This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 One our first day in Incheon, we decided to go visit the DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone. We’ve all heard about the DMZ, but may not know the history of it, how it is today, and what can you really see of North Korea. The…
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 After leaving Okinawa, we had three sea days to relax, attend a bunch of lectures, etc. on our transit to Tianjin, China, the jumping off point for our overnight tour of Beijing. Of course, Tianjin is nearly two hours away from Beijing, so we…
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 After the excitement from yesterday and our sad inability to explore one of the remote islands in Okinawa Prefecture, we were excited to arrive in Naha to do some exploring. Rather than take one of the ship-sponsored tours, we got a private guide, Hiromi,…
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We were looking forward to a day in Miyakojima. After a week of hustle and bustle in Taiwan, the idyllic beaches, reefs, caves, and other exotic nature seemed like just the right thing. Excited, we left the ship and cleared Customs. Just as we got outside, my phone gave an Earthquake alert, centered not far…
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 We have just finished two days in Keelung and Taipei, Taiwan. Keelung is the port city that serves Taipei and it is interesting in its own right. Surrounded by mountains and the coast, Keelung is a natural port and also an excellent defense from…
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 Okay, how many of you have ever heard of the Penghu Islands? Neither had I, but being from an island in the middle of a massive archipelago, I wanted to see these islands. The archipelago here contains 90 islands, with the main island called…
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 Our first stop after leaving Hong Kong was Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We actually made it without the Chinese invading (of course, this was just our first stop in Taiwan, so there’s still time!) — although we were buzzed by a number of “fishing boats.” While…
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 After our very long flight to Hong Kong, we planned for a few days to relax in Hong Kong. Having been here several times before, our first decision was which side of the harbor we would stay on — Hong Kong Island or Kowloon….
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 We’re back on the road again. I am actually writing this at about 30,000 feet, on a 15-hour flight to Hong Kong. After resting up for a few days, we will get on a 44-day Seabourn cruise from Hong Kong to Vancouver Island, visiting…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 At the conclusion of the cruise, we extended for 1.5 days in Vienna. Since we disembarked the ship in Budapest, we spent about 3 hours zooming around in both the Buda and Pest sides of the Danube. We had been to both Budapest and…
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