at Sea
We need one day to move out of the Japanese islands towards Taiwan and Korea and ultimately Shanghai, China.
It is obvious that we are moving closer to China. The internet is getting slower as we approach. China blocks all kinds of internet traffic. There is nothing we can do about it.
Chinese officials have already boarded and they are spending the day going through passports. The whole process is really ridiculous. In the Japanese ports, officials constantly looked at my Mozambique Visa on page 10 instead of my actual picture page. We weren’t in Mozambique, the Visa was from 2022 and is no longer valid. The officials gave the same strict and stern look as they looked at the Visa to try and convince me they were doing their job. I wasn’t convinced and I didn’t care anyway.
We stopped at the front desk and asked about the private tour we had the next morning and asked if we need passports. “More information will come later”. I’m not really convinced of that but since we already have a Visa for China we are in good shape. Most of the passengers do not have one and have to stick with a ship tour.
Group trivia went well. Which city was formerly known as Byzantium? What is the most prestigious award given in Britain? What language did Jesus speak? King Arthur’s wife. Her name? We scored in the top 3. Richard was back with us. He just ignored Mary.
The theme today was country. Not sure exactly what that means. Country and Western dress? Terri wore her new alligator shoes. That seemed to fit.
Today’s evening group trivia was country music. It didn’t sound promising but we did rather well. Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire. Most of us knew it even though Thomas played it half speed. Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Billy Ray Cyrus, Loretta Lynn, etc. We got them all except the bonus.
Evening entertainment was Kenny Martyn. His second set was the same as it was 5 years ago. He opened up with the ukulele banjo and sang Has Anybody Seen My Gal. This set was so much better than the first as the house band accompanied him. He did a cover of Take Five. The alto wasn’t quite the sound I expected. They went around the room with solos. Pianist was good. Bassist was fair at best. He played his “school locker” bass. It isn’t tall enough for him and he isn’t very good. I was surprised by the drum solo. I thought it would be better. I gave him a 1. Guitarist was good. Overall his show was a 10.…