Kevin and Susan

After all the glitz of the United Arab Emirates it is such a contrast to arrive in the sleepy Sultanate of Oman. This fairytale kingdom is ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said who has done a good job of preserving the unique essence of the country while slowly moving it into the 21stCentury. Oman was a closed country until the mid-1990s. Now education is encouraged and Oman has one of the few Arabian female ministers in its government. The Sultan maintains good relations with both the United States and Great Britain. Omanis are in a dither though because their 72 year old monarch has no heirs to the throne. So it is uncertain who will carry on the Said dynasty. We arrived on Friday which is a holy day for Moslems so we had to make ... read more

We cruised past the famous Chinese fishing nets and arrived in Kochi in Kerala, India. We like this southwestern area of India as it is laced with waterways and mangroves and very multi-cultural. For centuries, Kochi has been a vital stop along the international shipping routes. Also known as the Malabar Coast, the locals say that Kerala is "God's own country" because of its natural beauty and resources. We took a boat trip on the backwaters which is right up our alley…any time we can get on a boat is good by us. The small canals and rivers are lined with residents who have lived this traditional lifestyle for eons. The water is the lifeblood of this delta region. People wash clothes, bathe, irrigate their rice paddies, fish, worship and socialize along the backwaters. Watching the ... read more

This part of the cruise seemed like a blur. After moving to our new cabin and unpacking, we met up with our newly boarding guests. This is a very port intensive cruise starting with our call in Sihanoukville. Cambodia is light years away from neighboring Thailand or Singapore especially in terms of tourist infrastructure. The terrible destruction which occurred during the "Killing Fields" era is still evident in this poor country. Every family lost loved ones and the learning and religious institutions were eradicated. Fortunately, with its youthful population, that era is now history and the country is trying to rebuild itself both physically and emotionally. There are many foreign investors from China who are pouring money into the industrial sector because of the cheap labor and abundant natural resources. Joel Brinkley recently wrote in the ... read more

We seem to manage to hit the hot spots wherever we travel. Like the morning we cruised into Inchon, Korea. Dennis Rodman’s friend, Kim Jong Un, mentioned that he was going to attack South Korea and for good measure maybe the United States also. Our tour guide told us that we were very brave to be visiting at this time of heightened tensions between the two Koreas. It all seemed pretty calm to me as we went about our business of touring. There is a huge statue of General MacArthur towering over Inchon to commemorate his successful landing there during the Korean War. He probably wouldn’t mind another go at it. Korea calls its wind-chill factor the “feeling temperature.” Today it was feeling pretty cold at -4C but we trudged on and fortunately the predicted rain/sleet ... read more

The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest and fiercest fought campaigns of WWII. The tremendous loss of Allied personnel, local civilians and Japanese troops led to President Truman’s decision to use nuclear weapons instead of attempting a land invasion of mainland Japan. About one third of all Okinawan civilians perished either in bomb attacks, suicides or being sealed alive in caves where they had sought refuge from the carnage. During the Vietnam War, I flew into Kadena Air Base on Okinawa for five years. At that time the island was still recovering from the world war as 90% of the buildings were destroyed by the time the Japanese surrendered. The Ryukyu Islands were still under the control of the U.S. In 1972 Okinawa reverted to Japanese sovereignty. Since then it has become a booming ... read more