THE FACES OF ASIA

Hello again and for the last time for this blog. As I mentioned, the trip was once in a lifetime, great memories made and ones that we hold dear.  We are most grateful for the many blessings we have been given, the opportunities born of good health and the ability to put one foot in front of the other.   We met and made many new friends along the way, and for them, we are thankful for your gift of friendship.  Many of the faces that I am about to include, haunt me.  The 81 year old man at Nagasaki, who survived the blast; the elderly couple on board the ship, who danced til the dawn, holding each other like it were the last time they might gaze into each others' faces; May, who sat at the table next to us and who held me tight like I was her child, and lastly, the children, smiling and hopeful of a new world where peace reigns. 

I said I wanted to present the "faces of Asia".  Actually, most of them are of the children.  But I did have a few faces along the way that I thought had "character". 

Here we go:

Nagasaki's 81 year old expert in residence at Peace Park.

What a warm, friendly smile!!

Bangkok boat lady selling her wares.

Vietnamese lady selling hats on the street corner.

Busan lady sitting on steps taking a break.

Muroran lady doing the drum dance at sail-a-way.

Little boy walking on highway while we were stuck waiting for the fog to lift going to Great Wall.

Little boy riding horse in Dalian Park

Dalian child gazing into her mother's eyes.  Gorgeous.

Another child in the Dalian park.

Vladivostok, Russia - baby in carriage at park.  Just look at those baby blues.

Brother and sister at bikers' rally in Vladivostok.

Dalian child in park. Could not get her to smile.

Dalian lady walking in marketplace. What a look of determination on her face.

Macau children outdoors having a lesson.

Muroran at sail-a-way.  They look like best friends sharing a secret. Gotta love the hairdos.

Muroran girl with new "do".  And what a smile.

Muroran boy Ninja.

Muroran school girl dancing.

Muroran young teenage girl ready to give flowers to ship's Captain.

Vietnamese girl on way to work.  Get a load of those shoes.

Nha Trang fan lady.  See that big smile after selling some fans.

Nha Trang fan lady "but lady, I need to sell fans to feed my children".

Old lady making conical hats in Nha Trang village.

Young happy boy in Nha Trang.

Vietnamese orphanage.  Little girl with warm sweet smile for me.

Boss-lady Nun receiving gifts at orphanage.  Was she serious!!

Happy girl in marketplace in Xian.

At great wall girl drinking coconut juice.

Monks at Grand Palace in Bangkok

Nha Trang lady in pretty hat.

Sisters at Nha Trang restaurant.

Pretty school girl at park in Dalian.

Boy in Shanghai gardens out for a stroll.

Her face was haunting.  Will anyone buy my food?  I was on the backstreets in Shanghai.

Little boy from Switzerland with his parents on Yangtze River.

May with her adoring husband, Bill.  Married 60 short years ago.

Husband and wife.  They danced every night to the music of Maurizio. He is 88 and she is 86.

"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance."

SEATTLE AND HOME ON MAY 21

POST SCRIPT on the cruise:  it was long, but I was not ready to go home!!   So I think I could have done a longer cruise.  One day I will try.  I am sure knowing the folks you travel with has a lot to do with this.  Our table mates were not exactly random - I "knew" Terri and Chris from cruise critic, but had not met either of them nor their hubbies until on board.  We were a good mix and future cruises are already booked.  Our extended friends from cruise critic we will meet again.  Most of the folks on this cruise will be on the new Royal's first transatlantic in October, 2013. 

Here we sit in the DoubleTree SEATAC Hotel awaiting our flight for Monday.  It has rained all day today.  We did plan to go downtown today, but with me being sick it just did not seem to be the smartest thing to do. I am finally starting to feel a little better, so it is best I passed up any more sightseeing. 

I have one more entry I want to do for this blog.  It will be "the children of Asia".  I have taken a lot of photos along the way and want to put them all together.  But I need to get home first.  But for the time being, this is my last entry.  It has been fun.  I hope you all enjoyed it.

SEWARD AK

Our day started with a Princess excursion.  We docked, got off the Diamond Princess, boarded little school buses for the short transfer to the commercial fishing dock.  There we boarded a 75 passenger “ferry”for anll-day trip in search of wildlife and glaciers.

Kenai Fjords National Park, lies at the edge of the Kenai Peninsula where land and the ice age lingers. Nearly 40 glaciers flow from the Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords' crowning feature. Wildlife thrives in icy waters and lush forests around this vast expanse of ice. Native Alutiiq relied on these resources to nurture a life entwined with the sea. The Harding Icefield is the largest icefield solely contained within the United States.

Exit Glacier starts high in the Harding Icefield (named after President Harding) and ends at water's edge. 



Glacier "calving"


 The waters here are cold, deep and green.  They are full of rich food to sustain all marine life.  Today we saw a lone humpback whale and I was thrilled of my first sighting of a pod of orcas!!  I had never seen them in the wild and what a treat it was.  I got several shots of a momma with her baby.

You can always tell the male - he has the tall fin.

Mom and baby

3 orcas in the pod

Lone bear

Along the was we saw a bear and 2 bald eagles.  I never tire of seeing eagles in the wild.  They are so majestic. 

The temperature was really very cold out and when we were under way, it felt like the wind chill was in the low 30;s.  We were also treated to seeing Dall porpoises and sea lions. 

King of the mountain

 

defies gravity!!

Toward the end of the cruise, the captain took us to Rock Hole.  It is a cool formation, worn by years of sea activity

Carlos at Rock Hole

Carlos with a nice view from the front of the boat

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The Diamond docked in Seward.  What a gorgeous backdrop

  In spite of the cold, it was probably one of the best tours I have ever been on.  As so many other things on this cruise, I would do this tour again in a hearbeat.