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. 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 Pand...

  Our first day in Hong Kong began on the Ritz-Carlton Luminara,  I went for a simple breakfast at Azur  On the way back to the room, took a video of Hong Kong before sunrise. From my veranda, saw the sunrise over Hong Kong. Then a swift checkout through customs and immigration.  Ritz-Carlton was so organized this time.  There was someone accompanying us through the whole process and into a large van to take us to the Ritz-Carlton hotel.  One final goodbye to the Luminara....I thought. It was a very short ride to the Ritz-Carlton.  We got a Club Lounge room on the top floor, room 111620, which means we're on the 116th floor.  Here is our view....of Hong Kong and the Ritz-Carlton Luminara. Luminara was there all day into the night.  The Club Lounge is only a few steps away from our room.  We had lunch and English tea. Noodles with Hong Kong Beer. Hong Kong during the day. Then, dinner. A few photos of Hong Kong at night. Hong Kong Island....

We are docked at Tien Sa Port, Vietnam, 7.5 miles from Danang, the third largest city in the country.  What most remember of this area is China Beach. Why?  There was a TV series that ran for four season from 1988 to 1991, set in an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War  in the late 1960s at My Khe Beach, Danang. China Beach , had a  Rotten Tomatoes  score of 94. Show was actually filmed in California. American soldiers use this R&R spot, and provided the nickname, China Beach. No official length, but a series of beaches over a 21-mile stretch of the coastline beginning in Danang, going south. I was here in 2010.  A quote from my posting. I am now at the Furama Resort in Da Nang. I walked out to the beach, looked one way, and couldn't see the end of the beach. Then I looked at the other end and couldn't see the end of the beach.     China Beach is 20 miles long   and mostly about 100 yards wide. Some of you might have watched   ...