for the spelling on that one), a few schnauzers, a small collie, and one small poodle with a rather un-poodle haircut.

By the time we got back through the tunnel under Victoria Harbor to Kowloon and the ship, I had given up all ideas of tramping around the Ocean Terminal mall again and headed for aft Lido, a bit of lunch and a general collapse. Just as well, because I would have missed seeing a junk motoring through the harbor with a couple of sails up for show. Jill turned up on deck singing the praises of the China Arts and Crafts store where she had bought silk yard goods and other stuff this morning, but I just didn’t have enough “legs” left for the 20 minute hike (each way) through the mall to get to it. Hopefuly, I will be able to find silk in Thailand and/or Singapore.

10:30 p.m. I have forgotten the collective term for a bunch of drummers, so I’ll just call them a din of drummers. They are serenading us from dockside as a “flaming” dragon and several fu dogs caper about...either wishing us a speedy departure in half an hour, or perhaps thanking those of us who spent money in Hong Kong. I believe that the ship is listing a bit to port with all the well-fed passengers on the upper decks watching the show. Jill and I decided not to wait on deck for the actual sailing, but instead plan to meet for a “big girl breakfast” in the dining room tomorrow morning.

Thursday, October 9

At sea. Usual slow pace and good weather...rather warmer than when we were crossing the Pacific in the north. Chinese themed formal night this evening with dining room festively decorated with red hangings and lights up the two storey pillars which were also entwined by (inflatable?) red dragons and the staff in colorful Chinese style jackets.

Friday, October 10

Another sea day...love ‘em. The main excitement for today was that everybody had to report to the main lounge this morning to have their temperature taken for the Hong Kong authorities. This is supposed to be an effort to prevent the spread of SARS. The process took all of 30 seconds or less leaving the rest of the day free for Trivia and general chilling out. The fun trivia of the day was “what famous ship was captained by Christopher Jones?” Our team actually got that one right. It was the Mayflower.

Monday, October 6

Another quiet sea day with calm seas but gray weather. At one point I was filled with wonder at the fact that here I am, sailing on the Yellow Sea en route to Shanghai! Wow!

Tuesday, October 7

We are docked right next to downtown Shanghai, completely surrounded by skyscrapers. I took a half day tour in the morning. The most spectacular thing was the view from the 88th floor observation deck of the Jinmao Tower on the east side of the river. The Oriental Bright Pearl TV Tower dominates the place as you can see. This tour was mostly for photo ops on a rather hazy day, but we had an excellent guide, and an even more excellent bus driver!

And thank God for the latter as the traffic here is a close second to that of Mexico City (or at least the Mexico City of 40 years ago). Any markings on the roads bear no relationship to where the cars and buses actually position themselves, and cutting other vehicles off by the width of a coat of paint appears to be the national sport. While traffic signals are generally obeyed, the motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians do NOT have any degree of right of way other than what they dare to attempt! Whew! A couple of times I thought the lady across the aisle from me was going to have a heart attack when some mini-car zipped in front of us.

Everywhere old buildings are being torn down to make way for more skyscrapers and “5-star hotels” in preparation for the World Expo to be held here in Shanghai in 2010. According to J.C. Chu, our guide, some efforts are being made to preserve a few older “heritage architecture” buildings, but mostly people are being paid to relocate to the suburbs whether or not they really want to move. Of course, many of the old dwellings in the center city do not have plumbing nor any room to install any, so often a new house in the suburbs plus money is incentive enough for a move.

This evening I went to see a Chinese Acrobat Show featuring the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe. DOUBLE WOW! As you may know I love circuses and have seen many, but this show was beyond absolutely fabulous! Acrobatics, tumbling, dancing, juggling and even a bit of stage magic. Incredibly high energy all the way through. And the stage and lighting effects were phenomenal! I just wish I could have taken some photos to share with you...especially the first number. It was a complex pond scene with several things going on, but the most amazing thing was a person (never could decide if it was male or female) dressed as a dragonfly with golden wings who emerged from a large pink lotus bud and, balanced on one hand so that he/she appeared to hover over the flower, did the most amazing acrobatic moves for almost five minutes! Just stunning!

Above the lotus
golden-winged dragonfly.
Insect or human?

Our evening guide, Ping (which means “safe”), talked about getting married next year. Since she and her husband-to-be are both of the “one child” era, when they marry they will be allowed to have two children, but they must be five years apart. She was born on the east side of the river when it was still farmland before all the development there began in 1990. Now that whole area is skyscrapers to the horizon.


Back on board, I went out on deck to admire the night lights of Shanghai and got this photo of the Oriental Bright Pearl TV Tower lit up.

The Galley Golems are at it again this evening. I’m not sure what part pf the galley is above my cabin, but there are often heavy-footed walking noises back and forth as well as something heavy on wheels being rolled around. By now I’m used to it like one gets used to living near the railroad tracks, but I still notice it on occasion. No complaints, though, since room service will deliver a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk 24/7 at the mere touch of a phone button!

Wednesday, October 8


Took another half day tour this morning. We rode the Maglev train out to the airport and back. And I thought the bullet train was fast! 30 kilometers in 8 minutes on this one with a top speed of 431 kph! Back at the station where we boarded there was a large group of school children who had just come off the train also. If I just had half the energy of just one of them...!

We then went back to Jinmao Tower which I had seen yesterday. The elevator to the observation deck is another wonder...88 floors in 45 seconds! I mailed some postcards up there. It’s probably the highest post office in China, if not the world.

I now have a good bit of expertise in getting my “chariot” up and down escalators. I am also fairly surprised at the number of passengers who have come up to me and said they think I am brave or courageous to do all these tours. I don’t feel brave. I just can’t imagine coming on a trip like this and not doing everything I can manage. There are others on board who appear to be worse off than I am who manage just as well if not better than I do.

I was planning to take a free shuttle downtown for some shopping this afternoon, but have decided to sit around with my feet up instead. All aboard is at 6:00 p.m. so that the ship can be cleared in time to catch the tide back down the river by 9:00 p.m.