Our Round the World Trip

WELL, WE ARE DOING IT AGAIN

2009-10-18T07:42:00.002-06:00

Come visit us at our newest blog, duaneandarleen4.blogspot.com and follow our new adventure around thw world. This time we are going east and getting to see antarctica and south america and africa. See you in the blog :)

now on to our new adventures

2008-09-19T18:38:00.003-06:00

Come follow our new adventures in Greece and Turkey. We have started a new blog.

Duaneandarleen2.blogspot.com

We are leaving September 30th, so come along, even if only by blog.

MORE PICTURES OF LONDON

2008-05-05T11:09:00.001-06:00

In case you just logged on, we have added the pictures from England. They are all in the last London post.

Thanks for following our trip. We really had a great time and are looking forward to our next trip in October. We are going on a land tour of Greece and Turkey.

WE MADE IT HOME

2008-04-30T10:54:00.002-06:00

April 29th

After travelling for more than 20 hours, we arrived at our front door, and had NO idea where our housekeys were. We both knew we saw them, but were tooooo tired to remember where. So, we started looking and ended up unpacking some of the suitcases right there in our driveway, in front of our neighbors. We weren't even embarassed. Who had the energy. The neighbors were very nice about it, and even came by to return the purse Arleen left in their car.

But we made it home with most of our belongings and ourselves intact. Thank you for your continued attention and comments. They kept us connected. When we get more settled Arleen will put in the final pictures from London, so don't quit yet.

I just realized, since we told everyone when we would be home, noone may even see this post! Oh, well. It is good to be home and at the same time, we look forward to our next adventure.

We have one planned already. We are going to Greece and Turkey in October. No cruise this time, a land tour.

Talk to you on the phone, now that we are home. Feel free to call. (if you are someone who we don't know and would like to, drop us a comment and your email address)

Bye for now. I will post more if something happens that relates to this trip.

LONDON, ENGLAND AGAIN

2008-04-27T05:26:00.005-06:00

Westminster Abbey

This is Rosa. She is the wonderful woman who offered her home to us. She has a wonderful home in Walton-on-Thames. This is Walton-on-Thames. The river is only 3 blocks away.
London. A view down the Thames
The Tower Bridge, beautiful, isn't it.
This statue is a man who stands there on the river walk. He stands like that all day, for tips
This is a real Bobby. He was standing in front of St. James Palace. We didn't know where we were, so I asked him. He said "London, England" Smarty!

The archetecture in London is amazing. This is just a sample. I took tons of building pictures.
I just love the duck. Right in the middle of the city.

New and old together. This building is called the "gerkin" by the locals.

Tower of London Old and New again. Tower of London and new buildings
Beefeater. And no one knows where that name came from.
Duane and the only female beefeater.

Hampton Court Palace

The refrigerator alley. This was designed so no son reaches the bottom, but the rain does, thus causing natural refrigeration at the bottom.
Wonderful designs on each chimney
Duane "lost" in the maze.
Formal gardens

April 26

We went back to London. It was much easier the second time. We were experts by then. We went again to Waterloo station, but this time we stayed there.

We walked across the pedestian bridge after seeing street performers near the Thames. We walked near Parlament and Big Ben and heard it strike one. We walked towards Westminster Abbey. On the way we found the "Vatican of United Methodist Churches". We went in and saw the great room, the chapel and met with a caretaker who helped Duane look for his relatives in the "book of names" where all Methodists signed up arount 1900.

We then went across the square to Westminster Abby. By then we were too late to get in as tourists, but we were still able to go to evensong at 3pm. Well, instead of being able to see 1/3 of the church as tourists, we got to go into the main part of the church, right where Diana got married. We got to hear the boys choir sing many songs and hymns while we looked around the beautiful church and watched the pidgeons flying around. It was wonderful.

After that we walked and walked. We went toward Buckingham Palace. We saw it and the mall area around it. We then went to St Paul's Palace where Prince Charles and Camilla and the boys live. Then, on the way to Picadilly Circus we passed a sidewalk shopping fair and of course Arleen wanted to go in. In the back of the courtyard where the fair was, was St. Paul's Church. It is a small church, but lovely and they were practicing for the evenings special musical service. So we stayed for a while and listened to different kind of music than we heard before.

So, we walked some more to Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar square. Nothing much there. We then headed back to the train. Nothing is very far away. We walked for about 5 1/2 hours total.

We were tired when we got back. We still have a 35-40 minute walk back from the train station to the house. Rosa cooked for us every day and everything has been wonderful. She is quite a wonderful hostess. We will miss her an awful lot.

HAMPTON COURT, ENGLAND

2008-04-27T05:13:00.002-06:00

April 25

We took a bus all over the place to get to Hampton Court, where King Henry VIII lived as well as many other monarchs. We saw his apartments and the King's apartments and the Queen's apartments. Some of the rooms were ornate and some were not, which was surprising.

We took a tour of the royal kitchens. Boy, was that a lot of work to cook for over 600 people at a time, and serve hot food. We also learned that when they made meat pies, the outside pastry was not to be eatten. The pastry was made as a cooking pot for the meat and you were supposed to take the top off and only eat the insides. I think that has gone by the wayside nowadays. We had a pastie, just to try. It was delicious and we ate the whole thing.

Another interesting thing, there is a outside walkway that has no ceiling and is very narrow. It is designed to not let the son enter to the bottom, but it can and does get rained on. What this does is creates a natural refrigerator. So there were "cool Pantries" on both sides of this walkway to keep the stores for the court fresh.

We made our way thru the maze. That of course was fun. We also walked thru some of the formal gardens. By then we were pretty tired.

Took the bus back, even tho it was over 1/2 hour late. We were worried that we weren't in the right place, or something else was wrong, but no, we were ok.

LONDON, ENGLAND

2008-04-27T04:51:00.002-06:00

April 24

We took the train to Waterloo station in London. Then we took the Tube to Tower Station. We went to see the Tower of London. We spent almost all day walking around. It was amazing, because it looks just like a castle, because it was one. We, along with costumed leaders, participated in an escape from the tower by a nobleman who was to die the next day. We helped his wife get him out. It was a lot of fun and when it was done, we found out that we had re-enacted a real event. That made it even more fun.

We saw the royal jewels, the 530 carat diamond on the queen's sceptor and lots more. Even tho it usually takes quite a while to get in to see the jewels, we walked right in and could take all the time we wanted to look. Very lucky. This was so even tho the kids were out of school due to a teacher's strike. We also went to the White Tower, where the nobility lived. Then we went into the Bloody Tower, where they kept the prisoners before they killed them. Some people stayed there for many, many years. There are several towers where the prisoners carved grafitti on the walls. Some of them very detailed and beautiful (must have taken a very long time)

If you were a very close friend of the King or Queen, when you were beheaded they did it right there on the grounds of the tower, otherwise you had to go outside the walls and get beheaded in public. So, I guess it was good to be friends with the King.

We saw the tower bridge. And amoungst all these very old buildings we saw the new "gerkin" that is what they call the new glass office building. London is a strange combination of old and new. The architecture of the city is what really is interesting. We have taken (ok, "we" didn't Arleen did) tons of pictures of buildings. Too many, I'm sure, for most people to want to see.

The pictures will be uploaded later, because here in London, we don't have access to the cords we need to upload to the internet. So when we get home we will put the rest of the pictures on. So please check the blog even after we are home.

WHEN WILL BE HOME

2008-04-27T04:48:00.002-06:00

Since we are still being asked when we are going to be home, here is the answer in large print.

We will be home late on the 29th. We arrive after a million hours of flying. I really don't want to figure out how many. We fly from London to Chicago and then Denver and then Montrose.

So ...

WALTON-ON-THAMES, ENGLAND

2008-04-23T05:58:00.002-06:00

April 22 -

We arrived in Southampton and finally disembarked and were picked up by Rosa's 2 sons in 2 cars. What? you might ask, and who? Rosa is a wonderful woman we met soon after arriving on the ship. She lives here in England and speaks English with such a thick Italian accent that I often don't understand her. She was traveling with her brother, Bernardo, and his wife, Rosa. Right 2 Rosa's (with a Bernardo in the middle.) Bernardo and his Rosa live in Cleveland, and they, also, speak with thick Italian accents. They all moved out of Italy when they were in their teens or twenties, and even tho they have spoken English for 40 years or more, it's hard to tell.

Anyway, we were invited to stay here for the week we are staying in England. We will be flying home, if all goes as planned, on April 29th. Today is the 23rd and we are staying put. Duane and I both are trying not to come down with the colds that are pursuing us. Bernardo and his Rosa a leaving tomorrow for their home. We will, hopefully, start sightseeing tomorrow. London is about 1 hour away by train, so we will probably go there twice. We will let you know about that later. (If we can keep the computer working on electricity. It has been a adventure trying to get things to work here.

So, for the many of you who asked, we will be available for phone calls on the 30th, assuming all our phones get turned back on. So, if at first you don't get thru, try, try again.

LE HAVRE, FRANCE

2008-04-23T05:51:00.002-06:00

April 21

We are in Le Havre. Many of the passengers have taken tours to Paris. It takes over 3 hours each way and they only have 2 hours there. It turns out that, even tho they thought they were going to have lunch on the top of the Eiffel Tower, the restaurant was closed and they were very disappointed. So we will have to go back to Paris someday, since we didn't go now. We don't have any pictures to show of Le Havre, it is not much to see. We needed this day to pack. We leave the ship early tomorrow morning. We really needed a sea day before we disembark to get ready, but no such luck. We did take the shuttle bus they provided into town from the port. We stepped off, looked around and got back on, and returned to the ship.

COBH, COVE, IRELAND

2008-04-19T16:11:00.001-06:00

A view from the beautiful town of Cove. Most of the houses are painted these beautiful colors, which look great together The monument and statue for the victims of the sinking of the Lucitania. It says on the plack, "for everylasting and universal peace".
This is where the passengers loaded on the Titanic waited and left from. (notice the boat from Hawaii)
Inside St. Colman's Cathedral, high above the city. From the shore it looks humongous

Another pieta no done by Michaelangelo. It is pretty too

April 19

Cove is the port for Cork. We decided, since it is only 45 degrees and very windy, that we will stay in Cove and see what there is here. We found out that Cove was the last stop for the Titanic and the closest town to the sinking Lucitania. Her fisherman were the ones that helped save survivors and collect bodies. Many are still buried here. 7 Passengers got off the Titanic in Cove. The lucky ones. Another 17 unlucky people got on.

The town is very cute and the people have been very friendly. We enjoyed our little walking tour and our own meanderings. We visited the cathedral where the survivors and victims bodies were taken after the Lucitania. It is a beautiful church.

Only one more port before we disembark in England. We are trying to figure out how to pack so we have something left to wear in England, but not too much to carry.

More after France.

LISBON, PORTUGAL

2008-04-19T16:10:00.003-06:00

This is a 2 way motor vehicle street, believe it or not!

Our wonderful greeting from Lisbon. The tugboats blew their whistles and did wheelies for us.
The statue that looks over the city

Commercial cirlcel. Thru that beautiful arch is a wonderful pedestrian shopping area
The castle of St. George, looks just like a castle should

another narrow stairway. This one did not lead where we thought it would, but to someone's house
normal street
view of old and new Lisbon

The Columbus memorial

An old Moorish fort
The monastery on the other side of town, where we will go when we visit here again, which we will. We loved it.

April 16

We had a late arrival this morning. We took it easy, since we had been going ashore almost every day. Around 9am we started hearing weird noises. When we went out on our balcony, we saw a tugboat, shooting water into the air from it's water cannon. It was waving the water around. Then it started doing tricks in the water. It would so circles in the water and weave back and forth and sounding its horn in long blasts. Then our ship would blow its horn back. Sometimes passing ships would join into the chorus. We had no idea what was going on, or whether the same thing was happening on the port side of the ship. Well, we found out that it was Lisbon's welcome to us since this is the first time this ship has docked here in Lisbon. And yes, the port side also got a show. It was a fun way to wake up.

When we went into town, we were taken about 3 miles into the center of the shopping area. We spent the next 4 hours walking around the old town portion of town. We first walked up the shopping street to get more euros. Then we walked up to the castle of St. George. It is on the top of one of the hills that make up the town. To get there, you walk up stairs and stairs and stairs and then hope you climbed the right hill, because you can't see past the building all around you. The streets are very narrow. It is amazing that a car can get thru, and they have 2 way traffic. Some even have trolleys running down them. The stairs and alleyways are only wide enough for 2 people to walk astride.

Anyway, we arrived, after getting unsolicited help from locals (we must really have looked lost...actually one time we got help we had gone up some stairs, quite a bit of stairs, and found ourselves at someones front door...so, yeah, I guess we looked lost) By the way, walking around lost is some of the best fun we have had, not just here, but lots of places.

The castle has a fortress on the inside that looks just like a castle should look, with a mote, torrets and a walkway around the walls. Great fun.

Then we found some churches to look at. The first one was bland. The second was great, so here are some pictures of it.

Then we weaved our way back to the shuttle pick up place. Duane got on the bus, and I got left behind, but made it back on the next bus.

So onward to Cove, Ireland. Cove is the port for Cork. More then.

GIBRALTAR, GREAT BRITAIN

2008-04-19T16:08:00.001-06:00

This is what the rock actually looks like when you are there. Not at all like the commercials the city walls are both Moorish and British. You can see the old, small bricked Moorish wall on the right and the larger bricks on the left of the newer British wall
St Michael's Cave inside the rock
Arleen is not lying when she says she has a monkey on her back. (and on her shoulder and her head....)
Our tablemate and friend, Randy. The monkey is like a small child, interested in everything
This is the view Spain. Our driver had no good feelings toward Spain

April 15

Gibraltar was a walled city twice. First, made by the Moors in about the 8th century and then by the British. The British used what they could of the Moorish wall in theirs. You can see the difference in the walls in the photo. The large brings, of course, are the newer wall. The walls can be seen in a lot of places around the city.

We took a van tour that showed us the "Rock" We saw the St. Michael's Cave, with stalactites and stalagmites. It even has a theatre inside.

Then we went and saw the "Gibraltar Apes" which are really macaque monkeys. We were warned about them being aggressive, so don't bring food or let them near you. Well.... the baby monkey jumped on our backs, and played with our clothing. Mommy monkey wasn't happy about baby playing with us, but she let it out on baby, not on us. I could be there still....but we did have a ship to catch. Arleen really does have a monkey on her back.

We then went to see the Great Siege Tunnels. This tunnel was built by hand in 1783-4 to help save Gibraltar from an attack by a combined force of French and Spanish. (our driver was adamant about how all Spanish have the people of Gibraltar, and visa versa.)

We also saw the WWII tunnel thru the rock from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Still is a military post.

The rock has been expanded greatly, by reclaiming land from the sea, and there is an amazing amount of construction going on.

We did a little window shopping and then headed back to the ship.

CANNES, FRANCE

2008-04-13T13:19:00.001-06:00

One of the beaches. It was only 60 degrees, so no beautiful people on the beach. Lots and lots of hotels, tho. One of the shopping streets. Here is where the people are. Some of the shops were not very expensive. I didn't expect that.
There are 2 islands right off the coast. On the larger one is this monastary. We could have taken a boat out there, but chose not to. Enough boats for a day, we instead took a bus.
In the one church we went into in Cannes, we saw this pieta, not by Michaelangelo. You can see the differences. Note, if you can, that this Madonna also is very young. Michaelangelo's Madonna is also very young.
This is the sculpture by Picasso of "Man with sheep" outside the Museum where his "War and Peace" painting is. This is a lot more recognizable as what it is than the painting is. As you can tell we are not Picasso fans. The bus ride was nice, tho.

April 12

Our third consecutive port. We are not used to this. We usually have at least one sea day between ports. We even have one more port coming up without a sea day, but at least we don't arrive until nine. So, finally, a chance to get some sleep. Port days usually require getting up between 5:30 and 6:30. Way too early for Arleen.

Today we walked around Cannes. We didn't see any beautiful people, just lots of people and beautiful boats. We saw a crafts/yard sale in the town square. We took a bus to Vallauris, a town on the other side of the mountains from Cannes. There is an old deconsecrated church there that Picasso painted a mural for. It is his statement for peace, during the Korean war. I'm sorry, but I don't like Picasso. We walked round that town and then took the bus back. There were lovely views going over the mountain and very expensive homes that you couldn't see because they had walls around them.

We, ok Arleen, had to see a casino. We didn't go all the way to Monte Carlo, but did find some casinos in Cannes. Arleen helped the local economy with the slot machines, while Duane watched. Since the machines did not want to cooperate we left. I little lighter in the pocket.

We were suprised that the shops on a small street were not very expensive. I'm sure other's are.

Then back to the ship

ROME, ITALY

2008-04-13T13:18:00.001-06:00

In the museum of the Vatican. This is just one room. You could have spent all day just looking at the paintings on the ceiling, not to mention the walls and the tiles on the floors. And this is just one room. The guide said 7 miles of rooms....can that be right? This is St Peter's Cathedral. Not the most dramatic outside, but the INSIDE!
This is a sculpture in one of the alcoves of the church. If you can enlarge it, you will see a skeleton coming up from the underworld.
The main aisle of the church. The dome you can see part of, is the largest in the world.
Michaelangelo's Pieta. She is behind a glass, since some idiot took a hammer to her, and she had to be repaired and now protected. Back in the 60's, when Arleen visited here, she was just there to see close up. And now there are people 6 deep in front of her.
The Coliseum and market ruins

The inside of the Coliseum. The lower levels for keeping the lions before they were needed. They kept them in the dark and did not feed them for days before the fights.

April 11

Duane had never been to Rome. Arleen had, a long time ago. So, since we were 1 1/2 hours away from Rome, (the ship docks at Civitavecchia) we took a tour of Vatican City and the Coliseum. The lines at both places were very long. There were even lines for tours, We would never have made it back to the ship on time had we not taken the tour. One tour was 45 minutes late and the ship had to wait for them. Luckily, all the passengers made it back on time.

We went into the Museum. We only saw a small part of it, since it is about 7 miles long. We saw murals and tapestries and unbelievable ceilings. Then into the Sistine Chapel. It was very crowded. We were told it was not as bad as usual. You are supposed to be silent, but the guards kept shushing the crowd then it got too loud. So, there was always a murmur. Then we went to see Vatican Square, which of course is round. Saw where the Pope gives his blessings every Sunday. That day, he was in the US. Then on to St. Peter's. It is the largest cathedral in the world. I don't doubt that. It goes on forever. It has a main center, but also has side aisles that have as many as 4 copulas each with their own statues. And boy what statues and mosaics and paintings. For some reason, neither Duane's nor Arleen's pictures came out clear. Think we are being told something?

Well after St. Peter's we went to lunch. Then off to the Coliseum. The Coliseum is located on the site of emperor Nero's swimming pool. The center portion, where the lions were kept, was the pool. Later emperors added on to the seating. It is really pretty amazing. It had a removable roof made of wood. American engineers have recently been here to try to figure out how they did that, so they can use the same technology in the US. It also had elevators to move the lions from the lower levels to the floor above. Amazing.

While riding thru Rome, we also saw ruins of both Roman and Greek origins. The old market places and palaces. Even in a small park, where kids were playing, were the arches of buildings still underground. You can spend a month just seeing old stuff in Rome. The only problem is, people do just that. There are tons of people everywhere, all the time. We tried to find out if there is an off season in Rome, and we were told NO.

So enough people for today.

SORRENTO, ITALY

2008-04-13T13:17:00.001-06:00

Sunset when over Sicily with Mt. Eatna. She was not active that day, that we could see anyway. This is actually a picture of a crescent moon when the ship is rocking. BUT, it looks somewhat like what the volcano at Stromboli looked like when it erupted last night at 1am. (except the eruption was RED!)
This is Sorrento from the sea. It is perched on this high cliff. You have to travel up zigzag road to get to the town level. The ship provided a shuttle bus to get us up. We chose to walk down
This is the wall we walked down. You can just see the trail. At the bottom are beaches, mostly private, where the locals rent the cabannas. They were working on maintenance this time of year. We walked back to the tender port from here. (a tender is the lifeboat we use to get to shore when the ship has to anchor off the shore when the port is too small to take our ship)
Of course, we visited a church. Duane says Arleen drags him into all the churches. He doesn't seem to mind.
Near the center of town, below street level, are the remains of an old windmill. Beautiful!

Back on the ship, we had some time before sailing. Outside the buffet, on the back of the ship, we had visitors. Arleen was able to feed one of them. It took some time to build up the trust...

April 10

Last nite we went thru the Straits of Messina, between Italy and Sicily. We were able to see Mount Etna. She was sleeping. Too bad. But about 1am we passed the island of Stromboli. Duane and I tried to get to Stromboli the last time we were here, but we didn't have enough time. It is an island with a volcano, that often has lite shows at nite. We were told about it by a volcanologist we met in Florence. He said it was very active right then, but that was 4 years ago. Last nite, we were told the volcano was not doing anything right now, but being stubborn, I stayed up to see the island anyway. We were able to see the lites of the villages as we floated by. Then, about 1am, we saw a red flash, with some movement, in the sky above the lites. The volcano said HI.

Since this was still the day I won at bingo, it sure was a great day.

Today we arrived in Sorrento. Duane and I were here for 3 days on our trip across the Atlantic. So coming back, felt comfortable. Duane says, like visiting an old friend. We went to some places we had visited before and to some new places. Unlike where we have been of late, we are now back in the modern world. So, we visited some churhes, 5 to be exact. We walked the streets, looked in the expensive shops and sampled gelato. We also tasted some lemonchello, which is made here and is local lemons with sugar and alcohol. Sorrento is kown for it. No, we did not buy any.

At the end of the we walked down the cliff that Sorrento sits above, to the local beaches and to the dock where our tender took us back to the ship. On the ship, I was able to feed some seagulls. The seagulls here are twice the size of any we have seen in the US.

BARCELONA, SPAIN

2008-04-13T06:29:00.005-06:00

Las Ramblas, the main shopping and entertainment street. We may go there tonight, if we have the energy.

Sacred Familia Church by Gaudi. Now you can see where the word came from. It is amazing. He did not complete it. 40 years ago only the front facade was up, now there are all 4 walls and most of the towers. It will take many, many years to finish it. It is mesmorizing.

It's the detail that makes it even more overwhelming. Every inch is covered with something.
This is the bullring.

This is the memorial to Columbus

April 13

We docked in Barcelona at noon today, so Arleen got some more sleep, but Duane did a non-denominational service at 9am and his discussion group at 10am, and his CPAP stopped working during the nite because our electricity went off. So, poor guy, didn't get much sleep.

Right now we are internetting you from the international terminal at the port. We are also looking for a place to stay in London, when we get off the ship. We have a place offered to us, and we had expected to stay there, but Rosa, the nice lady who offered, just mentioned that it would cost about 60 pounds, or $ 120 per day just to communte to London. We knew it would take about an hour each way, but we didn't know it would cost so much. So we are googling a place to stay and how to get there from the port in Southampton. So our day today will be spenty on the internet.

We have been here before, so I've enclosed pictures of what we liked before. We might go into town tonight, since we do not leave until 10pm, but we will not have any pictures.

If anything exciting happens we will add the info later. Only a short time left.

BINGO !

2008-04-10T01:22:00.000-06:00

April 9

Arleen has been playing slot machines whenever there is nothing else to do. Mostly she has been losing, which is no suprise. It has not been a concern, since she is only doing it for entertainment. Sometimes she has won, she even won $200 in one day. Just gives her some extra to play with. BUT, today she played bingo. She has played before. The last game each sea day, is a full card. If you win within a certain amount of numbers called, you win the jackpot, if you win after the certain number of numbers have been called you win a smaller amount. After about 3 or 4 weeks, when the jackpot is over $800, they remove the limit on the numbers called, and guarantee the winner will get the jackpot. Well, needless to say, on those days, three times as many people play bingo than on regular days. Arleen played twice before on one of these guaranteed days. Today the jackpot was set to be won, and it was $1,000. And, yes, Arleen won it and she won it alone. Sometimes more than one person wins the game and they must share the prize. But not today.

So, (don't tell Duane) now she hasn't lost any money gambling. (He thinks she is way ahead:)

Just thought I'd share this with you.

Sorrento tomorrow. Then Rome and Cannes and Barcelona, all without a sea day. Boy are we going to be tired. Then we have one day at sea and then Gibraltar and Lisbon in a row. Then 2 sea days to Cobh Ireland. One day at sea before Le Havre, France and Southampton, England....the end. We are almost done. boooo hoooo. Just the thought of packing is more than daunting.

And, no, I am not complaining, just sad. It has been more than wonderful, as you may have shared.

PS Since I wrote this posting, we have been traveling toward Sorrento. We just went past the island of Stramboli. Even tho it is 1am and of course dark, we were lucky enough to see the volcano on the island spew red lava into the air, so high and bright that we saw it from the ship. We watched for another 1/2 hour, but did not see a recurrence. Boy, what a wonderful day. Even the entertainer, a wonderful singer named Martyn Dominique, sang my favorite song and did it extemely well (Nessen Dorimer)

PORT SAID, GIZA, EGYPT

2008-04-08T16:55:00.006-06:00

Looks like the ship is on dry land. Well that's what a ship looks like when it is on the Suez Canal and you are on a road running along it. These are the guards that travel with us thru the desert
This is the backup bus that traveled in the convoy with in case something broke down, like when our toilet was locked and no one had the backup key

Arleen in her belly dancing costume for the Egyptian party. She made the costume out of mosquito netting she bought at the White Elephant sale on the ship, where people sold things they bought and then regretted. Dusty day. and rainy and foggy and smoggy. But beautiful non the less

Some of the STUFF that was for sale everywhere

The corner where Arleen stood on the Great Pyramid
The Sphinx
Local transportation

April 6,

Today Duane decided to stay on board the ship today and rest, while Arleen went by bus, for 3 1/2 hours to Cairo and the Great Pyramids of Egypt in Giza. Duane said he had enough of Egyptian tours. Arleen says she can't see how you can have enough. So off she went.

I (Arleen) went first to the Step Pyramid in Saqqara. It is the oldest pyramid known, about 2700 BC. It is also the first to use limestone. It had a wall around it made to resemble the wall around the royal palace in Memphis. The part that is left is made to resemble mud brick construction... down to the wooden dowels put in the walls to absorb moisture. It even has a stone "double doors" with hinges, all made out of stone.

As always, I was surrounded with vendors hawking everything, and every vendor had the same items. I bought some items to go with the costume I was making for Egyptian nite tomorrow. I purchased a mosquito net, the kind that covers a 4 poster bed, and plan on cutting it up to make a belly dancing skirt, veils and whatever else I need.

We then went to shops that were way too expensive. I guess the ship gets commission for these stops.

One of the most amazing things that happened was on the way out to Cairo, crossing the desert, with our police escort car, with armed guards, it was raining. Not a lot, but still, in the middle of the desert, it was raining. It rained almost every place we stopped, too. Weird, huh?

After lunch, where we ate at the base of the pyramids, that was the name of the hotel, which used to be a royal retreat, we went to the Great Pyramids. There are three there. (There are 141 in total in Egypt...we passed 3 others on the way) The first is the largest, even tho it lost about 16 meters in height in the earthquake of 1307. It also lost most of its outside stones. They were then stolen and used by the ancient Egyptians for other construction. This pyramid was built by and for Cheops around 2500 BC. The second pyramid, which is very close to the first was for Cheop's son. It is smaller than the first but in better shape. Some of the outer stones, the ones near the top, are still in place, and it did not lose any height in the earthquake. We were told that it was built on better bedrock, so the quake did not do as much damage.

The third, and smallest pyramid, was built later on, when the Egyptian culture was in decline. The bigger the pyramid the more powerful the dynasty.

We were able to enter the second pyramid. You take a tunnel that is only 3 1/2 feet high, down into the pyramid, then you go level a little (with enough head room to stand) and then up a tunnel with the same 3 1/2 foot headroom. When you got to the top of the tunnel it leveled off again and you turned right and there was an empty sarcofogus. It was all to close for my liking. I wanted to be deeper into the pyramid. All too soon we had to leave. Once outside, I went over to the biggest pyramid and a guard let me go over the rope and touch and climb on the stones. I would still be there if my friend, and Duane's caretaker Dotty, hadn't kept reminding me that the bus was going to leave. It was one of the highlites of the trip, my touching and climbing on the Great Pyramid.

Then the long ride back to the ship. All in all, a great day.

PIRAEUS, GREECE

2008-04-08T16:55:00.004-06:00

Look at the length of this farmers market. We took this picture from the center, not the beginning. And no, we don't know the lady or why she looks so cross We thought the City Market choices of olives was hugh. We had never seen as many types of olives as City Market has, but look at these. WOW
The city of Piraeus, where you stop to go to Athens is very hilly and definitely a city. Not our favorite place to be, a city

April 8

Last nite Arleen won a bottle of champagne for her belly dancing costume made from the mosquito netting. She even had 7 veils to throw out to people. It was great fun. We were afraid she wasn't going to be able to go to the costume party since we had been going thru some very rough seas, and even tho she was hypnotised not to be sea sick, it either wore off or wasn't strong enough for these seas. (maybe it was the seas, because we had on board, astronaut Rusty Schweickert and he was being interviewed by our tour director. He had to leave the interview rather quickly, since he got seasick. He went into space and endored weighlessness, and these seas made him seasick)

Today we arrived at Piraeus, port for Athens. We chose not to go into Athens since we are coming back here in October, on our next adventure to Greece and Turkey. So we walked for 3 hours around this town. The interesting part was a farmers market we stumbled into. It went on for ever. It was beautiful, with colorful fruits and vegetable and flowers. After we finished walking thru there, we just walked around the city. We decided to buy euros but found we could not find a bank that would change our money, so we changed it on the ship and paid the extra money.

Our next stop after a sea day is Sorrento, Italy. Until then....

Suez Canal

2008-04-08T16:54:00.002-06:00

As we entered the canal looking backwards. It is not very wide A Mosque in Suez, the town
The front view of the peace monument
The side view, looks like a bayonnet on a rifle, buried in the sand

we had some very rough days at sea. This wave broke over the entire front of the ship

April 5

We went thru the Suez Canal today. It is not like the Panama, since it has no locks. We ride thru a desert for at least 10 hours. We go thru one small and one large lake. The large lake is where the ships can pass each other. As you can see, the canal is not very wide.

Luxor, Egypt

2008-04-05T16:15:00.003-06:00

guard on small bridges. on almost every bridge is a guard. Don't know why These are some of the buses in our caravan. You now know why there were so many tourists at each of the sites. We all arrived together. I guess it is safer for us that way.
A desert settlement.
The desert
The Nile

Karnak Temple, statues of Karnak
Beautiful scultures
Karnak Temple entrance
Canal Settlement
Valley of the Kings , no pictures allowed in the tombs, so this is it

Luxor Temple

Canal Community
Heiroglyphics everywhere

April 3

Wow, we are in Egypt. We had a really long day. We had to get up around 5 am to leave on the bus at 7 am and did not return to the ship until 11:30 pm. We rode on the bus for 3 1/2 hours to go from Safaga to Luxor. We rode across the desert in a caravan of about 20 buses and escorted by armed guards, and there were armed checkpoints very often. We felt very protected. It seems there was some trouble in the late 1990's where tourists were kidnapped and killed, so the Egyptian government is protecting us. There were even guards on little bridges in the towns we passed thru, along with the guards we saw at each attraction.

The first place we went was the Karnak's Temple. It is the place where you might have seen pictures of the huge amount of pillars. We only had about an hour to walk around, but we could have spent a whole day walking around and a whole lifetime with info on what is in there.

Then we went to lunch in a posh hotel restaurant. It was a little of a lot of Egyptian food. Then, off to the valley of the kings. We were able to see 3 different tombs. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures in the tombs. So we can't show you what we saw. We saw Ramses III and Ramses IV and Sapith. At Ramses IV 's tomb the walls and ceilings were covered with paintings and carvings in amazing colors. They protected the walls with glass. Then at Ramses III, the walls and ceilings were even more amazing, but they were not protected at all. We wonder why. The third thomb was totally different from the other 2. The walls when you come in where decorated a little, but the rest of the walls and ceiling were totally empty of anything. The walls were rough, not even smoothed. We wonder, was it left this way, was it desecrated by tomb robbers or by the Egyptologist to take the walls to a museum?

Again, the time we had for seeing the tombs was not nearly enough. We were unable to see Tut's tomb, which was OK since they had removed Tut from the tomb last month. They sell tickets for the Tut tomb separately. We need to go back and see everything else there is to see.

Then we returned to Luxor to see the Luxor Temple. Another amazing temple, and right in the city. By now, we were getting a little templed out. But, at the same time, it was awesome. I would love to know what all the hieroglyphics mean.

Then we got back on the bus for the 3 1/2 hour caravan back to the ship. The ship was scheduled to leave at 10:00 with a last call "all aboard" at 9:30. We, all 7 buses, did not get back on the ship until 10:30. Luckily they wailted for us.

Since all the buses arrived at the same time, we were stuck on the dock for about an hour to get back on the ship.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

2008-03-27T06:38:00.003-06:00

Sunrise over Dubai. The building in front of the sun, is the tallest building in the world. It will be at least 150 stories. They will not say exactly, since they are still adding floor, at the rate of 1 story every 3 days The men greeted us when we arrived, and sang songs accompanied by their camel sticks
Here is our protection. Cute isn't he!
As we drove toward the dunes, we saw camels on the new highway. The road was not officially open yet, but we were on it, as were many other vehicles, and the camels
A view of the desert and the distant mountains. The dunes we were adventuring on were steeper and had no vegetation, but I was unable to take pictures during the ride, for obvious reasons
We visited a camel farm where they raise racing camels. Yes, they have camel races here. We wanted to see them, but they ended 2 weeks ago. Rats!

Us on the camel, we are in front
Obvious
Arleen having henna tattoo put on her hand, and Duane with his scorpian. They should last a week.

MARCH 27
Here we are Dubai, the fastest growing city in the world. And it looks like it. Everywhere you look there are cranes. They are not only building the largest airport in the world, the tallest building in the world but they have built and are building islands into the Persian Gulf. They are also growing into the desert. We took a 4wd tour into the desert and our driver told us that a flat area of sand, where they have already installed electric boxes, used to be where they took 4wd dunes trips. Now we have to travel further out to find the dunes. And find them we did. We went in a Toyota Landcruiser with deflated tires and 4wd and boy did we have fun sliding down the dunes. He is a very good driver, since we are here to tell you about it.

After the dunes, we went to a camel farm, then to a lunch. At the lunch place we got to ride a camel, slide down a dune on a sand (snow) board, get our arms painted with henna and watch a belly dancer. All and all a fun day. The camel was fun, but hard for Arleen to get on, since her legs are too short to reach over. But mounting was accomplished, and away they went for a short camel ride. And yes they had muzzles, so they could not spit, even if they wanted to.

We came back to the ship, and we think the ride by car, through the traffic, was scarier than the dunes. But we arrived safely and took a shuttle to a shopping mall. I think it may compare in size with the pentagon. It has at least 4 floors and goes on forever. No low end stores, just ones like Saks, Ralph Loren, etc. We looked around, came back and decided to blog you guys.

Next we will be at sea for 6, count them, 6 days. After that we will be in Egypt. Can't wait.
Pictures of Dubai to follow

Sea Days Update

2008-03-27T06:31:00.001-06:00

Sea days continue to follow our normal pattern with Arleen joining Duane for bridge some afternoons. Yesterday we got to play with the "big boys". That is what we call the more experienced players who play duplicate bridge. we got the impression that they were ogres who ate anyone who made the smallest mistake. We were paired with one them to play as a team that moved around to five different tables to play two hands against a different team, also composed of a beginner and an expert. After all twenty hands were played, they scored the hands as to who made the best contracts and who held their opponents to the lowest score. North/south and east/ west teams were scored separately. Arleen was on the north/south team that won and Duane was on the east/west team that won. We really believe that it had more to do with our partners than our skills but it was a fun learning experience. More important was that fact that Arleen enjoyed the class for the first time. She doesn't want to continue classes now(she would rather be on vacation again and bridge is a lot of work) but she is going to continue to pick Duane's brain and do some reading to learn more once we are back home. Duane, the weirdo that he is just loves the classes.
the other thing that has happened recently is that we got a new Lecturer on board. His name is Scott Ritter, an ex marine, who became the UN's Chief weapons Inspector in Iraq and was one of the last to leave. He is the author of Iraq Confidential.
His first talk was on how he as a Jr. Captain in Military Intelligence became involved with the nuclear disarmament program and help assure that the Russians upheld the nuclear disarmament program and then was sent into Iraq to find the WMD's. His next talk was about his experience in Iraq. The next talk was on the peace movement. And his last talk was on the Iraqi Endgame Where are we and where are we going. I am hoping I can get a transcript or something to share with others. He was very impressive and if one of our presidential candidates had enough sense to hire him a a military advisor, I would vote for that candidate regardless of which party they belonged to. You might want to Google him which is what I planned to do when we get home and internet doesn't cost us $0.50/min. If you have any political pull anywhere you might suggest that someone get him on your candidates campaign. He could really make a difference by giving them a sound understanding and policy on Iraq. Its not that he has the answers, it is that he knows the right questions to ask and has a lot of background information to share. For example, Stay the Course and Withdraw Now are both politically slogans aimed at appeasing we the constituency. What is really needed is to ask tough questions to help us understand Iraq, it people, its problems, its history,and our responsibility and our options, none of which are good.
Someone on our cruise, who has a lot of "free minutes " due to having taken a lot of cruises on Princess googled him and said there are a lot of sites pro and con on the net so you might want to look at what he has said first so you can understand why people on both sides of the aisle are for and against him. He is definitely not political, but is strongly Constitutional and believes it is every American's responsibility to uphold the Constitution because it is what makes us Americans. WE all need to get involved in the process of running this country and make the government answerable to us the People.

ARE YOU STILL READING US?

2008-03-27T06:11:00.005-06:00

Thanks Penny for your comment. We have been wondering if anyone is still reading our blog.

IF YOU ARE STILL READING ABOUT OUR ADVENTURES, PLEASE EITHER EMAIL US, OR MAKE A COMMENT ON THE BLOG. REMEMBER, YOU CAN COMMENT WITHOUT BEING A GOOGLE MEMBER, JUST SCROOL DOWN THE PAGE A LITTLE AND YOU WILL FIND AN "ANONOMOUS" CHOICE. IF YOU DO THIS, PLEASE SIGN YOUR COMMENT SO WE WILL KNOW WHO WROTE IT. OTHERWISE, IF YOU SIGN IN, WE WILL KNOW.

WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

THANKS

MUMBAI (BOMBAY), INDIA

2008-03-23T16:38:00.001-06:00

This woman is showing off her monkey, so she can make money. At least she is not just begging, like others are. The new city on a different island

quite a contrast to the poor people on the streets. This is not a normal tourist route, so they are not sitting there knowing tourists are coming. It is really sad.
Even tho it is a holiday, this is the pedestrian traffic

This is an ordinary street

This man looks like he came out of the Arabian Nights.
Almost everyone we waved at smiled and waved back. We even had kids running alongside the bus to keep waving longer
This is one of the street markets, with items on the ground and lots of shoppers ( a slow day)
middle class apartments

Us being silly with the roses we were given when we disembarked from the ship

British style building
Notice the chicken in the man's bag. It was dead but still had it's feathers
Holy Cows
Kids playing cricket in the street

March 23

Happy Easter. We are in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. In 1997 they changed the name back to what it was originally before the British changed it. This city is made up of many islands. We only saw a small part of it on our tour. We spent Easter Sunday visiting Jewish Synagogues. The last few days are holidays in many religions worshipped here. There was a Hindu holiday, a Buddhist holiday, another religion and of course, Christian. The synagogues are about the only things open to tourists today. We rode around the older part of town.

As you can see, the new part is full of skyscrapers and very modern. The city near the port has the old British buildings. They are used for Indian governments uses now, but they still look British.

Since it is a holiday today, the traffic, both vehicle and pedestrian, was a lot less than normal. As you can see, that is amazing to imagine, since there was a lot of both kinds of traffic today. We had to be helped across the streets.

An interesting thing is that, in America, poor people don't live alongside richer people. Here, there are very poor people, living in shacks on the side of the streets, living across the street from upper middle class looking apartments. We didn't see any poor people living near the rich apartment houses, tho.

The markets we saw had vendors selling their items off the ground, not the sidewalks, but the streets. These items included food and spices. Even clothes where lying on a tarp on the ground for sale.

We saw cows. Cows were just standing there, or walking in lanes of traffic, not with a person, just walking along. I guess when you are a holy cow, you can do whatever you want. There was a lady and her child and monkey in the tourist shopping area. (yes, of course that was opened). She was there for us to give her dollars to feed her family.

Mumbai is made up of opposites. The very rich, the very poor, the cleaner vs the dirty. I must admit that it was not as dirty as I expected, and there were beautifully dressed people all around. We did not get to see the "towers of silence", where the Farcies (sp) put the bodies of their dead up on towers. To the Farcies, the earth, fire, wind and water are sacred. So you cannot bury, burn or put to sea your dead. They solved their problem of how to dispose of dead bodies by putting them on a tower above a well. The vultures would clean the bones, which would then fall into the well. When the well is full, they cement if over and start a new one. And as I said, fortunately, we did not get to see it.

I didn't feel like we saw much truly Indian things, since Mumbai is a big city. The dress of the people is the only thing that looked Indian. Most people were happy to wave back at us (as we have experienced in most places we have been)

Fw: COCHIN, INDIA

2008-03-23T16:37:00.001-06:00

Duane in our Tuk Tuk. This one is motorcycle driven and is started by pulling up on a stick, quickly. It got us all the places we wanted to go, after we got gas for it. ( it comes in a plastic bottle that you feed into the gas tank.) This is a piece of the colorfulness of India. Color everywhere and on everyone.
The 5 man fishing boats used in the small harbor shown to us by our guide.
This is where the fisherman and their families live. This is not the house, but the street.
The Hindu festival. The large floats are carried by boys who jump up and down and spin around to make the fringe shake. Very lovely

Notice the pierced chest on the boy in the middle. The boys with rods in their mouths, have them thru their pierced tongues
See. And we think our kids and grandkids go overboard with piercings. Here it is a religious experience

The men mostly wear cloths wrapped around their lower half. Sometimes the cloths are white, but often designed (and often they are being retied or held up )

This is a woman hand washing her cloths by hitting them against a concrete block repeatedly and rinsing them in the water she is standing in

This is a 40 year old truck. The older trucks are decorated like this. Again, the colors are amazing A water buffalo, is he looking at ME?

March 21

Well, we are entering our last month of the trip. I know that still sounds like a lot of time, and it is, but at the same time it seems like we are heading toward the end, and believe it or not, we are still not ready to go home.

Today we went to India. Cochin is made up of many different sections. There is the old part, the new part and many islands. We took a tour, by tuk tuk, see picture when available, for over 4 hours in the rain. We had a lot of fun. We saw a closed Jewish Synagogue, an open Church of South India that was having Good Friday services, a Dutch cemetery, a fish market and lots of stores. We also went to a small fishing area, where we saw the fishing boats and met some of the children. After learning their names, taking their pictures, one of them showed us his house. It was made up of 2 concrete rooms, with a very small yard surrounded by blue plastic tarps, for privacy. We did not see much, since we did not want to intrude, but we were invited for coffee, which we, sorry to say, declined. We did not want to intrude too much and we were not sure how safe it would be for us to drink coffee made with their water.

We also went to a "hand wash". At first I thought it was going to be a religious place to wash your hands. What it actually was, was a hand laundry. There were both men and women doing the wash. The clothes were then dried on lines held by crossed sticks on each end.

We then saw a special Hindu festival. It only happens every March. As you can see from the pictures, there were many beautifully dressed women, and pierced men and boys. The males mostly had pierced tongues. Even the very young ones participated. We were not able to find out what the meaning of this ritual is. Some of the boys and men had pierced chests. There were also men there that would hold huge decorated things on their shoulders and they would twirl around bouncing up and down so the decorations would move. I was shown around by a man who volunteered to do so, and shown the little temple where we were blessed with ash from the incents.

Arleen had to buy a native style outfit of long shirt, pants and scarf, each of a different bright color

In 2 days we will be in Mumbai, (Bombay). It will be Easter. We will visit Jewish Synagogues that day.

Duane will be conducting an Easter Service on Saturday, since most of the passengers will be going ashore on Easter.

PHUKET, THAILAND

2008-03-23T16:36:00.001-06:00

Sunrise as we arrive in Phuket. Yes it really is sunRISE and yes, Arleen took the picture. Amazing isn't it ! And beautiful. We have seen some wonderful and beautiful sunsets, too. This is the group of adventurers that climbed steep trails, with roots and rocks and mud. See, age is only in the mind.
These are rubber tree plants. There are little black buckets collecting the sap on the lower trunk of the trees. (hard to see on such a small picture)
Banana tree, with bananas and we couldn't rescue any of them, (like we did on Raratonga....the birds would have eaten them if we didn't :)
We were hiking through the rain forest jungle.
The little plant the ranger is holding is a fruit that you can eat, and of course we tried it. Very interesting, and we liked it.

Stream in the jungle
This picture just doesn't show how high up the canapy of the rain forest really is. It is the best our cameras could do.
These next 2 pictures are of the White Palm. It is found nowhere else on earth.

This picture is probably self-explanatory. This is a squat toilet. You stand over it with your feet on the thatched portion of porceline, squat and hope for the best.

Then you take a bucket of water from the overflowing tank, here, and pour it into the toilet, flush.

March 17th

Happy St. Patricks Day. We just visited the island of Phuket, pronounced without the "h" (Puket) It is another tropical island. I know, how can we be so blaise about it. Because, we are amazingly lucky. We took a tour to the Khao Phra Taew National Park near the north end of the island. We landed on the southeast corner of the island and rode by bus up to the park. The trip was mostly thru populated areas, but we saw some rubber tree plantations and some pineapple plants. Of course we saw some temples. Everwhere you go in asia, you see big temples, ornate temples and small personal temples in front of homes and businesses.

At the park, we went on a trek. We thought from the brochure, that it was a walk thru the rain forest. It actually was a hike thru the rain forest. A single width trail, that was mostly like climbing stairs over rocks and roots, which made the stairs. We had all kinds of people on the trip, some with new hips, new knees,etc, who were not expecting a strenuous trek, but a nice walk. They all did very well on the trip, but we don't know how many ended up at the doctor's office. We know one did. She slipped on a very steep incline and hit her head on a rock. She insisted she was ok, and continued on. She ended up with 5 stitiches, a sprained ankle and some bruises. We think she is really ok, since after her stitches she left the ship to do some shopping.

We really enjoyed the trek and made some more new friends. The difficulties seemed to bring us together as we had to work together to help each other over the obstacles on the trail.

We did not get to the west coast of the island, where all the luxury resorts are. They are all fixed up since the tsunami. The side we were on, is not luxury at all. It is still pretty primative but with lots of traffic.

As usual Arleen had to buy some stuff. Duane got a new silk shirt and she got another blouse. We finally got rid of the leftover 50 baht, that caused so much trouble in Laem Chabang. The show was wonderful, a hammer dulcimer player. Very unusual. Oh, last night's entertainment was fabulous. She doesn't belong on a cruise ship, she belongs ....wherever she wants to be. Her name is Jamila. If you get the chance to see or hear her, do.

SINGAPORE

2008-03-15T13:33:00.001-06:00

The city in the distance. the monorail Sentora. notice all the construction. that is only a small part of what was visible
The garden on the mount
View from the gondola after getting attacked by birds

The lion symbol

March 15th

Today we came into Singapore. It is a very big city. Monorails and cable cars from the port to the island of Sentora. The Lion is the signature of Singapore. The city seems to be under constant constrution.

We could have gone into the city, proper, but chose not to. We instead went on the gondola (cable car). Our car had a glass bottom and front panel for better viewing. It was rather hot and muggy, but fun. A bird flew right into the glass on the front of the gondola, and then just kept on flying. He was ok, we were shook up.

The ship docks right at the shopping mall, again. We think this is a trend. So we have picked up some necessaries and we will be mailing this info to the blog.

Only a few pictures this time. These are from the gondola or the ship

2008-03-15T02:12:00.003-06:00

We have some time now while our software is updating. So HI ! No matter how hard I try, I have been unable to get pictures to load in the order I want. Also, I found out, the reason you cannot enlarge the photos on the blog, is that I have to reduce their size to get them to upload unless I find a high speed internet site. This is the first we have found. So I tried 2 pictures in Pattaya. It may take you a longer time to get those photos. Let me know if you think it is worth the time, or if we should keep reducing the pictures. As you see, we send you a lot.

We have now finished about 2/3 of our trip. Arleen was worried at the beginning, that maybe we would be ready to go home by now. The truth is, we are sad to see an end in sight, even tho we still have about 5 weeks to go. So, yes, we are still having a great time, the people are great (and we got 60 new people today)

We have one sea day coming up before we arrive in Phuket, Thailand. We are looking forward to that, since Arleen is making a new wardrobe out of Thai silk clothes. Duane even got 4 shirts.

On board, Duane is continuing a discussion group called Mystery and Faith, that was started by a guest lecturer who has left the ship. Some of the participants asked him to continue on. He also served communion on the ship. The passengers were surprised that he is a minister, but greatful that he is aboard.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but it is too hard right now to look it up, but Duane and Arleen were both in the live "radio" perforance of the Lone Ranger Rides Again. Duane, of course, was the Lone Ranger and Arleen was Dan, his 8 year old nephew. It was a lot of fun.

We have shows every night, and often either Arleen or Duane end up participating. Then after dinner,but before the show, we dance to the band. Once or twice a week we have Kareoke where Arleen often sings. So everyone on the ship knows both of us.

Got to go now to catch our ship, so we won't have the beautiful picture of our ship sailing out of the harbor.

PATTAYA, THIALAND

2008-03-14T18:02:00.004-06:00

This is what a coke can looks like in Thialand. Hope you can see the picture since I tried loading a full picture, rather than the reduced size ones the others are Hi from us!

The Sanctuary of Truth Inside. It is impossible to show the details of the temple
clamming with the locals

Pony cart ride

waitress dancer doing traditional dances

March 12th

We were scheduled to go to Bangkok today. We were informed last week that a crane fell on the dock we were to use in Bangkok, so we would instead be docking in Laem Chabang, about 2 1/2 hours from Bangkok. We decided, instead of the long bus ride, we would visit the town of Pattaya, which is only 10 minutes away.

We took taxi with some other passengers and arrived in town. It is a small resort community that has many lovely beaches. We thought we might just sit on one and maybe go swimming. What we did first was to walk around town. Many small shops. We turned up an alley to get away from the traffic and saw shop that did massages. So we decided to each get a Thai massage for an hour for $8 each. On the ship it cost a little under $100. It was lovely. The girls use their entire body to massage you. They even walked up our legs with their shins while massaging our backs. It was great.

Our new friend Rosa, who lives in London, but speaks with a thick Italian accent, has a son who lives here. She suggested that we go to the Sanctuary of Truth. She said it was lovely. So we went there. We took a tuk tuk there for 200 baht, around $7. When we got there, the driver said he would wait and take us back for 500 baht. We said, thank you but no thank you. Didn't seem fair.

Well, the sanctuary was amazing. We spent over 3 hours there. We saw a dolphin show, wood carvers doing amazing things, we had lunch (my mouth will be able to taste again, soon, when they say something is hot, it's HOT). The main thing there is the temple to truth. You got to the temple by riding in a 2 passenger pony drawn cart.

It is 108 meters high (325 feet high) made of hard woods with no nails used. They started construction in 1981 and is expected to take another 20 odd years to finish. It has been paid for by one man. Mister Lek has passed away and his son is taking over the construction. It is a huge building with carvings all over and in it. It is very ornate. It is dedicated to the belief that what religion you choose to follow doesn't matter, since all people are heading for the same place, tho by different paths. It contains one wing for each of the 4 main Asian religions, with carving associated with those religions. The center is where it all comes together to reach heaven. It was very moving to see.

We also saw some people on the beach outside the temple. Some of them were cracking open mussel that had grown on big rocks and were taking out the meat. Other people were digging in the sand for different kinds of clams. Arleen was able to help them dig and found 4 clams herself. She was so excited.

When it was time to go, we returned on our pony cart and looked for a tuk tuk to rent. No such luck. We were on a hill on a dead-end peninsular by ourselves. We talked to the ticket seller and he said if we wanted to ride on the back of a motorcycle, we could go to a bank and buy some bahts and use the local bus to get back to the ship. Arleen was not at all happy with the idea of riding on the back of a motorcycle. So we walked down the hill until we reached a major street. It was nice walk. When we got there, we were honked at by a tuk tuk. We had finally learned that when they do that, they are asking you if you need a ride. So we told them where we need to go, to Laem Chabang. They let us know that they would take us to a bus that would take us there. So we got on, and they let us off near another tuk tuk (not a bus as we would think of it). We paid them our last one dollar bill. We had taken lots of singles, but everything seemed to cost odd numbers, like 4 or 18k, so we were out. We rode the next tuk tuk for quite a while, but in the right direction. We were thinking that we would just give the driver $10 for taking us back to the boat, but when Arleen gave him the address of the dock, he seemed upset. He stopped alongside the main road and let us off. When we finally were able to get him to take US dollars, he gave us change and rode away, leaving us with 2 men. These men were local motorcycle taxi drivers. Here we were, on the side of the road, with no way to get back to the ship but to ride on the back of motorcycles.

These guys were great drivers. They were smooth and cautious and wonderful. As it turned out, the tuk tuk driver had thought that we wanted to go to the town of Laem Chabank, not the port, so he had driven past the port. The motorcycle drivers had to take us back, and they did.

We got back in time to make the ship and even do some shopping on the portside. It was a very interesting and exciting day.

KO SAMUI, THAILAND

2008-03-14T18:02:00.003-06:00

March 13th

Well Ko Samui is not much on the port side. We heard that the traffic to the lovely beach areas when very slow. So we got more massages. Duane got another Thai massage, because his back was bothering him, and Arleen got foot massage, just to see what they could do with your feet for one hour. Both were very satisfied. They can do a lot with your feet in an hour, tho they did do some massage on her arms, neck, back, shoulders and head. All in all, great.

Then we did some more shopping for silk shirts for Duane and wrap around pants for Arleen. Then back to the ship. We only had 3 hours on shore, since we anchored off shore and had to take a tender (boat) into the island. It took about 20 minutes in and an hour back to the ship. There was a medical emergency that kept us floating around the ship until we could disembark. (no info on the emergency)

SIHANOUK VILLE, CAMBODIA

2008-03-14T18:01:00.001-06:00

This is a tuk tuk this shows some of the traffic. Lots of motorcycles
The cemetery at the temple.

Long view of the cemetery

Temple

Just a few of the statuary at the temple.
Duane with one of the monks. They were all dressed the same and they were all very friendly
The little boy fountain

The lions at the traffic turnabout

View of downtown
A cattle herder
Notice the curtains on the windows.

Another beautiful sunset. ( we had to choose from 30 pictures we took of this sunset)

March 10th

We spent 4 hours today at the internet store. Store is a nice word for a alcove with a fan and a internet cable at a table. We used the internet to download the prior 3 ports. S...L...O...W. We could only upload one picture at a time; therefore 4 hours.

Then we took a tuk tuk around the area. A tuk tuk is a vehicle comprised of a motorcycle pulling a cart with 2 facing seats that would hold 4 people. When we left the ship we were approached by many tuk tuk drivers, who were very excited to show us their town (for a fee) When we were sending our emails out we were adopted by one tuk tuk driver, who decided that if we ever wanted a tuk tuk it would be his. So when we were done, we took his tuk tuk.

He showed us 2 golden lions at a traffic circle, victory hill where they celebrate their victory over the Vietnamese, the memorial for peace and then to a Buddhist Temple. The temple was lovely with no tourists but several monks. They were very friendly and all spoke a little English, asking us where we were from and how long we were staying. There was a fountain, that was not running, but it was made up of little boys using their privates to pee in the fountain. There was also a cemetery with wonderful buildings. Beautiful statues in gold.

Then we went back to the dock where we caught the shuttle bus as it was returning to our ship. There was a guide on the bus. He really impressed us. He thanked us for visiting his country and giving him and the bus driver and shop workers, etc jobs. The asked his ancestors and gods etc for our safe return home and our health and peace and prosperity. It seemed very sincere. All the people we met in Southeast Asia have been remarkably nice. Even people we pass on the way someplace, if we wave, they give us a big smile and wave. We feel like they are glad we are here. Who would expect that after what went on here.

I almost forgot the most important thing that happened in Cambodia. Duane got to use his knowledge of Cambodian. He learned it during the Vietnam war and has had no opportunity to test it out. Truth is, the only remembers 3 sentences and can count to 10, but he hasn't stopped smiling yet.

HO CHI NIMH CITY

2008-03-10T11:35:00.001-06:00

MARCH 8TH

Sunrise on the Mekong River Old and new combined. The man on the bike, carrying his wares, is talking on a cell phone

A woman carrying her wares to sell. She has walked who knows how far with these heavy bundles on her shoulder

One of the pedicabs we took. The traffic is misleading. This was the only second of slow traffic so I could take the picture

New and old

Notice the no pedibike sign

That is more typical traffic. Much of the time we were stopped.

Very new. Hydrafoil.

March 8th

Saigon. Even tho yesterday some vets got together to talk about the war, coming to Vietnam is emotional. Duane awoke early to watch us come up the Mekong River. It was very difficult for him. We were both moved by being here. So many different emotions come into play, that I can't describe it. The people here are friendly and helpful. But....

(the but... has nothing to do with them, but with us.)

We took a shuttle into town, which, since we were unable to dock near the city (another ship got here first) we had a 45 minute ride to the city. Much of that time spent standing still. The traffic here is unbelievable. It is almost as bad as China. In some ways it is worse. There are less cars, but more motorcycles. The motorcycles do not follow any road rules. They go in either direction on a one way road, they ride on the sidewalks, when there are some, they turn left from the right, you name it they do it.

Crossing the street is a hairraising experience. I thought when we heard from a crew member last night, when she described how her family escaped from Vietnam after 3 tries, that the best way to cross a street is to close your eyes and go, I thought she was kidding. Now I think she is right. When you cross, you step out and keep walking and, somehow, everyone goes around you. I guess they don't want to hurt their bikes.

We walked from the expensive part of town, where we were dropped off, to see a church in the style of Notre Dame. It was ok. Interesting to see in southeast asia, but understandable after the French occupation. Then we walked to what they call Reunification Hall. It is where when the tank crashed through the gates of the former Presidential Palace, the Vietnamese war ended. Then we walked to Da Kao market and bought some stuff. It was surprising that they don't bargain there. "fixed prices" Not bad prices, but no fun. We bought silk robes, embroidered pictures and silk painted cards. (oh yeah, and fans)

It is very hot and humid here. We are now back in hot temperatures. (I know, you don't want to know that) It is very tiring to walk and travel and shop when you are dripping wet. So, we took pedicabs back to the shuttle pick up spot. Each bike took one person. They asked two dollars each for a 2 block ride and we said no, so they agreed to one dollar. It was exciting to be at car level in that traffic. It was scarey enough when we were in the bus, but on a bike, YIKES. When they dropped us off a couple of minutes later, they tried to get the two dollars. It didn't work.

Now back on the ship we have cooled off, gotten some food and now will get some rest before we sail out.

ANOTHER SEA DAY

2008-03-10T11:34:00.000-06:00

March 6-7

Days at sea continue to be fun. Duane gets up for 9am bridge lesson (which he helps teach, as he remembers what he used to know), then he goes to a meeting of people to discuss bible type issues, then Arleen is up and about. We meet for lunch, the go to bridge play at 2. Then there is something different each day. One day we learned the swing ballroom dance or signed up to have parts in the Lone Ranger radio show. Duane will be the Ranger and Arleen is his nephew. Then Duane usually takes a nap, while Arleen plays the slots, or reads or something (like works on the blog)

After dinner, which is at 8, we have a show, then maybe some dancing, then bed and over again. It still is fun.

The people on the ship are great. There are enough that you don't get bored. It is strange, but even knowing that everyone on this trip could afford it, you cannot tell, for the most part, who scrimped and saved and who used their pocket change. I think that is wonderful.

HONG KONG

2008-03-10T11:33:00.001-06:00

Hong Kong from our ship Big major city

Ferry across the water to other side of the city

I don't know if you can see it, but there is a picture on the sign of "mouse ears" Sorry the best I could do from a moving bus

Duane trying out the cold water at the beach

The picture of the Buddha. For some reason it was very difficult to photograph the Buddha

Self-explanitory

Tai O homes

Fishing boats at Tai O

the light show before we left (with my new camera)

Mar 5th

We docked in what is the equivalent of the parking lot of a huge mall. When you leave the ship you enter the mall. Great marketing, huh.

We took a tour in Hong Kong. We went to the island of Lantau. As Hong Kong has grown, it has extended onto the neighboring island. it's airport is on Lantau. We viewed the 2 bridges that leave the city. Then we stopped at a lovely beach, that was deserted, since it was not warm enough to go in. Duane of course rolled up his pants and went in. The water was cold, too. Then we drove to the fishing village of Tai O. The people there still live in huts that jut out over the canals. Now, tho, they have electricity, water and internet, but no plumbing. We shopped there and got some pearls and junk and Arleen lost her eyeglasses. We did not know until too late.

Then we went to the Po Lin Monastery. We saw monks just walking around looking like monks. The monastery, tho, was very commercial. There was a temple that was nice, with 3 Buddhas, (past, present, and future), but around the temple were vegetarian restaurants and souvenir stores. On top of the hill above the monastery is the largest seatted outdoor Buddha in the world. We went inside to the museum and then walked down 268 steps to the temple.

Then we rode a gondola down across the water past the airport to the bus depot and back to our ship. On the way we saw a fire on a hill near a small pagoda. There were firefighters already on the scene.

After arriving back at the ship, we bought some pharmacuticals, since we could, and returned to the ship to see a folkloric show. We got to see about half the show. Then we returned to the shopping center, where we were able to get Arleen new glasses, since we luckily had our prescriptions with us. They made the glasses isn 1/2 hour. During that time we bought a new camera. Only when we get home will we know if we got a good deal or not.

Well you can let us know, we paid $141 for an Olympus F270 with a 1 gig memory card.

PS Did you notice the Disneyland traffic sign? (they have one on the island and they are expanding it to be the size of the one in California.

More info for you to get

2008-03-10T01:11:00.002-06:00

Here is an email we received from one of the other passengers that will give you a place to see even more pictures and even live photos from the ship. When you see only sea, so do we.

"We uploaded some of our photos to my Webshots site. Here are some>> links to photos we posted: http://community.webshots.com/user/georgeannmalowney - the "K & G" album or http://good-times.webshots.com/album/561502476RgDHBt - the "K & G" album>>>>>> Live photos from the front of the ship:>> http://www.princess.com/bridgecams/pa/pacific_bridgecam.html>> http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/pa/index.html Pacific Princess >> information "

IMPORTANT

2008-03-10T00:45:00.002-06:00

Since we have been having great difficulty receiving emails, please do not send us any attachments or photos. They lock up our computer so we cannot get emails anymore until we get to a land site. Thanks.

As you may have noticed, we have been unable to add to this blog as often as we would have liked. So you may be getting updates in clumps. Sorry.

Also, pictures will be added to blogs whenever we can, since the ship's internet is intermitten and costly. Each picture can cost up to $5.

Thanks, talk more later.

SHIANOCKVILLE, CAMBODIA

2008-03-10T00:36:00.002-06:00

March 10th

We arrived here to a very hot and humid day. It is over 90 degrees. The city is very lively, with lots of Tuk Tuk's running around. We will post pictures later, (or if we have when you read this ignore) They run you anywhere you want and are all over you when you walk. They will even follow you on your walk and take you on a ride after. Very perisitant. We have spent over 2 hours downloading pictures to this blog from other stops.

Duane was excited to be able to say some words in Cambodian, after 40 years since his lessons. The guide on our shuttle bus understood half of what he said. He is very pleased with himself.

The streets are very colorful, but it is still dirty and a lot of repair work is needed. There are some elegant looking buidlings amongst the drab shanty type buildings.

SHANGHAI, CHINA

2008-03-02T15:28:00.001-07:00

The shopping market in Old Town

Look at the crowds. Beautiful isn't it

Arleen in her natural habitat

March 2nd

We arrived early this morning. It is a cloudy day, but not as cool as expected. No jacket necessary. After all the hot weather we have been having, this feels nice. We went to the Old Town, where the flea market is. Is was very busy with people, but the traffic was not quite as bad as we remembered. We did some shopping, including buying some original paintings by some students. We then came back to the ship and will see an acrobatic show this afternoon. It was nice to visit a place we have been before. It will be great, tho, to leave. The air is very dirty here. The people are very nice, tho. We had no trouble getting help with finding an empty taxi. A nice man on his lunch break helped us out. Couldn't be nicer.

KAGOSHIMA, JAPAN

2008-03-02T15:17:00.001-07:00

Arleen buried in very marm sand. It was wonderful.Can you find Duane? (Duane's head anyway)

this what we looked like walking around. We were buried in these komonos

This is the tent that the hot sand are in.
When we arrived in Kagoshima this is what we saw

When we left, we were given a great drum show that lasted about 1/2 hour

Didn't expect this here. It is not that big city

Another smoking volcano. This is the most it did. Still we loved it (after Rabaul we are getting picky)

When we left even the taxi driver and his taxi said goodbye. wonderfully friendly

February 29th

Last nite we were told that we would arrive late to Kagoshima since the bad weather had slowed our progress the last day, so most tours were either cancelled or shortened. Luckily ours was only shorted. Instead of leaving at 8am we left at noon. As it turned out, we arrived in Japan at 10am.

Kagoshima is on the southern tip of Japan. It sits in a large bay with a volcano at its tip. We were told the volcano only gives off ash, but no steam or other activity. As you can see from the pictures, we were lucky enough to see it sending significant steam and ash into the air. It was not steaming as we came into the bay but built up steam during the morning and the then stopped right before we left. Pretty cool, again.

This stop was the first time our ship had been here, so there was a ceremony on board. We did not go to it, since we were on shore already checking out the bathrooms (one squat and one western style toilet in the lady's room)

Our tour was really nice. We rode in a nice bus, with a wonderfully talkative guide, for about 1 hour to a resort near a geyser field (which we didn't see). There we had a traditional Japanese dinner for lunch. We had at least 8 courses including sashimi, miso soup, tempura and pork and vegetables that you cook in hot water at your table. Those were the courses I know how to describe. Our guide said that we would be 80% full after the meal. As it turned out, we were 100% full after 80% of the meal.

Then we went to the Sand Bath. You put on a cotton Kimono and lay down in a ditch dug out of warm moist sand. After settling in and getting comfortable, 2 guys with shovels come over and cover you from chin to toes in more warm moist sand. It is surprisingly heavy. It feels wonderful. You lay there for about 15 minutes, and when you are ready you get up and, with your Kimono on, get into an outdoor hot pool. Some of the sand stuck to you comes off there, the rest you wash off in the next stop, the shower. There you get another dry Kimono and go to the roof where there is a nude hot tub, with a beautiful view of the ocean. No, unfortunately, these were not the coed baths we have seen in movies. They were divided by sex. Only 4 ladies went up to the bath. We didn't really have enough time to fully appreciate the luxury of the spa.

So back to the bus we went and back to the ship. When we got to the ship, we say 4 women standing by drums. One was the largest drum in the world (OK so that is only my opinion.af) We had a show form these women and 2 men that lasted about 1/2 hour. It was terrific. (we saw a show like this one in Telluride, tho I am not sure weather that was from Japan or China) It was great

The people here seemed very glad to have us there. They played old American music from the 40's or so on our arrival. When we left, besides the show, the waved us off and even the taxi drivers stayed to wave goodbye (even the taxis waved - see picture, wherever the computer decides to put it)

The evening show was a hypnotist who didn't really hypnotize either Duane or Arleen, both of whom volunteered to be subjects. It was not one of the better shows.

All in all, this was one of the best days. Love to all and talk to you later.

another day at sea

2008-03-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

February 28th, the last day of the month. We had a very rocky nite last nite, they even shut down the elevators. Today we both danced in the second passenger talent show. We did a line dance with 6 other people. We did the "boot scootin boogie". It was fun to wear costumes supplied by the ship. It was interesting trying to dance while the ship was dancing to another drummer, so to speak. We managed well enough and the audience seemed to like it. We had our usual morning and afternoon activities, bridge, lectures and food. Our show last nite was a fun violinist. Sounds like an oxymoron, but he was fun. Tonight our show is a singer.

PS We missed the singer. Since tomorrow is a land day, our show is earlier than dinner, rather than after dinner. We forgot that, so we missed the show. Just to remind you, or tell you for the first time (it is hard to keep track after all this time) We eat at the late seating, which is 8PM. That means that we get finished about 10. Then we go to our show which ends about 10:45. Then there is music or dancing or slot machines, then bed. We are not sure the late seating is the best for us since we eat so close to bedtime. I guess since we are about half thru our trip we can reevaluate our dining time and maybe make a change.

Iwo Jima

2008-03-02T14:41:00.001-07:00

This is the island of Iwo JimaHere, in the water. are some of the remnants of the war

In the cliffs you can see some of the Japanese tunnels used to hide them from us.

Here is a picture of some of the remaining bunkers that were used to shell our troops as these reached the island. There are many more hidden by the jungle that exists now, but was not there during the war. The bombing had denuded the island.

Feb 27

After a day at sea, a very rough day at sea, we arrived at Iwo Jima on a clear calm day. Arleen didn't do very well the second half of yesterday, but today she is fine. Duane is fine also. Anyway, we arrived near the island around 10:30am and we got a running commentary from the son of a Iwo Jima marine. We watched our approach from the deck and then when the ship turned around the island, we were able to watch and listen from our stateroom.

We caught a quick view of whale spout in the distance. That was pretty exciting since we have seen very little sea wildlife so far.

We went up to the pool deck (9) to watch a ceremony to lay a wreath in remembrance. As we arrive early on the deck Arleen was told that more whales have been sighted. We saw several whales breach. We don't know what kind of whales they are only that they were not orcas or humpbacks. .

The ceremony was very moving, but the most moving part was when, unexpectedly, right between the prayer and a presentation, three jets flew right over us. We were pretty sure they were US jets from Okinawa. (Since then we are leaning more towards Japanese jets from the island). It seems as if they wanted to participate in our rememberance.). The weather all that morning and early afternoon was beautiful, even with the strong winds.

When we left the Island we ran right into a major rain storm. We had all congregated on the deck to watch a presentation and competition of boats built by the passengers. These boats were amazing. The only requirement was that they float. The test of their floatability was postponed due to the storm. After judging the boats for design, tho, the rain stopped and they were check for buoyancy. It was a lot of fun.

Got free email

2008-02-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Just got a minute to email you directly. We are still having fun. Surprising isn't it. We live in a little room, but someone makes the bed and cooks our food and cleans up afterwards. Not too shabby. So far we have had a lot of days at sea, which we have enjoyed. It seems there is too much to do. I sang yesterday at a talent nite. It was fun. We have a lot of talented people on the ship.

Mostly at sea, I sleep late, to 9 or so, and Duane goes to Bridge lessons, then to a lectue/discussion on the bible. We meet for lunch, buffet, then I may go play maj jong, or we go to another bridge lesson together, then maybe tap dance lessons or line dancing or whatever. We try to walk around the deck or do some excercise regularly, but we don't always succeedf. Sometimes they have parties with games and giveaways. So far we have won 4 bottles of champagne and 3 hats, and 3 tote bags and spa treatents.

Marty Allen and his wife performed recently. He is still very funny and a nice man. Since it is a small ship we see everyone around and talk to them casually. Every evening there is a show. We have late seating dinner so we start dinner at 8 and finish at about 10. We have a very friendly table. We laugh all thru dinner and some snobs at the next table are annoyed. Too bad.

From now on we will be having a lot more land days. Right now I am in Guam. (see blog) day after tomorrow we will pass Iwo Jima then on to Japan, I think.

We have met some nice Italian people, they actually live in the US and England, and we take land excursions with them. Pretty much we have stopped going on ship excusions and have gone by ourselves. The guides on the ship excursions have not been very goodd so far. Hopefully when it is important, in Egypt, etc. they will be better.

Hope all is well with you guys. You can email us and we will get it whenever. Just don't send any attachments. Our internet is very slow and it costs 50 cents per minute. That's using our own computer. But emails download fast.

Love you lots, keep well.

FEBRUARY 25 GUAM, US

2008-02-24T20:06:00.002-07:00

Guam was occupied by the Japanese during the war. It was liberated by the Americans and is now reoccupied by Japanese tourists. We arrived here 2 days after a stealth bomber crashed at Andersen Airforce base here. It crashed during takeoff. All crew ejected and are healing. I asked if you can see a Stealth bomber after it crashed (since it is invisible, right:)

Views from the Harbor
A Japanese couple having their wedding pictures taken on the beach of a hotel, where we are using the internet
Another view from the hotel toward "two lovers leap" Look at all the people!
Two lovers' leap...We don't know the story behind that name
Guam is a very modern island with lots of large hotels in the city Tumon. All the stores are very high end... Gucci, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, etc. We are just going to buy some diet coke.

There are war reminders here, but no good way to see them and after many tropical islands, this one is just too commercial. So back to the ship.

We leave tonight to sail past Iwo Jima. We will have a ceremony on board. More later.

The Battle of TRUK

2008-02-24T19:30:00.002-07:00

Truk was the largest Japanese Naval Base during WWII. the US decided to by pass Truk on its way to Japan but they sent eight aircraft carriers to destroy the shipping in the lagoon. the aircraft from the carriers flew six missions in two days and destroyed most of the shipping, primarily merchant ships carrying tanks, weapons, ammunition and supplies, in and outside the Lagoon. The wreckage has created a scuba divers paradise. The garrison at Truk was isolated for the rest of the war which increased the hostility between the natives and the Japanese troops, as they forced the natives to work and to give them all their food so both the natives and the soldiers faced starvation. There is only one oriental living on the Island of Chuuk and he is Chinese because of the intense hatred of the Japanese by the natives.

Perfect Desert Island

2008-02-24T19:24:00.004-07:00

This is the island that must be used by all movie makers and authors when they strand someone.

FEBRUARY 23 CHUUK ISLAND

2008-02-24T19:00:00.007-07:00

Truuk is an island in the United Federation of Micronesia. It is an a bunch of islands surrounded by a reef. There are more than 100 islands and the reef is over 100 miles around. Some of the islands are so small they can only hold one palm tree.

This is the Truuk Stop. (cute huh) It is a hotel, restaurant and dive site.
This is a view from the shore at the Blue Lagoon Hotel, where we went wading. (maybe that is Bali Hi)

This island was terraformed to look like an aircraft carrier. We don't know why, but we were told it was done by forced labor
As you can see, Chuuk is a tropical island. Not surprising. The whole island is covered with vegetation

This is not a typical residence, it is one of the nicer ones, You can find tombs on private property here also. Each person is responsible for their own trash, so prior to burning it, there is lots laying around. The roads are the most religious in the world. They are VERY holey.

Here is another view from the Blue Lagoon. Note the bunker in the water. It was originally on land. It is a leftover Japanese ruin.

More remnants from the war

To Penny

2008-02-24T18:31:00.002-07:00

We were very confused by your comment, at first. We posted the comment anyway. Then yesterday Duane was approached by Peggy. Then the mystery of Penny was cleared up. Peggy found Duane since she played bridge with him and got an email from her friend Penny. So we all now know that Penny and Peggy are friends from Toronto. What we still don't know, and would love to know, is how in the world Penny found our blog. Please let us know.

And thanks fro finding us, it was great fun.

Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

2008-02-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

February 20

No pictures on this posting because...

For comparison purposes, we took 225 pictures in Sidney, mostly of the opera house. In Rabaul, Arleen took over 100 pictures before she went to breakfast. She got up at 6am (unbelievable!) took her pictures, downloaded them to the computer (in order to have room for the rest of the day's pictures) and only then went to breakfast with her camera.

Why you ask....Rabaul has a volcano. An active volcano. A very active volcano. It never stopped smoking and spewing rocks and ash and vapor and......thousands of feet into the air.

Arleen is a volcano nut and in all of our travels and her travels had never seen a volcano do its thing. That void in her life came to an end today. We went on an excursion that had other stops, but the only one that mattered was the old airport of Rabaul. It is now under 4-5 feet of ash of different sizes and colors. In 1994, Tuvurvur erupted along with Vulcan. Both volcanos destroyed the city of Rabaul. Since then Rabaul has been partially rebuilt, but the capital was moved to Kokopo, on the other side of the Vulcan volcano. From the airport you could hear the booming of the eruptions, see the boulders being tossed around like paper, hear them hit the ground like gun fire. If Arleen had her way, she would have spent the entire day there. (and she wished she had) After returning to the ship, she sat with her binoculars and camera until it was dark, some 250 pictures later.

Along with this, we had fun with the local kids who all wanted their pictures taken, just so they could look at them. Everyone is very friendly, waving at us everywhere we went,.

The only thing that could have made the day better would be if we saw some dolphins, since wildlife has been pretty scarce so far. Well, as the full moon rose in the east, the dolphins leaped out of the sea right beside the ship.

A very magical day.

And as you have probably seen already, we have put the pictures in separately.

More later.

Our first views of

2008-02-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Boom!

2008-02-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

airport and views from the airport

2008-02-22T22:16:00.002-07:00

This is a view from the airport
this is the airport now. even the old Japanese airplane that is here is buried. see all the ash, it is all over

history

2008-02-22T22:11:00.003-07:00

The Japanese were here in WW II. There are many remnants of their occupation still around. Nothing has been cleaned up. Here is a bunker where Yamamoto had his headquarters. He was killed on a flight out of Rabaul.

The other picture is of one of innumberable tunnels that the Japanese had the locals dig for them to hide their weapons and personnel. There are still barges in some of the tunnels.

palm trees

2008-02-22T22:07:00.001-07:00

As you can see the island is a tropical paradise. Can't wait to come back

View from the observation point

2008-02-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

Goodbye to Rabaul

2008-02-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

working out at the gym really has worked.

second stage sea days

2008-02-19T10:29:00.001-07:00

A new pattern is emerging on sea days since we left Sydney which marked the beginning of the second stage of the cruise. Some people left the ship and new folks came on. We have changed dinner table assignments and are now setting with 3 new couples. Randy and Dottie are from North Carolina. Randy is Arleen's gambling buddy and is driving her crazy because he keeps hitting big jackpots. Ken,known as Z from his last name is a retired policeman from Minnesota. He and Vicky his wife are living in Phoenix. Hew and Hellen are the patriacrhs of the table. They are a delightful couple from Kingston, Canada, who have been married 57 years. He wrote the prize winning poem for St. Valentine,s Day. We are really enjoying their company.

Choices of what to do during the days have also changed. Duane has started taking Bridge lessons at nine in the morning andtwo in the afternoon. At 10 am he then goes to a round table discussion entitled Mystries & the Scriptures. The current discussion is on the meaning of faith. The group includes people of various persuasions including Jewish,Catholic, Protestant, atheist, agnostic and skeptic and a lot of unidentified. The discussion have been really good. This will be his pattern on sea days for quite a while.

Arleen is still deciding an a daily basis, choosing from the smorgsasbord of activities. The reality has set in that we still have almost two thirds of our trip left to go and it feels good.

Cairns, Australia

2008-02-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

February 17

Arrived at Cairns, pronounced "cans", eary this morning. We had heard the weather was iffy, so we cancelled our ship tour of the Great Barrier Reef in favor of seeing what the day held. It turned out to be cloudy, but not yet rainy, so we booked a half day cruise to Green Island and snorkled for a couple of hours. Duane and Arleen went to different parts of the beach for the start, so they eached saw different fish and coral. Arleen saw a giant clam, lots of different kinds of fish including a flounder being harrassed by a white fish with blue outline. Very fun stuff. Duane saw a shovelhead ray and zebra fish and a very big angel fish.

When we got back to shore, we did some shopping and Arleen did some gambling and won $20.

Sydney, Australia

2008-02-15T17:19:00.001-07:00

We arrived at the mouth of Sydney Bay shortly after six am. and sailed into the harbour to the rising sun. Very impressive to say the least. It took about half an hour to cruise up the bay to the our dock which was just across from the opera house and just around the corner from the Bay Bridge. Disembarked to a rainy sky and decided to take the city's public tour bus for a two hour trip out to Bondi Bay and back. Saw primarily residential areas that had been over priced small communities that went bust as Sydney started growing and then recently started booming again as people left the city for the suburbs. Now most of the real estate is very over priced. The area is a very interesting mix of the old and the modern intermingled with gardens and parks, beaches and cliffs, and curving, hilly streets. Everything is clean, and green and lovely. And of course the people are very warm, friendly and helpfull. A really great place to visit and one we might come back to someday.

After lunch back on the ship, we took another bus tour around another part of Sydney. This was tour included the business district, the Apartment, high rise district, the Arts and Entertainment District. The sun came out so we got off at a botanical garden and walked around a little then reboarded the next bus and continued the tour through China town and the old quarry district, now a mix of residential and commericial areas, We got off at the casino and made a small donation before reboarding the bus to return to the Dock area. Then we walked to the Opera house, a very busy place as Carmen was playing that evening as well as a couple of different plays. (there are at least 4 theatres in the "opera house") Arleen almost stayed behind because La Bohem was playing the next day. All in all, our day in Sydney was wonderful and the night time sail away was just as spectacular as the sail in. We only took 250 pictures of the place so here are a few of them.

Our ship "Pacific Princess"

2008-02-15T17:15:00.001-07:00

We have settled in to our temporary home here on the ship. On this part of the cruise we have spent a lot of days on the ship at sea. Later, we will be making more stops and we will be going ashore more. For now we have activities in the lounges and at the pool. We play pingpong, read books, listen to lectures and have discussions. We also have taken lessons in Spanish, ball room dancing and line dancing. Hopefully we will have more lessons. In the evenings, before dinner there is music at several different locations., After dinner we can dance, have sing alongs, kareoke or play slot machines. Then there is a show. Some have been very good. Most are at least entertaining. Then, if we have any energy left, we could dance some more, or meet people.

We have about 650 people on the ship. We have met some very interesting people. Most are older than we are. The average age is about 80. They are very active people. We are enjoying meeting and talking to them.

If you access the Princess Cruiselines website you can get more info on the ship.

Here are some pictures of the entertainment areas, the Caberet lounge, the dining room, pool, etc. on the ship

Fun at Sea

2008-02-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

When we left Rarotonga, capital and biggest island of the Cook Islands,we were looking forward to four wonderful days at sea. Days at sea may be the best parts of the trip, primarily because there is nothing you have to do, see or anyplace you have to be. If you want you can do nothing at all and a lot of people take the opportunity to stay in the cabins, sit on their balconies and watch the sea roll by. There is something very relaxing and at times erotic about rhythmic rocking motion of the ship an the sea. There are some people who never leave the ship even at some of the fabulous ports of call that we are making. And we can sort of understand why now. They also offer lots of activities such as dance lessons, Spanish lessons, golf chipping and putting contest (lots of fun with the ship rolling and pitching), reading and meeting new people. But the best part truly is just sitting around and relaxing with no place to be and nothing that has to be done.

We had a special day when we crossed the equator and a number of "volunteers" stood in for the rest of us for the initiation rites that transformed us from slimy Pollywogs (those who had never crossed the "line" before) into Trusty Shellbacks. We had one lovely day at sea and went to bed wondering what they had planned for the next day, which was to be the day that never was because we were going to cross the international date line and lose it. We never found out, for the next day we were awakened by very high seas (Arleen much earlier and more often than Duane) and the captain's announcement. Cyclone Gene(typhoon,or hurricane) was between us and New Zealand and that we had to change course from southwest to northwest to avoid it. But not to worry, it would not delay our arrival in Auckland. And then the fun began. The wind was so strong that we were not allowed out on open decks. (Though our small balconies were sheltered enough that Duane really enjoyed sitting out and watch the seas, really a marvelous sight.) Arleen,meanwhile, was testing all the medicines and old wife's tales concerning motion sickness. She can now advise you on the effective (but not necessarily correct) dosage of Bonine, as well as how much ginger and ginger tea to eat and drink, the effectiveness of staring at the horizon and how to avoid being in close spaces such as hall ways etc. Light hurried meals were the order of the day and bed hugging the recommended position. It would have also helped not to have a juvenile husband who thought the whole thing was a wonderful "E ticket" ride. She just kept him around cause he was handing to fetch pills and tea and to answer the door when room serves, arrived and to pick up the broken dishes when the tray hit the floor later that evening. It took us two full days to get around the storm, The worst day being the same day that the tornados ravaged the central states back home. Made us a little more thankful we were here where the captain was able to avoid the worst of the storm. We were able to stay at least 270 nautical miles from the storm. Needless to say we never found out what they had planned for "crossing the date line" or even when we did. Perhaps later when there is less excitement. As it is we are going to be in Auckland about eight hours late. The captain did have to slow things down a lot. (It was fun watching the TV channel that had the information about the ship's speed and heading on it. Our course would vary from 247 degrees nw to 253 degrees every fifteen seconds and our speed (normally 17 to 20 knots) from 5.7 to 6.2 in a matter of seconds as we climbed up a wave and then slide down the other side. Great Fun and that didn't even count the rolling from side to side.

But all that is behind us now and we are going full steam ahead to New Zealand. But today has been wonderful. Back to gently rolling seas (Arleen would disagree) and lots of war stories about things shifting in the night, TV's falling out of cabinets on to bed, but so far none of any serious injuries. The crew did a marvelous job of caring for us and keep us safe. Tomorrow should be another wonderful day at sea before we arrive in time to spend maybe five hours (instead of the fifteen hours planned) in Auckland. Fortunately we spent a week there just last May.

Tahiti

2008-02-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

On February 1 we visited Papeete, Tahiti. We took a taxi, with an English speaking driver who knew quite a lot about the native flowers and their medicinal uses, but very little about Tahiti and nothing about speaking either French or Tahitician. We saw a breadfruit tree, and then we saw tons of breadfruit trees. These were the trees that Captain Blye went to get on the Bounty. We saw a lovely blowhole, with water coming from all over. It was great. Tahiti is a very populated island with a lot of traffic and tons of houses.

We are on our way to Roratonga, in the Cook Islands, where less people live.

Here are some pictures of Tahiti.

Please give us your name when you comment

2008-02-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comments, and keep them coming. You need to know that when you make a comment it does not show up until we review it. So it may takes some time before you see you comment posted. Also, when we see your comment and you have logged in as anonomous, we don't know who wrote it. Please put your name on it so we can know who the smart mouths are.

We just arrived in Aukland, it is Feb 9th for us. We had no Feb 6th (or maybe it was the 7th) we don't know for sure, since we were waylaid by a storm (either a cyclone, or a typhoon or a hurricane) named Gene. We arrived here at 4:30 pm instead of 7am. So we are at an internet cafe, where it does not cost us $15 per posting.

We are going to reboard our ship now, with our contraband booze and see if we can get it on board. Wish us luck.

PS did you know that Pepto Bismal is a prescription drug here? Wow. But you can get Codene over the counter. Go figure!

We now have 3 or 4 sea days until we get to Syndey. Smooth ones we hope.

Pictures for at sea

2008-02-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Pictures for At Sea post: Particularly look at the second picture for the horizon and our bacony railing.

Missing Pictures

2008-02-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

When I look at the blog, I cannot see the pictures, so here they are, first from Tahiti. Sorry the computer keeps putting the pictures first. So these are Tahiti, days at see next blog.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

2008-02-05T02:01:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Rarotonga on February 3rd. The island is a vast contrast to Tahiti. It is smaller, has only 10,000 people versus 200,000. It very low key and friendly. I could see returning here.

The pictures show the island, and a marooned ship, from a hurricane 3 weeks ago. You can also see one of the best parts of the trip that day. We found a banana patch, we on the taxi trip, and we stopped and "rescued" some bananas. They would have been eaten by birds if we hadn't gotten them (they were so ripe)

People bury their family members on their property near their homes. That is what that picture is about. They have pretty elaborate tombs.

We went wading in the very clear water in the lagoon and saw fish of all colors, sea cucumbers by the hundreds and lot of coral. We could walk to the island, and did.

Still having lots of fun, both on shore and on the ship. We have 4 sea days ahead, but we lose a calendar day. We have no Feb 6th. We have been gaining one hours sleep for many nites now. It is very confusing to our bodies.

Wishing you all well. Arleen and Duane

Let us know you are reading these blogs, please

2008-02-05T01:58:00.000-07:00

We would love to know who is reading our blog. Please leave us a comment, even if you do it as an anonomous sender. You can always sign the comment. If you are a personal friend, you can email us and let us know what you think and if there is anything we should add to our blogs (or leave out :) )

Till our next stop, which is Aukland on the 9th.

pictures from Pitcairn's Island

2008-01-30T18:51:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures for the previous posting

Pitcairn's Island

2008-01-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

We arrived early the morning of January 30th to see Pitcairn's Island out in the distance, in the rainy mist. It may have been the way Fletcher Christian saw it with his mutineers on the Bounty. There are about 45 people living there now. All are related to one of the mutineers in some way, even tho 2 other people were shippwrecked there in the 1800's to help the gene pool. Most of the population came aboard our ship, we were unable to land, and brought their crafts with them. They would stamp your passport for $5 US. What a deal!

We had a question and answer hour with the Mayor and another citizen. It was very interesting. They have internet, so you can order crafts from them. They mostly go off-island for advanced schooling and spouses. They have flush toilets, but they have no septic systems, so the waste goes into the sea.

We acted as a supply ship for them. You should have seen the amount of beer, wine and pop they loaded. They also got a lot of potatoes and eggs, etc, but much more beer.

Now on the Tahiti on Feb 1

We are still having a great time. I can't believe how tired we get doing, what seems, like nothing. We take dance lessons, spanish lessons, go to lectures, dance, sing karaoke, play maj jong and slots, etc. And that is on sea days. You can imagine what we add to that when we have sea days. Oh, yeah, and we eat. We have been excercising, but not every day. If you walk around the ship 13 times it is one nautical mile, which is 1.15 land miles (and no I do not know why)

Take care, will update after Tahiti. Love to all

daily planet pictures

2008-01-28T13:44:00.001-07:00

The Telluride Daily Planet goes everywhere. Easter Island, Chile January 26, 2008

Arleen Friedman and Duane Thaxton

easter island

2008-01-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

After 4 1/2 days at sea, we have arrived at Easter Island. We have to anchor out and take "tenders" (life boats) into shore. It is a lovely day, but the seas have large swells, not choppy, just rolley, making getting into the tenders unsafe. I am thinking, all this way to get this close. After 2 hours delay, we are finally able to go ashore. We rented a taxi van with 6 other people and we took a tour of the island (all the way around) You have seen most of the standing statues on TV, but in addition to those statues is the quarry where they made them. There you can see statues, or Moai, in different stages of completion. An amazing amount of work to cut out lava with black obsidian glass tools. This is what they guess from the remains. The rest of the pictures will be sent one at a time (I have been having computer problems, we will see if this

works any better)

2008-01-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Lima is a combined city. It has many towns within it. Some are poorer and older,

others middle class and a little upscale.

The city is subject to a lot of earthquakes, so not many of the buildings are over 100 years old, tho some old churches still exist. We went to an old Franciscan monastery, a Catholic Church and another church. It was Sunday, so church was in session. The music at each was different, but very beautiful. At the monastery they were having a procession with a reminder of the holocaust and had sung a song to the melody of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. At the Catholic church, they had an organ with choir singing Ode to Joy. At the last church they had guitars and drums and native singers.

I wish we had more time to spend at each, but the bus waits for no man or woman. We learned at the Gold museum, that the Inca's were only in power for about 100 years. Most of the old stuff is pre-incan. We didn't know that. The pre-incan's were very advance in metalurgy. They were able to bond gold and silver together about 400 ad, while the Europeans weren't able to do that until the 1500's. Amazing. I will come back here to see the Nazca Lines ( drawings only visible from the air), Machu Piccu and the Galapagos Islands.

We also saw the Park of Love, with this statue.

Last nite we had a folklore show that was very good. It seems that Paul Simon, Michael Jackson and street people all stole something from the Peruvians. Simon's song that starts "I'd rather be a hammer than a nail..." sounds just like an old folksong. The natives do a dance on the toes of their tennis shoes, and they spin on their heads and do the snake pop.

We are now on our way to Easter Island, after 4 1/2 days at sea.

Manta, Ecuador

2008-01-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

We have just finished visiting Manta. It is a small fishing town, that is the starting place forvisiting Machu Pichu and the Galapagos. We have chosen not to visit those places now and come back at another time when we can spend more time.

We went to an Artisans market and bought some Panama Hats, which are not made in Panama but in Ecuador. You sure can't beat the prices here. Too bad our cabin isn't bigger. We still haven't found everything we brought, or think we brought.

We also went to a mall. It was very much like our mall, including a dollar store, except for the security

Any idea what this is? We passed it on our way to the market and mall.

Panama Canal

2008-01-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

We just went thru the canal. It is still amazing. Last time we were on a huge ship that left just inches on each side between the ship and the lock. This time our ship is smaller, it only holds 650 passengers. It was a lot easier this time. It also is not as exciting to go thru a lock after the first time. The canal is an engineering wonder, since the only moving parts are the doors of the locks. The water is moved by gravity. After going thru the first 2 locks you go across Lake Gaitan, for hours. This where the ships wait until it is their turn to continue. Then, after going under the "bridge of the Americas" we went down some more locks, then after about 9 hours we are in the Pacific. (that is ON the Pacific)

Grand Cayman and San Blas Islands

2008-01-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is our first posting since leaving on January 10th. It is hard to believe that we are really underway,

Our cabin is very nice with a lovely balcony, that is cool and breezy in the evening.

Our first stop was Grand Cayman. We have been there before, so we took a public bus up the island to "Hell", it has a small lava field behind 2 stores and a postoffice. Everyone wants to mail a letter from Hell.

We then went on to the San Blas Islands. There are 365 islands of which 40 are inhabited. The indians have come into the modern world. They continue to sell the Molas they make (reverse applique) and dress up for the tourists, but since they have cell phones and television, we think they are doing better than they let on.

We have been to these 2 places before. Our next point of interest is the Panama Canal. We have gone thru it once before. After these we will be in new territory for us.

More later

getting ready

2007-11-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

We are getting ready to leave. Setting up this blog and a slideshow so when we go we can keep you updated on our adventure. More later

2007-10-04T17:34:00.000-06:00

We have just set up our blog so we can post our trip notes and pictures when we leave for our around-the-world cruise on January 11, 2008. We will keep you updated on our preparations and our experiences.