April 1-2, 2024
Sakaimanto, Japan.
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.
It was great to hear your voice yesterday. Even though you weren’t quite awake.
Alter careful examination of your beverage supply, we felt it was imperative to let you know that you might need to restock.
It’s very impressive how this world is connected, that we can sit in Cathlamet and talk to you on a ship in Japan just like you’re in the next room. The connection was so good that we felt your presence in the room when we voted no more vacations over two months.
Enjoy your remaining travels and we will see you in May.
Happy trails
I like the way y’all work things. Wish I was there.
Taiwan had a major earthquake yesterday or the day before.