THE PACKAGE IS HERE! THE PACKAGE IS HERE! I have been reading everything but the most important thing is to calendar all the events, formals, balls and other happenings. I am busy deciding what to wear for what formal or ball. I even put these outfits on my calendar as it would not do if I wore the wrong outfit for an event. Now remember I only do that for the formal events. I am not totally crazy

During the cruise I will have photos of the special nights and discuss them in detail at that time.

Now to answer your questions from my last post. I will be embarking on January 5 from Fort Lauderdale. I actually arrive on the 4th and will be staying at the Westin Hotel. CSI provides the hotel as one of our perks and we have a party and dinner in the evening. They also arrange for a bus to take us to a pharmacy and grocery store so we can buy needed items that we don’t want to pack.

I think this photo answers Jenny’s question. They are not only cats but black cats. Two are tuxedo cats but my Princess is a tiny Bombay that had been dumped. She is totally black except for her tongue and teeth. The only problem I had introducing Jazz to the other two is that Charley would bump into him and Jazz would become defensive. Now he just tries to avoid Charley. It is so funny to see Princess chasing this big lummox around the house. She is at this time the dominant cat. Charley was the dominant cat for years but he is 18 years old, blind, diabetic, with kidney and liver problems. BUT, he has a good life and seems happy even with his problems.

My car was a 1990 BMW so the car was considered totaled. The insurance won’t be much since the car was so old and had little value. I know what I want but whether I can find the right car, for the right price and the right mileage before I leave is doubtful. I will just keep my rental until I leave if I have to.

I do know Happy Globe Trotter (Louise) and her husband. She is very French.

That is all for now and I probably will not be posting again until I am on the ship.

Well I didn’t plan to post again until “the package” arrived but there has been so much happening in my life that I thought I had better get a short post done for all of you. Before I start on my travails I would like to introduce you to my gentle giant. I think he wants to go. I have been stopping at a few garage and estate sales looking for that great piece of costume jewelry or a belt or an evening bag . I saw a sign that said neighborhood garage sales so I turned into this road and I see a yard just covered with stuff. I spoke to one of the ladies living next to this house and she explained that they had been evicted and the sheriff had thrown all their stuff on the front lawn. She also mentioned that they had found homes for all their animals except their cat. So I went over and as soon as I looked at him he started purring.

Now, this cat was sprawled and from tail to his paws he was three feet long. He rolled over and I petted his belly and as I was backing away he arose to his near two feet in height from the tip of his ears to the pads of his paws. Being a softy when it comes to homeless cats I took this 15 pound guy home with me and introduced him to my petite 5 pound princess and my blind Charley.

The weather has been awful. First a wind storm that wiped out the power for about 40 hours and then a snow storm that took down power lines for a total of about 36 hours but fortunately we had some power in between three different blackouts.

I had an appointment in town as it started to snow and like a dummy I forgot that on an island as you go up hill the snow is more dense. In other words the closer to the water the less snow. I live closer to the water and the main road is up hill. By the time I got about two miles into my journey I knew I had made a mistake and about that time on a decline my car went into a slow motion slide and I could do nothing to stop it. For all of you who are reading this and you are saying “Oh my was she hurt?” No I suffered not even a single bruise and didn’t even go into shock. The car slid very slowly into an embankment rolled over onto its soft top and wedged between two trees and the embankment. So here I am sitting on the top of my car looking up at the seat where I was sitting. I turned the car off but noted that I couldn’t get out. I saw people standing up on the road and I assured them that I was still alive and they had called 911. Needless to say the fire truck and paramedics were there in a short time. The firemen used their jaws of life to tear the door up and out and I escaped..

I am ready for sunnier climes.

I guess it is officially fall and the anticipation is building. Two and one-half months and I leave. The Indian visa application has been sent to ZVS and just a matter of time for the return of my passport with the new visa. This is the only visa that I am responsible for as my agent, Cruise Specialists (hereafter referred to as CSI), is applying for the Australian permit and all other visas will be done by the ship.

I am now just waiting for “the package” which will indicate the special nights, balls and parties. My shopping is complete and I can’t think of a thing I need except nylons. I have been hitting the sales since I returned from my last wc. This is half of the fun picking out a new wardrobe to take on the wc. I will now have to decide which formal clothes to take for those special nights. There are usually 17 special nights and then all other evenings I wear smart casual which is very dressy but not formal. I think there is a real happy balance on the Amsterdam. I found too many formal nights on the QE2. I know all this info is boring to a lot of my followers since I went through the same items before leaving in January last year but there will be some newbies to my blog so this is for their information.

When I returned this year in late April our fawns were not yet born. I was able to get this photo of mama and one of her twins. It was fun waiting for all the babies to be born. I have three babies and two mamas living close to my property and spending a lot of time here. In addition there are several bucks and one dwarf deer and I am not sure of its sex. It has been a long time since I posted so I want to make sure I know what to do and I needed to practice with my text but also a photo; hence the deer photo.

This will be my last post for this cruise but I plan to post occasionally for the rest of the year to keep you up dated on my future cruise preparations. I have decided the itinerary for the 2011 world cruise on the Amsterdam fills in the blanks in my pass travel adventures for the years 2008 and 2010. If I take the 2011 world cruise on the Amsterdam I will have gone everywhere a world cruise can possibly go. The itinerary on the Queen Mary is too close to what we did this year. AND, as much as I would like to be there with my friends I feel there will be too much repetition of ports. But, there is a possibility we will be in the same ports at the same time so I can see some wild shore time excursions.

I am also hesitant to book a world cruise on the Queen Mary. My point of view is that she is too big for world cruising. I like the atmosphere on the smaller ships and the smaller ships can go to smaller ports. The CSI farewell cocktail party was a few nights ago and I said to Ellen (our lady leader) that of the 100 to 150 people present that there were only two or three I didn’t know. She used my quote in her remarks that we become a family while on board which is true especially when you are traveling with CSI.

We had some excitement during the party. The Captain stopped the ship so the Coast Guard could take a passenger off by helicopter because of a medical emergency. Speculation was that the individual had appendicitis but who knows for sure.

I do not know how many we have lost on this cruise due to deaths but we have lost about 50 for medical reasons and about 20 for other problems such as deaths at home. I know of one couple who were thrown off the ship for obnoxious behavior but they were the only ones that I know of who were evicted.

To answer Patti’s question about guest lecturers. Yes. We have had many dealing with all sorts of topics. I have been to some of the lectures and they were quite good. The topics range from marine biology to world politics to the study of colors. I am not one of those that try to catch every lecture and I sometimes watch them on TV. I am a doer rather than a sitter. Those that do go to all the exploration lectures say they are excellent. I do catch all the culinary presentations as I still enjoy cooking.

I just returned from our disembarkation speech by Bruce the Cruise Director, who I have to say is the best and the most intelligent cruise director ever. At the end, the crew from all departments took the stage and bid us farewell. A sad moment for all.

I will pack on the day we are in port in Vancouver as I think it will be easier to do it all at one time. So, I will be packing up the computer after I post this, my last 2010 World Cruise epistle from aboard the wonderful MS Amsterdam.

All packed and ready but couldn’t get on the internet all day. The buildings in Vancouver blocked our server. So long for now as I sign out.

Would you believe this is my 70th post and as I am typing we are now starting to rock a little. There were some heavy snow flurries this morning while we were at sea. The two sea days before we hit Petropavlovsk were rather uneventful and I spent my time trying to recoup from all the Japanese food which played havoc with my system. It is now Monday April 19 and tomorrow is Monday April 19. We will be crossing the International Dateline and assume we will be getting a certificate suitable for framing. We have received so many gifts I have lost count but one of the most significant is a rolling duffel bag to put all the gifts in so we can get them home.

Petropavlovsk is a drab city but what I expected for a city in Siberia. About 22 degrees when we went ashore about 11:30. Our tour was scheduled for 10:00 but the Russian authorities were having their way with our ship. It was amazing how they spent all day pouring over papers and passports. I truly believe these men who work immigration make busy work so they can eat breakfast, lunch, have tea and dinner on the ship. I mean this is better than borscht. We also were scheduled to leave at 5:00 but didn’t get clearance to leave until 8:30. At least they didn’t intimidate the tourists as much as the Chinese.

I was scheduled for a performance by the local natives (Koryak) who appear to be closely related to the Ainu natives of Japan. A magnificent performance of traditional song and dance and certainly was not drab. The lunch left a lot to be desired but the beer was good and the borscht was not as bad as some of the borscht I have had in the pass. Apparently, the salmon had not reappeared as we were served frozen salmon and I am such a purist when it comes to fresh salmon that I can spot frozen salmon from across the room.

Well, I am now up to date on my posts and I will be winding down. Probably one or two more posts before I depart in Seattle. Much packing to do over the next few days and I will start with my new duffle bag.

Hakodate was our last port in Japan and we had occasional snow flakes for much of the day so I was bundled up in my Antarctic outfit sans the Russian Hat. Wasn’t quite cold enough for that so I wore my stocking hat instead.

Hakodate is a drabber city than most of our ports and it is the first time in all of my cruise I gave a poor to the tour. Tokyo’s tour was not so poor as it just couldn’t cover what I wanted it to cover. I talked to Ellen later and she agreed with me the tour left something to be desired. Part of it was that the weather obscured our view from Mt. Hakodate as you can see by the blurry photo. I even went up in a cable car and those of you who know I don’t like heights this is a feat for me. We also went to this tower that was less than spectacular. Maybe I have become too jaded since our cruise is almost over and I have seem so many spectacular sights. The bus didn’t even pass by the places of worship which I would have enjoyed because within a short distance there were an Eastern Orthodox church, a Roman Catholic Church, and several other buildings with architectural significance which apparently should have been visited.

The city is known for their fish market but mainly their squid catches and you can see by this manhole cover that the squid is revered. They even have a squid festival every year with a parade. The highlight of this visit was the performance back on the ship where a group of 5 and 6 year olds danced and pranced. One of their numbers was an ode to the squid. There was one little fellow right up front who was a leader and was he into his performance. Another kid with a future on stage.

This post completes my tour of Japan and all in all a great country. I have tried to be objective and point out some of the good with the not so good. Note I didn’t say bad because no experience is bad.

This photo of the table is at the Japanese Dinner at the Pinnacle and I was seated with Mike and Diane, Adam and his father, Tony. We had a great dinner but after all the Japanese food it played havoc with my digestive system and put me a little off for several days. That is one of the reasons I have been a little slow in posting. I am now on the road to recovery.

Our next Japanese port was Yokohama which is also close to Tokyo. It was pouring when I got off the ship to take the shuttle into town to the department stores. Our ship was cleared at about 3:00 pm and there was not much to do in pouring rain and so late in the day. My tour to Tokyo was the next day. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan; Tokyo the largest. Both Yokohama and Tokyo have vast numbers of high rises. The Ferris wheel is also the largest clock in the world..

The Shinto Temple was the first stop the next day. Fortunately we had great weather and it was quite enjoyable walking in the park-like setting. The Shinto Gates leading up to the temple are meant to purify your mind and you go through a ritual of bathing your hands and mouth as they are the two parts of the body that get you into deep doo doo. At least that is my interpretation of what the guide meant. On the way to this beautiful shrine we saw these saki barrels where they actually stored saki.

I was disappointed that we couldn’t go to the Imperial Palace and Gardens. Apparently that is taboo and we could only look at the gardens from outside and I don’t even recall being able to see the palace.

After another wonderful Japanese lunch we went to a Bhudist Temple and this was truly disappointing as it was covered for refurbishing. The only interesting sight here was that a Shinto shrine was also on the same grounds as the Bhudist Temple.

I know it sounds like I was not happy with Tokyo and Yokohama and that is not the case. I was just a little unhappy with the tour. Tokyo and Yokohama are marvelous cities overall and we were treated with a wonderful drum band at our sail away. I love “ sail aways “and they are even more spectacular when we have local talent and good weather which was the case on the second day in Yokohama.

This is the post for Beijing but before I get to the happenings that day I want to give you a flavor of the obvious communist influence that still exists in China. Our guide was quite open about the failures of the Mao regime but before he said anything slightly negative overheard by his driver. He emphasized the good things that have happened since Mao died and the obvious changes in the business atmosphere which has been good for the people. But, he also indicated that individual property ownership is not allowed, people still can’t live where they want, and the strict rules to control population growth. All said behind a closed door.

What a glorious day. We were treated to one of the few days where there was little smog, the sun was out and you could actually see blue sky, well almost blue sky. The night rain washed the atmosphere.

When we were at Tian’anmen Square there was a long line of people waiting to view the body of Mao. Different groups wore different colored hats which made them stand out in the procession. Our guide then said there is a little good in everyone when trying to explain why the people would line up for hours to see this butcher’s body which is kept in a freezer except when on display or when they are doing maintenance on it. I don’t think I will use that word any more when applying it to my need for a few repairs on myself. They even have a body double (and I mean that literally) to substitute for Mao when they are doing major maintenance work.

Tian’anmen Square is huge but I thought it would be more impressive than it was. Not that I was disappointed as I didn’t know what to expect. All the photos I have seen had people teaming around the square and it was relatively empty when we were there.

We then visited the Forbidden City and if I ever go back to Beijing I would spend a whole day there. We just had enough time to see the highlights and hear the history as related by our guide which was very interesting. There is too much to cover in this post but I do recommend everyone google The Forbidden City and get a feel for what I was seeing.

One interesting item is that there was an emperor in the Ming Dynasty that was so hated that after his death the people built these roofs depicting him at the edge of the roof in a chariot and monsters and creatures keeping him from ever returning.

Next stop was the Temple of Heaven and the surrounding park. The park itself was the highlight. People milling all over, old men and ladies playing cards, singing, dancing in costumes or just dancing. Remember we were having a glorious day and all the retirees were there to enjoy it. ( The ladies retire at 50 and the men retire at 55. Average length of life is 65.) Lots of children flying kites and enjoying ice cream cones. I could have spent the day there just people looking and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Chinese lifestyle.

We then enjoyed a wonderful lunch and headed to the pier (2 l/2 hours) to relax in our cabins before the night festivities. WRONG!! The Chinese government had decided they wanted a face to face with everyone except the lowly crew and ordered everyone off the ship including the captain and all of his officers. Now, you have to understand that some of these people ordered off the ship to stand in long lines have never been off the ship since they boarded. Wheelchairs, walkers, scooters and a few of these poor souls were very confused. Then add to those ordered off the ship those of us who were on the tours coming back to the ship. We also had to get in line and couldn’t quite figure out what was happening especially when you see the Captain and his officers in line.

I later saw Mark (Chief Security Officer) and commented “Because they can.” and he just smiled and nodded yes. The Captain ordered free wine for all at dinner to compensate for the Chinese uncompromising behavior.

None of Melvin's photos will upload and I have tried 3 times so I have to post this without all the photos he took for me.

Since I haven’t finished my writing for Yokohama, Tokyo and Hakodate I wanted to post my thoughts on Japan and show you some of the general look of the people.

First, Japan is not a tourist friendly country and should do more to promote tourism if that is what it wants. No street signs in English and very little English written anywhere except on major stores. Pamphlets for various sites are usually not printed in English. Even China is more tourist friendly.

Some stores do not accept credit cards and very few currency exchange sites and very few ATMs. The port terminals should have ATMs and currency exchanges but they don’t. I know westerners were not welcome 250 years ago but I feel that Western visitors are still not welcome by the government and I actually like Japan. The people are friendly even though the general atmosphere is not.

I have included here some photos of people which are self evident why I included them. But note the working man uniform. I would say that 98% of the working white collar workers wear a black suit. Take note of the school uniforms. Also, this is a typical scene at the shopping areas.

pm and I quickly took a shuttle into town to find hair spray and a couple of other things I wanted. The shuttle let us off at China Town (As if I needed to go there after spending 6 days in the real China.) but next to China Town was a long mall of everyday type shops and I quickly found what I needed. This mall seemed to go on forever as it was just one long pedestrian street with shops on either side. Lots of duplication but I did find a 100 yen store and had to check this out. It was like our $1.00 stores and I found some very interesting cards which I purchased.

The next day I had a tour planned since I am trying to check out the predominant things in Japan. The last time I was in Kobe I went to Kyoto and saw many of the places mentioned in a Memoir of a Geisha which I was reading at that time. As I mentioned in my previous post I went to the Japanese Gardens when we were docked at Kagoshima so I wanted to see Osaka and the Osaka Castle and a Shinto Temple.

Osaka Castle grounds are huge with an inner and an outer moat. The grounds were not particularly interesting but the walls were incredible. They were made of rocks and some of those rocks were huge. This one photo shows how they split these huge rocks by pounding holes in strategic locations .

The tower is a museum which wasn’t particularly interesting to me but I was able to get a view of Osaka from the top of the tower,

We then went to lunch at this hotel and it was quite good. The gardens were gorgeous and you couldn’t take a bad shot. I did find this stone bridge interesting and caught Ellen, our fearless leader, crossing it. I took far too many photos of this garden but it was amazingly beautiful.

We then went to a Shinto Temple which is not really a religion but more a philosophy for life and is usually practiced by Buddhists along with the Buddha religion. About 95% of the people in Japan are Buddhists.

That night we had a Kimono formal night so I wore my new silk Kimono style Jacket with embroidered features including two carps. Not exactly a Kimono but in keeping with the theme. This is the jacket I bought at the Stanley Market in Hong Kong.

The night before this formal night HAL arranged for a dinner at a hotel with entertainment for the Sixth and Seventh Deck Suite world cruisers (which didn’t include me). The lunch we had at the same hotel was the same as their dinner with the exception of the main course. We had a tempura dish and they had a filet mignon. A far cry from the Cunard dinner for ALL world cruisers that we had in Honolulu. Oh, we had such a magnificent evening in Honolulu and I don’t think it will ever be duplicated certainly not this dinner given by HAL.

The borrowed camera is working just fine and I will buy Gerta a bottle of wine for her generosity in allowing me to use it.

Our first stop in Japan was Kagoshima the Southern gateway to Japan. As I walked into the Lido for breakfast everyone pointed to a nearby island and the volcano was erupting. After breakfast I had a tour which first took us to the gardens of the Chiran Samurai Houses. This island was home to the samurai including the last samurai. The houses were built behind walls that were to slow down enemies trying to kill them. Also none of the roads were straight so the Samurai could not be easily seen.

On the way to Chiran we kept seeing these bushes which looked like they had white flowers as we were zipping along. When someone asked the guide the name of this plant she laughed and said they were not flowers but white bags over the Loquat fruit. This keeps the skin very smooth the way the Japanese like them so with this labor intensive work, they are very expensive. The bus driver stopped so we could actually see that they were not flowers.

We then went to the Iso-teien Garden which was laid out to have the volcano as a backdrop. This garden is incredible and the most beautiful Japanese garden I have seen. I have so many photos and it was hard to choose a couple for you to see.

Lunch was very interesting and was served in the typical Japanese style and we even cooked our main tidbit on little pots on our table. I enjoyed this meal which included a few pieces of sashimi with Wasabi and soy sauce. I did use chopsticks again and I am getting quite proficient.

That evening I was invited to have pre dinner cocktails in Joan’s cabin and Maurice and Joe had arranged for us to have dinner at the Canaletto Restaurant. We had a great time. The sea became a little angry so dancing was not an option and I just went to bed to rock and roll there for the whole night. It is still rocking and rolling as I am typing this post the next morning.

Now this is what I call a welcome. Dancers, drummers, instrumentalists and comedians. Very colorful costumes and they were there for a good hour performing for us. I hope to see more of these welcomes as we go around Japan.

Cheju is the largest of the Korean Islands and I was quite surprised that it has a couple of very large cities. We didn’t have enough time in port to do it justice so I must come back to Korea. It was clean and the people happy, unlike the Chinese. We only had 4 hours there which is strange. I will see if I can get an answer on why we were there such a short time.

We saw the most awesome performance called Nanta . A combination of dancing, acrobatics, juggling, and comedy all set in a kitchen where the cooks are preparing a wedding feast. The instruments were knives, strainers, pots, pans, bowls, water bottles, etc. They billed it as the Marx Brothers meet Benihana. Vegetables were being chopped in rhythm and were flying.

The cherry blossoms were in bloom so hopefully we will see the same in Japan.

We docked in Xingang , China which is the gateway port to Beijing. This is a dismal dusty industrial port city with no redeeming tourist value. I probably would not have got off the ship if I wasn’t headed for Beijing.

The bus ride to our first stop which was the Ming Tombs was about 2 l/2 hours. The smog did not improve and the road was a dusty and bumpy four lane road. Not exactly a modern road system and the scenery along the road was dusty and dingy looking. Even the outskirts of Beijing was smoggy and gray. We did drive by the Bird’s Nest one of the buildings constructed for the Olympics and the entire complex was a welcome change.

We were told that it was a good idea to leave all valuables including passports on the bus and that they would be safe as the bus driver would be there. We came back after one stop and found the doors wide open and the driver fast asleep. At least 20 of us boarded the bus and he never woke up. His snoring was incredible. Note the over-exposure of his photo. This was just before my camera wore out.

After a so so lunch we went to the Ming Emperor Tombs which was quite an interesting sight,. The younger lady in the photo is Judy, Peggy’s daughter who boarded in Hong Kong with her husband, Andy. They have only opened one tomb but are holding off opening others because of the conditions. Apparently they had quite a collapse because of the sandy ground and until they know how to shore up the walls they are not opening any other tomb of an emperor.

We proceeded to the Great Wall and it is quite spectacular. I am even more in awe of how the soldiers with armor, cannons, ammunition and whatever else they were carrying could climb the steps. I had to be satisfied with just seeing the wall as I would not climb the steps. Some of the steps are 12 inches high and very steep. The smog did not dissipate so everything was photographed through the film.

We then motored to the Peninsula Hotel and it was truly a five star hotel. Beautiful. We even had a good amount of time to get ready for the Peking duck dinner that evening and it was quite nice. That was my main gripe about the other overland. Not enough time to get ready for dinner. My camera gave up and I will be without a camera for the Forbidden City etc. Fortunately, Melvin will download his photos so I will be able to include them in a post on that subject. However that post may be out of sequence because I don’t know when I will get them. I now have a borrowed camera (thanks to Gerta) and will be able to photograph Cheju City, South Korea for my next post.

I am adding this postscript. We have been having problems getting on line. Apparently the network traffic is so bad in Japan that we are kept out at certain heavy load times. So it will be touch and go for my posts until we leave Japan .