A big stupid grin. I was walking around with the biggest dumb grin on my face. We had just disembarked from the first leg of out trip. Low and slow in a Dehaviland Beaver on floats. It was noisy, it vibrated, and every little bump in the air went immediately thru the thin seats to our posteriors, but you could see individual birds, the color of the tackle boxes in the little fishing boats close below and the fish below them. It was the most fun I've had in a long time.  

And this was just the first leg. Then we boarded Air Canada for Beijing. Not a lot to say about 11 hours in a coach seat. We did get to see a couple of movies, Coraline and Monsters Vs Aliens, and nap a bit. Once we arrived in Beijing we went through screening for Swine flu and customs and then on to the hotel. One thing we noticed; they don't air condition the Beijing Terminal. 

The next day after breakfast we shopped a bit. Rain was coming down in sheets so we just hit the little stores in the hotel and then boarded the busses. Marsha got a Chairman Mao wristwatch. Here we were staying in an international hotel in Beijing and the only image of Mao we could find was on a silly little wristwatch for tourists. Mao wouldn't recognize China any more. We didn't know it but Beijing doesn't have a port. We were sailing from Tianjin some three hours away. I did discover one thing. The new, high tech camera we got for the trip is really fast. I would hit the shutter to photograph some sight and instantly the camera would focus on the water drops on the window an inch in front of the lens. Sometimes there is such a thing as too good a camera. 

We boarded the boat and found our cabin. Within a couple of hours we set sail. The weather was still bad. Rain, wind and four meter seas. This was fine. we only really would need one good day. We followed the progress of the ship on the TV. The Classica hugged the Chinese coast. I'm not sure if it was the shortest path or we were just staying as far from North Korea as we could or both. Either way on the morning of the third day we were at Cheju South Korea. 

CheJu is surprisingly volcanic. The beach was covered with fresh lava, including one called Dragon Rock which looked like a dragon. There are carvings made out of basalt rock. Lava bombs and lava tubes are on display everywhere. Volcanism is a big part of the natives lives. The tour guide told us that while Buddhism and even Christianity are around, most of the residents believe in Shamanism. Part of this is a belief that everything, trees, rivers, rocks, herbs plants and such have their own spirits. We stopped by a little park full of statues and carvings of the spirits. Our guide also told us about her first car. She had saved up and gotten a little red sports-car she was very happy with. A couple of days after she got the she went out to the street and got in, but an eye watering stench made her bail out almost immediately. It seems that the night she brought the car home her father had asked the spirit of the car to protect her and left an offering of fresh fish and beer on the seat. Our guide  could laugh about it now, but back then she was furious at her father.

The day after Cheju we stopped at Kagoshima Japan. The big item we were here to see was Sakurajima the big volcano in the harbor. It was spectacular and we even could smell sulfur and some reported seeing explosions, though we saw none from our vantage point. To get to and from the mountain we took a 10 minute ferry ride. On the way back the ferry was the Cherry Queen, which we found quite amusing. 

Then they took us to a mall for shopping. The thing is that big malls are the same the world over. the same potted plants, tile floors, and stores  Starbucks, Laura Ashley, Tommy Hillfinger and others. There were Japanese stores as well but they looked like similar stores at the Mall of America, or Woodgrove. It was all so familiar except of course for the Curling with Children. 

Curling with Children? They used a small cart instead of a Curling stone, but the principle was the same. After they set a small child on the cart they (I'm assuming, that it was the parent), tried to push the cart so it ended up on a target some meters away to win a prize. Everyone was having a good time but to our eyes it seemed a bit strange. But then to their eyes some of the things we do are rather strange.

There will be two e-mails this week. The second one will just be to send more pictures.  Hope you enjoy.

Next Week: Eclipse Day!

Instruments on the Beaver

Beaver in Vancouver Harbor


Chairman Mao watch. His arm goes up and down.


Dragon Head rock. Prior to a recent tropical storm  it looked more like a dragon head - now it appears more like a rabbit.  But just use your imagination. (Cheju, South Korea)


Lots of statues in the memorial garden.  


Even more statues - they were everywhere, but very interesting to see.



Next email will have pictures from Kagoshima, Japan.  Hope they all come through.

We got back yesterday about 6 pm to the hottest day ever recorded in Vancouver and unfortunately Nanaimo is not much better.  The eclipse was beautiful.  We will be sending more info on our trip during our Sunday email, but just wanted to let folks know we are fine.  Here are a coupe of pictures to share.


Marsh and Doug



Doug in Cheju, South Korea
 


Dragon Head rock.
 


Doug in Kagoshima, Japan.
 


Eclipse Day
 



 
Totality