http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/onthegogirl/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from onthegogirl en-us Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:58:39 BST Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:58:39 BST When I awoke the electricity was still off. Confused I called the desk and learned the following there is a switch just inside the door labeled MS the switch controls current in the room I hit the switch by mistake when I entered the room last night and tried to turn on the lights and I really didnrsquot need the lights at all. My New Zealand Hotel had a similar system. I had to insert http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-264763.html Adventures in Japan.I disembarked at 830 am and taxied to the Hotel Okura Kobe. Rick it was a great choice. Thank your friend for the recommendation. The hotel overlooks the port and caters to Japanese businesspeople. Since it was way to early to check in I asked about tours. Unfortunately the tours were in Japanese. So I decided to visit Osaka Castle of Shogun fame. The desk provided de http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-264498.html Impressions of JapanThis past week I have visited Naha Okinawa Nagasaki sailed the Inland Sea and explored Kobe and Osaka. The Japanese are the most polite people I have ever encountered. They bow to each other when getting off the bus when shopping when greeting one another on the street or in the hotel. The port Police salute each other. When a Japanese woman or man helped me or waited http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Honolulu/blog-261080.html Obviously the visit of the Statendam to Nagasaki on her WWII cruise is a big deal. Representatives of the local TV stations greeted us and passengers are being interviewed as the leave the ship. This evening a representative of the Prefecture Governorrsquos office will make an appearance. Nagasaki has been an important port of trade from the time Portuguese merchants landed in 1543. As we e http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Nagasaki/Nagasaki/blog-261059.html Arrived here yesterday after a great adventure in Japan. Will post details later. Would love to go back and explore further. Hope you are all well. Now it's time to explore Honolulu. CAL http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Waikiki/blog-260704.html March 2125We are having a day at sea and what a day it is. Since last night we have been tossing and turning in high seas and gale force winds. The barf bags are out the women are in flats and we hang onto the rails whenever we are moving about. The stabilizers are out.The sea is rough with 712rsquo swells though the wind is 22 knots. I am on the lowest passenger deck. The crew quarters a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Osaka/Osaka/blog-259780.html The Okinawa Peace Memorial Museum is located on the southern tip of the island. In 1945 the bloodiest battle in the Pacific began. It started with 90 consecutive days of bombing a ldquotyphoon of steelrdquo that disfigured mountains leveled cities destroyed the cultural and changed the topography forever. The Japanese military had sent large forces to fight a battle of attrition to gain ti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Nara/Nara/blog-259416.html Once the immigration process is complete we are on our way an hour late. The day is sunny and the temperature is 64. It is a perfect day for touring. Our guide is Hatsuea call me Sue. Sue speaks English fluently and appears to love what she does which makes our day quite wonderful. She is assisted by Nana. Nana is about 4rsquo8rdquo and weighs about 85 lbs. Her duty is to insure the g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Okinawa/Okinawa-Honto/blog-258697.html We approach Iwo Jima just after dawn. The peak of Mt. Suribachi rises from the sea. The weather is appropriately cloudy with rain predicted later in the day. Pads of whales greet us both port and starboard. As we sail closer the rest of the island appears looking like a flat plain to the east. But that is an illusion. The island has terraced ridges in the east is flat in the middle with Mt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-258125.html There is very little native forest left in Saipan for the same reason that Guam is covered by introduced species. What little is left is conserved and allowed to thrive. We took a short walk down a trail and heard birdsong saw butterflies. Before the war Japan had possession of Saipan for many years. The population spoke Japanese and many Japanese nationals lived here. During the war the J http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Northern-Mariana-Islands/Saipan/blog-257764.html While Saipanrsquos culture has been influenced by the US it is less developed than Guam. The northern end of the island has neither electricity nor water infrastructure and is maintained much like a national park. Despite pressure from developers the locals have repeatedly voted to keep it that way. It is on the north end that my tour was concentrated. The first stop was the Blue Grotto a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Northern-Mariana-Islands/Saipan/blog-257580.html Tall buildings traffic jams rude drivers are my most vivid impressions. Itrsquos probably not fair to visit Guam after the magic of Yap. Not surprisingly American culture rules and the US military have bases all over the island. The crew canrsquot wait to get to Cotsco and the largest Kmart in the world to stock up on necessities. The shopping ladies on board went wild to find large mal http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Guam/blog-257459.html Think about your first imaginings of a romantic Pacific island and you are probably seeing Yap. It lies low in the water surrounded by a reef and lagoon. It is not dramatic like Hawaii or Bora Bora but it so natural and beautiful itrsquos like you are Robinson Caruso landing on a deserted island. The island is part of The Federated States of Micronesia a republic but legislative decisions m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-256815.html The people of Guadalcanal are smaller in stature to the people of PNG. Beatle nut is still chewed in PNG and young menrsquos teeth are just stubs. Older men have none at all and many of the women and children chew.The UFO unidentified floating object was identified as a marine tracking device perhaps tracking tuna or whales.The most seriously injured passenger from the scaffold collapse was http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-256006.html Papua New Guinea PNGNew Britain Island Rabaul Arrived at the pilot station on time 600 am. Waited 30 minutes for the pilot. I guess island time applies even to an island the size of New Britain PNG. While we waited I got a good look at Turvurvur one of the many active volcanoes in the area. We are on the Ring of Fire here and a caldera on the flank of Turvurvur was spewing steam int http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Papua-New-Guinea/East-New-Britain/Rabaul/blog-255234.html The Blue Pacific. NOTAt least not until today. For the first days of the cruise we had misty cloudy and rainy weather and the water reflected the grey skies. The rains on Guadalcanal turned the sea brown with run off. Flotsam and jetsam fouled the water with large logs palm fronds plastic water bottles and aluminum cans. Those folks who chose to dive Iron Bottom Sound must have been disa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Papua-New-Guinea/Bougainville/Arawa/blog-254603.html Sailed into the Slot and Iron Bottom Sound past Suva Island at dawn. Arrived at the Guadalcanal dock not to be confused in any way with a cruise ship terminal. The line handlers are bare footed There are towers of containers and a small gazebo type structure with a couple of hammocks and a small fire. My guess itrsquos for the night watchmen. The gangway presents a challenge and it is on http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Solomon-Islands/Guadalcanal/blog-254198.html New FriendsThe ship is beginning to feel like a very small village. Faces are now familiar and Irsquom starting to pair the names and faces together. Yesterday at lunch I sat next to Len from helliphellip.. Bridgeport. From the ldquocan you bite off your nose to spite your facerdquo notebook Joy from Australia did not think she needed a visa for New Guinea cost in Australia 25. T http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Caledonia/Noumea/blog-253475.html The first Sea Day.Today was our first full day at sea and there was just too much to do. Enjoyed breakfast at 700 then finished yesterdays blog and welcomed the sunshine our first since last Friday.Then it was a little ironing. The first of our WWII lectures provided the background for war in the Pacific. The lecturers are military historians well versed in both sides of the conflict. Next I http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Caledonia/Noumea/blog-253099.html March 3 2008Woke up early about 500 am and looked out of the window to see angels flying alongside the ship. There were a flock of sea birds riding the bow wake and diving for fish. It was still dark outside but the ships lights illuminated the florescent wake and the birds were silhouetted on it. Quite magical Again the weather was much like Ireland overcast with misty rain and inter http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-252496.html