WanderlustandWhimSea

Planning this trip took some of my lifetime skills in travel planning. I’m gone for a total of 96 days with a combination of planes, trains, ships and a myriad of hotels. Here’s an overview of the trip – Jacksonville to Seattle, train to Vancouver, then flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. Then a 28 day cruise on Holland America via The Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and China. For those of you counting, that’s 4 new countries to add to my total. Then to take a break from cruising because it’s so hard, I decided to see Bali for 12 days thanks to my Marriott Vacation Club that part of the trip is “free”. Then it’s off to Sydney and the start of a 35 day cruise that stops at a bunch of the Pacific Islands, onward to Hawaii and ends in Seattle. But of course since I was in Seattle anyway, and the ship went on to an Alaska why not stay on for another 7 days. Then why fly home from Seattle when you can go back to Vancouver and take Via Rail all the way to Toronto. Whew – are you tired? My friends who don’t enjoy travel would call this a nightmare and those that love travel would call it the trip of a lifetime. Amazingly, my friend and neighbor Kathy was up for the challenge and is joining me for most of the adventure. For this first installment of The Pacific Adventure I’ll just cover the trip through Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is vibrant city, you can see the Asian and western influences. My favorite part was how clean it was compared to Asian cities and the public transportation system was excellent. There was a tram directly in front of the hotel and it was simple to hop on and pay with my iPhone. After a massage to relax from travel it was time to try traditional Dim Sim.

My excursion in Puerta Princesa Philippines included an unusual stop at a penal colony. It was fascinating as the Persons without Liberty were not contained by fences or barbed wire or even walls. In fact, they were given land and the skills to farm. The group pictured above were putting on a dance and singing performance for the tourists and it was quite entertaining. The penal colony was the happy stop as we also saw the places where US POWs were held, starved and killed. There is a big effort to return parts of remains to families. Most of the atrocities were committed by the Japanese and the locals still seemed to resent their occupation.

Japan

We interrupt this trip for a health alert. I was fine one day and then I did something to my back. I don’t have a history of back problems so this was a humbling experience. I didn’t fall, twist or step funny but suddenly I couldn’t walk AT ALL. The 80 year olds were lapping me and a journey from one end of the ship to the other was excruciating. My excursions were the panorama bus tours where I stayed on the bus. For those of you screaming that I should have visited the Doctor on board. I did, got a muscle relaxer shot, and big time pain bills. The recovery has been very slow and I still can’t walk normally but hope things will continue to improve. For those with back problems I may not have been empathetic in the past but NOW I understand.

Mt Fuji is elusive, often hiding behind the mist but we had a clear morning and great views. Now I really felt like I have been to Japan.

Although the Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima was last century it still serves as a stern reminder today. Today it’s a peace memorial in a peace park but a bit overwhelming to see.

The struggle is real in the market place in Pusan. As this gentleman worked to move a cart, I used a walking stick to peruse the market but mostly I drank tea in a shop and people watched.

Back to Hong Kong for a night and then it’s off to Bali – looking to have as many massages as necessary to get my back to a normal function. See you next from the rice fields of Bali.