Jan and Jerry's TravelBlog

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

2009-02-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

Iguazu Falls from our hotel room

Note the catwalk just below the falls

One of thousands of birds we saw

Jan wasn't happy to see this 4-foot long lizard

Coati

Toucan

Bossetti Waterfalls

Looking down into Devil's Throat

A tour boat at the bottom of falls

As wet as we had ever been

Iguazu Falls was a fitting end to our adventure with the Great White Continent: Antarctica. Located mostly in the Argentine province of Misiones, the falls can also be accessed from Brazil and Paraguay. The Brazilians claim they do not have much of the falls in their country, but they have the better views. We heard from many others that they were correct. Our views from Argentina were spectacular though, and we are unsure how they could have been improved.

With Iguazu Falls, we were introduced to an entirely different experience from Antarctica. There was thick green jungle instead of a treeless landscape. There was 100 degree heat instead of 32 degree cold. There was color instead of black and white. There was relatively flat terrain instead of mountains. There were thundering waterfalls instead of silent icebergs. There were people instead of penguins.

Our three day post cruise package, from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, included an overnight stay at the Argentina’s Sheraton Spa and Resort, the only hotel inside the 136,000 acre Iguazu National Park. The view from our room was magnificent, looking out over the distant Devil’s Throat waterfalls…which constantly emitted an eerie, heavy mist from its churning waters. The entire waterfalls consist of 275 individual falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. There are actually 14 miles of waterfalls throughout the giant gorges. The longest waterfall drop is 229 feet. We walked on miles of elevated metal catwalks and trails, which wound in, over and beside many of the waterfalls. To look down into Devil’s Throat, we rode an open air train to a half-mile long catwalk overlooking many river fingers and through a very dense jungle, which lead to the actual viewpoint. It was definitely a highlight, not only of this vacation…but, of all the trips we have ever taken. Rushing water was furiously pounding nearly 200 feet down to the raging river below.

The most memorable part of this escape, however, had to be a one-hour boat ride we took into the base of several waterfalls. The roaring sound made by the cascading falls would have been sufficient to satisfy our sense of adventure. But, the river zodiac ride had just begun when the dark gray skies opened and we were literally deluged by the hardest, wettest cloudburst we had ever experienced (complete with nearby lightning and thunder). The rain pelted us so unmercifully that we were forced to bury our heads behind the seats in front of us in order to avoid the stinging rainfall. That was, without a doubt, the wettest either of us had ever been...outside, perhaps, scuba diving in Moorea, snorkling in the Caribbean, or being ground into the sand while body surfing in Hawaii.

While walking along some of the many trails in the park, we did manage to see a few critters that we had never seen in the wild before: many quati (small, inquisitive animals with tails like a raccoon and snouts much like an anteater)…a single toucan, so high in a tree that all photographs were somewhat on the poor side…a 4-foot long crocodile-like reptile…a 6-inch black, blue and purple butterfly (sorry, no photograph of this very elusive character)…and a wide variety of unusual birds. Unfortunately, we did not see a single monkey.

After our one night stay at Iguazu Falls, we were bussed back to the airport for a short flight back to Buenos Aires and the Melia Hotel (yep, our third stay at this facility). We enjoyed the hotel, several wonderful meals and nearby stores before departing for the Buenos Aires airport the following night. All that was left was our day-long sojourn back to Seattle (via Houston, Texas). We did revisit a restaurant, La Estancia, where we had eaten over 20 years ago. They had a fabulous Argentine Asado (meat barbeque) which we highly recommend.

We think you could say that our 20-day adventure was just that, an adventure! We’re glad that we could share some of it with you by way of this blog. Hopefully, at some future date, you will join us again: Perhaps in person on one of our tours…or, through these words and photos. Feel free to check this site where we will be posting our upcoming travels.

Drake Passage, Ushuaia, and Buenos Aires...again

2009-02-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

A full moon over Ushuaia

Cape Horn from the Minerva

A beautiful sculpture in Buenos Aires

The largest, and most exotic cemetery we have ever seen

Tango dancers on Buenos Aires street

Argentina's President works in this building

Boca Juniors' futbol stadium

Colorful Caminita Street

Upon departing the indescribable beauty of Antarctica, the dreaded Drake Passage awaited us for what was expected to be a rough crossing. But, our run of outstanding luck continued. The weather, crossing the most treacherous body of water in the world, was more like navigating across Elliot Bay from Seattle to the Bremerton Ferry dock than it was from the wilderness of Antarctica to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. The Minerva did get within 12 miles of Cape Horn for a few long-range photos. But with Chilean naval boats patrolling extensively, we were not permitted to get closer than 12 miles.

Thankfully, the relatively calm weather enabled us to have plenty of time to pack our suitcases, visit with shipmates, attend wrap-up sessions and prepare for the next phase of our adventure…the regent post cruise option to Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. Our six-hour early arrival in Ushuaia meant the crew, as well as passengers, would have time to enjoy the harbor. Unfortunately, it was 9 p.m. Saturday, so most everything was closed. But, we did manage to pick up a few patches that Jan will sew onto the red Antarctic parkas which were gifts from the Minerva. After a short stroll, we returned to our ship, finished packing, and got to bed early enough to get a good night’s sleep.

Early the next morning, we said goodbye to the wonderful staff of the Minerva and were bussed to the Ushuaia airport for a three-hour flight to Buenos Aires. Our three day post excursion began late that day with a city tour, showing us both the poor and wealthy neighborhoods. The contrasts were amazing. We even visited the Recoleta Cemetary, where the wealthy of Argentina built one room memorials (many even had chairs inside for the families). It dates back to 1822, and contains 6400 mausoleums. Most contained several caskets within the same building. Eva Peron was buried in her family’s unit (she was buried 27 feet underground, because her body had been stolen so many times). Our next stop was at the Pink Presidential House (their President lives outside the city, but she does work there) and a lovely old church across the square.

Another stop was near the Boca Juniors Futbol (soccer) facility where we had been in 1985 and 1986 when our son, Greg, played soccer in South America. There is a very interesting street named Caminita pictured above with brightly colored tin houses next to the stadium. Several people were doing the tango, of course. Chuck Jacoby actually posed with one of the dancers. Unfortunately Jerry was told to leave his big camera in the minibus, so we have no photo of that. Our group did pay close attention this time as we were also with the woman who had her wrist and lower arm broken by a young man trying to steal her watch prior to our expedition to Antarctica.

All in all, Buenos Aires showed us a great time this day. We did, however, remember to leave all jewelry in the hotel room’s safe, and brought just a single credit card with us.

Our day finished with dinner in the hotel and an early evening preparing for our 8 a.m. flight to Iguazu Falls. The Falls are located on the Argentina, Brazilian, and Paraguay border (although Paraguay was up river a bit from our destination).

Day 14: The White Continent…Neko Harbour, Antarctica and Cuverville Island

2009-02-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

An unforgettable 5:00 a.m. sunrise

The Minerva anchored in picturesque Neko Harbor

Jerry poses with a bergie bit on shore

Gentoo penguin at the top of a rock overseeing the beautiful harbor

Jerry, Jan, Fran and Chuck set foot on the Antarctic Peninsula

A sunlit poolside BBQ, as we steam through Errera Channel

A Gentoo rookery on Cuverville Island

Mother Gentoo feeding her young chicks

Leopard seal basking on the sunshine on a small iceberg

Beautiful icebergs were everywhere our cameras pointed

Zodiacs whisked us around the lovely harbor

Bergie bits and growlers are bobbing in the water while the mountains and icebergs stand still; the sun begins to drench the snow-covered peaks and glaciers passing by our ship. Dark brown slate-looking blotches on the mountains are the only land contrasting with the white we see everywhere. The water is still a navy tinged steel gray. As the higher peaks turn bright white tinted with pink, we are reminded of just how very small our Mt. Rainier actually is. On the Antarctic Peninsula, we are surrounded by the serenity and majesty of His creation as it must have been before humans and animals ever existed. Although the quiet waters are teeming with whales and krill, nothing can be seen moving on the surface of water or land except the sun rising in the sky as it highlights the tops of the peaks; working its way down the mountainsides. The sky is pale – a baby blue. Our ship slips through the quiet waters. A few cotton candy clouds and a solitary cormorant suddenly appear as we continue our journey. “Morning has broken…God’s re-creation of a new day.”

The above is Jan’s reaction to this morning. Jerry’s photos show a glimpse of what we saw, truly touched by our Maker’s hand. You will probably not be able to sense the magnitude of it from the photos and the write-up; however, we wanted to share a bit of how it impacted us. Soon it was time for Discovery Group (red dots) to be first off our ship in the “real” Antarctica. We‘ve been in the “biological” Antarctica for several days, but today we were finally going so set foot on the actual “physical” continent.

On the shore in Neko Harbour, we found more Gentoo penguins, several slumbering glaciers, and a wonderful hike up a snow-drenched hill. The weather was perfect, and the only problem was keeping our footing while inching our way back down the hillside to the beach due to the steepness and the softened snowy ice where sun had melted it). Several people actually landed on their bottoms. Thankfully, no one was hurt. It was also rather difficult deciding which way to point and shoot our cameras…the scenery was so magnificent that it took our breath away.

Back onboard, we downed a delicious poolside barbeque, and were able to continue enjoying the breathtaking scenery (and taking photographs).

At 4:15, we received the ship’s call for our last port of this cruise: Cuverville Island, with “An arduous mile hike with an 815 foot incline up a steep, snowy slope for those wanting a real challenge”. We opted for choice B: a leisurely beach walk and more penguins. These, too, were Gentoos. We managed to capture them from just about every angle, with the pristine bay in the background. We also chose to return to the ship earlier with a zodiac taking us on a scenic up-close tour of many icebergs. They were even more impressive than from a distance…with two bonuses: 1) We saw two sleeping leopard seals sleeping on two of the smaller ice masses. They are indeed ominous creatures, looking more like sea serpents than the small, furry, playful seals we have seen so often. In fact, as one of the leopard seals began to stir, and appeared to be headed back into the water, our zodiac driver made a quick exit of the area. Leopard seals are not to be treated lightly.

The second bonus, was a visit to another zodiac in which sat Nigel (the Regent Representative), Lech (the ship’s Hotel Director), and several others...with filled champagne glasses ready to toast the Antarctic, and our last stop on this 14-day long expedition. It was a fitting end to this fabulous experience.

That evening, while we were eating dinner the ship stopped on several occasions, allowing us to rush to the outside decks with cameras in hand, as humpback whales treated us to shows of deep water dives, side slaps, and even a small bubble netting routine (Jerry appears to have the only shot! See above). The Antarctic continues to be so amazingly breathtaking!

Today, we are beginning a two-day crossing of Drake Passage, the most menacing body of water on the planet Earth. As we are preparing this blog entry, however, the seas are calm royal blue, and the sky is cloudless. We have been blessed throughout this journey.

P.S – After these two sea days, we return to Buenos Aires and then off to Iguacu Falls before returning home. We hope to post at least two more times to our blog, with photos of those incredible Falls and, perhaps, something special from our Drake Passage crossing.

Day 13: Half Moon Island, Antarctica

2009-02-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

Chinstrap Penguin scurries away from us...

Fur seals courting...

Huge whale bones...

Skua's fur ball remains of penguin chick...

Research Station...

Jerry, Chuck and Fran facing the snow storm...

Zodiac waits for us to return to Minerva...

Well, today we really earned our stripes! Discovery Group (red dots) boarded zodiacs after Endurance (green dots) returned at 9:00 a.m. Light snow was falling, the temperature was 32 degrees, there was a light cloud cover, and the short ride to shore was quite smooth. Chinstrap penguins were watching us as we walked through ankle deep waves and strode up the rocky beach toward a fork in the penguin highway that lead to the top of a short hillside. If we travelled to the left, we could see a Chinstrap rookery; to the right about 3/4 mile were several fur seals and some whale bones. Our decision was to turn right and stop at the rookery on our way back. That was a bad decision (more about that later).

On the way down the beach, we passed a research station on the edge of a small rocky hillside, about 200-300 yards to the right of us. It had begun to snow a bit harder, so the research station was fairly difficult to photograph. When we reached the whale bones, we were met by Sean, our whale specialist, who showed us a mandible and partial skull from a blue whale, estimated to be over 100 feet long. He’d found a seal skull and skua’s fur ball from a digested chick penguin. After taking several photos of the bones and nearby fur seals, it happened! We were a full 3/4 mile from our zodiacs when the snow increased even more and the wind truly picked up. A white-out followed as we made our way back up the hill toward the waiting zodiacs. It seemed much farther than it really was. We were slowed down tremendously by the snow slashing on what was left exposed on our faces. We later learned that the wind had gusted to more than 65 mph, and was up to force 12 on the Beaufort scale. When we finally reached the top of the hillside, and could see our cleaning Guanomatics and zodiacs in the now pounding surf, we slowly began to descend the final treacherous 100 feet of rocky slope that was coated by newly fallen snow on top of penguin guano. As luck would have it…we made it to the beach without a mishap…outside of missing the Chinstrap rookery in our haste to get back to the zodiac and, more importantly, to the Minerva.

We were both bowsprits in the zodiac today. That means that we sat in the very front seats and, as luck would have it, were the recipients most waves that came spilling over the bow into the boats. Jan, in fact, wound up on the wettest side of the zodiac and was deluged by several as the craft made its way through increasingly higher waves on its way back to the Minerva. The weather is so changeable, in a short period of time, down here in Antarctica. We found that out today.

Once back on the ship, we had today’s hot drink waiting for us…hot tea. It’s a very nice touch. Soon after we weighed anchor and were once again under way, the captain announced that our afternoon’s scheduled Antarctic swim had to be cancelled due to severe winds that would prevent our ship from entering Deception Island’s caldera and Pendulum Cove with a dip in the thermal springs. We weren’t surprised.

Day 12: Elephant Island

2009-02-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

Jerry, Jan, John, Pat, Della, Jim, Nicki, Bob, and Chuck (Fran, unfortunately, was missing)

Cape Wild

Glacier next to Cape Wild

Today was proclaimed “The Boss Day” onboard the Minerva. That’s the name that his men gave to Sir Ernest Shackleton. This morning, we had lectures about glaciers and Shackleton in preparation for our anchored visit (no one left the ship) to Elephant Island’s Point Wild, where Shackleton left 20 of his men to spend a winter in April 1916 while he and five others went for help. Three of those six were later left at a whaling station on South Georgia, while Shackleton and the two remaining men continued on foot across a mountain range knowing there would be help on the other side. He returned to save all his men through much heroic effort, determination, and positive leadership. The rescued men had not been on land in over a year. We cannot fathom how they were able to survive. Shackleton by Frank Worsley or Endurance by Alfred Lansing will give you the full adventure. They are great reads.

The whole ship was out on deck taking photos in front of the glacier next to Cape Wild. We even snapped a picture of the Cruise Specialists group on board. Hot white (glacier) chocolate was served on the outside pool deck. The entire ship’s contingent was out under the beautiful blue skies and sunshine. It did snow a bit yesterday and last night…but this is the Antarctic. We could see snow on the rocks onshore, but none of the white stuff stuck to the ship. What a blessing this fabulous weather has been!

By the way, the plastic bags or shower caps on everyone’s camera protect the cameras from the sea spray and salty air. All cameras also must be worn on lanyards around our necks.

Day 11: Monroe Bay, South Orkney Island

2009-02-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

Never cross a penguin (guano) highway

Beautiful blue icebergs in Monroe

Chinstrap Penguin

Weddell seal

Leopard seal

Today began at 6:30 a.m. with a rush outside to the “real” Antarctica we came to see! Icebergs were all around our ship, snow covered the mountains all the way down to the water line in places. We were even snowed upon with small flakes. The largest tabular (table top looking) glaciers we saw today measured over two miles long and tower 250-300 feet above the ocean. 80% of each glacier is submerged into the icy water. We were treated to a fabulous cruise through literally hundreds of glaciers by way of a narrow strait named William Sound.

We followed three humpback whales for nearly a half hour, and saw two simultaneous tail flukes. One was a calf who was learning the ropes from its mother. When we reached Shingle Cove, we expected to board zodiacs to be taken to view thousands of Adelie penguins in their shoreline rookery. A scout zodiac went ashore to clear a path through the large elephant seals before the passengers embarked. We anxiously awaited our 15-minute alert to dress. Instead, our Captain announced that the entire Adelie penguin colony had disappeared. Matt, the ornithologist who was also in the scout zodiac, reported in part, “The Antarctic has an ever-changing eco system. The Adelies were here earlier this season. The only remains were 3 fledged (dead) chicks. The penguins must have bred earlier this year, hatched and babied their young and then abandoned their rookery. If it had been disease, there would have be some evidence (bones) of the event.” Amazing. We awaited Plan B.

OK, Plan B was announced: hopefully a zodiac tour could be made to a Chinstrap penguin rookery after lunch. It was a bit foggy, 33 degrees air temp, but not much wind and we were told to “Stand down to stand by for further instructions” by Suzana.

And wait we did until the 15-minute dressing call came. Full of anticipation, we boarded our zodiacs for Plan B, a boat-only trip to cruise past a Chinstrap penguin rookery. We were in Matt’s zodiac. He estimated there were over 200,000 penguins in this bay! Chinstraps eat krill (tiny shrimp) and, therefore, their guano (poop) is reddish brown instead of the gray we have seen in past days. Chick Chinstraps are downy gray and oh so fluffy!

Our first encounter with a Leopard seal happened near the end of our zodiac tour of Shingle cover. Luckily, we never got out of the zodiac and the Leopard seal never got into the zodiac for this excursion…so, we were safe. The Leopard seal looked very prehistoric…it was huge with a face a bit like a dinosaur or even a huge turtle. They can be very vicious. Matt told us about an encounter his zodiac had with a Leopard seal last year. His boat was filled with people just like us when they saw a Leopard seal. It actually bit through one chamber of his zodiac, which has five chambers…so they were still able to float and return to the ship safely. Upon examining his zodiac back on the Minerva, Matt discovered that the jaw opening of the seal was 18 inches…big enough to have bitten off a human arm, leg of even head! Needless to say, we were relieved to get back to the Minerva safely.

As we glided back to our mother ship, we enjoyed gorgeous blue icebergs all around, close enough to touch as we passed by. Small snow flakes continued to fall, but it was just 32 degrees with no wind. None of us was cold. It had been a great day!

Day 10: At sea again…

2009-02-03T05:32:00.000-08:00

Here's our "all-weather" clothing for a डे

Jan scrubbing her boots with the "Guanomatic" cleaner

Today we had lectures about penguins, volcanoes, and life in a research station from 1964-65. Every evening, the ship provides a “Daily Recap” at 7:00 p.m. That is followed by tentative plans for the next day. Briefings include mini lectures on a variety of subjects. Even though the lectures are also broadcast on the TV sets in our staterooms, they are very well attended. Maybe that’s because canapés and drinks are served if you show up in person. Following that, dinner is served. We spent most of today catching up on our blogs. By the time this one is posted, everything should be up to date. Hooray!

While there was a lull in today’s activities, we laid out the clothing we wear for each shore expedition. All you can see needs to be applied to our bodies either worn, snapped on, or slipped over our heads) before we embark the zodiacs. We start with long undies, then a capilene (polyester) layer, next polar fleece or ski pants (perhaps both, as the Minerva sails further south), and topped with a neck gator, liner gloves, parka, hat, ski gloves, life jacket, and back pack (we don’t use those very often). Oops, forgot way back there in this list, that we had to put on sock liners, (Fran adds foot warmers), wool socks, then rain pants, and finally our Wellies (knee high rubber boots). All is tucked into the boots except the waterproof pants which stay on the outside. By this time, we all look and walk like penguins!

We have also included a photo of the self-powered "Guanomatic", that is used to remove penguin guano off our boots before we re-enter the zodiacs prior to reboarding the Minerva. Jan models the machine in this photo. Once back on the ship, we also walk through a disinfectant solution.

Day 9: Grytviken and St. Andrews Bay, Island of South Georgia

2009-02-03T05:30:00.000-08:00

Grytviken photos:

St. Andrews Island Photos:

Our day began with a 5:00 a.m. wake up call, for the Red group, and 5:45 departure in the zodiacs. It was a gorgeous sunrise, and its remnants were still visible on the snowy mountain ranges as we climbed aboard our rubber flotilla. After we were whisked to the beach, we picked our way through more King Penguins, fur seals, and elephant seals to the cemetery where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried. He is responsible for much exploration, nearly reaching the South Pole in 1909. Jerry just fished reading the book “Endurance,” which details a trek he made with over 20 men in 1914-15. The loss of Shackleton’s ship produced the greatest trial of survival in Antarctic history. This is a truly exciting read…and Jerry highly recommends it to anybody with a speck of adventure in his soul. We had a mini lecture and a hot chocolate toast to Sir Shackelton at his headstone.

Grytviken was refurbished in 1990 which meant they cleaned out the old whaling leftovers such as asbestos, broken parts, and discarded junk left lying around. Whaling stopped here in the 1960s. They also repaired a lovely church built in 1913. Jerry and went inside and up the little staircase and I rang the bell 5 times, once for each of our grandchildren. I understand there was a photo of both of us on one of the other two sites the ship recommends for family and friends at the bell. When we looked today, we couldn’t find it, but our bandwidth continues to be very minimal. As a refresher, those websites are: www.abercrombiekent.com/travel_logs and http://www.swanhellenic.com/antarcticlog

We had our first (and perhaps only we are told) shore side Antarctic shopping opportunity at a wonderful little whaling museum. We purchased some cards, shirts, and books there. It was manned by three researchers from a nearby Research Center.

That afternoon, we once again dressed in layers (fewer this time) and boarded the zodiacs for an unforgettable trip to St. Andrews Bay. Susana, our expedition leader, knows her stuff! She is an amazing Brazilian woman (married to the excellent photographic coach onboard). When the afternoon excursion was cancelled for the Green group yesterday (with all the King Penguins), Susana got to work. She is in constant contact with all the other explorer ships and stations in this area. She was, therefore, able to schedule a surprise visit to another King Penguin rookery. The one at St. Andrews Bay is the largest in the world, and we were blessed with a visit today. According to Susana, there are over 1 million King Penguins there. We cannot adequately describe what we saw: King Penguins as far as the eye can see, with large numbers of fur seals, elephant seals, and a herd of over 25 reindeer (introduced by explorers, not native to this part of the world). There were all sizes and ages of Kings, from eggs to 30 year-olds. In one of Jerry’s photos, you can see one egg peeking out from the base of its parent’s skirt. Both parents take turns holding the egg and keeping it warm with their skirt, then protecting the chick there after it is hatched until it matures enough to handle the weather without the parent’s protection. Then the fuzzy brown chick grows and grows, sheds the brown feathers and finally shows the black and white with yellow/orange ear patches and neck area.

We saw all stages up and down the beach and hillside. What an expedition! We were told to sit down and perhaps a penguin would come to visit. Jerry was snapping pictures everywhere, so Jan decided to squat in the guano. Almost immediately, a couple (they mate for life) approached her, seemed to sniff her out, and then tilted their heads as if in conversation with her. Marvelous!

Our time at St. Andrews Bay wasn’t enough. Soon, we were back in the zodiac and headed back to the Minerva. The waves were high, and re-boarding our ship proved a challenge. But, we returned in awe of the sights that we had just seen.

Day 8: The Island of South Georgia...

2009-02-03T05:29:00.000-08:00

We anchored off the island of South Georgia very early in the morning. This is also a British controlled island (like the Falklands) and is overseen by the governor of the Falklands. Minerva’s passengers are divided into two groups, Endurance (Red) and Discovery (Green). We are part of the Red second wave, Discovery Group, which boarded ten zodiacs at 8:30 a.m. The 75-minute excursion to Elsehul took us to a beautiful beach site where we saw hundreds of King Penguins, some Gentoo Penguins, and thousands of 3-5 week-old fur seal babies with their moms sleeping on the beaches among shags, petrels, albatrosses, and elephant seals. Everywhere we looked, there was something moving.

The fur seals are becoming a huge problem because of over population and their aggressive nature. Shore landings are no longer possible at many sites, the tussock grasses are being consumed, and their sheer numbers are beginning to end up being the survival of the fittest. Did you know that a fur seal can outrun a human and they have very sharp teeth? But, they are very cute!

Our return to the Minerva didn’t turn out to be so easy: waves and swells everywhere were brought on by high winds. After enjoying lunch on the ship, even more poor weather dictated that our scheduled afternoon zodiac visit to Salisbury Plain be cancelled. The scenery outside was beautiful, however…and we enjoyed a drive-by viewing instead. We saw glaciers, hundreds of King Penguins along the shore, lots of sun and blue skies. Unfortunately, the 55 mph wind and waves did not cooperate. We pulled up anchor and headed to Leith Whaling Village for a walk and peek at an abandoned whaling village that has not been restored. We maintained the 200 foot distance from the decaying buildings because of asbestos and the possibility of flying metal pieces (from parts of the buildings blowing off in the high winds).

Those whalers were amazing people. The hardships they experienced due to the weather, being away from nearly everything, the difficulty of moving around these multi-ton whales. Yet, as we arrived, the penguins, baby fur seals, elephant seals, reindeer, snow capped mountains, and glaciers, presented incredible views. Our late afternoon trek began at 51 degrees! Within an hour, however, the winds had produced cloud cover, a bit of rainfall, and registered 12 on the Beaufort Scale. The gusts measured up to 79 mph (hurricane force, according to the Captain). The Red group was quickly shuttled back to the ship in a light rainfall and high waves. We saw, first hand, how quickly air and sea conditions change down here. We’re sad to report that the Green group, Endurance, missed out on the excursion. Safely back onboard, we anticipated the next day and more exciting opportunities.

Days 6 and 7: At sea...

2009-02-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

Here we are, wearing our red parkas with Shag Rock in the background

Shag Rock

An Albatross soars around the Minerva

This sea day brought clear skies, 40-45 degrees, and some sun…no weather troubles at all. We enjoyed the gentle rocking of our ship at night. The days were filled with lectures and sightings of whales and a large variety of birds. Late in the day, we crossed the Convergence and are now officially in Antarctica. Our first sighting of land wasn’t of icebergs and glaciers, which we anticipated. Instead, we viewed a fantastic wind-swept rock formation called Shag Rock. The rock was named after Shags, large birds that make their home on the island. The guano (bird poop) around their rookery is so prevalent that the rocks looked as if they were covered with snow (well…dirty snow). Birds were everywhere out here in the middle of nowhere. Jerry has included a couple of shots of those birds – petrels, albatross, penguins, and shags, all diving and swooping around the fantail of the Minerva. We did a very important thing today: during our Daily Briefing, we were instructed on Biosecurity Environmental Regulations…telling us all the rules we were to follow in order to protect the Antarctic continent. We vacuumed and cleaned any and all items that we were taking onshore tomorrow that might have contained seeds, dirt, pollen, etc. Tomorrow was to be our first actual landing on the Island of South Georgia, which is part of Antarctica, but not on the continent itself.

Day 6: Port Stanley, The Falkland Islands…

2009-01-31T08:32:00.000-08:00

Port Stanley's main street

Belted Galloway cow on our trip to see the penguins

Jerry taking a photo of Gentoo Penguin

Young Gentoo Penguin

Jan and Mark, our driver, in front of 4x4 at ship's dock

What a wonderful place! With only 2700 full time residents, the Falklands is clean, crisp, and wind blown with belted Galloway cows (which look like an Oreo!), penguins, fish, and many other birds. Most of you will remember the Falkland War in 1982 when Argentina decided to take the Falkland Islands away from Great Britain. Today land mines remain on much of the area just outside Port Stanley, the island’s main city. It seemed a bit eerie to us that all around us were jovial, peaceful English speaking Brits. They did stand fast and, of course, the country remains a British colony. A big extra special thank you to one of those military men who helped make this possible, our friend Nick Carter. (Nick is in the blogs below from our Asia Pacific cruise this past fall, and was a member of the British military during the Falklands War.)

We had quite tasty fish and chips (English style with malt vinegar) made from mullet fish at a local restaurant. Then came our excursion to visit the Gentoo penguins. Oh my gosh, they were everywhere! Gentoos are one of the smaller penguins (30 inches high and only about 12 pounds) and they have a white circle above each eye. This time of year their young are separated into a “crèche” area of the rookery (their home area) with the adults feeding them twice a day. These penguins are hatched (2 eggs per nest) after 35 days. The parents feed them by regurgitation for the first month after birth before they join the “crèche”. After 100 days it is off to sea and life on their own. Bluff Cove Lagoon has about 1000 breeding pairs, but there are over 300,000 breeding pairs of Gentoos in the Falklands (30% of the world’s population). Jan even managed to get a very short video of their chatter, running, and squeaky calling out to one another.

In the midst of the Gentoos we also saw four pair of King Penguins. Two chicks were born the day we were there. In fact, one arrived while we were watching. The stretching an howling noises were amazing as another King announced the arrival of the new chick. Adult Kings are three feet tall and weigh about 30 pounds. They live 30 years as opposed to the Gentoo, which usually makes it only about eight years. Kings are also known for their orange/yellow ear patches and neck. Kings seem a lot like the Emperor penguins (in the “March of the Penguins” movie) except their climate is warmer…living a bit further north). One egg takes turns sitting on the feet of the penguin parents for 54 days. The chick then spends another 35 days under that flap of skin at the top of their parent’s feet. Parents will feed their chicks fish, squid and crustaceans. Chicks will stay with their parents for a year, so parents only have a chick every other year. Fact: they sit back on their heels to cool off!

We were remiss in telling you how we arrived at the cove: what a 4x4 ride! The trip of several miles took place on (in) a peat bog. Peat is used for heating and cooking in the Falklands. They basically have no trees. So, peat is it. Well, the large amount of rain has created huge ruts over these gently rolling hills. The ride was lots of fun. Mark, our driver, ran us back and forth, over hills, into ruts, over planks spanning gullies, through streams, and in a race with fellow drivers.

Following 90 minutes of looking at and photographing hundreds of penguins, we enjoyed Diddle Dee berries with clotted cream topped warm scones and hot chocolate before we began our trip back to the ship. What a wonderful day!

Day 5: Another day at sea...

2009-01-31T08:27:00.000-08:00

Today was another fabulous at sea…filled with lectures, visiting with newfound friends, and preparation for tomorrow’s stop in the Falklands. This evening we had our Virtuoso Party for the guests we are hosting. Jerry and I had already met all but four of them during the past two days on board. The ship sent out invitations and prepared a special room with hors d’oeuvres and waiters for our use. Captain Biasutti, Hotel Director Lech, Regent Representative Nigel Clayton, and Food and Beverage Manager Christian all joined us. Jan had made gators for each Virtuoso guest. For those of you who are not skiers or might not be familiar with gators; they are fleece tubes used on your face, neck, or head for warmth in the cold. Captain Biasutti entertained us tales about past expeditions.

Day 4: At sea...

2009-01-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

Sea days on expedition ships are fabulously different than aboard traditional cruise ships. We were told to sleep in, but to be ready by 8:30 a.m. to exchange parkas or boots if they didn’t fit. (Both those items were in our staterooms upon embarkation). Lectures are very well attended, as we all want to learn as much as possible about the remarkable locations we are going to visit. Weather plays a big part in the schedule of the Minerva. For example, the last cruise had quite poor weather, causing the guests to miss out on several stops along the way (including the Falklands). Fortunately, however, our weather so far looks great! We have experts onboard on whales, geology, onnithology, geography, exploration, photography, etc. Exposure to upcoming wildlife, weather, ports of call, zodiacs, layer dressing, environment, political and historical facts, are all subjects covered in lectures. There are also numerous other naturalists available.

The ship’s captain, Giovanni Biasutti, is extremely qualified with 86 trips to this region, as well as even wintering over in Antarctica. He is very personable, too. Suzana Machado D’Oliveira Harker, our Expedition Leader, has been doing this for over 20 years and we are ready!

Day 3: Buenos Aires to Ushuaia...

2009-01-30T15:56:00.001-08:00

Main street of downtown Ushuaia

Margo Dolan (past cruising friend) and Westy...

Gaucho dance performers...

After a good night’s sleep, we began the day with a good outlook. Our bus took us to the airport at 6:30 a.m. The four of us met up with five British folks and we were off to begin our expedition! After hearing the story of our final day at home (Jan saw a rat run across our bedroom floor), Cam, one of the British women, named our preceding day Rat Day. We do need to tell you that the rat had entered our home through the exposed area of the fascia when our gutters all fell off during our 32 inches of snow this month. The gutters and fascia are all up and repaired now, so no more worry! Bad days are now rat days, however, for some reason.

Arriving in Ushuaia, we soon met up with the other 172 shipboard guests at a wonderful estancia for a barbequed lunch and gaucho dance show. We also learned of several other Rat Day events. One lady had her wrist broken, but did keep her watch away from the thieves! And a family of four had a carry-on stolen at the Buenos Aires airport as it was being unloaded from the bus…the bag contained their passports, tickets and money. That made it impossible to make the trip to Antarctica. Yet another couple’s hand carry luggage was taken as they disembarked at the airport. Fortunately, they had their passports, etc. elsewhere.

Sometimes, as travelers, we forget to be careful (or we think it won’t happen to us). Travel enough, and eventually your number will come up.

Often referred to as the end of the world, Ushuaia, began life as a penal colony. But, the town is now a thriving little city with its major industries of plastics, electronics, tourism, and fishing. Our ship, the Minerva chartered by Regent Seven Seas Cruises, was ready to board at 3:00 p.m., and departed at 5:00 headed for the Falkland Islands and points south.

Day 2: Arrival in Buenos Aires...

2009-01-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

9th of July Blvd., street of attacks...

Florida Street in Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at noon. A Regent Seven Seas Cruises representative was right there at baggage claim and we were quickly off to the Melia Hotel for an overnight stay. The hotel was just two blocks from Florida Street (a 8-10 block long street with no cars, just filled with shops.) and five blocks from the waterfront. We were hoping to stay up until 9:00 p.m. to adjust our inner clocks to the time change and overnight flight. So it was off to walk for a couple of hours. Leather stores were everywhere; but our luggage would be limited to 33 pounds per bag for our flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia the next morning. Therefore we managed to look the other way each time we strolled past a store selling jackets, shoes, purses, skirts or vests. One of our guests did end up buying a fabulous fur coat (to wear in the Antarctic, you know!).

Prior to our walk, we met up with our friends from Arizona, Chuck and Fran Jacoby. The four of us have traveled together many times since meeting on the Crystal Symphony’s 2000 World Cruise. None of us are novices, by any means; but we were not quite alert enough for what followed: I had noticed several young men, from time to time following us. Soon after leaving Florida Street, Jerry felt one of them pull something from his front pocket. The perpetrator snatched Jerry’s i-Phone, lens cap, and about $200 worth of Argentine Pesos…and, along with his five cohorts, disappeared down a stairwell into the city’s subway. The lens cap was quickly discarded. We suspect that they saw the outline of Jerry’s i-phone in his pocket.

A lesson to all: fortunately Jerry had nothing important in his i-phone, his money had been divided (most remained in the hotel safe, and some U.S. dollars were in his right front pocket. We quickly called Greg, and he called AT&T to report the theft. They said that it was likely that the phone was stripped of any information and sold on the street…probably before it was even reported stolen.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of our misfortunes for the day. Just three blocks later, Jan’s thin gold chain (with her original wedding ring nugget and diamond hidden under her shirt) was ripped from her neck. She’d forgotten she had it on from the plane ride. A young girl stepped in front of her, while a 20-something man reached in, grabbed the necklace, and ran off. Jerry was behind Jan, though, and gave the thief a hard punch into his groin on the way by…my hero! Regrettably, the blow just slowed the creep down. It didn’t stop him. Maybe Jerry needs to work some on the weights!

Dinner that night was very nice…and a great ending to a somewhat disastrous day. We ate outside on the waterfront at Casa de Lilas. The food was fabulous and the temperature was in the low 90’s. Needless to say, we walked back to our hotel very cautiously, and kept a constant eye both ahead and behind us!

Antarctica via Regent Seven Seas' Minerva

2009-01-30T15:40:00.000-08:00

Day 1: Enroute to Antarctica…

We’ve wanted to take this cruise for years, and now the time has come. Our flights on Continental were great – on time, personal entertainment screen on the seatback in front of each of us on a beautiful Boeing 767 (from Houston to Buenos Aires). Coach from Seattle to Houston even had a spare seat between us, and a lovely hot sandwich and salad with M&Ms for dessert with no charge.

To keep tabs on our travelers.....

2009-01-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

You can use one of these two sites to follow the Ericksons on their trip to the DEEP south.

www.abercrombiekent.com/travel_logs

www.swanhellenic.com/antarcticlog

(My folks haven't had much access, so they asked me to post this-- Greg)

***** LINKS CORRECTED*****

Singapore

2008-11-06T00:39:00.001-08:00

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple

Exotic fish at Singapore's aquarium

Arriving in a taxi at Raffle's Hotel

Singapore's Sentosa park

Many colorful leaves waited until we were home to fall to the ground

The day finally arrived that we had been dreading and looking forward to at the same time. Singapore, day 53 of this 53-day extravaganza was the time for us to bid farewell to our many onboard friends…and head for home to resume our normal Woodinville existence with family and friends (and to vote). It proved to be a very trying, yet comforting day.

Jerry had pre-packed all his camera gear, so there are no photographs to share with you about Singapore (outside of some from a previous cruise to this city). Our entertainment in Singapore consisted of several hours spent with Nick and Gayle Carter, our newfound Aussie friends. They had lived in Singapore for five years so knew their way around town. We enjoyed lunch with them at the Tanglin Club, an exclusive club for expats that they have belonged to since the early 1990s. The entire facility was fabulous! They gave us a tour of the club, where we saw tennis courts, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a huge outdoor lawn bowling facility, gymnasium, three restaurants, beautiful spa and even a gambling casino.

Following lunch, Nick and Gayle took us to a local shopping area that they frequented when they were Singaporians. Gayle flattered Jerry by asking his camera advice at a great store called Parasilk (a must for electronics). Only Gayle bought anything…a very nice Panasonic 18X digital camera. She said it was so that she could take photos like those Jerry had been taking on the cruise. Their favorite market was a treat: many of the fruits, vegetables, and “meats” were new to us.

Lim’s was a wonderful eclectic store above the market that Jan would have bought lots had Jerry not reminded her that all 7 suitcases were at their limit of under 50 pounds each (just barely. . . 48.9 to 49.6 pounds on the digital readout scale from http://www.magellans.com/ that we carry along). Every airline is now different about international suitcase weight, so be careful! Excess baggage on United was $155 per bag as long as each bag was less than 50 pounds. Singapore Airlines, on the other hand, charged $50 if your suitcase exceeds the 50 pound weight! United’s weight is based on the amount you paid for your airline ticket. So, although we used miles to upgrade to business class where the bags can weigh 70 pounds apiece, we were limited to 50 pounds because we purchased economy class tickets. And we had many extra pounds due to our hosting duties; and too many purchases (like half a suitcase filled with 6 silk lanterns purchased for $21 U.S.). So we had to buy the new suitcase to put all our newfound extras into!

When we left the Carters, we took a taxi back to the Regent Hotel and the extensive rebalancing packing that we still had to tackle. Before we ventured upstairs to our room, however, we made one last visit to the Regent Cruises’ day room, where we said farewell to Lou and Bonnie Kravitz and Gloria Gilbert…all of whom we have cruised with before. They were just about to leave for the airport where they flew to Frankfurt, Germany, and then onto New York. That itinerary seemed strange to us, but… When we finally made it back upstairs to our room, it wasn’t too long before we discovered that the day’s purchase of another suitcase was, indeed, a wise decision. This time, we had bought a larger, hard sided version. Even with our extended packing space, we needed to shift things around for several hours before we managed to reach the required less than 50 lbs. in each case. We were finally fully prepared at around 9:00 p.m., and quickly slipped under the covers in anticipation of a 3:45 a.m. wake-up call.

At 4:10 sharp, we boarded a mini-van, while our bags were loaded into a small truck…and six of us were headed for the Singapore airport and our return trip home. It was to be a long journey, first heading to Tokyo’s Narita airport, then on to home in Seattle. The flights were all on time with an early arrival into Seatac Airport where our son, Greg, was waiting with open arms…and an empty SUV for all our suitcases.

Jan was especially happy to see that fall had not totally been missed. The leaves were red, yellow, and orange from the plane. It looked like a postcard. Our cameras were still packed away, but Jan did ask Jerry to take a couple photos the next day showing the end of fall in Seattle.

Thanks for traveling along with us the past two months. Beginning January 25th, 2009 we hope to blog again here about our trip to Antarctica and Iguazu Falls. Until then, ciao!

Bangkok/Ayutthaya, Thailand

2008-11-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

Pavilion at Ban Pa-in Palace

Ho Withun Thasana at Bang Pa-in Palace

Ancient ruins in Ayutthaya

More ruins...

Riding an elephant

Long tail boat about to pick us up for a river ride

Bangkok is a city with two identities: the ancient soul of Thailand with its historic yet romantic history; and modern metropolis that embraces the latest trends and architecture. Our time in Bangkok began with the Regent Mariner docking in Laem Chabang (the port about 2 hours away), and an early morning tour departure…which turned out to be just six people (including the two of us) in an air-conditioned mini van with driver and English speaking guide. We were delighted to learn that we would in the smaller mini-van. The three hour drive to and through Bangkok was shorter and quite comfortable, in the smaller vehicle.

On the trip from Laem Chabang, we learned that Thailand has a population of over 64 million people, with 14 million residing in Bangkok. 95% are Buddhists, 1% Christians, and the remainder a blend of other religions. We were in Thailand at the end of the hottest (and monsoon) season. 70% of the population of Laem Chabang is directly involved with farming. The country exports cars and computers, which they make for foreign companies, and they are the world’s top exporter of rice. Thailand has had 34 kings, the current ruler being King Lama IX. The country has never been colonized by a foreign nation.

By the time we reached Ayutthaya (ah-ee-two-ya), our tour destination for the day, we were indeed ready to get out of that van. Ayutthaya, founded in 1350 A.D., is the ancient capital of Siam (now Thailand), and home to spectacular ruins and temples. Ayutthaya was Siam’s capital for 417 years until 1767 A.D., when it was conquered and destroyed by the Burmese.

The actual tour commenced with a visit to the palatial grounds and buildings of Bang Pa-In, once the summer palace of King Rama IV. It has a mixture of Thai, Chinese and Gothic architecture. The palace is a well-preserved "museum", providing a glimpse into a time when Thailand was known as Siam. We felt transported right into The King and I movie. Even though it is now a museum, it has been maintained and is guarded as if the King and his family still lived there. It was magnificent. We drove ourselves around the grounds in four-passenger golf carts.

After a lovely Thai lunch at the Krungsri River Hotel, we explored some of Ayutthaya’s most famous and interesting ruins. The entire center of this town was declared a UNESCO site in the mid 90s. This honor brings with it much funding for restoration and clearing back to what remains of ancient temples and palaces. If any of you have been there prior to the early 2000s, please return. The ruins are remarkable.

We were about to cross off one of the few remaining items on our “bucket list” as we saw several Asian elephants toting people alongside the ruins. We climbed aboard one of those lumbering animals. Once we were on top of our elephant, the animal’s trainer (who had been working with the same elephant for 20 years) began to ease us down a path alongside a fairly busy street and across to a lake. But, nothing seemed to bother the elephant. Cars passed us, we met oncoming elephants, and even passed through narrow stanchions, not even 2 feet apart, that blocked cars from entering the path. Boon-ag lumbered right on through the narrow passage with his feet one in front of the other as his body spread out over the top of the posts. The only concern we really had with the entire ride was, as the elephant walked along the path, we felt that our chair was going to fall off one side or the other. Once we became accustomed that that tipping motion, it was a very enjoyable ride.

Our next ride was on a long tail boat down the Chao Phraya River alongside homes with children swimming beside women doing their laundry and men fishing for the night’s dinner. We viewed fabulous sites of wats, floating restaurants, temples, and all stages of living accommodations. If we had the time, we could have enjoyed the 172 kilometer ride into Bangkok via long tail boat. These boats are run by old truck or car engines mounted on the back ends.

Cooled and refreshed we began the 2.5 hour ride back via mini-van to the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok, where we would spend night. It was a great, but long, day. That night we shared stories with others who had visited the Emerald Buddha, various other palaces, the fabulous Prasart Museum (from a previous visit), and shopped ‘til they dropped. Dinner was pumpkin soup in our room. The following morning we joined Sherri and George Burke for a trip to the largest Jim Thompson store in Bangkok. That store has some of everything that can be made with top quality silk. We did find time to purchase a suitcase for $26 to transport our over-abundance of clothing, souvenirs, and gifts back to Seattle. Next: Singapore, and the end of our 53-day adventure

Koh Samui, Thailand

2008-10-31T02:12:00.001-07:00

Tropical waterfall

Elephant ride...

Beach at Four Seasons

Lunch on the beach (left to right): Judy, Jan, Jerry, Glenn, Nick, Gayle, and Leslyn

Buying a brick

Yellow tiled wat

Women fish sellers on sidewalks

Have you ever heard of Koh Samui? It is a fabulous resort island off Thailand’s mainland boasting wonderful white sandy beaches, skin diving, and five-star resorts: vacationing at its best. Tourists from throughout the world come here to relax, soak up the sunshine, and enjoy the slowed-down atmosphere. We spent the entire day exploring the island with five other Cruise Specialists passengers in an air-conditioned van with a local driver.

Our talented tour escort for the day was our very own Cruise Specialists’ guest, Gayle Carter. Gayle went online to http://www.tripadvisor.com/ to secure the vehicle, as well as to map out our itinerary at www.kosamui.com/attractions.com. She’d given each couple twelve pages of possible things and places to see. We were traveling with Gayle and her husband Nick, Glenn and Judy Weirick, and Leslyn Ashdown (Cliff had to stay onboard the Mariner with an ailing back). Jan’s only request was that we not visit any place that featured snakes! Everyone else agreed, and we were off. (I mentioned Gayle’s websites to show that you can plan things like this for anywhere if you like.)

Our first stop was one of many elephant riding areas around the island, at the 105-foot high Nu Muang Water Falls. It was nice and cool among the jungled forest. We spent time at the falls, did a little “shopping” for our Cruise Specialists’ Halloween bags, and Jerry took photos of several elephants. No one wanted to ride elephants, so the two of us saved that adventure for Bangkok and moved on to the Four Seasons Resort which was build into a hillside (a 1000-foot drop to the beach complete with infinity pool, lovely restaurant, and guests sunbathing and swimming). We looked at some of the villas as we rode down the steep hillside on carts, but could only get glimpses because each one is behind a locked gate. The rent for the villas starts at $1000 U.S. per day. At the beach, we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch as we enjoyed the beautiful view.

Thailand has Buddhas, spirit houses, and wats (temples) everywhere. So, our next stop was Koh Fan with the Big Buddha. Judy and Jan supported the monks by buying a couple of bricks to be used in building their surrounding structures. As is the case with all tourist stops in Thailand, we did a little shopping and Jan bought a skirt (which she promptly threw away when she got back on the ship after decided that she didn’t like it).

Circling the island, we admired the coves, bays, and multitude of resorts. Our last stop was a tiled wat right on the beach. There were monks everywhere, most of them just lounging around (perhaps meditating?).

Returning to the pier to board the first ship’s tenders we have been on since Sitka, Alaska, we passed many women selling fish on the sidewalks (a great photo opportunity for Jerry). It was hot, humid, and we were exhausted. But it had been a great, if brief, stay on this lush island. Next: Bangkok and our last blog before returning home

P.S.—We visited Koh Samui in 1999, with Jan’s mom and step dad. On that trip, we watched the monkeys pick coconuts, but not this time. However, some of us did see one monkey from the van.

Saigon, Vietnam

2008-10-31T00:53:00.001-07:00

Post Office, designed by Gustave Eiffel

Embroidery display

Meeting room upstairs in former Presidental Palace

Dancers....

Young dancers...

Jungles outside of Saigon

Saigon (pronounced “shy-gone” by our Vietnamese guide) remains Saigon to the locals, even though the name was changed to Ho Chi Minh City nearly 30 years ago. And, strictly as a rebellion, we also continue to use Saigon.

The Mariner docked at Lotus Port, nearly an hour from town. We were berthed in a very run down industrial area. And, as this was our fourth visit to this city, we opted to stay onboard (and catch up with our blogs, photos for Cruise Specialists’ guests, and preparations for an evening departure at 5:45 for the Virtuoso shore excursion).

The Virtuoso Voyager Club event is provided to guests of Cruise Specialists, as well as other member agencies, at no charge to us. We started with a night drive through Saigon and commentary by a wonderful 30-year old (unmarried) young man. He said he was looking, but no one had caught him yet!

It seemed as if most of Saigon was out on the town as we snaked through the city. Motor scooters with 2, 3 and even 4 people were everywhere. Open air coffee cafes and restaurants were the most popular destinations. Because motor scooter theft is so rampant, each establishment hires guards to watch their customers’ vehicles while they are there eating or drinking. Most scooters are Chinese built, and cost around $400 U.S….but, don’t last very long.

Our arrival at the former Presidential Palace (now called Reunification Palace) was met with great fanfare, including a band, local artisans doing calligraphy, embroidery, clay animal creation, rice husking, vegetable vendors, etc. It was fabulous! After hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and a second floor tour of several opulent offices and meeting rooms (which “regular” people are not allowed to view), we were ushered into the Grand Ballroom for an incredible Vietnamese meal complete with entertainment. We enjoyed children and young women dancing in a variety of costumes, musicians, and commentary. Everything meshed together for an unforgettable evening in Saigon!

French influence is evident throughout Saigon, especially in the design of their buildings. An example is the Post Office, which was designed by Gustave Eiffel and built in 1891. The French occupied the country from 1859 to 1954.

Although we did not take any ship’s tours this time, many fellow guests did…visiting the Mekong Delta, Cu Chi Tunnels, and various city tours…while others just shopped and shopped. We had done all those things in the past except for the Viet Cong tunnels, and we had an update on that excursion from Cruise Specialists’ guest, Wayne Baldwin. Wayne said, as they walked some of the fields of the 155 mile underground network, a Viet Cong soldier (fortunately, an actor) with a gun would suddenly appear from under the soil beside them. Can you imagine what our soldiers were up against? Living quarters, trap doors, and command posts with narrow tunnels between them allowed the Viet Cong to live undetected for months as they began to control the rural areas and move in closer to the city of Saigon.

Jan also had the opportunity to speak with another Regent guest who was returning to Vietnam for the first time since 1974. He was a Navy Seal and it was an emotional trip for him. He knew the streets and rivers well, and was excited to visit the back streets again after 24 years. Much has changed on main street Saigon, yet much is the same off main street. As we departed Saigon, we cruised down the river where the jungle was so solid with tropical foliage, right down to the water, that it had to have been nearly impossible to fight a war there.

Saigon Fast Facts…
· There are over 800,000 motor bikes in Saigon. You must be over 18 years old to drive over 70 cc bikes; over 30 to drive 250 cc
· Since December 2007, helmets are required for both drivers and riders
· No guns are allowed in Vietnam by the general population (although, those who toured the Cu Chi Tunnels were permitted to shoot an AK47 after purchasing bullets at $1 each)
· Vietnam has the death penalty if caught selling drugs
· The official Saigon population is 8 million, but it’s actually over 10 million
· The population of Saigon had doubled in the past 3 years

Da Nang and Hoi An, Vietnam

2008-10-25T02:55:00.001-07:00

Huong and her conical hat

U.S. barracks in Da Nang

The main street of Hoi An

The covered Japanese bridge in Hoi An

A smile from Hoi An lady (who expected $1 for that smile)

The "modern" kitchen in Hoi An

Young girls embroidering in Hoi An

Huong is a 40-ish year old woman from Da Nang. She was our tour guide for 8.5 hours, yet she shared more than any other guide we have had about herself, her country, and life in general. She arrived at the Mariner dressed in a traditional ao dai (pronounced ow zee), carrying a customary Asian conical hat. Huong said that teachers, high school girls, and many Vietnamese women still wear this dress today. All conical hats contain a poem and river, painted on paper inserted between the two outer layers. It takes four hours to make each hat (ship guests purchased them for $1 U.S.). The conical hats have many uses besides shade while working in the rice fields (women do the majority of the work in the fields). It can also be used as a market basket, drinking cup, rain hat, fan, head warmer, and to hide a shy girl’s face. Huong’s daughters call her a “moving mushroom” when she wears her conical hat. Traditions like these are falling away quickly, she admitted.

One special thing that Huong did for us that nobody else has ever done: she memorized all 35 of our first names and, throughout the day, she’d call us by name whenever we strayed a bit or even just to see if we were paying attention to her! She would often say, “Jerry, photo over here.” Or, “Jerry, take a picture of that.” Amazing! (Jerry is known for his long camera lens and fast shutter clicks wherever we tour.)

Da Nang was much more modern than during our 2002 visit (just like the rest of flourishing Asia). New hotels, apartments, and stores are popping up everywhere in the main section of town. The outskirts are still very poor, but the main roads outside of town are even paved these days.

Rice was being harvested and was drying on tarps and cemented areas in the front of homes. Da Nang served as an important military air and sea base during the 1960’s. China Beach, near the outskirts of town, was used as an R&R for our military personnel. No one was actually on the beaches as our bus drove by yesterday. However, the beaches appear to be undergoing extensive modernization: several new hotels are planned, including a Crowne Plaza that is currently under construction. There are also a few remaining U.S. military hangars and barracks.

Our main destination for the day was the 500-year old merchant city of Hoi An (http://www.hoianoldtown.vn/), where they are still displaying many original one-story buildings. The red painted Japanese covered bridge was built by the Japanese in 1593 to connect their part of the town with the Chinese section. Even on the barely wide enough alleys, we were constantly confronted with speeding motor bikes and bicycles. This town is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We toured a very old home with a “modern” kitchen which consisted of an outdoor butane burner on the floor. The steamed dumplings cooking for lunch looked and smelled fabulous.

The silk factory featured young girls and ladies, most of whom start working there when they are 8-10 years old. They were doing hand embroidering (you don’t have to attend school if you have a job). Other young girls were weaving straw mats, and spinning silk. Several stages of silk worms were also on display and we could even watch the movement of the cocoons. Wonder of all wonders: we made no silk purchases! On to Saigon.

Halong Bay, Vietnam -- www.HalongBay.com.vn

2008-10-25T01:30:00.000-07:00

Halong Bay turned out to be everything that the Li River in China was not. It was clear, sunny, filled with blue-green water, and simply breathtaking. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996, this is a vacation spot for many Asian people (although we saw very few because it is not vacation time for most Asians)…our good luck!

The Regent Mariner had arranged for a 3-hour ride for all passengers on a “junk” boat to cruise among the monoliths of Halong Bay. The bay stretches 80 miles with over 3000 monolithic islands, composed of limestone and dolomite and covered with lush green tropical foliage. The scenery was fabulous. We saw many fishing “villages” of 20 or so houseboats tucked away amongst the mini hills. These people loaded their small motorized boats, of varying sizes and styles, and made their way to the junks carrying sight-seers from all over the world as they tried to sell us everything from fruit to fish.

Three hours was truly not enough time to adequately explore the nooks and crannies of Halong Bay. It was enough time, however, to make up for our disappointment with the Li River trip in China. We will let Jerry’s photos tell the rest. Next: en route to Saigon (we still can’t convince ourselves to call it Ho Chi Minh City)

Hanoi, Vietnam

2008-10-25T00:40:00.001-07:00

A rice farmer works his land behind a water buffalo

Jan paints a ceramic thimble at our first "happy stop"

Women carry heavy loads in Vietnam

Power wiring nest on Hanoi street

And it's not even rush hour on the streets of Hanoi

A peek into a cell like one John McCain was in at Hoa Lo Prison

John McCain's flight suit on display

Photo of John McCain revisiting prison in 2000

Well, Hanoi is behind us! We remembered why we have simply passed on this city in the past. The “American War,” as they call it, that is being taught in Vietnamese schools (and passed on through tour guides), was “caused by the United States so that the US would have a direct path to invading China”. And, of course, they say, the mighty Vietnamese army defeated the Americans and our efforts failed. Our guide was explaining this to a French Canadian. Nearly our entire group had taken off their “Whisper” devices and, therefore, only 4 or 5 of us heard him saying this. It did set the tone for the entire day, however. Our guide was around thirty years old and he made it very clear that he knew less than we did about the Vietnam War…he admitted that he wasn’t even alive then. But, when asked, he delivered what he was taught in Vietnamese schools…much to our dismay.

A little bit about the “Whisper:” The guide wears a microphone on his lapel and all the group guests have a right-ear earpiece connected to a 2x3 inch monitor worn around the neck. They work beautifully. You can hear the guide talking from as far away as 100-150 feet. You can not listen by simply unplugging your earpiece or by turning off your monitor. Most of our group of 25 decided early in the tour to unplug themselves from his “speeches”…especially when we visited the Hoa Lo Prison and saw that propaganda first hand.

The cells, by the way, all said only Vietnamese prisoners were kept there. They showed us, what they say, was John McCain’s flight suit, photo of his rescue (in which we could not identify anybody), a wall mounted photo of his 2000 return visit, and his cell (which was the largest cell in the prison…no way it was Mr. McCain’s prison cell where he spent all those years in solitary confinement. They said all the American pilots were kept together and they were given teatime every afternoon at 4 pm (no solitary or torture)…right! We also saw depictions of Vietnamese prisoners being tortured and viewed one of two French guillotines (circa 1869) they say were only used extensively in the early 1900’s. The cells we did see were tiny (except the one they claim was John McCain’s), damp, and dark with only a small barred door area to see through to the cement “bed.” Enough said.

Our sincerest thank you to all of you reading this who serve or have served your country. We tend not to always think of what “in harm’s way” can mean when you fight for your country. Freedom needs to be respected and cherished by each of us. Thanks be to every military servant who truly serves and loves our country.

Traffic, motor scooters, and rice paddies filled our eleven hour tour. Six of those hours were spent driving to and from the port of Hong Gai. We did visit Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and the cottage where he lived the final years of his life. Although Vietnam borders China, the influence and “feel” is much closer to Thailand, with scrolls, monsters, and dragons everywhere.

The Seven Seas Regent Mariner overnighted at Hong Gai to allow the entire ship a shore excursion the following morning. That entry will follow.

Hanoi, Vietnam Fast facts:
87 million population in Vietnam; 6 million in Hanoi; 800,000 in DaNang
Most of the nation are farmers – 70% of income is from agriculture
Number 1 in world in cashew and pepper production
Number 2 in world in rice (Thailand #1) and coffee production (Brazil #1)
Number 5 in world in garment/textile industry
Only 2 crops per year in North Vietnam (near Red River), but 3 crops in South Vietnam (near the Mekong Delta)
Only 30% of population has faith – 20% Buddhist, 10% Christian, remainder no faith at all
French ruled Vietnam until 1945. Strong French influence in buildings. On prior visits to this country, many spoke French. Not this time.

Hong Kong, China

2008-10-20T05:17:00.000-07:00

The picturesque Hong Kong waterfront at night

Jan shopping for fabric with Gayle Carter

In jewelry store with the Kravitz duo

Jan and Bonnie score some dancing shoes...

Dim sum with Cliff and Leslyn Ashdown and Nick Carter...

Jerry hammers Beggar's chicken...

The ship comes alive as we sail away from Hong Kong

The Regent Seven Seas Mariner was indeed a welcome site to the tired and dirty nine of us Cruise Specialists’ folks returning, at 9:00 p.m., from our 3-day overland trip into the heart of China. Our arrival was even more special when we saw that several crew awaited our busses with cold towels, a fruity Midori drink, smiles and hugs. If you have never had the experience of returning to your home-away-from-home ship after a few days away…it is very heartwarming! Our fantastic Food & Beverage Manager, Frank Galzy, had arranged for us to have dinner up top in La Veranda, facing the lights of Hong Kong harbor. It was truly a memorable evening. We dropped our carry-ons (the checked luggage was delivered to our suites while we ate dinner), washed our faces and hands, and were off to dinner were everything on the table was recognizable and safe to eat!

The Mariner had arrived in Hong Kong at 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, allowing many guests to be off ship enjoying the city’s night life in our first of three evenings in this glamorous atmosphere. We were also disembarking over 300 the next morning so many were in their staterooms packing like crazy. The ship seemed almost too quiet and empty. But we were all fine with that.

The next two days and nights were fairly non-stop for us. We accompanied many of our Cruise Specialists’ guests on shopping and eating excursions on foot in areas near the cruise terminal. Totally, we ate off the ship four times in two days (two lunches and two dinners). We even enjoyed dim sum at the same restaurant (Jade Garden) twice…once with Cliff and Leslyn Ashdown and Nick and Gayle Carter; and the other time with Bonnie and Lou Kravitz. The Jade Garden’s Char Sui (steamed pork barbeque buns) were the very best we have ever had! Dinners were once with Gloria Gilbert for Beggar’s Chicken at Peking Garden, and the second time at the Intercontinental Hotel with Glenn and Judy Weirick where we had a lovely dinner complete with a window table to enjoy the light and laser show that is provided over the Hong Kong harbor each night.

The Beggar’s Chicken was an interesting and very flavorful meal. It’s an entire chicken baked in a clay casing, then brought out on a trolley where you use a huge hammer to break the clay exposing a succulent chicken that melts in your mouth. Gloria had made the reservations because she arrived on the ship at 2 pm and it needed to be made at least 24 hours in advance. This is because the chicken is placed in banana leaves and then surrounded with clay. It then slowly roasts for 24 hours. Jerry had to hit the clay mound several times in order to break into the chicken, which is baked with onions, mushrooms, and some Chinese 5-spice.

Our days were filled with shopping experiences as only Hong Kong can provide. Jerry bought a very nice sports jacket and pants, thanks to Nick Carter and his local tailor. He also managed to snag a new lens for his already-too-expensive camera. Jan got beautiful earrings from Gayle Carter’s jeweler, dancing shoes with Bonnie Kravitz, and fabric at the Chinese Arts and Crafts store.

As our ship sailed out of Hong Kong at 11:00 p.m., it was dessert and dancing under the stars...and we said goodbye to fabulous Hong Kong.

Now, it’s off to Hanoi, the first of six days in Viet Nam.

Guilin, China -- Li River

2008-10-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

Elephant Trunk Hill Park

Our armada of boats cruising up the Li River

Water buffalos were everywhere on the river

Young men hawking their wares as they rafted beside our boat

An old man poses with his "fishing" cormorants on the dock...

Leaving Guilin’s airport, we immediately knew we were in southern China: we saw many wheat fields instead of rice paddies, which not were yet ready to harvest…and tens of thousands of acres of vegetable farms. Guilin is promoted by tour guides and tourist pamphlets as a city where they “eat everything with wings but an airplane, and everything with four legs but a table.” Our drive through the city attested to that fact. In front of every restaurant sat tubs and cages that housed that evening’s dinner for many local inhabitants. We saw everything from snakes to cats and dogs. The people of Guilin eat every part of everything that flies and walks.

The monoliths Guilin is famous for finally began to come into view about an hour after our drive began. These uniquely shaped hills are the main reason we are on this segment of the Grand Asia Pacific Regent cruise. In 2002 we attempted to get to Guilin to see the Li River, but our group of 18 was held hostage in the airport at Xiamen. Long story, but we were returned safely to our ship late that day after our Captain refused to leave port without us.

Back to 2008…the Li River finally came into view after about an hour in downtown Guilin! We were treated to the sight of Elephant Trunk Hill Park before we walked along the river to the Sheraton Hotel, another lovely overnight accommodation. Four of us were treated to a fabulous dinner and tea show by Helen Graves. Nick and Gayle Carter from Australia joined us for dinner that night. What a fabulous (non-lazy-Susan) meal of Beijing (we still call it Peking) Duck and Orangey Scallops among several other wonderful dishes. Our dinner was followed by a Chinese waiter asking if we would like tea. He quickly returned with 5 little tea cups complete with those little lids we all know about. As he left again, we took off the lids to discover several dried things looking strangely like potpourri, in the cup, but with no water. Soon he reappeared with what looked like a large oil can with a very long spout wrapped beautifully with crisp white linen. He stood about three feet away, tipped the pot very little, and the water danced into our cups without a drop spilling anywhere. He replaced the lids and told us not to peek for 5 minutes. The lid was to be left ON the cup to keep the jasmine tea leaves and dried fruit safely in the cup for the next refill of boiling water from the long spout. What a show and what flavorful tea it was. We enjoyed that tea for about 30 minutes after dinner.

Next morning we again had a 6 a.m. wakeup call and were soon bussed down river about an hour to board a tour boat for the 4 hour ride on the Li River. Our pamphlet description puts it best: “spectacular landscapes, elegant hills, towering peaks, variegated cliffs, odd shaped crags reflect into crystal clear water.” The river has been overused and so it is quite shallow, but the day was lovely. We saw water buffalo cooling in the river, cormorants, fishermen, farmers delivering food to the long line of vessels we found ourselves in the middle of as we cruised up stream. People lived in shacks, tents, and lean-tos along the edges. We were approached, frequently, by young men and boys coming alongside our tour boat, attempting to sell the passengers their wares and souvenirs. Their mode of transportation was almost always handmade rafts. Many waved from the shoreline and on passing boats…and we will let the photos tell the rest of the story. Next port: Hong Kong where we rejoin the ship.

Xi'an, China -- Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses

2008-10-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

The pollution of Xi'an was apparent everywhere we went

The noodle-tosser prepares our lunch for us

Pit No. 1 is larger than a football field

We saw legions of Terra Cotta Warriors

The evening's performance was breathtaking

...and the colors were magnificent

Jan pauses in front of Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Our visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors began on a hot, smoggy day. It was a two-night, three-day cross country shore excursion that began in Shanghai and ended in Hong Kong. Before we were done, we would visit both the Terra Cotta Warriors, discovered in 1974 by a local farmer digging a well for water, and the Li River, a picturesque waterway promised to be filled with water buffalo, fishermen using cormorants to seize fish from the water and deliver them into the hands of their masters, and bordered by tall monolithic mountains that appear in so many Chinese works of art.

This blog will deal exclusively with the city of Xi’an and its terra cotta statues. Two busses, containing 79 ship’s passengers and hosts, began our three day trek into the middle of China at 6 a.m. on the first day. We were bussed from the Mariner directly to Shanghai’s Pudong Airport for the 2-1/2 hour flight to Xi’an. By the time we reached Xi’an, it was already lunch time…so we were driven directly to the site of the Terra Cotta Warriors and enjoyed the first of many Lazy-Susan round table buffets with our 9 travel companions from Cruise Specialists. One of the highlights of lunch was the noodle-tossers who then made our soup from the noodles they had created. Long pieces of pasta were tossed and manipulated into very fine strings of vermicelli. Northern China grows and eats wheat…lots of wheat, while southern China is the traditional place of rice. So no rice today, only noodles!

Xi’an, incidentally, means “peace in the west”, and is home to over 8 million Chinese…farmers growing cotton, some computer manufacturing, and coal strip mining. We were all unprepared for the shock of the pollution! One of the other things done in Xi’an is the making of chemical fertilizers to increase farming production. It was difficult to breathe and hard to see even a short block away. We also found out that the Chinese there have no unleaded fuel. We were assured they are trying to plant trees to take care of the pollution; however, that will never be enough. They need regulations, but in this fast erupting industrial/commercial country we would be surprised if that happens.

After lunch, we were lead by Ti, our Chinese guide for the entire three days, into Pit No. 1, the oldest and most familiar site housing Terra Cotta Warriors. Pit No. 1 is a huge building, larger than an American football field, and is home to the legions of Terra Cotta Warriors and horses always associated with these spectacular clay artifacts which were built prior to the time that Christ walked on this earth. There are 8,000 total pieces which have been discovered thus far (many of which remained covered at this time). It took about 700 slaves an estimated 37 years to construct the warriors and horses. These amazing figures are displayed in battle order, rank-by-rank, with some mounted on horse-drawn chariots, and others in infantry groups armed with spears, swords and crossbows. For centuries, the famous terra cotta warriors guarded the tomb of Qin Shihuang Di, first emperor of a united Chinese people.

We also made brief visits of Pits No. 2 and 3, watched a 20-minute video about the making and burying of the Terra Cotta Warriors, and still had a few minutes to browse the gift shop. And there in the gift shop was the man who discovered the site in 1974. We can testify to the fact that it was the same man we saw in 2002 at the same gift store because Jerry has the previous photo still on his laptop...we cannot truly verify it is the real person, but it was the same frail man from 2002.

Our evening’s dinner and show at the Tang Dynasty Theater Restaurant was in a fantastic Las Vegas-style theater with a Chinese theme of the era (600-1200 A.D.). Ancient instruments were played by beautiful women representing the emperor’s many concubines. The entire dinner show was unbelievable…costumes, acrobatics, and music were all amazing with a cast of more than 100.

Anyone needing a hotel reference would be very well taken care of in the Sofitel Xi’an. It was new, beautiful, great staff, and wonderful food.

The next morning, we walked on the ancient Xi’an city wall and the visibility was a bit better. We could see about 3 blocks away. Our final stop in Xi’an was at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Built in 589 A.D., the Big Wild Goose is one of the most famous Buddhist pagodas in all of China. It stands over 6 stories high, but is now leaning, since the earthquakes earlier this year. We were advised not to enter!

Another Lazy Susan lunch at the airport followed and we were soon off to Guilin in southern China for our Li River visit.

Shanghai, China

2008-10-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

The view from our deck in daylight...notice the smog, no filter used with this photo.

The same view at night...filter used.

Chinese acrobat, our dinner entertainment

More young acrobats...

Yu Gardens in Old Town...

Maglev Train from a previous cruise...

Our visit to Shanghai featured two overnights, giving everyone time for many discoveries. The Regent Mariner’s location is in town (which is everywhere around us!). We are docked on the extremely busy Huangpu River…24 hours a day. Another interesting fact is that Shanghai has over 1600 buildings of 20+ stories, and over 2000 additional such structures scheduled to be built within the next 20 years. Rents doubled between 2003 and 2006. China is booming, and that is no more obvious than right here in Shanghai. In fact, the only pre-colonial past in the entire city is the Yuyuan Gardens and surrounding buildings in Old Town. Much of the city has been replaced with glass and steel buildings since 1990. Shanghai is arguably modern China at its best.

We do need to mention the pollution again. The air is so heavy today that we can only see the high-rise buildings about three blocks beyond the river. And a quick check off our room’s deck revealed lots of bottles, paper, wood, etc. floating in the river. It’s very sad…China has experienced too much growth in such a relatively short time without any thought of protecting their population. You all know we certainly are not green fanatics, but this is horrid.

In fact, Jerry was only cleared this morning, by the onboard doctor, to get off the ship tomorrow morning and go with the group to Xian, the Terra Cotta Warriors, and the Li River. He has had non-contagious bronchitis since arriving in the polluted air in and around Beijing last week. Jerry was given five shots, five nebulizer treatments, and three additional medications to get to this point! He never felt really poorly, but he has had shortness of breath, huge very deep congested coughing, and some chest pain.

Last night we both did attend the Segment 3 Virtuoso dinner and Chinese youth acrobats on the top floor of the Old Shanghai Museum. That turned out to be our only trip off the ship in this city. Fortunately for us, we have been to Shanghai four times before and have visited nearly every highlight. One of our favorites was a trip on the German-built Maglev (magnetic levitation) Train. It floats on an air cushion as it reaches speeds of 267 miles per hour! We also love the Yu Gardens and Old Shanghai so we will include some of those photos from previous trips.

Those of you following others in our group through this blog will be happy to know that all are healthy and nearly all attended the Virtuoso dinner last night. Next report: Terra Cotta Warriors and the Li River after we reach Hong Kong on Friday.

Dalian, China

2008-10-13T22:42:00.001-07:00

Bonnie and Lou Kravitz flying their kites

Inflatable arches indicate a wedding will take place here...

A stretched limousine leading a parade of wedding vehicles

The wedding couple

A European-style district downtown

Some of Dalian's ultra-modern skyscrapers

A statue of hurdlers at a park

A view down to one of Dalian's beaches

Located in Manchuria, in the northeastern part of China, Dalian’s long-ago Russian and Japanese influences remain even today. And special areas of the city still showcase many of those remaining European buildings. This makes for an interesting non-Chinese looking city.

In 1984, our children, Suzanne and Greg, were with us on our only other visit to Dalian. Two of that trip’s highlights were a home visit with a local family, and a photo stop at the Dalian Zoo…where we saw several pandas. We decided to “revisit” the pandas. So, we took the ship’s shuttle to the local Friendship Store (Chinese chain stores owned and operated by the government). There we found a queue of taxi cabs with a single interpreter helping to line up the taxi drivers with customers. We quickly discovered that, without the interpreter, we were pretty much on our own after we left the curb. All the drivers spoke only Chinese, and did not understand a word of English. Fortunately, we had a Chinese gentleman on board the Mariner write some city highlights (including the zoo) on a city map…complete with both English and Chinese names. So, with our map in hand and non-English-speaking driver in the front seat, our taxi headed for the Forest Zoo and its one remaining very old panda. The driver was fun, even though we usually communicated with him through his colleague over their cell phones. Our driver’s name was Chee, and he wanted us to see everything that Dalian had to offer. Our map was an excellent tourist map, with photos, so we were able to follow our route using it.

Traveling through the downtown area, the biggest highlight was the never-ending stream of stretch limousines with huge flower sprays across the front bumper or on their windows…often covering 90% of the driver’s window. The lead limos were followed by several smaller black limos, which were followed by black sedans all decorated with matching pink, red or white ribbons tied to their side mirrors. Then, a couple of blocks later, we’d see another parade of decorated limos carrying another wedding party. Most hotels had blow-up two-story red arches, in front of one or two of their entrances, announcing that a wedding (or weddings) were to take place there. It was Saturday and we must have seen more than 40 of these parades. Jerry heard later that many of the limos had no one inside them but a driver! It appears that the longer the length of the parade indicated the amount of wealth of the family. Amazing! We did see one couple sitting on the back of a small convertible, so Jerry was able to snap a couple of photos of them. We forgot to mention that all parades were preceded by an open-ended SUV that was video taping their particular processional.

But, back to our panda: we were told (and so far everyone has accepted) that U.S. dollars or credit cards were fine in China. The Forest Zoo accepted neither. Our driver could not help us, even with his associate on the other end of his cell phone. After about 10 minutes of attempting to communicate through our Chinese-speaking driver to the Chinese-speaking ticket booth attendants…we were still waiting and not understanding the exact problem. Then, a lovely young Chinese girl stepped forward and asked if she could help. She spoke quite good English, and she was great! Come to find out, she was from Arkansas and her name was Casper. The money, it turned out, wasn’t the major issue we had to contend with. It seems that the panda was on the far end of the zoo…and would require at least an hour to get to, snap a few photos, and return to the front gate. Due to extremely low tides at the Mariner’s dock, our time in Dalian was cut short in order for our ship to get out of the harbor before low tide. So…we only had a half hour to get the panda photos taken. No panda or Siberian tiger pictures. Darn!

So, we moved on and enjoyed a scenic tour of the beach areas, the International Exhibition Center, the aquarium, lovely flowering squares, and many areas of kite flying. Cruise Specialists guests Glenn and Melodie Petry and Bonnie and Lou Kravitz flew kites on their ship’s tours, but we never spotted them. They have their beautiful long-tailed kites safely wrapped in tubes to take home. All said that their kite flying experience was great fun.

Back on board, we both had haircuts and prepared for a full evening: Virtuoso party for Segment 3, a private party and Chinese dinner in Latitudes celebrating Gayle and Nick Carter’s 27th anniversary. They are a great, fun couple and we enjoy laughing and many fun hours with them. You’ll hear more about the Carters and see photos, as we tour the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian, and the Li River with them (and others) next week. Off to Shanghai!

Beijing, China

2008-10-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Crowne Plaza Hotel (1 of 5 buildings) with huge screen on the side

The Bird's Nest (behind industrial buildings and a Chinese truck)

Water Cube and Bird's Nest

Great Wall upon arrival

Climbing down treacherous stairs

A mad dash for our bus in the rain (Jan following Ron and Eleanor Zweibel in their Cruise Specialists jackets)

The beautiful garden behind Shangri-La Hotel (at night)

Forbidden City

The National Center for Performing Arts

Tiananamen Square

The ship's crew welcomes us home (this is only one of two lines)

Regent Seven Seas Cruises treated all guests to an overnight off our ship in Beijing. So, we departed in bus #7 early in the morning for what proved to be a very interesting and informative day.

Our last trip to Beijing was in 2002, so the 3-hour bus ride from the port city of Tianjin, exposed far less change than between that trip and our first cruise to the city in 1984. The road between the two cities is now on a 4-6 lane freeway lined with high rise apartment complexes, industrial and commercial buildings, and with very little farming and agriculture visible. In1984, we entered Beijing via a caravan of buses driving on a 2-lane mostly dirt-covered road. We drove past military bases (which we were not allowed to photograph) and poverty stricken farms. Virtually the only vehicles on the road were horse-drawn wagons carrying loads of bok choy and bicycles; lots of bicycles (which we learned were the major mode of 20th century transportation in Beijing). That bus ride took us 7.5 hours, with a midway potty break at a primitive rest stop where the females were instructed to use one side of a 5-foot high stone wall; the men the other side. This year’s rest stop was at a modern facility, which easily accommodated the 20 buses from our ship and offered extensive souvenirs, packaged snacks, and even a concierge booth hosted by two uniformed young girls to guide lost travelers toward the products or places they were seeking. The 21st century has been very kind to China.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics site was our first stop. Jerry took photos of the Bird’s Nest, the Water Cube, and a “drive-by shooting” of the Olympic Athletes’ Village. Unfortunately, all the major buildings are surrounded by 8-foot tall cyclone fencing…making any close-up photos nearly impossible. And, to make matters worse, most buildings surrounding major sites are stark and empty. The area is a far cry from those we saw on the postcards our tour guide passed out to us and only a glimmer of what we witnessed on TV. So, all of our photos are of the long-range variety, many with fences making perfect pictures nothing more than a wish. But, we got what we got, and felt privileged to do that. We were told, incidentally, that CitiBank has the rights to the Bird’s Nest for the next 30 years and they are planning to use it for office space! That certainly seems strange for a 91,000 seat stadium.

Following a Chinese lunch, the Great Wall was next on our preset agenda. Did you know that the Wall was begun 2200 years ago to keep out the northern grasslands people? When the snows came, they needed food from Southern China. The Great Wall kept the northerners out of the south. Most of the Wall was built in the 15th and 16th centuries, and it extended over 3,000 miles along China’s northern border. The first segments, however, date back to 210 B.C.; few parts of the original sections remain. The surface of the Wall can accommodate 5 horses riding abreast. But, the steps were built extremely uneven, making it nearly impossible for invading horses to navigate any distance without falling, breaking their legs, and causing injury to their northern intruders. When the Wall was first built, an urgent message could be transported the entire 3,000-mile length in 5-6 hours by sending messages on arrows and smoke signals (much like American Indians did). Amazing, huh?

Although it was cloudy and a bit windy when our bus arrived at the Great Wall (amid hoards of buses and tourists), a torrential downpour began about 20 minutes into our visit. Those of us up on the Wall were quickly soaked while navigating our slippery way back down the uneven steps. This was our third visit to this magnificent site, but the first to this particular stretch of wall. The views, although hazy, were fabulous…until the clouds opened up and drenched us!

Our hotel for the evening’s stay in Beijing was the Shangri-La, a gorgeous 5-star facility by anyone’s standards. We had a fabulous dinner buffet, complete with Peking duck, crab, lobster, curry and even pizza. Several of us strolled through the lobby shops and lovely hotel gardens before retiring fairly early.

The next morning’s buffet breakfast was as bountiful as the previous night’s dinner. Besides the Americanized omelets, bacon, sausage, hashed browns and toast, we were offered char sui (steamed barbequed pork in sweet buns)…which Jan dearly loved! Jerry stayed with the traditional breakfast, though. No char sui for him!

The first bus-stop of the morning was the Forbidden City, built during the 1300 to 1400’s. Much of the City was recently repainted in time for this year’s Olympics tourists. This was its first major refurbishment since 1888. The colors under the roofs were the most noticeable. We compared our 2002 photographs of the same buildings and discovered where the tones were much grayer and washed out; they were now brilliant in many jeweled colors.

Next, we stopped long enough to take photos at The National Center for Performing Arts, completed last year (just in time to be shown off to the world at the Olympics). It was a beautiful steel and glass building, looking like a huge bubble sitting just inside a very wide moat. It was definitely an awesome sight!

Tiananmen Square was our final destination before lunch. It was fully decked out, for a national October 1st celebration; with gorgeous floral displays the size of rooms and a wonderful multistory Chinese lantern with 30 foot red shiny tassels swinging in the breeze. Unfortunately no one remembers what the celebration was…sorry! Mao’s huge portrait still hangs and he is totally revered. People wait hours in line to see his body in its mausoleum where every night he is lowered and refrozen. We did not go there. The whole square unnerved most of us as we talked of the 1989 massacre that had taken place there. And then it was off to another Chinese lunch before returning to our ship.

China had gone all out for the world to see during the Beijing Olympics: construction, flowers, covering up of the poverty stricken areas (even moving many of the people out of town), new roads and freeways everywhere, well spoken English speaking guides, with wonderful new hotels and restaurants everywhere. It is evident where all the money came from with the number of English signs and structures (built with foreign money through joint ventures. In China most joint ventures are your money, your ideas, your company, BUT the Chinese government gets 50%).

Our guide for the two days owned the tour agency that coordinated our entire stay in Beijing. He was amazing: 27 years old, a Bachelor’s degree in tourism and business, speaks 4 languages, owns 3 cars including a Jeep SUV, married and has an exporting business on the side! His English was flawless with an American accent, although he has also been taught by a British gentleman and can speak fluently with that accent as well. He is an only child, due to the one child rule. The Chinese have relaxed that a bit now: if both spouses have a Bachelor’s degree, they may have a second child and just pay higher taxes. However, if they marry an outsider (foreigner), they may have as many children as they like. Max (our guide) also told us they really love “Big Noses”. There were many snickers on the bus. He said, “You do not know what that means? Well, that is the Chinese name for Americans, Australians and Brits. We believe you have big noses because you breathe more cold air than we do. Wait until you compare my nose to the noses in Hong Kong. Then you will see.” We will let you know about that one next week! By the way, they call themselves cut eyes.

A cute anecdote: Bonnie Kravitz asked her tour guide in Beijing what 10/1 was, since it is her granddaughter's birthday. He said the People's Republic of Chine was founded at 3:00 p.m. on 10/1/49.

We have some marvelous lecturers on board: Terry Breen is a fabulous anthropologist/storyteller. Many of you know Terry from Alaska cruising, and her book, Cruiser Friendly Onboard Guide to Alaska’s Inside Passage. She was also on our bus of 24 people for the trip into Beijing and added immensely with her background. Another lecturer is Sandra Bowern, who specializes in Asia and the Mediterranean. In her multimedia presentation yesterday, Sandra presented the China which the modern day Chinese claim never happened in this still- Communist country. She mentioned the Chinese people themselves are at a crossroads where they need to choose one the following four roads: 1. Red Road: Communism, 2. Black Road: Morality 3, Green Road: Immigration to another country or, 4. Yellow Road: Capitalism. Most younger Chinese seem to be choosing the Yellow Road and are excellent businessmen. Something will happen in this environment. After all, this is a 1.3 billion person country with 1/5th of the world’s entire population, but only 7% of useable farmland. China also remains a man’s world where female babies are being eliminated in huge numbers. We need to be carefully watching this stretching, flexing giant.

Next stop is Dalian, China, where we hope to see the pandas we remembered from 1984.

Inchon (Seoul), South Korea

2008-10-07T21:50:00.000-07:00

Apartment buildings lined freeway to Seoul

Korean man in front of his home at Village

Farmers Dance at Village

Traditional wedding ceremony at Village

Korean kids enjoying Americans at the Village

A street at Namdaemun Market

We posed at Seoul's river walk

After traversing a lock four feet narrower than the Panama Canal, the Regent Mariner made her maiden stop at Inchon (Seoul’s port). We had only eight feet to spare and our Captain Phillippe put us perfectly through without a rub on either side or any help from the locks in the form of mules or lines.

With 48 million people living in South Korea, 4.5 million of those reside in Seoul and 2.5 million in Inchon. People and high rise apartment buildings literally lined the one hour corridor between Seoul and Inchon. As our bus ride took us along the modern freeway between those two cities, we heard much of Korea’s history. The country was controlled by Japan until 1945. Of course, since 1950, the country has been divided with Communist North Korea having an active army of over 10 million…and its people starving. South Korea, on the other hand, is very progressive, well-educated, and cosmopolitan. Their army is 600,000. With the four (and perhaps several more) tunnels the North Koreans have dug into the DMZ, South Koreans live constantly with the threat invasion from the north. Tunnel four is 6 feet tall x 6 feet wide and one mile long long. We hope to have photos on at http://www.jerryjanice.shutterfly.com/ soon, from folks that went there yesterday.

Our tour guide for the day was a wonderful 64-year old woman named Park. She walked through our bus and profusely thanked three men for serving in Korea in the 1950s and ‘60s. Then she said, “See what you gave us? Hope and success. Yes, we are still threatened every day by the North Koreans, but we know that you stand with us.” She pointed out that she was, of course, referring to the U.S., U.K, and Australia passengers on board.

The Korean Folk Village was our major destination for the day (http://www.koreanfolk.co.kr/). The setting is Korea from 1700 to the 1910s. We saw housing, farming life, pottery production, paper making, silk spinning, and blacksmithing…all in actual working exhibits. We attended a traditional wedding ceremony which had been arranged by the couples’ parents…the groom and bridegroom would have never met beforehand in those days. The entire village setting was much like Williamsburg or Sturbridge Village in the U.S.

Jerry, in particular, was a hit with the mobs of school children who were also spending the day at the village. They asked his name and where he lived (in perfect English). The hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children had brought their sack lunches and plastic blankets for picnicking everywhere on the grounds. We had wondered where we would all eat lunch, but ours was Korean barbequed beef with vegetables, Kim chee and rice enjoyed in the Korean restaurant within the Folk Village. It was delicious and cooked right at our table.

The second stop on our tour was in Seoul at Namdaemun Market. It is a very traditional Asian market area with ginseng being the most available item! We walked down extremely crowded narrow streets lined on both sides by stores selling just about everything imaginable. The streets were shared by people, motorcycles, ladies carrying stacks of trays on their heads, men pushing crates on their carts, women selling edible items out of baskets on the cobblestones, and even a few vehicles. There was, obviously, a pecking order to who had the right of way! We strolled along the streets, observing people, and even made a couple of purchases (chopsticks and pink ribbon…big spenders).

Our last stop of the day was a recently uncovered river walk for a photo opportunity. Next stop: Beijing, China

Nagasaki, Japan

2008-10-07T03:58:00.001-07:00

Nagasaki's welcoming committee...

Peace Park Statue

Shimabara Castle

Volcanic ruins

Portuguese street

Madame Butterfly cast members

Nagasaki was our final port in Japan before sailing away from this spotless, friendly, polite and beautiful country. Our week here has been fabulous among these constantly smiling and bowing people.

It rained the entire day that we were in Nagasaki. Since this was our third visit to the city, we decided to bypass the tours and just enjoy the waterfront area on our own. Prior visits have taken us to the Nagasaki Peace Park built in 1955 to commemorate the atomic bombing there on August 9, 1945. At the park’s north end is the 10-meter-tall Peace Statue…”with its right hand pointed to the threat of nuclear weapons while the extended left hand symbolizes eternal peace. The mild face symbolizes divine grace and the gently closed eyes offer a prayer for the tomb victims’ souls. The folded right leg and extended left leg signify both meditation and the initiative to stand up and rescue the people of the world.”

On another visit, we went outside the city to Shimabara and Mt. Unzen. That was a fabulous tour! Shimabara Castle was built in 1624 and now sits next to a museum showing excavation from the 1990 eruption of Mt. Unzen. A visit to a street of Samuri houses from the ancient town, complete with a man-made waterway running through town, made that a very memorable tour.

But, back to the present: the few hours to ourselves on the Nagasaki waterfront unveiled a lovely surprise. We discovered several blocks of narrow winding, cobblestone streets, lined by Portuguese-style shops, churches, museums, and gardens. After making a few purchase…and taking lots of photographs…we headed back to our ship.

That afternoon, just before the Mariner left Nagasaki, we were treated to a shortened performance of Madame Butterfly by local entertainers. It was a great show, and a fitting end to our last port of call in Japan. Next: Inchon (Seoul), South Korea

Osaka, Japan

2008-10-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

School kids in line in front of Aquarium

We saw lots of rays

Crowded covered outdoor mall...

Looking up at Lumi Skywalk

A close up of floating escalators...

City view from Floating Gardens

On day one of two, we returned to Osaka’s fascinating aquarium (which we had visited on our Ring of Fire cruise a few years back). They have amazing fish, sea anemones, penguins, sea otters, a sloth, spider monkeys, alligators, dolphins, and sharks…much more than any other aquarium we’ve ever visited. Our visit coincided with the departure of hundreds of uniformed Japanese school children. You’ve no idea how many children had invaded the facility and surrounding parkway.

Once again, we had a ferris wheel…this one was so close to our ship that guests on the starboard side forward could see the faces of the riders! Besides the ferris wheel, the aquarium, and a lovely three story mall within a 60-second walk from the ship, our location was on a very active river…all creating a wonderful two-day setting.

At 5:00 on our first evening, we joined twenty other passengers for an “Osaka by Night” tour. An amazing four hours were spent among the local inhabitants. We watched thousands of them shop, eat, scurry about, visit, and work (all men working late in the offices were wearing white shirts, ties, and dark pants). We were driven to an outdoor shopping mall…a very long covered street that is lined on both sides with small boutique shops, bars, restaurants, and pachinko parlors. We were turned loose and advised to be back at a specific street corner at 8:00 p.m. That gave us an hour and a half to explore. Jan found a fabric store and we made stops in two cell phone stores to ask if they could help her receive email on her phone. Unfortunately, when we exited one the second phone store, we must have taken a wrong turn, and found ourselves headed in the wrong direction in the mall. We discovered our error at around 7:25, and we found ourselves at least a mile from where we were expected to be in 30 minutes. Panic set in, and we began running (as best we could, at our ages) toward the meeting intersection (which, by the way, we evidently ran right past!). We stopped several Japanese (including 2 policemen), trying to get directions to make sure that we were going the right way. We ultimately found an American lady that verified that we were headed in the right direction, but that we still had a long way to go. We finally reached the tour group, eight minutes late and truly exhausted.

After hundreds of days on ships, and a like number of shore excursions…we found ourselves living our worst nightmare. We were late to get back when we pride ourselves in always being early. Fortunately our Cruise Specialists’ guests, George and Sherri Burke, were there and they knew there was something wrong with us being late (they had done the World Cruise with us in 2005 and knew how insistent Jan is about punctuality). The entire group and tour guide were all very forgiving (of course they could see our sweat and red faces). Hopefully we have crossed that on off of our Bucket List! And because you know Jan, you know she was determined to be back on time! Jerry was also, but he kept reminding her that we had another 24 hours before the ship departed, we knew how to get back to the ship, and we had plenty of yen to get us there (we still ran our little legs off).

Our stop at Osaka Castle was too far away from the building, and the castle was covered by trees, for photographs. But, Jerry’s photo of the surrounding moat and corner guard tower is lovely.

The piece de resistance was our trip173 meters above ground to the outdoor Lumi Sky Walk at The Floating Garden Observatory. It was amazing, but highly intimidating. Although our photos might not show it, we traveled up a 45-story completely glass elevator on the outside of one building. It was like we were transported through space to the upper levels of the skyscraper. Next, we walked onto a 3-story glass covered escalator that went from our building to a twin tower, over 200 feet away. The Observatory was a disk-shaped platform that was sitting between the two towers. The escalator was inside of a glassed-in tunnel, giving us the feeling that we were being transported on thin air as there was no visible flooring support below. That ride was one of the most unnerving adventures that either of us has even taken.

When we finally reached the second tower, a three floor hike up stairs took us to an open air observatory, which seemed to float in the sky above the glittering city below. We held onto each other as we ventured out into the darkness, hundreds of feet above the pavement below! The view was spectacular as you can see from Jerry’s photos.

Panic…we then realized that we had to get down from that disk in the sky. Jan suggested that we all talk and laugh as we retraced our steps down the glass-enclosed escalator and elevator…which she proceeded to do with a couple of the ladies of our group. Jerry managed to get back to the safety of the ground floor using his own method…he closed his eyes until he was back to earth. Both methods worked. After further analysis, we would do the trip all over again. It was absolutely exhilarating. “This building would never be acceptable by U.S. standards,” one guest, who was a civil engineer, offered. That is, perhaps, why several of our group decided not to venture to the top!

On our second day in Osaka, about 250 passengers disembarked and were replaced with even more people. Our numbers current are over 500 for segment 3. The Cruise Specialists’ group numbers 24 and we are thoroughly enjoying running into “family” around the ship. We are now bound for Nagasaki, after a much cherished day at sea.

Yokohama, Japan

2008-10-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

Lake Ashi

Cable car Hakone Open-Air Museum

Grade School kids wearing orange

Waterfront park near the dock

Yokohama was another overnight port! And, it is Tokyo’s port city. The Tokyo-Yokohama megalopolis (their word) is home to over 37 million inhabitants. Having been in Tokyo several times before, we decided to go in search of a photo opportunity of Mt. Fuji (which we haven’t seen since 1984). Unfortunately, the mountain was hidden from our view by foggy, cloudy, gray, and rainy weather. However, our 9.5-hour excursion was still a great day filled with many nice surprises. Some other friends just returned from there the following day so we will post a Mt Fuji photo of theirs soon for you all to see.

Traffic in the Yokohama metropolitan area of 4.5 million people is so congested that many commuters typically spend from 1.5 to 2 hours every day (each way) to and from work. Most travel by train…but freeways and city streets are still extremely over crowded during the commute hours.

Our destination for the day was the village of Hakone and the surrounding Hakone National Park. We wove our way through the traffic, and out into the countryside, where we were driven up winding roads through resorts full of small restaurants, quaint stores, and spa hotels that specialize in hot pools of steaming water. All of this was inside a volcano which we entered from about half the mountain though a tunnel. It should also be noted that separate bathing areas are provided for men and women (bathing suits are not optional…all participants are required to soak in the nude). Japanese love these onsen spas and flock to them even if for only a one night stay.

Stopping inside the volcano at Lake Ashinoko, we boarded a touring boat for an exploration of the lake. The boat cruised the entire lake, past green forests and small lakeside villages. On our third stop at docks along the shoreline, we left the boat and headed back down the windy road until we reached the Hakone Prince Hotel, which was to provide us with our lunch. The hotel was beautiful, and the multi-course lunch very tasty and well presented.

Next stop was the Komagatake Aerial Cableway with a large gondola platform, where we boarded 16-passenger cages and were whisked up the hill into the fog and mist. Our two legs of cable ride took 16 minutes, yet we were able to see very little. The cableway traveled over hot springs, a lush forest, with expected views of Mt Fuji…which wound up hiding just out of our sight. When we finally disembarked at the top, we were not able to see more than a few feet down the mountain.

Our visit to Hakone Open-Air Museum http://www.hakone-oam.or.jp/, which opened in 1969,is the first open-air art museum in Japan. It was fabulous. The beautifully manicured grounds are home to nearly 120 sculptures and works of well known artists from all over the world including Joan Miro, and 26 by Henry Moore. Other features included a large Picasso exhibit housed in its own building, and a hot-spring foot bath. We did not have time to warm our feet, but we did visit the Picasso museum, which included two floors of the artist’s works including pottery, sketches, weaving, mosaics, paintings, and bronzes. Although he is not our favorite artist, we were very impressed by the number, quality, and variety included in this permanent exhibit.

The two-hour return ride to Yokohama and the waiting Regent Mariner provided a bit of a nap for most of us on the way home. However, we all awoke for a glimpse into Yokohama’s Chinatown located only a few blocks from our ship’s dock.

The following day we chose to walk down to a city park, through the pier, waterfront, and watch as about 250 children descended upon the pier area to have lunch overlooking our ship. They just kept coming and coming and coming! By the way, each classroom of Japanese students has a certain colored hat or scarf they wear when on field trips. That creates a vast array of colors when many classes are together. Next…Osaka and the beginning of Segment 3 where we welcome 10 additional Cruise Specialists’ guests.

Sendai, Japan

2008-10-01T19:06:00.001-07:00

Our guide and driver in front of van

Fileting of tuna

The wedding party

The feeding of the pigeons

Rice ready to harvest

Moving southward, our next port of call was on Honshu Island, Japan’s largest island and home to our final three of that country’s ports. Sendai, 180 miles north of Tokyo, is Japan’s third largest fishing port and is also called the City of Trees, just like our home town of Woodinville is. Cypress, pine and juniper were prevalent everywhere you looked.

We rented a private vehicle with driver (TakahashiSan) and English speaking guide (HamaSan), and began our trip at 7:50 am. Originally, Cliff and Leslyn Ashdown were to be our companions for the day…but, they were both struggling with illness so they sent their friends, Tina and Theo Coronis with us in their place. Both couples were Australians, so the replacements fit right in. We had a great morning with the Tina and Theo.

Our first stop of the day was a huge enclosed fresh fish market which opens for business at 3:00 a.m. with an auction. By the time we arrived (shortly after 8:00), everyone had settled down to dealing with much smaller quantities of fish. The individual stalls were spotless, with no fish smell anywhere! We found no flies, and the marketers were all smiles as they each hawked their “best catch” of the day. With three-foot long razor sharp knives, the artisans carefully carved their huge tuna sides into smaller, delicate rectangles ready to be sold for sushi and sashimi in the town’s restaurants. The fish in Sendai differ from those we found in Hakodate, where we saw and ate squid, hairy and king crab, salmon, and tuna. Sendai’s catches included octopus, scallops, salmon, tuna, eels, and clams. Interestingly enough, Japan can no longer catch enough fish to feed its population. As you all know, this country eats lots of seafood. Much of Japan’s tuna is now farm raised in Croatia. China is also fishing the western waters of Japan extensively, which decreases the number of fish available to Japanese fleets. Eating so much fish is certainly good for the nation’s long-term health. The average age of Japanese women to live is 86 years old (the best in the world). Men live 80 years (also among the world’s best). There are currently over 36,000 Japanese over the age of 100! Perhaps more fish and rice for us of all?

Heading to the outskirts of Sendai, we were off to see some of the 260 small pine treed islands. Stops in the small coastal village of Matsushima provided some fabulous treasures for us. There were wonderfully groomed parks, bonsai trees everywhere (including one Juniper over 700 years old), and Zuiganji (a Buddhist Zen temple circa 828 AD) where thousands of people used to live in caves that are still visible along the entrance walks.

We drove up to another Zen Temple, from the 1600s, where we met a young Japanese couple on their wedding day. They were posing for photographs, and asked us to take a photo with them. Our driver fed a hoard of pigeons…we felt as if we were in the cast of “The Birds” movie. Additionally we saw a 30 day old baby being brought in for dedication, observed men at work bonsai-ing a huge tree, and learned about the water purification ceremony.

HamaSan also told us that 80% of the Japanese belong to both Buddhism and Shintoism. She said Buddism covers the after life and Shintoism covers the present, so the Japanese see no conflict in being part of both sects at the same time. Interestingly though, most young people want a “Christian” wedding complete with the cross…without embracing the faith, but still using the ceremony.

Rice fields are golden here at this time of year and have their “heads” bending low ready for harvest. We were very surprised to see how yellow and dry they were…not at all what we had seen in the floating rice paddies of Bali and Viet Nam on previous trips. The “heads” are heavy with the ripe rice and are bending low. This is a sign of respect to the Japanese and also represents maturity to them.

Onto Yokohama for another overnight beginning tomorrow!

Hakodate, Japan

2008-10-01T02:19:00.000-07:00

Hakodate, a daylight view...

Elevator operators and guides

At the top of the tower

Surprise! Landfall after six days at sea. Our first Japanese stop, in Hakodate, was delightful. Situated on the northernmost Japanese island, Hokkaido, this city is 260 kilometers from Sapporo, but only 3 kilometers from Russia (you know, the Russia to which we were refused entrance). As a result of missing Petropavlosk, Regent Seven Seas Cruises arranged for an extra day and overnight in Hakodate. The passengers and crew were truly ready for some time on land!

After several downpours, being fingerprinted, and having our eyes scanned…the Japanese customs officials finally welcomed us with open arms. We boarded a bus for an evening off the ship with 14 other Regent guests. The first stop was on top of Mt. Hakodate, which although only 1100 feet tall, yielded what is hailed as one of the top three most beautiful night views in the world. We were not disappointed. It was a clear, crisp evening, and we arrived at exactly the right time to view the city below. It was fabulous! We were treated to the shimmering lights of Hakodate, and the bays which literally twinkled with the reflection of city lights and the many boats with their lights shining like stars. We especially were amazed at the lights on squid fishing boats drawing their prey to the surface.

A Kaiseki traditional 11-course meal followed at the Kira Restaurant. We were served by kimono-clad waitresses who bowed every time they served us. Hakodate is known for its cold water fish and agriculture. The menu consisted of items grown right in the city (or nearby). We had tuna, yellow fin, salmon, sashimi, parma ham and melons (very expensive here), shrimp stuffed potato dumplings, miso soup, rice, beef tenderloin, eggplant, crab and much tofu, with touches of wasabi on many dishes. The Japanese are quick to say they not have “intoxicated” milk like the Chinese and, therefore, we should feel free to eat everything. (Today’s paper, however, stated that Japanese crackers were tainted with milk from China, so…we are being careful to watch what we eat!)

Early on day two, we began our Virtuoso shore excursion. For those of you not familiar with Virtuoso, it is an organization of the top travel agencies in the world. Because Cruise Specialists belongs (and was a founding member), each segment of this cruise we are treated to their special shore excursion. This one began with a visit to Goryokaku Castle (originally from the Shogun era of the feudal lords in the mid 1800s). Unfortunately, the fortress and castle were destroyed, but it has been turned into a gorgeous, lush park surrounded by Japan’s famous cherry blossom trees and a water-filled moat. The star-shaped outline was viewable from the enclosed viewing platform high atop the Goryokaku Tower which sits just outside the moat.

Our coach next ventured up the narrow, winding roads to the top of Mt. Hakodate, for a daytime view of the city. Although spectacular, it did not hold a candle to the night time view. A luncheon at the Kokusai Hotel followed, with just six courses!

Following lunch, we returned to the Mariner arriving just in time for sail away, and a performance by the Japanese Taiko Drum corps. Their performance took place on the dock where we were fortunate to be invited to the Weiricks’ suite right above the drummers. It was an energetic performance given as the lines were released from the pier…and we were off to Sendai, tomorrow’s port of call.

Petropavlosk, Russia (almost)

2008-09-26T00:04:00.000-07:00

(left to right) Cliff Ashdown, Glenn Weirick, and Janet Fisher at Cruise Specialists' Gathering.

Yesterday was to have been the day we spent in Petropavlosk, Kamchatka, on the Siberian Peninsula of Russia. But that did not work out, and we are now headed south for our next port of call, Hakodate, Japan. Our Regent Mariner Captain, Phillippe, received an email stating that no foreign ships could be in port today because Russian President Medeved was going to be there. We feel that the actual reason may be that the United States backed Georgia in Russia’s recent confrontation, so they are retaliating where they have the ability to do so. We may never know the true reason for our inability to stop in that Siberian city…but, we go onward nonetheless. Apparently a Princess ship was also denied access last week after sitting in port nine hours. Fortunately for us, we were able to turn south earlier and we hope to have an additional overnight at Hakodate tomorrow evening.

The past five days onboard have been very relaxing. We’ve been able to get completely caught up with our blogs and our picture web site. There have been some fabulous lectures from U.S. Ambassador Sam Hart on our economy; Pritikin specialist, Dr. Barbara Udell; a Japanese lifestyle lecturer, Mary Symons; as well as wonderful quartet, Odessa Strings; pianist Panos Karan, plus others. Jan’s even done some laundry. Our next 2 days at sea should continue to be filled with onboard activities. We’ve been experiencing somewhat bumpy seas, and the southern heading should smooth the waters.

Jan wants to add a bit about Mary Symons: she is a lovely British lady with extensive Japanese travel and living background. One lecture was on Japanese etiquette, another on Ikebana flower arranging, and her upcoming one is on “The Smallest Room” where she will give us guidelines and information on the bathing rituals of the Japanese (we have many guests doing overland excursions to the Onsen Spa), as well as the extremely functional modern toilets of Japan with the many choices of buttons. More details after that lecture!

Last night we ate at Latitudes Restaurant with George and Sherri Burke. To those of you who have cruised on the Mariner before…Latitudes was changed yesterday into a Japanese restaurant (until we reach Osaka). Here’s a photo we took of Ben, Latitudes’ sushi chef creating near our table, along with the Burkes and Franck Galzy, the ship’s Food and Beverage Manager.

This morning was the 2nd segment’s gathering of our Cruise Specialists’ passengers. Jerry showed a slide show of photographs that he took in Seward, Kodiak, and some Petropavlosk pictures from 2004. He will be posting his older shots of Petropavlosk later today as well at http://www.jerryjanice.shutterfly.com/.

Since we have crossed the International Dateline, we are already on Friday, September 26. Tonight the main dining room is being turned into a dinner dance for our formal evening…next: tomorrow we arrive at Okodate, Japan.

Kodiak, Alaska

2008-09-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

Small boat harbor
Russian Orthodox Seminary (replica of building built in 1792)

Russian musicians

Lauren and Cooper

(left to right) Cliff and Leslyn Ashdown, Jerry and Jan, Barbara and Rich Eddy (standing), Glenn and Judy Weirick (seated), John and Mary Lou Shoemaker

Neither of us had been to Kodiak before, so we were anxious to visit this remote northern Alaskan island with over 15,000 inhabitants. Lucky for us the day, although cloudy most of the time, did not shed one drop of rain on us. We met our 25-passenger touring bus and driver just before 11:00 am and were off to explore the city. Our bus stopped many times, the first being at Kodiak’s “small” boat harbor, home to the city’s fleet of fishing and crab boats. We also stopped at the “large” boat harbor, which housed tour boats, larger fishing boats, and a variety of commercial vessels including the boat from “The Deadliest Catch” whose name I forgot and the Saga boat (for those of you, like our office staff, who watch that series). The movie, “The Guardian,” was also filmed here.

Our next stop was at St. Herman Russian Orthodox Seminary and the Russian Orthodox Church, both with a long history in Kodiak. Russians settled Kodiak in 1792…and have left a lengthy legacy of Russian influence on the city. The Father spoke to us for about 15 minutes and it was very informative. The Seminary primarily trains natives to deal with their congregations both spiritually and physically through alcohol and drug abuse programs. One fascinating item we learned was that the “onion domes” on top of the Russian churches actually represent flames which symbolize prayers being offered up.

We enjoyed a short stop at the Northern Exposure Art Gallery (the only gallery on the island), where we purchased some scented hand soap and an Alaskan magnet. Everything else for sale in the store (paintings, frames, native baskets, etc.) was too large to fit into our already stuffed suitcases.

Lunch was the highlight of the day’s shore excursion. We were treated to Russian citrus tea, borscht, Russian tea cakes and piroshkies. Each was a delight. And, as we enjoyed our meal, we were entertained by the Balalaika Players, a local band performing traditional Russian music. They were appropriately dressed in traditional Russian costumes. The group is made up of people in a wide range of careers…from Coast Guard personnel to doctors to retired librarians. And, they were great!

While we were in the small hotel enjoying lunch, Lauren Meier and her 2 year old son, Cooper, friends from our church in Kirkland, WA visited with Jan. Lauren’s husband, Scott, is in Kodiak on assignment with the Coast Guard. Kodiak’s CG base is the largest in all the United States with 3,000 people attached. Coincidentally, after our tour left the hotel, we were driven past the Coast Guard facility and out to our final stop of the day, a site where a river crosses under the highway and normally contains thousands of salmon making their way upstream to spawn. Unfortunately, this year the salmon run is the smallest our guide has seen in her 30+ years leading tours. As fate would have it, we learned that a Kodiak bear had been in this very spot just minutes before we arrived. Everyone poured out of our bus, anticipating a glimpse of the bear…but, none was seen.

That night was our ship’s first formal night, and we were invited to Judy Weirick’s birthday party. We arrived at their suite for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 6:00 pm, which was followed by dinner for ten in the Compass Rose dining room. Glenn had selected a special menu for the evening; Jan had Dover sole, while Jerry enjoyed the Chateaubriand complete with specially selected French wines. It was a very enjoyable evening. Now we are definitely ready for four consecutive sea days!

Special notes about Kodiak: Catching Dungeness crabs is a major vocation of many who reside here…fully equipped, crab traps alone cost around $1000 apiece…Kodiak suffered the loss of its downtown area during the 1964 Anchorage earthquake (now considered to have been 9.2 on the Richter scale) which lasted a full 5 minutes here…Kodiak is home to the largest fish cannery in Alaska processing 1.8 million pounds in 2007…Kodiak bears are not really dangerous to humans (only one fatality is on record)…the city’s population is 20% Filipino, 15% Hispanic, and 10% Native American....Kodiak has 9 foot tides. Next stop: Petrapavlosk, Siberia, Russia.

Seward, Alaska

2008-09-18T16:11:00.003-07:00

Notice the flags on this boat in the Seward Harbor...

We did see a little sunshine in Seward.

Seward was yet another day of rain, rain, and more rain (and even some high winds). As we type this report, we are about to depart from our day-long stay at this drop-off point for eight of our Cruise Specialists’ passengers, and welcome four newcomers. We had a tour of the Kenai Peninsula (by boat) scheduled today, but when we arrived at the Mariner Lounge to meet our tour guides, we were informed that the tour had been cancelled due to poor weather. Our response…”Oh well!”

So, we visited with some of our friends, Glenn and Judy Weirick, then went to their room where we gave them training sessions: Jan re-taught Judy how to knit a scarf (OK, Jan says no laughing anyone!), and Jerry taught Glenn how to process pictures and put them into a PowerPoint presentation on his laptop. Then we had a leisurely lunch in the Compass Rose dining room, followed by about an hour’s conversation and laughs over tea and dessert with the Weiricks and Cliff and Leslyn Ashdown (from Brisbane, Australia).

When we had worn out our welcome in the dining room, we came back up to our room and worked on this and three other blogs. As we finish this one…we will be caught up with them for the first time this cruise! We still, of course, have a lot of catching up to do on our website photos. That will, hopefully, happen on our upcoming four day crossing to Petrapovlosk, Siberia, Russia. Stay tuned…

Hubbard Glacier

2008-09-18T16:11:00.002-07:00

((left to right) Joanne Pavlik, Jan, Jerry and Joanne Bell (also a Cruise Specialist Host)

This is what we saw of Hubbard Glacier.

The above, and all below photos, were shot at Hubbard on another cruise.

We’ve certainly had far better days in Hubbard Glacier. This day was cloudy and rainy with very low visibility. To his credit, however, Captain Delavault (our ship’s “main man”) guided the Mariner through fields of crushed ice (and a few substantial icebergs) to within 1.5 miles of the face of the glacier. The white thunder was, if not deafening, extremely loud. And the calving was frequent and quite large. If it had only been a clear day…not necessarily sunny, but just clear. Cloudy days are the best for viewing the beautiful turquoise color of icebergs and the glacier itself. But, the constant downpour and low clouds pretty much negated getting any clear photographs of the glacier on that day.

So…our day at Hubbard Glacier was short and rainy…with cloud-induced darkness. It was a dreary day by any standards. Our departure was even a bit premature due to the fact that the Mariner was being forced closer to the glacier by the tides. Once Captain Delavault sensed that, he quickly made the announcement we would be on our way. And we were! Even though the quality is subpar, we decided to include a picture which was taken on this trip…and some photos which we took previously of this magnificent advancing glacier.

Those of you who visited Hubbard Glacier with us in 2002 will probably remember that Russell Fjord, on the right hand side of Hubbard, was closed off in May of that year. Those on our second trip that July saw it opened up again. They were claiming then that it could prevent others from ever seeing it in the future. Well, they are saying again that the Russell Fjord is becoming Russell Lake and by, perhaps next year, it will be permanently closed off. Once again there are many plans and talks underway to prevent the flooding of the Yakutat area. However, we all know that these are only man’s guesses and that the glacier has a mind of its own and only time will tell. It is, by the way, 76 miles deep, over 7 miles across at the face, and 600 feet tall!

This afternoon we had our Cruise Specialists’ gathering where Jerry showed his Power Point photo show of sites visited so far on this cruise. Our guests were amazed when they saw what all they missed of Hubbard Glacier due to the low clouds! Enjoy the comparison. (Sorry, but we were all having so much fun that we failed to take any photos.)

We finished the evening with a lovely dinner in the Indochine restaurant, Latitudes, with JoAnn Bell and her sister-in-law Joanne Pavlik.

Sitka, Alaska

2008-09-18T16:11:00.001-07:00

In Sitka, we enjoyed another relaxing day. With no rain, we jumped at the opportunity to take an extended walk into town and beyond. There are no docks in Sitka for cruise ships, so we were anchored at our customary spot a mile or so from downtown. After a ten minute ride on the ship’s tender, we arrived at te Regent’s dock and stopped in Work & Rugged Gear Store to buy Jerry an all-weather coat (he forgot to bring one from home, and could not find anything in Jan’s Norwegian sweater store in Skagway). We continued our trek past a few shops on the town’s outskirts, Sheldon Jackson College, several totem poles, the Sitka National Historical Park Center, and the tall trees of the lush Tongass National Forest. Once in the forest we walked among fabulous moss-covered spruce and hemlock trees, crossed the bridge over the Indian River, and stopped to view hundreds of salmon fighting their way upstream to spawn.

After we exited the Tongass National Forest, we traveled another 300 yards up a highway to Sitka’s Raptor Center, an open bird habitat and Eagle Flight Center (although we did not go into the flight center on this trip). This facility is home to injured bald eagles, owls, hawks, and other birds of prey. After snapping dozens of pictures, we made our way back down the hill towards the highway and town… entering through neighborhoods and listening to children on the playground during afternoon school recess. After another 20 minute walk, downtown Sitka reemerged where Jerry took a few last-minute photos while Jan talked to her Mom on the cell phone.

Our traditional last stop in Sitka is always The New Archangel Trading Co., a store near the waterfront that sells homemade fudge by the pound. It’s very tasty, and we force ourselves to dole it out sparingly for the next several days. The ship’s tender returned us to our floating hotel. As we pulling up anchor shortly thereafter, our Captain made the decision to do a little bay cruising just because we could before departing the sheltered waters for Hubbard Glacier. The larger cruise ships cannot get into the bay and safely turn around, but we even got to see a seal playing, and fabulously lush mountain sides falling right down to the water’s edge. What a great way to leave Sitka as the “mist” began to return.

Skagway, Alaska

2008-09-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

Skagway is probably our favorite port in Alaska. We’ve been there many times in the past, so we decided against scheduling a shore excursion. That gave us the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep and still have the time to stroll the streets (actually, we should probably use the word street) of Skagway.

After a leisurely morning onboard the ship, we disembarked at 11:00 a.m. and made our way downtown. We were surprised to discover that the Mariner was docked in a different spot than we had ever before been…2-3 blocks closer to the downtown area. What a great discovery! We discovered a totally different perspective and viewed sights we hadn’t seen before. The other thing about this stay is that we were there for the first time with three other even larger ships. There still was no visual crowd evidence anywhere in town.

Our first stop was a restaurant that specialized in Mexican and Italian food, but also sold American (from hamburgers to king crab legs), Greek, and Japanese cuisine…and it was run by Russians! Jan chose Greek, while Jerry selected Mexican…and the food was great! In a small town like Skagway, with only about 800 inhabitants who winter over, you have to cater to everyone!

Lynch & Kennedy, our favorite Skagway store, is a shop that specializes in Norwegian (Oleana) sweaters. Jan found one that she liked (plus a pair of gloves, a hat, and gloves for Jerry from Nepal). With the cooler, rainy day yesterday in Juneau, we decided we needed to be a bit warmer for the next 10 day period.

After a few photo opportunities, we found our way back onboard. It was a very relaxing, and lovely, day in Skagway.

Juneau, Alaska

2008-09-16T00:18:00.000-07:00

The day in Juneau was mostly consumed with a Virtuoso Club shore excursion, one that we have taken on several occasions. Unfortunately, it rained on us as we left the ship…and didn’t stop the downpour until long after we had returned to its dry and warm comfort. The bus ride to Auke Bay was the standard 30 minutes where we boarded a 150-passenger sightseeing vessel with two stories of comfortable seats, large floor to ceiling windows, and a young, but knowledgeable crew.

The boat was soon plying the waters of Stevens Passage on our way to Lynn Canal. Within 20 minutes, we approached a large pod of Orca (Killer) whales (photo #1) which were actively swimming among boats containing tourists taking photographs in spite of the steady downpour. We were no different. As soon as our boat was close enough to put its engines into neutral, a steady stream of camera-toting passengers made its way to the rain-drenched back deck throwing caution to the wind with their sometimes expensive cameras. Jerry was no different. We spent probably 45 minutes along side the pod of Orcas, but no spectacular photo opportunities ever occurred. We did, however, get some fairly nice pictures. The Orcas have a distinct dorsal fin standing straight up on their backs along with some white patches.

Soon a rather small island appeared that was literally infested with Stellar sea lions (photo #2). As the captain slowed the engine, we could hear hundreds of the beasts uttering their guttural growls. They presented better photo opportunities than the Orcas had, simply because they were lounging on the beach, frolicking right off shore, didn’t appear anxious to relocate, and there were dozens of them everywhere.

Then, we were back on the lookout for more whales…and weren’t disappointed. Very shortly, a pod of Humpbacks along with their calves appeared off our bow. We began to shadow them, and they performed. Within a half hour, we saw many whales’ tales on their way to deep dives. The best photo opportunity was near the end of the wildlife viewing time of our excursion. Three Humpbacks worked their way from about 50 yards off our port stern to within just feet of the back of the boat. They crossed to the starboard side, but before they disappeared into the deep and cold waters, they did a dive for us…showing us their tails no more than 20 feet off away (photo #3). It was, perhaps, the closest we have ever been to the final dive of a Humpback.

Orca Point Lodge, on remote Colt Island, was our next destination. We enjoyed a sumptuous barbeque of grilled wild Alaskan salmon and chicken, with all the accompaniments. It was delicious (photo #4).

Our boat then whisked us back to the dock at Auke Bay, and we were bussed back to downtown Juneau. Six of us decided that our day in Juneau could not end with a bus ride. So, we walked through the swinging double doors of the world-famous Red Dog Saloon and onto its sawdust floor…where we enjoyed a nightcap (photo #5) before making our way back to the Mariner.

Even though it rained on us all day long, our time in Juneau proved to be very enjoyable. We know we will return some day.

Ketchikan, Alaska

2008-09-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we enjoyed a leisurely sea day cruising along the coastline of Canada on our way to Ketchikan, the southernmost port in the state of Alaska. We managed to catch up on our blog and website, attend a couple of lectures, have dinner with Glenn and Judy Weirich, and enjoy a very entertaining Broadway cast show in the Constellation Theater.

Fortunately, we gained an hour last night…so our 7:50 am departure on this morning’s shore excursion was not too painful. We were bussed from dockside to 30 minutes outside of Ketchikan, where a small (30 passenger) flat bottomed boat awaited our arrival. We were soon aboard the vessel (along with the Burkes, Weirichs, and Ashdowns…all members of our CSI group), and began a two-hour tour of George Inlet. Along the way, we saw a seal, eagles, and lots of mountainous scenery. About 60 minutes into our tour of this picturesque fjord, we stopped alongside two buoys that marked crab pots which the boat’s crew had lowered to the bottom of the small cove earlier this morning. They were pulled up (by hand). The first pot contained nearly a dozen crabs of varying sizes. The second yielded but one crab. They were all measured, then released back to their cold-water home to live another day.

Soon, we were turned around and returned to our starting point...the George Inlet Lodge. Along the way, we passed by the George Inlet Cannery, a closed Libby McNeil fish cannery that once thrived along this salmon-filled waterway in the 1920s.

Back onshore, we entered the Lodge’s restaurant, and sat down to what turned out to be the most enjoyable crab feast either of us had ever enjoyed. We had all the crab we could possibly devour. The four at our table managed to digest nearly ten of the tasty crustaceans…without a doubt the sweetest, and most tender, crabs we had ever eaten. Following our crab feast, we enjoyed a very delightful New York cheese cake.

After a hike up a very steep 79-step covered walkway, we returned to Ketchikan via bus. Upon arriving downtown, several of us strolled to Creek Street where we browsed the stores and watched the salmon (there were hundreds of them) swim up stream for their final hurrah. Then we walked the two blocks to Ketchikan’s “shopping district.” Jan, of course, managed to show the ladies a yarn store where they all helped out the local economy with several purchases. Jerry bought a bowl of vanilla ice cream, and all were happy. We reboarded the Mariner and departed Ketchikan at 4:00 pm.

Some interesting facts about Alaska (from Terry Breen, onboard lecturer):

14 of the 19 tallest U.S. mountains are in Alaska…50% of all world’s glaciers are in this state…Alaska has 2000 rivers and over 3 million lakes…the state has 45,000 miles of continual coastline (more than the lower 48 states)…if Alaska were a country it would be the 17th largest county in the world…in 1959 Alaska had 4 time zones…the state is 574,000 square miles with 676,000 inhabitants (1.1 person per square mile)…there are more caribou than people in Alaska…Ketchikan gets an average of 160 inches of rain every year…one third of Alaska is north of the Arctic Circle.

Victoria, BC

2008-09-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

Today, we slept in until 8:30. We performed some of our “hosting” duties, cleaned up a bit, finally disembarked the Mariner sometime around 10 am, and walked about 25 minutes into town. That was a good decision, for two reasons. 1: We were able to get our day’s walking in from a better-health prospective, and 2: The scenery along the way was delightful, and included a few sites we had never seen during any of our previous trips to this quaint British-like city of 383,000 inhabitants. One of the unexpected discoveries was a line of house boats (photo #1) which sat behind rows of modern 5-6 story condominiums along the Victoria harbor. We didn’t realize they even existed!

After our trek through the side streets and tree-lined boulevards, we strolled past the ferry terminal and onto the harbor sidewalk that was slowly filling with vendors, mimes, artists, and musicians. If you haven’t visited Victoria, this area is one of the city’s highlights. And flowers! There are flowers everywhere in the downtown area: on street light posts, in flower boxes, and lining business storefronts! (photo #2) On a sunny day like we experienced today, it is a sight to behold!

We stopped at the Fairmont Empress Hotel (photo #3), did a little shopping, and got directions to the nearest yarn store (Jan forgot to bring any knitting needles). We were assured that it was an easy 6 block walk to Beehive, a fabulous store containing everything that Jan could ever want in the line of knitting needs. The lady was certainly correct about the contents of the store. She missed the mark, however, on the distance and ease of the walk. In what may have been the longest 6 blocks in recorded history (and it was, we were sure, uphill the entire way)…we finally arrived at Beehive, foot sore and exhausted. After a refreshing 45 minutes of Jan shopping (photo #4) and Jerry resting his battered feet, we were ready to make our way back toward the Empress.

On our way, we stopped and ate at our favorite eatery in Victoria, The Tapa Bar Restaurant, tucked quietly in Trounce Alley about 100 feet off Government Street (photo #5). Our lunch was very tasty, and an opportunity for further rest. After lunch, we strolled the final two blocks and caught a shuttle back to the Mariner in time for sailing at 4:00. We are now headed north for Alaska and points west. We are both in good health, and greatly anticipating the next 51 days.

P.S. – During today’s boat drill, the entire ship was silenced for a few minutes in honor of the people who lost loved ones at our nation’s largest single tragedy, the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11. It was a very touching moment.

P.P.S. – Last minute addition: We saw a pod of Orca whales frolicking alongside the ship on our way out of Victoria. Unfortunately, by the time Jerry located and installed his long range lens, the Orcas were almost out of range. He did manage to snap this shot as one breeched (photo #6).

A catch up

2008-09-10T22:18:00.001-07:00

Catch-up facts only:
(Normally, blogs will be provided close to daily, but we have been extremely busy the past couple of days…so, we’re trying to bring you up to date…)

Monday, September 8:
6 am to 3:15 pm – We worked at our “real” job. For over 40 years, we have owned C.E. Publications, Inc., which is a publication (Contract Employment Weekly) and website (ContractJobHunter.com) for high tech personnel who work on temporary (contract) assignments throughout the world. We have a fabulous staff that we stay in contact with as we travel. Thanks very much, guys!

4:00 pm – Stopped by our bank for US currency (we use credit cards and cash machines in the various countries, but the US dollar is still accepted nearly everywhere, even today). Travelers’ cheques are sometimes tough to cash, and we seldom pre-purchase foreign currency when cruising as it just isn’t necessary. Credit cards do charge a bit more now for foreign exchange, but it is the cost of convenience. We each carry different credit cards in case we lose one, though.

4:30 pm – We arrived home, and started preparing for our exit. After a couple of loads of laundry, last-minute plant watering, preparing instructions for our house sitter, cancellation of the newspaper and milk deliveries, we were ready to pack.

5:00 pm – Our son, Greg and his two daughters (Annika and Ava) arrived for a family dinner (his wife, Alicia, was at the dentist). While Greg barbequed hamburgers, Annika (age 6) read a story to Jan while Ava listened. Ava then told Jan all about her day at school. Jerry, meanwhile, stayed in the bedroom packing.

6:00 pm – We sat down to dinner while our neighbor, Richard, joined us for a quick visit and lots of laughs.

6:30 pm – Greg and his girls enjoyed our spa while Jan sat and talked to them. Jerry, meanwhile, continued packing (in case you haven’t figured it out yet, Jerry was eons behind Jan in his packing).

8:00 pm – Greg and his girls said goodbye, and drove off into the sunset. By 8:01 Jan joined Jerry in packing.

11:20 pm – Nearly finished, lights out.

Tuesday, September 9:
5:00 am – Jan was up, did her email and check-off lists.

6:30 am – Jerry forced himself out of bed and we went into full-court action!

11:00 am – Tony arrived from Boss Limousines, driving a stretch limo that barely fit into our driveway. He loaded 6 suitcases, 3 boxes, Jerry’s computer and camera bag (Chuck, we left the D2X at home, and just took the D3…weight restrictions, you know), and Jan’s Cruise Specialists tote bag, and we were off.

11:35 am – Greg pulled along side of us near South Everett and snapped a final photo for this blog. We tried to include that photo in this blog…but, somehow were unable to get it off his cell phone.

3:30 pm – Arrived in Vancouver, BC, for overnight at Pan Pacific Hotel, which is part of the Canada Place Cruise Terminal (see photo 2). It’s a bit pricy, but gorgeous (and they will even deliver our luggage to the ship from inside our room.

4:00 pm – We saw the Regent Representative in the hotel lobby…departure must be close. We shared a fabulous light meal in Cascade Lounge with a woman named Darlene who was delightful…she was on the shake down cruise for both the Regent Mariner and Regent Voyager. We had met her in line for the Regent Rep. We also visited a bit with Rose, the head of Regent’s Mariner Society. We hosted the Mariner re-positioning cruise for Virtuoso, with her onboard, in May from San Francisco to Alaska. That means that we were onboard for both the first and the last Mariner sailing to Alaska this year…fun!! Rose was in Vancouver for the Gala Dinner Regent given for their full Grand Asian Pacific cruisers (over 100 days)

6:15 pm – Met up with George and Sherri Burke, Cruise Specialists’ guests we’ve sailed with on Regent’s World Cruise in 2005 and also last summer on Janet Lanterman’s (founder of Cruise Specialists) 25th Anniversary Cruise to Alaska (see photo 1, Jerry with the Burkes in a Limo to the Fairmont Hotel in Seattle). We enjoyed catching up.

7:00 – The Burkes were off to the gala dinner and we retired to our room.

Wednesday, September 10:
5:00 am – Jan got out of bed to enjoy a beautiful sunrise over downtown Vancouver. She also managed to catch on some pre-cruise paperwork and reading.

10:00 am – We called the bellman to pick up our bags and deliver them to the ship. After checking out of our hotel, we enjoyed the Vancouver downtown before boarding the Mariners.

11:00 am – With our bags away, we decided to take a stroll into downtown Vancouver. It was very sunny, and we discovered a Milestones Restaurant, where we had a wonderful lunch.

2:00 – Boarded the Mariner, and settled in for the duration…and relaxed. Finally, we were ready to enjoy all that Regent had to offer.

Packing

2008-09-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

Today is our first "real" packing day. Here's a photo of Jan's closet...positive proof that the serious job of filling suitcases has begun!

Picking up the supplies at CSI

2008-09-06T15:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we dropped by the Cruise Specialists' offices to pick up our supplies for the cruise. While there, we gathered the CSI agents who were onhand for a group photo. We also had a chance to catch up with Holly as she taped the boxes up for us to take. Those of you who have cruised with Cruise Specialists before may recognize a familiar face or two in this group of smiling faces.

Today (Saturday), we are running errands around the house and in downtown Woodinville...picking up dry clearning, buying items we will need onboard, and beginning to pack. It's starting to get hectic around here...our normal pre-cruise turmoil.

Grand Asia-Pacific, pre-cruise

2008-09-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

We have created this blog to keep our family and friends updated about our upcoming cruise from Vancouver, BC to Singapore aboard the Regent Mariner. We depart for Vancouver on Tuesday, September 9th, where we will overnight at the Pan Pacific Hotel. The next day, we board the Mariner and begin our 53-day voyage to Singapore. This blog will be a work in progress...as we have never even looked at many blogs before, let alone begun and maintained one. So, please bear with us. Long before day 53, we should have managed to master the art of blogging. Check back often, as we expect this site to become a useful method of daily communication with all you back home.