Whew!

Latitude       27° 57.83N

Longitude 143° 20.32E

Speed:  20.9 knots

Course 84°

Distance made good:  ≈21,000 nautical miles

 

Many miles have passed beneath my feet and under Explorer's keel in the month since I composed "Pilgrimage to Kodaikanal."  In that time, we've crossed the Bay of Bengal, zoomed through the Strait of Malacca, (28 knots to foil pirates), spent a quick day in Singapore, then traveled north through the South China Sea, up the Saigon River to moor in Ho Chi Minh City… where many of us took a side trip to Cambodia, ….then upon return to Ho Chi Minh, back downriver and north to Hong Kong.  From there, most of the ship's compliment traveled overland on a variety of excursions, (we flew to Guilin to enjoy the splendor of the Chinese countryside), the ship transiting with a sparse few passengers to Shanghai.  Melissa, Beatrix and I did not re-board in Shanghai, rather, we stayed in a hotel for three nights then watched Explorer depart.  While Explorer motored to Keelung, Taiwan, we flew to Beijing to sightsee for two days, then to Taipei for two more nights before rejoining the ship.  As you can imagine, A LOT has happened! Temples, tombs, mountains, museums, botanical gardens, trains, planes, motorcars, tuk-tuk's, taxis, riverboats, hikes, bikes, walks, tall buildings, and rice, lots of rice.  Still drinking from a fire hose.  Whew, makes me tired just writing it! Gratefully, today is "China reflection day" – a day with almost nothing scheduled…. Everyone is writing in their journals, blogs, some doing homework, others sleeping off the cumulative sleep deprivation of the past month.

More soon….