Oh boy, April 1st, the day of the fool…and the next day too. I must get out there and listen! Our final day in Japan and 1st day in Korea.
Sakaiminato was the city of eyeballs and chopsticks and loads of street art. As the pictures show, you can even get bottled water in an eyeball bottle.
In a coastal area, Kim walked through all 123 of these red arches that led to the beach.
In a mountainside town, she found some new boots.
French fry anyone?
How about Cherry Blossoms?
It’s impossible to get away from Made in China stuff.
I had my second haircut and pedicure in the ship spa while we were there.
Here’s one more for the small ship sailing experiences. After a show last night, I shook the Captain’s hand and thanked him for putting our comfort and safety ahead of his mission to get the ship from A to B on time. He thanked me and grabbed me and hugged me as a way of saying thank you to me.
And speaking of “bromance”, my two favorite bartenders left the ship yesterday at noon, I’ll miss them. And then, my bubbies from Cathlamet called me from my house to let me know everything was secure and to notify me that I was getting dangerously low on my high-end beverage stock. Wow, what great friends. WE also had a meeting where among other things WE voted that no one can ever go on vacation for more than two months without coming home for a visit. I asked how “WE” voted when I wasn’t even there. Well, that’s when I learned a very valuable lesson. Don’t ever give your attorney a blanket proxy without some very specific guidelines. It appears that I was actually there and did vote for the restriction.
We overnighted in Busan, S Korea and woke up to a tsunami warning. Our sister ship, the Ovation had to leave port to get out to sea, leaving several passengers behind. They gathered them up and took them to high ground and eventually the ship came back to get them. Seems Taipei, Taiwan had a pretty big earthquake. Remember, we were there just one week ago, too close for us. Yesterday was beautiful, bright sunny and warm. Kim went on an excursion and I waited for the new passengers to board. Today is constant rain. The captain is once again delaying our departure by 4 hours due to high winds and seas, and now he just told us it may be delayed longer.
Yesterday, we finally we got some IPA, the first since way back in Auckland, New Zealand. So far they have brought to my room, 3 sixpacks for my personal consumption, cheers.
I’m here with today’s episode of Pool Chronicles– you can’t make this shit up. I’ve sent you enough photos of the pool deck, so, you should also know there is a Grill in one corner. This couple comes out and are walking slowly and just kind of had that ‘I’m lost’ look, so a bar server asked what she could do to help? They replied that they had just embarked and hadn’t eaten all day. “We’re looking for somewhere to eat”. I mentally raised my hand and said pick me, pick me, I had an answer. Well, in a very nice tone, she explained that they had walked right past the indoor buffet that closes at 2:00 and right in front of their nose was the Patio Grill. Can you believe it? Wow.
It’s Indian Market dinner tonight which means sushi for me.
We all know the story about the A-bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, but it really doesn’t sink in until you walk in the footsteps of all of those that were killed on August 6, 1945.
But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. At out last port, we docked at the base of an active volcano in Kagoshima, Japan.
The steam was pouring out of it all day. It reminded us of Mt St Helens in our back yard. I know you don’t like me complaining about the weather, but it was so bad that Kim stayed on board the ship. It was raining sideways, heavy rain. We were due to get under way at 9 PM that night, but about three hours before we were to leave, an announcement came from the bridge that we were staying in port for the night. The captain said it would be unsafe and uncomfortable if we left tonight. The captain went on to say there were gale force winds and heavy seas, but he expected then to end by morning. We looked at the radar on our computers and it was a band that was all red and yellow, it wasn’t very wide, but we were lucky to be safe in a harbor, under an active Volcano. We got under way at 7 AM, so they tell me.
After a sea day, we arrived in Hiroshima. Kim went on a planned excursion to the Peace Memorial Park. It was a beautiful park dedicated to that day in 1945. The museum was filled with memories, including testimonials from survivors.
She saw one of the only buildings to survive the attack, the A-Bomb Dome, I give you both before and after pictures to compare. There was a huge wall of paper cranes, and the story goes like this. A young girl with leukemia, from the aftereffects of the bomb, was in the hospital and the nurses told her if she made 1,000 paper cranes, she would not die. Well, of course she did die, but not before she made a thousand paper cranes. Now to this day, the museum receives thousands of paper cranes from all over the world daily and the museum displays every one of them. There was also an eternal flame that will burn until all threat of a nuclear attack no longer exists.
And there was a Cenotaph to honor victims, look that one up. Look at the picture carefully, it is lined up so that you see both the eternal flame and the A-bomb dome.
Kim saw this little old lady ridding her bike with an umbrella holder to keep the sun off.
And here I am with my favorite bartender, Vinna (I’m the one on the right). He leaves tomorrow, sad.
ENOUGH glume and doom. Even though the pool has been quiet, they never let a day go by without saying something stupid.
So, I’m here with yet another episode of Pool Chronicles, you can’t make this shit up.
I was at the sushi bar eating the tuna my loving wife bought me, when a guy walks up to the bar and orders a virgin Gin and Tonic, what did I just hear? The guy sitting next to me looked at me with the same questioning face and we together said, “wouldn’t that just be a Tonic”?
And then there was this sign, anyone want to take a stab at it?
I could never keep a job on a cruise ship, because my mouth usually beats my brain to the finish line. OOPS!
This is our second time visiting Japan and there is no other country more welcoming and helpful than the people of Japan.
Day one started with what was supposed to be a voluntary immigrations check. They told us that if we planned to go ashore at any port in Japan, we needed to clear immigration at this stop. As the messages started getting more often and more direct, I decided to go ahead and do it. What if I needed medical care off ship, or anything else? Well, then they started calling room numbers and names. So, this isn’t optional, is it? Well, after 45 minutes of standing in line, I was officially okay to go ashore at any Japanese port. Big deal.
Stop number 2 of 5 in Japan.
Big change in the weather, 64, windy and rainy, wow. Yea, yea, I know there are no violins playing for us, it’s still better here than at home. But I did miss my pool time yesterday due to high winds. I’ll try again today.
After a rather rocky sea overnight, we were at port. Kim headed off as usual and enjoyed exploring the streets.
When Kim went shopping with the chefs, she bought me another pineapple, best one yet. The chefs and servers were all salivating over my pineapple, the smell alone was incredible, but when I offered to share it with them, they turned me down, crew vs guest etiquette I guess. Today, she brought me some sushi, it’s a very dark meat and looks like tuna, I’ll let you know when I eat it tomorrow. Once again, the seas are smooth tonight. We have learned a lot about Japan and the war from our lectures.
Last night we had our final dinner at the Grill. They are closing it down and opening a Mediterranean food restaurant. We will have a chance to try it out before our cruise ends.
So, I was really worried about finding content for my Pool Chronicles, you can’t make this shit up, but they never fail me.
So, here we go….
Ross, our cruise director, gave me the first one. As people board the ship for the first time, it is like everyone losses any sense of protocol. People step right in your face and say things like toilet, where?
We were late to lunch the next day and all the tables had at least one person at them. I picked a table with one guy and asked if we could join him, sure was the response. Well, I’m sure you remember toupee Joe, he got off in Taipei. Well, this guy was Joe also, and he got on in Taipei. He is short, cranky looking and frank. He asked me what I do for work, and I told him I was retired. He said how do you survive; do you rely on your social security income? That’s when I knew he was playing me. I told him that we were living on the social security checks, but we had to pledge several years of our payments to the bank to pay for this trip and I had no idea how were going to survive when we got off this trip. He’s no dummy and could see I was calling his bluff. He then asked me seriously when I retired, and I told him I was 44 when I retired. He was a bit shocked and asked my field, and I responded real estate investment. He said he dabbled in that also. I didn’t say it, but I thought it, a lot of people do.
He told us he was from the country of Texas and lived in Houston. Turns out, he is a prominent surgeon there, who knew. The next day, Kim saw him exiting the shuttle bus and he said he didn’t understand why he paid so much for a cruise that takes him to such crappy ports. Kim loved the crappy port, it’s in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
She found Tequila with a snake in it, what?
And she found this great shirt.
She also found this sign, anyone want to take a stab at it?
Kim ran into a guy today that was cold and told her that he never expected this cruise would encounter cool weather. Folks, both of us checked the weather and we both knew we were in for a big change when we hit Japan. I even packed a jacket, didn’t need it yet. Why don’t people do any homework, really?
Then, the big one hit me. It’s 4:00 and time to leave port. I’m sitting in my assigned seat at the pool, watching the towns people giving us a send off of music, song, and dance. A guy walks over to the rail by me and exclaims, “Wow, are they here for us”? I couldn’t help myself, I say, no, in Japan if you live in a coastal town there is an ancient ritual that at 4:00 every Wednesday, the town has this ceremony asking the Gods of the sea to keep them safe and calm the seas. He told me that makes sense and left. Occasionally I feel guilty for giving misinformation, but it doesn’t last long.
Our third and final stop in Taiwan. Day one, we found our internet blocked, but later that afternoon, it was unblocked, and we have had it ever since. Brian, our chief of security told us that was normal. They block all internet until they investigate it, if they find it clean, they unblock it.
Our first stop, Kaohsiung, had us marveling at the architecture.
The brand-new terminal building was amazing. Check out this building, I swear it was built from Legos.
The next stop was a little island just off the mainland. Kim went walking and decided to try some iced tea (it is China you know), her first try was at McDonalds. It turned out to be sweet tea and she poured it out. She stopped at another little shop and the iced tea turned out to be iced coffee, yuck. 0 for 2, not trying again. She bought me another pineapple, yum.
Now in our second day in Taipei, several people are experiencing eye and throat irritation from the air quality. Yesterday, Kim (and others) got up at 0 dark 30 and went shopping with the chefs. They went on a bus for about 40 minutes to another town and the market was amazing. Take a look at some of the stuff they saw.
The chefs.
Fresh noodles.
Fresh pork.
Ever seen a gray chicken?
I think he just had a pedicure!
Oops, got it in twice.
Kim just told me that so far on this trip, she has read 16 books and watched 22 movies. She is more concerned about China and spying than am, she has kept her phone and computer off the entire time. Probably a smart move, I guess that’s why I didn’t do the same.
To honor the old and the new, this photo is from our veranda, showing an old pagoda on the hill and a modern cruise ship in the foreground.
Well, today marks the end of another segment. 150 guests ended their cruise here and 160 new cruisers joined us. I’m excited to get 160 new victims for Pool Chronicles, but there are a lot of Chinese people joining us. They will probably not be good subjects for me.
We are now looking at the Philippines through the rear-view mirror. We made three very diverse and interesting stops in the Philippines. The first two, I have already written about. The third stop, Manila, was an overnighter.
We were scheduled to dock at noon, so at 10:30 there was a very special “sail in” party at the pool deck.
We were told that of the 370 crew members, over half were Philippine and of those, over 90% were from Manila. They brought all of the Philippine crew members and gathered them around Deck 9.
They passed out flags and then they sang their national anthem for us, it was moving. Several sang and danced and entertained us.
Cavar was served from the pool. Many of the crew were allowed off ship overnight to visit their families. They had a special buffet lunch for families in the cruise terminal and then they all came aboard to see how their loved ones lived and where they worked. It was great to see children running around and the joy filled hearts of the crew members. It is so good to see how Seabourn treats their crew, it’s like they are family instead of employees.
Kim went on a tour in Manila that included China town.
She bought me a fried Sapaio (hum bow), it was great.
This picture is for my friends who work for Wahkiakum PUD.
We woke up this morning to Armageddon, the temperature dropped 20 degrees, the calm seas were at about 20 feet waves and the wind was blowing at 40 MPH. It was wonderful, the editors’ opinion only. This is what I live for.
I had to laugh though, all around the ship were barf bags, wimps.
Kim is on a trivia team and trivia is every sea day at noon. She left our room at five ‘til noon to get ready. I like to sit in and listen, it’s entertaining. Five minutes later, a water pipe burst just outside of our room. I ended up trapped in our room for almost an hour. They were using our bathroom to dump buckets of water; I’m talking hundreds of buckets. They managed to stop the leak in about 15 minutes, but not before damaging decks 6,5, and 4.
Our floor was closed off, so in order to go anywhere, we had to go to the bow stairs. Not convenient at all.
I was able to get out of my room to go to lunch and had to laugh when I was escorted by a crew member through the atrium with an umbrella because it was literally raining.
After lunch, I took up my post at the pool deck, but I was the only one out there.
The waves were so big that the spray from the bow was coning over the deck 9 railing and raining down on the pool deck.
It was a sunny day, but as you can see the pool deck was wet from the spray. Kim would shoot through every so often to make sure I was okay. One time, she said to me “you are absolutely loving this, I can see it on your face”. She was exactly right, at that moment, there was nowhere I would rather be.
After a sea day today, we will enter Taiwan, too close to China for me.
Hi faithful readers. We were warned that China may block our access to the internet. Well, they did, so I will keep writing and post whenever I can. In the meantime, my webmaster has added a tab at the top of the home page so you can go all the way to the beginning of our trip. You can also type January in the search box and all posts for January will show up. please keep checking back for more. thhanks, Steve
