FRIDAY, 28 MARCH 2008 NAGASAKI
We started the day with room service for breakfast, then off the ship around 9:30 to catch the bus to the Peace Memorial Park and Atomic Bomb Museum. I had been to both attractions in my Navy days almost 50 years ago, and things have changed a lot since then. It was a sobering experience to think about the devastation. Since the time I was here, they’ve added many memorials from other countries and the museum has moved from an old 3 story building to a modern multimedia facility. There was even a short piece about Hanford (where I grew up) and the radioactive exposures to the people working on the project and living in the area (this piece was not part of the museum when I went nearly 50 years ago). We then caught one of the trolley’s for the Glover House, which is where a Scotsman who introduced many new developments to Nagasaki (like the railroad and establishment of Mitsubishi) lived. The gardens were beautiful and in the ponds were some really big carps. Of course, the last stop on the grounds was a gift shop and like any good tourist, I picked up a couple of souvenirs. On the way back to the ship, we ducked into little shops that featured pottery, glassware, mochi, and souvenirs similar to the ones I bought in the tourist trap but of course, cheaper! That didn’t escape Opal’s sharp Chinese eyes….nor did I escape her sharp tongue! J
Back on the ship we were treated to a show performed by local preschoolers in the show lounge. The little 4-year old girls all looked like dolls in their colorful kimonos. Following that was a Taiko drum presentation by older students on the pier. They performed several numbers….all were spell-binding and they continued even after the ship started to pull away.
Dinner included barramundi (cod), French onion soup, prosciutto and apple crumble cake with cookie dough ice cream….the later two were sugar free. The Barramundi was onolicious as was the soup. Stella enjoyed curry pumpkin soup, a peanut cilantro salad and lamb shank.
Upon leaving Japan, some general comments and observations – very very clean and modern to the point of realizing that in Hawaii we are near barbarian in nature. Technology, cleanliness, lack of crime, no graffiti, the way the multitudes of people can move about the cities and country, the range of choices of cars, cell phones, tv, radio, games, software, appliances, clothing, parks, public facilities (rest rooms, etc),....are so far ahead of us as to be nearly embarrassing. Compared to my earlier 6 months in Japan, it is beyond comparison; it would be like going to sleep in Waikiki and waking up in Dubai. And the fashions, worn by the women, it’s no wonder the locus of fashion is shifting from France to Japan. And finally, as hosts they are gracious and polite to a fault…apologizing profusely if they could not speak to us in English. Opal and I agreed that we would love to come back for a longer visit.
SATURDAY, 29 MARCH 2008 PUSAN KOREA
Happy 6th birthday to our darling granddaughter Desiree Emilyn Loyd !!!!!
There are some immediate differences when you start to explore Pusan – the traffic seems wild and uncontrolled and pedestrians are at risk, quite the opposite of Japan. One notices a sort of clutter effect to the buildings, graffiti, far less fashion in the women (who are tall and quite striking); there are fewer girls in school uniforms than Japan. Clothing and shoes are significantly cheaper and although there is a large array of everything from cars to electronics to cell phones, tho not the awesome range seen in Japan. The Koreans don’t seem to use their cell phones like the Japanese – where almost everyone seems to be on a cellphone.
Our first stop was to the fish market….first it is mammoth and it is surrounded by ‘fish street’, those vendors not rich enough to be located within the fish market itself – a huge building about 100 yards by 40 yards, sellers crammed side by side, cutting and cleaning and redirecting water flows, with about 10 varieties of sea creatures we have seen and another 50 we had no clue. Baby sharks, rays, mollusks, huge and small, flounder, prawns, sand dabs, cod, grouper, lobster, and eels, thousands of them, octopi, I can’t even remember how many kinds… scallops, shrimp, and some ‘things’ that appeared to be intestines—all live and swimming or crawling in tanks. Of course, one doesn’t have to mention that the smell was, well, shall we say fishy….but it was the only time of the day that we didn’t notice the smell of kim chee. Near the fish market are food stalls and the very noticeable difference between the presentation in Korea and Japan were striking.
From there we went to the Kolon and Lotte undergrounds – long stretches of shops running underground with a vast array of goods and all were very cheap! The quality of most was not the same as Japan but the prices were more than just attractive. When we emerged above ground several hours later we had no clue where we were and no English anywhere. A couple of people who could speak a tiny bit of English got us headed in the right direction and it turned out we had walked our way quite far from our free shuttle pick up location. In any event we were back in time to wander that area – its shopping streets. This area turned out to include such stores as Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and etc, eg, I got a Baskin Robbins ice cream (sweetie pie) that was outstanding and about the same temperature as outside. Stella managed to spend the rest of our won (about 1000=$1)(the yen was about 100=$1) on some bling for our granddaughter.
We were back on the ship in time to have a cheeseburger, salad, chicken sandwich and fries – bread pudding and brownie and a cookie – on time means eating early enough (4pm) that we’ll be ready for dinner J
The Captain’s Gala, formal, awaited us at 8:00. Stella was dressed in her best and brought an appetite to match. She had 4 mushroom cream soup, fresh fruits and Rack of Lamb – for dessert she found herself eating for two=chocolate soufflé (her mom loved soufflé) and her daughter – a cappuccino bomb (a ball of coffee ice cream coated with dark chocolate). But she seemed to enjoy most of both of them for herself. I, of course, was very modest with a giant shrimp cocktail, a mango gazpacho soup, beef wellington and an almond fruit cake – of course sugar free.
Good night, we’re full and I want to get out of the tie and coat!!!!
SUNDAY, 30 MARCH 2008 AT SEA
We’re sitting in the Explorations Lounge after a late wake up and a brisk (40s) walk on deck . . . . only a mile, it was too cold. We’ll get the blog caught up and hopefully the recent photo’s posted to my Webshot site. We skipped breakfast as we would like to try lunch (will be our first after 4 days onboard).
