Post 29: Fallout
Tak, our Hiroshima tour guide, was born four days before the atomic bomb destroyed a large part of the city. She was 400 kilometers from the blast and most of the 140,000 who perished by the end of August we’re within 200 kilometers. She hadn’t narrated a tour in three years because of Covid so her...
Post 28: An open letter to New York Mets owner Steve Cohen
Dear Mr. Cohen: As a billionaire who is pouring some of your wealth into my beloved team, I thank you for at least trying to save our hapless franchise. I write to you with the best intentions of trying to save our hapless sport. For decades baseball's demise has been forecast due to a slow, ploddin...
Post 27: Devine trees and winds
Table Mountain in Cape Town. The rock formations at Phang Na Bay. The Underground River near Puerto Princesa. All were mentioned as the 7 New Wonders of the World selections. We visited them all. Jeju Island just off South Korea was a fourth on that list because of impressive geological formations c...
Post 26: I had to do it! Another "after a while crocodile" headline!
Shopping day. We were looking for something special. Just for you. We didn't find it. But we took a detour from the outdoor covered shopping mall called an arcade in this small city on a small island to look at a trendy street clothes shop for you. Nothing would fit you. As we walked out, Bonnie spo...
Post 25: Bonnie's new buddies
Bonnie has a way of meeting people and recruiting them. I should know. This voyage hasn't been any different. Recently at a dinner organized for the 52 of us going Cape Town-to-Tokyo, she sat next to Dene, a woman from Calgary. They chatted through two courses with Bonnie secretly admiring the woman...
Post 24: Waving on the dock of a bay
The suprising city of Kaohsiung barely had an traffic or crowded sidewalks. Some of the building were impressive, especially the one that greet us when we woke up already docked. The whale-loke building turned out to be the cruise port. A taxi took us to the wrong art museum. We wound up making frie...
Post 23: Nice Drive, Mister!
This one’s for Fred Wolfson, Dick Marks, Alan Smith, Harvey Schwartz, Zabby and the rest of my Friday golf group: I don’t miss you guys! I don’t miss golf or Golf Genius or the third green or the fourth hole. I do miss my 8192 view of the fifth fairway, but I don’t miss slicing the ball into the adj...
Post 22: The 25 Million Year Old Museum
Planning for this voyage started a year ago and after looking through almost 300 potential ship excursions in South Africa, India, Japan and 12 other countries, Bonnie immediately zeroed in on Puerta Princesa as her can’t-wait-to-see port of call. She was right again, folks! Thirty vans carrying six...
Post 21: Head’s up when you’re in Borneo
So I’m in a bus headed for a Cultral Village in Borneo, part of eastern Malaysia, when Cindy, our guide finishes her greeting and goes into a detailed primer on headhunters, male warriors of the local tribes. I listen for a while, first in interest, then in disgust and finally in fear when I suddenl...
Post 20: Home Chi Minh City
Missing family on a 75-day journey was at the top of the list of pre-trip trepidations. Thanks to What’s App and a better than expected Wifi system on Nautica, I worried about nothing. I’ve been able to connect frequently and clearly with people who have only just started to forget about me. Truth b...
Post 19: More monkey business
We are in the process of docking at Muara, Brunei, a large island east of Malaysia. Brunei is an independent small country that happens to be the richest in the world. Brunei shares this island with Malaysia and we'll be there tomorrow. In the meantime, it's just after noon on Friday and being a str...
Post 18: Monks and monkeys
By the time we got to Sihanoukville, we'd already seen too many temples. By the time we left Sihanoukville, we were happy we'd seen two more. The first stop in this growing Cambodian city was a small Buddhist temple. A friend of Bonnie's urged us to visit a "working" temple on our trip and we had fo...
Post 17: Every city has a story
Big cities in Southeast Asia have so much in common that it's almost "see one, you see them all." But not quite. Penang and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Bangkok in Thailand and Singapore in Singapore: are very, very big; have many very, very newer big buildings; have streets infested with automobiles,...
Post 16: Rocks of ages
A large speedboat voyage sped us through the emerald green waters of Phang Na Bay to see one of the wonders of the earth. Jutting out of the tranquil waters are dozens of sheer rock formations, most covered with vegetation, that dramatically rise out of the water in various shapes and sizes. 75 mi...
Post 15: Observations and Hypotheses about India
Decades have past since I sat in an auto-driving class watching a film of a first-person view of a driver on a busy city street. I had to be alert for other vehicles and pedestrians who might flash into my view. This helped me get a driver’s license, but it didn’t prepare me for India. I could mast...
Post 14: Crown of the Palace
Pictures capture the beauty and achievement of the Taj Mahal better than my words ever could. So I will post many pictures taken by me and of me by my fabulous guides. You can read all the details online about dimensions, materials, location, cost and spirituality. However, there's nothing like seei...
Post 13: The Nautica
Bonnie and I have had questions about what it’s like on our cruise ship. And how we’re holding up after 20 days with still 44 ahead. Answer: expectations surpassed. With 600 passengers and 400 staff members, we are very pampered. Our excellent steward, Komang from Indonesia, straightens our stateroo...
Post 12: Nosy Komba
Bonnie's an expert on monkeys. She's fed monkeys in Panama. Played with monkeys on Gibraltar. She couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet lemurs, small monkeys with a pointed snout, large eyes and a long tail. Lemurs are endemic to Madagascar. They are gentle, playful, athletic and love bananas. Bo...
Post 11: The Cape Peninsula
The final day in Cape Town was one of the most anticipated of the trip. Bonnie had seen the Netflix documentary Penguin Town and was ready for any trip to see the penguins of Simon's Town. The penguins were ready for her. Hundreds filled the beach. They flapped and danced and strutted for her. These...
Post 10: Lows+Highs
Cape Town is a captivating city. The hub is a huge and bustling harbor area with countless gourmet restaurants, big, beautiful hotels, shopping malls and frequent live entertainment. It’s all walkable. It’s safe. It’s oh so cosmopolitan. The weather is almost always perfect. Look in any direction an...
Post 9: After a while, a crocodile
The last drive was not the least. It was a beast. The night before I asked Ranger Matt about the area in Londolozi to the north, across the Sand River where we had not traveled. He said none of the rangers had been in that area in weeks, “so let’s go!” For about 25 minutes I cursed my own suggestion...
Post 8: The good and the bad
The drama of the morning was not repeated that evening. The wild dogs were on the hunt of hundreds of impalas. We got involved in the long chase. Ranger Matt had an uncanny ability to know where the dogs were going. He drove through brush, mounds, ravines and anything else. He would come to an abrup...
Post 7: Leopard spots and Dogs gone Wild
Terrence spotted leopard tracks about 30 minutes into the drive, but it was another 30 before there were results. Other rangers reported a leopard close to where we had been. Another alerted all of us to a pack of wild dogs. We were closer to the dogs. The pack, about eight of them, were a rare sigh...
Post 6: We learn more about life in the bush
That afternoon we still have Ranger Matt and Tracker Terrence to ourselves and we’re looking for big cats. Driving along a dirt path, Terrence somehow spots something in a tree at least 50 yards to our left. Well, that is his job and his talent. Matt drives off the path through bushes and bumps and...
Post 5: Beetles and Juice
Wake up calls come just before 5 a.m. You are expected to be game drive ready (clothed, insect- and sun-proofed) by 5:30 for a quick bite (freshly squeezed OJ and banana bread for me) and seated in the Range Rover by 6. Many four-legged friends were waiting for us. More elephants. Several large herd...
Post 4: Welcome to The Show
We didn’t know what to expect when we finally arrived at the Varty Camp at Londolozi Game Reserve in northeast South Africa. The property was spectacular and soon we were in a Ranger Rover built for nine. Luckily for us, we had four private safari drives with our ranger Matt and tracker Terrence. On...
Post 3: Storm ahead
There's a cyclone forming ahead of us. About 5:45 p.m. our time, while we were relaxing in a hot tub at the bow of the ship's ninth level, the captain announced that we are changing course to head due north and hug the east coast of south Africa rather than head northeast to our next destination, Ma...
Post 2: Skipping ahead
Currently shipboard. Heading east from Cape Town and we're skipping our first stop in Mossel Bay, South Africa because bad weather has made the harbor dangerous. So we're two days on the ship and I hopefully can catch up with posts and pictures. We have had incredible adventures in South Africa. The...
....and we're off
As many of you know, our trip got off to a bad start when I got Flu-ed, a few days before departure. We had to cut the drive to Atlanta and the Victoria Falls portion of our trips. As I write this first blog, we're preparing to board the Oceania Nautica in Cape Town in four hours. We've had many adv...