Our rain is influenced by Typhoon…lots of rain
Mu5151 flight number to Beijing  2 hrs. …domestic …..Hungqiao airport.

26 million in Beijing … 1.3 billion in country.  Since 1979 only one child…..fined if have more than one…man could lose job.. .  Farmers are allowed more. 8 million killed because there were more born….mostly girl babies.  30 million men now cannot find wife.
Lottery to get licence plate.
Pushers cram people onto subways(as in Japan) although we never saw any…..ladies could find themselves pregnant and no shoes……(lol… guides sense of humour)

6 times bigger than Hong Kong
10,000$ /sq. m. ….2,000,000 yuan…..to purchase condo.
From 1420 th dynasty <strong>Tianimen  square</strong>.  Largest in world….44 hectares , hold a million people.  Oct.1/49. National….liberation day….so we were here on the day in 2015….66 years after it began.
<strong>Forbidden City</strong> …Imperial Square.     Poy last emperor. 9,999.5 rooms in Forbidden City.  Couldn’t be 10.000 cuz there is supposed to be that many in heaven.  You can not imagine how big this place is….all for one emperor.  It was <strong>home to 24 emperors</strong> of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) Dynasties. Started to be built during the Ming Dynasty (1406), and completed in 1420 using 1 million workers.  The Forbidden City covers an area of about 72 hectares (178 acres) with a total floor space of approximately 150,000 square meters (1,600,000 square feet). It consists of <strong>90 palaces and courtyards</strong>, 980 buildings and 8,704 rooms.  Yellow roofs…symbol of power. Anyone besides emperor with yellow roofs were killed.  You can tell the most important building in each of the MANY squares by how many animal figures are on the roofs.

Beijing is so very different than Shanghai..weather is definitely cooler, the buildings are utilitarian looking, at least from the outside but the hotel we are staying is Japanese, very beautiful lobby and rooms.  Bathrooms with separate shower and bath and toilet seats are state of the art…..are heated, have spray for front and for rear, soft or harder, blow dry.  Amazing!!!

Before 1960 because of natural disasters…drought…no food.
1200 yuan /month income…200$us.

October 1…..its not raining….blue skies.  I guess the typhoon is no longer affecting the local weather.  There was no wind with it.  It also might, and I am guessing here, that the rain took the so-called pollution out of the air because we were never aware of any air-pollution that we all have heard so much about.

First stop today is the Jade factory.  Jade highest value..for the emperor…..is living stone, takes on body oils…translucent more value.
Bangle wear left side…promote circulation….shiny and clear…good health.
Baby dragon (means wealth) at front door and back to protect….no clear path between front and back or money come in and out.
At 12 girls given jade in symbol of year of birth.
Products that are made here. Are taxed at 35%… Very expensive.
1260-1400s Great Wall  built to keep invaders out… During Ming dynasty. 4,300 miles built.  Now 7,000 Kms. long. 7 th century BC started to 221AD   Last part built in 1406AD. 5 sections around Beijing but are unconnected. 5 million died in building of Great Wall.  15 million died building Terracotta Warriors. Longest tomb in the world.We went to the Great Wall.  I’ll have you know that i walked over 8000 steps and did 51 flights of stairs that day according to my Fitbit.  Amazing when you think I am waiting for knee replacements but …….I used my Nordic Walking poles.  If I didn’t have them, I would never have made it.
US$1.1/litre for gas….not too much different than ours.  VW first car manufacturer in China.  Doesn’t seem to be any Chinese cars.  Lots of Audis, VW, BMW (be my wife), some Hondas, Toyotas, Hyundais.
Goals to own in:-1970…bicycle, watch, sewing machine,
-1980… Colour TV, fridge, wash machine
-1990… House, car, iPhone
-2010s… Private plane???
There are 54 minority nationalities plus the majority that are Hun.

October 2/15….we fly home today via Icheon airport in Seoul, Korea.  Although we never left the airport so cannot say what the country is like, the building itself is very nice.

Both legs of our journey home were on Korean Air.  We are most impressed!  Lots of legroom, fed a meal on the 1.5 hour trip from Beijing to Seoul plus of course on the leg from Seoul to Vancouver….no charge for anything.  Flight attendants were professionally dressed (wow) and absolutely lovely.  If I ever have the option to fly with them again, I certainly would.

FYI….There were more crowded conditions on the bus from the Bridgeport Station to the ferry than at any time in either China or Japan.

Sunday, September 27/15
We arrived in Shanghai sometime during the night.  We apparently were to travel for 5 hours up the river once taking on the pilot.
Oh man are there a lot of boats coming and going up the river.  I am not surprised that there are collisions here.  The water is brown….dirty….not sure if that is pollution or soil that has been washed down for up stream….like in the case of the Amazon.  And the smog…..well you cannot see much more than 5 kms.  But we can see blue skies when looking up.
A guide with a sign saying On-line Vacations, greets us, checks us off and we walk…..forever it seems.  Some are thinking we are walking to the hotel but no we are going to the bus.  And then we sit….and wait!  I think there are 4 buses for On-line Vacations.
Our guide is Shelly….Xie given name in Chinese. Sialee..
First we go to the 400 year old Yu Gardens….during Ming dynasty 1591.  Built by Pan.  Water, plants, architecture & rock. … 4 element of garden.  In 1982 became national monument.
Shanghai tower not open yet. Huangpu River mean yellow river in Bund area on western side.  Then we went to Shanghai museum.  Drove by the Bund (means Waterfront) & acrobat show, $60 U.S. Plus lunch and dinner.
The acrobat show was like nothing any of us had ever seen.  The cost for day at $60 U.S. Would have been worth it if the show as the only thing we ever saw.  Incredible!   A guy balancing on a triple or quadruple thingy, tossing up from his foot to the top of his head, about 10-12 bowls,then a cup and then a spoon into it.  Amazing!  8 motorcycle going around and around on the inside of a sphere without hitting each other, others flying through the air.  There were about 30 individuals all probably under 25 years and apparently from acrobatic families.  If anyone ever gets to Shanghai, go to see them at the ERA Theatre.  I don’t know if you can find anything in the internet but ……
Driving 60 km/hr on elevated ring road….not very fast.  Modern cars, buildings going up all over the place.  In some cases 5 new apartment buildings in a group being built at the same time.
Coconut oil, cannabis oil & beeswax mixture that lady on tour gave me to put on my knees.  Worked so very very fast.
Public park for exercise. And dancing. Doing ballroom dancing to Chinese music….kind of weird.
Lots and lots of people…holiday.  KFC, Dairy Queen, McDonalds, Hagen-Daas.
Lots of motorbikes…no helmets, driving all over the place.  Max and I saw this man with a child in front of him and one behind as well the wife behind the child and she was holding a baby……all on a small motorbike built for one.
Moon festival……it is now August 15 in Chinese lunar calendar.

Largest container port in world and China’s and Far East’s financial centre.
1949 People’s Republic of China established.

Shanghai has been in existence for 2000 years. The original name of Shanghai was Hudu…Hoodoo….from bamboo fishing traps….means upper reaches of the sea.
1842 beginning of trade with the world.
Hunfu is name of traditional dress.
The Bund…1000 metre waterfront…with banks, clubs ….is a preserved area…..built up in the early part of the 20th century, after the Opium Wars.  Art Deco style. Colonial era style. 33 meter long bar…longest in world at time… A person would be positioned along it according to status.
19 ferries 40 piers along river.
Huangpu River divides the two sections of Shanghai. There are 6 bridges ,7 tunnels …..one is double decker and over 3 km long.
Paris of east. China’s NY.  Jinmao tower
Nanpu Bridge fashioned after Alex Fraser bridge….can see where World Fair Expo 1982.. were.  ….first steel bridge… Built 1991
3rd largest free span in world at the time.  Ferries cheapest and fastest to cross. Huangpu river is 114 km.  Apparently there is a 36 km long bridge is being built south of city …longest in world.
400 financial institutions in Shanghai…..changed from manufacturing to financial centre.
Super Brand Mall …..a Shopping Centre……300,000 shoppers each weekend…..13 stories, 70 restaurants.
Oriental Pearl TV tower is 468 metres high. 3rd highest after TO. & Moscow.   Very beautiful!
Hudu….from bamboo fishing traps.2000 and 20,000 fishing boats and junks per year on Huang Pu River.
Pu Dong… 522 sq mi 1.5 million people.  In 1991 Pudong was just farmland.
Oriental Pearl TV tower…..492 metres; Jin Ma Tower 88 floors in 45 secs. ; Shanghai Tower when complete in 632 metre high 128 floors 9 cylindrical units with exterior outside that twists.  ..collects rain water and somehow is used in AC.  supposed to be completed in 2014 but not done yet.
Population increases by 10% annually.
Monsoon sub-tropical climate .  From below freezing in winter to 35 C in summer. June plum season, heavy rain; August /Sept. …typhoon season.
Shelly our guide from yesterday said that if you have not seen Shanghai by night, you haven’t been to Shanghai.  Well we decided to walk to the Bund to see what all the talk was about even though it was raining.  Everyone in this city has an umbrella.  Remember this is monsoon country!  We walked all along the waterfront.  There were lots of cruise boats that looked like they were serving dinner on board…..you know a romantic cruise while wooing your sweetheart.  And across the river all the beautifully lit buildings in the Pudong area.  Absolutely breathtakingly!  And then at about 8:45, fireworks that went on and on ( probably 10-15minutes).  If I am not mistaken, they are on every night.  Wow!  This city is so not like what we were expecting.  Yes there are a lot of people and all the motorbikes that don’t obey any rules or lights (cars don’t much either) and they all honk their horns constantly.  It is really amusing actually.  It poured so bad….we were so drenched.
Tuesday sept 29/15
X-ray square  6 elevated ring roads..non Shanghai licences not allowed on highways in busy periods. There are no tolls.
London plane trees aka sycamore, everywhere.  Look like maple leafs but have patchy/blotchy trunks.   Buddhism from 1st century. In 80s govt relaxed ban of all  recognized religions while when the country became communist, all religions were banned..  Confucianism and Taoism are not  exactly religions but thoughts and ways of life.
Close to beautiful Jing’an Temple is Plaza 66 all designer such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc and local brand names.went Jade Palace, then to Pudong to go up the Jinmao tower.  Travelled 88 stories in 45 secs…fast yes???  But alas could not see a thing…totally socked in.  But we could look down the entire centre…all 88 stories.  Kind of weird sensation.  The hotel  in this tower is the Grand Hyatt from the 56-88th floor….the highest 5 star lobby in the world.

Fungshui ?
1882 Jade Temple
Suzhou is a place that we need to go to  on next trip….country side and canals, rickshaw rides
Yangtze  water canal…delta town to visit…..

Max is convinced that we only missed by inches.Coming into Miyazaki…wow is it ever looking beautiful…..rocky out-cropings, mountains down to the sea, tropical looking and it it is hot, hot, hot! 81F. today with high humidity……sort of steaming. This is the first ever time that Celebrity has ever been to this port.We are beginning

to feel panicky because the cruise is soon over. Fumiko is our guide today. Aboratsu and Miyazaki are on Kyushu island, the southern most major island in the archipelago of Japan. There are active volcanos that erupted several years ago. There are 25 mountain peaks…some big, some small. It is a breathtakingly beautiful island……peaks and rocks that come down to the waters edge….waves pounding and splashing the edge.The average annual temperature is 17C…….so pretty warm, sub-tropical actually with lots of rain. 2-3 times more than NY (her quote). 100 inches or 2500 mm/ year rain. They grow lots of rice in what little areas that are flat. They also grow mangos. Mangos very expensive..some are 5000 yen each or $50 for large ones. Skip jack tuna and bonita and now lobster (’tis the season) are caught in the surrounding waters. There are lots of Obi cedars…like cyprus trees…but look like redwoods (are very straight). And are water proof, etc.. We go first to Obi Castle. It was destroyed by 3 major earthquake in the 17th century…..in the1680’s. It originally dates back to the Edo period.We visit the chief samurai house from that period…..the only one that was not destroyed (and then restored or rebuilt). The area close to the castle was/is surrounded by homes belonging to the “upper crust” of society at the time. From there we travel to Aoshima Island and beach where there is a shrine in the middle of the jungle……really thick jungle. The island looks like “Gilligan’s Island” (much like Devil’s Island for those of you that were on the Amazon cruise)……lush! It is just so beautiful here. And the beach is covered with broken shells as opposed to sand….like Shell Beach on St. Bart’s. Along the way we see the “Ogre’s Washboard”, a phenomenon caused by the ocean pounding on 2 different types of rock…..sand rock and mud rock. Unfortunately the tide was in so couldn’t walk on it.From there we are taken to the Udo-Jingu  Shrine. The path to get to this shrine used to be 800+ uneven sandstone steps up and down. Now only it is only 300+ uneven steps…each way. Oh my God…..the heat (81F), plus the humidity and all those stairs. Well the sweat was pouring off my nose and into my eyes, stinging them. Other people, their shirts were totally soaked. It is not for the physically challenged but I made it…….slower than some cuz, well, if you know me, my knees suck!59,000 people in Japan are over 100 years old. 80 for men &amp; 86 for women is the average expectancy.Miyazaki means Miya means shrine and Zaki means by the seashore. There are lots of shrines all along the shore. 20,000 died in Japan when the earthquake of 2011 but most actually died as a result from the tsunami.. At that time all nuclear plants were closed but just recently a plant in Kyushu reopened. The govt has been encouraging the development of solar power.Walked 10+km today. Please pardon my writing grammar etc. I really can do better but this is not ideal writing conditions. Next day #14 Saturday Sept. 26/15. We are at sea…..another time change last night before arriving sometime after midnight tonight, in Shanghai.

Today Thursday Sept. 10, 2015, we (Carol, Max and myself) head over to Vancouver …by ferry this time.  Tomorrow we will be boarding the Celebrity Millenium cruise ship.  I’ve never been on a Celebrity ship before.  I’ll be able to tell you how it compares to others I have been on especially Oceania.  I’ll also know how I like being at sea for a lot of days.  We are staying at the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel.  What a beautiful corner suite we have.  We have a peek-a-boo view of the water of Coal Harbour as well as all the hotels and office buildings in the downtown area.  Oh my!  None of these were here when I lived here.   

    
Day 1 of the cruise.  Friday, Sept. 11. This morning we got up, went for a strole along the waterfront, had breaky over looking the water.  We then walked down to see if we could see our ship.  It was there hidden on the other side of the RCL Radiance of the Sea.  That whole area around Canada Place is very lovely.  I can see that it would most impress visitors to Vancouver.  It really is a lovely city although we all agree that we are glad we don’t live here anymore.  It’s all about the traffic!  We went back to the hotel, checked out, got a cab and then started the three hour process before being able to get on board. Yuk!  Not my favourite thing…..but we made it and whoohoo we are on our way….a half an hour late.  We are all so excited.  We were surprised that instead of heading northwest through the inside channel, we instead headed south past Victoria.  It took along time to get past …..about 5 hours.  I guess they have to travel at a slow speed but that seemed to be an inordinate amount of time.  During our time waiting in the “cattle pen” we met a couple that were originally from Hong Kong but are now living Toronto.  Their names were Sai (Cy) & Sheila.  What a hoot he particularly was!  I wouldn’t mind spending more time with them.  

Day 2.  Saturday Sept. 12.  We wake up off and on all night.  It is rocking and rolling.  Not bad but…..  The morning is cool (the captain said it was 17C. which isn’t bad) and foggy.  We had breaky by room service.  3 people, 2 cups and 2 sets of utensils…..oops!!! Not much happening other than familiarizing ourselves with the ship’s layout. I signed up for an Internet package.  $109 for 240 minutes.  I am not going to spend a lot of time on it for sure.  I’ll write this blog along with some pictures off-line but will not post everyday, check email or Facebook.  When I do I will get on and get right off.  The other two have learned that ît takes like 20 minutes just to get on.  It’s just a little frustrating when you are used to high speed wifi.

Day 3.  Sunday sept. 13.  The cabin is very noisy at night probably because we leave the deck doors open to get fresh air.  It causes a draft and so howling noises all night. Of course the one closest to the noise is the lightest sleeper.  I’m adjusting probably because my ear plugs go in as soon as I lay down.  One thing I will say is there are an extreme amount of oriental Asians….probably in excess of 2/3 if the passengers.  It is sort of understandable seeing as I am sure many are returning to their home countries for a visit.

Today at 10 am we are almost half way to Dutch Harbour.  The water depth is 7,000 meters.  Wow!  Incredible.  Water and air temperature are both 13C. or 55F.

Day 4.  Monday Sept. 14.  Time changed last night for the first time.  It was a little rockier overnight and expected to get even worse towards dinner time.  The captain said that the waves were 4 metres or about 13 feet.  Rocky but not all that bad.  It did have an affect on the number of people in the dining room at breakfast though.  I think the captain said that we have traveled 1200 nautical miles with 400 plus to go before arriving at our first stop….Dutch Harbour in the Aleutians.  Somehow I did not expect it to be this cool.  Neither did Max.  She bought a jacket last evening cuz she didn’t bring any with her.  At 6pm the captain comes on saying that the wind is reduced from 45 to 30 to 20 mph. today and the waves have also reduced in height. We will be arriving at 9 am tomorrow instead of 11 am.

This ship is quite a bit more glitzier than the last couple that I have been on but it is in need of maintenance.  And …..probably because of the numbers of passengers (about 2200), it seems somewhat disorganized especially the buffet.  I will NOT be going to eat there again.  Too many people trying to get food, going all over the place and then not enough seats to sit down on.  It felt like a free for all.  The Oceania ships have just been a little more “civilized” if you get what I mean.  The other thing that I noticed was that the passengers are allowed to serve themselves in the buffet.  Not so on Oceania.

Day 5.  Tuesday sept. 15.  Today we arrived in Dutch Harbour in the Aleutians.  We had been told by “Capt. Dave” of “The Deadliest Catch” fame that the weather could be variable or “terriable”!  It was absolutely a beautiful day…sunny and a little breezy.  Perfect for walking.  We decided to walk into town to the Safeway which is the absolute hub of everything here.  The girls bought t-shirts and Max bought a bottle of wine.  I thought the crew would confiscate it upon returning to the ship but that was not to be the case.  She said  “Damn I should have bought 2”!  Oh well!  Live and learn.  The topography here is not what I expected….not exactly sure what I did expect.  It is very mountainous and totally without trees.  In a way it kind of reminded me of Newfoundland in places.  It really is quite beautiful.  We stopped into the WW2 museum on our way into “town”.  In one display, they had said the natives had been moved out of the area to protect them during the war.  They were sent to a place that had trees.  The natives hated it because they couldn’t get used to the trees getting in the way of them whenever they were walking….lol!  The runway at the airport almost totally dissects the island.  When a plane is coming in or going, the traffic lights stop all traffic because the aircraft could literally take the top of your head off.  And it is very short. Strictly for helicopters or STOL aircraft.  Our ship is the largest cruise ship ever to stop here.  Apparently they do have plenty of small ones of less than 200 passengers during the summer but not 2300 ish and so they had paved the port dock area, put into use the 4 school buses and 2 other smaller ones and numerous vans for taxiing.  Many of the residents were put into service to handle this influx of people.  We and a ton of people went to a pub called the Norvegian Rat because they offer free wifi if you order food and/or drinks. These passengers have been deprived of connections to Internet of God forbid…….days.  Actually we were warned not to use our phones or we could quite possibly bring down their whole communication system.  Anyway there were far too many using the wifi that we couldn’t hardly get anything.  So……… we all must be forgiven for not letting the rest of the world know what we have been up to.  BTW, 14,000 plus steps today.  I went up top for the sail away.  I wanted to see how the captain did take us out of here.  I was right….he just about almost totally pivoted out from the dock.  (Yes, it was a dock…..unlike some other ports I have been to where everone has to be tendered in).  Just as we left the harbour area going out to open seas, there were many and I mean many …….whales.  I am not sure what they were because they were just sort of rolling close to the surface but probably humpbacks but if we had not left our cabin to go for dinner we would have seen the big display of breaching by these huge mammals.  The waiters in the dining room were so excited because in all the times traveling in Alaska waters, they had not seen anything like this……and we missed it.  We will be leaving here, crossing the Berring Sea in an easterly direction until near Attu Island, then we will head more south towards Japan.

Day 6.  Wednesday Sept. 16/15.  Another hour back during the night.  Tomorrow will be really quite weird.  We will totally lose a day so there will be no September the 17th here on board and we will gain another 2 hours this time.  Coffee in our lovely stateroom again this morning.  I don’t think I have talked about that.  It is really quite large, especially the deck which is huge…..enough for 4 chairs, a table and 3 loungers.  The stateroom has a Japanese style screen that separates 2 parts of the suite…..2 TVs….not that we are watching a lot.  I have not been in the pools even once.  It is too cold.  I should try out the jacuzzis……maybe.  We went to see an art auction.  There were a couple of paintings that would have been nice but…….  I went in search of a salad and consequently missed 2 parties that the drinks were free that Max and Carol went to.  They didn’t know where to find me.  I think that it might be a good idea to have walkie-talkies while on a ship in order to find your buddies.  Even if we had our phones on with say a data plan, it would not work here…….because there is no “cell carriers”.  Later there was a BIG celebration in the Centrum (3 floors open to a central area) with a dance band, balloons and general hoopla.

Day 7.   Friday Sept. 18/15.  Notice no Thursday. We crossed the international Dateline and lost 22 hours.  Today we just be laying low….reading and maybe play a game or two of Skipbo.

Day 8, Saturday Sept. 19/15.  We have gained another hour.  I am not sure how many hours have been added and subtracted. It is all quite confusing, not only to our heads but also to our bodies.  We keep wanting to nap.  Nothing much happening just taking in different talks. One, the guy who had been the guest saxophonist a couple nights back, was a rock climber and had fallen and broken his leg.  He tells of his struggle to get back to get help.  

Day 9.  Sunday Sept. 20/15.  Another hour back.  According to my Fitbit it is 4 pm on Saturday but here it is 10 am on Sunday.  We still have 2 time changes to go before reaching Yokohama (Tokyo) in Japan.  The captain says that the ocean is 17,000 feet below us…..the air temperature is 14C. but the ocean temp is 18C.  We went out on the deck for a half hour walk and just about got blown away at times.  It seems that this area must be fishing waters since we have seen quite a number of rather large fish boats….with sails in the front.  They were getting tossed about quite a bit.  The winds are 25 knots and gusting to 35.  Apparently there is a cyclone to the south of us by 400+ nautical miles so it is not have any effect on us.  This rocking and rolling does not have any affect on me but personally, I am looking forward to sunny days and getting to see something other than choppy grey seas and grey skies.  I should update that to say that maybe we are being affected by it cuz it is is really difficult to walk without looking like a drunk.

Day 10.  Monday Sept. 21/15.  It is turning out to be a beautiful sunny day.  I am laying out on our deck….in my bathing suit……..whoohoo!  I’m going to send this now.  I have not posted any picture and probably won’t because it is impossible.  Sorry!