Random thoughts from the sea
Day 23, Grand Asia 2017 Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017 – Tianjin/Beijing, China Pictures don’t do the Great Wall justice. The reality of actually standing on the centuries-old wall would have taken my breath away, had I had any breath by then. Reaching the wall was the culmination of a shin-burning
Continue readingDay 22, Grand Asia 2017 Monday, Oct. 23, 2017 – At Sea As we sail toward tomorrow morning’s port of Tianjin, China, the ship traffic surrounding us continues to increase, and we pass dozens of fishing boats. After so many sea days crossing the North Pacific Ocean with no sights
Continue readingDay 21, Grand Asia 2017 Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017 – At Sea I had a great night’s sleep, despite or perhaps because of the rolling of the ship as we sailed through the edges of Typhoon Lan. My stateroom preparations paid off, as nothing had fallen to the floor. The
Continue readingDay 20, Grand Asia 2017 Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 – Kagoshima, Japan Word spread quickly throughout the ship this afternoon of the monster typhoon approaching Japan. Of course, the rumors were largely inaccurate. Yes, Typhoon Lan is heading toward landfall near Tokyo and is expected to disrupt commerce and the
Continue reading
Day 19, Grand Asia 2017 Friday, Oct. 20, 2017 – Hososhima, Japan According to Japanese mythology, the first Japanese emperor, Jimmu, set sail from the small seaside village of Mimitsu to conquer central Japan. Today I visited the village during our stop in Hososhima on Kyushu, the southwestern-most of the
Continue reading
Day 18, Grand Asia 2017 Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 – Beppu, Japan We’re more than halfway through our week of Japanese ports. Our original itinerary had five stops in Japan followed by two in Korea. But the Chinese government decided it would not admit ships that had stopped in Korea.
Continue reading
Day 17, Grand Asia 2017 Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017 – Osaka/Kyoto As we sailed into Osaka this morning, an unfamiliar sight greeted us: sun and blue sky. The mood of the entire ship seemed to lift after days of rainy Japanese ports. We cruised through Osaka Bay and docked at
Continue reading
Day 16, Grand Asia 2017 Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 – Shimizu, Japan Do you see Mount Fuji here? No? Neither did I. Today we docked in Shimizu, Japan, a beautiful port considered the gateway to Mount Fuji. But it was another cold rainy day with low cloud cover. It isn’t
Continue reading
Day 15, Grand Asia 2017 Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 – Yokohama/Tokyo Today started with a wonderful moment of serendipity. Our tour guide was running late and while we waited I used the port terminal’s free WIFI to pop onto Snapchat and ask if anyone in our family group was around.
Continue reading
Day 14, Grand Asia 2017 Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017 – Yokohama/Tokyo I pictured Tokyo as a city of bright neon lights, skyscrapers and millions of people densely packed into a small space. We didn’t see that Tokyo today. Our Tokyo was a city of dreary drizzle and millions of umbrellas.
Continue reading
Recent Comments