...aka that time we barely escaped a quarantine nightmare aboard the Diamond Princess.
To set the scene...back in June 2018 Peggy (my mother in law), Mary (my sister in law) and I decided to join Dave's cousin Terry and her travel group on a cruise through Asia.
That was one part of the world I had yet to conquer, and here was a unique opportunity to get a "taster" of many different locations.
Side note: A cruise is not how you immerse yourself in a culture. You just don't get enough time in port (most days). But cruising does offer an opportunity to sample many places while unpacking only once.
My particular adventure began in Phoenix, as that is where we had spent the holidays, with my parents. While there, I did a pretty spectacular number on my sciatica, which will become a major storyline for this Asian adventure.
I flew from Phoenix to Honolulu to spend some time with my college friend Lisa, who has been living there with her family since 2018.
The next leg of my journey took me from Honolulu to Singapore, via Tokyo.
These first three flights and airport maneuvering really tested my mettle with my newfound sciatica issue. Walking, and for long spurts, was not easy. I had to stop and sit many times getting around the airports.
Sitting was also an issue on these long haul flights. Thankfully I had banked all of my American Airlines points when I booked the flights originally and had first class accommodations for two of the three legs.
Anyhow, I made it to Singapore late on Saturday, January 4.
Peggy had departed from Ft. Myers, FL to arrive in to Singapore, and Mary had flown from New York City to Bali to host a yoga retreat, before meeting in Singapore.
With the gang together, we conquered the city.
Thanks to my new gimp, I was a super-user of Grab (their Uber).
We wandered, we ate, we drank (including the way overrated and overpriced Singapore Sling at the Long Bar) before ending the night at the light show at Marina Bay Sands.
The next day we headed to the cruise ship port in Singapore to board the Diamond Princess.
And with that, the sea leg of the journey had commenced.
The first part of the trip looked like this:
I was very excited to finally get to Viet Nam. It had long been on my travel bucket list. Our first port was Phu My, which meant a 90 minute transfer with a driver to get to Ho Chi Minh.
Mary had spent time here a few summers back so was our de facto tour guide and she ran a tight ship. First stop was a great pho restaurant.
Our next stop was Nha Trang, a surprisingly fun beach town. We visited Nagar Cham Towers (photo immediately below), and then Long Son Pagoda and the beach (photos in the collage at the end).
We enjoyed the sunny, warm temps and side bonus of sharing the beach with tons of Russians on vaca.
Our adventures aboard the Diamond Princess led us to the bustling city of Hong Kong. Keep in mind, we had yet to even HEAR the word Coronavirus (or Covid-19) even though it was starting to rear its ugly head in Asia, soon to affect Hong Kong.
Just shy of their dealings with Coronavirus, we enjoyed two full days in Hong Kong. At that time, the civil unrest was still an issue--to the point our planned evening cruise to see the nightly light show was cancelled out of an abundance of caution.
We opted for the touristy hop on, hop off bus to get our bearings/get around both islands. The two day ticket fare included our tram ride up for the beautiful skyline, seen here. Other than that, not sure it was worth our Hong Kong dollars.
We did manage to hit many of the high points, including the Jade Market and the Ladies Market. There was amazing street food and obligatory dim sum to help keep our energy up.
Our second night there ended with a lovely dinner at Qi Nine Dragons, which offered a rooftop view of the light show (video below). This was not on the agenda and was a lovely surprise, and a great way to close out our Hong Kong introduction.
Next stop: Taiwan. We docked in Keelung and met up with a driver I had hired to take us around Taipei for the day.
We began the morning with a traditional Taiwanese breakfast in Keelung. Our driver ordered all the local favorites, all variations of egg with some sort of carbs. All delicious.
Also, it was Peggy's birthday...
High on our wish list was to visit the Beitou Hot Springs.
Our driver did a fantastic job talking about life and culture in Taipei, and took us for lunch at Din Tai Fung. Taipei truly was a lovely surprise.
Next up was Kyoto.
We enjoyed amazing street food for breakfast, before heading to the historic Gion district.
The final stop was the small town of Toba, famous for the ladies who dive to harvest Morimoto pearls.
It was nice to be in a port where walking was the best mode of transportation (most of the other ports required buses, Ubers and other transportation to get from point A to point B).
As evidenced by the clothing in our photos, we had reached the cold part of the journey. Packing for this trip was one of the more challenging adventures for sure.
The next morning we arrived into Yokohama, on January 20. Because my flight out of Narita Airport was on the relatively early side, given it was a 90 minute transfer not including Monday morning Tokyo traffic; I made it my mission to be among the first off of the ship
Turns out, I was person number one.
I do remember lots of eyes in the customs hall, and signs about temperatures being taken remotely but still, not one word, written or spoken, about Coronavirus.
However, the people that boarded that ship the afternoon after I disembarked were about to become the poster children of the virus.
I'll be forever grateful for this opportunity to explore Asia, and even more grateful I did not have to spend another two weeks aboard that ship, in our room.
