Happy Birthday, Dani!

Beijing tomorrow


We are leaving on an overnight to Beijing tomorrow morning so I won’t be posting until Saturday.
We both woke up about the same time and fairly soon I opened the drapes to a misty, gray, cold looking outside where I could hear the wind though no loudly. We watched part of the morning show, then some news, and finally I turned on the destination channel where there are shows about China, specifically the Great Wall of China. (BTW: it cannot be seen from space; the Great barrier reef is visible from space.) The commentator says that the Chinese came to believe that the building of a wall to keep out people was the sign of a weak ruler (or something along those lines). That irony was interesting.
Ed went off to the gym, I got ready and went up to the library to upload. I had an internet connection for a few minutes and then nothing would load. So I’ll try later to upload and catch up with emails. It seems that the connection with the satellite is “iffy” because of the position of the ship.
Cultural lecture
Our onboard anthropologist talked about the Chinese culture and wove it into the fabric of the Japanese and Korean cultures. He described some differences and similarities that I hadn’t really paid attention to in the past. I now know the meaning of the fu lions that guard every Chinese restaurant around the world and several other symbols.
Computer class
This was layers and selections. I was debating between this one and an earlier one on adding and removing people and things from photos. I think I might be able to do that based on something which was a part of a previous class. But it all takes practice and I don’t have Photoshop Elements on this computer. Boo Hoo. Every computer was being used for this class.
Lunch
We sat with a couple who are professors, now retired. We shared dissertation horror stories and had a lot of laughs. It seems that a large percentage of the passengers are doing either the one day, one overnight, or the overland tours. Some of the staff have been offered the opportunity to take a tour to the Great Wall for a reduced price but the number of slots is very limited. Others were waiting to see if they would be selected to go along as our “ship’s escort” on some tours. Frankie is doing the one overnight with us. This looks like it will be a large caravan. And I’m taking everything I can to layer so I won’t freeze quite so much there as the weather is predicted to be as low as the high 30s F.
The weather
It is so foggy that we cannot see the ocean from our balcony and we are on deck 7. You can hear the fog horn of the ship with regularity. One person mused if this meant our radar and such wasn’t working. I hope they weren’t seriously thinking this.
The interview with the celebrity didn’t interest either of us, so I finished looking at the photos and Ed is snoozing. He’ll tell you he was just resting his eyes but I can hear his snoozing away.
Grapevine
Since this is free for us, and I keep hoping I’ll find another wine I enjoy, we go. The wines were the same we’ve had before with one exception. I’m not sure why they do this but I learn more about each wine each time. I still don’t like the reds but I love the dessert wine with which they finish it.
Trivia
This was a really tough one. We were only 5: Chuck is packing for his overland. I’m amazed at the number of people who aren’t doing their usual things on the ship because they are packing whether it’s for the overnight of one night, or the overland of 5 nites. What’s the big deal? I can’t imagine what it’s like for them to pack for this trip!
Dinner
We laughed our heads off
Since I have a connection I’ll close this now. WE will be gone for the next two days.

Pusan

P(B)usan, Korea



Ed got up in the night and the tapping was him trying to get Tums out of the bottle. The corned beef masquerading as brisket had really gotten to him. I couldn’t sleep after that and eventually the wake up call for 6 am rang. I got up and opened up the curtains to reveal a hint of dawn with a baby blue and pink sky. After I showered the sun looked like a big mostly orange ball just a little above the horizon. While I was dressing (one of the joys of sailing is leaving your windows entirely open while you do everything in the cabin) I saw a severely peaked small island in the near distance with a cute little lighthouse perched on the edge of the land. It seemed very quickly that high rises came into view and then we were at the pier by 6:45 and were in place by 7 am.
There is a Korea Coast Guard (in English) berthed next to us and Ed spotted a mobile ATM near the LED sign welcoming our ship. JJ stated on the morning show that the Korean immigration came onto the ship in Nagasaki and they have cleared our passports so that we don’t need to appear before immigration before going on our tours. We have been advised to carry a copy of our passports (which I brought with us).
Today’s tour
We quickly gathered and were on our way with “Park” (her surname) to the temple 45 minutes away. She spoke excellent English and told us a lot about the country along the way. The high rises here are imposing. The architecture here is relatively uninteresting and very functional. North Korea bombed them all the way down so there are almost no old buildings left; everything is new by comparison and very functional and almost institutional in feel. The population density is very high; 70% of Korea is mountainous and this means really high peaks all over and lots of tunnels to get from one place to another. We saw 9 ports along the way; I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many sea vessels of various kinds in my life. We even saw two boat building factories where you saw the various modules which would eventually be put together to form a new ship.
Beomeosa Temple
This trek was on a mountain which was very high up. We had to climb 250 steep stairs (you know how these 7th century steps can be) and then there were long walkways in between these stairs. And there were no hand rails. I had not taken my trekker sticks and this is a time where they would have been indicated. I’ve adopted the method of going down these steep stairs sideways and it seems to help. There were monks and people in prayer and they seemed not to even be aware that we were there. As we climbed the mountain, many of the folks were panting; they are probably the ones we see on the elevators. The monks wear gray here as it is the color of ashes and we saw several student monks. It was very cold up here and only one monk had his shaved head covered. As we came back to the bus, Ed was able to buy a Pepsi zero with American money. Prices here are not low as they definitely were not in Nagasaki.
We had another 45 minute ride after leaving the temple to go to Ja-Gal-Ch’l Fish Market. This is also called the “aunties market” is a great seafood emporium created during the Korean War. The bus let us out in front of a general store on a busy street. Some of these streets are 14 lanes wide! The subway outlet was right next to our drop off point too and so we had to be careful not to get separated. There were many independent stalls selling luscious looking fruits most of which are familiar to us. They have lots of oranges for sale.
We walked down some side streets where we saw many fish monger stalls including some ‘aunties” with a single tub or two with diverse kinds of fish they were selling. When we finally made it to the market, it was closed. The guide seemed momentarily flummoxed and then pointed us toward a street market of fishes. We saw fish we could never properly describe. Ray of various sizes were for sale along with some huge chunks of tuna. Some stalls featured dried fish and above the roofs you could see fish hanging on lines to dry. We had been told about the sea slugs and how ugly they were: no eyes. Just a mouth and a butt. While we were all gawking, the man picked up one and started squirting it in our direction. It was quite funny. His wife offered one to us to see if anyone wanted to try it themselves. Then she brought out a small octopus for us to take photos. There were others she brought out for us to enjoy. I thought this was very generous of her since we clearly weren’t going to buy.
We were all afraid we were going to get separated from the group as this was such a congested area with stalls, folks with push cars and scooters hollering at our guide to keep us out of the way, and shoppers. We made it safely back to the place where they dropped us off and back onto the bus. From here, back by all the ports and shipyards to the ship.
Lunch
We visited with a couple from Melbourne and a California couple; the wife of this latter couple simply cannot shut up and it is hard to turn the conversation around to the Aussie couple. Finally they left and we had a quick conversation with the Aussie couple.
TV
I wanted to turn something on that wouldn’t be the shouting heads of the talk shows (assuming we could get the satellite connection which we couldn’t for a while this morning). So I turned on a documentary about Mrs. Goldberg, a TV series in the 50s that could be very funny. As I expected, Ed became entranced with this and we are both enjoying it while I’m downloading photos and doing this blog.
I read for a while and Ed went to book some airline flights for us for June. Then I went to the RED HAT gathering. There were about 5 of us. This has become the realm (and I mean this in the royal sense) of one particular lady who freely admits that she doesn’t not pay dues to the RHS and does her own thing. She has cajoled the ship into giving us certificates recognizing our membership in the Pacific Princess chapter. There was much discussion, led by her stories, of folks who have purchased knock offs while on voyages and then had them confiscated by customs in the US. There was commentary about how silly this was and how unfair. I said nothing but I vehemently disagree. If this was a product they had developed and saw stolen after all their hard work, perhaps they’d be able to understand better. I left after 30 minutes.
Trivia
There were three of us who are the core and we were joined by a couple who sometimes sits with us. I’ve spoken of them before; the husband can be very annoying but the wife is a delight and a welcome addition to our group. The dynamics this afternoon were not very pleasant and I came close to leaving at one point. The issue of which is the correct answer gets tied up in the ego of many folks and it becomes a struggle that I simply sit out. We didn’t win, not surprisingly and I was relieved when it was over.
Dinner
I had a good conversation with Neville who worked training dental technicians in one area of Australia for 40 yrs. He’s a delightful man and we enjoyed a long sharing of commonalities and differences in how things go in health care in our various countries.
Entertainment: Ed went down and met me on the way and just shook his head “No.” And I’ll remind you, he’ll watch almost anything. So we came back to the room to wait for the Princess Patter and I did some photos work.
No more phone calls?
The Patter has a note stating that Access to applications like SKYPE, VOIP (this is what Ed uses to make phone calls), etc. is not available. So our only chance of making phone calls without paying an arm and a leg is to find free wi fi. I doubt Beijing will have this anywhere so probably our best chance will be Hong Kong at some place like Starbucks assuming they aren’t blocked there too.

Nagasaki

Nagasaki


We woke up before the wake up call but not by much. I started my shower and the room service came a little after. We were to appear at the Passenger Terminal at 8:15 am for immigration check: fingerprint, photo, thermal scan, and then to join our group for our tour today. Instead of telling you all the details, I’ll just tell you that it was a royal mess. Not the Japanese immigration because when you eventually did get to that part, it went, as expected, very quickly and then we were onto our bus. We didn’t leave until almost 9:30 am (we were supposed to leave around 9 am and then we had to return for a missing passenger. It was a fellow we know and he would not have held up anything if there wasn’t a good reason so we were all good natured about it all.
WOW! Cherry blossoms
It was chilly and downright cold in many places, especially when the wind whipped up. But we were so lucky because we are here at the ideal time for cherry blossoms. Everywhere you see these fairy like trees, sometimes in isolation, but more often in long rows adorning properties. So we all felt very lucky. And our weather was absolutely gorgeous with bright sun all day.
The ride was 2 hours to our destination but along the way we stopped for a rest room and tea break at a little store that would come close to a souvenir shop but not completely. They had very hot green tea for us to enjoy and samples of various candies; Ed bought some crunchy chocolate. The restroom had both western and the oriental squat toilets. I don’t mind the latter: it’s good exercise for my thighs and actually, from an anatomical perspective, it’s much more logical in that position. These were more modern (and cleaner) than I’m accustomed to in China. And they have a regular flush mechanism unlike the ones I mostly used in China where you had to dump a pail of water in them to flush. So it was an interesting “cultural” experience and my thighs served me well which tells me my habit of squatting when I can has paid off.
Japanese money
We still had about $25 left over from 2 years ago. Since the exchange rate has improved, for a change (no pun intended) it was a good thing to hold onto it especially when you consider the fees for changing money. We learned on the bus that the 5 center piece with a red ribbon tied around it, is a sign of good luck. So several of us were going to the cashiers and trying to explain to them that we wanted to exchange a larger value coin for the appropriate number of 5 cent pieces. Just try that with someone who doesn’t know much English; they don’t get that request every day.
Nagasaki itself
We didn’t actually see a lot of this but it is modern as you’d expect after the destruction of the bomb in 1945. This was mentioned only once today. It is a city of over 400,000 residents. Our tour guide lives about 2 hrs away and attended the Univ. of Michigan for a year while her husband was there. She was gorgeous and charming and we learned a lot about the Japanese way of life including her own. You do see some English signs but you clearly are in a foreign country with signs in Japanese.
The countryside
There are true, sharp mountains all around and Nagasaki nestles in the midst of many of them. There are many long tunnels and toll roads to get you quickly around. The busses are modern and very comfortable though not all of the seat belts worked properly and it is required that you wear them in Nagasaki. The bus driver stops the engine at each stop light and then quickly starts it up when it’s time to go. It seems not to take any more time.
Every spit of land is terraced and cultivated with crops and it is common to see people working the fields and plots. Plastic is everywhere covering the plants and as a part of hot houses. There were plenty of potato and carrot plants among them. It’s redundant to say it’s lush and green. You would often cross a high bridge and look down to see for as far as the eye could, terraces plots into the distance snuggled between the mountainsides and split on the side or middle by a contained river which was also terraced sometimes with designs in the cement which had been put on the bottom.
The homes mostly look like the shogonate style (my description) with gray slate roofs. It’s common to see solar panels and I even saw a wind fan in one field. In fact, there is much here that is black and gray but it is not dour by any means.
The people
Are uniformed almost always, greet you with sincere smiles, bow repeatedly as a sign of respect. They line up in front of their businesses when you arrive and greet you and they do the same to say goodbye. Some folks were surprised by this part of the culture. There’s a lot of (nervous?) laughing as they speak but there weren’t any gloomy Guses anywhere today.
They drive on the left side of the roads which are well kept up; gorgeous bridges when you don’t see an old one. This port is the gateway to Japan for most of it’s history and so it has a long experience with outsiders.
Shimabara Peninsula
This was our destination and there were two busses going there. Our bus was about half filled for which we were all grateful because it meant a better choice of seats and we could spread out.
Our first stop was the old samurai residences where we toured 3 homes each owned by a samauri of increasing importance, thus the home got larger and more elegant. Still each was a few simple rooms covered with tatami mats behind a tori gate and fence. Outside there’s a water canal with spring water from the mountains which has been used by the residents since the clan era. We ran into some school children who giggled and allowed us to take photos. There was a geisha along the way and so we have lots of photos of her.
Shimabara Castle
This was our next stop and wasn’t very far from the Samauri houses; the more important the samauri, the closer their home was to the castle. The whole plot around the castle is abloom with cherry blossoms. When we arrived in the parking area, there were two ferocious samauri types there for us to enjoy in picture taking. There were also two young ladies, one of whom (I think) was dressed in formal samauri clothing.
The castle itself is a museum with lots of interesting displays especially of the samauri regalia. It was built in 1618 the (then) lord of this region. He cut the outline of the castle into a mountainside, erected the stone walls, dug the moat, and completed it 7 yrs later.
I was wanting to see a Akira Kurasawa movie about that time. But I went outside and used another squat toilet (never pass up an opportunity to use a restroom when you’re touring), muse over some “souvenirs” and then move along to a building that displayed a cute selection of dolls along with a model of the castle and some outbuildings. The flowers in colder climates I think have such vibrant colors; maybe it’s because of the contrast with the grayer surroundings.
There were good views of the harbor area from the castle grounds and there was a kind of sculpture garden that many of us enjoyed.
Lunch
This was a Japanese box (not exactly “bento”) lunch where we actually had a selection of many different foods: fish, chicken, pork, red beans, ginger, tempura type fried vegetables, much more and of course: rice. We had water, tea and a choice of beer or Coke Zero. There was miso soup to start but it didn’t have tofu in it; instead there was a solid bread like pellets. None of us ever figured out what it was. We were given chopsticks (wooden but they didn’t bother me) and a fork.
The grounds of this hotel had a cute bridge, some spirit houses, and some gorgeous koi who came swimming to anyone who came near. Clearly they thought we were going to feed them.
Mizunashihonjin
This small village was almost completely buried during the 1991 eruption of Mt. Fugen which is nearby and is gorgeous. You could see the tops of the roofs but not much more. One home had been excavated in the front so you could see that it was pretty modern in a Japanese fashion. I’ve forgotten how many people died in this eruption but almost all of the buildings in this area were built after this eruption for obvious reasons.
The rush back
Because of our late start, we had to rush back to the ship. We knew that we were going to miss the 3:15 p ceremony that took place because this is the first time that this ship has visited this port. It involves the sharing of many gifts back and forth and then a folklorico performance by some children. We saw them as we rushed through the Passenger Terminal; we didn’t have time to get our cameras out as our bus was the last one to return and the ship was waiting for us. There was also a local high school band who serenaded us until we were way out into the bay. They were pretty good too. There was a large banner that said “See you again in Nagasaki” as we sailed off. The descending sun on the sides of the islands as we left were really extraordinary and almost mesmerizing.
We had to surrender our Japan immigration form as we reboarded the ship. I was disappointed as I had put stamps on it at some of the sites where we stopped. Oh well. I also had taken my trekker stick as it’s hard to know from those icons how bad it will be and I didn’t need it. I’m always a little concerned that I’ll forget it on the bus but it made it back safely along with it’s new tip I finally put on it.
Seder
Let’s just say I wasn’t looking forward to this. I feared it would be overly long and we’d be seated with really boring people. Ed’s questioning if the guy is really a rabbi. Many of the women sitting near him were actually doing more about the “service” than he was. We had a handout that originated with Ralph’s grocery stores that told about the things on the Seder plate. And the Haggadah itself was from the internet: www.internethaggadah.com . However, our copies were missing page 13 (are you superstitious?) and a few other pages. I didn’t find it to be particularly helpful as I found it almost impossible to follow whatever he was doing in there. It certainly didn’t feel like a Seder. All the requisite things were there on the plate and there was matzo ball soup and gefilte fish with an egg for each person. Then we were given the choice of chicken, brisket, or lamb. The brisket was actually corned beef and it had so much nitrates in it that I’m still belching it up. I don’t look forward to sleeping with it tonite. The dessert was pretty good actually and they had macaroons but they sure didn’t look like it. I make better haroset.
But there was a wine that was new to me. They did have the usual Maneschewitz (sp) concord grape wine. BUT they also have a white cream concord wine. Anyway, I really liked it so I have a new one to look forward to. Ed says that’s because it’s sweet; he’s right of course.
We sat at a table with a great ocean view (it was sunset) and a lady who we’ve seen around the ship. She has a very upper crust English accent and a rather regal bearing. We often see her at trivia. And she invited a black man from New York to join us. He remarked that there were more Christians (of which he was one and I was another) present than Jews. Some trivia players came up to the lady at our table and remarked “I didn’t know you were of this persuasion.” It reminded me of when Ed and I were met in Israel and in talking with Mr. Panyati he said to Ed: “That’s funny. You don’t look Jewish!” (honest. I am NOT making this story up).
Well she turned out to be an absolute delight and we had great fun visiting with her. That was the absolute best part of the whole experience. She comes from money but has a ribald sense of humor and once you get past the accent and mannerisms, she’s a fun lady to spend time with.
The Seder started at 6:15 or thereabouts (Jewish time you know) and we got back to the room before 9 pm. I still want to read the Haggadah even if it is missing pages, to see what it has in it. I still like Jeff’s Haggadah best with the women whining about shopping and the voice of God booming through the room.
So this meant we missed the “entertainment” this evening which really pained me as you may imagine: it was a comedian – juggler. The Lord saved me tonite.
Tomorrow
We are in Pusan and have a tour there. It is an early start as we berth at 7 am and leave at 12:30 p. The movie “The Sound of Music is showing tomorrow afternoon as Angela Cartwright, one of the child actors in it, is on board and giving interviews. Her husband took a computer class with me and he seems like a fun guy. I know Ed will go watch it as he is agog over Julie Andrews. Since the movie is almost 3 hours long and it starts at 2 pm, that means he won’t be with us for trivia tomorrow.
Cold weather uniforms
Suddenly our staff are in their winter black. It gives a Titanic character to the look of things. I don’t know how they decide when to make the change but it is somehow related to the weather getting colder. I expect that sometime when we are between Beijing and Hong Kong, they will revert back to the all whites never to change back again during this cruise.

No internet tomorrow

I woke up with some “humpty-rumpy” (I’ve heard it several ways) and really never got back into a deep sleep. But Ed got up about 7:15 and eventually went to the gym since it has calmed down a lot. He put the “morning show” on. This is on the ship’s channel and basically tells you everything about that day’s events and more. Practical advice about stuff such as immigration, shuttles, etc. We’d heard about the dance show the staff is planning and this morning they interviewed the participants. It’s called “Dancing with the Stripes” because each of the dancers will be dancing with a staff member who has never danced before. So a bartender, ship’s nurse, excursion director are among the non-dancers who are going to be dancing the tango, salsa, etc. Frankie is the host for a lot of these side stories and he is so good at this kind of stuff. He lived in Japan for four years and he was in the film Grease with John Travolta. He’s not someone folks really take to initially, but he grows on you and folks begin to look forward to him. No one can interview people like he does.
Religious life on a ship
We signed up for the Seder which will be held tomorrow evening . The priest on board had a rough time getting to the ship (I don’t know the details) but some of the passengers were suggesting at Mass that a collection be taken up to cover some out-of-pocket expenses. I was not aware that the priest pays for the set up and such for Mass. There is traditionally a collection which goes to marine related charities. Apparently there is also a fund that supports priests on the sea doing various jobs; I guess it’s just another type of mission.
Port talk: Beijing
We are landing at a large port Xingang which was news to me. You could spend a week in that town alone. There is a bullet train that goes to Beijing in 45 min. I’m at a loss as to why we aren’t using that to get to Beijing because our ride is 3 ½ hrs each way. Nonetheless, the presentation was a good review of the sites we saw in Beijing in 2001 and some ones that are new to us. There was much history that I either missed, or didn’t recall, from our first visit.
Trivia
It was not fun this morning. If it was that way each time, I’d never play. Some folks were not on their best behavior and clearly the folks calling the questions have been pushed to finish before the bridge announcements at noon. I don’t really mind this part though it does require a team to make quicker decisions. But many of the groups will just drag things out indefinitely if left to their own devices. We had an opening and a new person joined us but I don’t think that person will return not would I encourage it.
We got one point less than the winners and it wasn’t an easy quiz. The fellow who annoys several in our group (his wife is a delight) popped in at the last minute as we had 2 empty seats. He was separated comfortably from our member who is the most annoyed with him.
Lunch
I didn’t go as I’m not sure what my weight is doing these days. I knew Ed would go as it was the fantastic Sunday buffet they often put on with buckets of sea food, salads galore, dessert, meat, and fish stations…and on and on. So I read some more in the biography of Einstein. He was such an interesting personality and did change his mind about things during his lifetime; he wasn’t hidebound in that way. But he did have a more libertine opinion about his personal life that wouldn’t pass muster very well today. But he clearly had many times in his life when he was essentially without a country.
The tea party gathering
Ed and I snuck down to listen to this. There were a lot of people there: at least 30 if not more. One fellow was holding court. There were several non-Americans, one clearly confused about the whole idea since she said something praising Obama which drew a lot of ire from the assembled. There was some discussion of whether to start a 3rd party or work within the framework of our two major parties. All except one questioner (more later) were Republicans and some discussed the need to properly educate the new voters so they’d know how to vote knowledgably. There was much generational clucking about how ignorant young folks are about economics; I wondered how many of them were as knowledgable when they were young, or more importantly, even now, about such things. Many facts were thrown around that applied to Republican Administrations as much as the current Democratic one, but this information was recounted as if it was a new, and very dangerous, phenomenon. One younger man, perhaps in his 30s (and wearing a t-shirt with a huge “AIG” on the front) asked a question and inserted references to libertarianism into his question about the tea party activists.
Ed and I were good; we just listened though Ed was concerned he couldn’t keep his mouth shut when the misinformation started. Ed left for a computer class on how to restore old photos and I stayed for a while but left when things were winding down. The “leader” of the group suggested they meet again next week and “discuss” health care reform. I can’t recall the exact terminology but clearly it is going to be a hit job on anything even remotely related to a positive attitude about anything related to any change in health care. These folks are comfortable financially and don’t have to worry about their health care and they clearly want to keep it that way and insulate themselves from any ideas or facts that might endanger their status. Many sounded very afraid frankly but this is supported by facts that serve their purpose and ignore other realities. Certainly the moral issue is never dealt with unless it means they might be required to pay more taxes (their assessment) which they believe would disadvantage them unfairly.
Celebrity at sea
I didn’t go to this but it’s a very popular feature on these long cruises where folks are agog over stars of any age. The celebrity this time appeared on Make Room for Daddy with Danny Thomas. I suspect Ed will watch it on TV later.
Book club discussion
The book is “Tuesdays with Morrie”. It was combined with the afternoon tea. Princess purchases a number of books and then they are passed out for folks to read and then come together and discuss in a book club format. The librarian gives everyone a schedule of things to note while reading the text and then this forms the jumpstart for the discussion.
Some of those who showed up had not yet read the book and a few, like myself, had read it long ago. I was pleased that non-caffeinated tea was available as it has not always been so except for green tea. They had small sandwiches, lots of pastries and other sweets, scones, clotted cream, jelly, etc. I settled on an egg salad “sandwich” (actually a little bun about the size of a silver dollar). I felt bad at the timing of my leaving for trivia because some folks had begun to share experiences related to the illnesses or deaths of family members.
Booking flights
Ed just went up to book our return flight from Oslo in the summer. The offerings are so bizarre. For example, it is cheaper to fly to London which then goes on to Paris and then to LA. If you fly directly from Paris to LA, it is much more expensive. Much of this makes no sense…
Supper
We talked about various exotic foods since snails and frog’s legs were on the menu tonite. Also some discussion of Angela Cartwright’s roles (she was the celebrity guest today) and the fact that the movie the Sound of Music will be shown later as she had a role as one of the daughters in it. Crepes Suzette were made by the head waiter as they often due. We’ve had cherries jubilee and similar desserts. We know it’s coming when we see the bottles of liquor set up next to the huge saucepans as we enter the dining room.
Cold weather…gear
The weather for the next few ports is predicted to be in the 40s or 50s and so Ed is about taking all the winter gear he brought. I’m into layering but we’ll be lugging lots of stuff so the coolness doesn’t inconvenience us. It is definitely cooler and folks are wearing sweaters and jackets to dinner.
Entertainment
It was a divided program with the main dancers and singers presenting an abbreviated program. This was followed by the comedian/magician I left the other night. So again there was a hearty exodus of folks who didn’t want to be subjected to the same ropes, rings, and such yet one more time.

There is a sign on the door of the internet cafe saying that the internet connection will not be up while we are in port tomorrow. This I'd expect from the Chinese Gov't but the Japanese?

Nagasaki tomorrow

Cold and nasty weather



I awoke around 7 and waited for Ed to wake up. The “humpy-rumpy” began in the early morning some time and there wasn’t much sleeping after that. The sky is foggy and the sea is very choppy. There is rain all over the patio doors.
Ed went out to go to the gym but it is closed and the outside walks are cordoned off because of the rough seas and weather. The Captain said the winds are 40 mph. So Ed said he’d walk the hallways.
Our Japanese immigration forms arrived for completion along with a customs declaration form. We complete these forms for many ports and turn them into the purser’s desk in advance of the port. Sometimes they are with our passports and we present them when we have to make a personal appearance (sounds like a TV show). Last time I was wowed by Japanese immigration so we’ll see what bells and whistles they’ve added this time.
Library
I did my usual routine: check email, paste blog, upload last of photos, pick up daily quizzes.
Port Talk: Busan
Clearly there’s a lot to see and do here. It looks very modern and busy. There was a funny part where the North Korean flag was shown and a photo of Kim Jong-il with the admonition that if you see either of these, you’ve gone too far. At lunch I overhead part of a conversation that we might not be able to go to Pusan because of an explosion in the shipyard there but I have no idea how much, if any of this is accurate.
Trivia
Not too bad. Interesting questions as always. We did have one funny experience: the question was: who funded the excavations of King Tut’s tomb? We came up with several names, none of which were correct. However, it you had garbled many of them, it would have clearly sounded very much like the true answer. In the afternoon, we did OK but we weren’t a threat to anyone; there were only 4 of us. 4 or 5 teams tied and the tie breaker question related to a “Dancing with the Stars” performance they will be doing on the cruise later. Two groups got it right and she gave all of those two group members tickets.
Lunch
Discussion of how folks handle excavations in America and Australia when fires or imminent. One lady brought up the issue of the laundry room and how there was a very intimidating woman there when she went down. Many folks seem to think it’s OK to put their laundry in and then leave it. Then when it finishes, they may or may not be there and that sets into play a series of confusing experiences that almost inevitably result in bad feelings. One fellow thought the ship ought to provide a steward who would work for tips. His job would be to move the laundry, fold it when finished and such. I think he’s got his heads in the clouds. Folks are not going to pay for that: they’d expect the ship to provide it. Oh well…
Weather
They’ve had to cancel several of the activities because of the bad weather related to the typhoon in the area. Someone likened it to travelling in the North Atlantic and it certainly looks like all the videos I’ve seen of their storms! Ballroom dance class and the art auction are out. The boutique is selling cold weather gear in anticipation of colder weather and I bought (with Ed’s encouragement) a jogging suit that used to sell for $38 per piece and which sold for $20 for jacket and pants. I don’t like the color especially but it will work well for warmth and just knock around.
While in the Pacific Lounge on deck 10 this morning, the ship’s bow dipped far into the water and the spray, which was magnificent, went way above our windows. There was also the wind blowing the spray back alongside the ship where it looked like a wall of sleet. This happened several times eliciting ooohhs and ahhhss. It really is quite exciting. It is gray, dark, overcast, rainy, and windy. AT dinner, Norma told a vignette about a lady who does not like for the water to come up on the windows. A lady sitting next to her said that was easy to take care of: “Just shut the drapes over your window!”
Ed’s Mom
Ed received an email from Mike that his Mom is not doing very well. It does not look hopeful and this of course, sets many emotions astir despite many contingency plans around such a possibility. We are glad to be kept informed no matter the tenor of the news. She is much loved and has always been a fun part of this family and her sweetness in her later years is a special recollection as we think of her with love.
Photoshop Beyond Basics
I didn’t realize that there is a class between this one and the initial class I took in Adobe Elements but I soldiered on. It will require a lot of practice to do these things easily but at least I have some idea of how to do it all—at least what was covered in class today.
Frank Sinatra
There is a passenger on here who Ed says has a great voice and he has his own show today singing Frank Sinatra songs. I can live without that so Ed went along and I finished up the organizing of the external and internal hard drives on the computer so I can have sufficient space to use Windows Movie Maker; editing videos takes enormous amounts of space on the hard drive.
Catching up: Buddhism 101
I turned on the TV to hear the lecture I missed while I was in computer class. I was only able to hear about 20 minutes of the 45 minute talk before leaving for dinner. When I came back after dinner I tried again with modest luck as it cut off before it was finished.
Dinner
We talked a lot about the American political system vs. Australian or New Zealand government. They are particularly stunned by the hoopla when our President travels around in a car with a motorcade and shutting down all the streets. This does not happen with their leaders. They also remarked that they couldn’t imagine an Aussie reaching into his pocket to donate to a candidate. I didn’t get to the part of asking how their campaigns are funded. We also lamented the show with yet one more magician even if he purports to be a comedian. Folks are getting weary of the same tricks and the same remarks designed to elicit applause. But other than two of us (and I’m not talking about Ed here), everyone stayed to the end. Most folks at our table spend their time up on the top deck sunbathing, or reading. I’m not sure if they go to any lectures or any of the games offered everywhere around the ship.
Tonite’s entertainment
This was a comedian. I finally left when I knew I could sneak out comfortably but others left earlier who weren’t so concerned about hurting the poor guy’s feelings. There are a few folks that guffaw at anything but truly this fellow was bombing. Ed did stay and so I’ll pick up the best from him.

Nasty weather

Friday March 26


The light gradually woke me up about 6:30. Ed was still snoozing quietly, stirring now and then. I figured if I worked on the computer quietly, it wouldn’t bother him; I don’t need much light for that. The sun is about 15 degrees above the horizon to the rear of the ship and the sea is a gorgeous blue, deep, with just enough black to make it mysterious. I can hear the wind but the waves aren’t especially high.
Being on the ocean
I am often fascinated by the different colors one sees in the ocean based on the condition of the sky, the depth (we passed the deepest part of the ocean the day before Guam, the Mariana Trench), the current and wind impact. It can vary from the color of the sand on the beach, through shades of green, to the deepest blue you can imagine. Our weather today was menacing and then absolutely gorgeous. The weather has cooled off somewhat, befitting our northerly course and it is perfect to walk the jogging track above on deck 11 where there is a breeze but not a strong wind and the ideal temperature. We were told that the temps in Nagasaki have been in the 40s and 50s, however, so we need to be prepared; I plan to layer myself as I couldn’t bear to bring yet one more kind of clothing. And we are told that the cherry blossoms are in perfect form at the moment.
Except for sometimes near ports, there is no smog out here. The mists and fog are pure and the clouds are usually very puffy, pristine white, and happy. Even when laden and threatening rain, it is a different experience of the weather on an ocean. I’m sometimes surprised that the weather does not frighten me despite the isolation and risk that I often know intellectually and certainly emotionally. I don’t think Ed experiences that either but many passengers do. I’m not talking of sea sickness here though many folks, including many staff, do experience this in varying degrees. (and while I’m thinking of it, there are no free meds, e.g. aspirin or sea sickness pills, in the clinic—or doctor’s surgery as the Brits call it. But they are for sale in the boutique.)
Passports and computer class
I downloaded the cameras and put them to recharge though I didn’t reformat the disks until I double check that all is downloaded. We had to return our passports in preparation for Nagasaki. I was surprised they didn’t secure them when we came back to the ship yesterday but maybe it was just too much considering all the confusion. Then I went to the library to upload the blog and check email. I was surprised at how many emails I had because Ed and I both checked our emails in the evening around 10 pm. Then I ran off to the computer class.
This was a complimentary class where Tim basically quickly ran through and showed us what we could learn in the various classes he offers. Some of what he talked about I already knew how to do in other programs. But he showed how one could do some jazzy things that I had long been curious about and have been intimidated to learn how to do. And as it turns out, I have the software on my desktop at home.
Trivia
Susan who sometimes joins our group in the mornings, called the Trivia this morning and the topic was quotations from movies. I knew this wouldn’t be our strong suit and it wasn’t. We were probably average at 8 correct. But this afternoon, we were joined by a couple from Maryland and we won. At least one of our group was grateful that they came along when they did because later another couple who have played with us before came by to see if there was room for them. The wife is fine but the husband argues for every little thing. He’s bright enough and contributes useful information but the arguing is off putting and we’d rather lose than put up with that.
Lunch
There was a lot of discussion about cruising on the QEII. One Aussie fellow told of getting their dining assignment on a cruise where the waiter told him there were some conditions because the current folks at the table had some concerns about sitting with “colonials” (they were Brits obviously). They were placed there, and this was where the Captain also sat. The Captain came from modest beginnings and so the Aussie and the Captain had a good ole time. The wife of the offensive British couple, spent a lot of time explaining that “My husband has danced with the Queen on five occasions…My husband had the first dance with Princess Diana at ….” Well you get the picture. Some folks tell such stories and others say their cruises weren’t as class conscious as this though class certainly came into play among the dynamics.
Japanese Culture
This lecture was by a fellow who is a professor of cultural anthropology. I never caught where his school is. He didn’t do the usual stats but showed us photos and did some demonstrations with some of the passengers to illustrate points. We will be hearing more from him.
Computer challenges
Ed has completed the connection for the external hard drive so now my hard work begins in stripping the C drive of the superfluous files. Feel sorry for me please: this is torture. While I’m suffering through all this, Ed is enjoying his MSNBC…talking heads (aren’t you proud of my restraint?).
Well later he played with connecting the portable speakers with the computer and his iPhone (could use iPod too) to blast the music in the cabin. You know how he loves this kind of stuff. I don’t mind if the volume is below that of a civil defense alarm and I’m not trying to concentrate.
Sabbath services are being held in the library with the Rabbi on board.
Dinner
We mostly told racy jokes; but not ones that were too bad. There was some discussion of how to get good rates on cruises. But the most lively discussion was about the “knickers” worn by the female in the exhibitionist dancing team; she wore matching colors, dress and “knickers”, last night. It’s really not that difficult to determine since her skirts are all higher than Twiggy’s miniskirts in the 60s. And it is all aided by her high kicks and the times when her husband hikes her ankles to his shoulder and circles her around in this pose. All the men at the table attest to these facts. It’s become their job to verify that this is always the case, that is that she is indeed wearing “knickers” of some color though some men express outright a wish that she simply not bother with them. This couple does garner claps and remarks about their dancing but the most frequent observation in private conversation is the volunteered remarks about their exhibitionism. If they’d just cut out the short skirts, high kicks, splits, and such, and further, leave some room on the dance floor for folks who simply enjoy dancing with their spouse, I don’t think the reactions would be so extreme.
They are not young; probably around the age of Ed and I. She is in great shape (thankfully); her husband doesn’t look like he could survive a trip up three steps but indeed he is very smooth and a very good dancer who is remarkably light and agile on his feet despite his bulk. He reminds all of us of a very famous cartoon character but I think it would be unkind to include it in this narrative lest someone see it and mention it to him.
The other frequent observation that is discussed at table is the woman who is always trying to carry on private conversations with the entertainers from her ringside seat. When she is inevitably called to the center to “help” the magician or whomever, she always adds cutesy remarks and gestures. She does not get any clapping. She isn’t especially liked for other reasons as well, as she’s very aggressive about front seat on busses and other signs of their specialness.
Comedian/magician
Ed was sounding disappointed when he thought I wouldn’t go with him to see this guy. I told him I was planning on going but I might not stay. I mean how many rope tricks, balloon tricks, and such can you see over and over before your eyes glaze over. So I did go with him as promised, and when he finished Hudini’s famous needle and thread (first swallowed separately and then pulled out attached from the mouth) trick, I was out of there. I almost bolted prior to that when he played up a schtick about an animal he was going to pull out of a box and it was a play raccoon. He feebly attempted to make it look alive and then “accidentally” threw it into the audience. No one shrieked or even startled. He’s amusing but not funny. When Ed came in he speculated that the ship has it’s own set of rings and each magician who comes on simply borrows them. I’d suggest the colored handkerchiefs, ropes, and other hackneyed tricks we’ve all seen too many times.
Ed just came in and is reading the Patter. One of the folks we lament in these conversations I’m recounting above is a woman named Susan. He’s laughing because the port talk tomorrow is on “Pusan” (also sometimes referred to as Busan) and he initially thought it was on “Susan”. Now at least half the ship would show up for that.

Guam

Guam


I woke up well before 6 am and finally peeked out the curtains. There was a hint of dawn but no real light. Soon Ed told me I could turn on the light and I found it was 5:50 am so I threw the drapes back and we laid in bed for a while. The tug boat brought the pilot right on time: 6 am and we docked right on time as well: 7 am. You could set your clocks by much of this nautical activity.
In between I took a shower and promptly at 7, our room service arrived. We ate and Ed did whatever it is that he does in the morning. Then an announcement came on that immigration had gone much quicker than expected so everyone who wanted to could go down and get checked. They announced this several times. Ed did get into the shower through some of this and we actually got cleared through immigration AND agriculture check (I guess these two things HAVE to be done when you come onto US soil). We left the ship and almost got right onto a shuttle bus. We did have to wait about 15 minutes but this wasn’t bad considering the logistics. There were 200 people on tours (all but the snorkel and diving tour were filled) and since the ship holds 650 more or less (passengers: not counting the staff) that was a lot of folks wanting to go into town, Hagatha which is 30 minutes from this commercial pier. Princess has contracted for 3 shuttle busses that each held 50 people. The bus we were on left about 8:45 am. This timing was better than we expected because we were originally expected to go through immigration between 8:30 and 9 am.
Hagatna
So the shuttle dropped off at a Hyatt hotel and Ed went in and got us all day tickets ($10 each) for the local trolley which has several lines so that meant a lot of transferring and waiting. We were headed to the Micronesia Mall where I had the impression one would find a very local atmosphere and foods. It didn’t open until 10 am and we had to wait a while for the opening when we got there about 15 min. early. There were some of the usual expected stores and a few local. We wandered around checking out the local wares and we did purchase some fun things. I had brought the luggage carrier along so we had no worries about weight.
Eventually, we decided we’d better eat there since it was close to noon since we didn’t know how long it would take us to get anyplace else with the waits for the trolley, transfers to another route, etc. I saw a booth in the food court that said they had Phillipino and Chamorro (the local culture) foods. I think the food was only Pilipino but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Ed got some too but only after getting a dim sum from another vendor. After eating, we wandered a little more and then went to wait for the next trolley. We didn’t wait long and were headed for the old city but the driver said it had been bombed in WWII and scattered. Along the routes we recalled sites we had seen last time such as the Spanish Plaza, the cathedral, the statute of Pope John Paul II which rotates on it’s plinth (think Noumena New Caledonia’s Virgin Mary), and a few other familiar looking sites. After talking to the driver who wasn’t a font of knowledge but wanted to be helpful, and checking our time, we decided to check out a local mall. Well this was a real disappointment. It was depressing. Many stores closed. Others just very uncomfortable to be in. We went out to wait for the trolley. This took a while. From that trolley, we transferred to another one after a wait, and then crossed the 6 lane highway and hiked up to the Hyatt where the shuttle was to come. As we walked up, a shuttle, completely full, left. We waited another 45 minutes. The numbers of waiting passengers grew and the hotel invited us several times to wait inside in the air conditioning. Many folks had clearly done a lot of shopping, most of it was at Macy’s per the bags. There was a 70% sale there I heard and the non-US folks were grabbing up bargains like they were in an orgy.
When we got on the bus, one couple took up 4 seats with all their bags and persons. Eventually, peer pressure encouraged them to pull their bags in and allow someone (they knew and invited to sit there) to use those seats. The bus filled up with a handful of folks having to wait for the next bus. Then we bumped along for the 30 min ride back to the ship enjoying the clear water and gorgeous beaches along the way.
Guam itself
It is an island of course, part of the Marianas and not very large. Hagatna is a lazy modern metropolis where tourism clearly appears to be the major source of income. The beaches are a row of modern high rise hotels with gorgeous beaches. The Japanese vacation here probably more than any other group. Wealth is obvious in some stores and Hummer limousines. The weather is tropical and the temperature stays in the 80s with good breezes most of the time. The population are an amalgam of Asian ethnicities; I could not sort out the Chamorro, the native people, if I had to. In many ways, except for the tropical setting and architecture, it looks like many parts of LA.
Folklorico show
Ed took the purchases as we had them tied together securely and he was going to the room to drop everything, pick up the camera, and meet me in the Cabaret Lounge where a Chamorro Folklorico show was scheduled. For reasons I still don’t understand, the guard directed me to a clear path right onto the ship. I ran to the Lounge and got some good seats.
Ed came in right after the show had started and handed me the camera, which still feels gritty from the volcanic ash from Rabaul. I sat on the floor near the front and took mostly video since I now know how to pull out a single photo from a video and make it into a *.jpg. When they warned us they were going to pull folks up to dance with them, I skulked by to the seat next to Ed. The dancers, mostly younger than 16 from their looks, came out into the audience to shake hands and greet folks. They definitely look Asian but some could pass for Pilipino, some others for Hawaiians.
After the show, I zipped back to the room to see the missed lecture which the Patter said was going to be shown from 3-5 pm today. That channel is showing only the Princess sea witch. They have had some sound problems that have involved yoeman’s work on the part of the sound technicians on board and I’m assuming they are tied up with that.
When Ed returned we watched the kids on the pier as they continued to dance and sing for us until the ship was well away from the jetty. In between, I sorted out our purchases and stored Ed’s very funny T-shirts about a guy named Ed who has a surfing school. I assume it’s a joke as it’s hilarious. Ed has enough dried mangos to last him for ….well maybe a week.
So now the TV is on with the unbelievable vandalism and other ugly behavior toward those who voted for health care. Do you know how the world views us through this lens? Does anyone care?
Since I took so much video, I need to wait until Ed does whatever he has in mind for the storage on the computer before I can download the stuff on the camera. So no photos from the past 2 stops until I can get all that done after he’s finished with his part. I’m crossing my fingers.
Dinner
There was a review of what folks had done today. Norma was funny when she talked about Neville pulling her away from the sales at Macy’s. She did eventually buy a top somewhere and Neville added, since Normal didn’t volunteer it, that she bought some sun glasses too. Ha. Fay remarked that she saw another funeral today and now she’s wondering when #3 will appear. We clarified that none of these funerals were related in any way to the ship. We talked about legalizing drugs, specifically marijuana. This included a discussion of the exporting of American gangs and how different countries handle graffiti. A fun evening as usual.
Jon Bell
This is the fellow with whom we had lunch several days ago. What a talent and what fun. He plays instruments, sings, and tells hilarious jokes. He’s from the north of England but to me he’s so Irish in every way. Clearly the audience loved him and he sure does feed off of the good will of the listeners.
Star Party
This wasn’t a star party in the usual sense as there wasn’t anyone there to educate us about what we were seeing. The ship turned off the lights on decks 10 and 11 for an hour so we could be dazzled by how many stars you can see and how bright they are out here in the middle of nowhere. Interestingly, the moon was so bright that it impaired our ability to see many of the stars. We think we were able to identify some constellations and perhaps Venus and Mars but it may all be fantasy. Still it was a great experience and not one that can be duplicated on land these days.
We have to confess: we took the elevator from deck 7 to 10 and then walked up to 11 (no elevator to 11) as we were running late.
Emails
I received an email from one of our table mates on the last leg who also played trivia. He has created 20 really tough trivia questions. I tried to print them off but only ¾ of them printed because of some peculiar interface between the computer in the internet café and the printer there. To print them off properly, I will need to cut and paste them into a Word document and then print them off from that document. Since I had so much trouble (and paid for 6 sheets ultimately) Richard, the internet technician, said for me to bring the document to him and he’d work on printing it off for me. Then I’ll pass them along to Frankie for the staff to use on days when I’m not present and I’ll guard them with my life—well maybe not that much but no one on ship knows I have them so far.
Also heard from a table mate on our Baltic cruise who is following this blog. It is always such fun to think of all the folks who are reading this drivel and enjoying it. And then of course there are the usual troubles of the various friends and family that leave us feeling helpless and wishing we had some magic to make everything right.
Holy Week
It hit me today that Easter isn’t far away. Nor is Passover; we picked up a rabbi today but there are some “challenges” with his visas so the ship is doing some fast work to see if they can resolve those difficulties. But I wanted to decorate in some way so I bought some napkins with an Easter Rabbit painting eggs and I’ve put them outside our door for decoration.
Speaking of door decorations, it is fun to see what people put on their doors. Some have appropriate themes related to holidays, e.g. St. Patrick’s Day and now Easter. You can see the freebies folks were given in greetings on shore as they wind up on the doors or mailboxes. Balloons announce that someone had a birthday or anniversary.

Guam tomorrow

Guam tomorrow
While the sun doesn’t exactly blast through the curtains as it did for a long while, it still is impossible to sleep with this degree of light in the room. There was rain (you could see the drops of water on the bottom of each run of the fence on the balcony) and the wind was still howling. The waves are about 8 feet high.
The Captain came on about 8 am and told us what had happened in history on this date; I try to remember some of it since it may come up in trivia. Ha. Well anyway, Elvis Presley went into the service on this day. Don’t ask me the year.
I’ve been reading to Ed some of the part of the book on Einstein about tensors and such. So this morning he started posing questions to me about great circles related to longitude (all yes) and Latitude (only at the equator) and then I discussed curved space with him (it’s that part of the story now) and how potentially there could be indefinite numbers of grand circles around the earth. When you fly to Europe, you do a circle (actually an arc as a part of a potential circle) over the Pole.
Passports
We had to pick up our passports this morning so we have them for Guam immigration tomorrow morning. I assume we give them right back to the ship since we won’t need them on US soil. There was a modest line at 9:05 am. I see the stamps for Papua New Guinea and for Australia are in there.
Shopping
Next I went to see if there was anything new in the atrium to tempt us. Not a thing new but then I pretty much knew that; I was just looking for better prices. Yesterday I picked up some World Cruise T-shirts for the Ft. Lauderdale to LA leg of it. We knew they would be marked down pretty good at some point. I got all of the small sizes though they are much closer to a medium and they really don’t shink.
Library
I finally did look up the anniversary gifts since that question comes up so often. I wrote them all down and will share with the group; hopefully one of us will remember if we get one again soon. If it’s too long away, Lord only knows.
Tri via
We accomplished a tie breaker status but the other team guessed the date closest to the opening of the Victoria and Albert museum. Ah well
Lunch
Two interesting topics of discussion today: travelling by freighter, and the interview/chat with Frankie about Rabaul and Chuuk. Regarding the former, this couple travelled for about 2 yrs for various periods of time on freighters. You dine and socialize with the officers. There is a Laundromat that works well and has no problems with being crowded. You must be willing to entertain yourself for long periods of time because it may be a long while (as much as 28 days in one instance) where you do not have a port. If you want more ports and more time in the ports, you select a general cargo ship. The cost is plus or minus $100 per day per person for comfortable accommodations; with lower prices, the accommodations go down in “quality”. You have free access to the bridge, including when the pilots are there, as long as you don’t speak unless spoken to and stay out of the way. But you get to experience all that is involved in going into and out of ports. There are no stabilizers.
The conversation with Frankie did bring up the issue of the ports we go into and the “appalling conditions” (apparently this is the term used by one whiner). All the others present put the complainer into his place. As I’ve remarked before: these folks should stick with large ships and chose the tours that take them to resorts.
Movie maker
So now, given the time and the hard drive space, I’m dangerous with editing videos. I also learned today—something I’ve been wanting to learn how to do for years!—how to take a single picture out of a video clip! Hurrah! The young man, Tim, who teaches these classes is so young and so cute. But more importantly, he is a talented teacher and takes you step by step through successful experiences.
Since I promised Ed he could have the computer at 3 pm, I’m simply catching up on the blog now and waiting for him to come back to claim it. I have not yet downloaded yesterday’s photos and I may not do that until after Guam. It’s a lot of trouble frankly as it not only involves downloading photos from our 3 cameras, but also recharging the batteries and reformatting the disks. I’m busy.
Well Ed came back from the lecture and didn’t use the computer… I spent more time reading Einstein until it was time to go.
Tour of the bridge
World Cruise, Elite, and Suite passengers are being invited to tour the bridge I gather. As you know, Ed is signed up for the Ultimate Ship’s Tour (if they ever have it on this ship) but this was the white bread version of the tour of the bridge. About 12 of us showed up at the assigned place—in front of the fore elevators on deck 8. As usual, two folks didn’t show and so the rest of us waited for them. Eventually we were escorted past the secure password protected doors, down the hall where all the plaques from all the ports are displayed, past the Captain’s cabin and conference room, into the bridge. It is always interesting to see how this ship is run, usually by auto pilot while we are there. It was too windy for us to go out onto the wing bridge where the Captain controls the ship while it is being brought alongside the jetty; there is even a window in the floor of this where he can see the side of the ship, water and the jetty as we get closer. Our host was a young fellow who had been in the Navy for 10 years before coming with Princess 3 years ago. Everyone looks so sharp in their crisp whites. I wonder if we’ll be going into dark uniform territory when we approach Korea.
TV: the technician came in today to redo the film something or another in this flat screen TV. I didn’t catch what his job was but I assume they have some system that requires that they do some fine tuning now and then as this has been working just fine. Ed has been flipping the channels listening in alternate sessions at the talking heads lambasting the health care bill, and those talking about dead bodies; sometimes I have the impression these are the same discussion.
Dinner
All present. Some discussion of Flying Squirrels, actually fruit bats (we saw them in Cairns) and how much noise they make eating fruits when they are dropping from ripeness. They also have transmitted a deadly virus that infected horses and contaminated some vets and trainers, most of whom died. Two who lived are still not right. They said it was the Hendra virus named after the location where it was discovered. I’ve never heard of it; another thing to look up on the net.
Missed lecture
I left dinner early to see the lecture I missed today while I was taking the video editing class. The title was “What do some Republican and Democratic Presidents have in common besides partisan animosity: Should their “roving eye” affect how we judge their presidencies? All that is playing is the lectures I’ve already seen; somebody goofed as these are reruns instead of a replay of today’s lecture. Well the best laid plans…. Back to Einstein I guess.
The comedy magic of Greg Hudson
This was tonite’s entertainment. We saw him the other night as the mentalist. I enjoyed that but this is the usual magical tricks with the ropes that you cut and such so I left and checked out our photos and then came back to the room. I made the laundry list, did my hand laundry (ugh! I really hate doing this), and determining our routine for tomorrow. We have immigration check between 8:30 and 9 am in the Cabaret Lounge; non-US citizens go to the Pacific Lounge. After that, we’ll take the shuttle into town and decide what we want to do from there.

Out of Chuuk/Truk

Chuuk (choo-k)
We awoke around 7:45 and I turned on the TV because the movie “This is It” was scheduled to begin showing at 8am. After I left, Ed says he did his exercises in the room by dancing to the music.
We watched as we came through so many islands you can’t count them. I was thinking what it must be like to live so isolated from everything else and how difficult it would be to get supplies and support oneself. The weather is warm, but not hot, but the humidity is awful. It apparently has been raining in deluges for a few days though the sky is beautiful at the moment.
Library
I checked email and uploaded the last blog. It is usually quiet and peaceful there. There’s always at least one person working on the jig saw puzzle; the completed ones are often laying on the side for all to admire and many of them are quite complex. These are not 100 or 500 piece puzzles.
I also checked out some terms that are suddenly unclear to me: Gaussian (I know it in statistics where it refers to the bell shaped curve) but wasn’t clear why this term would apply to photography. I’m still not sure but in photography it refers to blurring the background in a photo. I sure wish I had put Photoshop onto this computer for this trip. I can’t wait to get to it at home. Picassa works really well for so many things but there’s more power in Photoshop.
Coming into port
This place is renowned as one of the best wreck diving places in the world. It has over 100 WWII vessels and planes in this mostly shallow lagoon which is surrounded largest enclosed lagoons in the world and is circled by 140 miles long barrier reef. I have no idea how much it would cost to come here and dive but it must be a small fortune. And I think the only reason a ship would stop here is to the passengers could go diving.
We could hear the laughter and shouts of children from the shore as we approached. The dock was on the opposite side of the ship, so we went to the Promanade deck to watch the tie up the ship and take down the usual on-dock equipment we use. The staircase, tent, carpet and two potted plants (seems like overkill doesn’t it), sign with time we have to be back onboard, podium for the security to use and so on. We heard a siren on shore and when we approached the pier there were many medical types with an ambulance there. One had scrubs on with a lab coat flapping in the breeze. All I could think of is how the scrubs were now contaminated and should be changed. One lady next to me said someone wanted to see an “American doctor.” I couldn’t help but laugh that someone would truly think Nikolas isn’t as good as they get at this job and that a small, isolated outpost would have a better option. If one needed the benefit of equipment or tests not available on the ship, it makes sense. I never saw who left but the rumor mill is already cluck clucking about it.
Some ladies in a lavender-purple mumu were waiting for us with (free) leis and head crowns. Ed looked at the staircase and said that it was packed. They quickly ran out as you may imagine but Ed managed to get me a crown which greenery and some fuzzy red flowers. All of the crowns and hats are small and many folks were asking for larger ones at the booths outside the security zone where one could buy your own.
We did walk around about 10 booths which featured lots of items made out of shells and reeds. Many of the shells are foreign to me—that or my memory is bad which is also highly possible. There were some skirts and mumus but none looked enticing by a long shot. There were many “love sticks” of various sizes for sale.
The love stick is unique to this island. In past years, a man would carve his personal notches on the lovestick and let his would-be sweethearts feel it. At night, lovestick in hand, he would kneel beside the thatch wall opposite where a girl lay sleeping, poke the stick through the wall and entangle her long hair, hopefully awakening her without arousing her family. The silent language of the lovestick began when the girl put her fingers around the shaft’s notches and identified the owner.
The town?
We did walk about a ¼ mile into the “town”. The “main intersection”, my phrase not theirs, was a lake and the cars were creeping through it. There were muddy potholes everywhere. It was hard to walk and keep oneself steady and clean. The buildings are not much more than hovels and there are mostly coconuts and bananas for sale plus a dish that is wrapped in banana leaves and can then be cooked and eaten out of the leaves.
US Post Office
We both wanted to see this building so we waded around the potholes and mud. It would be demolished in the US. The small foyer was packed with Americans and others trying to buy stamps; one fellow was squatted down on the floor, peeling off stamps and putting them on post cards. There was a long line of folks with Parcel Post boxes to go back to the ship. We didn’t stay long; we’ve seen it and memorialized the zip code with a photo. I only took the small Elph with us.
As we returned to the ship, we saw a fellow fall near the booths. We met Lysle (he uses trekker sticks to ambulate) and Ellie who were just coming out and we discouraged them from going very far and warned Lysle to be very careful. There were a few locals, including a few darling little kids, waiting in line to board the ship. We went through security, including the magnetron, and turned on CNN in the cabin. Ed stripped and put new clothes on.
When I was on the web earlier today, I was stunned at the vandalism of elected officials offices and such after the vote on health care. What has our society come to? Well, actually as I read history, I realize things aren’t really any worse now than in the past; it just seems more civilized.
Lunch
One fellow I knew, the others were “new” to me. A younger Aussie man and his wife, were there; the husband had a ‘do rag” around his head in black with white design of some sort and a T-shirt that made him look like a hell’s angel without a cycle. He joked about almost not being allowed back on the ship. We’ve been hearing a lot of in the lectures about the Whites only policies that were not official but were the underpinning of much of the history of Australia. The xenophobia knows no domestic boundaries it seems. He pulled out a cross and remarked that people in Queensland (where Cairns is) were beginning to wear crosses as a message to the Muslims. He described some skirmishes in various parts of Australia where there had been some fatalities when Muslims and Aussies got into it. I found a lot of it very unsettling as much because of the prejudice and stereotypes that he labors under, but also because of the depths that these beliefs go. Almost all non-desirable foreigners are painted with the same brush. Some of what he says may well be true, but it’s impossible to tease out what’s real from what’s fear, and more. I’d call him an Aussie redneck but that would be insulting to the rednecks in the US.
Ed took me to the movies
The ship showed “Amelia” this afternoon and there was a good group of us there to see it. I find it ironic that we are in that part of the world since her last stop before disappearing was Papua, New Guinea. I wonder how much of the story was true and how much was “editorial license.” I also wondered what the movie would have been like in the hands of a different director as it didn’t get good reviews. It was OK but not a terribly memorable one except for the subject.
The ocean right now
It is 4:45 pm and the sun is slanted toward us; Ed is taking photos of the shore as it really is very striking in this sunlight. The ocean is a wonderful sea foam green color but is topped only with small ripples usually disturbed by the motorboats zipping by.
Discount rates
I’ve been intrigued by discussions where some of the Aussies who boarded in Sydney describe incredible bargains for this segment. One fellow has a friend at P&O and he got a rate that’s far less than $100 per day. There are stories of getting minisuites for balcony rates, automatic upgrades assured, etc. You get the picture. I’m intrigued to know the details and see how one finds out about such fantastic deals.
Ed received an email from Princess for the next segment: $2200 for Singapore to Rome, lowest level, for 30 days. That’s not a bad price even for a lower level cabin, but it also means you have to get a one way ticket to Singapore and from Rome. For a balcony was something over $4000.
Dinner
Full table. There was a free shuttle up to the Jesuit high school where boys board and girls are placed in local homes to attend. Apparently the priest who gave the tour was very personable and a lot of fun. He only gets to go “home” every 5 yrs.
There was a discussion of native animals and what fruit trees folks have in their yards (a lot!). This led to a discussion about horse racing and some of the names of horses. There was a sire named Accounts Rendered, the dam was Night Lady, and the foal was named Sin Tax.
Photos
Some of those taken last evening were actually quite nice. It’s hard to know until you take a look at them so we sorted them out, ditched a big bunch of them and saved 3 of them to consider at the end of the cruise.
Special letter
We got an invitation for an “Exclusive Bridge Visit” tomorrow at 4:30 pm with an admonition not to tell others. It appears this is done only with World Cruise, Suite or Elite passengers. Only still photography is allowed. So we’ll miss trivia in the afternoon.
More about the ambulance
Ok, so someone said that a gold coffin was taken off the ship and put into the ambulance which is also used as a hearse here on the island. It seems this is a mixture of two stories. Even then, the version that we now have, isn’t verified and probably never will be. But I’ll be dying to hear what the stitch and bitch group says about it all tomorrow.
There was an ambulance waiting at the pier; we saw it and I discussed it earlier in this blog. I also saw local police come and they did have white gloves on which I didn’t make much of at the time. So it seems that a vehicle of some kind drove up with a very elegant gold coffin inside and the police complete with white gloves, formed an honor guard to escort the coffin to a boat nearby which took it to an adjacent island. The body was a local important politician (perhaps the latter are redundant). I still have no gossip about the “patient” from the ship but we do have a rather frail 93 y/o on board.
Guam immigration
We got those forms tonite. There is a just and merciful God because we don’t have to appear for immigration until everyone else except for the crew is finished. This is partly because we do not have a tour scheduled on Guam. As I fill out the form, some answers are not intuitive so if you don’t hear from me for a while, it will be because I’m answering to Customs and Border agents in Guam. What a story that would be!
Tonite’s entertainment
We heard that the singer tonite isn’t very good, so we stayed in. Ed flipped around on the channels and I tried to tune it all out so I could understand what I was reading about Einstein. I remembered after I got undressed, that there was a Rock N Roll trivia with the musician at 9:15 pm. Not that I’m so good at music, but it would have been fun.
Wind
This was howling terribly around the ship. We are headed in a NW direction and the wind supposedly is from a NE direction.

We'll be in Chuuk in a few hours

Chuuk tomorrow
The sun was only slightly less bright this morning when it intruded into the room. Well I suppose I shouldn’t say “intruded” because I truly love seeing the sunrises, especially at sea. We lolled around for a little while and then at 7, got up and invited the sun inside properly. Ed turned on the TV to find out what’s happening with the vote on health care reform. I did some research on exposure on photos because some of our photos are really underexposed for what we want to do. Ed said it’s on auto and short of individually setting our aperture and shutter speed manually, it was set. So as I researched, I found several options to deal with this problem and I gave him the manual to check them out. I heard a lot of excited “Oh!”s. It’s still impractical to change the settings for each photo when we’re out but there some quicker ways to achieve things. In the meantime, I’m still working on learning various editing methods but I can’t wait to get home and play with photoshop now that I’m somewhat initiated beyond the obvious.
Captain’s announcement
This Captain is so much more personable than our last one. He came on just now to explain that we were currently on the second day of the autumn season but in a minute, we would cross the equator and we’d now be on the second day of spring! So he did a countdown and then welcomed us to spring. Ed said tonite at dinner he’s going to welcome our tablemates to the Northern Hemisphere.
Library
I went to the library for several reasons one of which is that it is quiet and there’s a space there where I can use the computer relatively easily. The signal is very strong there for uploading and I can pick up the daily puzzles for Ed and I. So I check email, uploaded the blog and photos and then dropped off computer in the room. NOTE TO NANCY: Ed returned from the gym—one more Brownie point-- and I went off to the lecture.
Chuuk tomorrow
Instead of arriving at one pm, we’ve been told we’ll be there at 11 am and we’ll be required to be back on the ship at 4:15 pm. Not a lot of time but as an indication of all the exciting things there are to do there, there are no tours offered by the ship. So we’ll just walk around and see what’s what. It is an American protectorate (?) so it has a USPO of some kind.
Port talk: Guam
An unincorporated territory of the US. There are several tours but nothing that spoke to either of us; we did a basic tour last time we were here. There is a shuttle bus into town from the ship. The port talk included information about a Melanesian Mall and that sounded interesting to me because it has local wares and foods. I have no idea how far it is, but someone said a cab is indicated so we may do that. We have been warned that immigration for Guam will take a while as everyone has to personally appear for clearance with US border folks. We are listed as being there for 9 hours but it never works out that way. We’ll be lucky to have 7 full hours but if we leave quickly when the ship is cleared, we should be able to do a lot.
I’ve abandoned the idea of sending a box of stuff back to the states from Guam. It’s a pain to plan for that, probably pretty expensive and we’ve purchased almost nothing. Most of what we’ve purchased are consumables.
When this talk was completed, I was off to reserve the space for our trivia group and continue reading the book on Einstein which I am amazed to find I’m thoroughly enjoying and actually understanding many of the concepts. The author has done a superb job of simplifying and explaining what are very nebulous concepts—to me anyway. I never knew of anything called the ether from which we derive the word “ethereal” for example.
Trivia
We had what is now a pretty predictable morning group of us. We didn’t win but we did OK. However, in the afternoon our Tasmanian couple joined us die hards (did I tell you that our team name is now the Wizzards?) and we won! It was a well (internally) fought team process for decisions about the answers. Some questions could be misleading if you overanalyzed them. So we have 2 more “shitty pieces of green paper.” Speaking of which: there’s a Rock and Roll Trivia tomorrow night with the lounge entertainer; this was the same guy who coined the “shitty” phrase and did the Broadway shows trivia before.
Lunch
They had Senor Pancho’s buffet upstairs and I felt like Mexican food though I woke up with the firm intention of being very careful about what I ate today. I found a table in the shade on the fan tail (I think that’s what it’s sometimes called) and we sat for a while with the Bridge instructors (they were also on the 2008 cruise and we enjoy them both very much. They are Aussies and really earn their keep with those bridge classes; those bridge players are fanatics!). Shortly we were joined by the Irish singer we missed because of the movie the other night. He is our age or older, loves his job but has a very sad personal story of much family sickness and other sorrows. We spoke a lot about the British health care system (he is a British citizen) and the Aussie system; he is not very crazy about the latter but is wild about the National Health Service in Britain. And I ate much too much heavy Mexican food. I asked for the beans and either the young man behind the counter didn’t understand or they didn’t have any because they never were found anywhere.
I didn’t go to choir practice today; just didn’t want to do it.
What it Takes to Eliminate Transportation Accidents
This is the guy who is so full of himself. He does have interesting content but his braggadocio is very off putting, and not only to me. If he would show a little more modesty, we’d still all understand what an important man he has been and how well connected with the Republican Administration. He enjoyed several political appointments in the Bush Administration after being a very active supporter in the campaign. Don’t think I’m picking on the Reps: every administration does this.
So back to the real topic: this guy was on the board, and apparently was Chair at least for some period, of the National Transportation Safety Board. It was interesting and unexpected to hear what they do and how they do it. Then he discussed in some details several plane crashes, the Chatsworth train crash, and others you’d recognized. He had some very interesting stats about the safety of travel by various means: air flights are the safest followed by ships. Hee Hee. He did deal with cell phones and drivers. Also discussed teen drivers and the impact of alcohol consumption on our traffic fatality rate. So overall the content was very fascinating. Many of the men in the audience were stoking this guy’s already enormous ego and I could barf listening to it all. He’s leaving at Guam as are many of the entertainers and other speakers.
Spa services
They have set up a small area at the entrance to the Cabaret Lounge to demonstrate all the wonderful things they can do to erase wrinkles, give you back your youthful glow, and enjoy a teaser for a neck and back massage. Since there’s not a lot of room in those areas anyway, it’s hard to ignore them and I’m sure they drummed up some business.
Australia’s Post WWII relationship with the US
Well I learned a lot in this talk. Like a lot of things “down under” we really don’t have them on our radar screen. I won’t even attempt to recount it here but the politics of US and Britain greatly put Australia at risk of Japanese invasion in WWII. Indeed, Darwin on the north coast near to Indonesia, which the Japanese occupied, was severely bombed. Basically, Churchill told them Britain would look out for Britain first and get back to Australia later. This in the face of the fact that thousands of Aussie soldiers were fighting for Britain and Australia itself was at risk with it’s men far away.
Formal night
Ed had ordered chocolate covered strawberries (part of the Elite package) but some kind of cream puff came. He didn’t want to waste calories on them nor did I, so two were left (you didn’t really think we were going to leave them all did you?). Ed thinks they ran out of strawberries and that’s highly likely given how far away from sources we are. Each day the Captain says we are in the “middle of nowhere”.
We got into our glad rags, went down to have photos taken at two separate places. We visited with other folks while waiting. Sometimes the positions they put you into are so artificial. I’m waiting for the informal night photos for some cute ones. But in the meantime, we keep hoping a photo will reveal us in our previous glory. Ha.
Dinner
Apparently there was a lot of misinformation about formal nights given to folks prior to coming on the ship. I know we had a lot of confusion as well and simply brought enough clothes to make it through 2 formal nights a week. That’s what we had on the last world cruise. Well, I’m happy that we only have formal nights about every 10 days to 2 weeks but some folks didn’t bring any formal wear, poor dears.
We had a full table and had fun sharing stories. Warrick, Faye and I talked a lot about the various taxations systems related to pensions and retirement savings. There are some similarities but each country is unique. The photographer with a lot of smiles and energy came around to the table to take individual photos of each of us. We were laughing because it was done so quickly that some folks had food in their mouth and just smiled as if their mouths were empty. Ed allowed as how he should have put a piece of salmon between his teeth.
AC in our room
It hasn’t been working very well, and some other parts of the ship haven’t been as cool as we’d like. Folks complain about the Cabaret Lounge being too cold, but as soon as it fills up for a lecture, that’s no longer true. The Pacific Lounge, however, is always too warm. It is all glass sides and is at the top of the ship; maybe that’s it. But Ed thinks they were working on the a/c related to our room and by evening it was working much better.
The Piano Man
This was one of the tremendous production shows they do on these ships and it was very well done. My Lord the sweating and exertion these folks go through. And the costumes: they take your breath away. The theme refers to the songs they played by folks such as Billy Joel, Neal Sedaka, Elton John,(Ed was just reading over my shoulder and mentioned Barry Manilow: I didn’t hear the rest of his editorial commentary) and so on. Very well done as always.
Equator Party
Instead of a King Neptune party, they are having a dance celebration in the Pacific Lounge with a 10:15 pm dessert spread. My word how much can people eat! We passed and when we got back to our room, two days of dirty laundry we had sent was all returned in record time. And now I’m preparing a bag for tomorrow. ;-)

Second day of autumn/spring

Last night Ed was dead as soon as he hit the bed so we didn’t go to the entertainment which we later heard was pretty good. He will be appearing again so we’ll catch him then. I prepared the laundry to go out and then read a lot in the book on Einstein.
Rabaul
The sun blasted through the drapes a little after I felt the ship slowing down. When Ed stirred I opened the drapes to a glorious view of the volcano with the plume going straight up and then curving with the sun illuminating the eastern side with its rays. Last time we were here, the volcanos plume was gray and fluffy and full. Moreover, we could hear the boom of the explosions; there is no sound coming from that directly this morning. I recall that last time, many of the passengers were upset with the booming noise and wanted to get away from the volcano; Ed and I just found it fascinating.
The water is placid and surrounded by the rim of the old caldera. You can see what look like tanker ships in the distance and near shore various sizes and types of small boats. The temperature outside is in the low 80s but with the humidity, it is oppressive. This is probably a day where we’ll want to shower when we return unless God gives us one while we’re out. I don’t mind that so much but Ed doesn’t like to get wet.
Room service arrived promptly at 7 am a few minutes after our wake up call. I have been impressed by how they come exactly on the time we put on the slip.
The Captain came on to welcome us to Rah-bah-uul (so maybe I’ve been pronouncing it correctly after all). We may have showers today but not steady. We’ve had good luck with that before.
At first, the TV said we had a poor signal for anything but FOX news and the shipboard channels. It didn’t take long before Ed had a rugby game on so I could see it (just a pile of brawny men all with flailing legs; not much different from football players grasping for the football except for the uniforms). Rugby is more bloody I suspect. Eventually, CNN was reporting on the politics on the Hill surrounding the upcoming vote on health care reform. I listened to an advertisement (yes, we do get the ads!) from the insurance companies where they were arguing that the cost of insurance is not a very large percentage of health care costs; the greater costs are those to physicians and drug companies (it appears they’ve identified their enemies; so much for a coalition). It is such a disingenuous argument and a great example of how one can mislead or outright lie with data selectively chosen and presented in a specific manner. They never give aggregate numbers of course or look at value for the money spent. Please understand that I’m not defending the costs of all the vendors in health care but the insurance companies consume up to 33% of the premiums paid. That’s hardly efficient particularly when we have examples everywhere in the public and non-profit sector where the administrative costs are 1/10th of that amount.
Eventually, I turned it to a channel where they’re playing a movie: The man from snowy river. This is an iconic story in Australia and we missed the beginning and will miss the end as our call for our tour is soon. I don’t know when or if it will be shown again. Too bad as we’ve been told about it before (though I’ve forgotten almost all of the story).
As I write this, I can see a small plume of steam coming from a hillock between us and the larger volcano. They are both reflected in the sea between us. As I look closer, I can see craters at the top of mountains in that direction but because of the wind pushing the plume over two of them, I can’t tell if they are also contributing to the ash. And you can smell the sulfur even this far away which is perhaps a few miles.
Today’s tour
Well this was an experience as much for the heat and humidity as for the ash everywhere. It had rained last night so early in our tour, the ash/dust wasn’t bad but later it was especially annoying. Much of this was due to the fact that we were in the last seat in a minivan with a sign that said it seated 15. They would have had to be midgets is all I can say. There were 10 of us plus the driver and guide. Air conditioning is au natural here and for reasons I’ll never fathom, they would close the windows when we left the van.
And a word to the wise: when you have some ability to select a van, do not take one where they have seat covers obscuring what you’ll be enduring. We could feel every bolt in the seat and the back of the seats and the van hasn’t had springs or shocks since it left the factory 15 years ago. Furthermore, there are mostly rutted roads through the ash, which is 3 meters deep from the 2006 eruption, so if you have back trouble, this is not your experience.
So first we were taken to a site where local ladies had set up their wares to sell while we enjoyed the beautiful view---and truly it is gorgeous even though the volcano isn’t belching as we recalled 2 yrs ago. Much of the area we first visited looks so desolate: a few sticks here and there but everything else clearly covered in ash and denuded of foliage. The “roads” are simply sticks stuck in the ash with colored plastic trash bags as signs to guide you. Along the way we saw a very old computer with a solar panel right next to it. I couldn’t tell you if it was functional or not. I think Ed got a photo of it on the way back.
At our first stop, there were some darling kids with leis and they were giving them to some of the ladies who then provided them with a donation, usually a dollar. There was no pressure or suggestions at this point. Soon, a choir of kids formed and they sang several songs for us all (there is no dearth of kids here; the average family is 13-14 kids and the gov’t is considering limiting family size). They were clearly of church origin but I’m not sure if they were Catholic, Christian, or 7th Day Adventist. They were child appropriate and accompanied by hand and other body motions. Really cute. Pretty soon and older woman laid a colored cloth in front clearly suggesting donations which came soon enough. I believe they are a communal culture so the money is shared or at a minimum would go to the church.
From there, we retraced our path and went to bubbling springs nearer the volcanos. This required a long walk across the ash surface. There are ruts everywhere and the surface is not very steady. It wasn’t quite trekker stick country but it wouldn’t have hurt. In some places, the locals had cut out stairs to go up and down the arroyo sides but they quickly crumbled. Guides, who were dressed in red hard hats and orange reflector vests, were at various places to be sure you stayed safe.
The ocean water is 170 degrees Centigrade where the vents surface. You can see the sulfur in the bottom of the inlets. There was a boat up on shore but no one nearby.
All along the way, we saw many houses and a few churches. Many are cobbled together from whatever is handy and the word “hovel” sounds glorious as a description. Most are on stilts and have been newly built since the really powerful eruption of 1994 (Northridge anyone?). Many are made of corrugated steel and they have the rust to confirm their content. Occasionally you’ll find a concrete building that was constructed by the Japanese in WWII. These buildings were made to last (unlike those erected by US troops) and were nigh onto indestructible. They often have walls and ceilings that are 2 feet thick.
There’s laundry hanging everywhere attesting to large families and lots of babies. We saw infants in arms some of whom clearly were only a few weeks, not months, old. I saw many visibly pregnant women underneath their mumus but it is difficult to determine anyone’s age here. The only men we saw, other than boys and youngsters travelling by foot (and by bike in one instance) across these ash flats, were the drivers. Most of the guides were women.
The next stop, again retracing our path backwards in a caravan (I often wondered why they didn’t spread out the number of vans going to any one place at a time as probably half the ship was at each stop; the other half were on the tour of the military sites and large tunnels. This time we were taken to a WWII Japanese plane wreck this shows it’s years at this point. The locals have excavated it from the ash and so it appears to be deep down. Again there were hoards of kids with a few women. The children were somewhat shy but very friendly and we heard “ha-llo” all along our routes. Some children were dressed in their native dress and had a sign asking for a dollar for a photo. I only saw one dollar but there might have been more after I left. I felt sorry for the little kid as this isn’t a fun job in the sun and humidity.
After this, we traveled back over the same bumpy flat, this time at a higher rate of speed so that we could really get the fillings jarred out of our back teeth. We came through town and eventually there was a little paved road into the hills nearby. This took us past the marketplace we visited last time which was closed because it is Sunday. You see lots of groups of folks sitting in the shade of trees, and other clusters of folks walking under umbrellas most of which seem to be red and black, the national colors of Papua New Guinea.
On the way to the volcano tracking station at the top of the hill, we passed many of the Japanese tunnels from WWII. Several times during this day’s tour, women would demand that we stop for photos. This meant that the other vans would whiz by us stirring up more ash (not fun for my contacts) as we travelled in caravans of about 20 vans. In one instance, the driver and guide acted like they hadn’t heard the request (thank you Lord , Jesus). It turns out that the volcano monitoring site, where we were headed then, has probably the best local view for photos. We finally had a restroom stop here. One never knows in these places if you’ll ever find a restroom and certainly what shape it will be in when there is one. This one was western style but didn’t flush.
There wasn’t anyone in the volcano monitoring office so I guess the equipment was taking care of itself. There were some laminated posters here and there talking about volcano activity.
This took us back to the ship and we were all ready. Ed and I showered and made 2 more bags of laundry to send out. His shoes were full of gray ash but mine seemed to be OK. Still there was grit over everything and when Ed wiped his face with the cold cloth offered as we boarded the ship, it had gray grit on it. We had been warned not to wear clothes we cared about and certainly not white (though my tennis shoes are white). We also each drank a bottle of water and continued this at lunch. Both of us had clothes drenched with sweat but Ed loses a lot more fluid than I do. What a blessing a fresh shower is after this morning.
Lunch
We sat with folks with visited with over lunch in the past. Some really should only go to ports where they are resorts. I’m not sure what they expect in these primitive places (and now listen to me complaining about the bolts digging into our backs and behinds in the buckboards we travelled in today). Six of us were from California and the other couple has homes in Las Vegas and Florida. I usually eat three solid meals on days like this as a reward I guess. I’ll have to watch it other days. One of the ladies at the table was watching her diet as her husband took her up to the gym to weigh. It was actually funny.
Port talk: Chuuk
I’m not sure I understand much more about this place but it wasn’t the fault of the speaker who did a great job and simplified things. But there are so many reefs and islands and it’s hard to keep track of what belongs with what. However, there is a resort on the island where we’re going (and I never was clear what that was called) so some of our fellow travelers should be happy. I’m not sure what Ed decided to do at this stop as I looked at all the tour offerings for ports in the next several weeks and passed the information along to him.
Well as it turns out there’s SOOO much to do in Chuuk that the ship isn’t even offering any tours! We are in port for about 5 ½ hours. All of this leads me to wonder why we’re even stopping there except that it’s tied to the US. We have these kinds of stops occasionally that make absolutely no sense to any of us though I do think it’s fun to see unusual places no one else would ever think of going to (except perhaps to dive for Chuuk is a prime scuba and snorkeling site because of all the military hardware in the bottom of the harbor and the resulting reef effect which means lots of interesting animals down there to see).
Dance classes
I often go up to the Pacific Lounge to upload the blog and save our favorite space for trivia. The dance classes are often being held during this time and so it is today. The teacher, John (of whom I’ve spoken before) is an Aussie and today’s he’s teaching the square dance. It just seems strange. Ha.
So now I’ll spend some time editing photos.
Trivia
There was just the 4 of us and we tied for 2nd place…with 3 other teams. The winners were 2-3 points ahead of all of us. Reckon they cheated? Though I don’t see how. I think we did pretty good since we were handicapped.
Dinner
We’ve switched around each evening so that different people sit next to each other. I think most folks like it as they’ve begun to do some stuff like that as well. There is another table near us and everyone is hide bound to their usual places. This is particularly funny when there are only two couples at a table for 8 and they are at each end with all the dead space in between.
Mind Magician
This guy was funny and he was really good. I don’t believe folks can really read someone else’s mind but he’s impressive and his schticks were not ones I’ve seen before done quite that way. I also appreciated the fact that though he had audience participation, he didn’t do anything that was embarrassing to anyone. Ed’s thinking of going to watch it him for the second show; I’m sure he thinks he can figure out how he does it.
Today’s photos
I haven’t finished editing all the photos but Ed did ask about one in particular. While we were very close to the volcano I told him we should take some pictures of each other where it looks like the volcano is spewing from the tops of our heads thus “blowing our tops”. So I did search that one out and the one he took of me is simply too perfect. I didn’t do so well with him (frankly I can’t see well enough to get that done) but I also told him I now know how to edit it in photoshop to make him “blow his top” as well. I just have to get to my computer at home with Photoshop on it and play around. I wonder how much time it’s worth. Ed told the table that photo is our Chirstmas card photo.