9-29-08 - Hakodate, Japan
Lovely sunny day after 9 sea days.  We took a free shuttle for a 15-minute ride into the town visitors’ center.  The greeters were a cute bunch of Japanese girls from a local school.  Adele found a hand-carved clock at the visitors’ center and decided she wanted to go the gallery where they were sold.  After a lot of mass discussion, one of the girls and one of the instructors offered to take us on the “short” walk to the gallery.  The walk was short enough, but straight up the steep hills of Hakodate.  We made it, but had to make several rest stops along the way.  The gallery was neat, but the prices were astronomical.  The instructor was concerned that we wouldn't make it back down the hill, so he got his car and drove us back to the visitor center.  The people we met were very, very nice and extra friendly. We then walked around to some of the local shops along the waterfront.  Adele bought a little plastic owl with a solar motor which rotates his head. Hakodate was a smaller town than the huge ones we have been used to.  It was a bit dreary, but a pleasant place to visit.  We won evening trivia and added to our coffee mug collection.

9-30-08 - Aomori, Japan
The day was a bit cloudy, but pleasant.  We docked fairly close to the town which was also smaller than the big cities we had seen before.  We were greeted by dancers and a small market set up on the dock. We took a morning tour to the giant Buddha and to Nebuta.  The Buddha was in a lovely garden setting with temples around it.  Our guide was a very nice lady who spoke fairly good English and explained things clearly. Nebuta was an area where they stored the floats for the annual summer parade.  The floats were very large, made of painted paper stretched over wire frames.  We were told they weighed several tons each and were pulled by 30-40 men through the streets of town.  The floats are accompanied by dancers who jump up and down for the full 2 hours it takes to drag the floats through town.  There was a brief demonstration program of music and dancing.

10-01-08 - Miyako, Japan
We had a cloudy and cool morning.  A troop of drummers from local schools greeted us with thundering drums.  Since some of the kids were first grade age, it was very cute. The town is a fishing town and fairly small, so we looked forward to some shore time. Adele found us a taxi to take us to a scenic beach and to downtown Miyako for 3,000 yen ($30).  The beach was very spectacular, but hazy weather interfered with my photography.  Downtown Miyako was very interesting and we spent time in a couple of hardware stores where I bought a backscratcher. When we got back to the ship, Adele found there was a free shuttle to town, so she went back for an hour of shopping. We left about 4:30 PM to the sound of more drums and the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.”  We also had a spectacular sunset.  I hope the pictures come out!

10-03-08 - Kobe, Japan
We had two days in Kobe.  On the first day, we didn't do too much.  There was no easy way to get into town, so we just hung out on the ship. On the second day, there was a free shuttle to downtown and we took full advantage, making a morning and an afternoon trip.  The shuttle dropped us off right in the heart of a major shopping area.  The features were Chinatown which was very colorful and lots on interesting (if unknown) foods were on display.  The second feature was “Motomachi Kobe” which was a covered mall several blocks long.  It was fun walking and looking at all the shops.  Everything from fashions to camera to food was on display. The feature for Adele was the “Daimaru” Department store.  Actually, I am not sure if it was a single store or a very large, vertical mall.  Adele discovered that the basement was about an acre of exotic fooods and candies.  She spent most of her time and money at Daimaru.

10-07-08 - Shanghai, China
I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of Shanghai.  I was last there in 1947 when the city looked like something out of a “B” movie set. Our first impression was not a good one.  I stepped out on our balcony and the air pollution was so bad I could hardly breathe.  Fortunately, that cleared up, or maybe we just passed it and the rest of the time the air was breathable although still quite polluted by USA standards. When we docked, the most amazing thing was the amount of river traffic.  The Huangpu River is not especially wide, but there were boats 3 and 4 abreast going past us up and down stream.  Looking either way, I could always see a dozen or more boats chugging away.  Most of them were small (50 ft) freighters carrying sand and gravel upstream and going empty downstream, but there was always a big ship or two and some sampans going by.  There were also a number of tour boats (brightly lit at night) that came out to see us. After seeing all the boats, we had time to look at the Shanghai skyline which is dominated by many shiny new skyscrapers.  Everywhere we looked there we saw construction cranes doing their thing.  Looking down at the streets, we saw hand-pulled carts bringing supplies to the construction sites.  Shanghai has a lot of such contrasts.  Glittering skyscrapers stand next to rows of open-front shops selling all the necessities of Chinese life.

We took a shuttle bus to downtown and wandered the streets.  We saw quite a mixture of third world stuff and ultra fancy modern.  Although there was little abject poverty, the feeling was very much third world, and not the modern colossus you read about.  Adele (of course) did some shopping.  She was already to buy us a set of silk sheets until Mr. Computer figured out that the set would run about $800!  We also found a department store where Adele passed up the $75 nail scissors in favor of a couple of boxes of cookies. The night of the 7th, we went to a Chinese acrobatic show.  It was a definite highlight.  The folks put on some amazing stunts for us.  I was continually thinking “Surely he's not going to do that.”  Then of course he (or she) would just what I thought they couldn't possibly do.

Possibly the most interesting moments were when we were leaving.  As I said, the river isn't too wide, and our ship had to turn around 180 degrees.  The river is perhaps twice as wide as the ship is long, and river boats were still streaming past (the river traffic was very similar to the street traffic - every man for himself!).  With the help of two tugs and several police boats, we backed downstream a mile or so to a less-congested spot, made a U-turn, and got on our way. Even though Shanghai wasn't precisely enjoyable, it is certainly the most interesting city we have seen so far on this trip.

10-11-08 - Hong Kong, China

The weather was cool, but very muggy, so we worked up quite a sweat walking around.  We were in Hong Kong for two days and spent all of the time walking around and shopping.  The energy and prosperity of HK is unbelievable.  People were trying to sell everything from real Rolexes to knock-offs.  Tailors and camera stores were everywhere.  I found the latest model Canon 50D on sale for $700, about $400 less than I had paid for my 40D.  I resisted the temptation.  Adele found a Department store with $5 shirts, so she was very busy, of course.  Next to the boat dock were all of the Gucci, Prada, and other stores one could want.  The prices were very high, but I suppose cheaper than the US prices. We walked until our feet were too sore to go on and then went back to the ship each day for lunch. When the ship pulled away, we were serenaded by drums and crashing cymbals and a couple of very energetic dragons. I suppose we didn't do anything of significance, but we walked a lot and had a pretty good time.