HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR 2-MONTH ADVENTURE IN THE ORIENT

During the past half a century I have been on at least a hundred major trips away from Hawaii for pleasure.  We yesterday returned from what surely is in the top ten of them all.  Just over two months, including two cruises.  How do I feel this morning?  Great, actually.  I don't feel jet lagged after eight hours of sleep last night.  That is quite unusual, for I avoid traveling west to east with a passion, and my around the world extravaganzas always go westward.

This one began on November 21, before Thanksgiving, and ended yesterday, almost a month after Christmas.

• A few days in Yokohama, then we boarded the Diamond Princess for a 28-night cruise throughout much of Orient along the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Singapore.

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  A month is now too long for me to be on a ship.  We almost went around the world on the Island Princess in 2021, but mercifully for me, as I think about it now, was cancelled by the company because of the ongoing COVID Pandemic.

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  The other problem is that the Diamond Princess in now 21 years old, and I think has a mold problem, for my nose kept running, a symptom of this ailment for me.  Otherwise, we like this ship because it is made for people from Japan, with karaoke, Japanese food and an onsen (which we did not use because of the extra cost).
• We hardly went on any tours, as most of them left the ship too early in the morning for us.

• One surprising concern was that there is ongoing piracy, especially through the paths we took around Singapore in the Malacca Straits.  No cruise company mentions this, but this region accounts for 40% of piracy worldwide, with 80 incidents just in the first half of 2025.

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  The other concern had to do with typhoons.  As we approached Vietnam, there were two we just missed by pure luck, for they both dissipated as we approached.  Typhoon Koto stopped moving off Saigon, and died a day before we got close.  Typhoon Senyar was the first cyclonic storm in this region for a quarter century, killing 940 Indonesians and Vietnamese, and took an unexpectedly wild path over Vietnam and into the South China Sea.

• But the trip was mostly wonderful, with good food, karaoke, disco dancing, port departures and such.

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  Spent 7 wonderful days in Singapore from December 23 to 30.  They know how to celebrate Christmas.
• First four days at the Marriott Tang Plaza, which like the Yokohama Bay Sheraton, is one of our favorites because the cost is not that high, their breakfast buffets are terrific and the executive club excellent.  Both are also well located next to sprawling underground malls.

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  The next three days at the Club Level in the Ritz-Carlton, is as good as it gets.  Kind of expensive, but worth it.  The view from the Club Lounge is the Marina Bay Singapore plus marina, and below, a nightly light show.
  
  
• On December 30 we moved to the Ritz-Carlton Luminara.  Met Captain (meaning he runs the ship) Tom Roth an hour after boarding, and he gave us a short tour.

• Departing Singapore.

• A two-week cruise to Hong Kong on the Ritz-Carlton Luminara.

Maybe the highlight for me on this trip were the bar tastings I had with Fabiano as host.

We left the Luminara for the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, with another great stay at their Club Level.  Our room was on the same floor and, actually, had a better view.

The Club Lounge was fabulous.

The breakfast buffet was also grand.

But the cuisine in the Club Lounge was also terrrific.

We also walked and rode around our hotel environs.

Our next stop was a very frigid Seoul, South Korea, where we stayed at the Weston Josun Hotel, in the middle of downtown, with a sprawling mall below us.  Breakfast at Aria.

Walk around our hotel.  Ice skating rink next to City Hall.

Lotte food court.

Got show another video of breakfast, for the Shanghai Soup Dumplings were up there with my top experiences of this trip.

After a chilly, but enjoyable, 5-day stop in Seoul, Asiana from Incheon to Narita.

Breakfast at the Tokyo Westin Hotel.

Views of Mount Fuji from our room.

Used the JR Yamanote line to look around Tokyo.

Finally, Narita to Honolulu.

Home, sweet, home.

To close, while more than 200 million Americans are under winter storm threats, Honolulu looks wonderful today.  The Big Island, though had another Kilauea eruption, episode 41, which actually threatened people nearby. Watch this video.

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