Searching for Sushi in the Slow Lane - Days One & Two

Tuesday we were in Yatsushiro, Japan.  After yet another nice sail in, we took the shuttle bus into town.

Our original thought was to visit the Kumamoto Castle.  However it was an hour away by taxi and, due to a time constraint that I'll explain later, we opted to just walk around Yatsushiro.  The shuttle dropped us near the Yatsushiro Castle.

Our first objective was to find an ATM to get some Yen.  When we first visited Japan 14 years ago, we had difficulty finding an ATM that took American cards.  We finally found an ATM in a Seven Eleven that worked.  I had read that things had improved, but not so much.  One of the local greeters suggested that we use the ATM at the City Hall.  No luck there but we did come upon either a protest or a political rally.

We then walked down to the covered shopping street. 

We eventually found a bank but, again, no luck with the ATM.  Walking back to the castle, we passed a large grocery store with an ATM.  Guess what - no luck again!  Ultimately, I just exchanged some US dollars at an exchange at the Port.

Before returning to the ship, we did a quick visit to the castle which was basically a reconstruction from the original ruins.  Not very impressive.

The time constraint we had was a cooking class on the ship.  It was, appropriately, the Passport to Asia class.  The class was a bit of a disappointment in that it was short and we did very little actual prep or cooking.  But the Pad Thai we made was good!

The sail away from Yatsushiro included a local performance and a nice setting sun.

Wednesday our port of call was Naze (Amami Oshima Island).  Another nice sail-in greeted us with beautiful weather.  Temps were in the mid-60's in the afternoon and the sun was shining.

In the late morning, we took the shuttle bus into downtown Naze which dropped us at the Tourist Info Office.  We inquired about sushi restaurants and the locals suggested two.  The more highly recommended one was a bit of a walk so we opted to walk down the shopping street and head for the other one which was on the way back to the ship.

After once again doing a little browsing and no shopping, we made our way to the restaurant which, much to our chagrin, had a sign out indicating that it was closed for lunch that day.

And so, we decided to walk back to the ship for lunch.  We passed a nice park area whose main function was to serve as an emergency evacuation site.

                                        

Linda was a real trouper and raised her walking sticks in triumph when we made it back.

We enjoyed visiting Naze much more than Yatsushiro.  It just seemed to have more charm and the locals were very friendly.  We even had a woman stopped at a traffic light lower her window and ask us if we were enjoying her city. We enjoyed our slow walk.  The island is heavily forested but it comes with a warning to beware of the venomous Habu snake in the forest.  Just another reason to enjoy the slow lane on city streets.  

Tomorrow we will be in Naha Okinawa where we might defer our search for Sushi in favor of street foods by the market.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

Korean Market Days

It's Monday afternoon and we're completing our ports in South Korea.  The flight to Seoul was uneventful and very long - about 13 hours.

That gave us lots of time to watch movies and we both watched 2 Oscar contenders.  We both thought that The Holdovers was excellent.  We also both watched Oppenheimer and neither of us made it through the entire 3 hours.  It wasn't for the lack of time that I gave up on it, I just found it too long and too difficult to follow.  I know that I'm in the minority and that the film won many Oscars.  I guess it's the crooked tree in me.

Now back to the trip.  We spent Friday night in Hotel The Sea Star in Incheon.  It was obviously a hotel that catered more to the Korean crowd so we had a bit of difficulty communicating with the staff.  The hotel is located near an amusement park with other amusements nearby.  But it was so cold and we were so tired that we did not explore the area other than from our window.  In the morning, I went for a very short walk along the waterfront area.  The sun was shining but it was 35 degrees - way too cold for my California blood.  I walked long enough to get a few photos including the monument to MacArthur's landing in Incheon.

Saturday morning we boarded Riviera and quickly received a real surprise.  At lunch, Linda heard someone call her name and it was her second cousin Ruby.  We had no idea that she would be on board.

Sunday, our port of call was Jeju, South Korea. 

We had originally booked an excursion through Oceania but, in deference to Linda's hip, we cancelled that.  We opted to take the ship's shuttle bus to the city with the intent of visiting the Dongmun Market.  The bus dropped us near a temple where there was an anti-government  demonstration going on outside.

We walked from the drop off to the market where we found lots of fish and the mandarin chocolate confections that I heard about.  We did our share of tastings the confections, not the fish!

On the way back to the bus stop, we passed an interesting sculpture and some Dol hareubang, traditional Jeju statues representing grandfathers.  

We ended up walking for about an hour and Linda did great considering.

Monday our port of call was Busan, South Korea.  Sailing in I was reminded me of the Port of Long Beach with all of the cranes and containers.

Our plan for the day was to take the hop on, hop off bus to tour the city which is the second largest in Korea.  In the terminal they told us that the hop on hop off does not operate on Mondays and Tuesdays.  New plan needed!  So we took the ship's shuttle into the city and walked along the seafood street and fish market.

The most unusual seafood we saw for sale was the sea pineapple. It is a type of sea squirt unique to this area.  Maybe when we return in 2 weeks, I'll have to find some place to taste it.

After the fish market, we walked through the street market.

We again had walked for about an hour by the time we returned to the bus stop.  We really love walking around markets wherever we travel so, while we didn't do the things we originally planned, we enjoyed our outings into Jeju and Busan.  While I know that Linda is frustrated by not being able to go the distances that we used to, there is something to be said for taking life in the slow lane.  We are certainly making the best of it and what can be wrong with life on Oceania.

Tomorrow, we begin our journey through many Japanese ports.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

Asia Here We Come

It's that time again.   We're in the Korean Air lounge waiting for our flight to Seoul, South Korea where we will be embarking on the Oceania Riviera for a 23 day cruise from Seoul to Tokyo.  The cruise has a couple of ports in South Korea and the rest of the time we will be visiting Japan.

As we were driven into LAX we saw our KAL A380 landing.  Quite good timing.  I guess it was a sign that it was meant to be.

You may have noticed Linda's cane in the photo.  She is dealing with a painful hip that will require a replacement, now scheduled for September.  So, we won't be doing our normal port days with lots of walking.  Taxis, buses and trains it will be.  Linda's being a real trooper!  Stay tuned for updates.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry