16 April, 2019

16 April, 2019

Tokyo- Dad’s 92nd Birthday and apology!!!

Tokyo Tower was built in 1958, and is 1093 feet were 333 meters tall is higher than Eiffel Tower in Paris. Of note today, is the day that Notre Dame caught on fire. And is my fathers 92nd birthday!!!

Tokyo Tower it is primarily a Radio and television tower, also holds a amusement park aquarium and they say on a clear day you can see Mount Fuji. We just couldn’t end our visit to Tokyo without visiting this tower this morning. So we decided to take a taxi right over our adventures on the subway or a little Were overwhelming yesterday. We decided we needed to make our lives a little less stressful to make our flight this afternoon.

Boy are we happy we went to the Tower!

weather was absolutely beautiful! We got there early in the morning and were able to see Mount Fuji from the very top. Views of the city were awesome.

We completely enjoyed our time here and then were so happy with the ending shopping experience. As Tokyo is sooooo expensive- we were happy to be able to purchase a t-shirt for our grandsons at a reasonable price. Hopefully it will last and not fall apart!

We spent the last hours of our time in Tokyo playing a game of canasta before our transfer to Narita Airport.

I’ve attempted to describe our vacation by this blog- truly near words can only begin to describe the sites, sounds, smells, and plethora of sensations we have experienced over the last 20 days!!

During this trip we discussed our next adventure————- AN AFRICAN SAFARI!!!!

Having just arrived at Narita airport in Tokyo, I realize that many of these posts that they may have had failed!!!

So I am now re-trying the posts as many of the media may not have loaded. My sincere apologies if you are receiving way too many posts on the very last day. This was just my attempt to complete my blog before our long flight home.

15 April, 2019

Of course not fully knowing what we were in for, we decided to brave the Tokyo intricate public transportation system on our own today. Knowing that this was extremely adventurous we had zero expectations, knew we would get lost, and included that as part of the adventure. We took on “it takes a village” mentality to navigate to our first destination – the Imperial palace gardens.

Finally arriving st the gardens we discovered they were CLOSED ON MONDAYS!!! Seriously!!! OK then, next stop the Hop-on-hop-off bus. 1.5 miles from the gardens- only to discover that the bus was full of tourists and next one would not arrive for an hour!!! OK then, next stop (train, subway, monorail) back to the Hindo pier right near our hotel!!! A nice water taxi ride under the rainbow bridge to a neighboring island which had a most interesting building that was a television tower . We wandered around the waterfront area and into the shops. We walked over to the Ferris wheel and enjoyed an ice cream cone before returning to our hotel

Dinner was the most awesome adventure for me!!! The hotel offered a fabulous “buffet” with many different “live cooking” demonstrations. First were various strange looking salads, then a puff pastry of minestrone soup that was delicious! The first live cooking station for me was FRESH Sushi- AWESOME!! When I returned to the table they had served Fois-gras with macerated strawberries and unknown foam. It was not delicious. Next live cooking station was leg of “lamb?” They carved right off the entire leg – hoof and all!! This was cooked with fresh pasta and carved out Parmesan cheese! AWESOME!! Next was cook rice with bamboo shoots topped with broiled beef. This dish was cooked with a small propane hand held blow torch!!

Followed by the next live cooking station of tempura. This was so fun to watch and even better to enjoy! Many of our friends thought this tempura was better than that at the fish market!

FINALLY- was the pink chocolate fountain! SERIOUSLY- the fresh strawberries were just as delicious as the cream puffs! All of this followed by cherry blossom ice cream topped with purple metallic pearl sprinkles. I also tasted but did not enjoy the green tea (matcha) moose.

What an exciting evening!!!

14 April, 2019

Arrive in Tokoyo

Our ship arrived in Tokyo, and we had transportation to our AWESOME Intercontentinal’s hotel within 30 minutes! It is Sunday morning and the streets are extremely quiet. Because we will arrived early. We decided to walk to visit the nearby Japanese Kyu-Shiba-Rikyu Gardens before our first tour. The gardens were created in 1929 after an earthquake took out all of the buildings. The Japanese decided to recreate the gardens that were previously in this spot. The cherry blossoms are still lingering and we were able to wander among the snowing leaves! What s peaceful way to the beginning of a most memorable day. We stopped at a local coffee shop – Morovia Coffee on our return to our AWESOME Intercontentintal Hotel Tokyo Bay.

After returning to our hotel we met our first guide for a walking/subway/monorail/train/MRT tour of Tokyo. Our guide did speak English- however I think the six of us may have overwhelmed him a bit. In his defense, we did change the itinerary completely from the pre-planned destinations that our travel guide had arranged. We were a little concerned when he literally called a friend and used google maps before we arrived at our first destination. The iconic Tsukiji Tokyo Fish market. As today is Sunday, the innermarket (which usually opens at 4:30 in the morning) to sell to retailers was closed today. However, the outer market with all of its shops was completely solidly packed with people. We spent a fair amount of time strolling amping the fish vendors observing all of the different fish and goods for sale. There were many streets with vendors cooking and selling fish. Many of the vendors were cooking food with small blowtorches!! Boy oh boy was this a completely new and unique experience. There was even one vendor who was selling fresh whale that you could eat! There were so many people in complete gridlock on the maze of streets!! We used Tom’s unique hat as our beacon to navigate the crowd. Our guide found s restaurant that served both sushi and tempura (our request) and found a restaurant with an upstairs seating area for lunch. Of course this was another unique experience and we depended on a “picture menu” to order our extremely pricey lunch! We had not paid for a meal in a while- and we learned about the steep prices in Tokyo over lunch! $75 for one plate of sushi, one order of tempura and two cokes!!!

Our next stop was the Iconic Tokyo Sky Tree. Again, our guide and google maps had us navigating the CRAZY subway across town. Just buying the ticket

We visited the Kabuki theater in the Ginza district where the traditional Kabukiza form of entertainment from the Edo cultural period. This Kabuki are plays about historical events, moral conflicts in Iive relationships and the like. Tom Likens this form of theatre to “cat fights” where the song is quite soprano and screechy. You might recall they very white painted faces and traditional Japanese dress of these type of traditional Japanese theater.

Next we visited the Senso-ji Temple. We observed the five story pagoda which is the iconic symbol for this Temple. We also observed the very long market leading up to the temple Nakamise-dori.

In this area we reserved a complete and utter gridlock of tourists. It was quite a sight!

Tokyo skyTree, this iconic building stands 634 m or 2080 feet tall. It’s main faction is broadcasting, and also has a very large mall restaurants and aquarium and a planetarium. We went up to the neighboring building of 30 stories to get observe the best views of the sky tree! A walk through the galleria provided us with hundreds of available items representing the Japanese history for sale. At prices only to marvel -Jeans for $650 and a leather jacket for over $1000!

Ginza market area of Tokyo is the most famous upscale shopping, dining and entertainment district. It features numerous department stores boutiques art galleries restaurants nightclubs and cafés. We visited the Ginza area as part of our evening tour and marveled in the huge buildings and name brand stores.

There are two main religions in Japan, Buddhism and Shintoism. A Temple is Buda- shrine is shindo

Harajuku tour- this district in Western Tokyo is the main station for the 1964 Olympic Village. It has continuous alleys hallways and bazaars. We walk through this area to observe more of the Japanese culture.

OMG!! We have already walked 5.3miles and we have not yet met our walking tour!!

Kaye was our walking Food Tour guide, our first tour guide left us off Outside Hankyu Men’s Department Store, to meet our group!

We ate first under the train station where we first learned about bad manners with chopsticks. We had saki to drink and two different appetizers!

We spent the next 3.5 hours eating and drinking our way through some of the city’s top eateries for locals, an aspect of Tokyo few tourists ever get to experience. We Stopped by Gado Shita, a busy restaurant area located directly under the city’s elevated train tracks. We wandered amidst the narrow streets, blazing neon sights, and enticing smells of this culinary hot spot, an area which hearkens back to Japan in the 1970s. We stopped by a selection of local ‘izakayas’ (pubs) frequented by residents, where we tried out 5 different varieties of ‘yakitori’. But fist we visited a local cracker store- this store specializes in designer crackers hand painted for celebrations and special occasions. We also had the opportunity to make some of our own “agar” like noodles and enjoy the different spices of Japan. We also had quite the education on Japanese manners and phrases. We also had the opportunity to eat the local WAGO Beef and learn about the different grade available. We then headed to Tokyo’s upscale Ginza neighborhood, an area which provides the perfect contrast to the labyrinths of Gado Shita. We marveled at the upscale designer stores selling their wares in the display cases of local retailers. Finish your food exploration by visiting Shimbashi, where you’ll get a chance to take a deeper dive into some of Tokyo’s many rustic eateries and charming ‘izakayas.’ We also had the opportunity to visit a local small shrine. She taught us the proper way to pray- bow, clap twice (to wake the gods), pay your $$, say your prayer, bow again!

Next we visited a local ice cream parlor and enjoyed Mochi and ice cream filled cream puffs. We also tried cherry blossom ice cream actually made from cherry blossoms!!

We finished your excursion at Shimbashi Station. Our guide was so kind to assist us in the purchase of our Monorail tickets back to the station near our hotel .

Total walking for the exhausting day: 7.4 Miles/ 19,000 steps!!!

10 April, 2019

Bathroom update and photos

We heard from Joseph a couple of days ago- our bathroom seems to moving right along! We are not completely confident it will be completed on time to shower when we get home. However my Dad will be visiting Lolly and we can use his house to shower, as we both plan on going to work on Thursday.

I was not able to load the photos from our visit to Kagoshima, so here we go!

12 April, 2019

Kyoto (Osaka), Japan

Highlight of Nara and Kyoto

I was so lucky to visit Kyoto in Sept 2013 for work. I just fell in love with Kyoto and was so excited to be able to explore this iconic city with Tom.

Our ship is in Osaka a city of 2.7 Million. We woke up this morning at 6:30am so excited for a very long day! My sister Joann texted me that she saw there was an earthquake in Japan! We had not heard anything about this yet and were relieved to be informed the earthquake was off the opposite coast Japan from our current location, hundreds of miles away. Additionally we were in the port of Osaka having arrived last night at 6:00m.

Today we first visited Todaiji Kasuga Taisha Shrines one of the powerful Seven Great Temples located in the city of Nara, japan. Narna is an ancient Japanese city known for its stunning architecture. This shrine houses one of the world’s largest bronze statues of the Buddha Varicana, know as “Daibutsu”. Over 50 meters high, 500 tons of bronze and is known as “The Buda of light”. The temple has unique accents, like the shape of the roof, and the resplendent vermillion and green halls. It also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school Buddhism. The temple is a listed UNESCO World Heritage site as one of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara”. Hundreds of deer, regarded as messengers of the gods in Shinto religion, roam the grounds freely.

Kasugataisha shrine 1,20 years old has Two thousand lanterns which have been donated to outline the next shrine we visited. The lanterns date back to the 11th century. The wisteria is said to be 500 years old. There are hundreds of white deer near this shrine. They are said to be sacred messages of the deceased to visit the shrine. Over 1,000 deer live in the park- they are care for by the government, and are not pets. I was so excited to see deer and this was a most welcome surprise to our adventure!! Deer crackers were available to feed the Deer and are made of rice and flour, you are not allowed to feed them anything else because of tooth decay!!! Really they are worried about the deers teeth!!

Next we visited the Golden Pavilion, Kinkiku temple. During my first visit to Kyoto it was arranged for us to visit this pavilion just as dusk was approaching. This allows for the layered pure gold leaf on the outside of the building to shine. I was so excited to share this experience with Tom. During my first visit – the personal guide arranged by the Mitsubishi coorpration mandated that we arrive just at sunset for the best viewing of the pavillion . Today was no different. We have all witnessed gold leafing on historical artifacts – but to view an entire building is an unforgettable experience!! The Golden Pavilion is designated as a national special historic site. The pavilion incorporates three distinct styles of architecture; shinden, samurai and zen one style on each floor. The upper two floors are covered with gold foil. We were able to hike in the hills and mountains around the pavilion for the awesome sites of this pavilion reflecting over a tranquil pond.

I recalled from my fist visit an interesting sign in the bathrooms- we took a photo with our phones to have our guide translate “Please use the restroom nicely”!! The sign is still there

Next we visited the Westin Miyako- WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THIS??? When we entered the hotel, immediately I was aware THIS IS THE VERY SAME HOTEL WHERE I STAYED IN 2013!!! Kyoto hotel about an hour away, where we savored a delicious Japanese/European -style lunch. Kyoto was the imperial capitol of Japan for over 1,000 years. The Japanese are quite, clean, polite, tranquil and the most gracious hosts you will ever encounter. I recalled how awesome the country was during my first visit as the Japanese generally do not speak much, raise their voice, and are exceedingly kind. I again felt the difference between how “heathenistic Americans” can be and the Japanese. During the official hospital dinner during my last trip I recall a funny scene – we were all seated at the long table (tatami style) each guest had a dedicated “host” behind them to provide whatever was requested. I turned around to ask for a glass of water – my “host” was so nervous that he actually fell down when he jumped up to serve me! We all got a really good laugh over the event and which we recall fondly to this day! Also memorable was the Japanese host seated across from me – he had a little “cheat sheet” slid under his dinner plate where someone had dug up information from my publications for topics of discussion!! At first I was taken back by his questions- then I figured out what was really happening! I was just embarrassed thet I had not done the same!

Finally we visited the Kiyomizu Temple. Now I should not have been surprised to find out this is the same temple that I visited with my colleagues in 2013. So I found myself climbing the same hill that I did in Sept. 2013. Just as many people that were here before-the roads and streets were packed SOLID with tourists. I am very happy to report that it must be at least 35 degrees cooler than last time when we were sweating in 100 degrees. We enjoyed the walk up the hills to visit the various shrine areas and main temple. We made one little wrong turn in the temple grounds and we walked a bit farther (600 meters) than expected, but found our way back and the bus without much difficulty. Our guide (a very stoic Japanese man) explained that this is the best day for weather in Kyoto all year!! Sunny, clear and about 65 degrees. Interesting to note that many Japanese rent kimonos to tour the temples and we saw many beautiful gowns during our day of travel.

11 April, 2019

Chefs table French night!

Yesterday was a Sea day for us. We really enjoyed our day by having breakfast in our room. How awesome to be able to have breakfast, read books and watch a movie! Total and complete relaxation!! We enjoyed a game of canasta with our friends in the afternoon.

We have been looking forward to the Chefs table on this cruise!! This is an event that we have enjoyed on many of our voyages. Tonight did not disappoint us! Our executive chef is from England, not far from Manchester. The delight we enjoyed in over 7 courses of succulent cuisine and equally as many exotic wines. I can not adequately give homage to the food or wine I my description. Please enjoy the menu below followed by our artfully plates meal!!!! Words can not describe our evening!!

10 April, 219

Kagoshima, Japan

Chiran and Kamikaze Museum with Storyteller

During the past 15 hours we experienced Gail force winds and really rough voyage. We all faired well and enjoyed the crazy white capped- windy ride!! We have finally made it to Japan. Last night during our voyage got little crazy and we had to take shelter in the Kagoshima bay from 1am-6am. This morning is foggy and overcast- about 66 degrees F, such a welcome break from the past couple of weeks!

Today we went on a most interesting shore excursion. This is one that the “men” in our group were most interested in learning about the Japanese Kamikaze fighters. Naomi is our tour guide – Kagoshima has a square kilometer area of 9,189, and is the home of Isa city rice, Kurozu black vinegar and Sencha Green tea. Naomi explained that all Japanese gardens represent all elements of nature in miniature. There are more than 80,000 shrines and temples in Japan.

110 Japanese Yen = 1 US$

The meaning of =Kami – (Devine)- Kaze- (wind). Kamikaze pilots were between 17-32 years old- their airplanes carried bombs weighing 200Kg.

We visited the Chiran Peace Memorial Museum where we learned about the history of Japan’s Kamikaze pilots.

Japan’s southern most major city (Kagoshima) is set on the south west west tip of Kyushu island is sometimes referred to as the “Naples of the east” thanks to it’s moderate climate, marvelous port and waterways, palm tree line boulevards and Sakurajima. A smoldering volcano who’s last a eruption in 1914 released enough lava to form a bridge to the mainland of the Osumi Peninsula. The volcanic soil is not good for growing rice- but very good for growing sweet potatoes!!! Also they make the famous sojous Japanese whisky distilled from sweet potatoes.

We listened to tales of samurai and Kamikaze pilots on this journey to the Samurai houses in Chiran and the Chiran Peace Museum. We began our adventure in Chiran, stepping back in time to the era of the samurai. We wandered down a street lined with well-preserved samurai houses, while listening to stories and legends about this ancient warrior class. The Japanese gardens were quite amazing and we were mesmerized by the intricate immaculate details.

We then continued to the Chiran Peace Memorial Museum where we learned about the heroic acts of Japanese Kamikaze fighters. Many of the letters from the pilots that were written to their families were translated to English and presented during our lecture by the storyteller. The museum collection includes war records, aircraft, and photographs. The sometimes-graphic (!!!) exhibits tell the tale of the Japanese Special Attack Corps, the Kamikaze. We learned about the rich history of these legendary fighters and listened to tales of the Kamikaze from a local storyteller. 1036 Kamikaze pilots lost their lives during the war, their age ranges from 17-32 Y/O. The streets of Chiran are pinned with lanterns – one for each pilot who lost their lives in the war.

7 April, 2019

The food of Azamara

Today is a Sea day- actually equally a favorite of mine to port days. OK so everyday aboard Azamara is my favorite!! This cruise line is far ABOVE any cruise line we have traveled with before. Even enjoying the benefits of the top of the line of princess does not hold a candle to Azamara. The accommodations service and food are far superior to anything we have ever experienced!. Actually have breakfast, we both mentioned that we can never go back to Princess and feel like we do here.

Speaking of breakfast, I decided today would be a great day to blog about the food we have experienced during this voyage.

Beginning with coffee in the morning. As I rolled out of bed each morning (way before Tom wakes up) I reach for the phone and request coffee and water in our room. 15 minutes later arrives the fabulous kitchen staff who kindly sets out a crisp white tablecloth on our veranda and craftily sets out our coffee. I know this is super decadent, however this is a cruise of a lifetime and I am treating it as such!!

Traveling with friends always makes our day interesting!! Breakfast this morning was something I had never tried before. We have found that we totally enjoyed dining in the dining room more than the buffet. The pet thing he tends to be super crowded and busy in the mornings! All this though the food has a wide range of variation and choices, the food in the dining room is excellent and the atmosphere is much more calm and of course takes longer than the Buffett. So in the mornings when we were in port and need to eat and run, we run upstairs and sit outside and joy and ice breakfast. Other mornings is the dining room.

This morning‘s breakfast was a fruit plate beautifully are designed, followed by a BLT salad. Breakfast salad with lettuce with bacon, sliced cherries tomatoes, soft boiled egg, and little triangles of toast. It was actually very delicious! Tom had steak and eggs with hashbrowns.

Lunch in the Discovery dinning room was again most memorable. Beginning with a stuffed eggplant Parmesan. The flavors just popped in my mouth and were amazing! Rich has never tasted eggplant before and he was astounded with the flavor of this appetizer! For my main lunch I enjoyed the best pasta bolognese of my life! Truly the fresh pasta, sauce and freshly shaved Parmesan ever! I ate the entire plate! Desert was a brioche bread pudding with warm rum sauce. HEAVEN on a plate! All of this Followed by a double espresso!

Beer and wine are available with every meal. However I have learned I can only have wine dinner and can’t start drinking that early in the day.

This cruise line has an open bar policy. So any drinks alcohol hard liquor you want anytime are free and available. Rich and Marsha have a special package that allows them to top shelf alcohol, however we have found that we are not missing that at all.

Dinner was extra special today and the best on this cruise thus far. We booked the speciality dinning room because it is both Sara special birthday and Rich and Marsha’s anniversary!!!

We were so excited to be able to share the special day with them. Our meal Began with a simple toast of butter baguette, mashed green peas with prosciutto and a extremely small wedge of Parmesan cheese with basalmic glaze.

Next course was a tri-colored beet salad with frize lettuce, herbed goat cheese, pecans, olive oil and sea salt.

Persuitto wrapped grilled scallops, pesto drizzle, with balsamic glaze and Parmesan pana cotta.

The main dish a hand made spinach spaghetti with shrimp, calamari and scallops. Melting heaven in my mouth!

I was full from a piece of caramelized onion stuffed olive bread that I had at the beginning of our meal, it was difficult to eat my pasta!!!

Oh sooooo stuffed!!!!

Next was the most amazing fantastic flourless warm chocolate cake I have ever tasted. It was served with a small cup of carmalized sugar with strawberries and whipped cream.

THEN- because it was a Birthday AND anniversary celebration- they served TWO almond cakes!!! SERIOUSLY!! (They wrapped up one for Marsha to take home”

I did not mention the two dishes we had “for the table” for us to “try”. First was a Wagu beef burger topped with smoked cheddar cheese and bacon. And one dish of a eggplant rolled and stuffed like manicotti with fresh linguini!

Needless to say we all went up to the track to wall around outside and get fresh air and walk off calories before going to bed.

Sometimes cruise lines place little different wrapped chocolates on hour pillow each night. Not Azamara- they put little “dime size” pieces of fresh chocolate or cake in our room each night ! What a lovely way to end each evening

l

8 April, 2019

Taipei (Keelung), Taiwan China

Modern Skyscraper to a Storied Temple tour

We have never been to Taiwan and were so excited to enjoy a glimpse of Taiwan that took us from its most striking modern achievement to one of its most cherished temples. Our tour included 26 fellow cruisers- (which represents a good sampling from our ship):

4- from Australia

6- from Canada

10- USA

2- UK

2- Scotland

2- Gernsey Channel Islands- near UK

Taiwan history is complicated- not part of UN, they were kicked out 10 years ago. During our drive to the capitol city (the island is 36,000 square kilometers),

Our guide Alice discussed the history of Taiwan. Current population is 23.7 Million. Taipei has 2.7 million people.

We begin with a drive into the heart of cosmopolitan Taipei for a visit to its shining architectural achievement. The Taipei 101 which was completed in 2004 and remains one of the world’s tallest buildings. It was classified as the worlds tallest from its opening in 2004 until 2010 when Dubai constructed the Burj Khalifa. The skyscraper has 101 floors above ground as well as 5 basement levels and built to withstand both typhoon winds and earthquakes. Made of 660 tons of steel- there is a huge weight damper/counterweight. The Taipei 101 has elevators capable of going 37.7MPH – which means we went from the 5th to the 89th floor in 37 seconds!!!!We stepped onto the Observatory Deck to find 360º views of bustling Taipei as far as the eye could see. 10,000 people work in the building on a daily basis. 1 US $$ = 30 Taiwan $$ minimum wage = 770 US dollar per month— 5 US $ an hour. Medical care is very affordable and high quality in Taiwan.

We then headed back down for an entirely different perspective of local culture. We then visited the Lungshan Temple, built nearly three centuries ago and dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy. One of the “1,000 popular temples” in Taiwan, there are over 12,000 registered temples in Taipei. We then toured the vibrant temple, which has survived natural disasters and the bombings of WWII to represent the pride of Taiwan. This tour provided an interesting perspective from sleek to spiritual on this unique excursion into Taipei.

Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall. The father of Taiwan who lead ROC- republic of China (democracy) died before revolution ended. Chiang Kai Shek is considered a national hero by many Taiwanese’s people as he took over the democracy movement. There was an incident during his reign where many professional people disappeared (2-28),not sure what happened. Many hold this incident against him and do not see him as a hero.

Yesterday 4/7/2019 was the Tomb sweeping festival a 4 day holiday. This holiday in Taiwan is a Memorial Day holiday for those family members who have passed. They burn incense and money to ask for favors and provide money for those who need it in heaven.

Here is where you can picture me sitting on the bus editing my blog to post!! As you have probably figured out- I set up the blog before I left home, allowing me to fill in the salient points during travel. As you also might not have figured out, I’m writing the blog just as much for me to recall the events of our travel as for you. Just the other day Tom asked me “What was the name of the hotel where we had that drink that was invented at the hotel”?? Now, don’t get me wrong- I haven’t figured to the answer to his question yet- but at least I know where to look!!

6 April, 2019

Hong Kong day two

Did you know that Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world? We learned that today firsthand by traveling into town!! And today is Saturday, the day after the national holiday of remembrance. Everyone who was not out on the harbor all night long partying with neon disco lights and loud music, were on the streets of town!!

Traveling into town yesterday we learned first hand about how cautious Hong Kong is with the Bird flu virus and the SARS Epidemic of many years ago. Each of us as we traveled off the ship was scanned by infrared camera for our body temperature. In 2003 when Tom was traveling to China frequently with his former employer Foxconn, he was exposed to the SARS virus. For weeks after his return to California, he received daily phone calls from the county health department checking on his temperature and overall status.

One interesting food fact. Tom and I absolutely love Dim Sum! One of the specials steamed shrimp dumplings that is famous from Hong Kong it’s called Har Gow. We have eaten many of these dumplings. But we did not know their origin. They first appeared in Guangzhou outskirts near the creek bazaar Deli. This dish is said to be the one that the skill of a dim sum chef is judged on. Traditionally the dumplings should have at least seven and preferably 10 or more pleats imprinted on its wrapper. The skin must be thick and translucent, yet sturdy enough not to break when picked up with chopsticks. It must not stick to the paper container or the other ones in the basket. The shrimp must be cooked well, but not overcooked. The amount of meat should be generous, not so much if he cannot be eaten one bite. We are so excited to be learning and of course eating about the Chinese culture.

Azamara generally has one evening a cruise where they host special cultural event. Tonight was that event for us. They call it the AzAmazing evening. Tonight was a night of exotic traditional Chinese performances. After having another absolutely fabulous dinner on the ship, (including some dim sum) we took a bus ride to the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong. The entertainment was traditional Chinese dance which was a fusion of dance and modern technology. There was an LED lit dragon dance that was unbelievable!! There was also performances of the Chinese martial art of kung fu, and opera each with thousands of years of history. They also demonstrated the Chinese dramatic art of face changing, where a performer changes from one face to another almost instantaneously by using their secret tricks. What an unforgettable experience, we will never forget Hong Kong and all its people!!

Leaving Harbor late last night we fully understood what 8000 skyscrapers over 14 stories high looks like. We stood on our balcony and watched as we departed the harbor. For over an hour we saw thousands of building near the coastline it was absolutely believable and unlike any city we have ever seen before! could not capture it in a photo were able to take a video of the miles of skyscrapers!!